Every year, on Friday the 13th, Elm Street Tattoo’s talented staff executes small pieces that must include the number 13 somewhere, for $13 and a $7 tip. On most sleeves in Dallas, you can spot the 13s hidden among larger décor, identifying the shop’s fans and loyalists. I was inside…
Usually with this column, we might interview one or two people from a band. With Darstar, all five members were kind enough to share the first shows they saw and played. And, if you wanted a reminder of how effective Smashing Pumpkins were in their heyday, listen to what Lisa…
The Dallas Symphony Orchestra Plays The Legend of Zelda Music The Meyerson Symphony Center Tuesday, January 10 Better Than: Playing the games in 1998. Also, the childish “in your face, in your face!” chant I’m going to throw at my mom later for all those years she limited me to…
Terry Glaze and Taz BentleySingle WideThursday, January 5Better than: Listening to a guy slaughter songs on an acoustic while trying to eat your lunch at Potbelly.The Single Wide doesn’t normally host shows, even if it’s just a guy and a guitar. Last night’s double bill was a very special one,…
Oh, look. City of Ate’s got a nice photo report on last night’s Sundown grand opening. The Granada’s new bar and restaurant was lovely and copious amounts of booze were had by all. A friend had enthused, “This will be a great place for drinks before and after Adam Ant!”…
Fort Worth’s The Vatican Press has been kicking around for the past few years, sprung from a lineage of classic post-hardcore and emo. Frontman Eddie Hennessy even grew up with the guys in Jimmy Eat World, and recently reunited with his old band Haskel to open for them. The band…
Update January 1: Photos from night two are up. Right here. Man, seems like just a few minutes ago that we were telling you about the Spin Off at Artopia for Lights All Night, which would turn the Dallas Convention Center into a buffet of spinning DJs. Well, here we…
Mark Pirro has been around the Dallas music scene for more than two decades as a member of Tripping Daisy, The Polyphonic Spree and currently Menkena. As a preview of The Spree’s New Year’s Eve show this Saturday at the House of Blues, we wanted to ask him about his…
Since this Sunday is Christmas, we decided to do something a little different with this week’s edition of My First Show. Checking back in with a number of the people we interviewed this year, we wanted their takes on the best shows they saw, and to also get a preview…
Last Night: Grieves, Budo, K. Flay House of Blues December 14, 2011 Better than: Hip-hop in a suburban church. This suburban triple-header brought out a crowd of 150 or so to the Cambridge Room at House of Blues, and the almost exclusively white 20-something crowd was treated to a brand…
With plans for a follow-up to this year’s acclaimed Division, 2012 looks good for pop-punk trio Here Holy Spain. To tide you over, they have a song on this year’s Idol Christmas compilation called “God-Damn This Christmas.” As the band wraps up the year, all three recently shared with us…
Last Night: Scratch Acid, Baboon Trees December 8, 2011 Better than: Watching a Whitney marathon. See more photos in our gallery. Scratch Acid might not make the kind of music that elicits universal joy. Difficult and straining can only begin to describe this Birthday Party-inspired act. Yet for the mostly…
Last Night: My Morning Jacket, Delta Spirit Verizon Theatre December 7, 2011 Better than: Watching My Morning Jacket on Palladia’s Storytellers while your neighbor’s dog barks nonstop. My Morning Jacket has been praised as one of the best live bands currently working. Ask anybody who was at the Verizon Theatre…
Canadian four-piece Yukon Blonde hits the Double Wide tonight, and nestle up to the cavernous harmonies of Fleet Foxes and early My Morning Jacket. You’ll hear plenty from the band’s 2011 EP, Fire/Water, as well as their self-titled debut. In advance, we talked with drummer Graham Jones about his first…
A few hours before the Lights All Night DJ finalists spun at Zouk (for the Artopia after party), DJs Skrause, DJ-O, and The Latin House Krew, took turns firing off sparky sounds at the Dallas Contemporary. Our own Audra Schroeder, Clint Keller, and Asim Sheikh, and of course the Lights…
John Waite, Malea McGuinness The Glass Cactus Nightclub December 2, 2011 Better than: Paying for a table at some douche-filled nightclub. Oh wait, that’s what I was asked to do. First off, I have to say that John Waite, former frontman for The Babys and Bad English, still puts on…
Over the Weekend: Puscifer, Carina Round Majestic Theater Saturday, December 3rd, 2011 Better than: A Perfect Circle’s set at the Verizon Theatre earlier this year. If you wondered what Puscifer is about, well, their 75-minute performance on Saturday night provided plenty of answers. Part concert, part multimedia experience, and part…
Last Night: Marc Ribot The KesslerDecember 1, 2011Better than: Not crying Listening to guitarist Marc Ribot have his way with a song is an adventure. The kind of adventure Griffin Dunne found himself on in the film After Hours. You think you’re going on a simple date, but before you…
The folks behind Rio Room and PM Lounge have been Dallas’ most avid DJ talent scouts, scouring charts, mixes and remixes to find acts who can be described as “hip” or “now” or “up-and-coming.” Quite admirably, they’ve braved the likelihood of having to forgo a packed venue and bottle service…
Last Night: Wilco, Nick Lowe The Music Hall at Fair Park November 29th, 2011 Better than: seeing Wilco at the UNT auditorium There was an emphasis on the noisier side of Wilco last night, and that was completely fine with the mostly-full Music Hall at Fair Park. The band, still…
Until the recent “reunification” of [DARYL], if you’ve seen Dave Wilson at a show, he’s either running sound for it or he’s shooting it with his camera. Wilson, someone who’s toured with national acts as a soundman and has been a freelance photographer (even for this here establishment), has been…
GWAR, Every Time I Die, WarbeastHouse Of BluesNovember 19, 2011 Better than: a Pulsar action figure whose blood has congealed. A cloaked Death character entered the House of Blues darkened stage set up like a castle littered with weapons and viscera. As theatrical metal band GWAR came on stage to…
