‘Nocturnes’ premieres to rave reviews

By Natalie Merrill

Music often has a way of bringing people together in special ways — a truth Dallas resident Simon Pruitt wants to ensure musicians and audience members alike never forget.

As a 17-year-old at Lake Highlands High School in November 2021, Pruitt organized a one-day music festival he called “One Time Only (OTO)” held at Granada Theater and featuring students from his school performing at the well-known venue on Greenville. Pruitt, who is now 20 years old and writes for The Advocate, said he’s always been a writer, and though he has a passion for music, he has no desire to perform.

“My family is somewhat musical, but the thought of sitting in a room and getting something wrong a hundred times — I don’t want to do it,” he said. “I have a lot of respect for musicians, but I will never be a musician. I love music, though, and I love going to concerts.”

And that love of music has led him to create opportunities for local artists to share their individual talents and creations with others like Pruitt who enjoy seeing live performances and showing appreciation to the musicians who continue to pursue their passions — and he thought Dallas was an ideal place to do so.

“Nobody thinks of Dallas as an art town — and it’s not,” he said. “A lot of great artists get lost in the shuffle because of the environment, so I wanted to have a space for them and also build a community. Everyone on the stage and everyone in the crowd — we’re all one family. Everyone is a creator in some way.”

To capture that vision, Pruitt created “Nocturnes,” a series premiering on January 19 and occurs every other Friday through March 29, totaling six shows throughout a span of 12 weeks. While working for State Fair Records, he met Zounds Sounds owners Marc Solomon and Amy Curnow, who have allowed Pruitt to use their connected venue called the B-Side as a space for this series. 

Pruitt now also manages the B-Side, booking other local artists for shows throughout the week. After the inaugural Nocturnes show last month, Pruitt was excited with the feedback from attendees and the positive outlook for what’s ahead.

“It went probably as well as it possibly could have, in my opinion,” he said. 

“I went around to everyone (at least people I know) that night and asked them to be as harsh as possible, and I got all good reviews. I was really encouraged because there are still a lot of kinks that we need to work out, but everyone said it was really good — and that was the worst it’s ever going to be. People really liked it, and there’s so much room to grow.”

Ottoman Turks kicked off the Nocturnes series on January 19, while Sam Cormier performed and celebrated his EP release on February 2. Bobby Orozco (whose show will include a live painter and chef) performs on March 15 and Los Beckleys to end the series on March 29. 

Pruitt said he intentionally chose artists from all different genres to provide a wide variety of musical styles and meet the interests of various crowds.

“I wanted to reach a completely different group of people with each one,” he said. “So, the vibes of their audiences are going to be completely different.”

In addition to Nocturnes, Pruitt said he has plans to continue with OTO shows in the B-Side venue. He said what’s so unique about OTO is that it truly lives up to what it stands for — the concept is that it’s “one time only.”

“We do these huge shows, and each lineup and each theme will never happen again,” he said. 

“We’re not going on tour, so I wanted these shows to feel really special for an attendee. If you’re there for that one time, you will literally never get that experience and that vibe again.”

Though Pruitt operated alone promoting and making shows happen during high school, he now has the help of Grayson Taylor, who is currently the venue photographer and designed custom T-shirts for OTO and Nocturnes, and Zoe Isenberg, who assists Pruitt with a number of integral tasks. 

“This is running so smoothly because of them,” Pruitt said. 

“I’m so grateful for them. It’s a little trio we’ve formed, and there’s no chance I could have done any of this without them.”

While Pruitt is managing the B-Side and helping local artists showcase their music, he hopes this experience is one that will eventually allow him to own and run his own spot, whether it’s in Dallas or elsewhere, to continue to provide others a place to connect with one another in unique and meaningful ways. For now, though, he said he’s thankful for the opportunity he has to see music bring people together.

“I really want to create these environments in which there is art happening, where everyone there is a creator in some form,” he said. “I think of it in the sense that everyone is feeding off of each other in ways that they don’t even know, and it puts people in the same room who would likely never meet each other otherwise. For the most part, I think that I’ve achieved that, and it’s awesome to have a home now.”

Tickets for all upcoming Nocturnes shows as well as additional information regarding OTO can be found at otoexperience.com.