Come to the Amsterdam Bar Bad Ass Jazz night at 10pm tonite! Dave Zoller, keyboards; Andrew Griffith, drumset; Jonathan Fisher, upright bass; Evan ______, trumpet. See ya there!
A Benefit for Rockin Ralph of Hollywood 5 and Dime fame will be held at The Amsterdam Bar Wednesday July 14th, 2010. Spector 45 and The Dangits will be playing starting at 9 PM. DJ Mark Ridlen willl DJ between the bands' sets, so the music will never stop.
The San Francisco-based supergroup Still Flyin' was assembled in late 2004 by singer/songwriter Sean Rawls. By the time he arrived on the West Coast he was already a veteran of various Athens, GA bands, including Masters of the Hemisphere and Je Suis France. For the latter band, Rawls wrote a reggae song, "Never Gonna Touch the Ground." The song quickly became a live show staple and crowd favorite.
After relocating to San Francisco, the song seemed to have a life of its own and demanded to be jammed. Rawls decided he needed to form a band based on that song and the dream of Still Flyin' was born. He asked virtually everyone he knew in his new city to join the reggae-inspired project, and to everyone's surprise the first practice had fifteen people at it.
What might have begun as a lighthearted nod to good times soon became a juggernaut that no one in the band expected, and before long the group had become a San Francisco phenomenon. It didn’t hurt that this nascent supergroup counts members of bands such as Track Star, Aislers Set, Ladybug Transistor, Love Is All, Maserati, and Red Pony Clock amongst it’s rotating collective.
Recording songs that combined a 1960's psychedelic nostalgia with ironic and literate lyrics, The Happy Bullets began when indie songwriters Jason Roberts and Tim Ruble met while working together at an art gallery in a suburb of Dallas. After a home recording demo was released and played on local radio, Roberts quickly recruited his wife, Andrea to learn bass guitar while lending vocal support to several of the bands more pop-oriented songs. Additional members were later added including Josh McKibben of The Sons of Sound, Rhett Jones, and Kris Youmans of The Paper Chase.
2004 saw the release of The Happy Bullets first record, Blue Skies and Umbrellas and was quickly followed up in 2005 with The Vice and Virtue Ministry, engineered by Stuart Sikes (Modest Mouse, Cat Power, the Promise Ring) and released on the upstart Dallas indie label Undeniable Records. The latter gained the band critical acclaim on the national college radio circuit and led to shared bills with Mates of State, Architecture in Helsinki, and Of Montreal.
In 2006, the Happy Bullets toured throughout the United States performing in Austin, Texas at the SXSW Music Festival, Athens, Georgia at the 2006 Athens Popfest, and at CMJ Music Festival in New York City.
Fishboy is a four-piece eccentric indie pop band from Denton, TX that began as the bedroom solo project of Eric Michener. He was given the nickname on a middle-school field trip after a dare to pluck and swallow a fish at the Dallas World Aquarium. Six years and several shoe boxes full of cassette tapes later, Michener moved from the suburbs to the Texas rock-and-roll Mecca of Denton with a handful of low-budget recordings released by the close-knit Austin music collective Business Deal Records.
Their third album, Little D, was acclaimed by the Austin Chronicle and Dallas Observer and voted Best Local Band of 2005 by the Dallas Morning News.
Recording songs that combined a 1960's psychedelic nostalgia with ironic and literate lyrics, The Happy Bullets began when indie songwriters Jason Roberts and Tim Ruble met while working together at an art gallery in a suburb of Dallas. After a home recording demo was released and played on local radio, Roberts quickly recruited his wife, Andrea to learn bass guitar while lending vocal support to several of the bands more pop-oriented songs. Additional members were later added including Josh McKibben of The Sons of Sound, Rhett Jones, and Kris Youmans of The Paper Chase.We look forward to having The Happy Bullets on our stage this weekend.
2004 saw the release of The Happy Bullets first record, Blue Skies and Umbrellas and was quickly followed up in 2005 with The Vice and Virtue Ministry, engineered by Stuart Sikes (Modest Mouse, Cat Power, the Promise Ring) and released on the upstart Dallas indie label Undeniable Records. The latter gained the band critical acclaim on the national college radio circuit and led to shared bills with Mates of State, Architecture in Helsinki, and Of Montreal.
In 2006, The Happy Bullets toured throughout the United States performing in Austin, Texas at the SXSW Music Festival, Athens, Georgia at the 2006 Athens Popfest, and at CMJ Music Festival in New York City.[1]
If there has been something salutary about the evolution of the singer/songwriter genre over the years, it's been the way that those who work in the general vein have expanded its range beyond simply being solo guitar with arrangements, or painstaking re-creations of power pop bands jamming. Robert Gomez's 2009 album demonstrates this, with perhaps expected fragments of the art pop aesthetic from the Beach Boys meshing with crisp drum punches and even full-on rhythm attacks, which "Behind a Green Rosette" shows on this album in particular. If he doesn't really let himself be as completely loose as he could -- there's definitely an air of a lost '70s wonderland present from the start -- he has an ear for unsettled backgrounds and mood establishers, like the swirl of piercing piano and the roiling chug and tones starting "At Nemeli Bats," or the slow unfolding keyboard and skyscrape guitar howl that concludes "Open Your Eyes/Escape From." Gomez serenely whispers and soothes more than sings, with as much reverb on his voice as possible, but it suits the understated flow of work like "Hunting Song," all softly chugging but nervous tones, keyboards, and beats, and perhaps the most traditional guitar/vocal song, "A Paper Figurine" -- at least before the spare funk break kicks in.This is going to be a great show.
I’ve known Nate Fowler for more than a decade, personally and professionally. You may remember him from one of his previous bands — the American Fuse, most likely — or from his most recent project, Nate Fowler’s Elixir. Really good punk-tinged, loud rock and roll, in the vein of the Replacements or the New York Dolls. For several years, we were neighbors at the Turtle Dove apartments on Matilda and McCommas, and I still see him semi-regularly, since his friend and band mate Kinley Wolfe lives just down the street. He’s probably one of the nicest, sweetest people I’ve ever met.Let's help this talented musician get back on his feet.
Anyway, last year, Nate and his mom were in a serious car wreck. Nate’s arm was crushed, shattering it near his wrist. Even the photos I saw of it after he’d been patched up were chilling. Like a lot of musicians — and many Americans, for that matter — Nate doesn’t have health insurance. He has worked his way back to play guitar a little bit, but he needs a ton of physical therapy, and a pile of cash to pay for it all.
Some jazz clubs in Dallas offer live music on the weekends; most of the better ones serve it up every night. But [The Amsterdam Bar] in Exposition Park, beats the competition even though it hosts live jazz only on Mondays. Still, there's more than a quality-to-quantity ratio involved in this one. To us, jazz isn't about pristine tablecloths, expensive martinis and a bunch of old farts sitting around and ignoring the music. The best jazz is the stuff made in dark, casual clubs like New Amsterdam, where local players as hot as Shelley Carrol and (on occasion) Earl Harvin set up on the floor in front of the bathrooms and improvise some of the best bop-era jazz in town. On occasion, the tunes get rough--after all, the floor is open to all brass-wielders--but cheap martinis, lounge seating and a chill atmosphere make up for the occasional weak sax solo.And that pretty much sums it up.
Shelley Carrol - Tenor SaxophoneJoin us every Monday night for the best jazz in Dallas, Texas!
Brad Leali - Alto Saxophone
Gary Granger - Drums
Jonathan Fisher - Bass
Scott Bucklin - Piano
Jay Jennings - Trumpet
The KüL is a band on a musical journey of expression, freedom, and experience. A willingness to explore and create a sound of hope and awareness for the masses, who are blinded by a cloud of paranoia, blending soul, blues, funk, and rocknroll. The KüL has created a sound and style that is unique and all their own.The KüL bring an amazing energy to their stage performance. There can be no doubt: on Saturday November 8th, The Amsterdam Bar is the place to be!
The Voice of the KüL: Adrian Brackens aka (Johnny Lenix) is a classic throwback to 70s soul singers similar to Al Green, Sly Stone, and James Brown. With his energetic showmanship and poetic writing Johnny Lennix uses his gospel, soul, and funk roots to evoke spiritual and free emotions in the masses. Formally a member of the Grammy award winning gospel group, Gods Property featuring, Kirk Franklin, this multi-talented musician has performed across the country and overseas with the award winning group.
The Sound of the KüL: guitarist Dane Manshack, a Blues Master in the making, takes elements of the past and conjures up a spellbinding electric sound of psychedelic peace, love, sex, and happiness. This young cat harkens to the 60's with bell-bottoms and bare feet playing stoner blues and rock with a punk groove from the dirty south.
The Pulse of The Band: drummer Ross Martinez and bassist Max Townsley are both grounded in music theory, Ross is the heartbeat that drives the band to new horizons in sound, with his blending of jazz, soul, and rock drumming. The bass player is our resident genius Max, a multi-talented musician lays down the funk and gives a new meaning to the word bottom man with his unique style of play.
And now with addition of female vocalist Taylor Rea, with her sultry, soulful sound, influenced by Bonnie Rate, Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, and many more...makes a perfect addition to an already musical masterpiece. JAM!
Truly the KüL is a band with a sound thats all their own. With each members collective talent and desire this band is on their way to a place in rock history.
The dust is settling from the remodel, & we're ready to have some fun & get into the season.
Pumpkin Carving Contest: Beginning today, you'll get a free Pumpkin with the purchase of an Oktoberfest, or Dogfish Head Pumpkin Beers. The Winner gets a $50 Tab, 2nd is a $25 Tab.
We'll fire up the grill for Brats as well around 2:30
Saturday Night's Bands are:
Beauregard, Plexus Loom, and DJ Dave!
I just wanted to share a few pictures from last Monday's Bad Ass Jazz Night. These pictures really bring out why our Monday jazz scene is so special. The band sets up in the back of our small bar: there's no room for a band stand or stage, and sometimes it's hard to tell where the band ends and the audience begins.
We think that Shelley Carrol and his friends provide the single best night of jazz to be found anywhere in Dallas, Texas . . . or maybe all of Texas, for that matter. The secret? The music is kept raw and improvisational, the way jazz is meant to be. The musicians can jam, interact, and improvise.
Join us Monday nights at The Amsterdam Bar for Bad Ass Jazz Night. Get there by 9:00 PM if you want a seat.
