Email Author Greg Barr

2004 Stories by Greg Barr

• Signs of Struggle

  published December 23, 2004

  This is the time of year where we cling -- to a fault -- to positive, uplifting stories. So it's refreshing that the Galveston Art Center is... More >>

• Ruthie Foster

  published September 9, 2004

  Ever since Ruthie Foster played the Vancouver Folk Festival in 2002, organizers have been talking about how her two live sets helped her shatter... More >>

• Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment

  published July 29, 2004

  Mention the name Static-X to metal freaks, and invariably they position their hands about 18 inches over the top of their heads and blurt out,... More >>

• switchfoot

  published July 22, 2004

  Jon Foreman has heard enough about his band's faith and Christian-rock underpinnings. The Switchfoot front man says that to really understand him... More >>

• Pier Pressure

  published July 15, 2004

  Tilman Fertitta runs with an elite crowd. The CEO of Landry's Seafood Restaurants Inc. regularly rotates between the business and society pages,... More >>

• Need New Bodywith Make Believe and Hella

  published May 13, 2004

  Numerous scribes anointed Toronto musical collective Broken Social Scene as this year's cool trend after a gig at Stubb's during South By... More >>

• The Dirtbombs

  published May 13, 2004

  Detroit's Dirtbombs often go out of their way to suggest they're not a garage band. Sorry to nit-pick, but they need to get their story straight.... More >>

• Italian Jobs

  published May 6, 2004

  There's a lot more to Italian cinema than Clint Eastwood westerns and Fellini flicks -- especially lately. The country's film industry is finally... More >>

• Decahedron, with White Whale and the Kants

  published April 29, 2004

  Just because the band happens to be named after a polyhedron with ten plane faces, critics have labeled Decahedron as math-rock. Enough with the... More >>

• The Low Budgets

  published April 29, 2004

  Joe Strummer might roll over in his grave at the sacrilegious notion that a punk band would use a cheesy keyboard to carve out its signature... More >>

• Bad Acid Trip, with GWAR and Watch Them Die

  published April 22, 2004

  Venerable heavy metal bard Rob Zombie once told me that if music critics -- or, better still, fans -- really hate you, then you must be on to... More >>

• Drowning Pool, with Damage Plan, Hatebreed and Unearth

  published April 15, 2004

  Even though Desensitized, Drowning Pool's second album, is to be released the day the Dallas nü-metal band plays Houston, and even... More >>

• You Ain't Punk 2004

  published April 8, 2004

  Like hundreds of other kids, Christian Arnheiter saw the Sex Pistols on their ill-fated 1978 U.S. tour and immediately formed a punk band. Though... More >>

• Rufio, with Senses Fail, Don't Look Down and Autopilot Off

  published April 1, 2004

  While stuck-for-an-angle rock writers proclaimed that pop-punk had run its course in 2003, the kids are proving them wrong, again. Case in point:... More >>

• Bons Temps, Island-Style

  published February 12, 2004

  Remember when Uncle Lenny got drunk on New Year's Eve and did that thing with the whipped cream? Imagine hundreds of Uncle Lennys tromping around... More >>

• Move Over, Meg and Jack

  published February 12, 2004

  WED 2/18 Can a former pre-med student and an elementary school teacher find happiness together as a cutting-edge rock band? If you're... More >>

• Billy Talent

  published February 12, 2004

  Ben Kowalewicz is doing all he can to put the spunk back into punk. Although the lead singer of Canadian rockers Billy Talent is still in bed when... More >>

• Shooting Gallery

  published January 22, 2004

  For some, the words "gun" and "art" don't sit well in the same sentence. But the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston's new show, "Three Centuries of... More >>

• Toni Price

  published January 1, 2004

  Austin multi-instrumentalist Champ Hood's death from cancer in November 2001 smashed through Toni Price's world like a freight train taking out a... More >>

• Sixth Annual Townes Van Zandt Wake

  published January 1, 2004

  Ever since his father died of a heart attack on January 1, 1997, J.T. Van Zandt has pretty much stayed clear of the in-fighting around the legacy... More >>