Howl was clearly no easy ride for Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. The Los Angeles trio's third album's lyrics address depression, failed relationships, war and, most noticeably, spirituality. The somber tone is likely a result of BRMC's recent struggles, including a drop from their former major label Virgin and infighting that...
Hank HaneyYou could be Brad Pitt’s plastic surgeon. Pavarotti’s voice coach. Mark Cuban’s financial advisor. Or, in the name of stealing fortune and fame for doing a job that does itself, you could become swing coach of the greatest golfer on God’s green earth. In a category usually reserved for Avery Johnson (smirk), Bill Parcells (giggle), […]
3 Day Framing & GalleryThe basis for this award is purely anecdotal: We had a framing project a while back that seemed quite simple in our mind–in concept, that is. The work it would require was not so simple; some would even call it tedious. But we wanted it done, and we wanted it done right. After being given […]
Levee TrailAs first steps go, the Trinity Levee Trail opened earlier this year is pretty modest. Even now it’s still mostly an idea, a few signs with arrows added to pre-existing access roads. Yet a walk, jog or ride on the 6.2-mile gravel loop is a testament to the area’s enormous potential. On the stretches of […]
Celebration StationIt’s loud. It’s crass. It’s overrun with grubby kids begging for more tokens. But every visit gets compliments from the most demanding customer of all–the kids themselves. On the food chain of kids’ entertainment venues, it’s a notch above Chuck E. Cheese but located in Mesquite, the epicenter of blue-collar Dallas County. So what do […]
In 2002, Broken Social Scene didn't have much to prove. Most members of the Toronto collective were already playing in other Canadian indie bands (Stars, Metric, Do Make Say Think), and because they were a ragtag group of relative musical unknowns, their second album was likely to be as forgotten...
Scott BarberAt the core of this year’s best-of artist’s category is a loss: the death of our most stellar, the rising young artist Scott Barber. The Abstract Expressionist Robert Motherwell once said “art is much less important than life, but what a poor life without it.” It is a meager, dull and uninspired life without Barber […]
Steps in a new direction 9/3 When artists experiment with other genres, the results can be tragic. Take Eddie Murphy's "Party All the Time"--the unfortunate song that sends a shudder down our spines when we think of actor-singers. Or, two words: David Hasselhoff. Then there's Farrah Fawcett, who dazzled the...
The CavernMost of our Best Of awards take the previous year into consideration when picking a winner, but in the case of Lower Greenville’s The Cavern, we think the year ahead is optimistic enough to earn this nod. After all, Lance Yocom has revitalized the cozy music venue by overtaking the booking as part of his […]
Name one, just one. Name one band that truly, actually, seriously sounds like Gang of Four. Plenty have been said to be heirs to their throne, which was abandoned in 1981, more or less, when the original Four dwindled to three, two and then none at all. The names of...
ZoomThe posts upon which the ceiling beams rest are photo galleries. Digital pictures, shot by Zoom owner Tess Nguyen, have been blown up and pasted onto the curving surfaces: craggy cliffs in a deep blue bay and villagers harvesting salt from a lagoon in Vietnam; frolicking ducks that look suspiciously like future candidates for ped […]
Because I was an '80s kid, MTV glowed in the background for many of my most formative moments. The first time I bonded with my father was while watching Robert Palmer's "Addicted to Love" video together. My first taste of rebellion came in kindergarten when I stayed up late and...
For all the accolades The New Pornographers have received for their supergroup cast, the Northwestern indie champions never made an album designed for a complete sit-down listen. Their encyclopedic grasp on the past three decades of power-pop resulted in some of the best singles of the aughts, but it also...
The Weather Man, starring Nicolas Cage as a disappointment of a son and a failure of a father, was screened for critics in the spring, before its April release was pushed to October, ostensibly to allow for the off chance that Cage or Michael Caine (as Cage's father) might be...
Deep Trouble: On Friday, October 14, the Entertainment Collective, owners of Gypsy Tea Room, Trees, Jeroboam and the Green Room, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Chapter 11 allows a company to continue operating while it reorganizes to repay its creditors (rather than, say, sell off the trees inside of Trees),...
Waking from a trance, you find yourself in the restroom of a diner. You just stabbed a complete stranger to death as he urinated. Blood is on everything -- including you. And to make matters worse, a police officer is sitting outside, drinking coffee. Should you take the time to...
Twelve years ago Nirvana was about to release In Utero, and Kurt Cobain locked himself in a bathroom, threatening to commit suicide. Twelve years ago the only thing as awe-inspiring as alternative music was the inability of thrift stores to keep flannel shirts in stock. Twelve years ago grunge was...
The increasingly combative File-Sharing Wars have come to this: Record companies now assume you have criminal intent whether you buy CDs honestly or not. Recent releases from Foo Fighters, My Morning Jacket, Velvet Revolver and Neil Diamond have placed new, unexpected limitations on your ability to rip, store, copy and...
Three Brazilians record Latin hip-hop in Amsterdam with legendary Jamaican producer Lee "Scratch" Perry, and the results are released on a San Francisco label. As if to throw the globe-mashing in listeners' faces, the phrase "Everything is closer than you think" is printed on the CD jacket. Zuco 103 are...
Let's see, Yao Ming is overrated, Shaquille O'Neal is jealous and Erick Dampier is an All-Star. Damn. And you thought the Mavericks center wouldn't be ready for the NBA season. A billion Chinese usually aren't wrong. But Dampier, despite last season's inconsistent and frustrating performance, inexplicably maintains that he's better...
Two albums and three EPs into his career, the man known as Iron and Wine is still plucking songs from his original 2001 home demos, and his latest release is further proof that there's not a clunker in the bunch. On In the Reins, Sam Beam realizes his dream to...
They talk, we listen. Stripped down to basics, that's live theater. And in two new productions--the warm and funny Visiting Mr. Green at Contemporary Theatre of Dallas and the eerily prescient Humpty Dumpty at Second Thought Theatre (relocated to Addison)--the actors do the talking part so well that we in...
