It was cute when it started. Looking for a way to differentiate their table settings, restaurateurs began replacing traditional linen dinner napkins with dressy cotton dishtowels. There had already been a gradual relaxing of rigid dining protocols as a result of the recent recession, and laid-back dishtowels were a logical…
Around this time of year, a lot of music websites put up “Holiday Gift Guides.” They’re either earnest, articulate and full of enthusiastic suggestions for interesting items for the music lover in your life, or they’re depressing corporate-sponsored flotsam and stand as a remarkably stark representation of the state of…
Yesterday I published a post that took a quick look at Grub Burger Bar, which recently opened in Greenville Avenue. The menu touted buns baked on the hour, and while they were certainly much better than stale, old buns, they left a lot to be desired compared to artisan loaves…
Earlier this week Justin Timberlake took his immaculately conceived three-hour extravaganza to American Airlines Center. It was the perfect pop show, utterly devoid of commentary — just the larger-than-live presence of a star and his silky-smooth musical meal. Lest we sound disparaging here, it should be said: You can ask…
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,…
Millennials, you still do all the drugs and have all the sex, but I have to break it to you: You do not know how to party. And it’s bringing me down. Heading over to what’s supposed to be the “jam,” hosted by 24-year-old “scenesters,” I always hope that there…
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…
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…
Greetings from your local Dead Kennedy’s tribute band, Dallas Über Alles. What better city to have a tribute to the legendary hard-core punk rock act than the one where JFK himself was assassinated? Our first year of playing shows marks the 50th anniversary of the event that our city is…
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…
“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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
My iPhone and I are currently not on speaking terms. While I couldn’t begin to guess what I have done to damage our relationship, my laundry list of grievances is growing more quickly than my backlog of software updates. My home button works with such irregularity I’m convinced it’s being…
Lower Greenville is changing faster than perhaps any other single stretch of road in the city. New bars, restaurants and, yes, exceptionally well-branded grocery stores are popping up at a seemingly constant rate. By many measures, it’s a good thing. There are clearly many more people walking on the sidewalks…
A new Harris Interactive poll queried 2,000 adults in top U.S. markets and determined some facts about our local drinking habits that may be harder to swallow than a shot of rail gin. Residents in cities like Philadelphia, L.A., Washington, D.C, and others were asked about how often they consume…
If a tsunami of tasteless social media updates didn’t clue you in already, Lou Reed has died. He was a writer, a guitarist, a singer–a visionary. As the principal songwriter of pioneering ’60s act The Velvet Underground, he punched a whole in the veil separating rock music and art. As…
Halloween should be filled with good, albeit strange, music. Horror film soundtracks provide the most suitable gateway to such enjoyment. From grotesque to gorgeous, these represent our ten favorite offerings (in reverse order). Enjoy…
