It’s rare when the opening band of a three-band bill draws the biggest crowd. Of course, usually the opener isn’t the new group from two (Tim DeLaughter and Mark Pirro) of the founding members of Tripping Daisy. Well, three, as it turned out, since Bryan Wakeland was back manning the…

Heroes & Villains: Music Inspired by The Powerpuff Girls Various Artists (Rhino Records) Thanks to Craig McCracken, creator of The Powerpuff Girls, and Devo’s Mark Mothersbaugh and Bob Casale, Heroes & Villains is less a soundtrack than another episode of The Cartoon Network’s hit series. The disc begins with the…

Scene, heard While we’re straightening out things, in last week’s Street Beat (“Run, don’t walk,” July 20), while writing about Flickerstick’s inclusion on a new VH1 series, Bands on the Run, we forgot to mention one of the band’s members, Rex Ewing. If you remember, Ewing also did time in…

For years, rumors swirled that Pink Floyd’s 1973 album The Dark Side of the Moon was intended to serve as a sort-of alternate soundtrack to The Wizard of the Oz. A number of songs fit certain scenes a little too perfectly for some viewers. Though the idea had made the…

Duran Duran A few months ago, I–as I’ve done for the past few years–attended the South By Southwest Music Festival in Austin, spending almost a week as a visitor in a city I once called home. The place that I left doesn’t much resemble the place I returned to in…

Scene, heard In what has to be one of the stranger anniversaries in recent memory, Sock Monkey will celebrate two years in the gallery bidness with a noon-to-2 a.m. shindig. What’s the big deal? It’s the last event ever at the gallery’s Exposition Park location. No word on where it’s…

Free for y’all Attempting to prove that its technology is indeed here to stay, controversial Napster recently enlisted Limp Bizkit and Cypress Hill to help spread the word via a free-of-charge, Napster-sponsored tour. The tour was originally scheduled to hit the Bronco Bowl on July 22 and 23, but has…

Jeez, not this again Everyone who’s finally ready to open a bar that’s been repeatedly delayed by just about every government entity imaginable take one step forward. Not so fast, Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios. That’s right, Rubber Gloves’ long-rumored bar, tentatively scheduled to open in July, has been kicked in…

Future Bible Heroes I’m Lonely (And I Love It) (Merge Records) Like The Magnetic Fields, the Gothic Archies, and The 6ths, Future Bible Heroes is just another alias for songwriter Stephin Merritt and whomever he happens to be collaborating with at the moment. In the case of Future Bible Heroes,…

Natalie Maines’ second marriage Natalie Maines and Adrian Pasdar (June 23, Las Vegas) I’ll admit being a little surprised when I heard the news that Dixie Chicks singer-“guitarist” Natalie Maines married actor Adrian Pasdar in Las Vegas on June 23, taking advantage of the situation when the group’s tour stopped…

With shows such as the almost-hypnotic Behind the Music, VH1 has solidified its reputation as the music channel that’s actually about, you know, music. About is the key word in that sentence, because if you’ve seen more than a dozen videos a day on any music channel, you’re most likely…

Opening bands grumbled because the drummer’s kit had to be set up hours before his group’s set, and whoever was in charge of doing it complained too, because it had to be perfect. Every night, every tour; no exceptions, no excuses. And since perfection is difficult to achieve in the…

Scene, heard A few years ago, guitarist Zach Blair and his bass-playing brother Doni were on the verge of quitting Hagfish and joining Bobgoblin. Now, both are finally getting their chance to work with the band. Well, sort of, since Bobgoblin doesn’t exist anymore. However, the band it morphed into,…

Pimping ain’t easy Kord Murphy should be enjoying himself right now. Murphy, better known to most rap-metal fans in Dallas-Fort Worth area as Dirty K, should be on the road with his band Pimpadelic, promoting the group’s major-label debut, Southern Devils, which Tommy Boy Records released in April. Murphy and…

41 Gorgeous Blocks An Emotional Young Person Just Like Yourself (Rogue Elephant) A couple of years ago, Matt Riggle, singer-guitarist for 41 Gorgeous Blocks, seemed to drop out of sight, going from fronting The Fitz at all-ages shows at the Orbit Room to a behind-the-scenes gig recording other bands. While…

The news came via e-mail late Friday, just before most people were leaving the office to begin the weekend: Leaning House Records, after five years in existence and twice that many releases, was going out of business. Even though it was the news that people friendly with the label’s owners,…

Scene, heard The X went out of business last week, reducing the number of good record stores in Denton (for new discs, at least) to, uh, zero; CD Warehouse doesn’t really count. No reason was given for the shutdown, though we’d guess the store was hurt by longtime employee John…

Tastes Like Love Records Summer ’00 Sampler Various Artists (Tastes Like Love Records) OK, so maybe this how-do disc from Lewisville-based Tastes Like Love Records sounds as if it were recorded (and just barely) on a Walkman positioned under a pile of garbage in a trash can across the street…

The John Doe Thing Freedom Is.. (spinART Records You wouldn’t think John Doe would know much about freedom, certainly not enough to base an album around the concept. X has always marked his spot, his erstwhile band dooming anything else he’s tried to do, a choke chain keeping him from…

Local schoolteacher-turned-historian Stanley Oberst is on the homestretch of an ambitious project: documenting Elvis Presley’s frequent, though rarely mentioned, Texas appearances in the 1950s. It’s a daunting task, especially considering that Presley played in this state more than anywhere else in the country during the ’50s, and, well, Texas is…

End hits Since just more than a year has passed since we took over the reins of Street Beat, we feel it’s time for a bit of reflection. Keep in mind that what follows was written under the duress of excruciating pain in our back and lower extremities, to the…

Hank Thompson Seven Decades (HighTone Records) There is perhaps nothing sadder than seeing a great musician who’s stayed in the spotlight just a little too long, tripping at the foot of the stage instead of making a graceful exit. And since musicians never seem to retire, you see it far…