Email Author Sarah Hepola

2005 Stories by Sarah Hepola

• Garland Rogue

  published December 8, 2005

  In the 1980s, Gram LeBron was a typical middle-class kid in Garland, living out his teendom in typical 1980s suburbia. He killed time at the... More >>

• Rogue Wave

  published October 27, 2005

  Rogue Wave's Out of the Shadows was last year's great indie-pop debut--a bittersweet album of '60s-inspired pop ideal for melodists and... More >>

• Liz Phair

  published October 27, 2005

  There is a joke to be made about Liz Phair performing on Halloween. The woman is a little scary, whether swinging her sexuality like a pair... More >>

• Through the Danger Zone

  published September 1, 2005

  Many artists claim to have been the soundtrack of the '80s; Kenny Loggins really was. In my Strawberry Shortcake-inspired bedroom of 1984,... More >>

• Gypsy Blood

  published July 28, 2005

  A year ago David Cunniff was not the same person he is today. If you met him then, you would have seen a tall, rugged guy, something of a ladies'... More >>

• Close to You

  published June 30, 2005

  My Chemical Romance had just finished the first song of its set--the catchy, sneering anthem of angst "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)"--when limp bodies... More >>

• Pioneer Days

  published June 23, 2005

  Long 'View: Deep Ellum isn't exactly known for lengthy life spans. New clubs like Indigo and Club Hush have closed... More >>

• Fountains of Wayne

  published June 23, 2005

  Summer wouldn't be summer without Fountains of Wayne. Sure, hot dogs would be just as carcinogenic, steering wheels would still sear flesh, young... More >>

• Shanghai 5

  published June 23, 2005

  With their smooth soundscapes, as tasteful and well-tended as a Japanese garden, Shanghai 5 seems like a band comfortable in the background. After... More >>

• Learning to Bend

  published June 16, 2005

  About a year ago, a press release caught my attention. "Bob Schneider performs an intimate concert at Bend yoga studio." I had one question: Are... More >>

• Don't Give Up...

  published June 16, 2005

  My first week on the job, I received a cold call from an aspiring gospel singer in Irving named Patrick Bradshaw. I was new; I picked up the... More >>

• It's a Draw

  published June 9, 2005

  Here's a question: Which local band has the biggest draw? Or another: Do people see local music as much as they used to? These are the kinds of... More >>

• Odds & Ends

  published June 9, 2005

  Three stages, 22 bands, more than eight hours of live music--Saturday night's benefit for Cory Helms, recently diagnosed with Hodgkin's... More >>

• Coldplay

  published June 9, 2005

  Dependable isn't the worst thing a rock band could be. Every generation needs its R.E.M., a band consistently putting out albums that, while... More >>

• Bright Eyes

  published June 9, 2005

  Evidence that you are, indeed, a fucking star: When you piss over an entire state in a drunken onstage rant and, upon returning, you are greeted... More >>

• Odds & Ends

  published June 2, 2005

  Get your TiVos ready: Midlake will perform as musical guests on The Late Late Show on Monday, June 13. As everyone knows,... More >>

• Musicians Unite

  published June 2, 2005

  Cory Helms felt a lump in his neck, a hard, round pebble perched above the collarbone. He hadn't been sick, but, he says, "I immediately... More >>

• The Foxymorons

  published May 26, 2005

  In the Grand Critical Discussion of early-'90s albums, Teenage Fanclub's Bandwagonesque tends to get the shaft. Musicologists are far more... More >>

• John Lamonica

  published May 26, 2005

  Months ago, a colleague handed me a CD of rough tracks from John Lamonica. The voice was unlike anything I'd heard in Dallas music--dangerously... More >>

• Secret Society

  published May 26, 2005

  Quick question: Who is the rapper pictured above (twice)? If you don't know, that's no surprise. Dallas' hip-hop scene has become a kind of... More >>

• Odds & Ends

  published May 19, 2005

  In this year's Dallas Observer Music Awards nominees for DJ/Electronic, one of these things was not like the other: DJ Merritt, DJ Jayson... More >>

• Death Before Dying

  published May 19, 2005

  The first song on the first album by the Deathray Davies is a pounding, gloriously off-kilter pop tune called "They stuck me in a box in... More >>

• Beyond the Red Carpet

  published May 12, 2005

  Unlike other awards shows, you don't need anything special to host the Dallas Observer Music Awards--talent, experience, Tony Danza. Nope,... More >>

• Save Yourself

  published May 12, 2005

  There is a scene in Almost Famous in which young William Miller, a stand-in for the director and former Rolling Stone scribe Cameron... More >>

• Mur, The Hourly Radio, Chris Holt, The Undoing of David Wright

  published May 12, 2005

  They say in order to truly appreciate something, you have to let it go. That may be the case for lush, charismatic pop-rockers Mur, who left Big D... More >>