After months (and months and months) of speculation, it appears that Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios is finally on the verge of opening its long-promised bar. According to the club’s Robin Phillips, the bar (beer and wine only for now, it seems) will begin operating nightly in late July–in other words,…

It creeps up on you like a summer cold, a cat on the carpet. At first, it doesn’t stand out from the usual ambient noise created by barflies and ‘tenders–the clinking bottles and quiet rumble of ice falling into plastic cups, friendly conversations and fumbled introductions, people entering here and…

The Waxwings Lord knows every song that appears on The Waxwings’ just-released debut, Low to the Ground, has appeared elsewhere at least once or twice, or maybe a hundred times. To believe otherwise, you’d have to rid record stores of every copy of Odyssey & Oracle, Pet Sounds, Walk Away…

Merge Local Access Sessions: Vol. 1 Various Artists (Atlantic Records) If nothing else, Chip Adams has done his best to promote local bands and musicians, using Local Access, his hour-long Sunday-night show on Merge Radio (93.3 FM), to spotlight as much area talent as 60 minutes will allow. Sure, Cary…

Matt and Bubba Kadane said that they would continue to make music together when they decided to break up Bedhead in 1998. In April, they made good on that promise with Macha Loved Bedhead/Bedhead Loved Macha, a one-off collaboration with their old buddies from Wichita Falls, Josh and Mischo McKay,…

Scene, heard The first live show by The Rocket Summer happens on September 23, on the same bill with The Get Up Kids, The Anniversary, and Koufax. Bryce Avary, the singer-guitarist-bassist-drummer for The Rocket Summer, is still putting together a band for the show since, until recently, he’s been the…

Sunny Day Real Estate The Rising Tide (Time Bomb Recordings) For some reason, Sunny Day Real Estate’s 1998 album How It Feels to Be Something On was treated as if it were a one-time-only reunion, 10 new songs found while the members of the band sifted through the ashes of…

What jail is like We’re not too sure this belongs here–after all, this paper does have a letters section–but it’s much quicker to respond to this letter in the music section since we can’t call or e-mail the writer, or use any of the typical ways to get in touch…

Please forgive me if the following paragraphs amount to little more than someone crying because the neighborhood bully stole his football and refuses to give it back. Maybe I just assumed that I (or maybe Robert Wilonsky) would be the one to pull the plug, that our relationship with Yahoo!…

The Lucky Pierres My Temptation (A DIY Recording) The painting on the front cover of My Temptation, The Lucky Pierres’ follow-up to 1998’s Cocktail Country, more or less sums up all of the songs inside: A sad-eyed waitress finishes her shift with good cry and a bad cup of coffee…

Scene, heard Darlington is back from its recent nine-country, 26-day tour of Europe. Joining singer-guitarist Christy Darlington and drummer Steve Visneau on the trip was erstwhile bassist Angelique Congleton, who is apparently back in the group these days, though that will probably last as long as the band’s brief name…

Scene, heard Let’s be completely clear about this: Former Observer writer Christina Rees meant no harm when she wrote about the basement shows happening at Mr. Gatti’s on The Square in Denton (“Rock bottom,” May 28, 1998). Of course, her story indirectly led to the fire marshal coming down on…

Nick Brisco Damn the Possibilities (Pluto Records) Nick Brisco and cast Centaur Battle of San Jacinto (an extended barroom brawl) (Pluto Records) Nick Brisco moved to New York at the beginning of the year, giving up on Dallas again in his quest to Make It. He’s made similar moves before:…

Todd Deatherage is a sport. No matter what you think of the former Calways frontman, you have to give him that much. Well, maybe you don’t. But we definitely do. Why? Because Deatherage stood in the hall of the Dallas Observer offices for 10 minutes on Friday afternoon, while Robert…

Early Tracks The Old 97’s (Bloodshot Records) At this point in The Old 97’s career, a collection like Early Tracks isn’t really necessary. Early Tracks is a bit of music-industry sleight of hand, a trick designed to divert the attention of their fans until a new album is ready. But…

Scene, heard Of course, there aren’t that many local bands available to open for The Toadies on May 27, mainly because a number of them will be at Trees that night as part of The Adventure Club’s sixth anniversary concert. The lengthy lineup includes, in order of appearance: Alan Randolph…

The Toadies’ new album (titled Feeler last time we checked, though that’s probably changed) is–drum roll, please–finished. As in, it’s been recorded, mixed, and mastered. Done. All of it. Finally. Well, just about. There are still a few pesky details to take care of, such as artwork, liner notes, and…

XTC Wasp Star (Apple Venus Volume 2) (TVT Records) When Apple Venus Volume 1 was released last year, no one should have expected XTC’s Andy Partridge and Colin Moulding to live up to albums like 1979’s Drums & Wires or 1982’s English Settlement; it’s like asking someone to slip comfortably…

Good Records recently launched its new online radio station, Radio Good, located at www.radiogood.com. Well, it’s not completely new: For the most part, Radio Good is an updated version of daisyradio, the Internet-only radio station started by the members of Tripping Daisy about a year and a half ago. Radio…

Standing on the stage of New York’s Hammerstein Ballroom, the old man looked broken, beaten down, a scream reduced to a whisper. It had been almost two years since he had last performed in public, after announcing in October 1997 that he was suffering from Shy-Drager Syndrome, a form of…

Scene, heard [DARYL] will celebrate the release of its debut EP, Communication: Duration, on May 19 at Club Clearview, sandwiched between Chomsky and Red Animal War. The band recorded the disc in February with The Paper Chase’s John Congleton at the controls, and if it’s anything like the four-song demo…

For the last half of the 1990s, singer-guitarist Chris Briggs, guitarist Jimmy Smith, bassist Jon Turner, and drummer Colin Carter played together in a band called Check. As Check, they released a six-song tape in 1997 (38 Miles to Sucktown) and a 12-song album, All-Time Low, a year later. Check…