Scene, Heard

In case you missed it--and judging by the crowd jimmied into the newly reopened Trees, not many did--The Toadies celebrated the release of Hell Below/Stars Above on March 20 and 21. (The expiration date on jokes has officially passed.) Not sure what went down at the second shindig, but on Tuesday night, after the band finished its set--heavy on HB/SA material, obviously, with a handful of older tunes thrown in--the fans who stuck around were treated to another set of Toadies songs, this time performed by a number of local bands. The highlights: Legendary Crystal Chandelier's low-key "Pressed Against the Sky," Chomsky's Scooby Doo version of "Plane Crash" (with plenty of zoinks thrown in), "Tyler," as performed by members of Red Animal War and [DARYL], as well as mini-sets by the pAper chAse and Baboon, among others.

You may have a chance to hear some of them again: Douglas Martin of Rio Grande Mud, which is a kick-ass, all-Texas-all-the-time Internet radio station located at www.riograndemud.com, was trying to see if anyone was recording the show so he could add the cover songs into rotation. (Don't count on it, though.) The Toadies eventually took the stage again at the end of the night for a few covers of their own (The Pixies' "Where is My Mind" and The Reverend Horton Heat's "400 Bucks"), as well as "Tornado," featuring bassist Lisa Umbarger's pop on vocals. A good time was had by all. Except, of course, the people who didn't show...

It's harder to organize an anti-Fry Street Fair festival than you might imagine. Or, actually, it's probably not. Whatever the case, the organizers for F$$$ The Fair, and just guess what those dollar signs stand for, have run into a bit of trouble with their attempts to start a free, all-ages get-together on April 21--the same day as Fry Street--to protest what they believe to be high ticket prices and exclusionary booking practices. F$$$ The Fair's first location, The Shack, has now decided not to allow the show to happen on the premises.

A new location has been secured, though Alex Karchevsky, a member of Clutch Cargo and one of the FTF organizers, isn't ready to disclose it just yet. "We are keeping it under our hats for just a little while longer in order to keep the Delta Lodge from trying anymore dirty tricks," Karchevsky says via e-mail. He alleges that the Delta Lodge, which puts together FSF every year, had something to do with The Shack's decision. (We never heard back from the folks at the Lodge.) "Personally, I find it amusing that the Delta Lodge is so threatened by us putting on a free, all-ages show so much that they have to resort to dirty tricks to try to shut us down. All we want to do is put on a free Kick Ass Rock Show." No telling what will happen as the date nears, but it should be an interesting weekend in Denton...

Speaking of which, there will be a Mulberry Street Fair this year as well, and you knew it was only a matter of time before the original anti-Fry Street fest got involved. According to one of the organizers, Samantha Moss, the infamous Yellow House in Denton--just around the corner from Fry Street--will host a full schedule of Denton bands on April 21, and yes, it will be free. Other than that, don't expect much news until just before it happens "due to busy school schedules and a finely tuned ability to wait until the last minute." Wouldn't have it any other way...

Just like Red Animal War, whose appearance on a Deep Elm Records compilation turned into a great new full-length for the label (Breaking in an Angel--get it!), Slowride's inclusion on Deep Elm's Emo Diaries series has blossomed into a forthcoming album on the North Carolina-based label. Both bands will play together on March 31 at Bar of Soap before Slowride heads out for an April tour. Following that, Slowride is off to the studio to record the long-player in question. No surprise that a label named Deep Elm would strike up a relationship with a couple of bands from Deep Ellum. OK, that probably went without saying. We can't help ourselves. We're weak...