“The album is dying in front of our very eyes,” Variety columnist and music business know-it-all Bob Lefsetz wrote recently based on weak LP sales, including Katy Perry’s Prism, which sold only about 220,000 copies in its first week. “If your plan is to increase your audience, spread the word…
This last weekend was one of those times when you could take just about any city in the world and keep it if you left me White Rock Lake. The weather was gorgeous. The lake was perfect. Everybody was out there. Justin Terveen, photo laureate of Dallas, shot this from…
“The secret word is buenas tardes. Greet the two accordion players with that phrase outside the address and they will let you in. The dress code is all black.” That and an address were the only instructions received the night before heading to House of Plate’s collaboration with Cafe Momentum…
Do you ever wonder about the positive qualities you may be overlooking in the artists you hate? Probably not. Who has time to dig through the details to find out who’s actually pretty cool, but an unfortunate victim of their own terrible art? Well, my friend, we do. That’s why…
Every time I start to gag over yet another JFK 50th piece in the papers, I have to remind myself, “Schutze, you’ve been cranking out the same stuff for two years.” Yeah, I know. I added to the pile. But that’s different. That was my stuff. This weekend I found…
It’s a Tuesday night, and I am sitting on a yoga mat in the back of a former grocery store in Pittsburgh, spreading my legs as far as they can go. I reflexively turn to see how the woman next to me is managing her dragonfly pose when I realize…
If you grew up during the mid-60s or after and you weren’t raised by the Amish, there’s a good chance you watched It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown every fall until you deemed yourself too cool. If you missed it, the holiday cartoon opens with Linus writing a letter to…
I always feel better after I talk to Larry James. I was worried. Now I’m not. James, president and CEO of CitySquare, the city’s biggest and most comprehensive private anti-poverty organization, had an op-ed piece in The Dallas Morning News yesterday, one of those things about who to hire for…
Photo: Erik Hess[Editor’s note: The Door Guy dispenses advice for our sister blog Gimme Noise] The Door Guy. He’s seen and heard it all. Pukes puking. Bros fighting. Liars lying about the guest list to get by him. Drunks falling. Your “Turn up!” is his “Calm down!” Frankly, he hates…
Dave Buchwald/Wikimedia CommonsYeah, he’s just screwin’ with you.Is your infant crying? Of course it is. But the harder question to answer is “Why the hell is this baby crying?” If you’ve asked the Internet to help you, I’m sure you’re already at the emergency room. But if you’re looking for…
Matthew Powers (who plays with local punk outfit The Street Arabs) and his brother Justin run a DIY in Dallas called Fringe Media Events. They’re the ones, ahem, responsible for the locally filmed Troma movie Pot Zombies, its harrowing sequel and a new local punk fest they debuted last summer…
Had another conversation with a foreign journalist this week assigned to cover the 50th anniversary of the Kennedy assassination ceremony here next week, who said the same thing others have been saying to me for a month, which, I must point out, is the same thing I said a year…
Dear Mexican: Could it really be possible for a terrorist to sneak into the U.S. through the southern border, or is that just more fear-mongering from the conservatives? Not Crazy about Quds Dear Gabacho: Of course it’s possible, but we’re really not going to know until we find out, right?…
Last week, November 5, election day, there was one election you missed for sure if you do not happen to live in the part of Dallas affected by it. Come to think of it, you probably missed it even if you do live there. Voter turnout in that area was…
Many listeners still can’t help but disregard certain artists based solely on the fact that they are commercially successful. This assumes that popularity and talent are mutually exclusive — pop music is the great enemy to art. To those who have doubts concerning the joy these artists can deliver, you…
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. Song: One Direction’s “Story Of My Life” History: A long time ago there were barber shop quartets…
There’s a lot of bad music out there. There are always people debating genres like contemporary country & Western and top 40 music, but at the end of the day, the most reviled and defenseless genre of all is nu-metal. Too whiny to be intimidating and too dumb to be…
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…
Maybe this is nitpicking. Sometimes you see a nit that just begs to be picked. Yesterday on the op-ed page of The Dallas Morning News, State Senator Royce West was talking some kind of stuff about who should be the new city manager, and down toward the bottom of his…
Recently a petition to have GWAR play the 2015 Super Bowl Halftime Show went live on Change.org. It’s gotten nearly 46,000 signatures, but let’s be honest: Even if it had 46 million, we doubt the NFL would let the costumed metallers perform on its biggest event of the year. (Too…
One big lesson to draw from Tuesday’s special election to fill an empty school board seat: The public school employees unions in Dallas are weak tea, indeed, when it comes to any kind of a shootout at the polls. Take away a couple of pissed-off rich supporters with axes to…
Dear Mexican: I’m a pocha immigration attorney. Why do Mexicans seem to want me to lie to them and steal their money, and tell them they can become residents even when it’s hopeless? Why can’t Mexicans answer yes or no questions with a yes or no? Why do they have…
