On Thursday, country music outfit Lady Antebellum announced that they would be changing their name to “Lady A.” Concerning the word “antebellum” (which means “pre-war” and is usually associated with the pre-Civil War era South), the band said in a lengthy Instagram post that they “did not take into account…
It’s a brisk Friday night in late January and a long, single-file line of ticket holders snakes around the House of Blues in Dallas. Tayla Parx sits in the green room, preparing herself for her homecoming show. She’s played arenas as a supporting act before and isn’t entirely overcome with stage fright…
From 1956 to 1971, the FBI actively tried to subvert civil rights and New Left movements through often illegal means. Among its many targets were activist groups in North Texas. The name of the project was the Counter Intelligence Program, which was syllabically abbreviated to COINTELPRO. Most of the FBI’s…
Police brutality and systemic racism have an ugly history that stems from slavery and colonialism, but the resulting social unrest of late culminated following the death of George Floyd. Not since the 1992 Los Angeles riots have we witnessed a collective furor of this magnitude. Yeah, it’s a confusing and…
On Sunday, President Donald Trump drew criticism from civil rights activists after tweeting, “The United States of America will be designating ANTIFA as a Terrorist Organization.” Many critics pointed out that the word “terrorism” has lost some of its original heft since the “War on Terror” (a phrase that even…
2020 went from being a year of clamor stemming from COVID-19 to being a year of clamor stemming from social unrest. Social unrest, of course, has been a constant in American history since before America’s founding. In that spirit, we thought it would be opportune to reflect on 10 protest…
Punk and metal are commonly perceived as two separate genres, but between the two is an important nexus that remains largely overlooked. For as long as metal and punk have existed, they have built on each other, opening new worlds with new possibilities that are still being explored to this…
Protesters gathered in front of the Dallas Police Department headquarters on the 1400 block of Lamar St. Friday afternoon for what was initially a peaceful demonstration, but the subsequent march became tumultuous as participants clashed with police officers in riot gear all throughout downtown Dallas. The protest, organized and advertised…
Heavy metal has gone through two unequivocal golden ages — in the 1980s and once again in the 2000s — and some of the most cutting-edge artists contributing to the genre’s expansion in each era were based in North Texas. DFW has rightfully earned its reputation as a metal breeding ground, and…
On Tuesday, crossover-thrash metal outfit Body Count premiered a quarantine-friendly music video for their anti-police brutality single “Point the Finger,” which boasts an appearance from Power Trip vocalist Riley Gale. “We just put out a new album, Carnivore, and we can’t even tour,” says Body Count vocalist Ice-T at the…
As COVID-19 continues to keep people from gathering at bars and clubs, a controversial Fort Worth warehouse party drew an estimated 500 people to an unknown location Saturday night. The event’s promoter, Corey Mobley of Fort Worth, has been anything but elusive about the fact that he organized it, as…
A myth commonly perpetuated by conservatives is that radical leftists on college campuses are all persnickety about microaggressions, trigger warnings and safe spaces. This antiquated trope certainly provides fodder to edgy, tryhard comedians who have been making the same “I identify as an attack helicopter” joke for more than a…
In a shocking development caused by the economic devastation of COVID-19, two respected Deep Ellum venues located a mere half mile from each other announced they would be closing this week. Lizard Lounge, a Dallas institution that has stood for 28 years as a mecca of electronic music and Goth/post-punk,…
Live Nation Entertainment is organizing the first of what they hope to be many concerts that comply with social distancing protocols, Bloomberg reports. Travis McCready, vocalist of Americana band Bishop Gunn, will be Patient Zero for this new experiment, which will take place on May 15 at Fort Smith, Arkansas…
Some people know Damo Suzuki as the former vocalist of krautrock pioneers CAN. Most people don’t know him at all. Suzuki was supposed to play Club Dada on May 4, but this rare visit became one of the coronavirus’s many concert casualties. This says nothing, either, of the fact that…
At face value, area codes may be nothing more than just three measly digits, but they carry cultural value in their unique geographical representation. People from Atlanta frequently refer to the city as “The 404,” just as people from Detroit refer to Motor City as “The 313.” The late Nate…
Every year, 10,000 members of the Juggalo diaspora embark on a mass pilgrimage to Insane Clown Posse’s annual Gathering of the Juggalos festival, and the band’s fandom has a zeal that’s undeterred by the event’s frequent location change. This year, it was supposed to take place at Nelson Ledges Quarry…
Effective May 1, concert promoter AEG Presents will give ticket holders an opportunity to request refunds for shows that have already been rescheduled, The New York Times reports. “That means that fans holding tickets to shows that have been delayed but not rescheduled will have to wait,” the article states…
If there’s one lesson we should have learned over the last four years, it’s that human behavior is unpredictable, and even our most formidable experts are capable of flawed analysis. So when The New York Times reports that concerts and other large-scale events are likely to be absent from our…
As millions of people stay quarantined in their homes, sheltered from the outside world, comedy is seeing a resurgence on streaming platforms. This is Pyrrhic victory, however, as the coronavirus pandemic has deprived the entire comedy profession of its lifeblood: live performances. “My career as a touring live stand-up comedian…
In the ancient period of two months ago, there was a tacit social contract between artists/businesses and fans/customers wherein the latter bought branded merchandise from the former to help keep them afloat. This ran like clockwork — artists bought Gildan T-shirts in bulk, printed some cool design on them and…
On Sunday, journalist Julie Bindel took to Twitter to ask a question that generated thousands of polarizing responses: “Does anyone else think the ‘Karen’ slur is woman hating and based on class prejudice?” For those unaware, the term “Karen” is used as a derogatory remark toward women who are perceived…
