Critic's Notebook

Fans who made it down to Hayden’s recent performance on the June 14 might have noticed that the House of Blues’ Cambridge Room, the spot that housed Hayden’s performance, is now called the Pontiac Garage…

Kelly Christian can sing, we think. Although local electro lounge band Shock of Pleasure’s new album doesn’t hit the streets until mid-September, folks can get a (pricey) taste of the band tomorrow night when it performs at The Mansion on Turtle Creek. The band will be playing the bar of…

It’s one thing for Jakob Dylan to skip Dallas, and I know we get Tom Waits soon and Steely Dan in the near future, but this sucks: Legendary roots rock act Los Lobos has just released its upcoming tour itinerary, and the closest the band will come to the Metroplex…

You may remember about a month back when we mentioned Jermaine Dupri’s interest in a Dallas singer nicknamed Phatfffat, who, oddly enough, he found online. Well, I’ll have Sachse resident Dondria Nicole’s full Youtube-to-major label success story in my column next week, so keep an eye out for that. And…

In celebration of Black Music Month (proclaimed by someone who doesn’t care about black people, if you ask Kanye) and Juneteenth, Black Cinematheque presents a free screening of Stephanie Black’s award-winning film Africa Unite on Friday night. Africa Unite follows family members of the late reggae legend Bob Marley as…

We’re so into metal right now. Have to be–Ozzfest is only, what, like seven weeks away or something? Right! So that’s why we’re pointing this out: Somewhat frequent Observer contributor D.X. Ferris just penned himself a book on Slayer’s Reign In Blood. It’s the 57th book in Continuum’s lauded 33…

There’s something quite Freudian about this shot. (Steve Thornton) Dallas-based country artist Zane Lewis, who has been the subject of a heated debate in our comments section since we discussed his sound back in April, has been nominated for the Independent Artist Of The Year award in the 6th Annual…

Idolator heps us to the fact that Dallas’ own Norah Jones’ “Sunrise” (see above video) has been included on the March of Dimes benefit CD, Stork Tunes, a disc that aims to relax soon-to-mothers as they go through labor. Awesome! No, it’s not as cool as, say, Rockabye Baby!: Lullaby…

Power to Badu’s people. Yeah, when Erykah Badu released New Amerykah: Part One a few months back, we were pretty high on the music. But we also dropped our jaws pretty hard for the artwork (designed by Emek), too–if not more. And that’s why we’re pretty stocked about this news:…

A video of the bratty emo pop-punk act has been put up on this national Web site, where it currently resides on the front page as the featured item… VIMBY – A Bird A Sparrow I think it makes sense to compare these bands to Gremlins. They keep multiplying, and…

On Sunday night, Memphis in Addison will host a benefit concert for the three surviving children of Eric and Deborah Stuer, who died earlier this month in a car crash. The event starts at 7 p.m. and boasts a whole slew of scene vets: Stuer’s former band, the Buster Brown…

We just received the sad news that the Dallas drumming community lost one of its spiritual leaders on June 6, when Eric “Stu” Stuer and his wife died in a single-vehicle wreck on I-49 south of Shreveport on their way home from RhythmWeb drum circle engagements in Mississippi. Stuer, 55,…

Abilene-based country-tinged crooner Micah P. Hinson, whose played more than his fair share of DFWd gigs over the years, got himself a write-up on Stereogum’s The ‘Gum Drop today. Check it. –Pete Freedman…

The Spree take a stand…against injustice! (Hal Samples) A new twist on an old joke… Q: How many members of the Polyphonic Spree does it take to file a lawsuit? A: One to file it…and 27 to sing about how beautifully litigious it is. New developments on the TVT Records…

Forever the promotional push. (Evan Hunt) Dallas’ own Forever the Sickest Kids, who are about to head out on the road as part of this summer’s Warped Tour, performed on Late Night with Conan O’Brien last night… … I know. Believe me, I know. We’ll have the video as soon…

After shaking up the Kerrville Folk Festival, Fort Worth’s outlaw country diva Glitter Rose played Poor David’s Pub last week and is now packing her bags for Nashville. Rose has been invited to perform at the NAMM Summer Conference, June 20-22. (That’s the National Association of Music Merchants for the…

Ryu won’t like Blanka when he gets angry… For many bands, video games are an amusing distraction at best. Practicing at the home of a member who owns a console can be a risky endeavor, as a spontaneous game of Halo or Madden might stretch into an hours-long tournament. That’s…

Eating burgers, drinking beers and spending a day with your four-legged best friend sounds like an ideal way to spend a Saturday. How could you possibly improve on that? Well, by adding the chance to see Ella Minnow, RTB2, Tre Orsi and Record Hop all on the same bill, along…

With Jakob Dylan releasing the mostly acoustic Seeing Things and finally accepting the fact that he’s Bob’s son, it would seem that progeny living up to their names is coming into vogue. Justin Townes Earle, son of alt-country godfather Steve Earle, can now be considered part of this surprising trend…

fight bite n. 1 an infected, human bite-inflicted wound (ex: Johnny bit Suzy’s hand and now that shit looks nasty; 2 a new-ish Denton-based band that everyone apparently thinks is amazing (ex: This band Zac Crain really likes is playing Space on Saturday!) Let’s take a retrospective look at how…

An entity called The Revolution Party of Dallas is hosting an event entitled Freedom Tour ’08 to be held at Club Dada on June 16th. While also featuring local acts Dustin Tavella, Fish Fry Bingo and Catfish Whiskey, the show will be headlined by folk singing activist Marc Scibilia. Known…

It was just over a week ago now that the Toadies started streaming a 22-second clip of the title track from its upcoming album, No Deliverance, on its Web site. Now there’s this: Spin.com’s got a full stream of the track on its site this afternoon. For what it’s worth,…