July 3, 2025 • 5 mins
What if the guy who booked Nirvana before they blew up also got fired for playing NWA uncensored—and lived to tell the tale?In this electrifying episode of The Ben and Skin Show, the crew dives deep into the heart of Dallas music history with a spotlight on the legendary Jeff Liles. Hosts Ben Rogers, Jeff “Skin” Wade, Kevin “KT” Turner, and Krystina Ray bring their signature humor and storytelling flair to a segment that’s equal parts nostalgic, hilarious, and jaw-dropping.
The Nirvana Incident at Trees: Hear how Jeff Lyles booked Nirvana right before “Smells Like Teen Spirit” exploded—and how a security guard ended up in a scuffle with Kurt Cobain.The First DJ to Play NWA (and Get Fired for It): Lyles made history by spinning uncensored NWA tracks on Dallas radio. The fallout? Immediate termination—and instant legend status.Dallas Music Royalty: From launching Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians to discovering future stars like Leon Bridges’ guitarist, Lyles’ fingerprints are all over the city’s cultural DNA.A Must-See Live Event: This Saturday at the Kessler Theater, Lyles and journalist Robert Wilonsky will host an interactive storytelling night, unpacking decades of Dallas music lore—live, unscripted, and unforgettable.
Whether you're a die-hard music fan, a Dallas native, or just love a good behind-the-scenes story, this episode is packed with rich history, raw moments, and the kind of banter only this crew can deliver.
The Nirvana Incident at Trees: Hear how Jeff Lyles booked Nirvana right before “Smells Like Teen Spirit” exploded—and how a security guard ended up in a scuffle with Kurt Cobain.The First DJ to Play NWA (and Get Fired for It): Lyles made history by spinning uncensored NWA tracks on Dallas radio. The fallout? Immediate termination—and instant legend status.Dallas Music Royalty: From launching Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians to discovering future stars like Leon Bridges’ guitarist, Lyles’ fingerprints are all over the city’s cultural DNA.A Must-See Live Event: This Saturday at the Kessler Theater, Lyles and journalist Robert Wilonsky will host an interactive storytelling night, unpacking decades of Dallas music lore—live, unscripted, and unforgettable.
Whether you're a die-hard music fan, a Dallas native, or just love a good behind-the-scenes story, this episode is packed with rich history, raw moments, and the kind of banter only this crew can deliver.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Skin is Tracked another edition of things. It is tracking,
all right. I saw an article about this. I knew
this was happening, but when I read the article, I
got very, very excited about it. So Jeff Lyles is
a legendary music person here in Dallas and has been
for years and years and years and years and years.
(00:26):
When Deep Ellam had its first resurgence in the early eighties,
deep Ellum, you know, was a place where blues musicians
were doing their thing in the thirties and the twenties,
going way back, and it's had its different ups and
downs as a part of town where there's music venues
and stuff. But when it had its very first resurgence,
Jeff Lyles was in the middle of that. He was
(00:47):
a young guy out of Richardson High School and he
was always a music guy. Then fast forward another eight
or nine years later and he was booking a venue
that is still in town and still doing stuff called
Trees m HM. And when Ben and I were going
down to deep Elam and going to rap shows, we
saw a lot of shows at Trees. In fact, the
first time tribe called Quest played here, they played at
(01:09):
Trees Deylas Soul. They played at Trees, and not only
was he booking shows like that, he booked We've talked
about this on the show before he booked Nirvana. Trees
secured the deal, and then like one week before they
played Trees, smells like teen Spirit exploded all across the nation,
and so suddenly they could have played the Bronco Bowl,
(01:31):
which was five times the size of Trees, but he had.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
It booked, and so they did the show.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
And that's the show where the bodyguard turned and started
beating up Kurt Cobain. You can go watch video of it.
It's it's his own bodyguard. No, it was the security
at Trees. Oh my god, because he I can't remember
if he if Cobain hit him with his guitar or yeah, yea, but.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
He knew he was the lead singer of the band
and still fought him. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Well, but also, I mean in that article and then
the stories, I mean, Kurt Cobain is on Heroin.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
What happened to that guy? That security guard? Oh, I thought,
you mean Kirk Cobain And I was like, Ben, I
don't know. He went on to be a lead guitarist
for the FI.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
But you got to go and Anyways, the thing that's
so great about it is at the time, the writer
the music editor for the Dallas Observer was Robert Wolanski.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Whatever happened to that guy?
Speaker 1 (02:27):
Now, as you guys know, and I've said this on
the show, I think what Robert Wolanski and Sarah Heppela
are doing right now is amazing. They're both writing for
the Dallas More News. Wolansky left journalism and went and
worked for an auction house and then has now come
back and is doing stuff for the morning news again.
But people who have been they grew up here. They
chronicled the history of our city, both economically culturally.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Those people are so important.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
And I and I and they're both Robert and Sarah
are doing an amazing job. So Robert has known Jeff
Lai Lyles also got Edie Brookell and the New Bohemians
their record deal. He pretty much ran deep elum. I mean,
he's got so many just amazing stories. He was the
first guy in America outside of Los Angeles to play
(03:15):
NWA on the radio, and he played them with cuss
words in the song and immediately got fired. Hell yeah,
like dude, He's legendary. Okay, just love the guy. So
on Saturday at the Kessler Theater, Lyles with Robert Olonski moderating,
is going to tell stories on the history of Dallas
music in Dallas culture Wow, and the way that they're
(03:38):
doing it. Here's a quote from Lyles. I've known Robert
for thirty five years. He and I share a lot
of these experiences in real time. When it comes to
really laying out the proper trajectory of popular music in Dallas,
Robert is a walking enc encyclopedia. He can tell you
exactly what the weather was like when the Rolling Stones
played the Cotton Bowl in nineteen eighty one. So you
(04:00):
have Lyles and all his connections, Lansky and his encyclopedic knowledge.
And then so what you're doing is when you get there,
you're going to write down anything in Dallas history you
want Wolansky and Lyles to talk about, and they're going
to do it wow.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
So it's almost like an interactive theater thing. Yes. Wow.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
And then one of the things that Lyles is going
to do is he's going to start picking people out
of the crowd and talking about how they tie into
Dallas music history.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
Whoa okay?
Speaker 1 (04:31):
And he for example, he was talking about a girl
that is now the lead guitarist for Leon Bridges, and
he was talking about the very first time he saw
her as a fifteen year old playing an acoustic version
of Whipping Post. He was like, she's going to be
something like He's got all of this stuff and it's
just in his Lyles's brain with his dreadlocks coming out
(04:51):
of his head, just smelling like the finest green. So
if you love music history and you love our music
scene and all kinds of music, punk, rock, rap.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
You name it, he's been in the middle of all
of it.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
And so him and Wilonsky will be doing that Saturday,
and I think it's sort of like can't miss kind
of stuff.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Hell, yes, there you have it all right. Coming up next,
let's turn our entertainment attention to Hollywood. Where are you
gonna take some of the shuffle kt? Well, this celebrity
is milfing out.
Skin is Tracked another edition of things. It is tracking,
all right. I saw an article about this. I knew
this was happening, but when I read the article, I
got very, very excited about it. So Jeff Lyles is
a legendary music person here in Dallas and has been
for years and years and years and years and years.
(00:26):
When Deep Ellam had its first resurgence in the early eighties,
deep Ellum, you know, was a place where blues musicians
were doing their thing in the thirties and the twenties,
going way back, and it's had its different ups and
downs as a part of town where there's music venues
and stuff. But when it had its very first resurgence,
Jeff Lyles was in the middle of that. He was
(00:47):
a young guy out of Richardson High School and he
was always a music guy. Then fast forward another eight
or nine years later and he was booking a venue
that is still in town and still doing stuff called
Trees m HM. And when Ben and I were going
down to deep Elam and going to rap shows, we
saw a lot of shows at Trees. In fact, the
first time tribe called Quest played here, they played at
(01:09):
Trees Deylas Soul. They played at Trees, and not only
was he booking shows like that, he booked We've talked
about this on the show before he booked Nirvana. Trees
secured the deal, and then like one week before they
played Trees, smells like teen Spirit exploded all across the nation,
and so suddenly they could have played the Bronco Bowl,
(01:31):
which was five times the size of Trees, but he had.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
It booked, and so they did the show.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
And that's the show where the bodyguard turned and started
beating up Kurt Cobain. You can go watch video of it.
It's it's his own bodyguard. No, it was the security
at Trees. Oh my god, because he I can't remember
if he if Cobain hit him with his guitar or yeah, yea, but.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
He knew he was the lead singer of the band
and still fought him. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Well, but also, I mean in that article and then
the stories, I mean, Kurt Cobain is on Heroin.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
What happened to that guy? That security guard? Oh, I thought,
you mean Kirk Cobain And I was like, Ben, I
don't know. He went on to be a lead guitarist
for the FI.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
But you got to go and Anyways, the thing that's
so great about it is at the time, the writer
the music editor for the Dallas Observer was Robert Wolanski.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Whatever happened to that guy?
Speaker 1 (02:27):
Now, as you guys know, and I've said this on
the show, I think what Robert Wolanski and Sarah Heppela
are doing right now is amazing. They're both writing for
the Dallas More News. Wolansky left journalism and went and
worked for an auction house and then has now come
back and is doing stuff for the morning news again.
But people who have been they grew up here. They
chronicled the history of our city, both economically culturally.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Those people are so important.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
And I and I and they're both Robert and Sarah
are doing an amazing job. So Robert has known Jeff
Lai Lyles also got Edie Brookell and the New Bohemians
their record deal. He pretty much ran deep elum. I mean,
he's got so many just amazing stories. He was the
first guy in America outside of Los Angeles to play
(03:15):
NWA on the radio, and he played them with cuss
words in the song and immediately got fired. Hell yeah,
like dude, He's legendary. Okay, just love the guy. So
on Saturday at the Kessler Theater, Lyles with Robert Olonski moderating,
is going to tell stories on the history of Dallas
music in Dallas culture Wow, and the way that they're
(03:38):
doing it. Here's a quote from Lyles. I've known Robert
for thirty five years. He and I share a lot
of these experiences in real time. When it comes to
really laying out the proper trajectory of popular music in Dallas,
Robert is a walking enc encyclopedia. He can tell you
exactly what the weather was like when the Rolling Stones
played the Cotton Bowl in nineteen eighty one. So you
(04:00):
have Lyles and all his connections, Lansky and his encyclopedic knowledge.
And then so what you're doing is when you get there,
you're going to write down anything in Dallas history you
want Wolansky and Lyles to talk about, and they're going
to do it wow.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
So it's almost like an interactive theater thing. Yes. Wow.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
And then one of the things that Lyles is going
to do is he's going to start picking people out
of the crowd and talking about how they tie into
Dallas music history.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
Whoa okay?
Speaker 1 (04:31):
And he for example, he was talking about a girl
that is now the lead guitarist for Leon Bridges, and
he was talking about the very first time he saw
her as a fifteen year old playing an acoustic version
of Whipping Post. He was like, she's going to be
something like He's got all of this stuff and it's
just in his Lyles's brain with his dreadlocks coming out
(04:51):
of his head, just smelling like the finest green. So
if you love music history and you love our music
scene and all kinds of music, punk, rock, rap.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
You name it, he's been in the middle of all
of it.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
And so him and Wilonsky will be doing that Saturday,
and I think it's sort of like can't miss kind
of stuff.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Hell, yes, there you have it all right. Coming up next,
let's turn our entertainment attention to Hollywood. Where are you
gonna take some of the shuffle kt? Well, this celebrity
is milfing out.
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