One of my favorite popular musical tales concerns the writing of “Okie From Muskogee,” a song that enmeshed its author, Merle Haggard, within a cultural and political misunderstanding that seems to have lifted only in the last decade or so. As the story goes, Hag and his band were traveling…
When Brett Tohlen and Matt Beaton say that their band Lewis has been luckier than most, they don’t mean to imply that the group hasn’t had to struggle. Far from it actually, since the first four years of Lewis’ existence were nothing but an uphill climb. After all, three-fourths of…
Jim Heath, better known as Reverend Horton Heat (or Frankie Ramada, if you’re nasty) is now officially in the record bidness. Heath debuted his new label, Fun-Guy Records, with a single featuring two new Horton Heat tunes, and apparently, it’s only the beginning. The disc — “King” on the A-side,…
Any band that borrowed its name from a bit of dialogue found in The Karate Kid’s climactic fight scene should be, by all rights, easy to define. It’s the kind of ironic moniker that would fit right in with the SoCal punk-pop crowd, one of those start-stop descendants of the…
It takes a while to get past the packaging of Andrew Bird’s second disc, Oh! The Grandeur, and by the time you do, well, the music can wait a little longer (it has already — for, like, 60 years). Not to slight the fine violin-and-vocals craftsmanship of one Mr. A…
Never quite understood why Calways frontman Todd Deatherage idolized Tom Petty so much. Why would someone with Deatherage’s voice and songwriting ability deify a man who has always sounded as though he’s singing out of Dylan’s nose while recycling the same Keith Richards-by-way-of-Roger McGuinn riff? Sure, it’s fine to marvel…
Hillsboro-based author Ace Collins isn’t the first writer to tackle the Dixie Chicks’ story: Scott Gray and Cathy Repetti’s Chicks Rule: The Story of the Dixie Chicks was in stores just a few weeks before Collins’ tome, All About the Dixie Chicks, will be on September 18. And he surely…
Floor 13 has broken up, partly because of — and this is a new one — the U.S. government. It seems that singer-guitarist Winston Giles’ work permit expired some time ago, so he has been asked by Immigration and Naturalization Services to head back to his native Australia for now…
Face the facts: Iggy Pop hasn’t been the same since he recorded for Arista in the early 1980s, when he began confusing punk rock with hard rock and found neither wanted him anymore. Turns out he was the idiot after all, too dumb to give it up when he discovered…
This is where it all gets brilliant, where the joke reveals itself as Swiftian satire so lowbrow, only the highbrow among us will ever get it. For so long, Pimpadelic seemed to be nothing more than a one-note joke — white boys smeared in black face, grabbing their balls and…
Well, here we are, all the way to back-to-school time and what do we have to show for it? An embarrassment of riches, that’s what. A summer of radio fluff that moved with you and kept you going till supper. Whether you got to the beach or were stuck in…
It’s not surprising that the band named after the larger-than-life icon representing the overstimulated pop culture of the ’80s would aim to mimic the cocaine-fueled power-pop of that era. But what may surprise new listeners and seasoned fans alike is the Mr. T Experience’s (relatively) mature songwriting and unconventional recording…
Abby Goldstein is likely the only person who would take the news that she was being fired from her job as an endorsement. But that’s just how the former music director at KKZN-FM (93.3) felt after Scott Strong and Dan Haliburton — the new bosses at the station now known…
The Bicycle Thief will release its debut album, You Come and Go Like a Pop Song, later this month on Goldenvoice Recording Company, which is distributed by New York-based indie label Caroline Records. The disc features guest appearances by Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante and ex-That Dog singer-guitarist…
In the end, the Cherokee Cowboy is known for two songs: “Crazy Arms,” which made his career in 1956, and “Danny Boy,” which ruined it 11 years later. Maybe ruined is too strong a word; the man knew what he was doing when he drenched himself in strings, when he…
After being closed for almost three weeks, Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios is just about up and running again, much to the relief of owners Memory and Jason Wortham and Josh Baish. Denton officials had threatened to fine Rubber Gloves if it continued to hold shows without proper parking facilities, forcing…
Lyles West’s new record with his band Quartet Out isn’t really new at all. The disc, Welcome to the Party, was recorded more than two years ago, but it sat on the shelf until, well, now, while West and the band tried to find a label to distribute it. Dave…
The Adventures of Jet won last week’s semifinal round of the Ultimate Band List’s Born on the World Wide Web contest. The band’s song “Rock and Roll” won in the alternative category of the competition, and it will join tracks by Dave Dill, Tacoheads, Paige, Green Man, and Figure Eight…
There had been nothing like it to that point, nor would there be again — a film that got audiences dancing in the aisles, that turned movie theaters into concert halls and popcorn patrons into spasmodic participants. In theory, Jonathan Demme’s rockumentary shouldn’t have worked; rock and roll is made…
You know the sad and familiar tale: Brilliant local musician trudges on with great work, other local musicians nod knowingly and with respect at the mention of his name, yet said talent hasn’t yet attracted the frothing fan base he deserves. No doubt Reed Easterwood knows the words to that…
At this very moment, you can go to They Might Be Giants’ Web site (www.tmbg.com) and download, in its entirety, the band’s brand-new 15-song “album” Long Tall Weekend. In fact, that is the only way the “album” is available: by downloading it, in the much-vaunted MP3 format, for the low,…
I am what some in the business refer to as a “ponce.” That is, I’m the emasculated little man behind a famous female, from whom I derive my sense of self worth, and through whose stardom I live. Sound the trumpets: I am Bonnie Hector’s boyfriend. Someday, I hope to…
