1. When you’re the rebellious band all the kids listen to so they can annoy their parents, forty years on after those kids grow up you’re going to be playing family-friendly sets to them and their kids. And so it was with Blue Oyster Cult, still remarkably retaining two (almost)…
Now, I’m no fireman, obviously, but it seems to me that when some standing room only venues sell out, they really sell out. I mean like you couldn’t fit another person in there with a really big shoehorn. Sometimes these experiences can be traumatic. Other times they can be fantastic…
It was the summer of 2011, and the Whiskey Folk Ramblers were looking for some new direction. Wanting to keep a tight pace with recording their third album, The Lonesome Underground, the Whiskey Folk, a six-strong collective who’ve tasked themselves with bashing out the sort of songs you’d expect to…
Are you sitting comfortably? Then I’ll begin. In 2000, a 15-year old Gavin persuaded his dad to buy him a ticket to see the Smashing Pumpkins on their farewell tour. They were to play the cavernous NIA in Birmingham, England. Gavin had not been to see many concerts before. In…
Long-time readers of this blog will remember the irrepressible mischief of my wife, Richard (not her real name). Well, one of the greatest regrets of our marriage is that I took her to Pecan Lodge one time on an off-day. It was good, but not great. She was unimpressed. I…
Saturday in Dallas was a day you could choose to paint in the starkest possible contrasts, if that’s your thing. Two big gatherings cut from an extraordinarily different cloth were happening within a relatively pleasant fifteen-minute stroll of each other, and how often do you get to travel from one…
Apparently the youth of today can sometimes be found in “pits” and within these pits it is agreed upon that they will “mosh,” a word that covers a variety of bodily gyrations and movements. While in Britain obviously we call them “polite sections” where everyone vigorously shakes hands and nods…
Last night in Dallas there was a man seemingly composed entirely of hips, the James Brown of Americana-folk, Mr. Father John Misty. He glided across the stage of the Granada Theater crotch-first, the first man to perfect the penis-led moonwalk. It was as if he was made only of the…
Here’s something — I am a very big fan of baseball. I can’t explain why. I guess it’s like really fast cricket. Anyway, I used to watch it late at night on TV back in the U.K. quite obsessively. It’s the only American sport I’ve ever managed to get on…
Slayer’s social media outlets are reporting that founding member Jeff Hanneman died Thursday morning at 11am, of liver failure. A constant of the band from his first meeting with Kerry King in 1981 until taking his leave from the band in 2011 due to a case of necrotizing fasciitis potentially…
Every week Gavin will be presenting a guide to basic notions of common sense he feels are sometimes lacking from various aspects of the world of music. Also, he’s British, and they’re polite, right? After Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios banned smoking to an overwhelmingly positive reaction this week, we thought…
Frisco is an odd place for anything that isn’t a strip mall. All those strange brick buildings are meant to give it character, I suppose, but end up making the whole place look like the efforts of a pioneering architect who desires a standardized building, and has had southern European…
Take a little walk to the edge of town, and go across the tracks. Rather than a viaduct looming, there you will find the incomparable Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios. Described on its website as an “industrial dive bar”, I take this to mean that the quantities of dive involved in…
The criminally underused Loft, downtown in the Gilley’s complex, is a wonderful venue which has big open spaces, a perfectly positioned bar, and a patio totally unmatched among Dallas gig venues. It’s incredible that it’s barely being used at all. Beyond the twists and turns of employee movement around Dallas’…
Every week Gavin will be presenting a guide to basic notions of common sense he feels are sometimes lacking from various aspects of the world of music. Also, he’s British, and they’re polite, right? Besides one or more musicians making a sound, what is the most important aspect of live…
We don’t know if it’s got something to do with the lack of promotion of Sons of Hermann Hall events, the public being distracted by all the twists and turns in the rebuilding Big Tex saga, or the overwhelming indifference of an uncaring world, but somewhat excellent stand-up and all-round…
Walking through Deep Ellum after sunset on a concert night is an exercise in anticipation if you’re going out to see live music. You can see and hear gigs being set up everywhere, people rolling in and out of bars. There’s something in the air. Coming into Dada in good…
Continuing our celebration of cheese week, we asked resident British person Gavin Cleaver to tell us about cheese in the U.K., because we are fascinated by a people who have no concept of smoked brisket. Plus, his answers are usually pretty strange entertaining. We have no idea how much of…
Every week Gavin will be presenting a guide to basic notions of common sense he feels are sometimes lacking from various aspects of the world of music. Also, he’s British, and they’re polite, right? Social media. It’s pretty great for bands. They can list their gigs, share updates, and connect…
Our Englishman in BBQ Sauce finally made it down to Lockhart, the Vatican City of Texas barbecue, where he and his posse gorged on smoked meat from Black’s Barbecue, Smitty’s and, as you’ll see below, Kreuz Market. He went. He ate. He was conquered by a deep, some say oddly…
Our Englishman in BBQ Sauce finally made it down to Lockhart, the Vatican City of Texas barbecue, where he and his posse gorged on smoked meat from Black’s Barbecue (see yesterday’s post), Smitty’s and, coming tomorrow, Kreuz Market. As soon as the Border Patrol rounds him up, he’ll be back…
No doubt you’ve heard of Lockhart. It’s a small, attractive town out somewhere south of Austin. It has an antiques shop that contains items from a more questionable period in America’s history, a large building in the town square reminiscent of Denton and a gigantic metal fish that, while an…
