The Old 97's are easily one of my favorite bands. They sit safely within the cadre of acts in my music catalog whose albums I will buy no matter what and who I will pay to see live whenever they come even remotely close to where I live. In the past, I've been somewhat disappointed by this completist habit of mine (Pearl Jam's No Code and the Misfits' 25th Anniversary Tour come immediately to mind), but the 97's have never, ever, ever failed to rock my ass... [more] || [Mel House] || [08/26/08]

It's hard to write about a Tilly and the Wall show. Very hard. Because people will inevitably expect you to write about the tapping. Or about the balloons. Or about the exploding confetti. Or about the adoring (read: a wee bit crazy) fans who make cupcakes for the band and bring Silly String to shoot square in the face of unsuspecting music writers trying to sip a beverage. It's also hard to write about a Tilly and the Wall show because there's really nothing else like one, at least nothing I've ever seen... [more] || [Brandon Hernsberger] || [08/14/08]

Try saying this out loud: "Michale Graves, former lead singer of the Misfits, is playing an acoustic show at a church in Conroe." Shit, you got my attention. Of course I had some trepidation about checking this show out, but most of my fears were assuaged by the fact that Graves is a talented motherfucker. I pretty much knew going in that Mike would transcend the incongruity of the whole thing and put on a show worth driving through Thursday night white-flight traffic... [more] || [Mel House] || [08/14/08]