What: 6th Annual Cedars Open Studio
When: Saturday, November 22nd, 10am-6pm; after party begins at 7pm and ends at midnight.
Where: South of downtown Dallas - Cedars neighborhood (map it!)
Price: FREE!

Image via Wikipedia

This Sunday WRR is presenting the 14th Annual Picnic in the Park at the Dallas Arboretum.

The Dallas Wind Symphony will be playing at 7pm and at 8:30pm AFI Dallas will present The Princess Bride.

Download the WRR program for this Sunday.

WRR will be giving away promotional prizes as well as 2 free Lufthansa airline tickets to Europe.

Coolers are allowed, and don’t forget your blanket.

Admission and parking is free after 5:30pm.

The Dallas Arboretum
8617 Garland Rd
Dallas, TX 75218
(214) 515-6500

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When Starbucks has taken enough of your money, and not even returned a little in free wi-fi, check out some of the local coffee shops in your area. What you will get is better coffee, prices, and a unique experience. Plus, you’re supporting local businesses.

Today, Nick and I checked out Opening Bell on South Lamar.

A little on the South side of town, but there are some reasons to go over there once in a while (Lee Harvey’s, Bill’s Records, Palladium Ballroom). Opening Bell didn’t nearly have the crowd I thought it would be, well, because we were the only people there for a while. Turns out the Bell gets busy on Fri. and Sat. night when they have live music on the stage.

To be honest, I liked it the way it was. Good lighting, open seating, music that is playing not on the radio, and fresh, decent coffee (without all the merchandise next to the register when you order.) They also have a wide variety of board games and playing cards, which could be fun for a date, if people still do that anymore.

Oh, and did I mention Free Wi-Fi?

This is just the place to go on a Sunday.

Opening Bell
1409 South Lamar, Basement #012
Dallas, Texas 75215
tel: 214/565-0383
Street side parking and free gated parking on Belleview.

Hours:
Monday-Thursday 7am-10pm
Friday 7am-midnight
Saturday 9am-midnight
Sunday 10am-2pm

Zack de la Rocha (RATM), and Jon Theodore (ex-drummer for The Mars Volta) have been collaborating together on a project titled “One Day As A Lion“. This week they released their single on MySpace, titled “Wild International”, and their EP is set to release via Anti-Records** on July 22nd. Anyone who knows me knows that I am a fan of RATM. Listening to them on the way to school in 1998, and still in 2008. Then I used to sing the words, now I am hearing the words. There’s a message. Your chance to listen. Our time to voice.

“If we don’t take action now, then settle for nothing later.”

About One Day As A Lion:

“One Day As A Lion is both a warning delivered and a promise kept.”

“The name taken from the infamous 1970 black and white, captured by legendary Chicano photographer George Rodriguez featuring a center framed tag on a white wall in an unspecified section of Boyle Heights. It reads: ‘It’s better to live one day as a lion, than a thousand years as a lamb.’ This record is a stripped down attempt to realize this sentiment in sound.”

** Side note: Anti-records also released the new record by Tim Fite, Fair Ain’t Fair. Download his previous album, “Over The Counter Culture”. Download it without having any expections, and see what the outcome is.

Coldplay is thanking their supporters with a free song, titled “Death Will Never Conquer”. You can download the song on their website by submitting your email address. I haven’t listened to the song yet, but I always appreciate a free song from the artist. Thank you, Coldplay, for all your positive influences in music and social change.

My Morning Jacket just released their new album, Evil Urges, on June 10, 2008, and is now on tour all over the states. I’ve listed their tour dates below, and they will be in Dallas, TX on Saturday, August 23rd @ The Palladium Ballroom. The show starts at 7:30pm. Tickets are $36 and can be purchased through Ticketmaster.

There are also rumors going around that Jim James, lead singer for MMJ, Conor Obert, aka Bright Eyes, and M. Ward are collaborating together and releasing an LP. Looking forward to further details (thanks, Pitchfork!). Jim James appeared on the first track of Conor Oberst’s album “I’m Wide Awake It’s Morning“. You know that one, the song with the monologue about the plane crashing into the ocean (going to a party, a birthday party) …

“We must blend into the choir, sing as static with the whole,
We must memorize nine numbers and deny we have a soul,
And to this endless race for property and privilege to be won
We must run, we must run, we must run.”

MMJ banded together in 1998 out of Louisville, Kentucky. I have only one of their albums, Z, and continue to return back to it on my iPod every couple months over the last year - the entire album is filled with so much energy while at the same time staying consistently mellow.

Here are their tour dates in the US:

08-01-03 Newport, RI - Newport Folk Festival (Jim James solo acoustic)
08-15 Nashville, TN - Riverfront Park
08-16 Louisville, KY - Waterfront Park (”An Evening With My Morning Jacket”)
08-18 Kansas City, MO - Uptown Theatre (”An Evening With My Morning Jacket”)
08-19 Council Bluffs, IA - Stir Cove (”An Evening With My Morning Jacket”)
08-21 Morrison, CO - Red Rocks Amphitheater (with The Black Keys)
08-23 Dallas, TX - Palladium Ballroom (”An Evening With My Morning Jacket”) No opening act for this concert.
08-24 Austin, TX - Stubbs (”An Evening With My Morning Jacket”)

Saul Williams is a poet. a lyricist. a leader. and a voice. I first heard Saul Williams on YouTube - Williams is standing in front of a mic and freestyling right out of the New York Times (…”New York Times. White Collar Crimes”). There are notebooks at his feet, probably filled with poetry and such. Zack de la Rocha is playing the drums behind him, but that’s only a minor detail. There is nothing more powerful than a mind and a voice “…and an idea whose time has come.”

Saul Williams first released the new album in November 2007 for free on NiggyTardust.com. On July 8th, Fader Label will be releasing the CD & vinyl, including 5 bonus tracks. The album, The Inevitable Rise & Liberation of Niggy Tardust, is Saul Williams’ third album.

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If you haven’t listened to Okkervil River, do yourself a favor and purchase the album Don’t Fall In Love With Everyone You See. My favorites on that album: Red, Kansas City, My Bad Days, & Happy Hearts. This is one of those albums that you can listen to cover to cover. And in my opinion, there is just NO other way. If I cannot listen to an entire album, then you will not hear me recommending it.

Okkervil River reminds me of Wilco & Bright Eyes, with a mandolin, slide guitar, harmonica, and a deep insight versed in lyrics that you cannot forgot. Can you relate? Sometimes, no, but you sure as hell have thought about it.

From the song “Red”: “Yes” is my favorite answer. I took a dancer home, she felt so alone. We stayed up all night in the kitchen doing my dishes, on and on until the dawn. She said “I know it’s easy to have me, but I have seen some things that I can’t even tell to my family pictures,” and “I’m full of fictions and fucking addictions” and “I miss my mother.”

From the song “Happy Hearts”: “Why must happy hearts break so hard, leave you staring in the mirror at a bar? Leave you talking to yourself, because you can’t talk to anybody”

From the song “Kansas City”: “With a dayful of promises dead on her lips, Mark 15:34 tucked next to her hip, she wants to move to Kansas City: “Move, pretty baby, where the sky is so blue.” I jumped in the water and started to drown. I thought of her walking and turned back around. I want to move to Kansas City, where the sky is so blue. With her pair of old wings that opened just once, she can walk on two feet now, she can go where she wants. She can move to Kansas City, where the sky is so blue. And I’ll tell you one thing that you should never do - never let a woman tell you she loves you.”

Thanks, Brandon, for introducing me to this kick-ass band.

Okkervil River is from Austin, TX and have been playing together since 1998. I’m embarrassed to say that I missed their show a couple months ago at the Granada. Please come back! Anyway, they will be releasing their new album, The Stand Ins, in the US on September 9th, and UK & Europe on October 13th. They have also released their fall tour:

Sigur Ros’ new album releases next Monday. I’m going to their concert in Kansas City this Thursday. I think I’m more excited about the concert.

You can listen to the full album on their website:

http://www.sigurros.com/main/streaming.asp

It’s perfect.

They also have some pretty kick-ass pictures on their website which will be released with their new album.

Last night Rachel and I went to see Young@Heart. Our goal was to get as far away from sappy love movie’s, and I think we succeeded. Here’s the plot summary from IMDB:

Documents the true story of the final weeks of rehearsal for the Young at Heart Chorus in Northampton, MA, whose average age is 81, and many of whom must overcome health adversities to participate. Their music is unexpected, going against the stereotype of their age group, performing songs, for example, by James Brown, and Sonic Youth. Although they have toured Europe and sang for royalty, this account focuses on preparing new songs, not an easy endeavor, for a concert in their home town, which succeeds in spite of several real heart breaking events.

Was I skeptical about this movie? Yes. It’s a movie about senior citizens signing and dancing. Er.

However, I go to the movies once a week and my selections were running a little thin. (I recommend seeing Priceless and The Visitor). Reading some of the reviews, this movie has been acclaimed by viewers as the feel good movie and all-inspiring. Rotten Tomatoes has an 88% rating, IMDB user ratings is at 7.9/10 (400 votes), and was a NYT critics’ pick receiving a 4.5 out of 5 among the readers who voted.

It was scary to think I’ll be that old someday. But also encouraging to see how happy they were; how full their lives were. Full of life. It would have been interesting to hear some of their stories as young adults. But that would have made for a very long movie.

Young@Heart is directed by Stephen Walker and has been apart of several movie festivals since 2007 (LA, SXSW, European Film Market, Atlanta). The movie is rated PG.