Mel Arizpe and Laura Carrizales were three hours from going on stage and performing their final song at the Karaoke World Championships in Helsinki. They were tied for fourth place with another duet, who had just finished an energetic performance in which they were all over the stage. “I told…
2019 is off and running with this week’s new concert announcements. We’ve got laughs and guitar riffs, stony rap riffs and a few old-timers picking things back up for the summer. Check out what’s next going on sale. Comedian, musician and SNL alumnus Fred Armisen is coming to Dallas on…
Dance music has always had a contentious relationship with mainstream Dallas culture. Going out in the city’s nightlife hot spots like Deep Ellum and Uptown, you might think this is the land of trap, top 40 and hip-hop with not much room for anything else. But underneath the surface, local…
Following this past weekend’s premiere of Lifetime’s docuseries Surviving R. Kelly, two Dallas-based hip-hop and R&B radio stations have pulled R.Kelly’s music from their rotations. As of now, listeners will no longer hear R. Kelly’s catalog on KRNB (105.7 FM) or K104 (104.5 FM). Surviving R. Kelly details the R&B…
Nearly 60 years ago, on Feb. 3, 1959, after leaving a show at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa, Buddy Holly jumped on a plane to escape the freezing winds to make his way to the next stop on a long tour. The plane crashed shortly after taking off,…
On most Sunday nights, Paul Slavens is on air hosting “The Paul Slavens Show” on 91.7 KXT. This night he was roaming through the crowd at Dan’s Silverleaf in his “Let the force be with you” shirt, enjoying live music and the company of friends, fans and former bandmates there to…
Red light illuminated the interior of Dan’s Silver Leaf in Denton as El Nuevo Mi Son, a local band, set up on stage. Old friends, fans, bandmates and family members of Joe Cripps, the internationally known percussionist who went missing in 2016, mingled during the hour before the band started…
At this point you likely know whether those New Year’s resolutions are going to stick or if old habits really do die hard. Either way, catching lots of good live music should help start 2019 off on the right foot, and this week makes it easy. New Fumes, Bobby Sessions, Chilldren…
As the new year gets rolling, so do the show announcements. Over the next few months, Dallas will receive visits from a country megastar, a legendary symphonic ensemble and an internet viral sensation. All that and more, in this week’s concert news. Brad Paisley continues to be one of country…
While some teenagers might feel lucky to make it out to concerts every weekend, for Tippy Balady it’s slowly becoming her career. The student at Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts is still sending out college applications but has already made her mark on the…
On Wednesday night, the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival unveiled its 2019 lineup, which includes headlining sets from Ariana Grande, Tame Impala and Childish Gambino. There are plenty of other big names on the lineup, including Janelle Monae, Kid Cudi, Aphex Twin, Kacey Musgraves, Anderson .Paak, Pusha T and…
Gathered around a fire at Italian mainstay Terelli’s on Greenville Avenue, the Old 97’s explain how the long-standing restaurant was the true hard rock café of Dallas. It’s there on the patio, close to where dreams of being a rock star were taking their first unsteady steps to becoming true,…
In 2011, Dallas radio DJ Kitti Jones met singer R. Kelly at a concert after-party. She was 33 at the time. Kelly was about 44 and on his Love Letter Tour. In a six-part docuseries, Surviving R. Kelly, that airs Jan. 3 on Lifetime, Jones details her relationship with Kelly…
As Rolling Stone reports, former President Barack Obama continued his annual tradition of highlighting his favorite books, movies and songs at the end of the year. This year, Fort Worth musician Leon Bridges made the cut with his song “Bad Bad News” and is listed along with other artists, such…
It’s an all-local lineup this New Year’s week – well, besides Hanson. You can catch those guys at Bass Performance Hall on Saturday night. As for supporting local music, check out Jonathan Tyler’s New Year’s Eve gig at Granada Theater, singer-songwriter Claire Morales at The Free Man, Dead Mockingbirds at…
Not only was Dallas the last stop on Taylor Swift’s Reputation Stadium Tour, it also served as the location of her highly anticipated Netflix concert special out today. Shot completely in Dallas, Swift tells the audience during her Netflix special that her October date was the 30th show she played…
2018 is soon to be in the rearview mirror, and the only way to celebrate — or forget — the last 365 days is to find the biggest party with the best live music. You’ve already received an invite to your friend’s house for cheese and Apple Music playlists, but…
The last weekend of the year is typically pretty slow for concert announcements and this year is no exception. While it’s not the heaviest week in terms of numbers, there are some gems heading this way. R&B singer SoMo has announced a sizable spring 2019 tour across North America behind…
Opening a live music venue is a capital-intensive business venture, and generally speaking, the return on investment is abysmal. So why do investors keep sinking hundreds of thousands of dollars into them? Are the investments a tax write-off? Are they an ego project to alleviate a midlife crisis? Having been…
DFW brought home a win on the season 15 finale of NBC’s The Voice. OK, technically Farmington, New Mexico, did when 16-year-old contestant Chevel Shepherd won, but North Texas native Kelly Clarkson was her coach. Surely that counts for something. While no one actually competing from DFW collected the chrome,…
For the fifth year in a row, we are pleased to have DJ Santa drop a set for the holidays for the Dallas Observer Mixtape series. He’s out once again to prove that Christmas music does not have to suck. It can come in the form of punk, funk, dance…
Our music series Busking with the Dallas Observer is now in its fifth year and heading into its 43rd episode (Old 97’s later this month). So I sat down with my co-producer Mike Williams (that’s Dallas Observer’s Best-Magician-in-Dallas Mike Williams) over some suspiciously chunky eggnog to take a look back…
