We’re a week and a half from the 25th Dallas Observer Music Awards Showcase. On Saturday, November 2, more than 50 bands and artists nominated for this year’s awards will play on eight stages in Deep Ellum. It starts at 6 p.m. and ends around 2 a.m., and now you…
Jordan Richardson is having a particularly good time with his current band, Son of Stan. It’s not where anyone expected him to be a couple years ago, when he was touring the world with Ben Harper. How and why he arrived where he is now is the subject of this…
Ronald Shannon Jackson was a jazz drummer and composer from Fort Worth whose career spans 50 albums, collaborations with free jazz legends Cecil Taylor and Ornette Coleman and his own band, the Decoding Society. Yesterday, Jackson’s cousin Tobi Hero made the announcement on Facebook, saying, “Dear America, we are so…
Index Festival kicked off in Deep Ellum last night with sets from some 30-plus bands on 9 stages. Killer Mike and EL-P’s Run the Jewels project kicked things off in high spirits, and a solid mix of local and touring bands kept the streets of Deep Ellum lively until past…
The O’s are one of Dallas’ most purely enjoyable bands — two excellent musicians with storied musical pasts playing nimble folk music and cracking jokes. We brought you part one of their Busking performance, produced by Globe Trek Productions, and today we have part two. You can see the band…
On Saturday, November 2, 58 local artists will play on 8 stages in Deep Ellum for the 25th Dallas Observer Music Awards Showcase. Tickets are $10 or $15 day-of. Representatives of nearly every conceivable genre of music are on the lineup, and we encourage you to sample liberally. There will…
The 50-foot limestone angels trumpeting from the façade of Bass Performance Hall in Fort Worth face a trio of venues hidden from the outside world. Hyena’s Comedy Night Club is down a grand staircase on the right. There’s a smaller stage next to it. And on the left is Queen…
SXSW’s biggest competition for the title of Biggest Binge of a Music Festival comes this week in the form of New York’s CMJ Music Marathon. In lots of ways, the events are similar: First that they are clearly catered to those within the music industry in one way or another…
Our Busking series with Globe Trek Productions features mighty Dallas two-piece The O’s, who played a couple songs for us in McKinney a few months back. John Pedigo and Taylor Young formed The O’s in 2008, though both are longtime veterans of Dallas music. Their newest album, called Thunderdog, is…
M Oliver London was known around Deep Ellum as “Moe.” He worked the door at Wit’s End, where he was known for his welcoming demeanor and spirit. He died early this morning after suffering a stroke in late September. He’s been in the ICU for the last couple weeks. A…
Earlier this week, we brought you part one of Denton’s Pageantry playing some unplugged songs from their recent EP, Friends of the Year. Today, we’ve got them playing the title track. Watch above. You can catch Pageantry next week at Index Festival — they’re also nominated for a Dallas Observer…
Happy State Fair of Texas season, everyone…
Now for the fun part. On Saturday, November 2, the Dallas Observer Music Showcase will feature some 60 North Texas bands and artists, all nominees for our Music Awards, at several stages in Deep Ellum. Today, we’ve got (in alphabetical order), the first 40 bands you can expect to see…
Since its gradual formation in 2011, Denton’s Pageantry has perfected a heady sound, big and open and dreamlike. You can year on that on the Friends of the Year EP, released this summer. It’s the band’s debut, but people are taking notice. They just toured their way to Chicago, scored…
Our Busking series with Globe Trek Productions hit the Belmont this week, a hotel located in singer Ray Wylie Hubbard’s childhood neighborhood of Oak Cliff. In the second part of our series with the venerable artist, he sings “Mother Blues,” a long story about the Dallas club. It is told…
Earlier this week, we announced this year’s Music Award nominees. There are some 200 artists, bands and music industry moves and shakers represented, selected by our panel of experts. Who actually takes home trophies is up to you. Voting is now open: Dallas Observer Music Awards 2013: Official Ballot…
Peelander-Z lives it. Plenty of bands come up with backstories and plenty thrill at live performance. But no one offers quite the experience of Peelander-Z. Gwar’s got the elaborate masks, sure, but the whole thing feels like a gory musical. At a Peelander-Z show, there are aliens among us, and…
Ray Wylie Hubbard graduated from high school in south Oak Cliff and now he’s one of Texas Country’s most recognizable and sturdy voices. Music writer Roy Kasten has been listening to Hubbard a lot longer than me, so I’ll turn it over to him for the specifics: “Mostly he just…
Right now, it’s three walls, a roof and a lot of rubble. But next year, the empty space between The Slip Inn and Form, near The Pearl Cup off Henderson Avenue, will be home to Black Forest Biergarten, a German-style beer garden owned by Blake and Di Ann Bogus. “We’re…
Earlier this week, we had a clip of Tyler’s Eisley performing “Mr. Moon” on a ridge above the Trinity River in Fort Worth. Today, we have part two of that shoot — in it, the sisters perform “Save My Soul” from this year’s Currents…
Gavin Cleaver: All competitions should be run in a scavenger hunt format. True, it’s a lot more work for everyone involved, but nothing good ever came from laziness, right? The FFFFest Scavenger Hunt, given that the prizes have an insanely high monetary value, is a perfect example of how you…
Lights All Night returns to the Dallas Convention Center late this December. We already told you about headliners Deadmau5 and Kaskade, and the full lineup has just arrived. It is spectacular, and surprisingly eclectic given the confines of an EDM fest. It features pop band Icona Pop, cartoon vigilante Major…
