Inspiration is a strange beast. For Philip Gage, the leading track on No Touching’s EP came to him in response to a 7-Eleven clerk who he had a less-than-pleasant experience with. The track, “Big Mama,” started as a joking poem-rant from Gage to bandmate Elana Nelson, but eventually developed into…
2014 has been a rough year for country music. Florida-Georgia Line is selling more records than anyone else in the genre, Luke Bryan is the Country Music Association’s Entertainer of the Year, and any traces of Willie, Waylon, and Hank seem to be stamped out of country music’s most popular…
Now’s when the real fun begins. Voting has been open for the 2014 Dallas Observer Music Awards for just about six weeks, and we’re in the home stretch. (If you haven’t already voted, you’d better make your way over to musicawardspoll.dallasobserver.com and make sure your voice is heard!) The awards…
It’s so cold. It’s so cold outside. What might keep your mind off of the frigid temperatures, however, is some live music. Sturgill Simpson and Willie Nelson are coming through to Club Dada and WinStar, respectively, in an attempt to keep country alive. The Black Keys are apparently big enough…
Music compilations are something of a dying breed these days. Sure, there are some great choices to be had in the Best Music Compilation category in this year’s Dallas Observer Music Awards, but the essence of the compilation has been greatly diminished in the years since CDs were superseded by…
Los Lonely Boys With Vallejo, 8 p.m. Saturday, November 15, at Gas Monkey Live, 10110 Technology Blvd., gasmonkeylive.com, $30-$300 This trio of brothers from San Angelo have a unique blend of rock, blues, conjunto and Tejano. The brothers Garza started playing music in the ’80s before they were even teens,…
For those of you keeping count at home, this morning’s installment of our busking series marks a bit of a milestone. Since the folks at Globe Trek Productions started these band-on-the-street videos last year, they’ve brought us an array of great performances, from local and touring bands alike. This one…
Donny Young has been an active part of the Dallas DJ community since the early ’90s heyday of rave — first as a fan, and then as a DJ since 1996. Young is mostly associated with the DJ crew Motif and their parties. He has been a constant face amongst…
Alejandro Jodorowsky’s art-house masterpiece, The Holy Mountain, is about many things. Capitalism, religion, greed, immorality and materialism are all critiqued by the filmmaker throughout the duration of the 1973 film. One of the foremost and prevailing themes is the quest to self-discovery in a cruel world. Yes, deep, dark and…
Pizza Underground With Har Mar Superstar and Candy Boys Trees, Dallas Monday, November 10, 2014 New York’s underground art scene put on an unofficial art installation in Dallas Monday night, bringing some of its most incomprehensible acts to Trees . Leading the way was Macaulay Culkin and performance-art-piece-meets-Herman-Cain-YouTube-video, the Pizza…
With the 26th annual Dallas Observer Music Awards just around the corner — in fact, voting is open right now at musicawardspoll.dallasobserver.com — we’re looking to spend the next several weeks taking the opportunity to highlight some of the nominees for this year’s awards. And when we say that these…
In the dull roar of a post-homecoming crowd at Crooked Crust in Denton, Garrett Gravley has his dining choices mocked. The perpetrator, Albert Louis, scoffs: “Dessert bread sticks and beer?” To which Gravley explains, “He’s always making fun of how I eat.” This is the makeshift office space of Who…
Fun Fun Fun Fest With Sky Ferreira The Belmont, Austin Sunday, November 9, 2014 Sometimes being bad at something isn’t the worst thing in the world. Take Sky Ferreira’s late-night performance at The Belmont in Austin on Sunday, which helped round off the three-day music celebration that was Fun Fun…
Eli Young Band’s House Party With Pat Green, Gary Allan, Cody Johnson and Maddie and Tae Globe Life Park, Arlington Saturday, November 8, 2014 Before Saturday night’s House Party at Globe Life Park, it was a mystery to me why the Eli Young Band wasn’t a bigger deal or more…
It doesn’t get much more metal than a costume party for a metal show at the Double Wide on Halloween night, does it? Well, how about if that metal band is Wizards of Gore, the new incarnation of local legends Rigor Mortis? Or what if there’s also a wedding taking…
Fun Fun Fun Fest With King Diamond Auditorium Shores, Austin Saturday, November 8, 2014 King Diamond was not messing around with his stage setup at Fun Fun Fun Fest in Austin. The headlining set for the Black Stage on Saturday night, it came complete with gates on the front of…
Dallas music fans, you are in your prime this week. Before we hit a late fall lull, there’s a smattering of great live music coming through our glorious city. The Pizza Underground, Macaulay Culkin’s pseudo-cover band that turns the Velvet Underground songs into ballads on the greatness of pizza, hits…
Fun Fun Fun Fest With Forward, Long Knife, World to Burn, Power Trip and Wiccans The North Door, Austin Saturday, November 8, 2014 On Saturday night’s edition of the Fun Fun Fun Fest Nites shows, two of Texas’ best hardcore acts took the stage. Wiccans of Denton and Power Trip…
As we approached the festival from the east at 2pm, we could see there was a problem. A barely moving line of people snaked half a mile from the will call entrance, across the bridge over the river, and all the way to Cesar Chavez. People stuck in the line…
If anyone there anyone especially well suited to our ongoing busking video series, it’s Slaid Cleaves. A native of Austin, Cleaves is the archetypal troubadour: A roving singer-songwriter with an acoustic guitar and a sharp eye for storytelling. Give the guy a minute and a video camera and you’ll get…
Run the Jewels Trees, Dallas Thursday, November 6, 2014 The blood red tour bus bearing Run The Jewels’ name and signature iconography – two mummified hands, one surrendering a gold chain to the other, gestured as a gun – glared in the early afternoon sun outside of Trees in Deep…
In 2011 I got to work Fun Fun Fun Fest as security. I got the job through a friend of mine who had worked the fest in years past. As we walked through the various backstage areas to find the head of security and pick up my credentials, I got…
