Theme Park Experience

This month marks five years of writing for the Dallas Observer . I am always happy to talk about local bands that are doing great things, and promising and established national bands that come to the area. Things of Earth is, without a doubt, one of my favorite active bands around. I had interviewed their drummer before, but I had never interviewed them before. With their new EP, Dangers , out, I got the chance to interview all four of them. You can read the interview here . Little backstory about the interview. We all met at a sports bar called Plucker's. None of us knew it would be on a trivia night, and there was no way we could do an interview with the MC constantly talking into a microphone. After we ate, we went into the parking lot and talked.

Sometimes in life, we get wonderful news and terrible news in only a short amount of time. Between hours or days, it feels like everything is right in the world, only to have that joy undercut by tragedy. Seems like you can't have one end of the spectrum without the other. This week, I landed a full-time job with a company I had previously worked for as a freelancer. It is a fantastic company that I am happy to join and they're happy to have me. (Good sign with any company: the people you worked with a few years ago are still there .) Signing on with them ended a two-year rocky journey trying to find something that would move my career in a new direction. I'm grateful for all the part-time work I've done since October 2011, but I never stopped trying to find the right fit in a full-time position. Something inside me wasn't ready to settle or give up. Whatever it took, no matter how long it took, and no matter how crazy of a schedule I would have. I credit persis...

March 23rd: Album Bought at a Show Into It. Over It, Intersections ( pic ) Bought this directly from Evan Weiss at Trees when his band opened for Saves the Day. March 24th: Hand-Numbered Record Braid, Frame & Canvas ( pic ) Not necessarily hand-numbered, but for Record Store Day 2013, this came with a "420/1000" UPC. I don't know if every copy had the same UPC or not. March 25th: A Picture Disc Robert Goulet, Hollywood Mon Amour ( pic ) I don't own any picture discs, so I thought it would be funny to post a pic of an early Robert Goulet album. Goulet is Goulet, part serious, part over-the-top. March 26th: A Re-press Phil Spector's Christmas Album ( pic ) Definitely not an original, given the very '80s design for a sleeve. The music is still ace. March 27th: Album Given As a Gift  Tom Waits, Nighthawks at the Diner ( pic ) My old housemate Matt gave me this as a Christmas present a couple of years ago. Features some wonderful tunes, l...

I've played the drums for twenty years, and I can't decide if it's a good thing or a bad thing that I have only had three proper drum lessons. My first sit-down-and-listen lesson was four years ago, when I participated in Rock N Roll Fantasy Camp. The teacher? Sandy Gennaro, the same drummer who was featured on the first instructional tape I ever received. (Sandy signed my tape afterwards.) The other two lessons were from Robert Anderson, a local drummer I have long respected during his time in the Deathray Davies and currently with Nervous Curtains.  As I'm preparing for my next lesson, with none other than Dillinger Escape Plan drummer Billy Rymer, I take into account why I want to improve as a drummer now, twenty years after I started playing on a kit.  Like a lot of things in life, if you want to make yourself happy (and stay happy), you try to improve your strengths and assess your weaknesses. With drumming, it never, ever hurts to go back ...

I don't remember how I heard about A Fat Wreck , but I remember when I met with Shaun Colón last year. We had talked over e-mail a few days before the Dallas premiere of Filmage , the excellent documentary on the Descendents/All. We talked after the screening about what he hoped to do with his film, which was originally planned to be a short film. Now with plans to make A Fat Wreck into a much-longer film, he created an Indiegogo campaign to raise money to, essentially, finish the film. The goal was $7,500 in 36 days. Turns out, all of that money was raised in 24 hours. I talked with Shaun yesterday afternoon, transcribed the conversation later in the evening, and the interview was posted this morning. I'm proud of Shaun and what he's done so far. This kind of story is what keeps me writing for the Observer . Writing about people who live in the DFW area, doing things that people often mistakenly think you can only do in larger, hipper cities. Make your town be proud,...

March 16th: A Splatter-Colored Vinyl The Appleseed Cast, Middle States ( pic )  Upon closer inspection, I actually have a few splatter-colored vinyls. This is one I have never spun. I bought it directly from the band at a show in Denton last year. Got out the MP3 code and rocked out to it that way. Sure is a pretty color vinyl, though. March 17th: A Green-Colored Vinyl Title Fight, Floral Green ( pic ) In honor of St. Patrick's Day, it's green vinyl! I don't hesitate to call this a classic. While their influences are pretty obvious (No Knife, Seaweed, Lifetime), these guys are going in the right direction.  March 18th: A Local Band Innards, I've Lost Everything ( pic ) This is a Denton-based four-piece. They play really short songs with a lot of screaming. For some reason, they're considered "Dad-core." I have no clue as to what the hell that means. March 19th: An Album That Makes You Dance The Sylvers, Something Special ( ...

March 9th: An Album on Classic Black Vinyl Laura Nyro and LaBelle, Gonna Take a Miracle ( pic ) An album of R&B and soul covers, but delivered in such an incredible way. I found this for a few dollars at Half Price Books. I finally got to hear more of the album (I had only heard the title track, which is worth the price of the record on its own) and am continued to be amazed by it. "Jimmy Mack" is especially great. March 10th: A 10-inch Environmental Youth Crunch/Pink Razors split ( pic )  A record I barely remember listening to from my days as a reviewer for Punk Planet . Every month I'd get a stack of records to review for each issue. Some records were memorable, but so many were not. If I recall correctly, this is trashy pop-punk.  March 11th: Any Record John Barry, Great Movie Sounds of . . . ( pic ) John Barry's music really grabbed me when I heard the main theme from Midnight Cowboy on a radio station I did traffic for. After I w...