By Preston JonesPosted 10:46am on Friday, May. 25, 2012 There's no shortage of outdoor activities this weekend, nearly all of them involving music in some form. Arlington's Levitt Pavilion kicks off its season (which runs through July 3) with the inaugural "Downtown Arlington Center Stage Music Festival," which gets going at 5:30 p.m. today and continues through Sunday. Friday's schedule includes Jason Eady, Hudson Moore (more on the Fort Worth native in a moment) and Michael Martin Murphey. Saturday's line-up, which gets going at 4:30 p.m., features Charlie Shafter, Maren Morris (featured just yesterday on the New York Times ArtsBeat blog), John David Kent and Ray Wylie Hubbard. The fest finishes up Sunday, beginning at 4:30 p.m., with Crystal Yates, Ghosts Along the Brazos, the ... Continue reading →

Matt Parrish Shy Blakeman and the Converts By Preston JonesPosted 10:00am on Friday, May. 25, 2012 Earlier this week, Billy Bob's Texas announced the winner of its second annual "Live at Billy Bob's Texas Recording Contest": Kilgore native Shy Blakeman, who performs with his band, the Converts. "I could not be more humbled by all the support by my fans and friends that voted," said Blakeman in a statement. "There is no way I ever thought I would be among the legendary artists that recorded a Live at Billy Bob's Texas album. It is an honor to be listed among the greats."Blakeman will be the 43rd artist to record for the series, which has sold more than two million copies overall, and wins a recording ... Continue reading →

By Preston JonesPosted 10:14am on Friday, May. 25, 2012 It's been a busy week for the Toadies crew. The Vaden Todd Lewis-led outfit unveiled the first round of bands confirmed to perform at this year's Dia de Los Toadies extravaganza in New Braunfels Aug. 31-Sept. 1. "When we started this thing, we were hoping that we could do it for years and years, but we really had no idea if it would even work, or if people would come, but here we are at year five already," said Toadies guitarist Clark Vogeler in a statement. "It's grown fast and it's already become the best weekend of every year."Along with the Toadies, Mariachi el Bronx, Helmet, Riverboat Gamblers, Brutal Juice, 16 Deluxe and Soldier Thread will ... Continue reading →

John MayerBorn and Raised ★ ★ ★ ★ By Preston Jonespjones@dfw.comPosted 8:10am on Friday, May. 25, 2012 Singer-songwriter John Mayer spends much of Born and Raised — less a retreat than a recalibration — seeking salvation in the ’70s.To be exact, Mayer, 34, wraps himself in the warm tones, mellow country-folk melodies and handmade feel of classic records from artists like Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and Bob Dylan.Yet rather than simply re-create the sounds of the period, Mayer and producer Don Was use that time as a filter for Mayer’s well-honed pop-rock-blues sensibility. Graham Nash and David Crosby even provide backing vocals.Of course, the mellow compositions are themselves a reaction to Mayer’s public relations meltdown two years ago, when provocative (and racially charged) comments ... Continue reading →

By Preston Jonesdfw.comPosted 5:02pm on Thursday, May. 24, 2012 In its first few months, Tie Restaurant & Bar seemed destined to have a knotty existence.Located just steps from the Fort Worth Convention Center, the restaurant doubled the number of exclusively Thai eateries downtown (the other being mainstay Thai Tina's, situated somewhat strangely in the lobby of the Embassy Suites near Bass Hall).Tie boasted an intriguing pedigree in the form of owners Charles and "P-Nutt" Corcoran, who also run Thai Thai in Dallas. And on my first excursion to Tie, for takeout, I was impressed with the speed of service and the quality of the food, given the relatively low price.I talked up the joint to my co-workers, who decided a few weeks after my initial ... Continue reading →

John MayerBorn and Raised ★ ★ ★ ★ By Preston Jonespjones@dfw.comPosted 8:10am on Friday, May. 25, 2012 Singer-songwriter John Mayer spends much of Born and Raised — less a retreat than a recalibration — seeking salvation in the ’70s.To be exact, Mayer, 34, wraps himself in the warm tones, mellow country-folk melodies and handmade feel of classic records from artists like Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and Bob Dylan.Yet rather than simply re-create the sounds of the period, Mayer and producer Don Was use that time as a filter for Mayer’s well-honed pop-rock-blues sensibility. Graham Nash and David Crosby even provide backing vocals.Of course, the mellow compositions are themselves a reaction to Mayer’s public relations meltdown two years ago, when provocative (and racially charged) comments ... Continue reading →

By Preston Jonesdfw.comPosted 1:59pm on Thursday, May. 24, 2012 In pop-culture terms, it has been light-years since the "Men in Black" franchise's last installment.A full decade has passed since Agents J and K last battled nefarious aliens bent on the destruction of Earth, and after numerous false starts, rumors of a beleaguered production and an estimated $375 million budget, Men in Black 3 has arrived, bearing little trace of its reportedly tortuous creation.Reteaming stars Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones with director Barry Sonnenfeld, this briskly paced episode provides modest entertainment, finding surprising pathos in an otherwise lightweight narrative, even as it waves away the stench of the financially successful but unsatisfying Men in Black II.Once more, the gregarious J (Smith) and the taciturn K ... Continue reading →

Back in the 1980s, the New Music Seminar was a major alternative-music convention in New York, an annual bash that drew more than 6,000 people and, in the days before the Internet, let talent scouts for record labels get a look at hundreds of emerging bands at dozens of nightclubs.It died as a music festival in the mid-1990s, a victim of competition from regional festivals it had inspired, like South by Southwest in Texas and the CMJ Music Marathon in New York. But over the last four years, one of the founders of the original New Music Seminar, Tom Silverman, has resurrected the yearly business conference in hopes of generating ideas for changing the way musicians and labels make money. And this year, he has ... Continue reading →