FW/Denton/Arlington, 6.24-25, 2025

My birthday week. We like to stretch these things out and it just so happens there are a bunch of shows this week, along with KUZU.FM's Revolution Record Convention Saturday, where my friend Karla Grisham of Chicago's Dusty Groove will be appearing on a record store panel (moderated by Sonido Tumbarrancho host Ernesto Montiel) at 12:30pm.

Started the week out woodshedding with guitarist Greg Johnson of Savanna Sons, the house band at Tammy Gomez's Second Sunday Spoken Word, at which I'll be performing on July 13. (It's at Arts Fifth Avenue from 6-8pm.) I've known Greg for about 20 years now, but never got to hear him play until a couple of weeks ago, and we had a nice rehearsal with Sons bassist Walter Williams at the Grackle Art Gallery last week. Simpatico cats, I think this is going to be fun.

Wednesday was the latest Joan of Bark Presents, our favorite monthly experimental music series at Denton's Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios, so my buddy Mike and I headed up there, with a stop at Recycled Books and Records so he could trade some stuff and I could drop off Indivisible zines (two titles: updated Project 2025 and You and Deep in the Heart of TX, a "choose your own adventure" story about the abortion ban). 

Lately, Joan of Bark's been getting more eclectic, and this month's edition started off with the mother and daughter duo of Donna and Grae Gonzalez, who offered a charming line in song and story, encompassing goofy humor, high lonesome harmony, girl group pop, and sultry jazz. The electronic duo Gentle Doom and IMCAT (Aaron Brent and Will Frenkel) made some staticky connections, then the Chelsey Danielle fronted quartet The Side Chicks improvised Denton-centric stream-of-consciousness rock songcraft, highlighted by Lauren Upshaw (The Hope Trust)'s deft guitar lines. Next Joan of Bark is July 16, the night before the Good Trouble Lives On day of action.

Thursday, Mike and I made our way to downtown Arlington so I could deliver more zines and we could catch my favorite band of the moment, Trio Glossia, at Growl Records. Alex Atchley booked the show, and played direct support with his trio Mirage Music Club -- which evolved from his solo project Naxat, in which form he first pinned my ears back at the Tommy Atkins benefit at the Kessler Theatre before it reopened. His guitarist Scotty Warren lit up the strings with metalloid fusion chops, while drummer Brandon Young propelled things nicely from behind his tiny kit.

Alex's pal Jack O'Hara opened the show with his new duo Threshold of Devotion, in which Jack plays an extremely physical guitar to backing tracks of bass and fake drums that sounded incredibly full and powerful, and Denton-based composer and electronic musician Louise Fristensky plays seductive chanteuse. The Nick Cave-y vibe made me imagine that I was in a Wim Wenders film about Arlington. Then I went outside to talk politics with folks and catch up with Michael Chamy (Zanzibar Snails), who filled me in on his latest endeavors in renewable energy and providing affordable housing in rural areas. Always a forward looking cat.

Trio Glossia was returning from a brief hiatus, during which Joshua Canate toured with a rock band and Stefan Gonzalez and Matthew Frerck traveled to Austin to perform with Chicago saxophone eminence Ken Vandermark twice -- in a quintet with guitarist Jonathan F. Horne and ex-Sons of Hercules drummer Kory Cook, and in a trio playing works by Chicagoan Fred Anderson and Stefan's dad, the late Dennis Gonzalez. Vandermark was suitably impressed. "When I met with the other musicians it was clear that they had all worked on the material ahead of time," he wrote in his blog. "In addition, the skill they all possessed was more than technical, it was interpretive -- they didn’t just play the music properly, they brought it to life." Stefan says the unit will perform again.

Since their last Trio Glossia show, both Canate and Frerck have been composing furiously, and their set comprised all new material with the exception of Frerck's "To Walk the Night," which has coalesced into a really strong feature for his guitar and the interplay of Gonzalez's vibraphone and Canate's drums. Opening tune, Canate's "Gnats from Past Meats," featured its composer roaring on tenor over a fusionistic tempest of sound from Frerck on a short-scale acoustic guitar-styled bass and Gonzalez kicking the traps like I remember hearing Alphonse Mouzon with Larry Coryell's Eleventh House. The net effect was kind of like hearing Sam Rivers sitting in with Lifetime. Another new Frerck original, "Vanishing World," was lyrical and orchestral. The three musicians have grown as an improvising unit, in each other's pockets even while extemporizing like demons. They'll next appear in September at Austin's Sonic Transmissions Festival.

After I finish typing this, I'll go wash the dishes and attempt to practice singing before heading out to Haltom City to rehearse with my STC pals Tony Medio (Dragworms, Bull Nettle Jacket) and Cameron Long (Merkin, L. Ron Hummer), the electric analog to my Stashdauber/Folknik acoustic solo covers project. Then tomorrow evening, after RevCon, my wife and I will head to Full City Rooster in Dallas to hear my other favorite band, Monks of Saturnalia, record a live album. It's a great life if you don't weaken.