Ghostland Observatory Dec 30, 2007 House of Blues Better Than: Watching oily robots make sweet love under a banana tree. SMU douchebags took over the House of Blues Sunday night, but we still were swooning when Ghostland Observatory hit the stage. (Angela Berg) Hippies love Ghostland! Hipsters love Ghosltand! Geeks…
Van Morrison Myerson Symphony Center December 29, 2007 Better than: Pretending you have Celtic roots getting drunk at O’Malley’s. Saturday night, in the stuffy and polite confines of the Myerson Symphony Center, Van Morrison finally let loose. After a disinterested performance of “Moondance,” the legendary singer consumed just enough wine…
So many parties, so little time. With 2008 a few days away, we here at DC-9 thought we’d help you sort out some of your New Year’s Eve club partying options. (See our NYE concert picks.) Everybody’s doing something around town but these top few stuck out to us with…
Money, parking, overcrowded venues and quality of music; these are just a few things that come to mind when deciding where to go this New Year’s Eve. Here is a list of 1- possibilities followed by a scaled score (10 being the best bet) to rate the perspective overall experience…
Burgeoning blues beau Jonathan Tyler and his talented stage posse will be rocking the damask walls of the Granada tonight in support of their surprisingly soulful album Hot Trottin’. As House of Blues favorites and recent targets of major label A&R pursuance, Jonathan Tyler and the Northern Lights are scaling…
The holidays are a time of family, schmaltzy Christmas commercials that somehow make you cry and, for music journalists, list-making. Lots and lots of list-making. Over the past few years, the availability of year-end critics’ lists has multiplied faster than the worry lines on Ben Bernanke’s brow. Mark our words,…
In the pages that follow, our corporate overlords provide an alternative to gratuitous music writer geekdom and end-of-year lists, but being who we are, we threatened to burn down the building if we didn’t get to make some kind of contribution to the list-making canon. Apparently, they like this building…
Due to a major oversight on my part, the music and concert listings in this week’s issue are reprinted from last week. I offer my sincerest apologies to our readers, bands and the venues who allow me to include them each week. Shows for the dates of December 27 through…
If you conduct a Wikipedia search for “Fair to Midland,” you find…well, the facts. Just the facts. And, in your wee hours of MySpace music hunting, you find that Fair to Midland is a band. A “Progressive / Folk / Metal” band with 38,812 fans, a partiality to swamp-pants and…
If you’re dying to something to listen to other than Perry Como holiday songs, we’ve got you covered. Listen to the classic and the amusing below. ”Christmas in Hollis” by Run-DMC. This late ’80s take on Christmas by hip-hop pioneer Run-DMC has worked its way into everyone’s top holiday tunes…
Still need a present for that one cousin or brother? Think you’re screwed? Not quite. We’ve been sharing shopping ideas throughout the month. Here are all of our ideas in one place. Go to town. 25 Toys for Those 25 and Older Yodeling pickles, boxing nuns, flying ninjas and four-legged…
From the 7th Annual Polyphonic Spree Holiday Extravaganza, last Sunday night at the Lakewood Theater. A dozen other options, from the John Lennon original to U2’s take, available here. –Robert Wilonsky…
This weekend should really be the time you finish up your holiday shopping and wrapping and cooking and whatever else you’re more than likely behind on. Or if you’re like me and waiting until Monday to do it, then we have a few shows to keep your mind off the…
We’re out to steer you toward the best in last minute stocking stuffers for the music junkie in your life. (We’re also quick to point out those gifts to avoid.) We’ve got five great picks — one a day this week. Our final piece is perfect for that person who…
Willy Braun’s other gig: Reckless Kelly. (Katie Garcia Photography)9th Annual Songwriter’s Showcase December 19, 2007 House of Blues Better than: Being at a BAR Association mixer. Last night, country hunk Roger Creager hosted the 9th Annual Songwriter’s Showcase at the House of Blues. Despite the Mavs/Suns game going on concurrently,…
We’re out to steer you toward the best in last minute stocking stuffers for the music junkie in your life. (We’re also quick to point out those gifts to avoid.) We’ve got five great picks — one a day this week. Part four is a decent compilation that doesn’t cost…
It’s the same for music as it is for love: The new ones, with oh-so-much potential in the beginning, are too often short-lived. Bad runs in dating I accept, but I want my music to be there for me. I find myself torn when I like a new band—they’re so…
In high school, I quit guitar lessons after just six months. I have really tiny hands and got frustrated just making chords—plus, my teenage self thought it’d be more fun to date an ax master than to be one. Later, I decided that writing about rock bands was a lot…
The Dallas Observer music section strives to be your go-to source for sports-talk radio news, naturally, so we’d be remiss not to mention the Orphanage Second Annual Christmas Benefit Show Friday night, December 21. As with the inaugural Christmas charity show, the benefit will be held at the Double-Wide Bar…
The best Christmas songs, whether they’re classic carols or new favorites, embody whatever you love about the holiday. The worst, on the other hand, are grim reminders of all that is unbearable about the season’s orgy of consumerism, exploitation of Christian tradition and ham-handed sentimentality. I e-mailed a few local…
With the weather so frightfully cold—at least when it’s not oddly warm—now might be time to inject a bit of summer cheer into the dreary season. Summer is also a peak time for CD new releases, and here are a few that somehow got lost beneath the pile. Out of…
Minus the terrible cover art and the aberrant jock rock boogie of the opening track, “Monkey,” the remainder of Richard Lloyd’s most recent solo outing falls comfortably within his angular and ordered realm. Since his heyday playing second fiddle to Tom Verlaine in Television, Lloyd has released several efforts that…
