This Good Life

"Serenity" - Simply a Must See

Kris (my wife) was home sick about a week ago.  Since she was curled up on the couch while I was at work, she tuned into her favorite station, Sci-Fi.  She's a big fan of any movie involving, huge snakes, sharks, man-sharks, or snake-sharks on mars.  Cheesy low-budget Sci-Fi is just what she needs when she is sick.  Well, on this particular day, they were showing re-runs of the Sci-Fi series "Firefly".  This is a show done by Joss Whedon of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Angel" fame.  The series takes place in the future, with a group of outcast, cowboy-esque rebels.  The series had a devout following, but was abrupty cancelled by Sci-Fi after only 11 episodes.  They were doing a back to back of all 11 shows, so Kris got to watch them all. 

The reason for this marathon of "Firefly" was the upcoming big-screen release of "Serenity", a theatrical version of the "Firefly" series.  Same cast of characters, but new plot for the movie.  It seems that after the cancelling of "Firefly", a grassroots campaign was mounted by the show's super-fans.  Calling themselves "Browncoats" (after the brown attire worn by the characters in the show) they were so successful in pushing for "Firefly" that Whedon go to make a full movie.  Well, we went to see "Serenity" on Friday, the first day in the theaters.

It was absolutely amazing.  One of the top 5 sci-fi movies I have ever seen in the history of sci-fi movies.  We are talking up there with "Empire Strikes Back".  It's a great story, full of sarcastic, quirky dialogue, and great characters.   I couldn't believe how good this movie was.  I know that I will end up owning this on DVD.  It was so good that I hope they never get "Firefly" back on the air.  With no TV show, they can keep letting Whedon make movies.  Which is all he should do from here on out.  His creativity is too big for the small screen.

New Music Festival

Ok, be forewarned, I’m going to harsh a bit on a band that is fairly big and popular in Dallas. If anyone doesn’t want to hear a bad review of a band in Dallas, don’t read any further.

Pickle played in the North Texas New Music Festival this past weekend. Actually, we played on a Thursday night, so technically not a weekend. We played in the NMF last year, and the whole thing was a bit of a mess. First, weather didn’t help. They have stages set up outdoors, and our stage was outside at Dada. It rained, we got moved in for a short set, but all went well. But, the entire festival last year was very disorganized, making it difficult to fully enjoy.

This year was different. Much to my surprise, it was super organized. Entries were done online, and bands were notified a month in advance that they were selected (vs. a week or so last year). There were some last minute changes that moved some bands around, including Pickle from a midnight to 11:15 slot. However, we were notified, and the website for the NMF was updated very quickly.

Our slot this year was 11:15 Thursday night at Club Clearview. The festival organized a kick-off party at 6pm with free beer on the Clearview roof deck, so tons of people were there early. The outside stage had music starting at 7pm with a special acoustic show featuring Jaret and Erik of Bowling for Soup. Here is where the harshing begins. Last chance to stop reading.

Bowling for Soup is kind of a DFW success story. Played around town for years, did indie albums, got a hit single with “Girl All The Bad Guys Want”, sold a bunch of records, re-recorded the “Gilligan’s Island” theme song for the TBS reality show, and generally appeared to be doing pretty well. I’m sure they got Paid doing all of that (capital P). So, Erik and Jaret show up and do an acoustic set. There are probably 50 people upstairs and another 50 down in front of the stage. They are just two acoustics and vocal, and boy was it weak. I mean, really weak. First, just not good arrangements. Two guys, strumming guitars and singing, and the strained voice of Jaret may be great for pop-punk, but it didn’t work in this setting. They also talked to each other onstage for 5 minutes or more between songs. I mean, did you guys even rehearse? Put a set list together? It was obvious they just rolled up, pulled out some acoustics and winged it. The onstage banter was about an un-rock as you can get, and the word “freaking” was used liberally. Come on guys, you’re in a band. Just use the word fuck or don’t. Freaking is just copping out, and sounding like an idiot. They did a terrible cover (I can’t even remember the song they did), and when they finally got to their big hit, even it was a disappointment. It was like watching a tire fire. Its stinky, ugly, and you keep thinking surely they will put this thing out, but somehow, it just keeps on burning. 

It finally ended, and so did the free beer. A band called Minority started playing after that, very young punk band, so we went back to pick up our gear at Plunk’s and loaded into Clearview. When we got back, Spector 45 was playing. A younger rockabilly-esque band. Not very impressive. I also had a chance to catch most of the set by Sunday Drive, our good friends in the music world. It was a great show. Much more free and longer arrangements than I remember hearing at previous shows. Many of the tunes had a Death Cab For Cutie feel, with great long “rock out” solos at the end. It was a very solid show. When 11:00 rolled around we started loading on stage and found out that the last band never showed up. They gave us extra time, so we got to tack on two more songs to the set list. The list was:

Dig It, Yet To Come, Johnny Cash, Scopolamine, Heavenly, When Ya Comin, The Other Woman, Heartache

It was a good show all in all. Had a decent crowd of 30 or so people, with more coming in and out (as there were tons of clubs involved in this festival). The Sunday Drive guys (and their gals) also showed up and were right up front, which was great. A well run festival this year, and we had a great time. Just a shame about those main stage bands. I know they are more famous than our band, and have a better following, but they should also have better songs and talent. That’s why there is a main stage. Well, one day we’ll be up there, and other bands can rip us apart too.