My poor sweet darling son. Bless his heart. Every morning he has to endure my rants and/or stupid stories, as he is trapped in the back seat for the 20-minute drive to school. This morning I heard (yet another) commercial for the big Pussy-Cat Dolls/Black-Eyed Peas CrapFest that's goin' down at Smirnoff Music Center on Friday night and the poor boy had to listen to my belly-achin' throughout the entire drive. This show is precisely one of the problems with the ever-corroding music industry. I arrived back at TG mini-central and, as I do every Thursday morning, clicked directly over to the Dallas Observer for my weekly read and *tah-dah!* found this...

Sander Wolf writes...

"They may seem simply entertaining or innocuous when prancing around the TV screen, but behind the scenes the Pussycat Dolls are ushering in an unsavory new era in the business of music. Ostensibly a vocal and dance ensemble, the unapologetically manufactured group is seemingly everywhere now as the Pussycat Dolls brand has been franchised into a lounge, clothing line and cultural punch-line. The constant exposure and subsequent mainstream success is no accident; a team of record company lawyers, promoters and hucksters has conspired to squeeze every last T-shirt, ringtone and dance step out of the lucrative group before the public finally reaches the point of oversaturation. It's no surprise given that the record label literally owns the Pussycat Dolls..." Please do read the rest...I insist that you share in my disdain.

...this little blurb was a saving grace in my otherwise dismal morning...

"The Pussycat Dolls perform at Smirnoff Music Centre on Friday, April 7, with the Black Eyed Peas on a tour sponsored by a foreign compact car."

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Darryl Smyers lands the feature spot this week with a great piece on the band The Books...

""I can hear a collective rumbling in America." This line on "Be Good to Them Always," one of the best cuts on the Books' third and most approachable album, is a sample hidden amongst so many other samples--percussion, cello, banjo, guitar--and struggles to have its say. It's an old recording, uncredited like many of the duo's bargain bin sample finds, but only old in date and scratchy sound. The man's voice sounds like it's from a documentary, perhaps during the Cold War when folks were worried, like they are now, about what's going to happen next...."

This is my first introduction to this band, and I'm quite intrigued. I can tell you this though...if I didn't have to leave for Fort Worth at about 7 am on Saturday morning, I'd definitely be at The Books show on Friday night (April 7th) at Hailey's in Denton. You should seriously consider attending...then send me your review and I'll post it on TexasGigs.com.

Read the rest of Darryl's article.

Click here to listen to "Be Good To Them Always"

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I'm not sure who is more excited about Wall of Sound Festival, yours truly, or Sam Machkovech.

"Last year, the Wall of Sound Festival was just another local-loaded concert in a crowded month. April 2005 saw quite a few super-sized music events around the Dallas area--Fry Street Fair, Deep Ellum Arts Festival, WakeUp Festival--and each had its share of solid local bands but little to distinguish it from the next (aside from WakeUp's professional wrestling matches between bands)."

"One year later, the guy behind the Wall, Spune Productions' Lance Yocom, has made damn sure not to get lost in the crowd again. It's only April, but there's no question that this weekend's Wall of Sound Festival 2006 will prove itself the best combined bill of any musical event in Dallas, Fort Worth or Denton this year..." Read it all

I'm rather embarrassed to admit that up until I began putting together a Wall of Sound preview podcast, I had never heard of The New Year but after listening to a few tracks, they quickly became one of the bands I will not miss on Saturday.

Click here to listen to "Chinese Handcuffs" by The New Year

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The birth of the Dallas Observer blog "Unfair Park" has given some of us other media-types great comedic content to raz the infinitely-blogging Robert Wilonsky. Seriously, I'm worried about the guy. Even back in the day I didn't post as much. But to be fair, he does offer up some interesting up-to-the-minute tidbits, like this one about reopenings and resurfacings.

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My bestest blogging buddies told me last night that the Dallas Observer Music Award semi-finalists have been announced. According to them the music site/blogs in the running for the crown are:

Gorilla vs Bear

Indie Interviews

dconstruction

We Shot JR

TexasGigs.com

With the exception of one blog who remains (annoyingly) anonymous I'm pretty good pals with the rest, so whoever wins is fine by me. vote for us, vote for us...just kiddin', I just like being in the running so's I get a VIP invite to the (always a blast) awards party.

I sure would have liked to have seen The Stash Dauber on this list of nominees...it's a great music blog.

Anyway, that's about all I know at this writing cuz I can't find one dadgum thing on the D.O. site pertaining to voting or who made the cut or anything. I suppose I'll drag my lazy-ass...um...ass out to find a hard copy and let you good people know who is up for the votin'.

I'll go fetch a copy and you go go read the rest, it's a good issue in music.

Cindy now blogs at The Fine Line.