Hooray for love.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone and one thing our family is thankful for is how awesome Lauren & Michael's wedding was!

It was this past Saturday and everyone agrees that they got hitched without a hitch. From the rehearsal dinner (at the Old Red Museum & Courthouse) to the ceremony (University Park United Methodist Church) and especially the reception (the Stoneleigh Hotel) everything was absolutely perfect! Lauren was radiant and I can't think of a better match for her than Michael. The band was excellent - big shout out to Amanda Baker (McKinney High alum) and Random Axis for keeping the party going. The Seely and Dorff family and friends in attendance were a blast to celebrate with. Mom and Dad did a great job in their Mother & Father of the Bride duties (bonus points to Dad for keeping his composure throughout the festivities).

I don't have any pictures yet - I'll let Leeanne post some when she gets around to it - but I did create some little posters for the occasion. Michael's mother commissioned me for these to display at the rehearsal dinner. There was kind of a Tex-Mex theme to the event and she let me have fun with it. She was also cool enough to print extras for guests and I was happy to see plenty of folks taking them home.



This was pretty funny to me when I was putting them together. Look at the side-by-side comparison, how Michael and ol' Tyrone Power are in nearly the exact same position. It's like he was channeling the spirit of Zorro - mask and all!

Also, Jeff helped me out with this little bit. A couple of posts back I talked about his music blog soundscountry, well, through that Jeff recently met with Rhett Miller, solo artist and lead singer of the Old 97s. He did a song for Jeff's blog and was a good sport by giving Lauren & Michael a wedding wish. I put the two together for a little surprise video for them at the rehearsal. It's a great live acoustic performance, but make sure you watch at the 3:35 mark. Hooray for love indeed.

New radio.

Nearly back to back music entries! Also consecutive Jeff-related entries!
Dallas has a new radio station, KXT 91.7, and the timing couldn't be better after the promising rise and disappointing fall of both Lonestar 92.5 and Quality Rock 93.3. Lonestar went from a great roots-rock, Willie Nelson-endorsed, commercial-free format to your cookie-cutter classic rock variety station, followed by Quality's amazing start with a just-off-the-mainstream"quality" playlist to an even more insipid version of Kiss FM.

But now, KXT has somehow combined the good parts of those two experiments, and coupled it with the non-commercial sensibilities (and hopefully stability) of NPR. It's a member-supported station with a varying playlist and eclectic shows like the celtic-inspired Thistle & Shamrock. So that means instead of gentleman's club ads you get good music and news from NPR at the top of the hour. Also, local acts, deep cuts from great artists and a lot of live performances, such as the in-studio appearance last week by Pete Yorn (below).

And how is this Jeff related? It just so happens he is the main marketing man there who started the same day as KXT went on the air - very similar to how I started my new job on practically the same day as the NBA season opened. Like learning to drive on the Autobahn.

If you listen to KXT and would like to become a member, click here.

If it sounds country...

Uncle Jeff has a (relatively new) music blog called Sounds Country.

It covers that area of music that encompasses alt-country, rock country, folk country, roots music, some bluegrass and americana. Intentionally excluded, the crossover stuff of pop that's prevails on mainstream country radio today.

It's what Sounds Country has bolted on the masthead:

If it sounds country, then that's what it is, you know — it's a country song. – Kris Kristofferson

So say hello again to ol' Kris, Lyle Lovett, and Robert Earl Keen alongside the Old 97s, Jayhawks, and Drive-By Truckers, and to paraphrase a recent country-fied pop exchange:

Taylor Swift: Thank you so much. I always dreamed about what it would be like to maybe win one these someday but I never actually thought that would happen. I sing country music so thank you so much for giving me a chance to win a VMA award...
Kanye West: Yo Taylor, I’m really happy for you…I’ll let you finish. But...

...you don't really sing country music. Thanks for the great blog, Jeff, with interviews, reviews and - what a lot of music blogs forget about - music!