Rockers More Familiar With Courts Than Concert Venues
Once a week, you can find the Catdaddies rocking out in guitarist Mark Sales’ garage. Jokingly referred to as the “music man cave” by Preston Hollow resident Kent Hofmeister, the space is adorned with rock ’n’ roll relics from another time and place.
The Catdaddies are practicing for Law Jam 4, a battle-of-the-bands-style fundraiser put on by the Dallas Bar Association. To participate, every band must have a connection to the law profession.
Four of the seven Catdaddies are lawyers: Hofmeister, Sales, Christina Melton Crain, and Bryan Dunklin, who refers to the other three members — Brad Young, David Michnoff, and Stephen Richey — as “the real talent” behind the band.
Law Jam’s concert and auction at the Granada Theater biennially raise money and awareness for the Dallas Volunteer Attorney Program to help provide legal counsel for the less fortunate of Dallas County. There will be six bands at the Aug. 17 event, including Big Wheel, which includes Park Cities residents Brenk Johnson and Frank Hamlin.
“Law Jam isn’t only about raising the money,” Sales said. “It’s about getting volunteers. You can have the money, but you also need the lawyers to represent the people who can’t afford lawyers.”
When the Catdaddies aren’t helping raise money for charitable causes, they have discovered the true meaning of “Jailhouse Rock” — in February they performed at the Christina Melton Crain Unit, named after their lead singer.
“If it’s good enough for Johnny Cash,” Hofmeister said of their prison gig, “then it’s good enough for us.”
Law Jam won’t be filled with amateur musicians; many of the band members have been playing since they were teenagers.
“I’ve been playing in a rock group since I was 14 years old,” Dunklin said. “I’m now 61, and I’m still rocking and rolling.”
