Changing horses.

JG is a man with connections. It's good to be connected with a dude like that. One of those is a friend at the Granada Theater, a really great music venue in Dallas. Sidenote: the first time I went to the Granada was back in the mid-90s when it was experimenting with the Studio Movie Grill formula of dining while watching a big-screen movie. The movie I saw that night was Primal Fear with Richard Gere and Ed Norton. What sticks out most in mind was during the brutal murder scene, thinking that shrimp cocktail is an odd dish when accompanied by violent cinema.

Anyway, last week we went to see Ben Kweller play. He's a semi-local boy who grew up in Greenville, TX and has since moved on to be a critical darling in the quote-unquote indie music scene. His last album, appropriately titled Changing Horses, finds him exploring his Texas roots by putting out some straight-forward country songs, a departure for him although his off-kilter/rock voice assures us you won't hear him on the Twister anytime soon. It's too bad though, because his songs have more heart than most of the faire you'll find in mainstream country right now. I challenge anyone to listen to "On Her Own" and try to tell me that if Tim McGraw did a cover it wouldn't be #1 with a bullet.

The great thing about the show was he brought the guitar/pedal steel sound from the last album and applied it to the rest of his rock catalogue to really awesome results.
So, consider this a recommendation to check out Ben Kweller's album Changing Horses.
And consider this an attempt at arty-iPhone photography.


Bonus: a "Where's Waldo" moment from the show - can you spot Jeff & I? Here's a hint, Jeff's keeping the beat and I'm pondering whether or not I'm too old to go to rock shows.