I’m going to have bad dreams tonight. This poster is so memorably creepy that I can overlook the apparent failed attempt at a literal interpretation of the headliner’s band name. But knitted-vs.-woven nitpicking aside, that horrible skeletal figure and those button eyes–so nightmarishly wide-open, yet blank–make this one of the…
Civilization begins with distillation.–Meridian Room motto, attributed to William Faulkner. (We would argue that civilization begins with brewing, but that doesn’t rhyme.)I wanted to visit the Meridian Room even before it closed and reopened back in the fall, but only managed to get there this week. Before as well as…
Stand-up comic Richard Lewis has made a career out of airing his neuroses during an act he began nearly 40 years ago. His routine isn’t so much a series of jokes as it is a stream-of-consciousness rant that veers wildly from subject to subject as he recalls annoyances he has…
Opinions about author Denis Johnson are rarely lukewarm. You might adore his work or despise it, but chances are you have a strong opinion one way or the other. He is best known for Jesus’ Son, a collection of loosely interweaving short stories that matter-of-factly depict a nameless junky protagonist…
Comedian Richard Lewis doesn’t answer questions. He responds to keywords that relate–no matter how tenuously–to a subject on which he’s prepared one of his signature rants. Ask how he is and he’ll reply he hasn’t had 14 children, segueing into a 90-second bit about media fascination with the Octuplet Mom…
Inspired by Andy Warhol’s Exploding Plastic Inevitable happenings, the Yeast By Sweet Beast festival features experimental/improvised music complemented by video art. YBSB precedes South By Southwest, March 14-16, at Salvage Vanguard Theatre and Plush in Austin.It also offers proof that the possibilities for spin-off festival names along SXSW’s lines are…
We’ve got quite a backlog of CDs we’ve never gotten around to, so we’re going to try to chip away at the pile with this regular feature. The plan: to take four or five at a time and play each CD for as long as I can stand it.People In…
Melios Brothers’ Char Bar2026 Greenville Ave(214) 826-8800Dude Factor: 8, or Super Mario Brothers on a scale of 1 (George and Jeb Bush) to 10 (Frank and Jesse James)Regretfully, I had to knock a point off this joint right from the start for the misleading name. I was finally getting my…
Tomorrow night’s Waving Hands event at Rubber Gloves in Denton promises to be one of the weekend’s best shows, combining dreamy ambient, mostly instrumental music from Sleep Whale (formerly Mom), Hotel, Hotel, Sunnybrook and My Empty Phantom with an art exhibition featuring the work of Michael Little, Drew Elam, Elijah…
This week’s poster promoting Hardin Sweaty And The Ready To Go Saturday at The Liquid Lounge was sent to us by Connor Hill along with a note explaining that it was “made by the powerful sasquatches at magnificent beard.” At that site you’ll find a few other nice posters as…
The “Rat Pack”—a name that Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Dean Martin and the rest of the gang never actually called themselves—were an enormous influence on a generation of young men whose sense of cool was shaped by the liquor-swilling, poker-playing, broad-banging entertainers. My Papa Salfi, a Caddy-driving New York-born…
Pablo Francisco is best known for his television work, which includes a stint as a featured player on MADtv, work on the terminally unfunny Mind of Mencia and his take on the late movie-trailer voiceover guy on the impression-fueled Frank TV. But his brand of comedy is probably best experienced…
Looks like the recent trend of 1990s music reunions isn’t limited to bands. On Saturday, April 18, The Lakewood Theater will hold a reunion for The Basement, the venerable metal nightclub that rocked out on the corner of Greeenville Avenue and Park Lane from the mid 1980s until it closed…
We’ve got quite a backlog of CDs we’ve never gotten around to, so we’re going to try to chip away at the pile with this regular feature. The plan: to take four or five at a time and play each CD for as long as I can stand it. Late…
Idol just announced the release date for Dallas punky power trio Here Holy Spain’s debut CD, Manic, as April 7, though you don’t have to wait until then to hear it. The album is streaming on the band’s Last.FM site, and you can cop an advance copy through iTunes as…
Better than: The Richard Cheese ironic-lounge covers of “Welcome to the Jungle,” “People Equal Shit,” “Closer,” “The Wall” and “Rape Me” played on the P.A. before Trail of Dead went on. Two or three would have been funny. Eight was outright hostility.The last time I saw …And You Will Know…
Michael Gooden of Shapes Stars Make designed this week’s featured poster, which promotes the February 25 show at The Granada Theater featuring This Will Destroy You, MOM and his band. I get a kick out of promotional artwork that takes a band name literally. In this case, I am imagining…
It seems that the flu that Ms. Girl Drinker suffered last week was contagious. But just as her bout with the once-killer virus…or is it bacteria?…didn’t stop her from putting in a little quality time at her favorite watering hole, I would not be dissuaded from enjoying my beloved beer…
When it comes to advice columns, I’m a lot more interested in Dan Savage’s words of wisdom than those of Ann Landers’ replacement, Amy Dickinson. Maybe I’m a perv, but weird fetishes are just a lot more entertaining than social gaffes and grieving children. But if you want to know…
Tommy Davidson got his start on In Living Color, but he was somewhat overshadowed by the show’s more uproarious comics as he played straight man to Homey D. Clown or a victim to Fire Marshal Bill’s pyromania. Since then, however, he’s abandoned the madcap antics of the hit-or-miss sketch comedy…
Since 2003, The No Idea Festival has drawn avant-garde musicians from around the world to Austin and Houston. This Tuesday will mark the event’s first local date, when nearly a dozen musicians play three sets together in five lineups. Locals include jazz musicians Dennis, Stefan and Aaron Gonzalez of Yells…
Let’s face it. The 2005 and 2006 releases from …And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead, Worlds Apart and So Divided (respectively), sucked. Perhaps future music scholars will treat them more kindly. It’s possible that fan expectations based on the epic brilliance of the band’s 2002 Source…
