Tenacious D – Palladium Ballroom – 7/20/12

Tenacious D, The Sights Palladium Ballroom Friday, July 20 Before starting up their third song of the night, Jack Black commented on where Tenacious D played the last time they were in Dallas: The Bronco Bowl. And since that beloved venue is no more, Black quipped that the Palladium might…

Ronnie Fauss at the Common Table

If you haven’t been following the path of Dallas’ Ronnie Fauss over the past couple of years, you have quite the treat ahead of you. Beginning with 2009’s New Songs for the Old Frontier and most recently in 2011’s tribute collection Any Lovin’ Way But Wrong, Fauss’ four EPs serve…

Denton is Burning at Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studio

This Thursday, the Denton weekly gets a little push from some other dark corners of Texas. Houston DJ Rabit drops some mystic club swerve appropriate for his city’s lineage, and celebrates his new release Terminator, which is being put out on Ben Aqua’s increasingly popular #Feelings label. San Antonio’s DJ…

Sarah Jarosz at the Kessler Theater

A couple of years ago, Austin singer-songwriter Sarah Jarosz got to open for Steve Martin, when his bluegrass band taped an Austin City Limits episode. At that point, she wasn’t even 21 yet, already had a Sugar Hill Records debut under her belt (2009’s Song Up in Her Head) and…

Kaskade at the Palladium Ballroom

A year after the Identity Festival — co-founded by Kaskade and DJ Steve Aoki, and billed as the “first-ever touring festival exclusively featuring EDM” — came to town, Chicago house DJ and producer Kaskade returns. This time he’s flying solo, though fellow EDM musicians Alvin Risk and Fareoh are opening…

The Black Dotz, New Fumes, Peopleodian at Bryan Street Tavern

As Black Dotz shows are getting, according to singer Wanz Dover, “fewer and farther between,” you’d be wise to catch this great local triple bill. If you happened upon the phenomenal Ronald Shannon Jackson show at the Kessler a couple weekends ago, you caught Dotz guitarist Greg Prickett lending his…

Roky Erickson – The Kessler Theater – 7/13/12

Roky Erickson The Kessler Theater Friday, July 13 Sam was in a tattoo shop Savannah, Georgia when he heard Roky Erickson and decided he needed a two-headed dog tattoo. I spotted him at the Kessler Theater bar, and noted Sam looked very young, probably not much past his late 20s…

Photos: The Von Ehrics and Sleepin’ Rattlers at LaGrange

If loud noises and capricious amounts of alcohol could scare off the evil spirit of Friday the 13th, then the stage at LaGrange was a safe place. The Von Ehrics and Sleepin’ Rattlers took the floor with Les Pauls popping like firecrackers, and a crowd that was more than willing…

Big Time Rush – Gexa Energy Pavilion – 7/14/12

See also: Q&A with Kendall Schmidt of Big Time Rush See also: Photos from Big Time Rush Big Time Rush, Cody Simpson and Rachel Crow Gexa Energy Pavilion Saturday, July 14 Being a parent takes a lot of patience, especially when it comes to your child’s musical taste. Saturday night…

Jampact Works Out Some Glitches at the Nasher

Last night I attended a new improvisational night at the Nasher Sculpture Center, led by SMU’s Meadows School of the Arts Dean and pianist José Bowen. He and his band, Jampact, played for close to an hour, dipping in and out of free jazz, funk and electronic pockets. In addition,…

Descender, Trophy Wives, Nervous Curtains at Double Wide

A heavy but measured affair that balanced singer Casey Hess’ pained invocations with a rougher, guitar-driven edge, 2011’s Dark Water set the metronome for Dallas four-piece Descender. Doesn’t hurt that the band is made up of members of Dallas bands like Doosu and Slow Roosevelt — people do love nostalgia…

Roky Erickson at the Kessler Theater

The trajectory of Dallas’ own Roky Erickson has been quite riveting. From his time in Houston psychedelic pioneers the 13th Floor Elevators to being committed to a mental institution to his strange solo career in the ’80s, his story has all the makings of a Greek myth. (The 2007 documentary…

The Dukes of September at Verizon Theatre

Michael McDonald, Donald Fagen and Boz Scaggs will join forces and play as one big band. Pretty cool concept, especially since Fagen will get to play “Peg” with McDonald, the original backing vocalist. Scaggs, who spent time growing up in suburban Dallas, will certainly be welcomed with open arms. With…

John Wesley Coleman at 406 Arts

If you’ve ever seen Irving’s own John Wesley Coleman with the Golden Boys or solo or with whomever he manages to snag as a backing band, you know his live show always holds the promise of going off the rails. Coleman’s output is sort of staggering, and he just released…

Quintron & Miss Pussycat, Darktown Strutters at Double Wide

The New Orleans duo returns to town after their New Year’s Eve show at Zubar, in a much more fitting venue. Hopefully this time Miss Pussycat will do her acid-trip puppet show, as it’s always the perfect psychedelic appetizer to Quintron’s organ-grinding swamp-tech. Dallas’ Darktown Strutters play one of their…

Mayhem Festival – Gexa Energy Pavilion – 7/10/12

Mayhem Festival Gexa Energy Pavilion Tuesday, July 10 See also: The fans of Mayhem Festival As I parked next to the Amsterdam and walked through Fair Park’s Esplanade yesterday, I took in the neo-modernist sculptures and murals that adorn the Art Deco buildings. The closer I got to the Gexa…

Trophy Wives’ Tony Ash: “Fugazi Was Actually My First Show Ever”

Louisville, Kentucky four-piece Trophy Wives are giving DFW a treat this week. Not only are they playing Andy’s Bar in Denton tonight with Bad Design, they’re also playing Double Wide on Thursday with Nervous Curtains and Descender. They’ll be previewing material from their album Old Scratch, so don’t moan about…

Ronald Shannon Jackson – The Kessler Theater – 7/7/12

Ronald Shannon Jackson The Kessler Theater Saturday, July 7 Wish fulfillment at a concert? I’ve experienced it a few times: Captain Beefheart in 1976, Muddy Waters in 1977, Stooges guitarist Ron Asheton in 2001. It happened again this past Saturday night, when Ronald Shannon Jackson and the Decoding Society played…

The Angelus, Le Leek Electrique, Clint Niosi – Dan’s Silverleaf – 7/7/12

The Angelus, Le Leek Electrique, Clint Niosi Dan’s Silvereaf Saturday, July 7 The Angelus, Warren Jackson Hearne and Le Leek Electrique, and Clint Niosi complemented each other handsomely on Saturday night, building a perfect crescendo from the reflective intelli-folk of Niosi, to the jazzed-up Eastern European death ballads of Hearne,…

Satans of Soft Rock, Ryan Thomas Becker at Common Table

Free shows at The Common Table are one good reason to hang out in Uptown, and this lineup of Denton regulars is another. Ryan Thomas Becker seems to play Dallas pretty frequently, but you don’t get to see Tony Ferraro’s impeccably named Denton “supergroup” Satans of Soft Rock that often…