Shiny Around the Edges Live Performance: "Who Writes the Hits?"

Publication: North Texas Daily News
Reviewer: Aaron Teel

September 07, 2004

"Who Knows the Hits?"
Equipment flaws, forgetfulness add character to contest

It was an ambitious idea with potential for disaster and magic in equal measure. Have ten local songwriters draw band names from a hat and give them a week to write songs for that band. Then present the bands with the songs they are to play on the day of the show — and throw in a fake record deal for drama, let the audience vote on the songs, and record the whole thing for posterity. While you couldn't say the "Who Writes The Hits?" night at the Brickhaus Café on Friday night went off without a hitch, there were more than enough classic moments to justify the flubbed notes, missed cues, and forgotten lyrics that are par for the course at an event like this. An eclectic mix of bands bravely tore into a set of songs that they heard for the first time mere hours earlier with messy, desperate, and occasionally brilliant results.

Then there was the curious business of host Franky Sparkles' moustache continually coming detached from his face. "It's Murphy's Law, everything that could have gone wrong did. My guitar wouldn't stay in tune, the equipment kept messing up — it was horrible. I'd do it again," says Ashley Cromeens, whose band Record Hop played the night's winning song,

Record Hop was a highlight of the evening, giving a manic edge to a song by Kyle Cheatham of Night Game fame, which took home the top prize for best song at the end of the night. Second place went to "An Incident at the Vet's Office," written by Brian from Shoeless Agadore and also performed by Record Hop. Another highlight was Shiny Around The Edges, an atmospheric duo recently transplanted from California who gave the night's most awe-inspiring performance. Even a jokey, throwaway song ("My lover irks me / I'm gonna rock you..." repeat ad nauseum) was made riveting by their intertwining guitar and vocal alchemy. Zest of Yore and Warren Hearne both gave shaky, stripped down performances that veered from total breakdown to transcendent inspiration and back again in the space of a single song.

Record producer and talent scout Frankie Sparkles hosted the event, (actually show organizer J.R. Thomason of Silver Arrows in a priceless sleazy record mogul disguise) and plans to press the first and second place songs on a seven-inch record.