Well, Ex-Ghosthustler frontman Alan Palomo did promise us that he’d have a new Vega single out by mid-January, and over the weekend he delivered. “Well Known Pleasures” (no hyphen!) was made available for download on Gorilla Vs. Bear, as well as, ahem, “exclusively” over on on Discobelle. Well, “exclusive” must…
north of the dial Ryan Williams stood sipping on a double whiskey and soda at the bar in Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios. Minutes earlier, he’d finished playing a set with Dust Congress, one of more than half a dozen bands he plays bass in. That list of bands includes the…
Written by Janell Cannon, the children’s book Stellaluna is about a fruit bat pup who gets separated from her mother during a nighttime owl attack. After landing in a bird’s nest with three baby birds, Stellaluna is then raised by her adopted mother to behave like a bird. Eventually, she…
Yet another weekend in Denton chock full of shows. But other than a rather, um, noisy bill at the house venue House of Tinnitus, it was a rather business-as-usual kind of Saturday night at Denton’s venues. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. It’s just that, at some point, seeing…
Poised comfortably between gospel, country and folk, Doug Burr’s newest full-length release, The Shawl, is a concept album of sorts, with all the lyrics directly taken from the Psalms. And though some might shy away from that overtly religious subject matter, it should be noted: Most of the Psalms Burr…
For the next month, the area gets a double serving of gallery artist Rusty Scruby’s fantastic three-dimensional constructions as solo exhibitions open at the McKinney Avenue Contemporary and Pan-American Art Projects. A former student of aerospace engineering and music composition, Scruby’s large-scale installations will be on display in both the…
For the next month, the area gets a double serving of gallery artist Rusty Scruby’s fantastic three-dimensional constructions as solo exhibitions open at the McKinney Avenue Contemporary and Pan-American Art Projects. A former student of aerospace engineering and music composition, Scruby’s large-scale installations will be on display in both the…
There’s a fine line between writing fiction and nonfiction, but one of the things that distinguishes a great writer of both is the ability to know what to leave out–what to leave unsaid–because, after all, truth is sometimes harder to believe than fiction. Best-selling author J.A. Jance learned that when…
New Year’s Eve at Hailey’s got off to a slow start. Doors opened at 7 p.m., but naturally, people had to look their best and be fashionably late. Thus, the vast majority of people arrived between 11 p.m. and midnight. And when they did, it was as if several busloads…
Alan Palomo’s DJ set at Hailey’s last weekend was a homecoming of sorts. Together with Jason Faries (aka Females), Palomo used to have a weekly gig at the club spinning electro tracks as It’s What We Get. But other than making an appearance at that Denton-trotting We Shot JR party…
One of Texas’ most influential singer-songwriters, Robert Earl Keen has had songs covered by everyone from The Dixie Chicks and Jill Sobule to Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson. But as talented a songwriter as he is, Keen is also one heck of a masterful storyteller. Typically, his between-song banter consists…
I saw The Flying Karamazov Brothers act for the first time at the Scarborough Renaissance Festival in Waxahachie–that is, if I remember correctly. But I’ve seen them a few times since, and what I can tell you with certainty is that none of the members of the comedic troupe are…
It’s no wonder that Denton got that nod from Paste Magazine for Best Music Scene of 2008 because, at the risk of making this column sound like a broken record, this space is going to yet again be devoted to another relatively new Denton venue that’s starting to book great…
At first, I was a little disappointed to discover that the Papel Chicano: Works on Paper from the Collection of Cheech Marin exhibit presented by The Latino Cultural Center wasn’t going to feature a bunch of artwork produced by Richard “Cheech” Marin. I had allowed myself to imagine some far-out,…
On Saturday night, a sense of rapturous elation could be felt in the air in Denton. Why? Because the fall semester breathed its last lurid breaths, thereby freeing all those held captive by its ghastly talons. Even if you were one of the few who didn’t know that both of…
If Guillermo del Toro, the writer and director of Pan’s Labyrinth and Hellboy, calls a movie “thrilling, disturbing and haunting,” odds are that you’re in for a frighteningly good film. For Fear(s) of the Dark, six world-renowned comic and graphic artists and illustrators have teamed up to breathe life into…
Michael Lavigne’s debut novel Not Me tells the story of a son searching for his own identity while learning the truth about his father’s past—a past that is riddled with 60 years of uncertain memories, distorted history and assumed identities. Tonight at 7 p.m., Lavigne will be discussing Not Me…
With all the baked goods made by area bands for the Decemberfest “Rock Concert AND Bake Sale,” one couldn’t help but wonder what concoction the gang from Rival Gang—or any of the other five bands on the bill—would whip up for the event. But despite the jokes on the Denton…
Confession: I love fruitcake. Not those gooey bricks sold at the drugstore. I’d rather have a nice, traditional dark loaf…preferably soaked in brandy or, better yet, bourbon, like the ones those Trappist monks at the Abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky make. The cliched adage about not judging a book by…
With its 19th-century church pew booths and Gothic-arched windows, The Abbey Inn Restaurant & Pub in Denton seemed like an appropriate place to meet with Doug Burr to discuss his newest release The Shawl. Despite being a talented songwriter himself, Burr plucked the lyrics for each song on the album…
Last year, I finally overcame my grudge against The Light Crust Doughboys for kicking Bob Wills out of the band in the 1930s simply because sometimes he drank a little too much and occasionally missed their gigs and live radio broadcasts as a result. It happened one day at a…
Once upon a time in the American Old West, every cowboy riding across that craggy, untamed land wore boots that were handmade by a bootmaker. Nowadays, to keep costs down, most cowboy boots sold in Western wear shops around the country were mass-produced by machines in the factories of India,…
