Cyndi LauperHouse of BluesAugust 11, 2010Better than: staying home and watching American Idol: Blues Edition. Looking spry and awkwardly fashionable, pop icon Cyndi Lauper hit the stage last night at House of Blues looking to educate her fans about the value of the blues.”I’ve been wanting to make this new…
At 57, Cyndi Lauper is as feisty today as she was when her debut album, She’s So Unusual, was released back in 1983. Still performing in those outlandish outfits with an ever-changing array of multi-colored wigs, Lauper has always been a new wave pop and rock trailblazer. These days, Lauper…
Around this same time last year, The Von Ehrics released Loaded, the band’s third and best effort to date. Filled with actual alt-country hooks to go along with the typical punk roar, Loaded sounded like a hybrid of The Goo Goo Dolls (when that band had something) and Slobberbone. Now…
Canada’s The Cliks has been through quite a few changes in the band’s relatively brief six-year existence. Lucas Silveira, one of rock’s few transgendered frontpersons, has twice broken up the band, once in 2005 and again in 2009. Silveira is a perfectionist who admits to being difficult to work with.All…
Rose’s Pawn Shop is an alt-country outfit hailing out of Los Angeles that boasts a couple of quality Americana albums, including the recently released Dancing on the Gallows. But there’s a local tie, too: Local singer/songwriter, and former Dallas Observer Music Award winner Kristy Kruger has toured with Rose’s Pawn…
Tuscon’s metalcore heavyweights The Bled stop through town tonight for a gig at The Prophet Bar, and these guys incorporate just enough of the classic sludge/noise from the likes of Mudhoney and The Jesus Lizard to keep the indie folks interested.Also, seeing that our weather has taken a turn towards…
(Back in April, we caught up with the 97’s as they were pre-recording material at Sons of Hermann Hall in Deep Ellum.) About a week after Rhett Miller tweeted that the upcoming, planned double-disc release of the Old 97’s new album, The Grand Theater, would indeed be a split release…
Brookland-based indie rock act Miniature Tigers has been around since 2006–and from the beginning the band has received critical kudos. With its dreamy, synth-heavy indie pop, the band’s success hasn’t come unexpectedly; frontman/guitarist Charlie Brand has a true gift with melody and a nice lyrical touch as well. Miniature Tigers’…
Just got word from Ben Gastright, bassist for local alt-country act Bravo, Max!, that the band has expanded to seven members. The complete line up is now Johnny Beauford, Gastright, Steve Vanderheide, Eli Staford, Ellie Stevens, Bob Loshelder and Chris Schmidt. “We’re your standard rock instrumentation plus accordion and clarinet…
It’s not often that a band from Iran makes its way to our area, much less a pair of them, so tonight’s Hypernova/The Yellow Dogs performance at Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios should provide a good reason to head to Denton. Now based out of New York, Hypernova has gone through…
Ever since the December 8, 2004, death of guitarist Darrell Lance Abbott, better known to most as “Dimebag” Darrell or simply “Dime,” the fallen metal icon’s family, friends and fans have tried to find ways to cope with the loss of the local hero best known for his work with…
In August 2008, singer/songwriter Dylan Sneed played his last show as a resident of Dallas. Not really living anywhere since, Sneed has crisscrossed the country playing with just about anyone in just about any venue. During this jaunt, Sneed has written a bevy of songs, some of which have found…
Rosi Golan is an Israeli-born singer songwriter who just happens to play beautifully country-tinged pop. Besides speaking English, French and Hebrew, Golan has managed to have her songs featured in the film Dear John as well as in television programs such as Brothers and Sisters, Private Practice and Scoundrels. Golan’s…
One-time street musician Peter Case has come a long way since entering the San Francisco music scene way back in 1976. Case’s first band, The Nerves, had a regional hit with “Hanging on the Telephone,” a song Blondie would later make famous. Case’s next band, The Plimsouls, did a bit…
One reviewer once described the sound of Austin’s Yellow Fever as “haunted house surf music” and although that’s a bit cryptic, it’s not far off the mark. Jennifer Moore and Adam Jones have been doing their oddball mix of girl group harmonies and Velvet Underground-inspired noise for several years now,…
For those guitar wankers who want to revel in some real greatness, Ottmar Liebert brings him impressive “nouveau flamenco” style to the House of Blues this evening. Besides being nominated for five Grammy Awards, Liebert has released a mind boggling 30 albums since his debut in 1989. The guy’s played…
Singer/songwriter Andrew Belle resides in both Chicago and Nashville and he incorporates themes from both cities into his brainy pop rock. Belle’s debut full length, The Ladder, was released in February and has drawn comparisons to Coldplay, The Fray and John Mayer. Certainly on the conservative side on the indie-rock…
I got an e-mail last week from Lindsay Lenehan over at Gorilla Productions asking if I knew of any bands that might be available for a Battle of the Bands to occur at The Curtain Club on Sunday, September 5. Normally, I’m not much of a fan for such occasions,…
There are a lot of musical acts other than Lady Gaga playing our area this evening. But for those wanting to slow things down a bit after the hectic pace set by the Dallas Observer Music Awards, I can’t think of a better change of pace than Kentucky’s Anchor in…
Since The Scorpions didn’t reach great commercial success until the late ’70s and early ’80s, many people don’t realize that some form of the band has been around since 1965. 45 years later, and massive hits from the ’80s such as “Rock You Like a Hurricane” and “No One Like…
HELLYEAH! CD ReleaseThe ClubhouseJuly 18, 2010Better than: being mugged. Maybe. As I drove into the barren wasteland that is known as West Dallas, I knew the night was going to be an adventure. Certainly, a metal band is probably the only act that could get away with having a CD…
I was catching up with Chris Bonner of the nominated-Best-Hard-Rock-DOMA THe BAcksliders yesterday when the guitarist, rather off-handedly, informed me that the band was changing bassists.”My brother Jason is going off to do the solo thing,” Chris said. “And, sometimes, working with a family member isn’t the easiest thing to…
