North Texas museums are holding on to what they’ve got. After The New York Times published an article last week about overcrowded museum basements and the aggressive efforts many major museums are making to thin out their collections, we reached out to local art institutions to see if they have…
Riley Holloway assumed someone was pulling his leg. Early this year, he began receiving attention from an Instagram account that appeared to belong to rap producer Kasseem Dean, better known as Swizz Beatz. “I was like, ‘Swizz Beatz?’ Yeah, right,” the Dallas-based painter tells the Observer. But Holloway isn’t skeptical…
Dallas hip-hop artist Bobby Sessions announced today that he has signed with Def Jam. The announcement comes almost three years to the day since Sessions quit his day job to pursue music full time. In a 2015 interview with the Observer, Sessions said that he only had $50 in his…
Ozzy Osbourne is slowing down, but not before he goes on one last, epic tour. This week the 69-year-old heavy metal legend announced “No More Tours 2,” the sequel to his 1992 tour. So far, 47 dates have been revealed, but the tour is anticipated to continue into 2020, so…
In its inaugural year, attendance for Fort Worth’s Fortress Festival was so-so, despite a killer lineup. It drew the largest numbers for hip-hop headliner Run the Jewels, so it makes sense that for its second lineup, revealed today, the festival is doubling down on the genre. Nostalgic ’90s hip-hop acts…
Just about the time we start missing the State Fair of Texas, its music festival sibling, the Old 97’s County Fair, comes along. This week, the festival announced the lineup for its third event, which returns to Main Street Garden Park on April 14. In addition to the usual cotton…
Heavy metal stalwart Slayer is ready for a nap. In the band’s 37-year career, it has released 12 studio albums, played thousands of concerts and won two Grammys for best metal performance (in ’07 and ’08). This week, the band called it a job well done and announced that its next…
When you fly into Dallas, Gas Monkey is one of the first things you see. Richard Rawlings’ hot rod garage near Interstate 35 and Royal Lane has become one of the city’s biggest exports. It has spawned multiple reality TV shows, the most famous of which is Discovery’s Fast ‘N…
A dozen strangers are typing away on computers inside a open, modern and brightly lit space on a weekday afternoon. In an adjacent private room, a group is preparing a presentation. Printers are operating at full capacity. Flyers on the walls announce lectures to take place that weekend. At the…
Like so many industries, Texas music can seem like a boys’ club. That’s why visitors to the Texas Musicians Museum in Irving are surprised by one of its star exhibits, a 1912 wax cylinder recording of Mary Carson’s “O Dry Those Tears,” the first known recording by a Texas musician…
As a tabloid regular, Grand Prairie native Selena Gomez has faced her share of criticism. But this week, the pop star and actress had an unusual attacker: her mom. Gomez’s mother, Mandy Teefey, called her out for starring in director Woody Allen’s upcoming film, A Rainy Day in New York…
A GoFundMe campaign for a local musician accused of domestic violence has raised nearly $3,000 in two weeks. Dallas County court records show that Scotty Isaacs, who runs the open mic at Deep Ellum’s Free Man Cajun Cafe, was arrested Dec. 12 on a charge of assault/family violence. A temporary…
The seemingly suddens deaths of a spate of iconic musicians, including David Bowie, Prince and Tom Petty, has had fans giving the last two years the finger. Now, 2018 has suffered its first such loss: Dolores O’Riordan, the lead singer of Irish rock group the Cranberries. O’Riordan was found dead…
Toyota and The Range 95.3’s country music festival is two decades old, but just like the Japanese car manufacturer, it’s new to Plano. After 19 years at Southfork Ranch in Parker, the Toyota Texas Music Revolution moved to Oak Point Park in March 2016. Chris Knight and Lee Ann Womack led that…
The Oscars are in March, but if you can’t wait to see which actors and filmmakers walk away with shiny gold trophies, the North Texas Film Critics Association thinks it has a good idea who will win awards — or who should. The association comprises 17 broadcast, print and online…
We’re not even a week into 2018, and Erykah Badu has already been at the center of two weird, and likely related, stories. On New Year’s Eve, the neo-soul songstress and Dallas native posted an Instagram video during a supposed traffic stop by Dallas police officers who “just wanted to…
True to their word, Joanna and Chip Gaines are leaving their hit home renovating show behind to focus on family. In a series of Twitter and Instagram posts yesterday, the couple revealed that Joanna is pregnant with their fifth child. The couple’s other children, Drake, Ella, Duke and Emmie Kay,…
It takes all kinds, and if we’ve learned anything this year, it’s that Dallas has them. The Observer published a lot of profiles in 2017, and in them you’ll meet everyone from mermaids to sheriffs to movie producers. Here are 10 of the most interesting people we talked to. The Cowboys…
Dallas’ Erykah Badu went on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon yesterday to promote a new box set of Fela Kuti’s music that she curated. Knitting Factory Records has released this and three other vinyl box sets of the late afrobeat pioneer curated by famous musicians such as Brian Eno,…
Sixteen months after Dentonites showed up to mourn the loss of one of their most beloved music venues, J&J’s Pizza’s basement music venue is again open for shows. “Hey Y’all!! The Ol’ Dirty Basement is back!!!” a post to J&J’s Facebook page last night read. The first show back will…
Dallas sure is Moody, and that’s a good thing. The Moody family name appears on buildings at Southern Methodist University (Moody Coliseum) and in the Arts District (Moody Performance Hall) and belongs to the $10 million Moody Fund for the Arts endowment, which for the first time this year is…
The printing press. Penicillin. Airplanes. These are just a few of the life-changing inventions the modern world has produced. 7-Eleven’s addition to that list: 7Now, an app that delivers goods from your favorite Dallas-based convenience store right to your desk or couch. The free app, which allows customers to place…
