July’s over, and as we enter the dog days of summer, it’s time to pack up the kids and head on that great family road trip. As wonderful as it is to bond with one another over hours spent in the car, it’s should be noted how more and more…
Brad Paisley put out a new album this year, and it’s a safe bet no country superstar has given its label as much of a headache as Brad (this would be Wheelhouse, the album with “Accidental Racist” on it). But hey: Angry blog posts and album sales are getting less…
Over the years, the Vans Warped Tour has fascinatingly evolved to include a widely diverse collection of alternative rock acts. What was once simply a showcase for metal and punk now features rap, electronica, folk and bands in several other genres. This year’s Warped Tour may be the most varied…
One question you’ll always be asked, forever, is about the band at the first concert you ever saw. The first ever concert I attended, at 13, was Texas (I know, right?). Texas is a frankly awful indie pop band from Scotland, and for this one tour they were inexplicably popular…
With singer David Lowery fronting both Camper Van Beethoven and Cracker (and with both scheduled to play the Granada Theater this Saturday), it is a good time to compare and contrast these two exceptional bands. Cracker has always seemed to get a bad rap because the band is not as…
Way before the Pirates of the Caribbean films brought buccaneer chic back into vogue, various rock acts over the decades have mined this particular influence; some better than others. Here is a list of those who have been particularly ham-fisted, including one Adam Ant who performs this Sunday at the…
While making of a list of the greatest music documentaries of all time would be an exercise in futility that would probably drive us insane, we can capably compile a list of six great documentaries made in the last five years. This list also includes a rash of great films…
This week’s Dallas Observer is our Drinking Issue, featuring reviews, columns and 24 hours of drinking in Dallas. For the music section, we asked a few DFW musicians to share their drinking stories. Here’s the first. Many artists are afflicted/blessed with some form of mood/personality disorder. What do people with…
This week’s Dallas Observer is our Drinking Issue, featuring reviews, columns and 24 hours of drinking in Dallas. For the music section, we asked a few DFW musicians to share their drinking stories. Here’s the first. Our band was scheduled to play at a bar in Amarillo. It’s a great…
Consider this your advance warning, Dallas. Amplified rock and roll is coming, and it’s not only coming hard, it’s coming at times that are mainly not weeknights, meaning you can combine two pursuits, metal concerts and binge drinking, that go hand in hand like butter on toast or rabbits and…
Sunday night’s episode of Futurama, “Forty Percent Leadbelly,” documented the struggles of everyone’s favorite bending machine, Bender Bending Rodriguez, to become the folk singer he’d always wanted to be. Now, while this may not be the blues singer that Dallas native Leadbelly, referenced in the episode’s title and by a…
June 24th saw the entirely unheralded ten-year anniversary of modern prog-rock landmark De-Loused In The Comatorium, the debut album of recently defunct The Mars Volta. Given that the critical response to its appearance back in 2003 was so incredibly varied (although it currently holds a Metacritic score of 82/100, Pitchfork…
The 4th of July is one of the best holidays because it appeals to both patriots and pyromaniacs. It’s a time for eating too much and spending way too much on fireworks. We at DC-9 felt it was our obligation to give you a playlist for your barbecues and parades…
Plano’s Dr Pepper Snapple Group sent us a press release today because they had nothing to say. No, really. This is their new marketing push. Celebrate nothing, because nothing is better than Snapple. Philosophically, this is a confusing proposition at best. While the press release steers clear of Descartian existentialism,…
Turning 50 is certainly not old by today’s standards. But rock & roll conventionally has a different scale. After all, at that age who wants to even go to a concert, much less embark on a nationwide tour performing hit songs you wrote half a lifetime ago? Lots of people,…
Father’s Day may have been a few weeks ago, but walking around Gexa Energy Pavilion on Sunday gave a whole new perspective on what lengths some fathers will go to support their children’s choice of music. So, presented with marginal comment, a small photo essay called “The 11 Best Dads…
As I write this, no one in the world knows where Edward Snowden, leaker of all the secrets he could get his grubby hands on, is located. While the irony of the US government having a total lack of information on this subject cannot be lost on anyone, I would…
Updated update:There’s another video now, with a slightly higher production quality and a lot more apologies. Watch it while you still can… Original Update: The video has been taken down. Here’s a transcript of what you missed… I want to apologize to everybody, for the wrong that I’ve done. I…
I get all sorts of news releases describing gadgets that promise to change a cook’s life forever. I delete most of them after a quick look. Often the device can be easily duplicated with a more common kitchen device most of us already have on hand. Other times the tool…
HBOBy C. Townsend Rizzo It’s not news that the First Amendment of the United States Constitution protects our right to free speech, press, religion and peaceful assembly. Though reasonable and righteous, it has become a crutch of complacency. Everybody has something to say, but generally, they’re only making a weak…
The Pixies reunited in 2004 for the sake of nostalgia and money. There can’t be much doubt over this. They never hinted at new music (apart from the bizarre one-off soundtrack single “Bam Thwok”) and unashamedly toured Doolittle to within an inch of its life. This morning, entirely apropos of…
For more than three decades fans have been waiting for a Black Sabbath album with the original founder, the Lord of Darkness himself, whose distinctive growl along with Toni Iommi’s pulse-grinding rhythms influenced generations of metal heads to pick up an ax and replicate the metal purity that reverberated from…
