Dada – Now Serving Sloppy Jones!

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Thanks to everyone who came to last night’s show, including the BM Show, Airline, JJ & The Rogues, Long-lost friends Steve Pickering and Kevin Denbow, Bruce and Luke, Mark Pittman and a whole bunch of other folks.

cbgRather than being all happy and positive about everything I’ll put it bluntly –

[Comic Book Guy] worst. show. ever. [/Comic Book Guy].

While our music may sound deceptively simple, I can assure you it is actually very challenging to play, even for some of the best musicians in dallas. Unrehearsed, little things that make a good song great can easily slip away, producing a blander, sloppier version of the tune. Last night served as a wake-up call to me. This won’t happen again. If we’re gonna do this live thing, we need to do it right. Everyone in the audience reacted positively to the show and gave plenty of praise and ovation, but on stage we just didn’t feel ‘it’.

Anyhoo – enough bashing. We’ll be back and better – I promise.

Dada Social Butterfly in full effect

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sortajtdadaHad a great wednesday night at dada. Owner Bob Cummings is such a friendly guy. So very glad he and his partners turned this thing around.

Doug Burr was amazing as ever. His songwriting is top-notch and the performance was spell-binding at times. When he switched to an old cardoid vocal mic (or something like it), it was almost like a time portal opened up and I fell back into some late ’30s movie. We had a nice chat afterwards about songwriting stuff and found we both have a really hard time giving birth to new material.

Then Holt took the stage. Played 2 albums in 2 minutes! Ziggy Stardust and Abbey Road. I’m pretty sure both were captured on video by Michael. Hopefully he will make them available soon. I really liked the fact that the audience wanted to hear his stuff more than any cover tune. Chris is just too talented for his own good. Damn you Holt, Damn you – but thank you thank you for playing in the Jones Thing – even if we never get to practice.

All of the Olospo boys were there – even Britt Morris. I made a point to immediately whip his ass with drunken praise. I think he left about 1 minute later… sorry Britt. Nick and I chatted for a while about bassier matters. Kristy Kruger was hanging out too – which reminds me, I need to check her out on the 5th of May for her cd release at standard and pours.

During the evening I got a call from Mark Pittman. He had just seen the new documentary “The Devil and Daniel Johnston“. Perhaps I’ll see this tonight. I’ve followed that guy’s strange career for years. Mark really enjoyed it – so I know I will too.

Oh yeah – we have a gig at dada on saturday with sorta btw – hehe!

JJ sees JJ, gets mind-blown, goes insane. Film at 11

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jjrSo after attending the Ticket’s Charity Quarterback Bowl I decide to drive out to the town of the cow (sorry ceepe and meso – I shoulda called ya) to check out this band called JJ and The Rogues. They are playing with us at the Cavern and Dada next month. I had enjoyed their cd – an extremely tight, jazzy, poppy, beatley, catchy set of tunes – but was really interested to see if they could pull off the live versions with the same alacrity.

About 30 seconds into the first song, I realized they sounded even better. Each tune was executed flawlessly. Perfect 3 part harmonies, masterful guitar, bass and keyboard lines, an easy going presence… by these kids in their very early 20s. They are extremely well-rehearsed. For 5 minutes I wish I could play the guitar as well as co-leader Jameson Cockerell can. I feel pretty lame as a musician today.

I could go on and on in this post about them. I won’t. I just have to say, “other bands… be afraid, be very afraid.” I think they will turn a lot of heads, and then said heads will explode.

That comfy old pair… Sweet!!!

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earbuzzlogo4/20/06 UPDATE – We are the Featured Artist Today on earBuzz- Buy the 1st cd for only $5

earBuzz just posted very positive reviews about ‘A Comfortable Pair’ AND ‘Sweet Simulacra’. Granted they are selling the album, but a lot of the other album reviews don’t contain this much praise.

earBuzz Review: The Jones Thing’s 2004 record,”A Comfortable Pair”, is a 13 song lesson in songwriting by one Jeffrey Mark Jones. His style and execution of melody and lyric earns fitting comparisons to XTC and Elvis Costello and vocals that also conjur phrasings of Joe Jackson. The opening track, “Electricitii”, showcases Jones’ falsetto and introduces a band that combines superb guitar playing with drums and bass that are melodic and appropriate for each song. It makes sense that Eric Neal, bassist, is also a guitarist and violinist. The bass lines are as supportive and interesting melodically as any we’ve heard.

Poor Trey Carmichael – what can a drummer do when everyone else is changing instruments except continue playing dependable solid beats. Carmichael shines in the first track as he fits drum flams and fills around Jones’ lyric perfectly. Track 5, “More or Less”, is our favorite. The 6/8 piece, based on the time, automatically peaks interest – but the highlight of the tune is how the vocal harmonies blend into a hypnotic space. Carmichael again shines with a jazzer feel.

Track 8, “We Were Trained”, is a politically tinged wonderfully written tune that describes the decline of the country as ‘our freedoms they conceal. .the end is coming soon. .i’ll ride this train til the end of the line’. Track 9 follows politics with a metaphor of the Saturday morning ritual of cartoon watching, “Saturday Morning TV Action Superstar”. The final track, “Margaret the Liar” is the long mp3 here and another great song. From start to finish, the songs are ripe for the picking and a pleasure.

Buy it on earBuzz!

Bevy of Boca Tinta

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Our Manager/PR/Wetnurse Amanda is on FIRE! She’s really getting into this crazy music scene and is starting a new music showcase at Club Dada called “Listening To:” which features a lot of wonderful bands in the area.

We’ll be playing on the bill – Saturday, June 10th, with several other bands including Olospo.

She’s also gonna have a regular “Listening To:” events at Dada every Thursday Night to promote new Texas bands and pick the best of the best for the Saturday Listening To: showcases which will happen every two months.

Everyone come out to Dada on Thursdays 9pm-1am in May – She knows good music. If you are in a band that wants to play – get in touch with her!

Go Amanda Go!

Flying high with Airline

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airline1Thanks to everyone who came to the Jeff Jones Comedy Hour (aka The Jones Thing at Club Dada, opening for Airline). We hadn’t practiced enough of the material to perfection, so the 1.5 hour show was replete with inane bs coming from my mouth in between songs. We had a ton of fun though and everyone was very complimentary of the sound. I can’t thank Dada enough for providing such wonderful PA reinforcement, expertly mixed by Bobcat. Can’t wait for the next gig with Sorta on the 29th.

Finally got to see Airline live in a proper venue, with people listening instead of yammering. These kids were incredible. I wish I had reached the level of song writing maturity that Frontman Robby Holley posesses when I was in my early 20s. They have all the tools (originality, look, presentation, youth, energy, songs) necessary to ‘make it’ – or rather achieve national/international success. You best see these guys soon/this year – I have a feeling they will be touring America/Europe/Brazil before ya know it.

Remind me to play you some of my early 20s material…. it is frightening.