Happenings to chew on:
1. Respond: Rebuild, a gathering for Puerto Rico. Visiting artists from Puerto Rican collective MAOF have been living and working sustainably years before the fallout from Hurricane Maria reminded us all to be proactive, as William Sarradet points out after taking in their talk at SMU Wednesday. MAOF’s focus is using material from discarded trees to make furniture, promoting the essential rather than the spectacle of invention. A video installation will bring viewers into this very sane and practical space. Poet leaders Will Richey and Alejandro Perez host, and Louisiana jazz artist S-Ankh Rasa performs alongside others to benefit Beta-Local, a Puerto Rico-based 501(c)3 organization intent on developing an emergency fund to boost efforts of cultural workers and their communities in Maria’s aftermath. There’ll be food from traditional Puerto Rican outpost Adobo’s. All this for a mere $10 suggested donation, when half of Puerto Rico remains without power. Friday at Life in Deep Ellum, 7-11 p.m.
2. LIMIT Scanning Day. Calling all keepers. If you have show fliers in storage from the No-Flier Ordinance of 2004 era in Denton, or the Good/Bad time before it in the ’90s when Chris Weber stapled 100 fliers around town for every show the collective put on, or early SXSW handouts, or short-run ‘zines — come by Emily Fowler Library from 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. to get them scanned into the LIMIT database. For free, the Local / Independent Music Initiative of Texas will provide flash drives containing your digitized ephemera / photographs / newspaper clippings / anything flat and relevant.
3. The Oaktopia music festival. During my first week in years with a car stereo situation that does not involve an empty glass cup or on-ear headphones, I have been listening to Phantogram and 21 Savage. Despite the couple Phantogram tracks that court pristine visions of doom without falling asleep — “Mouthful of Diamonds” and “You Don’t Get Me High Anymore” — I have nothing to share but disappointment when it comes to Oaktopia’s headliners. What is it about the chemistry of this lineup that’s so off-kilter?
Two local sets do promise to contain new information: Dallas rapper Blue, The Misfit is at The Bomb Factory (7:10 Friday) with showmanship that’s amping up to a level of performance art as of late. Denton-trained artist Kaela Sinclair is off road duties for M83 and she performs there too at 6:50 on Saturday. A new video shows her skill in full bloom. As for the style of her songs, they still sit in this space of formality that leaves tension to be desired, just with more angelic echoes in said space.
D online editorial director and evocative music writer Matt Goodman is bringing his 17-year-old cousin to lend insight and they’ll have more next week on the Oaktopian genre. Find tickets here for Friday and Saturday. An alternate: Backyard Block Party 2017, another music festival this weekend, featuring pizza, in the town where Oaktopia was originally supposed to be held before it grew strange legs and moved to Dallas. at BackYard on Bell runs from 4pm to midnight Friday and Saturday. Unmissables: Felt & Fur, H E △ V Y B △ B Y S E △ S L U G S.
4. Elk River Sessions Vinyl Release and Free Live Show. Twenty Denton musicians, including timeless song-writer Claire Morales and relentlessly versatile rawker Eric Pulido (Midlake), escaped to the Ozarks for three days to write and record an album. There are 500 copies of it on grass-green vinyl, and if you come to East Side in Denton from noon to 7 p.m., you can hope to snag one — and also peek at these collaborations live. The show is free with $5 suggested donation (for those who don’t buy a digital or hard copy of the album.) All the money goes to Traci Batson as she lives with MS and all those requisite medical bills. More info and full lineup here.
More:
See Bruce Wood Dance Project’s Rise, which features the world premiere of chiaroscuro narrative “Hillside,” at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday at Moody Performance Hall.
Hot Chip DJs all night at It’ll Do. Friday, 10pm.
