Clubs Editor at Dallas Observer

David Fletcher’s Journalist Portfolio

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For Act Your Rage...Again Bobby Steele and The Undead Brought In Punk Rock Royalty

For Act Your Rage...Again Bobby Steele and The Undead Brought In Punk Rock Royalty

Dallas Observer — Misfits original guitarist Bobby Steele says drummer Joe Stoker suggested a 30th-anniversary edition for fans with new song versions and guest musicians.

Alejandro Escovedo Is Looking Back to Look Forward in Echo Dancing

Alejandro Escovedo Is Looking Back to Look Forward in Echo Dancing

Dallas Observer — Music legend Alejandro Escovedo has shared stages with the Pistols. At 73, he's looking back to look forward.

The Fort Worth Stock Show Is Definitely Not Old Crow Medicine Show's First Rodeo

The Fort Worth Stock Show Is Definitely Not Old Crow Medicine Show's First Rodeo

Dallas Observer — For 25 years, Old Crow Medicine Show has played traditional folk-country in any venue that would have it. The band is stopping in North Texas this week.

Beth Orton Wants to Write a Song With Tom Waits, and Doesn't Want To Talk About Her Age

Beth Orton Wants to Write a Song With Tom Waits, and Doesn't Want To Talk About Her Age

Dallas Observer — When Beth Orton began writing Weather Alive, she tapped into the practices taught to her by Buddhist nuns. The singer is playing Dallas' Kessler Theater on Sept. 21.

The Kid's Alright: Drummer Brandon Pertzborn's Unlikely Journey to Joining Legendary Punk Band Th...

The Kid's Alright: Drummer Brandon Pertzborn's Unlikely Journey to Joining Legendary Punk Band Th...

Dallas Observer — Brandon Pertzborn is just as surprised by his career trajectory as you are. The new drummer for The Offspring returned to his hometown with Sum 41 and Simple Plan, but the journey home has been as improbable as it has been incredible.

To Melissa Etheridge, Wednesday in Dallas Is Another Town's Saturday

To Melissa Etheridge, Wednesday in Dallas Is Another Town's Saturday

Dallas Observer — Aside from tackling the nation's opioid crisis, Melissa Etheridge's Summer Tour '23 comes to Dallas' Majestic Theatre Wednesday night.

Seal and the Music That Takes You 'Round and 'Round and 'Round and 'Round

Seal and the Music That Takes You 'Round and 'Round and 'Round and 'Round

Dallas Observer — This past January, Seal announced his 30th Anniversary World Tour, which will make its way through the Music Hall at Fair Park in Dallas on April 30. For the artist, however, this tour is less a celebration of an actual 30th anniversary than it is an opportunity to go back to a period of time roughly 30 years ago when Seal and his audience were engaged in a dialogue.

Rubbernecking: Toadies Look Back on 3 Decades of Alternative Rock

Rubbernecking: Toadies Look Back on 3 Decades of Alternative Rock

Dallas Observer — It’s early on a Tuesday afternoon, and Toadies singer Todd Lewis is wiping down a new table in the entrance of his The Loop Artist Rehearsal Complex in South Fort Worth. “We actually broke ground about 10 days before COVID hit, before the lockdowns,” Lewis says...

Elle King Remembers Losing Her Mind in Denton

Elle King Remembers Losing Her Mind in Denton

Dallas Observer — Elle King has been on the road plenty, with that raw country voice behind such barroom brawlers as "Ex's and Oh's" and the recent Academy of Country Music award nominee "Drunk (And I Don't Want To Go Home)" with Miranda Lambert, but there's something different about this tour.

Ezra Furman Is Playing in Fort Worth and Wants Activists to Share Her Stage

Ezra Furman Is Playing in Fort Worth and Wants Activists to Share Her Stage

Dallas Observer — Ezra Furman has a thing about time, dates and places. She remembers Feb. 17, 2017, as a day when "I am shattered, I am bleeding, but God damn it / I'm alive" on "Peel My Orange Every Morning" from 2018's Transangelic Exodus.

Cypress Hill's Sen Dog Dreams of Texas Dispensaries

Cypress Hill's Sen Dog Dreams of Texas Dispensaries

Dallas Observer — It's about noon on the West Coast when Cypress Hill's agent calls in to connect with founding member Sen Dog. "I had a proper wake and bake for breakfast," he says, "so I'm good." Cypress Hill will play Aug. 6 at The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory with opening support...

Seryn Is Back From Hiatus With a Brand New Song, More on the Way

Seryn Is Back From Hiatus With a Brand New Song, More on the Way

Dallas Observer — Keep Dallas Observer Free I Support Local Community Journalism The last time Denton-born indie-folk outfit Seryn came to Dallas, it was April 14, 2019, breaking a nearly three-year hiatus. "There were things that each of us needed to experience and some independence that we needed to exercise," says vocalist Trenton Wheeler of the band's time apart.

Todd Rundgren's Innovative Tech Savvy Allows Him to Keep Touring

Todd Rundgren's Innovative Tech Savvy Allows Him to Keep Touring

Dallas Observer — It's been a big year already for legendary rocker and producer Todd Rundgren with his nomination for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and the start of his 25-city Clearly Human virtual tour, which makes a digital stop in Dallas Sunday, March 7. The idea is simple. Rather than...

Djunah's Donna Diane Channels Tina Turner to Secure a Woman's Place in Noise Rock

Djunah's Donna Diane Channels Tina Turner to Secure a Woman's Place in Noise Rock

Dallas Observer — This St. Patrick's Day, you're going to want to make your way up to Denton (where there are no confirmed cases of the coronavirus) because you have got to see this. Djunah (pronounced JUNE-uh) is a female-lead, two-person noise rock band from Chicago fronted by Donna Diane, a singer and...

Pussy Riot Is Coming to Dallas in April, and They're Bringing a Movement With Them

Pussy Riot Is Coming to Dallas in April, and They're Bringing a Movement With Them

Dallas Observer — Just yesterday I got a call from a dear friend of mine who had just walked out of her Planned Parenthood appointment in exasperation. She didn't have the cash to cover a routine wellness check with the tips she makes as a server, and the clinic lost federal funding support...

Dashboard Confessional's Chris Carrabba Has Moved On from His Pompadour, but Not from His Songs

Dashboard Confessional's Chris Carrabba Has Moved On from His Pompadour, but Not from His Songs

Dallas Observer — Chris Carrabba may have a new look, but the song remains the same. When we last saw the Dashboard Confessional singer, he was still sporting a clean-shaven face and his signature pompadour. Now, with a beard and long hair parted to the side, he is ready to bring new life...

Jean Caffeine's Brand of Cowpunk Made a Fan Out of Townes Van Zandt

Jean Caffeine's Brand of Cowpunk Made a Fan Out of Townes Van Zandt

Dallas Observer — You may not have heard of Jean Caffeine before, but you'd be a lot cooler if you had. Caffeine is a true punk rock original who earned her moniker slamming down cappuccinos in the office of San Francisco's legendary fanzine Search & Destroy as she glued together its iconic layouts...

You Better Watch Out: A John Waters Christmas: Filthier & Merrier Is Coming to Town

You Better Watch Out: A John Waters Christmas: Filthier & Merrier Is Coming to Town

Dallas Observer — In John Waters' 1974 dark comedy Female Trouble, Dawn Davenport (Devine) crushes all of her family's Christmas presents and turns the tree over on her mother when she doesn't get the cha-cha heels she wanted because "nice girls don't wear cha-cha heels." So began Waters' public relationship with toppling Christmas...

The Hold Steady's Craig Finn Talks Songwriting and Solo Project Coming to Dallas on Saturday

The Hold Steady's Craig Finn Talks Songwriting and Solo Project Coming to Dallas on Saturday

Dallas Observer — Craig Finn has had a busy year, with the April release of his fourth solo album, I Need a New War, and the release of The Hold Steady's seventh album, Thrashing Thru the Passion, in August. After a brief run through Antwerp, Amsterdam and the U.K., Finn is bringing his...

The Locust Is Bringing Musical Poetry to Dallas for the First Time in 11 Years

The Locust Is Bringing Musical Poetry to Dallas for the First Time in 11 Years

Dallas Observer — Justin Pearson is a busy man, with four part-time, active bands. One of these bands is the notoriously enigmatic and oft-misunderstood noise-rock band The Locust, in which Pearson sings and plays bass. The group is playing three Texas dates in addition to its first show in five years, which was...

Cold War Kids' Nathan Willett Talks Wiping Slate Clean for New Albums and Tour

Cold War Kids' Nathan Willett Talks Wiping Slate Clean for New Albums and Tour

Dallas Observer — Before heading out on the road with Cold War Kids for a long fall and winter tour in support of the band's new album, New Age Norms, Vol. 1, singer Nathan Willett is at home doing some last-minute packing and finishing up some coloring with his daughter. "It's been some...

Country Legend Willis Alan Ramsey Announces First Album Release in 47 Years

Country Legend Willis Alan Ramsey Announces First Album Release in 47 Years

Dallas Observer — If you ask Bruce Robison whose idea it was to take legendary country singer-songwriter Willis Alan Ramsey out on the road for four dates for The Next Waltz Live tour, he'll swear up and down that "he was the one that suggested doing some shows, but I think his idea...

Bad Religion's Jay Bentley Says Compassion Is Key

Bad Religion's Jay Bentley Says Compassion Is Key

Dallas Observer — During a short break from Bad Religion's hectic tour schedule, bass player Jay Bentley is using his free time to do some normal dad stuff like making his daughter's lunch, sending her off to school and drinking "like a hundred cups of coffee, bouncing off the walls and not doing...

Kenny G Says His Concerts Aren't Boring and Kanye West Is a Big Fan

Kenny G Says His Concerts Aren't Boring and Kanye West Is a Big Fan

Dallas Observer — Say what you will about Kenny G, but the guy is one of the most disarmingly nice people you will ever have the pleasure to talk to, and he doesn't really care if you have anything negative to say about him. "I may not be a person like Taylor Swift...
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