Art at Arlington’s F6 Gallery. (Michael Insuaste)So, it’s probably not a surprise that we hit up Melodica – we’ve been talking about it for awhile now. So, yes, we went. We wrote about it. But we also drove over to Arlington for a great art event (seriously), got our Oscar…
Yells at Eels.Melodica Music Festival February 23, 2008 Exposition Park Last night I trekked down to Exposition Park to take my Melodica experience beyond the paper and was pleasantly surprised. I wasn’t too sure how the fest would turn out, but with some fairly packed venues and too few parking…
F6 Gallery One-Year Anniversary Party February 23, 2008 F6 Gallery Better Than: Most anything else happening in Arlington on a Saturday night. Download: See who was at the gallery’s birthday bash in our slideshow. Sometimes what begins as a capricious whim or an idealistic toss of the dice manifests into…
Bob Dylan rocks the HOB this weekend. Another fine-looking weekend here in the Metroplex. Lots to see and plenty to keep yourself busy, whether your flavor skews locally or nationally. Not many places to go wrong this weekend, so just head out there and support your local scene, I guess…
The crowd at Obama’s rally. (Brian Harkin)As all of us music snobs know, the true make of a person (and that includes candidates) is what music they listen to. Therefore, I offer you some selections piped through the speakers at both Obama’s and Clinton’s rallies. Choose wisely, in the primaries,…
…and you can read said mention here. Snobbish hipster types around Dallas jump for joy! All together now: “Validation! Validation! Validation!” Meh. We give Pitchfork’s coverage here a 6.3 rating. But if you’re itching for more–and I know that you are–Rich Lopez broke this ish down for ya in this…
Avary is pretty excited to share this cover with everyone. (The Rocket Summer)We’re so proud! Bryce Avary — a.k.a. The Rocket Summer — earned the cover of the April edition of Alternative Press. (Full disclosure: I’ve written for AP on and off for a couple years, but nothing about The…
Murry Hammond has been part of the Dallas music scene for far more than 20 years. Stints in the Sleepy Heroes and the unheralded Peyote Cowboys preceded his more high-profile days as bassist for the Old 97’s. Hammond’s first solo CD comes out February 22, and Hammond is playing the…
Tonight at Lift Lounge …and Rich Lopez and I will be in attendance at Lift Lounge helping a panel of judges choose the best of the five competing local DJs. The winner of this little competition will be repping Dallas at the Ultra Music Festival in Miami on March 28…
This is just stupid. So I posted this little entry on Tuesday night. Little did I know it’d be all over the Interwebs by this afternoon. First this blog picked up on the item. Then Nashville’s daily paper, The Tennessean picked up on it. Now, CMT is reporting it. The…
Black Joe Lewis campaigns for Obama (Photo by Keith Gaddis) Every once in a while, a quaint little band will get a phone call from a frantic local booker looking to fill a short-notice role in a TV show or a celebrity event. We’ve seen local bands dive into slots…
The ‘Screw The Vote’ Contingent: Opium Symphony.With Obamamania spreading across the country, there’s lots of talk about the youth who have been energized to participate in politics for the first time and whether or not they’ll actually turn out to vote. Well, here’s something a little different — a local…
Wondering what life is like on tour for Dallas rock quintet Kessler? Well, the guys are out on a big national tour and are kind enough to be posting videos on their MySpace blog to give us a glimpse of life on the road. The video from February 19 is…
So, for the Forever The Sickest Kids fans out there (Oh, don’t deny it. You guys read shit about them like crazy.) the band is again soliciting stuff from its fans. Before it was questions, then YouTube videos, now the band wants your pictures. The group is after pictures of…
Spend enough time with creative types—especially musicians—and you start to get a sense of how important outside feedback, either positive or negative, is to these folks. It’s a simple matter of pride and self-doubt. These people are filled with both. Guess that comes with the territory when you’re putting your…
For a long time—about three years—Erykah Badu figured maybe she was done making records. It started around the time she released Worldwide Underground in June 2003, which would have been one hell of a farewell: a gritty, fist-in-your-face EP populated by tracks that rambled on and on, some drenched in…
From within the confines of his East Dallas apartment, Wanz Dover is foreseeing the future. He sayeth the Dallas music scene is on the precipice of something huge—like the coming of a cultural savior. Tectonic plates under the city itself will quake to reawaken the music gods that have slept…
Speaking from his tour bus just outside Seattle, Mark Olson sounds revitalized and downright giddy. Things are good at the moment for the former leader of the influential alt-country act The Jayhawks. “I have a real interesting band,” Olson says of the group of musicians backing him on his current…
It seems like Mike Doughty is doing everything he can to blend in with every milquetoast singer-songwriter who ever drew inspiration from Duncan Sheik. The ridiculous album title, bland packaging photos—including shots of the artiste at work with a cup of coffee and a notebook full of scribbles—and liner notes…
Born and raised in Austin, country/folk singer-songwriter Danny Schmidt parlays an aggressive acoustic guitar style and a yearning, yowling vocal delivery into a unique charisma that’s both evocative and oddly comforting. Little Grey Sheep, Schmidt’s fifth effort, is a collection of orphaned songs, some deemed too askew to fit in…
Downer duo Beach House first made waves with its 2006 single “Apple Orchard,” which copped the breathy vocals and slide guitar of Mazzy Star and buried them under layers of cavernous reverb and buzzing organ. Two years later the band’s bewitching formula hasn’t really changed—upon first listen Devotion floats by…
There’s always been something comforting about the music of Nada Surf. Hipper than Coldplay and less distant than Death Cab, band members Matthew Caws, Ira Elliot and Daniel Lorca are capable of creating perfectly crafted three- to five-minute odes to the elusiveness of love. Perfectly content to wallow in melancholy…
