“Unattractive” by Toadies in The Cable GuyWhen The Cable Guy was released in 1996, it made headlines for two key reasons: star Jim Carrey’s $20 million price tag for the film, and the movie’s less-than-glowing reviews. But local music fans back then were likely thrilled regardless of what critics were…
Jason Roberts and Amy Cowan of Better Block, Oddfellows and AJ Vagabonds open a new Oak Cliff small-batch coffee roaster — Rabble Rousers Coffee Co. — in Dallas’ Bishop Arts District.
Local sports radio titan 1310 The Ticket will celebrate its 25th birthday in much the same way it celebrated its very first birthday back in 1995 — in front of thousands of its most devoted listeners for yet another edition of the station’s signature event, Ticketstock. This year’s two-day event…
With the release of his third album, When I Was Yours and You Were Mine, Fort Worth-based songwriter Charlie Shafter has his first record since his self-titled album in 2012. Fueled by an eventful set of personal peaks and valleys, Shafter’s new set of songs simply had to be recorded…
Beer cocktails are a pretty common sight on many of the menus and chalkboards of North Texas’ favorite craft beer destinations. And any Mexican joint worth its Tajin has some form of michelada available come brunch time. By flipping the script, Peticolas Brewing just introduced something far more rare to…
For the third year in a row, beloved local rock band the Toadies have teamed up with Martin House Brewing in Fort Worth to brew something they can crush on stage. And indeed, the sudsy hits keep coming as the two beers released on Sunday, Hell Below, a strong black…
Strokers Dallas is known as the “Disneyland for Bikers,” and with good reason. A simple drive past the funky, sprawling complex provides a clear glimpse into the oddball appeal of the place. Opened in 1996 by revered custom bike builder Rick Fairless, Strokers is a multi-faceted, one-stop shop for the biker lifestyle…
The Fort Worth edition of Untapped Fest is bigger than it’s ever been. Returning to its perfectly picked home at Panther Island, this year’s festival has more than 80 breweries offering 300 different elixirs, with indie icons Built to Spill and Lone Star songwriting great Hayes Carll headlining the musical…
Lift to Experience made big news for North Texas music fans, especially for those who attended high school in the Clinton-era, in March when the band announced it would reunite for a show in London. the trailblazing psych-tinged act, led by Josh T. Pearson, also announced plans to perform three…
For those waiting to hear new music from John Dufilho, the second half of 2016 will be as loud and busy as the first half of this year was quiet and still. For a guy with as many musical connections as Dufilho, such a distinction is odd. But the lead…
James Richard Anderson, better known as Big Dad Ritch, the growling lead singer for Texas Hippie Coalition, is as much of a country boy as he is a metal head. As far as he’s concerned, his band, formed in Denison and perhaps the most successful North Texas metal act currently…
Crystal Yates was listening to a sermon at Cross Timbers Church in Argyle when she had a musical epiphany. “Stop trying to separate the secular and sacred by treating everything as sacred,” implored the pastor, Toby Slough. It was then that the country singer-songwriter from McKinney realized her love of songwriting…
For a city so laden with Western stereotypes — the cowboy hats, the boots, the big hair — Dallas isn’t necessarily a city of country music fans. But it’s a city that has richly contributed to the history of country music, so at least a basic understanding of the genre…
For well over 30 years, Dallas resident Skip Hollandsworth has been an all-star storyteller as a contributor and editor for Texas Monthly. Whether he’s writing about a vicious motorcycle gang, a tragically injured high school football player or a wealthy women’s wild-ass closet, Hollandsworth’s longform stories are packed with engaging…
Beach House The Bomb Factory, Dallas Saturday, April 9, 2016 On Saturday night at The Bomb Factory in Deep Ellum, Baltimore dream-pop outfit Beach House was all about prettiness. Each song was pretty. Victoria Legrand’s vocals were pretty. But there were too many aspects that fell pretty flat. It wasn’t…
When Merle Haggard died yesterday at his California home at the age of 79, he left behind not only one of the grandest catalogs in American music history, but a collection of songs that pointedly addressed the feelings, conflicts and everyday trials of the common man. There aren’t many Country…
There might not be a more appropriately titled show on television right now than The Circus: Inside the Greatest Political Show on Earth, Showtime’s new weekly documentary series where two reporters and a political strategist follow the presidential candidates on the campaign trail. The show’s resident strategist, Mark McKinnon, the…
They don’t make music festivals in North Texas like they used to. Or at least they don’t make them like KHYI 95.3 FM’s Texas Music Revolution, the longest-running Texas country and Americana festival in the area. Celebrating its 20th installment this weekend, 95.3 The Range’s festival, known as TMR to the…
Josh T. Pearson is one of the most revered musicians to come out of Denton in the past 15 years, but you wouldn’t know it by how often he plays there. It’s been more than a decade since Pearson, the leader of influential post-rock trio Lift to Experience, has performed…
Today’s the big day for KISS fans of North Texas: Nearly eight months after plans were first unveiled, Rock & Brews, the restaurant franchise owned by Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley, opens the doors on its newest location in The Colony. The newest addition to the quickly growing Grandscape development,…
A more fitting album-opening line has rarely been offered by a band, local or otherwise, than the one on Lift to Experience’s The Texas-Jerusalem Crossroads: “This is the story of three Texas boys busy minding their own business,” sang Josh T. Pearson, “when the Angel of the Lord appeared.” Better yet, it…
Murder City Devils With Riverboat Gamblers Granada Theater, Dallas Friday, February 12, 2016 On Friday night at 9:50pm, one question that was likely being asked around the crowded floor of the Granada Theater was “So, can the show actually get any better?” The Riverboat Gamblers had just blistered through a…
