Party at Stay Wired!, Oct 15 2011

November 28th, 2011 — Culture, DFW, Friends, Music, Stay-Wired

On Saturday, Stay Wired! Coffeehouse & Computer Service (Twitter, facebook, 2918 W. Berry Street, Fort Worth, TX 76109) hosted an awesome party, organized by Ted Wick and Travis Hildenbrand as the production team Canadian Caveman. Cover was $6 and beer upstairs was free (tips suggested).

Kari talks about burlesque history

The night’s main attraction proved to be Christopher Walker‘s CYBERPUNKS Burlesque. Here are the members’ names in the order pictured above, left to right.

  • KARI KALVIG, Associate Artistic Director
  • LUCY GUNN
  • MYSTICAL TEMPTRESS
  • MISSY LEMURE
  • NEVAEH ROGUE
  • AMBER ROMANCE
  • MAGENTA D’LITE
  • MAX VALENTINE

The burlesque troupe performed twice, once before the bands, and a second time after either one band or two had played (I can’t remember for sure).

Nevaeh Rogue was extremely confident. Definitely the star.

NEVAEH ROGUE

Mystical Temptress was a very fun performer, clearly having a good time.

MYSTICAL TEMPTRESS

Max Valentine was entertaining as well. I think he has a pretty good job.

MYSTICAL TEMPTRESS & MAX VALENTINE

Missy Lemure’s expression and hair are amazing here:

MAX VALENTINE & MISSY LEMURE

Nevaeh again for the win.

NEVAEH ROGUE

Nothing in their way:

Christopher Walker‘s CYBERPUNKS Burlesque

Signals & Alibis (Website, facebook, ReverbNation) began for the bands, returning to the site of their first-ever gig.

  • Brian Carter (guitar, keyboards)
  • Darby Eckles (drums)
  • Sybil High (bass)
  • Rebecca Jozwiak (vocals, keyboard, guitar)

Singing, Rebecca never met tied whole notes she didn’t like; her voice glided well over the dreamy, reverb-heavy atmosphere Brian brought with his guitar. Darby’s drumming created the right stoner-rock framework, and Sybil’s bass, strong as a piano’s bottom strings, undergirded it all.

(Maybe it’s captious to criticize, but the addition of eccentric fills from Brian and Darby would add some nice detail to their soundscape.)

Thanks for the Burnett’s Whipped Cream Vodka, Sybil!

DJ NOiCE (Twitter, facebook, SoundCloud) played house music, cyberpunk-sounding stuff.

You can hear DJ NOiCE in this video compilation. This was the first time I’d ever used my (DSLR) camera to record video, and the first time I’ve ever edited video by computer. What strikes me about this video is how much fun everyone’s having.

Collective Dreams (Twitter, MySpace, facebook, ReverbNation) played second.

  • Caleb Barber (guitar)
  • Travis Hildenbrand (drums & percussion)
  • Ben Rodriguez (bass)
  • Albert Salinas (guitar)

Travis is a talented drummer. But all and all what this instrumental band did was stare at the floor and play progressive rock to one another. They were talking to themselves, but at least they seemed to enjoy it.

Downstairs by the coffee bar Hyung-Joo Kim tore it up on cello for passersby. He’s a graduate music student at UT-Austin.

Hyung-Joo Kim, cello

Stereo Type Writers (facebook) played last.

  • Kevin Brown (bass & vocals)
  • Jake Ferris (guitar & vocals)
  • Herman Gallegos (drums)

Stereo Type Writers faced a diminished crowd since by then the burlesque troupe had left. It was also their first real gig; each member earned a dollar. They deserved that $3, though, since they persevered bravely despite minor equipment problems and overall venue exhaustion. Their straightforward music was at its best when their enthusiasm took off. Kevin Brown’s confidence on his fuzzily distorted bass drew my attention. It’d work well for this group to find an exciting singer who could move into the crowd.

The weekend was also the 28th birthday of Stay Wired!’s leader, John Campbell. His birthday and his role as host earned him plenty of applause, which he totally deserves.

Birthday Boy John Campbell

Stay Wired! holds an open-mic night every Thursday; arrive at 8:30 p.m. to sign up for a slot; it ends at midnight or so. Events such as the Oct 15th party happen on many weekends. Awesome, right?

Creative Commons License

Party at Stay Wired!, Oct 15 2011 by Douglas Lucas is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. Based on a work at www.douglaslucas.com. Attribute to “Douglas Lucas” or “www.DouglasLucas.com” or preferably both. Permissions beyond the scope of this license might be available: contact me (email).

2 Comments