Playlist

Arlington's Melissa Lawson, who keeps proving her artistic mettle on Nashville Star, comes home for a benefit concert Wednesday evening at Arlington High School Auditorium, 818 W. Park Row. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the show starts at 8 p.m. Seating is first come, first served. The gig is a fundraiser for State Farm's "High School Dropout Prevention" program. It will surely be filmed for inclusion in the next Nashville Star episode. For more information, click here.

Photo: Melissa Lawson (Courtesy of nbc.com).

Major coup for Dallas' Old 97's: Rhett Miller's being interviewed and performing solo songs at this very moment on NPR's Fresh Air -- you can hear it locally on KERA.FM. Or check out NPR's web site later to listen to a podcast.

The first thing I noticed was the crowd. Not the one in the seats, mind you, the one on the stage. Lil Wayne brought a cast of, well, about a hundred, to play Nokia Theatre at Grand Prairie on Saturday night and cement his status as newly minted hip-hop king.

You can do this, as we were constantly reminded by DJs introducing the various acts, when you've sold a million-plus CDs in the first week of release of Tha Carter III. You can do this, as we were reminded again, when you've proclaimed yourself as the "greatest rapper alive," and no one (except a silent majority) is arguing.

Welcome to the rock-star world, Lil Wayne. Ready for your close-up?

(Lil Wayne at the BET Awards on June 24. Photo by Hector Mata/The Associated Press)

Somebody (I think it's Jeff Liles) has created this very random Dallas Music History page on Myspace. It's got a fun-to-watch news report video from the Sex Pistols' gig at Longhorn Ballroom. And it's just got this stream-of-consciousness kind of list of names of anybody and everybody who's ever been associated with the Dallas music scene. It's a true genre-buster, too: The list includes current and dearly-departed musicians from jazz pianist Big Al Dupree to Pantera guitarist "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott.

Dallas' very own Grammy-winning production team, Play-N-Skillz, will host their All Star Weekend for the second year in a row, highlighted by the duo's performance at the K104 Summer Jam on Saturday at Nokia Theatre at Grand Prairie. The guys have a song on featured artist Lil Wayne's platinum-in-a-week Tha Carter III, "Got Money" featuring T-Pain (of course it does). They're also working their own single, "One Mo' Gin (Play that Song Mr. DJ)."

They guys have also joined with local community organization Juventud American to coach a soccer team during a community game on Sunday. A "special celebrity friend" will coach the other side.

The weekend guest list reads like a who's who in rap: Lil Wayne, Slim Thug, Mannie Fresh, Bun B, Krayzie Bone and Talib Kweli. One of my favorite groups, Big Red Rooster, is on that list, too. And Mavs player Josh Howard is on the list, too.

Austin City Limits producer Terry Lickona will receive the Americana Music Association's Jack Emerson Lifetime Achievement Award for an Executive at the organization's seventh annual Honors and Awards ceremony Sept. 18 at Nashville's historic Ryman Auditorium. He's produced more than 800 episodes of the long-running, respected music series in a span of 30 years.

Congratulations, Terry!

Photo: Terry Lickona in 2004 (Taylor Jones).

Austin-based country-rocker Jack Ingram will sit in the judge's chair come September when he critiques and advises the six finalists on Great American Country's Next GAC Star talent competition. The show, which airs Sept. 10 at 8 p.m. central on GAC, gives the one time Dallas resident and veteran singer-songwriter a chance to share his personal experiences with a half-dozen musical novices. Mr. Ingram, an Academy of Country Music award winner earlier this year, performs July 18 at Superpages.com Center as one of two opening acts for headliner Martina McBride. His current CD, This Is It, proved his breakthrough last year.

Photo: Jack Ingram at Jo's Coffee Shop in Austin (Erich Schlegel/DMN).

When Brian Burns first put out his variation on Geoff Mack's song "I've Been Everywhere," I bought a copy for a guy I knew who rode a motorcycle and traveled around a bit. He was diggin' the song, but to my knowledge he never took it as far (or did anything as cool with it) as this guy did. And his bike wasn't as cool as this guy's either. The BMW rider who posted his video to Youtube apparently compiled a photo of every city limits sign in Texas he's visited and synchronized it to Brian Burns' "I've Been Everywhere" (in Texas, Man).
Good job, whoever you are.

Update to this post: The "whoever you are" guy turns out to be Scott, who has commented to this post. And he's more than a clever musical slideshow artist; he has a cool Web site about his hobby collecting and restoring a particular type of miliatry jeep, the M38A1.

My Morning Jacket won over Bonnaroo in June with its jammy cover of Erykah Badu's "Tyrone," which it also cut on 2004's Early Recordings. What the fascination? Aside from being a great tune, it also lets Jacket leader Jim James sing his own name in the line "You got to bring Jim, James, Paul & Tyrone." Maybe he and Ms. Badu can harmonize on it when the band plays the Palladium on Aug. 23.

OK: scratch what I just wrote about Gym Class Heroes, because it just hurled a curve ball that made even my knees buckle ...

... it just played a shortened cover of Lamb of God's "Laid to Rest." Never heard of Lamb of God? Oh, it's only one of the three most intense and original extreme metal bands in America right now ... few peeps in this crowd are likely going to know what the heck that band's about!

... and it worked. Now the band's got a lot more people's attention. Those barriers between music genres, they are a-bucklin' ...

Erykah Badu lands on the cover of August issue of Veg News. Inside, she says she's been a vegetarian for 20 years and a vegan for two, but sympathizes with those who can't afford anything but fast food: "You almost have to have a record deal to shop at Whole Foods!"

The inaugural "Barefoot at the Belmont" series ends tonight with Bob Schneider. That show's been sold out for ages, but if you want to get a taste of the scenic outdoor Belmont setting, here's video from a few weeks ago of Fastball doing an acoustic version of their hit "The Way." Now if only Miles Zuniga would move his tush, you'd see the Dallas skyline a tad better.

Hey .... A Christian musician/owner of Zion Gate Records in Garland has been found shot dead outside the studio, along with his best friend and employee. I'd never heard of the guy, but apparently plenty of other people have because we did a story and video on him back in '06. Click here for today's story and video, along with the archived stuff. Sad.

(Photo: Matthew Butler and his wife Jamie, from our 2006 feature on him. By Cheryl Diaz Meyer / DMN)

Y'all gotta check this girl out. Here's Dondria "Phatfffat" Fields doing Chrisette Michelle's "Love Is You," before the hometown artist goes and gets famous. Read Lorrie's story about here here, too. (P.S. Sachse is north of Garland, for those of you all like "Saxawhere?").

A couple of readers responded to my article on the new Dallas branch of the Paul Green School of Rock Music with some scolding, since Dallas has had a home-grown version of the school since 2002: Zounds-Sounds on Haskell Avenue near Deep Ellum.

We knew about the school, which was started by local rocker Marc Solomon (Perfect, Clumsy, Solly) in a similar way that Philadelphian Paul Green started his school four years earlier (both were operating before the Jack Black film School of Rock was released, by the way).

Simply put, the Paul Green phenomenon is worth reporting about since his schools have expanded nationally so quickly (41 branches with more than 2,500 students in less than three years of growth). It's all very Starbucks-like, actually -- which, of course, is both a positive and negative.

(Photo: Paul Green School of Rock student Geena Spigarelli plays bass at the Palladium Ballroom's Loft. Louis DeLuca / DMN)

Think you've mastered the guitar riffs in "Sweet Home Chicago?" Can you belt out "Cross Road Blues"? Then you may want to head to Pearl at Commerce at 9 p.m. Friday for the club's second annual Robert Johnson Dallas Sessions Guitar Festival. Winners of the song competition will receive $1200 in prizes, and there will also sets by blues artists K.M. Williams and Aaron Burton, and a barbecue buffet. The fest marks the 71st anniversary of Robert Johnson's final recordings, which took place at 508 Park Ave., a few blocks from Pearl at Commerce. Admission is $5.

Why non-profit radio and the loyal volunteers that run it are great:

Just got this email from KNON FM (89.3) DJ Blue Lisa (who usually does blues shows).

It's 9:45 and I just got a call from the station manager at KNON, and he needs someone to fill in on the Midnight to 4 am overnight Jazz show, so I've agreed to do it. I'll be honest and admit I don't know ANYTHING about jazz, but Dave thinks the jazz audience won't be too offended by the kind of blues I play on air, so what the heck, I'm going to do it. Tune in for a one time VERY special edition of all night Big Texas Blues tonight, Monday June 16, starting at the Midnight hour at 89.3 FM or worldwide on the web from the link at www.knon.org. KNON Radio - not just a job: it's a surreal adventure!

What do you want to bet it turns out to be fun listening?

Old 97's fans aren't the only ones who'll be watching the new video for "Dance With Me." Battlestar Galactica junkies will recognize actress Tricia Helfer, not to mention the phrase "frack me" on the t-shirt worn by the video's violent-nerd protagonist. Dallas native Keven McAlester directed the Scorsesesque clip.

Just about every large American city has a punk scene of some sort. Dallas' probably won't die out completely with the inevitable demise of Red Blood Club - Sunday will be its last day open in the old Blue Cat Blues space on Commerce Street, behind what used to be Uropa - but the city will lack a marquee punk and underground-style hard-core club after it shuts down (and no, Bar of Soap doesn't quite count).

Details about why it's closing are here. The treatise makes some great points about the realities of owning and managing a club, especially one that specializes on live music's more, uh, evocative fringes (RBC's original owner, Mike Whittington, can tell you all about that) and particularly one that was superbly nascent when it opened in Deep Ellum in the mid-1990s but is a little (O.K., a lot) too raw for the 'new' Deep Ellum.

But it also points out that the city has very few major independent live-music clubs now. International multi-venue and multi-purpose chains, Special Use Permits and suburban flight aside, that's a problem for Dallas' future as a music town. And it's probably only going to get worse, since the faltering economy and high fuel prices are killing attendance at many small touring shows this summer.

Like an old-fashioned Texas road house? Look no further than Deep Ellum. The Thursday night acoustic electric-campfire jam that Randell Fields (a.k.a. "Ranger Randell") has been putting on at Sons of Hermann Hall for a decade or so has matured into a real watering ground for musicians.

Check out this slide show with music that Jenni Mansfield Peal's hubby Tom shot just last night. Or re-visit a video here that The Dallas Morning News shot a while back in our Day in Dallas Culture package.

It's free; it's every Thursday night starting about 7 p.m. Ask bartender Helen, Kim, Frank or Jo to hook you up with a cold longneck beer or a house made margarita.

*Disclosure note: Yours truly appears in one of the photos; I was a customer at the Sons last night.

Photo: Bartender Kim Blake at Sons of Hermann Hall (Nan Coulter).

Los Angeles musician Tony Zamora and his Tremoloco compadres mix roots rock with traditional Mexican instrumentation on Dulcinea, the band's debut album. Recorded in several studios, including two in Texas and three in California, Dulcinea also fuses some country and folk into its Mexi-Americana formula. Catch the Tremoloco gang tonight at 9 at Sons of Hermann Hall; and also at 4 p.m. today on KNON-FM (89.3).

Photo: Left to right - Bob Robles, Rick Shea, Tony Zamora, Cougar Estrada and Mike Tovar (Rowena Chavez Chacon).

The cover-song CD market is a healthy one these days. In recent years we've seen everything from sets of re-done classics for motion pictures to "tribute" albums on which a melange of artists perform songs by a specific act. There's even this company, which transforms songs by acts as diverse as Tool, Bjork, U2 and Nine Inch Nails into children's lullabies.

But this one's really neat. From the "It Was Bound To Happen" file: Lionsgate Pictures is releasing Little Boxes Dimebag #1, a digital-only CD consisting of 10 renditions of "Little Boxes," the initial theme song for the Showtime series Weeds. Starting in Season 2, Lionsgate had a new act re-do Malvina Reynolds' folksy original version for each episode - and the choices weren't folksy in the least.

The June 17 release will include "Little Boxes" covers by Randy Newman, Angelique Kidjo, Kinky, Engelbert Humperdinck and Rise Against. Missing: versions by Elvis Costello, Death Cab for Cutie, Ozomatli and Dallas' own Tim DeLaughter of Polyphonic Spree. But don't fear: other dimebags will be released monthly beginning in July.

We ran into Doug Rucker at Saturday's star-studded Booker T. Washington concert, and he pointed us to the excellent 8-minute video he made to help raise funds for the arts magnet high school's renovation. Among those interviewed in his mini-film are Norah Jones, Edie Brickell and Erykah Badu, who says "I'll take the label 'Arts Magnet graduate over 'The Queen of Neo-soul' anyday."