We (DL, her sister, our friend CC, Mike G and I) visited JJ's Blues Bar, 937 Woodward, in Fort Worth to see John Lee Hooker on my birthday.
Made new friends with a Spanish couple who sat with us at a big table. Show was incredible! Venue to my memory was basically a sheet metal building, with a stage a foot high that was positioned directly a few feet from the crowd / front / tables.
A concert that erupted into chaos. Many were arrested, many ended up injured. Violence between security, the bands, and fans in the audience.
Took TC, who was just only about 15 or so I think, to see a line up of:
DL and I attended one of the most incredible music concerts of our lives, Roy Orbison at Billy Bob's Texas in Fort Worth.
It was a cheap show as I recall, less than $10 a ticket, and Orbison seemed to be lead to the stage by someone. It didn't look good, and the guy hadn't really been heard of in ages.
Suddenly, the music starts and he begins singing, and it was other-worldly. His voice was incredible, as thought it was from the recording of a vinyl album. Every song was just more and more unbelievable. A great show, a fantastic experience.
DL and I enjoyed an incredible concert experience at Club Clearview, seeing the Blasters with Tupelo Chain Sex opening.
The Blasters were without Dave Alvin by this point, but they had an extremely talented lead-guitarist playing with them who was astounding (Michael Leonard Mann, aka "Hollywood Fats").
There were less than a hundred people in the club, I would guess. We (DL and I) were able to get right onstage with the Blasters for the entire show. Wonderful performance and a fantastic night.
Texas Rangers baseball early afternoon with DL, followed by a great lineup in the old park:
Tickets for the day were $11.50 according to an online source... which sounds about right (we were in the bleachers and it was close to a hundred degrees!).
Attended a show (I think with my sister and Cool Cat) at Theatre Gallery in Dallas.
Drove out to The Circle "A" Ranch to see Johnny Thunders with DL, with her nephew G Jr meeting us there.
The doors took forever to open, then the wait for any band to play seemed like an eternity. The vibe was pretty bad even before any music started.
For a line-up, we had Joe Christ and the Healing Faith, the Nervebreakers, and then Thunders.
The opening bands were terrible.
Then we waited forever for Thunders to come out.
When he did, he played (I can't remember the order) Gloria and Pipeline, and they sounded great - real energy. But, then he went acoustic, and by the time he was warbling through Joey Joey Joey by Dylan, a heckler in the crowd was "getting" to Thunders.
After some words, back and forth, another song began but the audience member threw a beer can at Thunders, hitting him in the head or chest (from my vantage point).
Thunders tried to "threaten" the heckler, and somehow, he sort of tumbled or fell, off the stage into the crowd. I couldn't really see what happened too well, but it didn't seem as though Thunders really had it together enough to do anything.
Somehow, the headliner was returned to the stage, and tried to play again, but by this time, we had enough and left. I recall a good many patrons filing out with us as well.
Of all the shows I have seen, this was by far the most disappointing, and easily the worst performance I have ever seen. I had figured it was a risk paying anything to see this performer at this point in time, and my first indication was to leave as we were stuck outside way past 11 p.m. before we even got into the place. Like a fool, I waited around, and ended up further disappointed.
I did not place all the blame on Thunders though. I faulted the Circle "A" Ranch as well, and when Sonic Youth was playing there shortly after the Thunders show I decided there was no-way I would tackle that frustration again, standing outside Deep Ellum all night-long before entering toilet of a club.
