Wanda KingBlues fans have a chance to help those railroaded by the justice system this Saturday at the Innocence Project of Texas’s DNA Blues Ball, a concert to raise funds for crucial DNA testing related to Innocence Project cases. DNA tests can cost $2,000 to $5,000, says Innocence Project President…
Fiction Plane November 22, 2007 House of Blues Better Than: Thanksgiving Postprandial Exhaustion So. Fiction Plane played last night in the Cambridge Room at the House of Blues. Fiction who, you ask? Fiction Plane. A more appropriate spelling would be p-l-a-I-n. As in vanilla. Or very dry turkey with extra…
It’s Thanksgiving, folks, and during the tryptophan hangover, there’s something we all need to do. No, we don’t need to reflect again on the Pilgrims gettin’ their maize on or how to enslave an otherwise free-spirited and lesser-clothed people. Instead, we need to give proper thanks for some musical releases…
Flip to the entry for Sweden in the encyclopedia and the description sounds almost utopian: phenomenal public schools, impossibly low crime rates and a universal health care system that could silence Michael Moore. At first listen, the music of Peter Björn and John, the country’s freshly minted indie-rock poster boys,…
No one likes to piss off a rock god, but oral histories thrill most when they’re packed with gossipy first-person accounts. The author of The Replacements: All Over but the Shouting, Jim Walsh, wrote about the Minneapolis scene for years and has such depth of feeling for band leader Paul…
Tori Amos is now on tour supporting American Doll Posse, her best CD in years. It’s the piano-playing singer-songwriter’s 10th studio album—if you count the record she made with Y Kant Tori Read, a cringe-inducing hair-rock band she formed in Los Angeles at the end of the ’80s. On American…
The first lyric on Jimmy Eat World’s album Chase This Light is a very self-assured—if not presumptuous—one-word imperative: “Stay.” But an enormous wall of distorted guitars then sucker punches the listener, just before a raucous burst of power drill-buzzing guitars bolts one to the chair. (In other words, vocalist/songwriter Jim…
American Gangster is considerably better than 2006’s lackluster Kingdom Come, if only because it returns Jay-Z to his criminal comfort zone. However, it still falls short of his finest material. The disc feels more like the sort of Hollywood production that inspired it—a star vehicle assembled by skilled craftsmen—than the…
This latest effort by Mexico’s supreme “rock en español” group will grow on you, but that’s not necessarily a ringing endorsement. Café Tacuba made their name by fusing Latin American rhythms with American pop-punk sensibilities, but los tacubos have ditched their Mexican heritage in favor of shiny, shimmering music. While…
Now hailing from Austin (always the hippest and most malodorous Texas locale), the Frontier Brothers started out in Fort Worth, where they first concocted their danceable and harmonious indie pop. Inspired by David Bowie, ELO, Wilco and Ben Folds, as unlikely (and unattractive) a collection of artists as one is…
Led by brothers Milind (Mel) and Neil Parekh, Love Minus Zero is another band that is just sort of local. Mel’s daytime job is in Dallas, and Neil resides in Houston, while bassist Akaash Sharma and drummer Evan Spaulding hail from Austin. The quartet met while attending UT more than…
Compared with other holidays, Thanksgiving hasn’t inspired bards all that much. There are no traditional hymns, no instantly identifiable music associated with the day, save possibly various football broadcast bumpers. Nevertheless, here and there we find certain songs that — in lyric or in spirit — fit the theme of…
For the sake of hard-hitting journalism, last night I put my wits and pride to the test on my first game show. Well, make that “game show.” And while dreams of winning the ultimate prize of $500 battled against my moral dilemma of ethically accepting the cash, I really just…
Denton band Darcy is Grammy winner Eric Delegard’s latest project. (Darcy)Hidden in a rural niche in Denton is a russet, brick office building that looks vacant. The only identifying feature is the oversized 2408 above the door, but even that is brown and uninviting. But as any after-school program will…
Reunited: Fever in the FunkhouseClub Dada’s Amanda Newman just gave me the official word for her club’s New Year’s Eve plans. In fact, she was so excited about it that I’ll let her tell it herself: “So…after lots of back and forth and phone calls…New Year’s Eve at Dada will…
Apparently, local musician Darlington likes to sleep around. At least he admits that in Monday’s Washington Post article about musician mom, Barbara Jones. If you’d like him in your bed, ask him this Friday at the Darkside Lounge where he performs with Greyskull, Poster Boy Material and Responsible Johnny where…
Hey, they aren’t called Lovie for nothing. (Ange Fitzgerald) Talk about a smackdown, in DC-9’s first Rock ‘n’ Rumble, Handclaps and Harmonies bitch-slapped Handshakes and High Fives all the way back to Granbury (where High Fives hail from). Nineteen out of 21 comments sided with the Rhino Records-ready band, and…
Dare to dream that a Footloose sequel would be filmed but if it was the case, filmmakers might consider Argyle High School, northwest of Dallas in Denton County. According to the Wall Street Journal, school superintendent Jason Ceyanes has a problem with freak dancing. What is freak dancing you say?…
Back to the Future’s Tom Wilson is all grown up, but still calling people buttheads in his stand-up act. (Macdonald-Murray Management)Not paying attention to our weekly Laughcast? Well, here’s what you missed: Tom Wilson and Dennis Regan Nov. 18, 2007 Addison Improv Caught the last part of Dennis Regan (yes,…
Courtesy one of my favorite MP3 blogs, Songs: Illinois, we find Salim Nourallah talking about his album Snowing In My Heart, which the site says is due nationally December 4 from German label Tapete Records, though, uh, it’s actually been out for some time. Oh, and when I say “talking,”…
This weekend was a little bi-polar between getting kinky at the Lizard Lounge and raising money via a bake sale up in Denton. Re-live the weekend here. 2007 Dallas Fetish Ball at Lizard Lounge Does someone need a spanking? (James Villa) Dirty boys, dirty girls and a dirty grandma had…
Lollipop Shoppe Nov. 17, 2007 Sloppyworld I thought I was going to get Ziggy Stardusted at last night’s Lollipop Shoppe party but the makeup table wasn’t too discernible from any of the other tables with empty beer bottles and plastic cups on it. Either that or the glare from all…
