At about 2 p.m., I decided to purchase tickets to Demi Lovato at Verizon Theatre in Grand Prairie. Because why not? Now, I knew my friend and I would be some of the oldest people there sans parents, but we didn’t know just how old we would feel. I was…
Talking to Hospitality’s Amber Papini is quite the experience. The highly talented songwriter is an idiosyncratic thinker, whether it’s discussing the influence of the ocean on her songwriting or her love of gas station food. And that is reflected in Hospitality’s truly distinctive music. Speaking from her home in Brooklyn…
Homegrown Festival will hold its fifth installment on Saturday, May 10. They already announced a headlining set from The Toadies, and just now they’ve announced several of the bands that will be joining them. One of them is …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, playing their…
Deep Ellum got a taste of Mardi Gras this weekend in the best possible way. In order to mark the occasion, Commerce Street’s The Free Man Cajun Cafe organized a proper New Orleans second line horn parade that circled the neighborhood. Owner and proprietor John Jay Myers lead the charge…
Festivals bring out the best in people. So, whenever there are four days and nights of independent films, a wide spectrum of music and Denton streets filled with every variation of plaid, there’s bound to be some interesting things being whispered to a friend or screamed to the entire crowd…
This weekend the staff at Majestic Theatre took every necessary precaution to ensure that no tomfoolery or shenanigans would take place for the long sold-out Neutral Milk Hotel concert this past Saturday. Lead singer and notorious recluse Jeff Magnum has been known to be spooked by over zealous fans, so…
This past Saturday night, the Gas Monkey Bar ‘N Grill in Dallas lived up to the name of the television series that features its owner: car repair reality show Fast ‘N Loud. With full sets scheduled from Austin’s Hank Senior-recalling, honky-tonk hero Wayne “The Train” Hancock (on the venue’s indoor…
I don’t know how many of you were at the Jeff Mangum show last January. For those of you who were not, though I assume the Venn diagram of the two crowds shares a considerable crossover, the crowd at the solo show could sense a frailty in Mangum that made…
Lionel Richie and CeeLo Green are touring together. At first glance it seems odd, a Dungeon Family affiliate splitting time with someone I always picture wearing a turtleneck. But here we are — the tour is real and we must confront the idea enough to decide whether or not to…
Perhaps it couldn’t be helped. With somewhat spring-like weather in the Denton air on Thursday afternoon, it was hard to not have festival fever. In years past around this time, when 35 Denton would be taking place, you couldn’t get past Dan’s Silverleaf near Hickory Street before the festival fun…
If I close my eyes tight enough, I can almost still picture it, even though it’s almost been a decade. I am fifteen years old and feeling very close to heat stroke, so I lean against the wall. Even that feels labored, because I’m standing on such a sharp incline…
It’s Valentine’s Day weekend in Dallas, and clearly, something about live music turns you people on. This entire week is jam packed with notable concerts, every single night. For your hot and heavy week ahead, we’ve got twenty live music date night options to try and help get you laid…
Not many musicians can make the claim of being a clinical psychologists and a singer. As a matter of fact, Lucy Kaplansky may be the only one. Hailing out of New York, Kaplansky has been making quality folk music since 1978. Yet after making initial commercial inroads, Kaplansky went back…
It’s Hallmark season in Dallas, and there are a few shows available if, say, your loved one is into crushing noise. Just take her to Manowar! Or perhaps you’re into something a little calmer — local folkie Parker Millsap has an album release in Fort Worth. Read on for more…
There’s something in the air this week besides Wintery Mix. It’s almost Valentine’s Day, that magical time of year where even really solid romantic gestures seem tacky and contrived. But hey: Everyone deserves a little love. And a whole bunch of bands are choosing North Texas this year. So open…
It has been 10 years since Mike Schoder took over ownership of Granada Theater on Greenville Avenue. The club — one of the biggest in Dallas — has endured changes in the neighborhood and the fickle nature of music to become one the most celebrated venues in town. To celebrate…
It sounds like tormented spirits screaming through the amplifiers as the guitarists play through the grinding riffs of “South of Heaven” by Slayer. They are fast, loud and soulful, as if generations of thrash musicians were inspiring them. Picks ignite strings that reverberate in rapid succession. Fingers run across the…
We’re bringing Ludacris to this year’s St. Patrick’s Day proceedings. Now, Ludacris is one of those people whose personality has loomed so large as to occasionally obscure his actual music, so by way of reminding you what it actually means to go to a Ludacris show, allow us to list…
This week 10 years ago, an anxious producer from Chiraq (Chicago), Illinois had just released his debut into the rap arena, College Dropout. Heavily manipulating the hip-hop scene musically, stylistically, and socially even at the time, a far more subconscious Kanye West went on to gain international acclaim, travel through…
At the end of February, I’m leaving the Dallas Observer to take over as the music editor for Denver’s Westword. The move brings me and my partner back where we came from and where we hope to stay, and it’s really as simple as that. Working at the Observer has…
If you arrived in Dallas from Mars and wanted to pick one place to learn about local music, a smart tour guide might send you to the Crown and Harp on Lower Greenville. There, you’d find an increasingly dense schedule in the pub’s two unassuming rooms of North Texas artists…
On Friday, post-punk darlings Yuck played to a packed house at Trees. It was their third and final Texas show this year, and the new lineup proved an even more impressive live unit than the old one. Locals Son of Stan and Blackstone Rangers opened. Photographer Mike Brooks was there…
