Music Festival Madness

Index Fest brings more bands to Deep Ellum than any one person could possibly see

On a weekend filled with events, including the ballyhooed opening of the State Fair of Texas, the three-day Index Fest music festival took over a large chunk of Deep Ellum, from five clubs to three outdoor stages, with more than 90 bands who performed day and night.

The lineup mixed local bands with national acts such as Local Natives, Mutemath, Future Islands, Lord Huron, The Get Up Kids and Palms. Kaiser Chiefs, an indie rock band from England that was scheduled to perform, canceled at the last minute without explanation.

Prices were $80 for a three-day pass, plus extra for VIP access that afforded amenities such as a T-shirt, side stage views and food truck grub.

Index Fest was founded in 2012 to jumpstart the music scene. Meshing with the overall renaissance of Deep Ellum, this year's event was larger and more polished.

Now in its third year, Index Fest was founded in 2012 to jumpstart the music scene. Meshing with the overall renaissance of Deep Ellum, this year's event was larger and more polished, with three nights instead of two and an additional 25-plus bands. There were beer sponsors and annoying "insiders" who zipped around the grounds in electric golf carts when they could just as easily have walked.

Although the first day saw some sound issues, the event went mostly smoothly; bands started on time.

The obvious point of comparison would be Austin City Limits, except that Dallas is no Austin when it comes to pastoral setting or crowd size. But aside from comparisons, Index Fest did provide an opportunity to see some significant up-and-coming national acts in one convenient time and place.

On Friday, that was Future Islands, who rose to fame after a transfixing performance on David Letterman, and who were fresh off a taping for Austin City Limits. The band is all about frontman Samuel T. Herring — whom you have to take seriously because of the middle initial — who executed another round of his trademark writhing, growling and earnest chest-thumping. Music was also played.

Saturday's big show took place at Trees, with Houston band The Suffers and Lee Fields & The Expressions, which Index Fest dramatically claimed "changed music forever." The problem with Index Fest (and this kind of festival in general) is the way it pitted band against band, diffusing an audience into different places and sometimes forcing music fans to choose one band over another.

Fortunately that wasn't the case on Sunday, the final night, as two headliners performed sets back-to-back to close out the outdoor stages. LA indie-rock band Local Natives was the fist-pumping closer, with anthemic tunes and hooky harmonies that sounded familiar even if you hadn't heard them before. The quintet has been through Dallas previously, having played House of Blues most recently in October 2013.

But the real catch was Palms. This quartet stars Chino Moreno of Deftones fame with three members of the now-defunct post metal band Isis; their Dallas show was part of a September Southwestern tour that hit every major city in Texas.

Appearing on a stage set up at the corner of Gaston and Good Latimer, Palms delivered a set that was both heavy and poignant, with brilliant waves of guitar on tracks such as "Future Warrior" and "Antarctic Handshake." Moreno's vocals have always had a wistful quality; they sounded ever more haunting, wafting out over the darkness on a fading Sunday night.

Index Fest took place in Deep Ellum over three days.

Photo courtesy of Index Fest

Index Fest took place in Deep Ellum over three days.

unspecified

Movie Review

White supremacy is the villain in real-life thriller The Order

Photo courtesy of Vertical Entertainment

Jude Law in The Order.

White supremacy has long been a stand-in for evil in movies, with the correlation easy to make given the strong ties to Nazi Germany. Whether a film puts forth white supremacists as its main characters or supporting ones, their usefulness in a story is as people who are easy to hate and that deserve to be held to some sort of justice.

While that idea holds true in the new film, The Order, the nature of the group featured is somewhat muddled. The central figure is FBI agent Terry Husk (Jude Law), who essentially sets up a one-man task force in the Pacific Northwest to track a group known as The Order. Husk is convinced that the group, which is an offshoot of a larger white supremacist organization, is behind a series of bank robberies to fund anti-government schemes.

Husk recruits local police officer Jamie Bowen (Tye Sheridan) to help follow the group, which is led by Bob Mathews (Nicholas Hoult). The two, joined occasionally by FBI agent Joanne Carney (Jurnee Smollett), do their best to keep up with The Order’s increasingly bold crimes, which morphs from “just” bank robbery to murder.

Directed by Justin Kurzel and written by Zach Baylin, the film is at its best when it delves into the personalities of its characters. Husk’s monomaniacal nature is great for his job, but not so much for his family life. Bowen has a solid bond with his wife and kids, but his greenness in law enforcement leads to some questionable decision-making. Mathews, like many cult leaders, is a charismatic person with very misguided tendencies.

The filmmakers set up the plot (which is based on a real-life story) well, but the details get a little loose as the film goes along. While The Order has a hatred of Jews, a plot against radio personality Alan Berg (Marc Maron) doesn’t make much sense in the context of the film. The geography of the group’s operations is also confusing; they’re located in Washington, but they range out as far as Colorado and California to commit their crimes.

Still, the inherent appeal of good-vs-evil keeps the plot mechanics going, and the side stories of the main characters give them a depth that makes up for other faults. The filmmakers also make sure to demonstrate how the scourge of white supremacy has never been limited to one particular era, and continues to infect American society to this day.

Law commits fully to the lead role, giving a performance with a convincing American accent that is far from the suave British parts which have dominated his filmography. Hoult proves equally believable, giving his character a nuance that somehow makes him more detestable. Sheridan adds another interesting role to a career that would be enviable for any other young actor.

While The Order doesn’t rise to the level of an awards contender, its story is still relatively compelling with antagonists that, unfortunately, never go out of style. A great cast playing characters with engaging lives keeps the film watchable even when it goes into some odd detours.

---

The Order is now playing in theaters.

movies film