2006 has not been kind to Dustin “Screech” Diamond. In June the former child star went public about being so totally broke that his humble Wisconsin home was in danger of foreclosure. Screech did what any industrious American pop culture icon would do when strapped for cash; he set up…
You couldn’t have Ozzfest anywhere but the Tyson’s Chicken Zima Dome. It wouldn’t be a hip-hop summit if it wasn’t held at the Exxon Propecia Bennigan’s Sportatorium. So where else would you have the 2006 Frisco Bluegrass Festival than at Pizza Hut Park? Bluegrass is an enjoyable musical art form…
The Old 97’s are about to return from some pretty active downtime. While not performing or formally working on new material, front man Rhett Miller released his third solo album The Believer back in February, and the band managed to pop up in that Jennifer Aniston-Vince Vaughn movie, The Break-Up…
As if introducing the world to Aqua Teen Hunger Force weren’t enough of a contribution to society, the overlords at Adult Swim have now proven to be reliable merchants of fine underground hip-hop and synthesizer space funk. A follow-up of sorts to last year’s The Mouse and the Mask collaboration…
Some people would want you to forget the horrific legacy of the American slave trade or deny the occurrence of the Holocaust. But none of these tragic catastrophes deserves to be subjected to historical revision. “Ice Ice Baby,” however? That’s a different story. Robert “Vanilla Ice” Van Winkle wants you…
If the press announcement describes your upcoming book signing as an opportunity for you to “defend [your] position on issues,” you probably need to hire somebody else to start writing your press announcements. I mean, it sounds like you’re going in there looking for a fight. Like, there’s not enough…
Hey, how are you? Good. I’m fine. Thanks for asking. So what are you doing Saturday night? Going out, huh? Dinner and drinks with friends. Sounds cool. Real cool. But you and I both know you’re lying through your dirty, lying liar teeth. I know and you know that you’re…
It takes a true virtuoso to make a handful of chord changes sound like a complex musical arrangement. In fall fashion, the aesthetic is artfully achieved with layers of clothing. In the Album Leaf’s case, it is layers of piano, organ, strings and gently galloping beats. Jimmy LaValle (Tristeza, The…
Naturists. Nudists. Nakednessists. They go by many names. But despite what they decide to call themselves, one thing is painfully obvious: People who like to be naked outdoors are almost always not the kind of people you would want to see naked, much less be naked with. Just like the…
Just to name a few, there’s Spike Lee’s Original Kings of Comedy (not to be confused with Paul Rodriguez’s Original Latin Kings of Comedy), Jeff Foxworthy’s Blue Collar Comedy, Patton Oswalt’s Comedians of Comedy and, of course, Professor Hendricus Stoof’s wildly popular Dutch Physicists of Comedy. Now there’s finally a…
Sometimes an artist has to grow. You can either keep rehashing the same tired-ass shtick until you fall apart, or you can try to spread your wings and fly. Can you fly, Bobby? Robocop references aside, DJ Shadow has apparently decided to do just this with The Outsider, the trip-hop…
Celia Rivenbark is kinda like the Highland Park soccer mom equivalent of David Sedaris. And whereas Sedaris has a popular collection of essays suggesting that you Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, Rivenbank’s latest assortment of sassy, Southern-fried social commentary instructs readers to Stop Dressing Your Six-year-old Like a…
When Al Gore comes through town later this week, it’s anybody’s guess what he might talk about. I mean, dude was the vice president. He’s got more than a few stories to tell, you’d think. Perhaps he’ll talk about the glorious economic prosperity of the Clinton/Gore years or revisit his…
His voice is warm and comforting, like a bowl of homemade oatmeal on a winter’s morn. His words are as sweet as rhubarb pie, and his face is a doughy mass. Anyway you slice it, Garrison Keillor is delicious. He’s like the Barry White of the Midwest. But instead of…
Technology may have made it easier to access new music, but it’s also taken a lot of the fun out of discovering it. Internet music services such as Last.fm and Live365.com provide user-programmed streaming radio with varying degrees of success, as the selections are often limited and of questionable quality…
The Union and the Confederacy. Rocky Balboa and Clubber Lang. Jay-Z and Nas. He-Man and Skeletor. These legendary beefs are but cordial misunderstandings when compared to the fierce rivalry between our Dallas Cowboys and the Redskins of Washington, D.C. The bad blood between the two teams actually predates the Cowboys…
In the same way that Willie Nelson is able to appeal to both rednecks and hippies, prog metal wizards Tool find faithful fans in everyone from Cro-Magnon WWE Smackdown attendees to jazz nerds who read nothing but music theory textbooks and Dungeon Master’s Guides. There’s just something about front man…
Break-ups and breakdowns are excruciatingly popular fodder for song lyrics, especially in the more poignant corners of indie folk rock. The prolific and poetic John Darnielle (who’s been performing and recording as the Mountain Goats with an ever-changing cast of musicians since 1991) has exhibited a firm mastery of this…
We’ll go ahead and tell you what Women and Horses is all about to spare you from stumbling upon the descriptions of something else altogether were you to Google the play’s title. Sheilah is a rough, tough, bronco-riding badass. With the help of her leathery, weathered guardian Flo and the…
Dinner theater murder mysteries are perfect for those of us who think that theatrical stage works are severely lacking in delicious appetizers and mock audience fatalities. Powerful dramatic scenes dripping with human pathos are all well and good. But throw in a cheese tray and have the dude two rows…
If rock bands were required to inventory their ingredients in descending order of prominence, like on a bag of Sun Chips, most would list vocals first, then guitar, then bass and drums. Math-metal godfathers Don Caballero’s list of ingredients would be noticeably inverted. Most of their songs are composed on…
Who would have thought that the few drops of precipitation we’d see this summer would be enough to rain out Addison’s Fourth of July fireworks festivities? Well, it was and it did. But this isn’t some lame collection of sparklers and flaming pinwheels. The Town of Addison’s Kaboom Town is…
