Quaker City Heads To ACL, And Oaktopia Furthers Its Claim As North Texas’ Best Fest.

It hasn’t even gone down yet this year, and there are already some people calling Oaktopia the best music festival North Texas will see this year.

Hey, we get it: With a lineup of Norah Jones, Beirut, Rae Sremmurd, Dr. Dog, Best Coast, Cat Power, Wavves, Andrew W.K., Lee Fields, The Whigs and more spread out across the fest’s three days, it’s hard to argue any different.

Even still, organizers just keep piling on, further stacking the deck in their favor. For their latest trick, Oaktopia announced that it’s teamed up with the New York-based The Best Fest to bring an all-star Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers tribute to town to kick things off on the fest’s opening night. The aptly named Petty Fest will find The Cabin Down Below playing house band, with a who’s who of rotating front-persons covering Petty’s tunes. Among those taking the lead? That would be Norah Jones, Jakob Dylan, Grandaddy‘s Jason Lytle, members of Midlake, Jonathan Tyler, Nikki Lane, Robert Ellis, Butch Walker, Jason Lee, Danny Masterson, members of The Whigs and several others.

Not bad! The Jameson-affiliated event benefiting Texas Music Project and Greater Denton Arts Council takes place in downtown Denton on Thursday, September 22, and admission is included with your three-day Oaktopia pass. Those are currently on sale here.

In other fest news, the white-hot Quaker City Night Hawks were recently added to this year’s Austin City Limits lineup. The boys will play at 4 p.m. on Sunday, October 2, during the first weekend of the fest. Tickets are here.

Speaking of the Night Hawks, we posted their “Mockingbird” video a while back. But we’re re-posting it now, because we’ve only just recently discovered an Easter egg buried in the clip. Watch closely for instructions on how to download unreleased track “Queso Blanco.”

OK, how about a hint?

In other big show news, Monster Energy Drinks has tapped Mid Cities boy Post Malone to headline its Outbreak Tour this fall.

“I love Monster Energy,” says Malone via a press release. “It’s amazing for them to support my music and I’m so excited to headline the Outbreak Tour this fall. Can’t wait to perform my new songs for you all! Love Posty.”

The tour rolls through Dallas on September 21 at the House of Blues.

Speaking of cool shows: The DividendsSarah Jaffe and Symbolyc One‘s collaborative project, which slayed at Trees back in June — will perform a free show on Twilite Lounge‘s back courtyard on Sunday, September 18. Plan on showing up early, as judging from past experiences with bigger names playing this spot tell us that things will fill up quick at this one.

Meanwhile, Cure for Paranoia cut across racial boundaries with its powerful new Black Lives Matter song that was written in the wake of the recent Dallas tragedy.

“I haven’t had any quarrels with the police personally,” the group’s Cameron McCloud told Huffington Post. “That’s really what we wanted the song to be about — that it’s not about blacks versus police. There’s something wrong going on right now, and it needs to be addressed.”

He later added, “We support police, but we don’t support people dying for the wrong reasons. That’s our stance.”

Watch the video below.

Another new video this week comes from Neon Indian, whose “Annie” clip stars Young Ejecta as the titular character. Unlike that QCNH video above, the phone number seen in the Alan Palomo-directed clip isn’t an Easter egg. Calling it doesn’t lead to Annie’s answering machine, as one might think, but to one of those you-dialed-the-wrong-number robots.

So, don’t waste your time, we guess.

Moving on, like they did in Denton earlier this year at Redwood Studios, The Posies will perform a secret pop-up show in Dallas on Sunday, October 2. Even cooler? This second time around, Denton’s own Jessie Frye will be joining the band as a guest vocalist. P cool. Tickets are on sale here. Ticketholders will be notified of the show’s location 24 hours in advance.

One place it definitely won’t be happening is Deep Ellum’s Red Light Lounge — not under that name, anyway. On September 2, new majority owner Allen Falkner tells the Observer he’s relaunching the place as a dance club/event space called The Nines. The club, which will remain a part of the Lizard Lounge umbrella, will be the future home of events such as Suscon and the like.

Finally, on a sad note, original Ghoultown drummer “X-Ray” Chris Clifford passed away unexpectedly last week. He will be missed.

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