A progressive little town on the edge of a dusty Texas prairie. Yeah, whatever dude.

This is our fourth year of bringing Austin’s March rush of music visitors a taste of the sounds from Texas’ other music center, Denton, Texas.

Year-to-year, we figure we can get industry and press folks to come see the already well-known Denton acts and then we hope that on the in-between they will discover yet another great band from Denton, Texas.

So far, so good.

Why NX35? Well firstly if you didn’t notice already--the name is directions to our town. The main reason for hosting an Austin afternoon party is to give profile and hopefully improve the lives of the struggling artists, venues, and support businesses that are a part of Denton’s thriving music culture. You should come visit soon.

There are other reasons, too. While lately the town has been making real bounds gaining notoriety for its creative output in the U.S. and international music press, Denton’s economy is still abysmal. Denton has something other cities couldn’t buy if they tried--its scrappy, self-made music and art culture. That kind of original identity can’t be distilled and it’s what makes living in Denton an antidote to sameness and gives the town place.

Wouldn’t you think the types of creative agencies that populate Austin, Seattle, Athens and Chapel Hill would be clamoring to set up shop in a place like Denton? Wouldn’t you think those employers would want to draw from the well and provide their employees the desireably onfoot and bustling creative atmosphere Denton offers? We do. Why it’s not happening is a question that deserves a good long discussion.

For most of you the above is the tall grass of boring economics. Maybe you’d rather hear about what’s happening next year . . .

Those of us that organize this annual foo-foo Austin afternoon party have decided that one more afternoon party in Austin isn’t enough of a foolish endeavor to keep us engaged. Instead, we’re opting to involve ourselves with a more blindly ambitious project and we hope to still have our shirts on our backs when it’s over. In March 2009 Denton will host its first music conference. It will have to be a barn-raising type affair if it is ever going to work. We’ll see . . .

Take it or leave it, the following are some (but not all) things worth knowing about our town:

  • We have 3 taxi cabs
  • We have one 3-star hotel, three 3-star motels and nine 2-star motels
  • We have the Barrel of Swords
  • There’s a grave on the square
  • Outlaw Sam Bass lived here
  • Tex Watson stole typewriters here
  • We have a wonderfully huge used bookstore
  • We have 2 Major Universities
  • Jeffrey Barnes
  • Denton is 25 minutes from Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport
  • Sly Stone was born here
  • Roy Orbison wrote songs here
  • Tearing down old buildings doesn’t play well here (long story)
  • At the annual Holiday tree lighting on the square you can witness 800 people doing the Chicken Dance in unison. Maybe that’s kind of frightening actually.
  • We have one incredible (and incredibly small) sushi restaurant.

MORE IMPORTANTLY:

  • We are a favorite circuit stop for most of the U.S.’s better known original music makers. Touring acts tend to come play in our town and don't soon forget the experience.
  • Denton has 3 commercial recording facilities and, oh, maybe 20 off-radar living room studios. It’s safe to say all are available for booking and it may be true that a few will agree to operate for beer equity alone.
  • In a city the population of 100,000, year-to year there are 60 to 80 music acts that call Denton home. That's one big heaping pile of bands for a town the size of ours.

COME VISIT SOON Y’ALL

THANK YOU AND GOOD NIGHT