July Fourth is upon us, and no doubt you’re looking forward to a Friday filled with hot dogs, apple pies and a good ol’ fashioned three-day weekend. Thankfully, there are plenty of other ways to celebrate the red, white and blue in DFW, and we’ve put together a handy list…
It’s been more than 20 years since the Toadies dropped their signature record, Rubberneck. In fact, maybe you’ve heard about it. But what really makes the occasion seem significant is that the boys from Fort Worth are still going strong all these years later, gigging regularly around Texas and even…
With June (finally) ending, it’s time to assess the slew of releases from Dallas’ best and brightest for the first half of 2014. Although news has been majorly slow on the scene so far, Dallas’ rappers have been diligent in releasing quality material across the internet. This list is a…
Six months is a long time. Well, maybe not that long, but measured by concert calendar time, it’s more than long enough to fit in lots of memorable experiences. So as we cross the midpoint of 2014 with the first day of July, DC9 at Night is continuing its recent…
Last week, Classic Waxxx Records announced the new Dallas-based label’s first release, a candy apple red 7-inch vinyl from John Paul Smith & the Coal Creek Boys out of Alberta, Canada. They also announced a whopper of a second release: one of the greatest songs ever written by Lightnin’ Hopkins…
We’re halfway done with 2014 and, before we know it, it will be time to bring in the New Year. (Okay, maybe that’s a little premature. There’s something like another five months of summer left first.) There have been plenty of exciting things happening for Dallas artists through the first…
With July 4th coming up this Friday, this will be that most patriotic of weeks where we can sit back and bask in the glory of our homeland: Texas. (Well, America too.) And can mean only one thing: lots of and lots of country music. From singer-songwriters to outlaws and…
Merle Haggard Billy Bob’s Texas, Fort Worth Saturday, June 28, 2014 Country music is built on a bedrock of incredible artists like Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings, but you’d be an idiot to not consider the tremendous influence of everyone’s favorite former felon, Merle Haggard. His career has certainly seen…
Deafheaven With Wreck & Reference and Pallbearer Club Dada Saturday, June 28, 2014 Having Deafheaven play the patio at Club Dada seemed like a good idea. It was a breezy, cool (for June) night with occasional wafts of barbeque smoke floating in the air. But a mere minute before the…
We’ll say this much about Erykah Badu: she has a real sense of humor. This year has seen her get into some hot water — that whole performing for an African dictator thing didn’t go over so well — but the Dallas R&B singer is still out having plenty of…
Sure, The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die might someday make a list called “All-Time Most Emo Band Names.” But before such a dismissive listicle appears, the eight-piece band is incredibly busy and will continue to be so for the foreseeable future. Still…
It sounds like cathedral music at first. Then, like modern classical. A drone of swinging chimes and rumbling gong is Swans’ overture. Each tone is so exactly measured that, initially, it sounds like stock music pouring forth from the venue speakers. Look closely though, there to the back-left of the…
For a country music fan, living in North Texas is akin to a six-year-old getting locked inside a room over night where the walls are made only of assorted Minecraft games. There’s plenty of variety and more than enough offerings to keep one busy without ever having to look too…
For being a relatively friendly bunch of guys, the Fray gets a lot of flak from critics. Admittedly, some of it is deserved as the band’s overly earnest brand of pop/rock can be a bit grating. But hell, the majority of acts in the Top 40 can be just as…
Diarrhea Planet With Lee Bains III & the Glory Fires and Party Static Three Links Wednesday, June 25, 2015 What’s it mean to party? The guys in Diarrhea Planet know a thing or two about it. In fact, they almost have it down to a science. It involves lots of…
By Chris Kornelis At the time of his death, in May 1981, Bob Marley was 36 years old, reggae’s biggest star, and the father of at least eleven children. He was not, however, a big seller. For Dave Robinson, this presented an opportunity. Two years after Marley’s passing, Chris Blackwell,…
Since the days of Joe’s Garage, North Texas’ metal venues have hosted some groundbreaking local bands like Rigor Mortis, Pantera and Drowning Pool with mosh pits reaching same intensity as the ones appearing at summer festivals at Gexa Energy Pavilion in Dallas, Dr Pepper Arena in Frisco or Quicktrip Park…
In this week’s Dallas Observer we profile 20 of the metro area’s most interesting characters, with new portraits of each from local photographer Can Turkyilmaz. See the entire Dallas Observer People Issue here. Ryan Thomas Becker works in a library. It’s not a job he chose so much as one…
In this week’s Dallas Observer we profile 20 of the metro area’s most interesting characters, with new portraits of each from local photographer Can Turkyilmaz. See the entire Dallas Observer People Issue here. Deidra “Dee Dee” Roper, better known as DJ Spinderella, of the ’90s hip-hop girl group Salt-N-Pepa, moved…
In this week’s Dallas Observer we profile 20 of the metro area’s most interesting characters, with new portraits of each from local photographer Can Turkyilmaz. See the entire Dallas Observer People Issue here. Scott Beggs has always been a gambler, so he knows that every time you sit down at…
In this week’s Dallas Observer we profile 20 of the metro area’s most interesting characters, with new portraits of each from local photographer Can Turkyilmaz. See the entire Dallas Observer People Issue here. In order for a city’s music scene to thrive, it’s important to have talented people working both…
Swans With Xiu Xiu, 7 p.m. Thursday, June 26, at Trees, 2709 Elm St., 214-741-1122 or treesdallas.com, $20 Words like apocalyptic, macabre and brutal come to my mind when thinking about art-rock act Swans. But so should beautiful, even if beauty, insofar as Swans are concerned, is courted only in…
