Warren Zevon Only a few weeks ago, Warren Zevon released his finest album since, well, let’s just say 1987’s Sentimental Hygiene. (There have been great records since then, among them 1991’s Mr. Bad Example, and songs better than the albums on which they appeared, such as “Monkey Wash Donkey Rinse”…
Suicide Machines There has always been grumbling about the Suicide Machines. After releasing two demo cassettes, Green World and The Essential Kevorkian, in their native Detroit, the group shortened their name from Jack Kevorkian and The Suicide Machines and signed to Hollywood Records. Problem was, Hollywood Records is owned by…
Scene, heard Though we feel we’ve already explained it thoroughly, there still seems to be some confusion regarding the ballot for the 2000 Dallas Observer Music Awards. One amateur conspiracy theorist has raised the question of whether the ballot was designed so that voters would select the nominees that the…
There are more people outside the club than in it. Dozens of them loiter about as they try to catch a whiff of what’s cooking behind those closed doors. They lean against the outside walls, putting their ears to the bricks to hear just a little of what’s going on…
No one told Bob Nanna that trying to watch 365 movies in a year was a good idea. In fact, most of his friends attempted to talk him out of it by trying to lure him out of the house and the theaters to do something, anything, else. But for…
The saying goes something along the lines of “no press is bad press,” but that maxim is surely put to the test by the cover story in the April edition of D Magazine, “Dallas City Limits.” Hey, no reason to argue with someone claiming that Dallas’ music scene outranks the…
Lou Reed Ecstasy (Reprise Records) Last time out, Lou Reed played the sweetheart and crank. Set the Twilight Reeling — the title felt cozy and not a little defiant: Here’s Uncle Lou, growing old and soft, his worn edges now tattered by the warm breeze of middle age and contentment…
Gropius Indelicate (Self-released) I am not completely convinced that Gropius’ new album isn’t one long song, one tiresome, meandering, second-encore rendition of “Gold Dust Woman,” or maybe “Gypsy.” (Actually, anything by Stevie Nicks would fit the bill.) Maybe I just keep losing my place among the nine tracks on Indelicate,…
The Flaming Lips A few weeks ago, the Dallas Observer came into possession of an e-mailed memorandum, ostensibly written by Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne, describing plans for the band’s sets on the second leg of its North American tour. At first, we were skeptical about the document’s veracity, what…
KISS What follows is a list of actual KISS memorabilia available through www.kissonline.com — “The site that clicks ass!” — and the accompanying descriptions, verbatim. A set of six die-cast KISS pick-up trucks. “Breaker, breaker, good buddy! These 1:64-scale big rigs are sure to please all you KISS fans out…
To set the record straight, no, it is not a mistake if your band or venue does not appear on the 2000 Dallas Observer Music Awards ballot. What it means is that you, as deserving as you think you are, were not nominated. It does not matter if you advertise…
At least one good thing emerged out of South By Southwest’s drunken haze: The Adventure Club/Dallas Observer Charity Bowling Tournament. We haven’t decided on a clever name yet for the whole affair, picked a charity, or even solidified teams as of yet, but this much is certain: We’ll be getting…
The history books are written with his blood and the blood of half a dozen men just like him, fathers sacrificed on the altar. They created this thing called rock and roll, snatched it from thin air and gave it shape and breath and voice, and then they were gone…
You can go home again, but chances are you’ll get lost, turned around, embarrassed that such simple directions can result in an hour-long marathon of wrong choices and missed streets and an overbearing amount of cursing. You can go home again, but home, more often than not, will not be…
It was only appropriate that my South By Southwest experience end like this — stuck in the rain and hail, waiting for a cab, praying to God the lightning would strike me dead before the band inside finishes. Inside the Continental Club on South Congress Avenue, a blues trio named…
The storm blew in and rained down on Austin with a swift fury, for the second year in a row, on the second day of the South By Southwest musical dog-and-pony show. Perhaps it was a warning from above to the festival organizers for trying to shoehorn a record 960-plus…
Almost every day and night of this year’s South By Southwest Music Festival in Austin, Pimpadelic taunted the bands milling around Sixth Street. While everyone else was playing gigs to people perfecting their disinterested stares, trying to get anyone with a badge and a corporate credit card to listen, Pimpadelic…
I had my chance, and I blew it. Actually, Rhett Miller blew it for me. “Robert, Janeane. Janeane, Robert.” That’s how he introduced me to Janeane Garofalo — in a split second, in so little time she barely had time to acknowledge my trembling presence. I got nothing from behind…
Pete Townshend Lifehouse Chronicles (Eel Pie) The bootlegs never hinted at the breadth and depth of Pete Townshend’s aborted, now-mythological Lifehouse. The demos, which have circulated for nearly 30 years, were just that — sparse, shadowy approximations of songs that would go on to appear on Who’s Next (all the…
Builder Spring Sprang Sprung (Good Earth Records) About halfway into Builder’s debut disc, the fact that it wasn’t intended for a traditional rock-and-roll audience is pretty much inescapable, not unlike the sound of “Jesus Knocking” on his front door that Mike Crawford, former frontman for The Spin, describes toward the…
I am not, strictly speaking, the kind of person who would use the term “back dat azz up” in common parlance, restricted from its usage by an utter lack of pigment and a bordering-on-backwoods upbringing. I am white, ohsoverywhite, though I’ve been known to regularly pepper my speech with various…
As we all know from Pamela and Tommy Lee’s infamous home video (come on — you’ve seen it), the former Motley Crue drummer’s massive whanger can drive a boat, or at least steer it. Of course, said member can’t drive and/or steer a boat too well, as the aforementioned vessel…
