James Brown

Why The Chronic is the Greatest Album in Rap History

Waltz Around Our 100 Best Texas Songs

The 100 Best Texas Songs: The Complete List

100. Tripping Daisy, "Sonic Bloom" Before this album, the band had a grunge-pop affectation, but this song, from 1998's Jesus Hits Like the Atom Bomb, was more heartfelt than anything they'd done before. - Daniel Hopkins 99. Pleasant Grove, "The Plaque at 16ft" Bret Egner wrote "The Plaque at 16ft, ... More >>

Dead Flowers Talk About Bad Tattoos, Heartbreak Songs and Getting the Band Together

If you regularly go to LaGrange, Single Wide or Double Wide, you've seen a member of the quintet Dead Flowers. Earlier in the year, frontman Corey Howe was the opening act for The Revival Tour's stop at Trees, playing alongside Hot Water Music's Chuck Ragan, Alkaline Trio's Dan Andriano, and Against ... More >>

King Khan & the Shrines Land Their Freak at Sons of Hermann Hall

King Khan & the Shrines Sons of Hermann Hall Monday, February 6 It's hard to tell who King Khan is channeling when he gets on stage. James Brown comes to mind first, as does Screamin' Jay Hawkins. He sings about the important things: Mainly sex, food and rock 'n' roll. Also, the man has style. He c ... More >>

The Black Dotz Are a Band, Dammit

Fitz & The Tantrums' Noelle Scaggs Talks Soul Revival, Festival Gig Pressures and SXSW

About a year has passed since Fitz & The Tantrums made their Dallas debut at the Cambridge Room at the House of Blues, fresh on the heels of a much-discussed, breakout South by Southwest performance. From a pure output standpoint, very little has changed since that performance before a sold-out, ... More >>

And the Winners Are ... You

Our 23rd annual Dallas Observer Music Awards showcase a scene ready for the spotlight.

Fitz & The Tantrums Get A Little Soul Power

Jeff Jacobs Went From Playing College Bars to Rocking The Keys on "We Didn't Start The Fire."

Welcome to Local Music 'Mericans , where we meet some of the people behind the local music scene -- those who aren't necessarily members of local bands, but more the people who make the scene move. Jeff Jacobs​Jeff Jacobs, a fairly recent transplant from Chicago, spends ... More >>

Charlie Papaceno, Progenitor of the Windmill, Runs a Damn Fine Bar. That is All.

Charlie.​Tuesday night, sometime after 10. Charlie Papaceno, sporting vintage specs, was working the bar of the Windmill Lounge, a little dive on Maple. A couple huddled in the corner, and two more pairs sat at the bar. It was my first time. I saw Brooklyn lager on tap and I thought it was ... More >>

Q&A: The Black Lips' Jared Swilley On Rowdy Shows, Punk's Influence and Playing Antarctica

Atlanta's The Black Lips formed as teenagers, right before the turn of the millennium. Just a year or two later, while still in high school, the punk-influenced, retro-obsessed four-piece started touring. And they've never really looked back. Seemingly more comfortable on the road than at home, the ... More >>

The Top 5 Best Games in the History of Texas-OU

​Here's hoping that Saturday's Texas-OU game at the Cotton Bowl is better than last year's yawny 16-13 Longhorns' victory. The memorable 45-35 game in 2008 was a little more like it. Still, with pedestrian quarterbacks Garrett Gilbert and Landry Jones and what I think are two medioc ... More >>

Growing Up With Elvis Costello.

Last Night: Bad Sports, The Fresh & Onlys, King Khan and the Shrines at Sons of Hermann Hall

Bad Sports, The Fresh & Onlys, King Khan & The Shrines Sons of Hermann Hall April 6th, 2010 Better than: eating mushrooms while already on mushrooms.King Khan​ You wouldn't have been able to guess it from the bright, punk opening at the start of last night's Sons of Hermann Hall bill, bu ... More >>

DC9er Mixtape, Vol. 4: DJ A1

​This week's DC9er takes you behind the booth with Dallas-based, hip-hop expert DJ A1. Having been exposed to DJ culture at a young age (back in the day, he used to tag along with his cousin, who was a DJ at the time), A1 entered his first DJ battle at age 16--and he came in second place. Not too ... More >>

Caraway Has Some Interesting "Out of the Box" Ideas to Make the City Money

Patrick MichelsDwaine Caraway​Yesterday I called Mayor Pro Tem Dwaine Caraway to discuss the fate of the Dallas Convention Center Arena -- otherwise known as Memorial Auditorium. Because it was Caraway who really pushed for its overhaul in the fall of 2008; matter of fact, he reminds, he only sign ... More >>

35 Shots of Rum

Good Friday: Black Joe Lewis, Allman Brothers, The Paper Chase, Who's Bad, Finch, Jonathan Tyler, Quebe Sisters, Miranda Lambert, Colin Hay, Hollywood Undead, Miley Cyrus

Rivalries bring out the best in people, huh?​Don't even begin to kid yourselves: Getting around town this weekend will be a pain. Lower Greenville in particular? It's gonna suck. So hard.What really sucks though, is that it's a pretty packed weekend of live music, and if you're gonna head out on t ... More >>

Big Fan: AFI Dallas Announces Its Complete Line-Up, Minus the Closing-Night Movie(s?)

Patton Oswalt is the Big Fan, scheduled to play the AFI Dallas International Film Fest this yearMoments ago, the AFI Dallas International Film Festival sent along its complete schedule for this year's fest, which runs March 26 through April 2 -- with, as we've noted before, most screenings taking pl ... More >>

Pacman Jones: Yay or Nay?

If you missed Pacman Jones on CBS' NFL pre-game Saturday afternoon, here are the highlights lowlights: *His hair was in a sorta mohawk, stolen from Wesley Snipes' Blade, and he was wearing a cheesy, white sports jacket, a la Don Johnson in Miami frigging' Vice. *He used "man" as some of p ... More >>

Soul Chanteuse Sharon Jones' Time Has Arrived

She is the songstress Amy Winehouse wishes to be

Misdirection and Irony

Roy Bennett is a band and a guy and God knows what else

Make My Funk Tha P-Funk

George Clinton still wants to get funked up

Rolling Stone Teases with Best Bootleg Ever (or Something), But We Actually Deliver

Sob Story

Buzz sheds a tear for 2003

The Weird Girl

Erykah Badu is serious about saving the soul of the city

Real Whirled

Plus: New Entries in the Dallas Dictionary; “Oh, Laura”

Economy Caddy

Coop DeVille: Time Travelin' Brother gets high mileage from its music

Out & About

David Sanborn

Jesus' Favorite Singer

Fifty years after leaving the Soul Stirrers, Rebert Harris has been called home

Giant Steps

Jazz guitarist Charlie Hunter ditches his band to develop an identity of his own

Smoldering embers

The reflections of Allied Theatre's Fires in the Mirror are all surface

Chick magnet

Don't ask Ani DiFranco about her business

Mass appeal

The Gospel Swingers take garage rock to church

The new old sound

Branford Marsalis' latest disc is a Requiem by and for a heavyweight

Why are you?

Roger Daltrey is still out on the road singing Who songs, and why the hell not?

The King's man

"Jr. Boy" Jones played with them all--now, he plays for himself

Dream a little dream

During South by Southwest, the harsh reality is always a free drink away

Funny girl

High atop a hill in Pleasant Grove, Charlotte Parkhurst says the gays are coming to get her--and her pile of mulch too

Rap gets puffy

Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs fathers a return to hip-hop pop

Camelot in 4/4 time

A golden age in Dallas jazz turns 40

Winner's circle

All the bands that fit,and one that quit

Economies of scale

Cake hopes that cutting a deal won't interfere with keeping it real

Girls school

DIVA's learned a lot about prejudice and potential

Ja, das is country punk

The old world discovers the Old 97's

The maitre d' of R&B

Elvis T. Busboy drives his soul train into the future

King Curtis

A rockabilly hero is revered abroad, ignored at home

Give up LeFonque

Branford Marsalis does the 'unspeakable' once more