2011 NAMAs @ George’s Majestic Lounge

Apr 30, 2011 by Café Con Leche

Words by Anna “HashBrowns” Vernon. Photos by B “Café Con Leche” Gutierrez.

HashBrowns recently made a move from Dallas to the NWArkansas area. And this year’s Northwest Arkansas Music Awards happened just in time to celebrate her homecoming. It was the perfect way to reintroduced her to the delicious local music scene of NWA. Here’s her review of the night.
Welcome back, HashBrowns! -Café Con Leche.

Thursday night was a perfect summation of Northwest Arkansas music. Glitter mixed with overalls mixed with fedoras on a beautiful clear night after a record week of rainfall. George’s Majestic was the obvious host with it’s NWA music history, and the garden was a cozy and intimate setting.

The 2011 NAMAs kicked off without much fanfare, just a rousing performance by Artist of the Year and Best Folk / Bluegrass Winner Cletus Got Shot. Cletus felt like a rawer version of Trampled by Turtles. They incorporate a lot of different influences, and are well-deserved of both awards.

That’s how the entire night felt. Nominations were enough recognition that the artists seemed to be content to just be there. The winners mostly kept their speeches short, and I remember hearing a distinct lack of thanking god, which always feels insincere on those big stages anyway. My personal favorite came from Perpetual Wolf (Best Metal / Hard Rock Band), who thanked Lord Vader, the Ninja Turtles, and satan – in that order.

Continue reading for the rest of the review, winners, and more photos.

Arcade Fire – Sausage’s Top Videos

Apr 29, 2011 by Sausage

This weekend, The Arcade Fire will invade Dallas. Next week, they will invade Win and Will Butler’s former hometown, The Woodlands, suburb of Houston and a huge inspiration for their latest album, The Suburbs. Everyone here at Breakfast on Tour is extremely excited, as they put on one of the best live performances I’ve ever seen. The first time I saw them was at Mary Jane’s Fat Cat in Houston in 2005 shortly after their Funeral release. Seeing them play in that tiny venue with a only a hundred or so others was overwhelming and completely incredible. Since then, I have easily been able to say they are my favorite band.

In honor of this event, I have collected 10 of my favorite videos of theirs. See one here, and check out more after the jump (in no particular order).

Pretty Lights @ The AMP

Apr 25, 2011 by Café Con Leche

All photos by B “Cafe Con Leche” Gutierrez | Follow @BOTcafe

Last Friday, Pretty Lights opened the 2011 season at the Arkansas Music Pavilion. The show started out early with two openers, Spankalicious, who’s part of this year’s Wakarusa line up and Michal Menert, who introduced himself as part of the Pretty Lights movement. Menert’s album, Dreaming of a Bigger Life, is one of three releases by Pretty Lights Music, and it’s available online.

Colorado-based producer Derek Vincent Smith is Pretty Lights. The AMP was filled with tons of young people equipped with everything glow-in-the-dark, from glow sticks to glow hula-hoops. The electro-hip/hop sounds of PL, in combination with the impressive light show, made the AMP bounce for over two hours.

Pretty Lights first came to Arkansas through Wakarusa a couple of years ago, then sold out a show at George’s Majestic Lounge in November 2009. And exactly a year ago he came to the Fayetteville Town Center. After his AMP-takeover on Friday, it seems like we’re going to need a bigger venue for his next visit to Arkansas. If you can catch him live in your town, do so! Don’t miss out. You can find all his music available on his site for download.

Continue after the break to see more photos from Friday night.

7 Walkers @ George’s Majestic Lounge

Apr 17, 2011 by Café Con Leche

Words by B “Cafe Con Leche” Gutierrez. Photos by Stephen Ironside.

Two weeks ago, George’s Majestic Lounge celebrated its 84th anniversary. As part of the two-day celebration, 7 Walkers headlined on Saturday, April 2. The supergroup is made up by Grateful Dead’s drummer Bill Kreutzmann, guitarist/vocalist Papa Mali, George Porter Jr. from The Meters, and multi-instrumentalist Matt Hubbard.

7 Walker’s self-titled debut album is a celebration of classic Bay Area rock and New Orleans funk. But the show at George’s, which happened to be the last one of their Winter tour, was not only a celebration to the music that has feed these musicians and their followers for so many years, but was also one of the greatest showcases of talent I’ve ever witnessed.

Continue after the break for the rest of the review and photos.