This morning, we received a press release from the skateboarding folks at Vans Warped Tour headquarters. Turns out that this year, the 16th year of the tour’s existence, The Vans Warped Tour will launch right here in Dallas on Friday, June 24 at Gexa Energy Pavilion. Tickets will go on…
After a successful launch in May of 2010, the open-air, downtown Dallas-hosted Homegrown Music and Arts Festival will return again in 2011, this time taking place on May 14, and once again at Main Street Garden. And the festival, brought to you by the folks behind Club Dada and City…
There has already been an appalling amount of local musician deaths in the past year, but now we must add to that list one more — the death of former Pimpadelic member Brandon Kord Murphy, who, according to former Pimpadelic manager Scott Beggs, was found dead in a rehearsal space…
Speaking of new albums that are worth their substantial hype, allow us to point you in the direction of another big recent local release: A.Dd+’s When Pigs Fly. That album came out this weekend, with the duo of Slim Gravy and Paris Pershun’s a-couple-years-in-the-making masterpiece finally earning its release at…
Hate to say we told you so — in this case, that this new record from True Widow was going to be a big deal — except, well, that’s not true at all. We kind of revel in telling you so, actually.So, yes, we indeed felt that nice, warm and…
When we first caught wind of tomorrow night’s House of Pain reunion show at South Side Music Hall, we weren’t sure whether to be shocked or bemused. Let’s face it: The group hasn’t had anything close to a big radio hit in nearly 20 years now. And, last we’d heard…
Texas budget cuts have been looming over the heads of teachers and school boards alike in recent weeks, and Booker T. Washington High School, the DISD magnet for performing and visual arts, is no exception. But, with less money rolling in, the prestigious school has taken a proactive approach to…
I’m really torn with how we should be handling coverage of Spector 45 bassist Adam Carter’s recent suicide. Adam was a sweet guy, a great sound man, a heck of a musician (in addition to his role in Spector 45, he played in a number of other great bands, including…
A couple weeks back, you may recall, Eric Grubbs caught up with local “stonegaze” trio True Widow to talk shop and to talk a long, hard look at the band’s sophomore album, the obnoxiously titled As High As the Highest Heavens and From the Center to the Circumference of the…
Don’t call it a comeback: Despite having been absent from performing in the hip-hop world for some time now, legendary rap originator LL Cool J has been around for years, rocking his peers and putting suckers in fear. And, at last night’s Red Bull Thre3style event at SXSW, after an…
Former Spector 45 bass player Adam Carter is dead of an apparent suicide. He was 27. Details are still trickling in, but those close to Carter confirm that he was found dead this evening, 77 days to the date after his bandmate, Frankie Campagna, also committed suicide.He’ll be remembered for…
Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys formed Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark in 1978. Within a couple of years, the duo had grown into a quartet and released “Messages,” the first of several hit singles that brought the band fame and critical kudos. Yet, after seven successful albums, Humphreys left the…
On Saturday, March 12, Lower Greenville dive The Winedale Tavern would have turned 26-years-old. But, just days before its birthday, the bar’s owners shuttered the doors and closed for business. In three weeks’ time, though, the doors will be open again — and this time it will be called The…
There’s little doubting Atlanta duo Outkast’s place in hip-hop history. The twosome of Andre 3000 and Big Boi practically invented the southern hip-hop sub-genre, developing a crazy style to call their own — and something all their own, too. Even some 17 years after their 1994 full-length debut, Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik, few…
If known only for his work with the legendary trio known as The Minutemen, bassist Mike Watt would still have his place in rock ‘n’ roll lore. But even after that band disintegrated following the death of singer/guitarist D. Boon, Watt pressed on and formed another acclaimed trio: Firehose. And,…
Chaz Bundick’s chill. But he’s not that chill. Or so the 24-year-old from Columbia, South Carolina, and the man behind the Toro y Moi moniker is hoping to prove with his latest “organic” effort, Underneath the Pines, which was recorded in the small recording studio at Chaz’ house on drums,…
Leading up to this year’s installment of 35 Conferette, after hearing some pretty salty rumors about bands not getting paid in full in 2010, we were curious as to how the festival would be able to afford to pay this year’s acts. After all, this was the biggest festival yet,…
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the top record store in town has been affected by the phenomenon that is South By Southwest spillover. After all, now that The Cavern has gone from being a music venue to an English/Irish Bar (The Crown & Harp), Good Records pretty much…
Perhaps the most amusing thing of 35 Conferette 2011? The ubiquity of the performers — both scheduled to partake in the festivities and not — rolling around the festival’s venues and taking in the events as a whole.Almost every big name in local music, it seemed, was present — Jonathan…
A funny thing happened last week when Dallas pop-punk outfit Forever The Sickest Kids released their self-titled, second full-length album — namely, that the response to the album was huge, with sales figures placing the band’s album in the iTunes top 10 sales chart almost immediately. Even more surprising, though,…
Dallas-based hip-hop super-producers Play-N-Skillz have wasted no time making good use of their G4 Muzik label’s freshly created blog. Over the past few weeks, they’ve shared some new music, revealed that they’re shooting a music video with Bun B in town today, and, well, revealed some even bigger news, too.Most…
Traditional country music champion Marty Stuart hasn’t been a major force on the Billboard country charts for some time now. But don’t confuse that absence as a sign of Stuart having slowed down in the least. In fact, the man’s arguably more relevant today than he was during his wave…
