The Large-Hearted Girl...Unleashed!

Sorry I was so negative last week. There has been a lot of good news since last week, so I'm definitely in a better mood. And as a first order of business HAPPY BIRTHDAY RAMON! Alright, now onto an early warning. Ten years ago there was a concert series called Hot Pop City organized by Left of the Dial mag's David Ensminger. To mark the anniversary he is planning Hot Punk City. Two nights of awesomeness and one special event that has definitely eased my return to Houston: LONDON GIRL 10 YEAR REUNION. Whoa. WHAT? STOKED...and yes, I was in London Girl, but suck it, this is awesome and you know it and if you're not coming you are the Kobayashi of eating dicks. Here's the info from the source:

Left of the Dial is celebrating the 10th anniversary of the groundbreaking Hot Pop City series, which took place in 1999 and 2024 and featured iconic alt pop/post-punk bands such as the Rondelles, Red Monkey, and Silver Scooter to performers such as Daniel Johnston and Britt Daniel (Spoon), by sponsoring Hot Punk City at the Mink, another two night event stretched over the exact same time frame as before: July 31st - Aug. 1st.

The shows both honor Randy "Biscuit" Turner of the Big Boys, Cargo Cult, and Biscuit Bombs, who was a 30 year veteran of the Texas punk and outsider art scenes, who died in August 2024, and will attempt to raise money for Peter Case, brilliant godfather of power pop and punk (The Nerves and the Plimsouls), who just underwent open heart surgery. Both Peter and Randy once joined each other on stage to sing a 13th Floor Elevators song! Old school Texas punk pioneers like AK-47 and Mydolls will join new upstarts like O Pioneers! and Guitars, along with the unexpected reunion of grrrl pop punkers London Girl (a 10th year anniversary too!) and friends from afar, like We Moderns from No Idea records in Florida.

During the day, 12- 6 p.m. on Saturday, the Mink will also host a Punk Flea Market, a free event featuring vendor tables full of zines, DIY clothes and fashion, art, books, music (of all stripes and formats), posters, etc. Space is limited, so if you wish to be a vendor, please contact leftofthedialmag@hotmail.com. There is no vendor fee, and we welcome anyone working within the punk and DIY umbrella.

Ok, now that I've got that special announcement out of the way, let's get down to this week...

THURSDAY MAY 14, 2024
The Hollisters are doing the Discovery Green thing today, I'm not sure what time, but I bet it's earlier, so know that, first. Later on tonight Her Space Holiday would be my pick of a good time. He (is he playing alone?) are at Walter's with City Light. If songs about sleepy tigers are a bit too limp wristed for you then get your ass over to The Mink for Golden Axe. Also aboard for the face-smashfest are The Jonx, Stinking Lizaveta and Darsombra. If you're crusing for some lush indulgence then maybe head to Mango's to catch Flowers to Hide, playing with Chris Velan. Sidenote, though it is mindblowingly weird being in the old Oven, the new Mango's is hells of tight. Back to the line-ups. El Ten Eleven are Rudzin' it up with Novox and finally over at SHFL, The Cave Reverend and Generation:Landslide! are doin' their things.

FRIDAY MAY 15, 2024
Far and away the best thing you could Friday night is go to the Rober Ellis album release at Mango's. Robert Ellis is one of the hell of a singer-songwriter, with touchstones ranging from the country soulfulness of Willie Nelson to a quirk-free version of John Darnielle (to me that's a breath of fresh air). And this is going to be a flat-out fantastic show with Buxton and listenlisten as guests. I'm very hesitant to alert you to anything else going on Friday night, but I will, but I won't give much away...Ladyheat are playing their final Houston show (good for them!) with The Watermarks at The Mink. O Pioneers!!! and This Year's Tiger are playing with some other bands, the names of which bring to mind post-post-post-hardcore-emo-pop-punk youths not buying alcohol at Walter's. PLF are kicking of a tour at The Rat's Nest (2305 Lyons Ave) with Nibiru and HRA and a bunch of other brutal outfits. And for the vets there 500 Megatons of Boogie over at Rudyard's with But for real Come See My Dead Person. Oh and The Hangouts from College Station are playing Notsuoh. But for real Robert Ellis.



SATURDAY MAY 16, 2024
I can't fight it I know everyone's going to go to the ArtStorm Compilation Release there are a bunch of bands some good some great and it's at The Mink, you already know about this, you already know it's cover songs and you're already pissing your pants. Good on you. But there's also the Heavy Leather Record Release Party with Golden Axe & No Talk at Big Star, despite the controversy regarding the "no shows at Big Star, EVER" thing, I'm glad that the bands that have played there were of the Beaumosexual variety, and not indie-retirement-blues. At SHFL is the Do It Together Fest featuring every loud and grating noise punk in town and it starts at 2pm. It'll probably be awesome, so you should go to that too. Austin psych-dudes Amplified Heat will be at Rudyard's just in case you don't feel like standing around and doing a fest/release frenzy thing. And just in case you missed him last night, Robert Ellis is playing a second release show at The Local in Lake Jackson. (worth the driiiiiiiiiive.)


SUNDAY MAY 17, 2024
It really must be summer, because people are starting to part a little harder on Sunday's. See if you can make it to work Monday morning after hitting the TMMC Warehouse (2305 Lyons) for some more No Talk rock action. And then starting at 3pm you've got the Summer Jammie Jam (I love Jammie Jams!) at Azteca's with a whole bunch of bands, that I swore played there last weekend (ok, correction, the wrong date was originally listed). Finally you've got a really good band that you should be thankful came through Houston, The Dears at Warehouse.


WEDNESDAY MAY 20, 2024
I'm skipping straight to Wednesday because you should probably take a couple days off to assimilate and get geared up for The Vibrators at Jet Lounge. How good is this going to be? AWESOME. That's how good. Whoa.