GReat Music from Dallas' Past
Aug. 8th, 2005 09:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nyykiIt was back in late 1987. I was living in Denton in this funk house out in the woods, and I was club hopping with a couple of friends down in Deep Ellum. This was the era of the Prophet Bar, Theatre Gallery, and 500 Cafe. Club Dada was a single storefront instead of the big quad storefront it is now, and places like Trees and The Curtain Club were years away.
The Prophet Bar did the same band every Tuesday or Thursday for a month, and the Tuesday band was a group called Ten Hands. They're hard to describe. Everyone I knew had elements of their favorite band in their sound. They were a lot of fun, with songs like "Trip to Carollton", "I was Confused (By the Television Set)" and "Pancho Villa". At the time, Matt Chamberlin was in the band, but he soon got sucked into The New Bohemians and Earle Harvin joined. Earle was amazing, and the band went from badass to truly killer.
About then, they started packing rooms. Gone were the days when there were only thirty hands in the Prophet Bar, including the band and the staff. Walls started bulging.
They released an Album. "Kung Fu, That's What I like" sold out the first run in less than a month (I got my copy the first night it was for sale at a pre-release party at the club Enterprise in Denton) Now they were playng weekends all the time. Their next album, the live "The Big One is Coming" was the number one seller for weeks at local music stores. The fire marshal started showing up where they played and counting heads. At a show at Tommy's (Now Deep Ellum Live) the Fire Marshal told the doorman "No More" at a TenHands/Leroy Shakespeare and the ship of Vibes/Big Boss Groove show. (Tommy's holds 731 people) Earle and the percussionsit Mike Dillon started their own side band, the rap group Billygoat. Then, they left, but not before a show at Dallas Alley where they opened for the now returned New Bohemians and summarily blew the Boho's off the stage.
Soon after Mike left the band to start Billygoat, the band got signed to Slipped Disc records, which resulted in the album "Be My Guru." Earle left the band soon after, as he was playing in Billygoat, The Earle Harvin Jazz Trio/Quartet/Quintet/etc (Depending on who was at the gig) and spending time on the road wit Seal. They released another album, "Jazz for Jerks", and then after ten years, called it quits. Another unreleased album was recorded but never released or even finished.
From time to time, they do reunion shows. For the 1996 show they released more tracks from the "Big One" taping sessions, called "The one that Got Away." This contained the first recording of their wonderful instrumental "Hip Dance Thing". They also released a new version of "Big One" with three bonus tracks. Also, right before their breakup, they did a truly inspired soundrack to the silent film "The Hunchback of Notre Dame". No recordings of it exist, but they still do it live from time to time.
Paul Slavens, the Keyboardist and lead singer of the band, now hosts a radio show on KERA on Sunday nights from six to nine. He plays a very wide array of music. He also has a website, at www.texclectic.com, that has some of his stuff... and some Ten Hands material as well. The entire albums KUng Fu, Big One, and ONe that Got away are available from a site linked from there, (with the exceptions of three tunes from "Got Away", including the incomparable "Hip") and he's also made some great tunes available from tapes of shows. There's a lot of great funky music with some great lyrics there. Go check it out.
Favorites are Greenhouse Effect (Kung), Old Eyes (Kung), World with No Money (Big), Say the Word (Big), Trip to Carollton (Away), Big Nose Kate Fisher (Jerks), Waiting for George(in the Vault) and E Icky Thump. (Also in the vault) But everything is good, even Amoeba and The Pollution Song/NBull Snake.
The Prophet Bar did the same band every Tuesday or Thursday for a month, and the Tuesday band was a group called Ten Hands. They're hard to describe. Everyone I knew had elements of their favorite band in their sound. They were a lot of fun, with songs like "Trip to Carollton", "I was Confused (By the Television Set)" and "Pancho Villa". At the time, Matt Chamberlin was in the band, but he soon got sucked into The New Bohemians and Earle Harvin joined. Earle was amazing, and the band went from badass to truly killer.
About then, they started packing rooms. Gone were the days when there were only thirty hands in the Prophet Bar, including the band and the staff. Walls started bulging.
They released an Album. "Kung Fu, That's What I like" sold out the first run in less than a month (I got my copy the first night it was for sale at a pre-release party at the club Enterprise in Denton) Now they were playng weekends all the time. Their next album, the live "The Big One is Coming" was the number one seller for weeks at local music stores. The fire marshal started showing up where they played and counting heads. At a show at Tommy's (Now Deep Ellum Live) the Fire Marshal told the doorman "No More" at a TenHands/Leroy Shakespeare and the ship of Vibes/Big Boss Groove show. (Tommy's holds 731 people) Earle and the percussionsit Mike Dillon started their own side band, the rap group Billygoat. Then, they left, but not before a show at Dallas Alley where they opened for the now returned New Bohemians and summarily blew the Boho's off the stage.
Soon after Mike left the band to start Billygoat, the band got signed to Slipped Disc records, which resulted in the album "Be My Guru." Earle left the band soon after, as he was playing in Billygoat, The Earle Harvin Jazz Trio/Quartet/Quintet/etc (Depending on who was at the gig) and spending time on the road wit Seal. They released another album, "Jazz for Jerks", and then after ten years, called it quits. Another unreleased album was recorded but never released or even finished.
From time to time, they do reunion shows. For the 1996 show they released more tracks from the "Big One" taping sessions, called "The one that Got Away." This contained the first recording of their wonderful instrumental "Hip Dance Thing". They also released a new version of "Big One" with three bonus tracks. Also, right before their breakup, they did a truly inspired soundrack to the silent film "The Hunchback of Notre Dame". No recordings of it exist, but they still do it live from time to time.
Paul Slavens, the Keyboardist and lead singer of the band, now hosts a radio show on KERA on Sunday nights from six to nine. He plays a very wide array of music. He also has a website, at www.texclectic.com, that has some of his stuff... and some Ten Hands material as well. The entire albums KUng Fu, Big One, and ONe that Got away are available from a site linked from there, (with the exceptions of three tunes from "Got Away", including the incomparable "Hip") and he's also made some great tunes available from tapes of shows. There's a lot of great funky music with some great lyrics there. Go check it out.
Favorites are Greenhouse Effect (Kung), Old Eyes (Kung), World with No Money (Big), Say the Word (Big), Trip to Carollton (Away), Big Nose Kate Fisher (Jerks), Waiting for George(in the Vault) and E Icky Thump. (Also in the vault) But everything is good, even Amoeba and The Pollution Song/NBull Snake.
