Tonight is the Frankie Campagna tribute concert at Club Dada. For more on that show, please visit this tribute by FrontRow Contributor Bill Holston:

Big Bang With DJ Sober (Beauty Bar): Sober is no stranger to making stylistic adjustments according to audience, venue, and location.  This is not only due to his ubiquity in a wide variety of local spots, but also his willingness to get out of town, a habit that is unfortunately uncommon for many DFW artists.

DJ’s especially are faced with the classic artistic struggle between playing what they feel and what they think people are feeling.  Sober is well aware of this, since he has to tackle the regional differences between playing in both Houston and Dallas.  I asked him about it, since I have always found the aesthetic nuances and cultural differences between the two cities fascinating.  According to Sober, Houston is a “lot different” from Dallas: “There are less requests and more partying” he says.

Naturally, he plays classic Houston rap tracks as well as less obvious non-single album cuts when he’s there (like Z-Ro for instance), and “everyone will know every word.”  

“Houstonites seem very proud of their city [and] what they have brought to Hip Hop,” he says. “It’s a always a good time when I visit.”

And who could blame him?  A proud and literally well-versed audience is a performer’s dream.

But back to Dallas.  Sober says his weekly at the Beauty Bar has him changing it up even further by playing more “indie dance, 80′s, funk, and older R&B” and “not as much hip hop.”  This approach is different than what you’re used to hearing at many of his other outings, such as his “Top Notch” events for instance.  Sure, this somewhat expected crowd-friendly approach plays well on Henderson Avenue, but it’s reassuring that he could pull out an old obscure H-Town track if he felt like it.  Even if few would know the words.

The Please and Thank Yous/Those Damn Kids/Chalk Talk/Star Commander/Breakfast Machine (1919 Hemphill): Lest anyone doubts the non-profit status of 1919 Hemphill, their longstanding habit of giving brief and not always flattering descriptions of the acts that play there is still going strong. For example? Tonight’s show with Star Commander includes the terse dismissal: “More like Starcommunderwhelming.”

Discipline (Rubber Gloves): It’s a numbers game with this new weekly, with each event numerically listed as “Actions,” and tonight is specifically “Action 3,” with this being the third week.  Other Discipline-related numbers you should know:

1. How many leather jackets does it take to play a rare proto-Industrial record? Five, apparently.

2. How many weeks before North Of The Dial also writes about this event since it was first mentioned here? Three.  That’s my educated guess.

3. The difference in price between a mixed drink at Singles Going Steady and Discipline?  Twenty-five.  Cents, that is.

You know you’re in good hands if the most recognizable track is by almost-forgotten Factory Records act, Section 25.  ”Looking From A Hilltop” is about as a close as you’ll come to hearing any sort of “hit,” and this night is all the better for it.