At first glance, Deborah Williams wouldn’t strike you as a hip-hop matriarch. In her mid-40s, the soft-spoken Williams has a kind face and a sweet smile. A single mother of two sons, Cordero and Curtis (who goes by Junior), ages 18 and 20, she moves with a certain relaxed air,…
Christmas has never been the idyllic, idealized time of year that we all pretend it is, and no movie ever captured the season’s special blend of stress, therapy fodder and, yes, love, more than National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. You all know the story, penned by John Hughes, of Chevy Chase’s…
Ohhh…we get it: In a world of senseless battle of the bands (wait, what’s the plural of that? Battles of the bands? It’s kind of like trying to pluralize “pig in a blanket.”), stupid rock competitions and slapped-together music federations, perhaps one organization stands as the only bona fide group:…
I’ve been working on a feature story about hip-hop, and I’ve noticed something: In the hip-hop world, there’s a lot of talk about representing. Representing, as in a constant refrain of reference to one’s hometown, one’s neighborhood, one’s street. Hip-hop is filled with constant shout-outs to artists’ roots, to the…
Down in Deep Ellum, the scene outside Tom Cats is a study in juxtaposition. Two members of a heavy metal band stand outside in a slight chill, hands in pockets, their two girlfriends waiting patiently as the guys talk heatedly, excitedly and sometimes angrily about what has happened to this…
Peptoboonsmal. At first it sounds like a child’s nonsense word. But the multi-syllable proper noun means the world to author Elaine Hall. Peptoboonsmal is the name of a cutting horse, one specifically chosen by her husband, Larry Hall, to be the future of their horses’ stock. Larry singled Pepto out…
Critics and fans went ape-poo over Imogen Heap’s vocoder-drenched 2004 single “Hide and Seek,” a melancholy song that spoke more of mopey bedroom recording than big-budget knob-fiddling, though it used its fair share of technology. “Hide and Seek” was lauded for good reason: The tune, with its take-your-time tempo and…
Knee-Deep: Is there a Deep Ellum resurrection in the making (though we never really thought it had died in the first place. It was more in sleep mode.)? First, there’s the item former DO music editor Sam Machkovech dug up for his blog, www.bigdlittled.com, in which he notes Trees is…
Man, the lighting guy for the Radiant CD release party at the Granada last weekend pulled out all the stops. Giant swirls of light cascaded down the art deco walls; purplish backlighting highlighted the band; kinda psychedelic orange patterns crisscrossed the ceiling. Dude, save something for the New Monsoon show!…
I’m assuming you’ve heard of a band out of Oklahoma City called Hinder; the group has, after all, been pulling in the press lately, as well as making its mark on VH1 and MTV, for better or for worse. Hinder consists of five groomed, good-looking guys, who, with their bulbous…
A few weeks ago, I attended a “salon”-type public gathering at the Nasher Sculpture Center, hosted by The Dallas Morning News and paneled by the DMN’s “Mr. Dallas” and the managing partner of Suite, Matthew Giese. The idea behind this little get-together was to discuss Dallas nightlife. Basically, the entire…
Riding high on the crest of new single “Everybody Is Easy,” Dallas’ all-star cast of musical veterans drops a new disc, Mercy, an oddly named piece of work, as the disc shows none. It is a full-on, unapologetic sonic throwback, full of rock riffs and distort-o gee-tars and, of course,…
Sometimes it’s more the “songwriter” than the “singer” in “singer-songwriter” that really transforms a gal with a six-string into a triumph. Athens, Georgia’s Madeline sings with the perfectly imperfect, heartbreakingly restrained power of Jolie Holland, but it’s the songs around which her voice is wrapped that pull the listener into…
I’m beginning to think every band in Dallas should be a tribute band. It’s not that we don’t have our fair share of delightful groups, to be sure, but at last weekend’s Double Wide Halloween tribute show everyone seemed to be having such a damn fine time—so many fists pumping…
Maybe it’s the influence of Iron Chef, but somehow, somewhere along the line, cooking became competitive. Rather than quashing this uniquely American characteristic, the folks at Central Market (Greenville Avenue and Lovers Lane) are encouraging it, specifically in their Pizza: NY vs. Chicago cooking class (since when did “versus” become…
Perhaps stung that a certain other DFW sports postseason meltdown grabbed all the headlines, the Dallas Stars have been playing like men possessed early in this young hockey season. Oh, sure, they aren’t the Stars of old—an aging Mike Modano has been stripped of his captain’s title, for instance—but let…
Sad Bullets?: In Deep: This is the last week to hit up the Deep Ellum haunted houses set up by D/E/E/P, aka Deep Ellum Enrichment Project, aka the Project Formerly Known as Save Our Scene. D/E/E/P member Tania Ion, also of local band the Ramonalisas, says the houses are intended…
Not to get all Dubya on your ass, but what’s up with all these dang furriners invading our fine local music establishments this week? B-Sides knows you’re busy, so we took the liberty of doing your Google searches and atlas perusing for you and have typed up this handy guide…
In the month or so since I’ve been in Dallas, I’ve heard repeated reports on how dysfunctional the music scene is here. How everyone’s mean, and there’s infighting and backstabbing and cynicism. How bands claw at each other with the spastic, fang-bared verve of a bunch of male baboons. Could…
The Theater Fire’s cinematic aura is more than just a dubious connection based on the band’s name; rather, the quartet’s dark, often picaresque tunes lend themselves to a visceral and visual substance and loping storytelling on par with anything celluloid has to offer. Fitting, then, that the songs from TTF’s…
Damn, there were some good haircuts at the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ show last Friday night at the Gypsy Tea Room. We’re talking choice coifs: product-sealed ‘dos, bangs cocked at such perfect angles it looked like someone used a protractor, precisely mussed bed-heads and a montage of multicolored unisex cuts, their…
Anyone who would attempt to coordinate the simultaneous playing of 1,000 guitars would need a little help from the Lord. Good thing Tom Dooley, who hosts the Christian talk radio show The Journey (KVTT-91.7 FM) is in good with the man upstairs. Dooley has put together the ultimate in axe/God…
