Theme Park Experience

Here's a recap of what I've been up to with the Observer . I wasn't planning on going to the Jeff Tweedy show at the Majestic, but when my editor asked if anyone was interested in going, I signed up. I had trepidation about seeing a show filled with random yelling from the crowd and random musings from Jeff. Luckily, the show was great with very little of that. You can read the full review here . I don't consider myself a huge fan of The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die, but I was impressed when I saw them live back in February. So when their publicist asked me if I was interested in interviewing them, I was open for it. I talked with main member Derrick on Tuesday and the interview went live on Friday. And while I was excited to see Deafheaven again, I came away from the show disappointed. How the hell this happened, I explain in the first few paragraphs in my review .

Living in Dallas, I'm well aware of some great musical acts that only come to the biggest cities in America. If I could deal with the crowded living found in New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago, then I could see even more bands that come around only once in a lifetime. But I love living in Dallas, and I've never thought about getting on a plane to see a band. (I have done a roadtrip and it was worth it.) When a band like Failure reunites, I'd expect them to only play a handful of shows, mainly tied in with festivals like Coachella or Lollapalooza. I don't begrudge the bands who do this; the money's way too good. Failure did do a special one-off show earlier this year in Los Angeles, but they decided to mount a national tour. Seeing Dallas on the itinerary, I jumped at the chance to do anything I could with press coverage. That resulted in a show preview , an interview with Greg Edwards , and a live show review . That's a lot of Failure, but being a Failure fa...

Over the Memorial Day weekend, I went to three shows, two of which I reviewed for the Observer . You can read my thoughts on Eagulls' first time playing Dallas here  and read my review of the Journey show here . But the show that really impressed me was the show I didn't review: the Winery Dogs at the Granada Theater. I had the pleasure of interviewing  their drummer, Mike Portnoy, for DC9 as a show preview. He was friendly and open with me, making the interview flow very well. I didn't want to ask any direct questions about Dream Theater, but did share about his past while focusing on the present with the Winery Dogs. Coming into the show on Saturday night, I had a feeling I would enjoy the show. The tunes on the band's self-titled debut are enjoyable, bluesy pop rock songs. But I did not expect to see a crowd so charged by the band's set. People were going crazy at the sight of the band, with everyone raising arms and fists, yelling loudly, befo...

What happens when a trend in music reeks of terrible offenses to the audio and visual senses, yet is somehow still infectiously catchy? A trend in particular that's been on my mind lately is the one dubbed, "bro country." This trend has been perfectly mocked on  YouTube  and the best talk radio station in the DFW area . Essentially, these days, if you're a male artist and want to have a massive hit on the country charts, the song lyrics must include references to the following: 1. A truck 2. A girl 3. Alcohol 4. Driving on dirt roads 5. Farm equipment 6. Tight jeans on said girl  7. A small body of water 8. Sunset and/or moonlight 9. Summer 10. Guns 11. Fishing 12. Boots 13. God The more references the artist has in the first 60 seconds of the song, the better chances of it becoming a hit. Don't believe me? Just watch the clock as a song gets going.  Musically, bro country is more like hard rock with flashes ...

I'm a little behind in posting these links, but I've been pretty busy with articles for the Observer . In the last few weeks, I wrote about an Indiegogo countdown party , the Hold Steady returning to the Granada in fine fashion , had a fun little interview with Dylan from Tiny Moving Parts , and a did a brief interview with Eric Nadel, the great Texas Rangers broadcaster . After not doing much for the paper in the last few months of 2013, things keep popping up now, and it's still a lot of fun. I'm going on five years with this place, and I have some really cool interviews coming up in the next few weeks. Interviews with people I never thought I'd interview that I've long admired.

For years, I was not sure I was cut out for working a regular, nine-to-five job. Was I going to be happier working from a home office, away from the kind of nuances that Office Space  and The Office perfectly lampooned? Would I ever have weekends and holidays completely free of the fear a last-minute emergency would happen and I would have to work? Was I giving into The Man by wanting things like health insurance, a livable wage, and an opportunity to grow my professional skills? After years of working part-time jobs and full-time jobs in one industry, I have to say transitioning into a different industry has been an extremely positive change. Yes, I work in an environment that might, from an outsider's perspective, give way to Initech and Dunder Mifflin references, but there is nothing I find wrong with this environment. The office environment I had previously worked in (cubicles, offices, water coolers, copy machines) was not different from what I'm now. ...

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.