The Problem With… Enrique Iglesias’ “Tonight”

A quarter of a year has passed since Enrique Iglesias released his first hit in a couple of years with “I Like It.” I didn’t like it then, and I don’t like it now.With his latest material, Iglesias seems to be throwing off the suave, mysterious Latin male facade he…

New Riders of the Purple Sage

New Riders of the Purple Sage are famous for their rambling brand of California country music, which is a lot like the original Southern stuff sans the vocal twang. Lumped in with artists like Dwight Yoakam, Merle Haggard and Buck Owens, they re-create the collective “Bakersfield sound” of the ’50s…

The Gay Blades

In 1981, a not-so-groundbreaking film called Zorro, the Gay Blade came into the world, only to be promptly forgotten. (The world wasn’t ready for a gay Zorro.) Twenty-five years later, a band in need of a name decided to pay homage to this long-lost non-classic, and so were born the…

Hey, Yo, The Wu is Back.

To hear U-God, one of the eight surviving original members of the legendary New York-based Wu-Tang Clan, tell it, the hip-hop collective’s current 26-date tour of the United States is no big deal. “It’s what it is,” the rough-around-the-edges, oft-outspoken emcee says in a rather matter-of-fact manner. “We’ve been doing…

Denton’s A-Train Bows to Music Scene Demands

Back in July, this very column posed a question to Denton: “Can A Train Really Help The Denton Music Scene?” Half a year later, there’s still no answer. But the method by which the train will affect Denton’s music community has been retooled, beefed up and finally set in stone…

The Striking Similarities Between James McMurtry and Bad Blake.

In Crazy Heart, Jeff Bridges plays a past-his-prime country singer named Bad Blake, who ekes out a living by playing bowling alleys and saloons throughout the American Southwest. So notorious a lush is Blake that the venues he plays typically refuse to comp him drinks for fear that he’ll more…

Young Talents Thrive at the Kessler.

Here’s the ugly truth about Oak Cliff: Exciting and progressive a neighborhood as it may be, those arguing about its future as a musical epicenter for this city are doing little more than propagating myths. The infrastructure just isn’t there—not right now, and not in the foreseeable future. As a…

Pedestrian Playlist: What Do FC Dallas Players Listen To?

A lot of people didn’t believe MLS could work. With so many other soccer leagues, what could make this one special? Well, fast forward 15 years and one Polyphonic Spree written anthem later, and MLS’s FC Dallas not only has dedicated stadium in Frisco, but they are also one of…

Listomania: Top Five Musician National Anthem Fails

Honestly, “The Star-Spangled Banner” can be a beating even when performed in a competent manner. Only a select few have ever really knocked it out of the park — Marvin Gaye, Jimi Hendrix, Jose Feliciano, etc. — and most of them had to change up the song considerably to do…

Picture Show: The 20 Best Concert Photos of 2010

Between NX35, SXSW and ACL, we probably have enough concert photos to create some sort of concert photos city (Concert Photoia, if you will) in this year of 2010. But wait. Wait! There’s more. Much more, as it turns out. Locally and nationally, there were a whole smorgasbord of knee-meltingly…