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GETTING AROUND IN THE NEW FORT WORTH
By Ken Shimamoto
Lately, it seems as though I’ve been spending an inordinate amount of time visiting places that aren’t going to exist soon (Kincaid’s, J&J’s Hideaway). It’s gotten to where I’m even dreaming about long-gone pieces of Fort Worth that I remember. But, as we’re constantly reminded, change is inevitable, and since my wife and I are committed to spending the rest of our lives here, it behooves us to find a way to roll with all of that.
I suppose to a lot of folks, we seem like odd ducks. She rides her bike to work and on most errands that don’t require lugging big heavy objects. It took her five years to get her car’s odometer over 20,000 miles. When I got a job six blocks from our home, I gave my daughter my car. At the time, she was living near TCU but traversing the 817 from Arlington (where her niece lives) to TCC Southwest (where she was a student) to Cityview (where her husband works) to Benbrook (where her mom lives) to Las Vegas Trail (where her big sister lives). If I have to rehearse or play a show across town, I’ll catch a ride, but otherwise, I’ll hoof it most places.
Since the price of gas hit $3.50 a gallon, however, more and more acquaintances have expressed the idea that maybe decreasing their reliance on petroleum might not be such a crazy idea after all. Even in the car culture that is North Texas, where everything is spread out and folks assume out of hand that they’ll need to get in the car to go obtain all their life’s essentials, consumers are now faced with the tough task of differentiating between need and want – and realizing that they can’t continue living in the style to which they’ve become accustomed.
There at least seem to be more bicyclists in the Fort now than in years past – and one hears that when the east-west bridges to downtown are redone, they’ll include bike lanes, which would have been sci-fi just a couple of years ago. If more folks are truly going to be biking to work, we’ll hopefully see an attitude adjustment on the part of motorists who share the road with ‘em. My wife is a big advocate of helmet wearing (and bike lights), with good reason: practically everyone we know that rides a bike on the road in Fort Worth has been hit by a car at one time or another. “They don’t expect you to be there,” as one regular rider remarked, “so they just don’t see you.”
More to the point, it’s time for the Fort to pony up and provide its residents with public transportation worthy of the name. God bless the T and all who ride on her, but while it’s true that most Fort Worth residents may live within, say, a half-mile walk of a bus route, it requires a lot of planning and time-budgeting if you’re going to use the bus as your primary mode of transport. When my daughter was living on University Drive and commuting to a job on South Hulen, she used to spend six hours a day on the bus to work a four-hour shift – and there were plenty of occasions when the bus ran late or didn’t show up at her stop at all.
The planned light rail will do a good job of connecting cultural, entertainment, and tourist destinations, but the coverage zone excludes large chunks of the city, i.e., all the primarily residential areas. It’s a conundrum: the T is reluctant to run more buses or add more routes because they might not be used, while many potential bus riders who can’t afford to be tardy remain hesitant to rely on a mode of transportation that’s inconvenient at best and unreliable at worst. But given the state of the economy and the fact that, face it, folks – cheap gas ain’t coming back – the current spurt of growth in this, the nation’s 19th largest city, seems like a moment of opportunity for mass transit providers.
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Calhoun’s Falter Waver Cultivate
By Ken Shimamoto
A world-class cynic, a fierce competitor at basketball and racquetball, a prolific scribe and singer of songs, Calhoun frontman Tim Locke’s been the Fort’s very own king of depresso-rock since moving from Cream of Mushroom to Dead City Radio and thence to Grand Street Cryers over a decade ago. His Coma Rally collaborator Daniel Harville having gone off to play highly stylized ‘80s synth-pop with Pretty Baby, Tim put his head down and soldiered on with Calhoun – the rubric under which he’s mostly operated since 2003 – and for his troubles, he just garnered “rock song of the year” (for this disc’s lead-off track “Breathe”) and “best songwriter” honors in the Fort Worth Weekly music awards.
The first time I heard “Breathe,” on the Fort Worth Weekly 2008 Music Awards compilation CD, I was struck by its ‘80s new wave sound. Nice to know that its author – who’s equally enamored of George Jones and Led Zeppelin – hasn’t been letting grass grow under his feet. Tim’s always been a versatile artist, equally capable of Big Rock (not Rawk) dynamics and almost painfully intimate confessional songwriting. His gift for melody propelling a well-crafted line has never been more evident, and his vocalismo has never sounded so confident as it does on Falter Waiver Cultivate.
A representative example of what he’s up to here is “Hunting,” which seduces you with a gorgeous tune -- sung in a soulful falsetto that’s sweet enough to evoke comparisons with Smokey Robinson’s, floating on clouds of organ chords, piano arpeggios, steel guitar, and strings – before smacking you in the face with a chorus that warns: “Keep watch over year heart / That’s where the whole thing started down / That landfill inside your chest / It’s going to come spilling out your mouth.” Or try on for size “Double Minded,” which starts with a soaring chorus that undercuts its Polyphonic-like uplift with the ambivalence of its message: “Some days you believe it / Some days you just don’t.” The closing benediction “The Earth Has Lost Its Hold” is Tim Locke at his most compassionate: “And the doubts and fears they disappear / And the Earth she’s losing her hold / Don’t you cry, don’t you waste one more tear / ‘Cos there ain’t none of that here.”
Behind him, long-serving bassist Byron Gordon and relatively new drummer Mike Ratliff provide solid, unobtrusive support. Multi-instrumentalist Jordan Roberts -- the sole survivor of the Audiophiles, a band of Radiohead-alikes that created a stir on the local scene for a moment a few seasons back -- has assumed the role of instrumental right hand man formerly occupied by Casey Diiorio, decorating the songs with an array of textures and colors. The production – by Stuart Sikes, Locke, and Roberts – frames Tim’s songs more sympathetically than they were on either previous Calhoun release. As lush as the sound sometimes gets, there’s no clutter on this disc, and you never get the feeling that the musos are filling tracks simply because they can.
Last time I saw him, Tim was bemoaning the impact of rising gas prices on the ability of indie bands like his to tour, and pondering getting out of the music game, a thought he’s entertained periodically over the years. Here’s hoping that he doesn’t; we need more records like this one.
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Clint Niosi’s The Sound of Dead Horses Beaten Against Cold Shoulders
By Ken Shimamoto
First impression: Waitaminute, what’s this? Can it be…a concept album about rejection (a topic with which most musicians should be familiar)? Nah, that’d be too perfect.
Clint Niosi’s a singer-songwriter who grew up in Minnesota and moved, kicking and screaming, with his family to Mansfield when he was 14. An agile fingerstyle guitarist whose vocalismo resides somewhere in the vicinity of Jeff Buckley, Rufus Wainwright, and the rustic side of Robert Plant, he hit the boards in 1999, playing any and everywhere from the Ridglea Theater lounge to the Black Dog to the Metrognome Collective, not to mention Denton, Dallas, Austin, etc.
Niosi rolled out this arty, ambitious debut disc in a late-June extravaganza at the Rose Marine Theater, backed by a string section and musos from Tame…Tame and Quiet as well as album producer-arranger/Theater Fire multi-instrumental whiz James Talambas, fellow singer-songwriter Kristina Morland, and Top Secret…Shhh mastermind Marcus Lawyer (on bass). On the disc, Talambas decorates the songs with lush beds of keyboards, string and horn arrangements, vocal choruses and loads of interesting effects (like the hand percussion on the opening “My Mephistophilis”). Morland joins Niosi on “The Sum of Parts” for a vocal duet that hits like a depresso June ‘n’ Johnny.
Lyrically, Niosi takes on The Big Topics (God, death, the emptiness of city life) in a way that’s often oblique and opaque (I’m not sure exactly what he’s on about in “Coal Mine Canary,” from whence the album’s title is drawn), but when he drops the thesaurus and speaks plainly, he can be effective. The aforementioned “My Mephistophilis” starts out as a Bert Jansch-via-Led Zep III folkie blues before the string section enters two thirds of the way in and transforms the song into a Danny Elfman-esque cartoon nightmare. “City Girl” works either as a meditation on urbanity or a love song, punctuated by Burt Bacharach-meets-The Theater Fire brass interjections. “Van Gogh Complex” rocks out in the manner of Death Cab For Cutie or one of those, reframing the classic tortured-artist story in a way that’s miles away from the way, um, Don McLean did.
With the record done, Niosi’s taking it to stages all over North Central Texas, including the Fairmount (for their July 23rd Songwriter’s Showcase). You can cop the CD at Borders at I-30 and Hulen, as well as online at lala.com and emusic.com.
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James Hinkle’s Some Day
By Ken Shimamoto
A longtime fave of Fort Worth audiences from the high-tone (Hip Pocket Theatre, Museum of Modern Art) to the lowbrow (the Keys Lounge, the Swing Club at Evans and Allen), local blues eminence and all-‘round goodtime papa James Hinkle hit his recording stride with 2005’s Straight Ahead Blues? – an homage to R&B obscurantism produced by ex-Fabulous Thunderbird/Leroi Brother Mike Buck and poet-blues Uberfan Wes Race – and followed it up a year later with Blues Now, Jazz Later, a showcase for Jime’s songwriting talent and burgeoning improvisational prowess produced by Lost Country mainman/ex-Juke Jumper Jim Colegrove. Now, with Some Day, Hinkle’s dropped his third ace album in a row.
By now, Hinkle’s synthesis of influences is seamless. His singing is sly and worldy-wise, his guitar playing economical, inventive and fluid. He kicks things off with the Berryesque rock ‘n’ roll of “Ball and Chain” (with lyric-writing credits shared with his wife and daughter), follows it up with the late-night mellow groove of “Happy Accident,” essays a down ‘n’ dirty minor-key blues (the title track), and lays down some fonky Nawlins second line with “Mardi Gras Girl.” “Bitch On Wheels, with more lyrics by Hinkle’s wife Betsy and harmonica by his Austin podnah Ted Roddy, takes us back in time to West Side Chicago ca. ’65. (Betsy, who also collaborated with her hubby on the last CD’s standout toon, “I Hear Stories,” wields her pen like a straight razor. Watch out!)
A couple of instrumentals are up next: bassist Jason Marchand’s slappin’ and poppin’ dominates the funkalicious “Remember Me Baby,” while the solo acoustic “Three-Legged Alligator” recalls Leo Kottke (or closer to home, Darrin Kobetich). The ruminative blues ballad “Fall of a Lifetime” hits these feedback-scorched ears like something Peter Green might have penned back in his Fleetwood Mac heyday, while another acoustic instrumental, “I Have No Idea” overlays a snaky slide line on a Louisiana swamp pop beat. “I Saw the Devil In Your Eyes Last Night” struts along with a chunky, Djangoesque swing before Hinkle wraps things up with a lovely ballad, “Slipping Back” (in the manner of Straight Ahead Blues?’s “When Did You Leave Heaven” or Blues Now, Jazz Later’s “That Was Then”).
It’s nice to see Jime’s long-time sideman, ivory-tinkler Robert Cadwallader, finally getting featured credit on this CD. Robert’s classic barrelhouse piano and B3 organ sounds are all over this disc, and his tasteful backing and sprightly solos make him the perfect instrumental foil for Hinkle. Drummer Austin Allen’s another holdover from the previous outing and does yeoman work here. The production work – by Colegrove, with the set’s three most rockin’ tracks cut at Fort Worth Sound with Bart Rose twiddling the knobs – is up to the standards of the last two Hinkle CDs, which means it’s very good indeed.
For my money, with Lady Pearl’s BTA Band seemingly sidelined since the closure of the Bluebird (again), Hinkle’s is the most legit blues game in town. He’s a muso with a direct connection to his sources, one who not only knows and respects the tradition, but is capable of adding to the canon on his own. He’ll join Colegrove’s “Cool Groove Review” – a veritable cavalcade of stars that also includes Lost Country, the reunited Juke Jumpers, and Wes Race backed by Sumter Bruton’s band “The Sumteranneans” -- at Arts Fifth Avenue this Saturday, July 12th. Show starts at 8pm and tickets are $15.
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GALLERY 414
By Ken Shimamoto
When I moved back to Fort Worth in the spring of 1980 after the debacle of debacles in Aspen, Colorado -- an extremely misguided attempt to start a rock band that deteriorated into a four month binge on alcohol, controlled substances, and tetracycline, and resulted in my being escorted to the airport by the local sheriff’s deputies and asked never to return – I moved into a duplex in the 300 block of Templeton, off University and 5th Street. The guys on the other side of the wall were truck drivers who liked to steal stuff and would always offer me some, which I invariably but graciously declined. One night I heard the neighbor on the other side loudly pleading for his life from some hardcore invidivuals he’d run afoul of. The next day, he and his family had evaporated without a trace. I was afraid to use the gas heaters, so when it was 40 degrees at night in March, I’d get into bed with every stitch of clothing I had on and shiver. There was no AC and the windows were painted shut, so when it got ungodly hot in May, I’d sit motionless in front of the rotating fan that Dan Lightner (bless him) brought me until I had just enough moisture left in my body to sustain me for the walk to 7 Eleven to buy more beer, Gatorade, and cigarettes.
In 2003, I was surprised when Jesse Sierra Hernandez invited me to his art show and the location turned out to be Gallery 414, a little house at 414 Templeton, just down the street from my old duplex (which still stands). It seemed a quaint location, with eccentric hours (noon to 5pm on Saturdays and Sundays, and by appointment), but it turned out to be a very congenial, well-lit space, with a back room that was suitable for the larger pieces Jesse likes to do. That was the show where I was blown away by the religious imagery of his pieces they hung in that back room, and especially by Cortez the Killer, which combined Conquistador and modern military imagery to make a powerful statement about the coming war with Iraq. (Sadly, that piece has since been lost.) Jesse also chose Gallery 414 as the site of his show Schlankin’ It in 2006, which was the first time I saw him actually depict himself in his work.
Turns out the space has been in existence since September 1995, when arts patrons Bob and Razz Fiesler bought the space with the idea of creating a venue for diverse artists of varying experiences, both established and new to the local art community. The list of artists who have exhibited or curated shows there reads like a “Who’s Who” of the Cowtown art community. Starting in late April, the gallery played host to A True Story, a group exhibition by 22 students from across the Metromess involved in the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth’s Teen Artist Project. The last weekend in May, Gallery 414 was the site of an auction of works by 25 local artists to help Paschal High School’s Vagabond Players raise money to travel to this year’s Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland, where they’ve been invited to perform. While the gallery is currently closed for the summer, they’ll reopen September 13 with Chris Valle’s Paintings from the Altered Series.
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THE KING OF CHEAP DOES FORT WORTH SUMMER
By Ken Shimamoto
I’ll admit it: I’m cheap. Maybe not to the extent that my late ex-father-in-law, of whom it was once said, “He’d drive across town to save a nickel,” was, but these, after all, are different times. It wasn’t three bucks a gallon for gas back then. In my case, that’s hardly relevant: when I scored my current straight, which is six blocks from mi casa, I gave my daughter (who needed it more) my car and started hoofing it most places. Within three months after doing this, BTW, I had shed 20 pounds I put on at my previous soul-destroying (and sedentary) employment. Who needs to drop big bucks on a spa membership? Just walk. Or ride a bike, like my sweetie does. But I digress.
When I was really scuffling and frugality was a necessity, not a choice, I learned that you can have as much fun on the cheap as you can if you drop a bunch of coin – in some cases, maybe more so. And Fort Worth is a great place to do so. Here in, ahem, the 19th largest city in America, you can have a world-class cultural experience, enjoy a renewing sanctuary, or be entertained for a mere fraction of the cost of a tank of gas.
The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth (3200 Darnell), f’rinstance, holds an astonishing 3,000 works by modern masters from Picasso to Pollock to Warhol in its permanent collection, on display in Tadao Ando’s strikingly designed structure which is as much of a modern art masterwork as the artifacts housed within. Admission is regularly $10 ($4 for students and seniors), but you can visit the museum for free on any Wednesday and the first Sunday each month. Museum hours are 10am-5pm Tuesday through Saturday and 11am to 5pm Sunday. There’s a full schedule of movies, readings, and other activities as well, along with Café Modern, rated one of America’s best restaurants by Gourmet magazine, with a lunch/brunch menu that’s mostly under $15 an entrée.
The Kimball Art Museum (3333 Camp Bowie Blvd) is a world-class museum that’s hosted exhibitions that traveled nowhere else in the United States. The small (350 works) permanent collection focuses on quality, not quantity, and includes antiquities from Egypt, Asia, Africa, and the Americas, as well as European masters, omitting 20th century and American works because of the proximity of the Modern Art and Amon Carter museums. Again, architect Louis I. Kahn’s setting for the art is stunning, particularly the reflecting pools outside (adjacent to a lush green space that invites loungers and Frisbee players when it’s not too God-awful hot). Best of all, it’s always free to view the permanent collection, and special exhibitions are half-price all day Tuesday and from 5-8pm on Friday. Museum hours are 10am-5pm Tuesday-Saturday (except Friday, when the museum stays open till 8pm) and noon-5pm Sunday.
The Amon Carter Museum (3501 Camp Bowie Blvd) has a lot more to offer than the Western art of Remington and Russell that its founder, the newspaperman and philantropist whose name it carries, used to like to collect. In fact, it holds one of the world’s finest collections of American art, including 20th century modernists and photographers. Admission to see the permanent collection is always free, and the museum’s open late (10am-8pm) on Thursdays. The rest of the week (Tuesday-Saturday) it’s open 10am-5pm, except Sunday, when it opens at noon.
Regrettably, it’s not longer possible for kids to enjoy the works of the Bard of Avon (and sliding down the adjacent slope on pieces of corrugated cardboard) at Shakespeare in the Park (a favored summer activity when my kids were small), but our other favorite hangout, the Fort Worth Botanic Garden (3220 Botanic Garden Blvd), remains a shady refuge and haven from summer’s heat. Texas’ oldest botanic garden, it’s open every day from 8am to dusk, and admission is always free. For a special experience, the Japanese Garden is open from 9am-7pm daily, with adult admission $3 (weekday) or $3.50 (holidays and weekends), $2 for kids, .50 off for seniors, and children under 4 free. The Garden also plays host to the Fort Worth Symphony’s Concerts in the Garden with fireworks climaxing every performance, Fridays and Saturdays through July 5th. Tickets are $15 in advance or $18 at the gate, with $5 parking at nearby Farrington Field.
For the more audacious outdoor types, the Fort Worth Nature Center (Jacksboro Highway, four miles west of I-820) offers 3600 acres of wilderness including forests, prairies, and wetlands, including 20 miles of hiking trails. (If you know my kids, ask them about the time I got us lost there around closing time. It was a hoot.) Summer hours are 8am-7pm Monday-Friday and 7am-7pm Saturday-Sunday. Admission is $4 adult, $3 senior, and $2 kids, with free admission for children under 3.
While the Fort’s always been a great place to hear live music on the cheap, we can think of no more congenial set/setting than the patio at Central Market, which hosts “Thursday Night Live” presented by the FW Weekly Thursdays and “Burgers and Bock” Saturdays and Sundays from March to October. Bands play from 6-9pm, admission is free, you can buy a beer, wine or margarita for less than you’d pay in lots of live music spots, and the Market chefs are cooking a better-than-just-OK burger on Friday-Saturday nights. (Full disclosure: Yeah, I work there, in the bulk department. If you come there, please monitor your kids and keep them from sticking their bare hands in my bins, OK? And weigh and price your snacks before you graze. Thanks!)
Finally, if you don’t feel like going anywhere, you can do what my sweetie ‘n’ I do lotsa weekends, which is fall by Half Price Books (5417 South Hulen St or 6912 Ridgmar Meadow Rd) to cop an inexpensive used book, rekkid, CD, DVD, or VHS tape and while away the hours back at la casa. (I’m currently reading the complete works of Anthony Bourdain on the cheap thanks to HPB.) Ain’t life in Fort Worth grand?
Web resources:
Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth: www.themodern.org
Kimball Art Museum: www.kimballart.org
Amon Carter Museum: www.cartermuseum.org
Fort Worth Botanic Garden: www.fwbg.org
Fort Worth Nature Center: www.fwnaturecenter.org
Central Market Events: www.centralmarket.com/cm/cmEvents-FW.jsp
Half Price Books: www.halfpricebooks.com
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Groovy Grotto Jam
As summer heats up Ft. Worth, live music and associated drinking do double-time. In recent years, with the expansion of Fredfest, the Ft. Worth Weekly’s music awards showcase, Wall of Sound Festival, and Jazz by the Boulevard, outdoor music festivals are quickly becoming THE good reason to hang out with thousands of well-connected and quite talented neighbors.
The Blue Grotto is heating up, too. After the tectonic shift in cultural district culture, folks who once counted on a familiar welcome at the Wreck Room, 7th Haven, or as far away as The Cellar now find better barstools at the Blue Grotto. The cozy and clean refuge maintains some of the fading-from-fashion elements that make the city a different place to live.
On any given night, the Grotto is populated by musicians who might or might not be playing. If you’re good and local, you’re usually invited to join in the festivities. Keegan McInroe and Mike Maftean from Catfish Whiskey host an acoustic jam on Tuesdays. The cheap-beer enthusiasts listen, make merry, and spill onto the front patio. Most things still go at the bar, making it a nice alternative to its increasingly uptight competition. It’s not that nearby live music joints don’t sound better or offer more diverse calendars - they do. But the Grotto keeps it all in the family. Outlaws, not businessmen, still write the rules of conduct.
Owners Rick Cashen and Cody Hicks have been planning a benefit festival for over a year now, but such a big undertaking requires a team and a network. Over the last year, while local musicians discovered the joys of playing inside their brick walls, the owners added former Torch bartender Cody Admire and Wreck bouncer Roderick Dove to the bar staff.
In addition to the ambiance Admire and Dove give the place, they also worked with local musos to design and schedule the Grotto’s foray into festivals. On Saturday, June 14th, a flatbed trailer will roll into the parking lot, where volunteers will deck it out with a sound system. A variety of local songwriters and bands, collected by Dove and Proud Warrior/Katsuk/Sally Majestic member Scott Vernon, will perform from the stage from noon until 10 PM. Afterwards, the festivities and music will continue inside. Every penny of the 7$ cover charge goes into the coffers of the Humane Society of North Texas.
Songstress Jordan Franz, who sings at times with Katsuk, will open the fest while good souls wash dogs free for attendees. Chris Hardee and his powerfully emotive band Alan follow, which sets the stage for the rock’n’roll grit of Stella Rose at 2. McIntoe and Maftean then contribute their skills via guitars and modern-folk storytelling in song. The good times (and hot sun) follow with Iocane Powder and Four Corners.
The new, electronic-Ft. Worth funky and witty emcee’s in Rivercrest Yacht Club brave the heat at 6. Merkin’s artistic intensity bridges RYC and night shredder showmen Early Pearl and Exit 380.
Finishing up the night inside are country troubadors Last Call and the progressive ambient hard rockers Proud Warrior. The rambunctious headliners are talking pyrotechnics and strobe lights. If they don’t manage to burn the Blue Grotto down, let’s hope the music and revelry will continue far into the future.
The Blue Grotto. 517 University Drive. Groovy Grotto Jam-Humane Society Benefit. Saturday, June 14th. Noon-2AM. 7$. 817-877-9947.
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“ANGELS IN AMERICA” AT FORT WORTH OPERA
By Ken Shimamoto
Fort Worth’s very own opera company – one of the 14 oldest in the United States -- was started over coffee one morning in 1946 by three “ladies who lunch,” two of whom ...... Click Here To Read More
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FREDFEST
By Ken Shimamoto
An annual spring event here in the Fort – like Gallery Night, Main Street Arts Festival, Mayfest, and hailstorms – Fredfest has gone through some changes ..... Click Here To Read More
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TEXAS BALLET THEATER
By Ken Shimamoto
When I was a snotnose, I used to roll my eyes white upward every time my sister wanted to watch the ballet on TV. The stuff just didn’t move me. Then ..... Click Here To Read More
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HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE THE CHAT ROOM
www.myspace.com/thechatroompub
By Ken Shimamoto
I loved the Wreck Room. It was my living room, three miles away from home. My sweetie ‘n’ I had our wedding reception there. I played shows with Stoogeaphilia there ..... Click Here To Read More
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THE FORT WORTH BURRITO PROJECT BENEFIT AT FRED’S
www.myspace.com/fortworthburritoproject
By Ken Shimamoto
A number of years ago, when my children were still small, we were walking downtown when we a homeless man approached and asked me for money. ..... Click Here To Read More
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A JOURNEY THROUGH THE PAST WITH A FORT WORTH JAZZ INSITUTION
By Ken Shimamoto
Approaching the 25th anniversary of his long-running gig at Sardines Ristorante Italiano, where he’s performed six nights a week since 1983, the prolific jazz pianist ..... Click Here To Read More
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Shirley Clarke’s Ornette: Made In America DVD
http://www.synergeticpress.com/video.html
By Ken Shimamoto
When I met Mike Watt at SXSW a few years back and told him I was from Fort Worth, he immediately exclaimed “Caravan of Dreams!” I had to tell the ex-Minuteman .....Click Here To Read More
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Wes Race’s Cryptic Whalin’!
www.thecoolgroove.com/wesrace.html
By Ken Shimamoto
A few years back, when I briefly played second guitar for Lady Pearl’s B.T.A. Band, subbing for a muso who was also a schoolteacher and so used to like to miss the ..... Click Here To Read More
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IF THEY BUILD IT, YOU WILL COME
By Ken Shimamoto
I love the American myth of baseball. I love it much more, in fact, than I love watching any games, which are .....Click Here To Read More
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WHERE EVERYBODY KNOWS YOUR NAME
By Ken Shimamoto
You and me, we'll start something up. A bar, maybe. Two Irish kids from Brooklyn, how could we not have a bar? Green beer for St. Paddy's Day, free hot dogs for Monday Night Football. Think about it. Old fashioned jukebox sitting in the corner… Click Here To Read More
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ALL THE FORT’S A STAGE
By Ken Shimamoto
Caught Jubilee Theatre’s production of Romulus Linney’s A Lesson Before Dying last weekend – first time I’d been out to the tradition-rich downtown theater this season. There were a lot of..... Click Here To Read More
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The Great Tyrant’s “Candy Canes”/”Walking Through the Walls”
By Ken Shimamoto
We saw tears trickle down his cheeks and fall on the keys, which, though wet, were now struck in a strongly dissonant chord. At the same time he opened his mouth Click Here To Read More
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THE STATE OF JAZZ IN THE FORT
By Ken Shimamoto
These days, the opportunities to hear live jazz in Fort Worth are more plentiful than they’ve been in quite a few seasons. Back in the ‘80s, world-class jazzers like Cowtown native.......Click Here To Read More
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Cantina Laredo
Sent In By Simone MacDonald
In Fort Worth we love the new hot spot and most will try it once even if it is not. Please let me save you time.....Click Here To Read More
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Montgomery Plaza - Fort Worth
Sent in by one of iloveftw.com readers.
1. If you’re considering purchasing a condominium at Montgomery Plaza, be sure to wear a jacket and tie.....Click Here To Read More
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Eat @ Freds