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In my last article I mentioned Denton’s uncanny ability to have all of that small-town flavor without that bitter small-town aftertaste. Today I’d like to upgrade all the adjectives in that sentence and talk about the metropolis-sized charms of modern-day Denton.
When I was living in the suburbs, north of Dallas, there was never anything nearby to do. If a band came to the metroplex, it was always a minimum of half an hour away, and parking was always a disaster (and expensive). In the end it usually took more time to GO to the show than it actually did to see it in the first place. This resulted in me and my friends seeing a lot less shows than we wanted to.
Everything changed when I moved to actual, real, down-town Dallas. Bands would come to the metroplex and I could WALK to the shows! I was two minutes away from almost every single venue. I saw a TON of shows. My weekend plans almost always involved a trip to one of the many Dallas venues because hey, why not?
The trouble is, down-town Dallas is also a crime-ridden and scary disaster of a place sometimes. My car got broken into a LOT while I was down there, and I was constantly exposed to crime and vagrants and all sorts of endemic big-city problems. I figured that was just how cities were. You take the good with the bad, and try not to notice the fact that your cheap apartment isn’t so cheap when you have to replace your driver’s side window every three months.
But then I moved to Denton! There is ALWAYS a cool band playing out here, and there are a million different places they can do it. There are traditional venues peppered throughout the city (mostly near the square though) and then there are house shows on top of all of that.
Last Saturday Camera Obscura came to Hailey’s and played an amazing show. It was their first time to come to Denton, and they had nothing but great things to say about it. (Of particular note was their praise of Denton’s own Old Fashioned Ice Cream Shoppe, Beth Marie’s.) My facebook was exploding with comments leading up to it because all of my friends spent the money they were saving for summer on show-tickets--Irresponsible! But it was so worth it.