R. Kelly’s Black Panties: A Cute Animal for Every Song

Editor’s Note: Shea Serrano is an award-winning music writer and goofball whose recent exploits include Bun B’s Rapper Coloring and Activity Book. In his new column, he writes about his life and times. Here’s what you need to know about Robert Sylvester Kelly: He’s the fucking best. At singing. At…

KXT’s Sarah Jane Semrad on the Value of Independent Radio

Sarah Jane Semrad’s first local show was Course of Empire. And so it began. Nowadays, SJ is easily one of the most important and hard-working people in our local music community. She’s marketing director at KKXT-FM 91.7, a station riveted in local music support, where it’s pretty damn satisfying to…

The Ten Best Grunge Bands

A couple of weeks ago, Pearl Jam played the American Airlines Center and rocked the hell out of the place. But after all of these years, can anyone still call Pearl Jam a grunge band? As someone who was in college when the grunge sound came wallowing out of Seattle,…

Six Musicians You Didn’t Know Might Be Bigots

Bob Dylan is being sued. For supposedly being racist. Could the harmonica enthusiast born Robert Allen Zimmerman — the man whose ejaculate created national treasure Jakob Dylan of the Wallflowers — truly be a bigot? Sure, he could be. Or maybe his comment likening Croatians to Nazis was misinterpreted or…

Bigger Fish to Fry than Who Killed JFK

The Kennedy commemoration is behind us; I have written too much about it. Now I have a confession to make, and I sincerely hope the conspiracy authors and scholars with whom I have been talking over the last year will not take this as a betrayal or a sign of…

How I Accidentally Became A Drug Dealer

Editor’s Note: Shea Serrano is an award-winning music writer and goofball whose recent exploits include Bun B’s Rapper Coloring and Activity Book. In his new column, he writes about his life and times. The biggest concern in my life recently is that every show on my DVR is the regular…

Your Guide to Holiday Drinking at Your Hometown Bar

You’re home for the the Holidays, and you start to get that restless feeling. It’s perfectly natural. The evening’s winding down, and the Thanksgiving spread is now a pile of dishes you don’t want to wash. Maybe there were kids running around all day and you’d like some grown up…

What To Do About Your Sexist Bandmate

Are you a musician? Is your group having issues? Ask Fan Landers! Critic Jessica Hopper has played in and managed bands, toured internationally, booked shows, produced records, worked as a publicist and is the author of The Girls’ Guide to Rocking, a how-to for teen ladies. She is here to…

Why It Sucks to Be a Woman Who Raves

As a self-respecting female with professional aspirations and a desire to be taken seriously as an individual, it’s become increasingly difficult to identify with American electronic dance music culture without feeling kind of irresponsible. By Kat Bein Six or seven years ago, the playing field was pretty even. We went…

Watkins and Price: Democrats or Blackocrats?

Not that the office of district attorney isn’t political anyway. In the old days when the Republican old guard dangled the local district attorney on puppet strings, the office functioned as a kind of collection agency for the well connected. Walk away from a deal with one of those guys,…

Really Stoked, Ready for Tomorrow’s Very Weird JFK Ritual

Getting pretty stoked, have to admit it, pretty revved up for the 50th Kennedy Assassination Celebration downtown tomorrow. Lots more calls coming in from the curious. Friend called from New Jersey asking if there will be a parade. Had to tell him no, sadly. They were afraid they wouldn’t be…

Stop Calling Elton John “Flamboyant”

Part of why I write is because I think words are important. They are similar to songs in that the right one in the right place at the right time can absolutely change your life. Words are not meaningless or forgettable, no matter what Depeche Mode might claim. By Jaime…