OPENING SHOT
Robert Hokamp and Iron Claw at Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios on Feb. 15. Photo by Ed Steele
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Little d After Dark
March 2013
MARCH 2013 VOLUME 2, ISSUE 7
Mariachi Quetzal, AV the Great, Satans of Soft Rock, Atomic Tanlines, Pageantry. What do these five bands have in common? Besides their devastating good looks, they’re also our must-see local acts for 35 Denton. And we’re gonna tell you why. >> 10
C O V E R S T O RY
Publisher Bill Patterson Managing Editor Dawn Cobb
F E AT U R E S
Courtesy photo/Kyle LaValley
940-566-6879 | dcobb@dentonrc.com
day trippers Most people who come to 35 Denton are there to see their
Features Editor Lucinda Breeding
favorite musical acts — and to discover new ones. That doesn’t keep the four-day
940-566-6877 | cbreeding@dentonrc.com
event’s day panels from drawing standing-room-only crowds.
>>
Advertising Director Sandra Hammond
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940-566-6820 | hammond@dentonrc.com >>
zest for the fest It began as a ragtag Denton party and concert in
Advertising Manager Shawn Reneau
Austin during South by Southwest. Then it became a downtown Denton music
festival luring big-name music acts.Now, 35 Denton is a brand and a business
intersection between art, commerce and innovation.
THE ELEMENTS
editor’s note
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35 denton venue map
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35 denton daily schedules
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Classified Display Julie Hammond 940-566-6819 |jhammond@dentonrc.com
Designer Rachel McReynolds Photographers David Minton, Ed Steele On the cover Illustration by Rachel McReynolds/iStock.
that has a beefy goal in sight, creative director Kyle LaValley says: to pave an
opening shot
940-566-6843 | sreneau@dentonrc.com
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The contents of this free publication are copyrighted by Denton Publishing Company, 2013, a subsidiary of A. H. Belo Corporation. Reproduction or use, without permission, of editorial or graphic content in any manner is prohibited.
We’re moving! Visit littledtx.com.
Adieu, adieu, remember us
Y
ou hold in your hands the final edition of Little d After Dark. It’s been real. And it’s been fun. But our reach was too limited and our appeal to advertisers too — how should I put this — uncertain. So we’re not printing the monthly magazine anymore. This is it. Before you whip out a pen to write the publisher, there is good news. We’re taking this puppy online. That’s right: You can now find us at littledtx.com. So we’re sending off the monthly print edition in some sort of metaphorical Viking funeral. (What? We like to think of Little d After Dark bundled on a barge, set ablaze and sent off along the fjords. In a lot of ways, this little magazine felt like a skirmish of sorts. It was as if we took our meager gear out into the greater Denton cultural scene, with all its Grammy nominations and accolades,
and carved out a media niche for the hipsters, the hookah huffers and the aspiring rock stars.) In its place, we’re putting our pedals to the floor and going daily. Hourly, even. You’ll be able to enjoy our content from your laptop, tablet or smartphone. You’ll be able to keep tabs on who’s playing where with a flashy new calendar. We’ve recruited some of the local music and DIY scene’s MVPs to help us write, snap photos, take video and churn the Denton waters for whatever the creative class here is doing. Yes, it’s ambitious to go from a free monthly magazine to a website with a daily focus on music, art, DIY and currents that make Denton what it is. We hope to see you on the cyber side. We hope you’ll follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, too. (Feel free to holler at us with our handy handle, @littledTX, too. Who knows — your photos or videos might make it onto our homepage.) It’s not easy to say goodbye after publishing for two years. But online, we can
do more — and we can interact with you. Enjoy the fest, folks. And don’t forget to connect. We’re just a click away. — Lucinda Breeding
We hope to see you on the cyber side.
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Little d After Dark
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March 2013
35 denton: venues
by lucinda breeding
Get thee to your music
Day trippers
1. MAIN STAGE 1
A. ANDY’S BAR
J. RUBBER GLOVES REHEARSAL STUDIOS
E. HAILEY’S CLUB 122 W. Mulberry St.
411 E. Sycamore St.
F. THE HIVE
122 N. Locust St.
K. SWEETWATER GRILL & TAVERN
221 S. Bell Ave.
B. BANTER
G. J&J’S PIZZA
115 S. Elm St.
118 W. Oak St.
FOR A PANEL SCHEDULE Pecan
G
H
W. Oak
B
E. Oak
Elm
A Courthouse on the Square
W. Hickory
Austin
I
E. Hickory
D
Bell Ave.
2 C
Walnut W. Mulberry
W. Sycamore
E K
1
E. Mulberry
Industrial
turing the Denton surrounding his life. There is also my wife [Jenny Seman], who collaborates with many of our highly creative friends in Denton to create videos for our band. “We have panelists who have made videos with really high-quality production values, remote locations and large crews, to ones that have achieved a similar aesthetic impact with one camera, a great idea and friends willing to pitch in for a day. And all of them have made great music videos.” Kyle LaValley, creative director of 35 Denton, says performer Liz Larsen will carry video through the festival. Larsen, who does live video performances, will be doing some during 35 Denton. “We look at [Larsen’s] work with us as a real unifying presence between the day programming and the music festival,” LaValley says. The panels have always been well attended, LaValley says. “We’re really pushing the daytime programming,” she says. “Those exchanges are important. People dedicate a lot of time to those. ... We think the daytime programming is a really crucial part of this whole event.” Michael Seman says the educator in him makes him feel obliged to take on the day programming role in a festival that is adding to Denton’s appeal as a destination. “As a citizen of Denton and an educator, it’s in my nature to really want to give back as much as possible,” he says. “When I was these kids’ age, I didn’t have that kind of guidance. I feel like I have to do this. “Ninety-nine percent of us are volunteering [time and expertise to the festival]. We’re not doing this for our health. We want to push this forward. We want to make the city more able to be that place where creative people want to be,” he says.
Bolivar
E. McKinney
Visit littledtx.com.
Locust
March 2013
217 E. Hickory St.
103 Industrial St.
corner of East Hickory and Industrial streets
Cedar
M
I. MELLOW MUSHROOM
D. DAN’S SILVERLEAF
219 W. Oak St.
ost people who come to 35 Denton are there to see their favorite musical acts — and to discover new ones. That doesn’t keep the four-day event’s day panels from drawing standing-roomonly crowds. Michael Seman, a research associate for the Center for Economic Development and Research at the University of North Texas, coordinated this year’s panels. “This year is going to be a watershed for the daytime programming,” says Seman, who will also perform at the festival with his noise-rock band Shiny Around the Edges. The panels cover topics from music business networking and legal tips for musicians to music video production and a dissection of Denton’s melding of college, city and cultural scenes. In the broadest terms, the target audience for the festival’s panels are adults ages 18 to 35. Seman says he and other organizers have been focused, though. “More specifically, the audience is young adults who play music,” he says. The panels “are not ‘how to get your band signed,’ because there are plenty of other festivals for that. This is to help musicians be better artists.” Most working musicians aren’t signed to record labels, and don’t have a companies making financial investments in artists’ marketing, distribution or touring. The panels are aimed at those musicians, Seman says. “I’m really excited about the video panel,” Seman says. “Internet Created the Video Star” will be at 1 p.m. Saturday at UNT on the Square, at 109 N. Elm St. Seman says the panel will break down music video-making for different budgets. “We have Jason Reimer, who directed the Mind Spiders video [for the song ‘Wait for Us’] and Jake Wilganowski, who directed the video for the Angelus [‘Crimson Shadow’],” Seman says. “And then we have Chris Avant, who efficiently produces his own videos, beautifully cap-
218 W. Oak St.
214 E. Hickory St.
2. MAIN STAGE 2
Festival doing more than drawing music tourists — it’s bringing playmakers to town
H. THE LABB
C. BURGUESA BURGER
corner of East Mulberry and Austin streets
E. Sycamore
RR
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Un ion Pa cif ic
35 denton: panels
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J Staff graphic
LUCINDA BREEDING can be reached by calling 940-566-6877 or e-mailing cbreeding@dentonrc.com. B2
Little d After Dark
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main stage one
No shows today
main stage two
No shows today
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andy’s bar
banter
burguesa
11
12
1
2
The Satans of Soft Rock
Quaker City Night Hawks
RTB2
John Wesley Coleman
Dim Locator
The Great Depressions
Paper Robot
Warren Jackson Hearne & Le Leek Electrique
Isaac Hoskins
Spooky Folk
Ralph White
Buxton
Terminator 2
Pinkish Black
Power Trip
Pallbearer
Track Meet
Prince William
No shows today
dan’s silverleaf
hailey’s club
the hive
j&j’s pizza
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Secret Cakes
Bad Design
Summer of Glaciers
Kingdom
Bok Bok
L-Vis 1990
Dove Hunter
(8:45)
the labb
Melting Season
Dustin Wong
Jamaican Queens
Sinkane
mellow mushroom
The BoomBachs
Sealion
The Blurries
Brainstorm
Endless Thoughts
The Atomic Tanlines
Mind Spiders
Jacuzzi Boys
Biographies
Black James Franco
Señor Fin
Savage and the Big Beat
rubber gloves rehearsal studios sweetwater 6
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March 2013
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5
6
main stage one
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Fungi Girls
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andy’s bar
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Roky Erickson
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Cutter
Juve
Cloudland Canyon
Expo ’70
banter
My Education
Ghost to Falco
Shiny Around the Edges
The Angelus
burguesa
So Far Safari
Western Skies
Jeremy Buller
Nicholas Altobelli
Hares on the Mountain
Danny Rush and the Designated Drivers
Wayne Hancock
Scott H. Biram
-topic
Space Camp Death Squad
Fat Tony
Antwon
Peopleodian
Def Rain
Zorch
Man Man
dan’s silverleaf
hailey’s club
the hive
j&j’s pizza
the labb
War Party
Ghost Wave
Roomrunner
Wiccans
Destruction Unit
PVC Street Gang
King Automatic
Old Snack
Los Vigilantes
rubber gloves rehearsal studios
Joy Sores
Skeleton Coast
True Widow
Whirr
sweetwater
Madisons
Ella Minnow
The O’s
Houndmouth
March 2013
2
Idiot Glee
Kid Prison
mellow mushroom
10
Sleep
Brutal Juice
main stage two
9
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main stage one
main stage two
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Yeahdef
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A.Dd+
9
Killer Mike
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andy’s bar
Fab Deuce
AV the Great
Brain Gang
K. Flay
banter
Lily Taylor
Mary Walker
Jessie Frye
Dana Falconberry
TC
Team Tomb
H.I. Jr.
Little Birds
Seth Sherman
Dust Congress
Valleys
Akron/Family
How I Quit Crack
Vulgar Fashion
Odonis Odonis
The Soft Moon
Ethereal and the Queer Show
Datahowler
Nitemoves
Com Truise
burguesa
dan’s silverleaf
hailey’s club
the hive
j&j’s pizza
the labb
mellow mushroom
rubber gloves rehearsal studios sweetwater
The Well
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Solange
The Cannabinoids featuring Sarah Jaffe
Astronautalis
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Vaults of Zin
Ulnae
Communion
Codetalkers
Hormones
Hunters
OBN III’s
La Migra
Magic Milk
Hell Shovel
Acid Baby Jesus
Final Club
Pangea
Gap Dream
Shannon and the Clams
The Hope Trust
Pageantry
Deep Sea Diver
Hey Marseilles
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March 2013
3
4
main stage one
main stage two
Beach Fossils
andy’s bar
hailey’s club
the hive
mellow mushroom
rubber gloves rehearsal studios sweetwater March 2013
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Chelsea Light Moving
Thee Oh Sees
10
9
Camera Obscura
11
Midnite Society Naomi Punk
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1
Talk Normal
Merchandise
Babar
Catamaran
Chambers
You Won’t
Eat Avery’s Bones
Daniel Francis Doyle
The Coathangers
Marnie Stern
Strange Towers
Diamond Age
Missions
Silver Apples
Delicate Steve
Mac Demarco
Soul Clap Dance Off
2
No shows today
dan’s silverleaf
the labb
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Reigning Sound
Bad Idea
banter
j&j’s pizza
6
Holy Wave
9
burguesa
5
Violent Squid
Nervous Curtains
TV Ghost
Audacity
Deep Throat
Nu Sensae
White Lung
Blessin’
Blackstone Rangers
Calvin Love
Ruby Suns
Filth
Cerulean Giallo
Locrian
Prurient
The Treelines
Somebody’s Darling
Doug Burr
The Last Bison
Little d After Dark
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by lucinda breeding >> features editor
1.
mariachi quetzal It was a late weekend night in March 2012 at the LABB, a little bar in downtown Denton. A nice crowd lined the bar, some eyes cast up at one of the many television screens.
Other people mingled, drawing long drags from their cigarettes, tipping back dark brown beer bottles and shouting toward one another’s ears. The city was deep into 35 Denton music festival, and the band at the LABB was deafening. Not a single instrument was plugged in. Mariachi Quetzal was going full tilt — trumpets blaring, violins in soprano and vihuelas and guitarron keeping time. And then there was the audience. Kids with blue stripes in their hair. White-haired couples and hipster college kids. All of them losing their minds. One woman was improvising a salsa-style solo dance. And as the musicians traded vocal solos in Spanish, plenty of dark-haired guys in the crowd let fly with their best chiflas and gritos mexicanos. Mariachi Quetzal formed about five years ago as a group of University of North Texas College of Music students and alumni — Hispanic and white — with a soft spot for Mexican folk music, known for its mournful sound, drinking-song choruses and triumphant flourishes. When Mariachi Quetzal performs, the band wears the charro dress. Black coats and slacks for the men, floor-length skirts for the women, trimmed out with embroidered seams and big, ruffled bow ties. The band mixes instrumental songs (“La Fiesta”) with traditional folks songs (“El Pajaro Cu,” “Contigo Aprendi”). Like a lot of their peers in the Denton music scene, the musicians of Mariachi Quetzal have an inventive streak, which explains the band’s fitting treatment of the famous Johnny Cash favorite “Ring of Fire.” Make no mistake: This outfit is no restaurant mariachi band, performing folk songs by rote. When Mariachi Quetzal plays, it’s utterly in the moment. Violinist and vocalist Sarah Baez articulates her phrases with convincing Spanish, but it’s her incredible sustains that really impress. The same goes for violinist and singer Alexia Quintero. When either woman narrates the tear-inyour-cerveza tales of abandonment, unrequited passion or dire loneliness, they keep their intonation tight. At bars such as Dan’s Silverleaf, where patrons cheer, whistle and hoist glasses, Baez turns into an irresistible tease, coating those last words with a theatrical ache. It’s rare for men in the bar not to answer. We’ve seen even gringos with loosened neckties wail aaaaahhhh-ha-haha-haaaaaaa when Baez holds a note five beats longer than humanly possible. The guys in the group — especially >> Continued on 17 10
Photo by Ed Steele
Little d After Dark
March 2013
11
Photo by David Minton
2.
av the great In his 2012 release, Poetry, Denton’s AV the Great made a strategic but risky move from the chestthumping, hip-bumping, can’tget-a-cat-down fury of his debut, Live From the Struggle.
Poetry was the Southeast Denton hip-hop artist’s declaration that he can do socially conscious rap that’s a hybrid of spoken word and a cool soundtrack for creepin’, smoking or just kicking back with your thoughts. Poetry also proved AV’s mettle as a bridge builder. We saw that side of him this time last year, when he walked into the 35 Denton headquarters and volunteered to help — or perform. He snagged a sweet spot on the main stage the same day Bun B killed it, but in a slightly 12
bitter slot in the late afternoon. (Not that he complained. We just wished more hip-hop fans had been at the show to watch a young artist give 200 percent in spite of a chilly drizzle.) Poetry showed his collaborative reach, setting most of the album’s tracks to beats on Cultural Refugee, a smart and coherent instrumental rap record by Denton DJ Juicy the Emissary. Real estate is a major dimension of hip-hop, and though AV can’t claim either of the dominant coasts, he doesn’t shrink from making Denton — a small city in Texas — a key player in his music. Nurtured in Cement City and brought up where tall state college buildings are visible even from the southern side of the tracks, AV cops to the uncertainties of his art and the blessings of fatherhood. AV can rock the house with raps about toking, but he can also turn on a dime and consider social justice. What makes him a fascinating subject is that, whether he’s rocking your body or blowing your mind, he never loses the beat. That infectious, gut-grabbing beat. He’s bound to bring it, and hard, at 35 Denton. Worth waiting for: Live treatments of “Rumors” or “The Conversation” from Poetry and “Texas” from Live From the Struggle. When: 10:30 p.m. Saturday, March 9, at Andy’s Bar, 122 N. Locust St. Wristband for today: $40.
Little d After Dark
March 2013
Photo by Ed Steele
3.
the satans of soft rock could be called a side project of busy Denton guitarist and crack songwriter Ferraro. But Ferraro doesn’t have side projects. Not artistically, anyway.
Every band he gigs with gets the musician’s loving attention and loose grip. And by “loose grip,” we refer to Ferraro’s ability to let a song go where it needs to go, and do what it needs to do. In Hares on the Mountain, Ferraro joins the wild whoop and yawp celebration that George Neal brings to the pub. In Last Joke Band, he eases off and lets Denton guitarist Ryan Thomas Becker be the boss, making each song a craft of mood and imagination. And when he leads the Satans of Soft Rock, Ferraro holds ’em and folds March 2013
’em with sweet riffs and some of the most expert hooks we’ve heard in the last two years. The band released Friend of Man and Beast Alike last May. Chris Gomez was boss on the keys and organ — and can we just say that it’s about time someone followed Denton’s Andrew Tinker in beating the living tar out of a piano? Gomez gives it a sound licking on “Satanic Verses.” Justin Collins (Hares on the Mountain, Danny Rush and the Designated Drivers) keeps the wheels on the train clacking. Ryan Thomas Becker (RTB2) plays guitar and backs Ferraro on vocals, and David Howard keeps it steady on bass. Ferraro is a criminally underrated songwriter, but his profile is growing, and deservedly so. It’s true that you’ll have more than one chance to see and hear him at the festival, but the Satans of Soft Rock promise to sate your appetite for good old American rock, and your craving for lyrics that actually say something. If we’re lucky, Gomez will be there to play keys. Or another confident sub will fill in for him. Wouldn’t it be cool: If the Satans of Soft Rock covered Tom Petty’s “You Don’t Know How It Feels” at 35 Denton? We can see Ferraro bringing a burning sort of joy to the original, which was a rebellion against conformists who fear and loathe the freaks and geeks among us. When: 9:30 p.m. Thursday, March 7, at Andy’s Bar, 122 N. Locust St. Wristband for today: $25.
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4.
the atomic tanlines
borrowed
the punk rock platform and draped a tatty rainbow flag over the whole mess. And you know what? It sounds damn good. Led by an unapologetic, bratty frontwoman who goes by Ally Play-Nice, the Tanlines dive into their songs, teeth bared and fists balled. Their tunes’ sound is gleefully violent and true to the fast-burnout pace that is trademark punk. (The track “[Expletive] My Reproductive Duty” punches in and out in 36 seconds.) Even tracks like “Comatose,” with its tuneful chorus, hand claps and moshy call-and-response structure, slam to a sudden stop. The drumming is rabid, the guitars fuzzy and a touch messy, the bass is blissed out. It’s Ally who fleshes out the music, though, wailing, growling and belting her way through the songs like a creature possessed. She plays around with sexy little chirps and full-on battle cries. No one can say Ally hasn’t committed to the hailstorm ethos of punk rock. She’s pledged herself to the show, tits to toes. The group bills itself as a queer punk outfit, proudly proclaiming the fuzzy lines around the sexual orientation of its membership. And at least one of the musicians has been known to wear just a sailor cap and a tiny pair of underwear to a gig. Denton is known as a town where punk acts come a dime a dozen. But Atomic Tanlines is worth more, if for no other reason than the band buys into its mission — to snarl, rave and snap hard at the hand of the Establishment. There’s a post-show video interview of the Tanlines drifting around on Youtube, catching the band in the afterglow of a gig that seems to have met with a premature end. The deal breaker? Something about blood spat onto the crowd. In the video, the musicians seem a little indignant but offer no apologies. That’s the way you do punk. Goes good with: Third-wave moral outrage at politicians who gamble with women’s autonomy and queer folks’ human rights in order to win votes. When: 10:30 p.m. Thursday, March 7, at Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios, 411 E. Sycamore St. Wristband for today: $25. 14
Photo by David Minton
Little d After Dark
March 2013
903.617.8933
109 E. Oak St. (Upstairs @ Opera House)
tion n e M d A s i Th 5% 1 r o f ! OFF
Courtesy photo
5.
Downtown Denton
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pageantry Once upon a time, Denton had a band called the Polycorns, a project of local artist and musician Caleb Ian Campbell. But the band dissolved, and took its lush, symphonic rock with it.
Former Polycorns bassist Pablo Burrell joined forces with musicians Ramon Muzquiz and Roy Robertson, a member of Campbell’s Team Tomb, to form Pageantry. Despite being a three-piece, Pageantry paints a big sonic palette. Wavy guitars end up doing something impressionistic — the sound declares itself, then bleeds into space, filling the open spaces of songs ever so gently. Robertson’s vocals are Thom Yorke-ian — a reedy, choirboy mezzo that makes the band’s “Friends of the Year” a meditation. Bells are a part of the equation, which explains the ethereal sounds layered into the mix. Like Team Tomb, the overall effect of Pageantry’s vocals is ambient. The music is meant to be experienced more than translated. It’s doubtful that Robertson is telling a story. He’s lending dimension to the mood, plunging the listener into that semitrance that belongs to daydreams and deep thoughts. And if you’re a sucker for lyrics, Pageantry is more like leafing through a scrapbook than reading a story. You know how the bass can be the anchor and timekeeper in a band? Burrell’s bass here is more of a compass — giving the songs direction and purpose. Muzquiz’s drums are bearers of the light, shimmering and diffusing.
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March 2013
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35 denton: behind the scenes
>>
by lucinda breeding
Courtesy photo/Kyle LaValley
A dedicated team has made 35 Denton the little brand that could
Their best for the fest
I
t began as a ragtag Denton party and concert in Austin during South by Southwest, the region’s biggest and most influential film and music event. Then it became a downtown Denton music festival luring big-name music acts like the Flaming Lips, Big Boi and the Jesus and Mary Chain. Now, 35 Denton is a brand and a business that has a beefy goal in sight, creative director Kyle LaValley says: to pave an intersection between art, commerce and innovation. 16
“We want to help Denton get over its confidence problem. And I want that printed, because it’s true,” LaValley says. “I’ve only been here a few years, and I’ve really seen it. Just because you’re creating something in a small town doesn’t mean it’s small-town quality. “We’ve got Grammy winners all over town. But when bands from Denton say where they’re from, a lot of times they’ll say they’re from Dallas.” The T-shirt campaign for this year’s 35 Denton will be an official proclamation. It will announce “F--- yeah, I’m from Denton!” LaValley shares directorship of the brand and the festiLittle d After Dark
val with Natalie Davila, a Denton resident with roots in the music scene. Davila once operated the Majestic Dwelling of Doom, a high-profile Denton house show venue. Now, Davila is using her intuitive booking skills as program director of 35 Denton. When LaValley calls 35 Denton “the youngest, hippest and most progressive” body in the city, it’s neither spin nor boasting. It’s apt. Denton has perhaps more than its fair share of festivals, but 35 Denton brings in the largest concentration of young, tech-savvy people with dollars to spend. (A survey of Twitter during the 2011 and 2012 festivals confirms the claim. In 2011, the festival was a trending topic in Dallas-Fort Worth. What does that mean? Generally, it means that the festival was mentioned about 20 times per minute on Twitter in the Dallas region. In 2012, the festival’s Twitter profile dropped a little, but the hashtag was pinging fast and hot on the site.) Last September, the company launched the Hot Wet Mess, a huge back-to-school bash that married a one-day music festival with a pop-up water park. The company is planning to stage Hot Wet Mess again this year — this time with more water features, LaValley says. Over the past two years, 35 Denton has been acting more like a business than a party. With a staff of two — LaValley and Davila — a board and a big corps of volunteers, the company (it is a for-profit, limited liability corporation) has been hooking up innovation with corporate sponsors. The brand operates, though, like a grassroots nonprofit. Exhibit A? The Hive. “The Hive is a new venue. An empty warehouse on the corner of Sycamore and Bell,” LaValley says. It will also be the largest indoor venue the festival has ever had. At 12,000 square feet, the Hive will have room for a stage — or two — a bar and 800 music lovers. LaValley says the warehouse is owned by a developer with plans for a pub and restaurant. The festival rented the space and brought it up to code to use it as the Hive. “When we first took the inspector for the fire department over there, he took one look at the space and was like, ‘No. Absolutely not. No way,’” LaValley says. “We had to explain our vision and our plan. We made it happen.” LaValley says she got the idea for the Hive from her Michigan hometown. “I grew up around spaces that were repurposed. I grew up in Detroit, where an empty factory was turned into a thousand-person rave,” she says. “That’s where the value of a lot of this is, in showing developers what is already here, and how it can be used for something else. “It’s not about the festival. It’s about creating a palette for the activity in Denton, and then making it easy for people to enjoy what’s already here.” The festival gets the Hive, but Denton gets an example of how to turn an inert space into an interactive one. In the meantime, the 35 Denton brand will grow through the connections made at the festival and build more on the goodwill the music festival has accumulated. Sure, there has been grumbling about street closures and the lines the festival has generated at downtown bars. “There are going to be lines. That’s just the reality,” LaValley says. “And you won’t be able to get into any of the venues without a wristband this year.” LaValley says it was “surreal” to stand back and watch the festival over the last three years, when she first got >>
Continued on 18 March 2013
mariachi quetzal
Continued from 10 >> trumpeters James Kerr and Josh Garza (who isn’t presently a full-time member of the band), bump up the flirtation between cantante femenina and the audience with real hot-and-bothered brass. Just when the ladies start to feel a little neglected, violinist Travis Hernandez takes over. He’s more restrained than Baez, but his heartfelt vocals get a rise out of women in the audience. Then comes Kerr, whose boyish looks don’t prepare you for the baritone that makes Mariachi Quetzal’s “Ring of Fire” a story not so much about a reprobate, as Cash’s version proposes, but a hurting man’s grief. The musicians deliver each song sincerely, playing up the passions in the form without going a touch too far into parody. It helps that the songs themselves are nearly prayers of petition. “El Pajaro Cu” is the plea of someone for a pretty, colorful bird to carry a message of devotion and desire to the real beautiful bird in question — a woman with skin the color of gold and the blackest eyes. “Contigo Aprendi” is a lover’s declaration of the knowledge that comes with true love — how kisses can feel like a religious experience and how intimacy can feel like the
new birth of a better self. The Denton band is accustomed to accolades. Mariachi Quetzal earned a 2012 Dallas Observer Music Awards nomination for Best Latino/Tejano Act. Twotime Grammy Award winner Bubba Hernandez has booked the band to open for one of his Denton-based Latin acts, Los Super Vatos. But none of the love has made the musicians too big for their pantalones. They still play weddings and quinceañeras, and for the last two Halloweens, they’ve painted their faces in full sugar-skull style and roamed the crowd at Denton’s Day of the Dead. For the premium placed on “honesty” in the music created in the Denton music scene, Mariachi Quetzal might stand as the shining example of everything that means. The band isn’t represented by a label and it doesn’t produce albums. But when Mariachi Quetzal takes the stage (or the pavement, or a patch of grass at a festival) you’ll be Mexican to the marrow of your bones, even if your last name is O’Connell. When: Noon on Sunday, March 10, at Dan’s Silverleaf, 103 Industrial St. Wristband for today: $35.
BIG SALE PRICES!! CLOSEST LIQUOR STORE TO DENTON!! Tito’s Vodka ...............................................1.75L .............. $30.99 Skyy Vodka ................................................1.75L .............. $23.99 Smirnoff Vodka ...........................................1.75L ............... $18.99 Svedka Vodka ............................................1.75L .............. $17.99 Pearl Vodka ...............................................1.75L .............. $15.99 Wave Flavored Vodkas ...............................1.75L .............. $10.99 Capt Morgan & Parrott Bay Rum................1.75L ............... $22.99 Bacardi Lt, Dark & Select Rum ...................1.75L ............... $21.99 Patron Silver Tequila...................................750ml .............. $46.99 El Mayor Silver Tequila ..............................750ml ............ $22.99 Monte Alban Tequila ..................................1.75L .............. $19.99 Tanqueray Gin ............................................1.75L ............... $39.99 Seagram’s Gin ............................................1.75L .............. $18.99 Jack Daniel’s Black ....................................1.75L .............. $39.99 Jim Beam Black Bourbon............................1.75L .............. $33.99 Ridgemont Reserve 1792 Bourbon .............750ml .............. $22.99 Ezra Brooks Bourbon ................................1.75L .............. $19.99 Canadian Mist Whiskey .............................1.75L .............. $17.99 Chivas Regal Scotch ...................................750ml ............ $32.99 Paul Masson VS Brandy .............................1.75L .............. $16.99 St. Brendan’s Irish Cream ..........................1.75L .............. $19.99
These Prices Good at LAKE DALLAS location ONLY! thru February 28, 2013
304 Swisher Rd. • Lake Dallas (NE Corner of I-35 and Swisher Rd.)
940-498-4888
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El Chapar ral Grille Great Home Cooking! American & Mexican Meals Make Your Own Menu!
Catering For All Occasions Any Type of Food for as Many as 1,000 People! Serving Breakfast & Lunch Breakfast Buffet 7am - 2pm Daily Sundays 8:30am - 11:30am
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324 E. McKinney St. • Denton • 940.243.1313 March 2013
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35 denton: behind the scenes
Continued from 16 >> involved. “For me, it was a euphoric feeling. And after it was over, I remember feeling some serious separation anxiety. Driving down the street and thinking, ‘Oh my God. It’s like it never happened.’ After you spend a year working on it, it’s this thing that happens for four days,� she says. Her tendency is to want to make the next festival bigger or better, somehow. “There are some different ideas that will
depend on how the festival goes this year,� LaValley says. “We want to be a unifying body for D-FW, and not just through events, but in bringing different bodies together — artists, labels, venues. A big part of my interest with the festival is to play a part in making Denton a cultural destination.� LUCINDA BREEDING can be reached by calling 940-566-6877 or e-mailing cbreeding@dentonrc.com.
pageantry
Continued
from 15 >>
Though the band bills itself as an experimental indie group, Pageantry fits nicely into the alternative spectrum, too. Between vocals and the soft edges of the music, Pageantry has a Brit-rock feel. It’s a sort of counterbalance to the rootsy and occasionally country finishes of the Americana music native to Denton. Sure to be a hit with: Fans of Denton’s Sundress. During the festival, Pageantry
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will perform at the showcase with Deep Sea Diver, Hey Marseilles and the Hope Trust. The trio could also be a companion piece to Midlake. Math-rock buffs and art-rock enthusiasts can share a meeting of the minds over Pageantry as well. This is music to take in with headphones, or on a solitary drive. When: 10:30 p.m. Saturday, March 9, at Sweetwater Grill & Tavern, 115 S. Elm St. Wristband for today: $35.
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