Last Night’s Erykah Badu Record Release…

Erykah Badu at Bill’s Records. (Hal Samples) The crowd was somewhere between antsy and bored in anticipation of Erykah Badu’s arrival at Bill’s Records last night. Then again, the crowd probably felt a bit out of place–it’d be tough to say for certain that any of the people in the…

Mars Volta Coming to Dallas

My knees just got a little weak. The Mars Volta will be in Dallas April 8. I will be there. Sure, I don’t have tickets. Tickets don’t go on sale until Saturday, March 1. No matter. I’ll be there. The last time I saw The Mars Volta it was in…

Check Lil Wil’s ‘My Dougie’ Video

So, yesterday we kept hearing that we needed to check out Lil Wil’s video for “My Dougie.” We’ve seen it now, and the video isn’t really all that it’s cracked up to be. But check the song and keep your eyes open for a handful of Dallas rap favorites. (Then…

The Afters New Album, Video Get Our Attention

Man, The Afters are getting some media love for today’s release of Never Going Back to OK. (See, Pete was totally on point with last week’s column. Seeeeeeeeeee?) Reuters has declared the band has beat the sophomore slump with the disc (I vote we wait to say that until the…

(Well, We) Might As Well Jump (Too)…

She couldn’t be the reason…right? With Van Halen scheduled to return to town for the second time in three months a week from today, we figured we’d pass along this juicy tidbit: The two legs just before the March 3 performance at American Airlines Center (in Charlottesville, Va., and Duluth,…

Macavity Reunion Show Upcoming…

Reunion’s the name of the game of late in the Dallas music scene. A couple bands got back together for the Melodica festival this weekend and, well, we already know about Chomsky’s return. Next up: Macavity, whose reunion show will take place on March 8 at the Double-Wide. In anticipation,…

More Erykah Badu News…

More from Badu camp. (Marc Baptiste) We’re all excited about the new Erykah Badu release New Amerykah: Part One ’round these parts (Wilonsky’s gone especially batshit), so we’ve been updating you like woah on all things Badu. Well, here’s some more news: -Erykah will host a CD release party at…

D-Notes: Weekend Review…In Video!

Another weekend, another slew of good shows here in the D. I only managed to hit the Melodica Festival (for about 20 exhausting hours of the course of the weekend), which you can read all about in the next Observer. In the meantime, there was a whole bunch of other…

Over The Weekend: F6 Gallery Party, Melodica, Frightmare

Art at Arlington’s F6 Gallery. (Michael Insuaste)So, it’s probably not a surprise that we hit up Melodica – we’ve been talking about it for awhile now. So, yes, we went. We wrote about it. But we also drove over to Arlington for a great art event (seriously), got our Oscar…

Last Night: Melodica Festival at Expo Park

Yells at Eels.Melodica Music Festival February 23, 2008 Exposition Park Last night I trekked down to Exposition Park to take my Melodica experience beyond the paper and was pleasantly surprised. I wasn’t too sure how the fest would turn out, but with some fairly packed venues and too few parking…

Last Night: F6 Gallery’s Anniversary Party

F6 Gallery One-Year Anniversary Party February 23, 2008 F6 Gallery Better Than: Most anything else happening in Arlington on a Saturday night. Download: See who was at the gallery’s birthday bash in our slideshow. Sometimes what begins as a capricious whim or an idealistic toss of the dice manifests into…

Good Friday: Melodica, El Gato, Bob Dylan, Black Lips

Bob Dylan rocks the HOB this weekend. Another fine-looking weekend here in the Metroplex. Lots to see and plenty to keep yourself busy, whether your flavor skews locally or nationally. Not many places to go wrong this weekend, so just head out there and support your local scene, I guess…

Literally Rocking The Vote

The crowd at Obama’s rally. (Brian Harkin)As all of us music snobs know, the true make of a person (and that includes candidates) is what music they listen to. Therefore, I offer you some selections piped through the speakers at both Obama’s and Clinton’s rallies. Choose wisely, in the primaries,…

Pitchfork Namedrops This Weekend’s Melodica Festival

…and you can read said mention here. Snobbish hipster types around Dallas jump for joy! All together now: “Validation! Validation! Validation!” Meh. We give Pitchfork’s coverage here a 6.3 rating. But if you’re itching for more–and I know that you are–Rich Lopez broke this ish down for ya in this…

The Rocket Summer Gets AP Cover

Avary is pretty excited to share this cover with everyone. (The Rocket Summer)We’re so proud! Bryce Avary — a.k.a. The Rocket Summer — earned the cover of the April edition of Alternative Press. (Full disclosure: I’ve written for AP on and off for a couple years, but nothing about The…

Q&A: Murry Hammond of Old 97’s

Murry Hammond has been part of the Dallas music scene for far more than 20 years. Stints in the Sleepy Heroes and the unheralded Peyote Cowboys preceded his more high-profile days as bassist for the Old 97’s. Hammond’s first solo CD comes out February 22, and Hammond is playing the…

Local Finals For The Ultra Music Festival Are Tonight…

Tonight at Lift Lounge …and Rich Lopez and I will be in attendance at Lift Lounge helping a panel of judges choose the best of the five competing local DJs. The winner of this little competition will be repping Dallas at the Ultra Music Festival in Miami on March 28…

CMA Fest: Wow, This Is Ridiculous

This is just stupid. So I posted this little entry on Tuesday night. Little did I know it’d be all over the Interwebs by this afternoon. First this blog picked up on the item. Then Nashville’s daily paper, The Tennessean picked up on it. Now, CMT is reporting it. The…

Meanwhile, Black Joe Lewis Is Out to Rock The Vote.

Black Joe Lewis campaigns for Obama (Photo by Keith Gaddis) Every once in a while, a quaint little band will get a phone call from a frantic local booker looking to fill a short-notice role in a TV show or a celebrity event. We’ve seen local bands dive into slots…

Opium Symphony Out to Stop The Vote

The ‘Screw The Vote’ Contingent: Opium Symphony.With Obamamania spreading across the country, there’s lots of talk about the youth who have been energized to participate in politics for the first time and whether or not they’ll actually turn out to vote. Well, here’s something a little different — a local…

Video: On The Road with Kessler

Wondering what life is like on tour for Dallas rock quintet Kessler? Well, the guys are out on a big national tour and are kind enough to be posting videos on their MySpace blog to give us a glimpse of life on the road. The video from February 19 is…