of Montreal House of Blues November 14, 2008 Better Than: Damn near every other concert that comes to my mind that didn’t involve eating a handful of mushrooms while watching Tripping Daisy at Starplex. With sequins, glitter, confetti, feathers and body paint, the glam was heavy in the air last…
They wheeled David “Honeyboy” Edwards, 93, to the edge of the stage. People in the shadows helped him to stand, and he crossed into the spotlight, taking slow deliberate steps, carefully placing each foot until he reached the plain wooden chair placed in the stage’s center. The crowd, full of…
Atmosphere’s Paint the Nation Tour House of Blues November 9, 2008 Better Than: Getting drunk, going into a trailer park and picking a fight. Last time I checked, Atmosphere was a hip-hop duo. And when I listen to them in my headphones, I hear introspective rap with distinctive beats that…
Calexico, The Acorn November 8, 2008 Granada Theater Better than: Eating some peyote, playing with a couple of rattlesnakes and doing other desert-related leisure pursuits. More photos are up in our slideshow here. After spending most of a beautiful fall afternoon cutting down trees in my backyard, what better respite…
Deerhoof, Experimental Dental School, Flying, Hawnay Troof Granada Theater Novermber 7, 2008 Better Than: Being accused of hitting on a 14-year-old by his mother. Seriously, this happened. I had heard that Deerhoof had a lot of underage fans (this might explain the 8 o’clock show start time). But there were…
Kings of Leon, We Are Scientists, The Stills Palladium Ballroom October 29, 2008 Better Than: Trying to make a 7 p.m. start time to see the first band. It was an early show last night–the doors were open at 6 o’clock–so I was expecting everyone to be running as late…
Jackson Browne Nokia Theatre October 29, 2008 Better than: Attending (with wife and kids in tow) the various fall festivals at churches in my neighborhood. At 7:30 p.m. sharp, while many folks were still trying to find their seats, Jackson Browne hit the stage at Nokia last night and opened…
TV On The Radio, The Dirtbombs Lakewood Theater October 29, 2008 Better Than: Trying to find some parking around the theater. Talk a bout a beating. Download: UPDATE: We now have a slideshow for your perusing pleasures, with Dylan Hollingsworth’s excllent work behind the lens. TVOTR’s Tunde Adebimpe and Kyp…
MSTRKRFT House of Blues October 25, 2008 Better than: The Girl Talk show. It’s Friday night and the Dallas air has bite. I check my oversized digital watch for the time. The face glows green and reads 11:24 p.m.–they’re finally about to open the doors at the House of Blues…
The Butthole Surfers, The Golden Boys, Nervous Curtains Granada Theater October 22, 2008 Better than: Fighting the flu while listening to Psychic….Powerless…Another Man’s Sac. Download: (UPDATE) Check out our slide show from the show with photography by Hal Samples. Gibby Haynes, the son of Mr. Peppermint. (Hal Samples) Halloween is…
Weezer, Angels & Airwaves Nokia Theatre October 21, 2008 Better than: Trying to pretend I’m not a nerd and attending the Girl Talk show, I guess. Sure, it was a little goofy. But, when Weezer came out on stage last night to launch into its hour-and-a-half-long set at Nokia Theatre…
Uh Huh Her The Loft October 21, 2008 Better Than: Hanging out with the 15 year-olds at the Girl Talk show downstairs. Apparently the Sue Ellen’s crowd heard that the girl from The L Word was in town with her band and that they were playing at The Loft last…
Girl Talk Palladium Ballroom October 21, 2008 Better than: The time you were 15 years old and your best friend’s parents went out of town and left a 12-pack of Molson Canadian in the fridge. It’s the Tuesday night of midterm week, but that didn’t stop revelry-craving college students from…
New Kids on the Block American Airlines Center October 19, 2008 Better Than: I remembered them to be. “New Kids on the Block had a bunch of hits…” (Brittan Dunham) When I was five years old, my mom took me to see New Kids on the Block, sparking a never-ending…
Magnetic Fields Majestic Theatre October 13, 2008 Better Than: Pretty much anything else I’ve ever seen at the Majestic. Just as Magnetic Fields front man Stephin Merritt told the Observer last week, his band does indeed put on a quiet show, and in the right atmosphere that is certainly not…
The Roots, Gym Class Heroes, Estelle Palladium Ballroom October 11, 2008 Better than: dealing with the fallout from a long overdue nastygram to your boss… I’m the first to admit that the most I know about Gym Class Heroes is that “Cupid’s Chokehold” song that comes on the radio every…
The Walkmen and The Little Ones House of Blues’ Pontiac Garage October 11, 2008 Better than: hanging out on Greenville Avenue with all the drunken Longhorn and Sooner fans. (By the way: Way to go Longhorns! 45-35!) Hamilton Leithauser, singer for indie rock darlings The Walkmen, definitely has that frontman…
The Cardinals Nokia Theatre in Grand Prairie October 11, 2008 Better Than: Watching Saturday Night Live–which is what I would have been doing had Mr. Adams and company cancelled this show, as they did in Kansas City and Tulsa Thursday and Friday. Despite all the Internet hand-wringing over the possible…
Cat Power Palladium Ballroom October 9, 2008 Better Than: …unfortunately, not as many things as you’d hope. Download: Here’s a slide show from the performance. Almost two hours after starting her set at the Palladium Airplane Hangar last night, Chan Marshall, the alluring chanteuse behind the Cat Power moniker, waved…
Patrick Michels Better than: Any act that ever wailed at a microphone, strummed a little on the guitar, and called that a show. In retrospect, it began all too neatly: a fine stream of lighter fluid splashed across the cymbals as the drummer undressed in the corner. There were other…
Roky Erickson, The Black Angels, Dove Hunter Granada Theater October 4, 2008 Better than: Sitting around my house, listening to records by legendary loons like Daniel Johnston and Nick Drake instead of seeing a real kook live. Roky walked with a zombie last night. (Dylan Hollingsworth) Although it’s almost a…
Jonathan Richman Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios October 2, 2008 Better than: Catching a more stoic artist pretend to be unaffected by the crowd. No strap. No pick. No problem. (Pete Freedman) Imagine, for a moment, that you’re not in Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios. The concrete floors and walls and overall…
