David Allan Coe at House of Blues - Dallas

Alone in Dallas with nothing better to do on a Wednesday night, it seemed like a perfect time to revisit the greatness that is the Longhaired Redneck. David Allan Coe.

Now, people define greatness in many different ways. All I know is that anyone who can draw a crowd where bikers stare at cowboys who are laughing at the hippies, and then 20+ years later still draw frat boys everywhere as well as play at the House of Blues and draw shaggy headed high school seniors with decently good looking girlfriends from Little Elm (who both dip either Copenhagen or Skoal Straight) and release at least 20 greatest hits albums....that's greatness.

I was introduced to DAC my freshman year at college, and haven't stopped listening since. I don't listen all the time, but I will include a couple of songs in a playlist for my tailgates or when friends and I get drunk and re-live old times. I even learned how to play Longhaired Redneck on the guitar. Sort of.

I just happened to hear on the The Ticket that DAC was playing at the House of Blues Dallas with Boys Named Sue and 100 Damned Guns. Time to cowboy up and make the trek from Plano to Downtown Dallas. Of course, that's a trip I'll take every time for some good music or a good time.

The Area

Seriously, West End is Dead. The "Marketplace" is closed. Dallas Alley looks like a ghostown. I'm not even sure if it's open anymore. Dick's Last Resort moved across the freeway to Victory Park, behind Hooters, across from the House of Blues. This is where I started my night.

Dick's is overpriced and somewhat annoying with their "rude" servers. At least in San Antonio they are. When you're the only non-staff in the restaurant at 6pm, they're kinda nice and accommodating. They're still overpriced, though, so I just had one quick beer before heading over to Hooters for some quick wings before doors opened at the HOB at 6:30.

The best thing about Hooters (besides the Owls and the great food) is that everywhere you go, Hooters is basically the same. Same price. Same menu. You know what you're getting. I know that sounds pretty lame and old of me, but, c'mon, I'm talking about Hooters. Not Applebee's.

Victory Park is doing some amazing things for the Downtown Dallas area. Cranes everywhere. Condos. Restaurants. $69 Margaritas. Fancy ass Ghostbars at the W. (I've never been there, but I'm guessing that it's got nothing on the Ghostbar in Vegas. I have been there, and there's some crazy ass shit that happens.)

The Venue

The House of Blues Opened in May 2007, and it has to be an artist's dream. Big full elevated hardwood stage. Killer soundsystem. Good acoustics. Lots of seating (SRO floor as well as balcony seats). Just a brief look at the upcoming schedule is a testament to the acts they're getting in there. I'm not real familiar with the Dallas music scene, but it seems like this is an important addition with its 1600-2000 venue with great seating, sound, etc...

The HOB is great about putting some awesome artwork in the music halls. Much of this was on the main floor, but, since I got there 45 minutes before the first band started, I had plenty of time to check it out.

For this show, I bought box seating. It was twice as much as regular seating, but I thought it would be worth it to have a nice seat on the front row of the balcony to kick back and listen to the music. I planned to be there early enough to catch all the opening bands and wanted a good place to relax and take it all in. It was a great place. Leather individual seats. Waitress service. Maybe not worth twice as much, but I did get to sit next to the previously mentioned Skoal/Copenhagen dipping high school seniors. Interesting to say the least.

100 Damned Guns

The first band up was 100 Damned Guns. The only way I know how to describe them is a cross between the Soggy Bottom Boys and No Depression era Uncle Tupelo. Complete with a lead singer that looks a bit like George Clooney and a super aggressive version of Red River Valley. In concert they are a lot more aggressive than on their album, Songs of Murder, Pain, and Woe. Good rockin' bluegrass .

Boys Named Sue

Boys Named Sue are a Tuaca lovin' East Dallas party country band. They encourage the crowd to buy them shots of Tuaca. And the crowd does. A lot. And they drink it all. Old Country, Rap, party songs. They played them all.

Towards the beginning of their set, they played what they called the "Balls and Pussy Medley". This started off with Big Balls in Cowtown and incorporated the 2 Live Crew Anthem "We Want Some Pussy" as well as Prince's "Pussy Control". Later they threw in the King of the Hill theme and The Pixies' "Where is My Mind". Not to mention all the hits off their album such as "Amber Friend" and "In Tha House". You pretty much can't not have fun at their show. One time I'm in Dallas, I need to see them at Adair's or Lee Harvey's.

David Allan Coe

Where do I begin? I guess with what he didn't play. My two favorite songs. "Longhaired Redneck" and "If That Ain't Country". Besides that, his show exceeded my expectations.

He started off by coming out by himself with only his guitar. He sang a couple of songs, medley style. Not traditional medley, but the whole song running into the next song. Every song sounds like it's about to kick into "If That Ain't Country". He was only joined on stage by some stage lackey that had a perm and dealt with feedback whenever DAC summoned him. (He also wiped the sweat off DAC's arms whenever requested.)

He was soon joined by a couple of guitarists which I affectionately called Carrot Top and Fall Out Boy (maybe bassist). Carrot Top (identified later as DAC's son!) had a mop top and rocked the guitar. Fall Out Boy (green sleeveless shirt?) pretty much just hung out.

One thing of note...no drummer! Also, DAC's hair kind of looks a little like a British Judge's. He was wearing 2 long ass beard braids and one black and one red tennis shoe. And I'm pretty sure by his first couple of songs that he has some "issues" with his parents.

He really played a great set.

• Jerry Jeff Walker "Desperadoes Waiting for the Train"
• Neil Young "Southern Man"
• "The Ride"
  
• "Please Come to Boston"
• Willie Nelson "Always on My Mind"
• Earl Thomas Conley "Holding Her and Loving You"
• "Tennessee Whiskey"
• "Ride 'Em Cowboy" (I've always been the Rhinestone Cowboy, I don't care what Glen Campbell has to say)
• "Mona Lisa"
• Allman Brothers' "Midnight Rider"
• "Willie Waylon and Me" (My name is David Allan Coe and I'm from Motherfuckin' Dallas, Texas!)
• Waylon Jennings "Are You Ready for the Country"
• "Jack Daniels If You Please"

And throughout all this, the Kid Rock Fetish kicks in.

I love Kid Rock. Don't get me wrong. DAC seems to have an obsession, though.

DAC had a couple of songs on Kid Rock's 2003 album Kid Rock, "Single Father" (which he sang) and "Son of Detroit", a "Son of the South" rewrite. But he's taken it to extremes.

He played "Only God Knows Why" and "Picture", as well as Uncle Cracker's "Follow Me" and Dobie Gray's "Drift Away" (which Uncle Cracker covered). And then, he closed his show with "American Band", a Kid Rock favorite that he played on the VMA's once.

I'm just sayin'...

Of course "You Never Even Called Me By My Name" got played. It was a ridiculous version that you could tell he wanted nothing to do with. Some stuck up folk by me left as soon as he played that song.

At one point, someone brought out a "gift" for DAC's September birthday. A rebel flag 1980's hair band flying V guitar. Sweet.

DAC rules. And he's old. But this is the best show I've seen by him in awhile.

ACL Fest 2007 - Day 3

Where to start with Day 3. I guess with the beginning. We had planned to park at Austin High School, but the lot was closed for some church. So we scrambled and found a $10 parking spot at the Mean Eyed Cat.

It was actually a really good spot. Took a walk across the hike and bike bridge under Mopac over Lady Bird Lake which dropped us off right by the north entrance to ACL Fest. It's a pretty cool walk by Johnson Creek under several overpasses. We figured the shuttle buses after Dylan would be a nightmare. This was easy in easy out with no waiting.





Our goal was to get there in time for Robert Earl Keen, and we made it in plenty of time. Parked our chairs at the AMD stage. This was our biggest group of the weekend...11 of us.

Robert Earl must have thought we were at Bonnaroo, because he broke out his jam band set. Started out with a 9 minute version of Dreadful Selfish Crime and ended up with a 13 minute version of The Road Goes on Forever. After several songs, one of our group commented "he sure didn't check with me when he made the playlist..." He did mix in many of his favorites: Corpus Christi Bay and Feelin' Good Again. The oddest moment was when he told a long story about being accosted by grandma's from Comanche in the parking lot for not playing Merry Christmas From The Family. This song definitely did not fit in the 90+ degree heat.

He was also dressed in a somewhat ridiculous outfit: cowboy hat, t-shirt, khaki's tucked into boots, and a Kenny Rogers beard.

Headed over to watch a little Common as well as watch some Cowboys vs. Dolphins in the air conditioned AT&T Digital Oasis. (Cowboys win!) Air conditioning creates lines. Once we were in, though, sweet, sweet cool air. Checked my fantasy football. (I win!)

Because Bloc Party was right there at AT&T stage, I watched a couple songs while Becky got us Salt Lick.

mmmm. Salt Lick.

Once we got back to our camp, I was offered a wristband to go backstage for Wilco! We went to get in line, but, alas, the only thing I got out of it was this:

After hearing about 45 minutes of the show standing in line to get backstage, I decided I wasn't missing any more and went back to our seats. Lance Armstrong of course had no problem getting in... Thanks for thinking of me with the pass, KG! Too bad it didn't work out.

Fortunately, I caught the best 3o minutes of the whole weekend. The end of Wilco's show was amazing. Jeff Tweedy played the combo of Red Eyed and Blue and I Got You from Being There and then closed out with a really strong set. The sound was really tight from our seats and we had a great view. At least I got to see the best part!

After relaxing for a bit from Wilco's show, we went to grab some seats for Bob Dylan. What a cluster.

Imagine 65,000 people all going to the same place at the same time. With limited space to walk and trying to navigate around the Decemberists' show to get there. And everyone stopping to take piss and get a beer on the way.

We finally found an open spot pretty far from the stage. Basically gave up trying to walk any further. The Decemberists were wrapping up and we could hear really well from our spots. Because we were so far back. O Valencia! is a freakin' great song and we could see/hear perfectly.

Once Dylan started, the place became a mad house. The volume was low and nobody could see. Couple that with not being able to understand Dylan anyway. And, for some reason, the video screens only showed two shots: a far away full stage shot and a not as far away half screen shot. No closeups at all. About half of the people decided this was the time to move closer, and they took any means necessary to do it. Moving chairs. Moving people. Anything to just get a little closer. The walkways were in complete gridlock, so the only way to get closer was to go through the crowd.

About 3o minutes into the show, suddenly the exodus began. The walkways reversed and people streamed out. It was like the tide had shifted from High tide to Low tide. You know how it is. The tides they are a changin'. For the next 15 minutes thousands and thousands of festival goers left. It just went on and on and on. The good thing is this allowed us to get close enough to see and hear! So, see and hear we did. The last half hour of the show was great. The crowd was really into it. The people who didn't care in the first place were gone.

The show was good but it was absolutely the wrong setting for Bob Dylan. Wrong for his fans. Wrong for the festival. Wrong for everybody.

With everything done and everybody hot, sweaty and just generally beat from the weekend, it was time to go home. (With a Whataburger detour of course.)

Can't wait for next year!

ACL Fest 2007 - Day 2

The theme for today was Texas almost losing to the University of Central Florida.

And the music.

Because of the game, we parked downtown and went to Ringers Sports Lounge first to watch the game at 2:30 CDT.

Chili Cheese Fries, tequila shots, beer, and football. Followed up by an evening at ACL Fest. Doesn't get much better than that.

Except.

Texas looked awful. After a rain delay and an incredibly long halftime, we left during the third quarter with UCF about to take the lead. They did, Texas eventually won, but it was ugly.

The other theme of the day was canceled performances. The White Stripes canceled for Meg's "medical issues" while Amy Winehouse needed Rehab. No, no, no. Supposedly just exhaustion, really. I don't believe it. The White Stripes cancellation really screwed up the scheduling, and the printed schedules didn't reflect it.

The shuttles to the Festival really worked out well. Surprisingly well. Much easier than any other options we had at that point.

We immediately went to the Austin Ventures stage to watch Kelly Willis. Met up with our friends from yesterday with the addition of one wife. They had come earlier to see Steve Earle. He was on the Dell stage, playing acoustically, and evidently the sound was awful.

As always, Kelly Willis was good Texas Music. The Austin Ventures stage is by far my favorite. The smaller venue set in front of the rocks is just great. Sound is usually great and you can get pretty close.

I also slid over to see the Arctic Monkeys a little during Kelly's set. It was hard to get close enough to have decent sound, though. I should have gone over to Damien Rice instead.

This is one of my favorite places at the Fest.

Cross Canadian Ragweed was by far my favorite show so far. The way Cody Canada was dressed in a green army hat reminded me of J.W. George that always plays at Shorty's Bar in Port Aransas.

CCR played everything I was looking for except Carney Man. My guess is that they're damn tired of that song. When he introduced "Boys from Oklahoma", he said "this isn't even on the playlist, but evidently it's the only fucking song some of you think we know, so here it is...." A damn good dope smokin' song if you ask me.

On one song, he used a megaphone to sing into the microphone. Awesome effect.

They finished the show by saying "Well, the Statesman said we'd do a cover, so I guess we're obliged" and went in to a Neil Young cover. Pretty funny, because I had read that in XLEnt on Friday in Michael Corcoran's pick's. Hell of a way to end their set.

Because of the White Stripe canceling, Muse pushed up into the headliner set, along with Arcade Fire. It was basically a coin flip, but we went to see Muse. At this point, we were tired and pretty much ready to go. I really liked the songs I heard and am going to follow up, but we were ready to beat the traffic and get out of there.

25 minutes on the shuttle, and we're back at the car and going home.

Tomorrow: Robert Earl Keen, Wilco, and Bob Dylan!

ACL Fest 2007 - Day 1

This is the second year I've been to Austin City Limits Festival, but the first time I'm doing all three days. I'm not sure why we haven't done it more, but the fact that it is in the middle of Texas Football season probably has a lot to do with it.

Today, Becky dropped me off at around noon. She met me later in the day.

I was supposed to meet a couple of friends in time to see the Kevin McKinney show at 12:50 on the Austin Ventures stage. Because I was a little early and they were a little late, I got to wander around by myself for a bit. I was able to check out the traditional start of ACL Fest. Asleep at the Wheel singing Miles and Miles of Texas.

After that I went to the Austin Ventures stage to see Kevin McKinney, the frontman for Soulhat. I was able to see Soulhat a couple of times when I was in college at some reggae place just off Sixth Street and then at the Black Cat.

I didn't know any of the songs, but Kevin put on a great show. He closed out with the Goodtime Song. I'm still looking for a place to download..

Heartless Bastard was next. A decent show, but the lead singer looked so freakin' hot. Not in a good way, but in a sweaty Austin is really hot way.

The Kiddie Stage was right next door, and Jambo was playing. I kept hearing this other band that sounded really good. Finally I looked it up to see that it was Austin Kiddie Limits. I almost went to check it out.

I saw the best t-shirt of the day here. "Where the Hell is What About Bob 2?" Also, I thought it was really cool that I noticed that there were a lot of people all by themselves just hanging out and listening to the tunes.

While catching a little bit of the Del McCoury Band, my buddies finally showed up and we went to watch Bela Fleck and the Flecktones. The Del McCoury Band were dressed in full on suits. Talk about being hot. They did a great cover of a Bob Dylan Song: Walk Out In the Rain.

During Del McCoury, there was a big fire in the back of the park. Pretty close to where I parked my truck. Evidently an RV caught on fire and the fire spread to two 18 wheelers.

Bela Fleck was really laid back and a good time to just hang out and listen. There was someone dressed as a pirate with an instrument that I have no idea what it was.

ACL came out with a pre-festival 10 song free download. One of these was Blonde Redhead, or so I thought. I mistakenly suggested this band based on a song I thought I had. Turned out I didn't. And they sucked.

So we went over to the Austin Ventures stage again to see Manchester Orchestra. They were a thousand times better than Blonde Redhead, but they still sounded like Blue October wannabees.

We decided to get a little funky. Big Sam's Funky Nation were next. Funk under the WAMU tent. Also, my first whiff of pot. Maybe because the people next to us were smoking a big fattie. I wasn't really in the right mood for funk, though, so I went to see a little Joss Stone. By a little, I mean the last song.

Finally met up with Becky at M.I.A. Sri Lanka's answer to Peaches. At least that's what I read somewhere. After reading the Wikipedia writeup, I guess that might be an accurate description. Without the gender identity issues. Good for a dance club. Not good for ACL. And, yes, the MIA website is quite possibly the busiest I've ever seen. Worse than a 14 year old that decided to pretty up their myspace page.

Spoon is an Austin band that has been around awhile, but I'm just starting to get into. They started off the set with "My Little Japanese Cigarette Case" from their latest album and went on to mix some of the old (stuff I didn't know) with some of the new (stuff I did know).

We left a little early to meet up with the rest of our crew for the Reverend Horton Heat. This was one of the rockin' shows of the day. First time I've seen them in person, but they lived up to their billing.

I went to refill my Heineken Light. Yeah, I know. Heineken, Heineken Light, Ziegenbock, or Bud Light. That's my biggest complaint about the festival. Beer options, or lack thereof. I'll usually drink a light beer in outdoor hot situations like this, but Bud Light just sucks. Ziegenbock is too heavy for the heat. Better for later on when the sun goes down. Heineken tastes like feet. So, Heinie Light it is.

Anyway, the point of the story is that I was able to catch a little bit of the Kaiser Chiefs show. Right when they did "I Predict a Riot". I absolutely need to see and hear more of them. They were here in 2005, so maybe they'll be back.

Finally, 8 hours after I got there, The Killers. The headliners get to do a lot more with a stage show than the others. They started off with a whole video segment with images from the Sam's Town CD insert and then kicked off the concert with Sam's Town. Brandon Flowers quickly shed his sequined jacket, proclaiming "You brave, brave people. Where we come from, it's a dry heat." Or something to that effect.

They of course played their hits...Read My Mind, Brightside, and Somebody Told Me. Oddly enough, I didn't even know Somebody Told Me was a Killers song, yet I was singing it earlier in the day. I was shopping in the Waterloo Records Tent when it came on.

The Waterloo Records Tent is great. They have CD's from all the acts. And the prices aren't jacked up, so you can easily pick up something you heard that you liked without getting screwed over. While I was in there I bought The Killers Sam's Town and the ACL Fest 2003 CD. That's the year that really kickstarted the festival with REM performing. bv

I was very impressed with The Killers' show. Just so strange to see all the people streaming out midway through.

Bjork? No interest at all. We had split up with the rest of our group and they went to Bjork. I guess she's a freak. And they confirmed it.

All in all a great, long, hot day. Filled with nonstop music. We learned an important lesson about parking, though. The closer to Lamar the better. It took us a half hour to go from our spot a couple of blocks to Lamar.

2 more days!