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Wednesday, June 15, 2011
The Daily Cougar
life+arts showtime
EDITOR Mary Baak E-MAIL arts@thedailycougar.com ONLINE www.thedailycougar.com/arts
AROUND TOWN
Beer fest tapped out too early Lack of organization and poor planning causes Houston’s first to fall short Andrew Taylor
SPECIAL TO THE DAILY COUGAR THE WORKING GROUP MANAGEMENT
LIVE MUSIC
Soulwhip BARC Benefit Tonight at 8 p.m. Fitzgerald’s, 2706 White Oak Houston, TX 77007. For more information call 713-862-3838 or visit www.fitzlive.com. $5 - $10.
Ninjasonik with Fat Tony, Blackie, Simple Success Thursday at 7:30 p.m. Fitzgerald’s, 2706 White Oak Houston, TX 77007. For more information call 713-862-3838 or visit www.fitzlive. com. $10.
Nicole Atkins & The Black Sea with Second Lovers Thursday 8 p.m. Fitzgerald’s, 2706 White Oak Houston, TX 77007. For more information call 713-862-3838 or visit www.fitzlive.com. $7 general admission, free for ages 21+.
Bootsy Collins Wednesday, 8 p.m. Warehouse Live, 8813 St. Emanuel Houston, TX 77003, East End. For more information call 713-225-5483 or visit www.warehouselive.com. $36 - $41.
DJ Q Bert with The Krackernuttz and Simple Success Friday, 8 p.m. Fitzgerald’s, 2706 White Oak Houston, TX 77007. For more information call 713-862-3838 or visit www.fitzlive.com. $13.
Get Nude & Tattooed Tour with Like Moths to Flames, The Browning and Delusions Friday, 6 p.m. Warehouse Live, 8813 St. Emanuel Houston, TX 77003, East End. For more information call 713-225-5483 or visit www.warehouselive.com. $10.
Space City Beat Battle
Droves of people gathered in downtown for the inaugural Houston Beer Festival on Saturday. From the very beginning, the festival started off on the wrong track. It was apparent to anyone arriving that the mere task of entering the festival was chaotic. The overwhelmed volunteers were no match for the number of people trying
to attend. The majority of the attendees appeared to have pre-purchased tickets from either Groupon or The Houston Chronicle’s own Daily Deal service. For those seeking general admission at the gates, the task of getting in wasn’t any easier. People who arrived before 2:00 p.m. or right as the festival started had the easiest time getting in, while other patrons waited in lines for an hour or even longer. Inside the festival, lines were still inescapable, but they moved along much faster than those used to enter. Among the 89 beer vendors stationed around the park, most of the stations had two or three people pouring beers,
the same number of people running each entrance to the festival. Two hours into the festival, popular vendors were already running out of beer. The first tent to run out appeared to be the Dogfish Head Brewery which was only offering one choice, their standard 60 minute IPA. It was disappointing to see such a great brewery offering only one beverage. On top of that, Dogfish Head, like many other brewing companies at the festival, offered selections that are commonly found at grocery stores and not their rare or specialty brews. The line-up of breweries had great BEER continues on page 9
MUSIC
Electronic artist skips a beat Kansas-based John LaMonica puts on a good show, doesn’t quite capture the audience Mary Baak
THE DAILY COUGAR With the music scene as diverse as it is in this city, one never knows exactly what to expect when going to a show in Houston — nor should they be surprised when they realize that the atmosphere is completely different than they had imagined. This rings especially true for the folks that gathered to see Texas-natives This Will Destroy You and John LaMonica this past weekend at Fitzgerald’s in the Heights. Originally from Irving, LaMonica got started with music at an early age. He began with the piano and then learned several brass instruments and took up the guitar when he was a teenager. Because his father is a professional
Electronic artist John LaMonica performed with This Will Destroy You on Saturday night at Fitzgerald’s. “I’m working with a lot of loops and things I’ve already created,” he said. “It’s like putting a puzzle together in front a lot of people.” | Newton Liu/The Daily Cougar trumpet player, music has been an important aspect of his life for a long time. “I took a lot of lessons when I was a kid,” LaMonica said. “Music was a big deal, and my parents were really into it from a performance and learned-music
stand point. “Applied music was and is a very respectable thing, but then I started playing rock and roll — so that was a little different. It just wasn’t quite what BEAT continues on page 9
MUSIC FESTIVAL
Saturday, 8 p.m. Warehouse Live, 8813 St. Emanuel Houston, TX 77003, East End. For more information call 713-225-5483 or visit www.warehouselive.com. Tickets at door.
Bonnaroo sets the standard
The Elected with Featherface and Wails
Tennessee music festival rises above the rest in the U.S.
Saturday 8 p.m. Fitzgerald’s, 2706 White Oak Houston, TX 77007. For more information call 713-862-3838 or visit www.fitzlive.com. $12.
Joshua Siegel
THE DAILY COUGAR
Rise Records Tour with Memphis May Fire, Decoder, Ten After Two, That’s Outrageous! and Myka Relocate Sunday, 6 p.m. Warehouse Live, 8813 St. Emanuel Houston, TX 77003, East End. For more information call 713-225-5483 or visit www.warehouselive.com. $10
My Morning Jacket was one of the many bands at Bonnaroo who put on a headliner worthy performance for the more than 90,000 attendees. | Photo by C. Taylor Crothers/Big Hassle Media
Everything is supposed to be bigger in Texas, but that isn’t necessarily true. Music festivals are bigger, better and greener in Tennessee. Texas sports several great mainstream music festivals – Austin City Limits, SXSW, Austin Reggae Festival, Free Press Summerfest, etc. – but none of those come close to capturing the experience of Bonnaroo. Bonnaroo is an around-the-clock adventure more in the vein of European festivals. There is no nightly intermission to retreat home and take a relaxing shower, lick one’s
wounds and recover in a comfy bed. Going to Bonnaroo is an investment and it is totally worth the schlep even from Texas. Unlike ACL where people are carted to and from the festival and leave when they are done taking in the day’s attractions, festival-goers camp when they attend Bonnaroo and it turns the Manchester, Tenn. farm into a city of tents, RVs, hippies, hipsters and vagabonds. It’s awesome. For four days, your life becomes hearing new music, meeting new people and having new experiences and just being immersed in the whole thing. It’s great to wake up and stretch and realize that your biggest problem FESTIVAL continues on page 12