Most Popular
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Pentecostal Preacher Sherman Allen Turns Out to Be Reverend Spanky
The Fort Worth preacher is accused of beating, threatening and assaulting women for more than 20 years
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Obama and Me
It was the year 2000, and I was a young, hungry reporter in Chicago with a young, hungry state legislator on my speed dial
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Texas' Peyote Hunters Struggle to Find a Vanishing, Holy Crop
Harvesting peyote is legal for only three people, and all of them live in Texas
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Why is Hillary Neglecting Delegate-Rich Dallas County?
While Obama has events going on throughout the city, Clinton is nowhere to be found
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Obama and Me (62)
It was the year 2000, and I was a young, hungry reporter in Chicago with a young, hungry state legislator on my speed dial
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Melodica Festival Self-Indulgent, But Still Positive for Dallas (51)
If a festival happens in Exposition Park and only the built-in crowd shows, does it make a sound?
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Ole Oops (58)
Popular prosperity preacher sues ABC and Trinity Foundation
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Pentecostal Preacher Sherman Allen Turns Out to Be Reverend Spanky (21)
The Fort Worth preacher is accused of beating, threatening and assaulting women for more than 20 years
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Why is Hillary Neglecting Delegate-Rich Dallas County? (18)
While Obama has events going on throughout the city, Clinton is nowhere to be found
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Melodica Festival Self-Indulgent, But Still Positive for Dallas
If a festival happens in Exposition Park and only the built-in crowd shows, does it make a sound?
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MySpace Stalking Dallas Music
There are things you can learn on MySpace, and there are things you can't
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Remembering DJ Frantic
The turntablist's friends and collaborators will remember him for his love of the craft
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Dallas Music Finally Getting National Attention
It may not be Austin-level love, but we'll take it
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Erykah Badu Has Returned
The songstress burst through her stuggles with writer's block and created a solid record
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And This Glimpse of Jessica Simpson Will Not Cost You $75
06:28PM 03/09/08 -
Meet the Woman Who Has Royally Pissed Off Tom Hicks
05:44PM 03/09/08 -
Yeah, But, Like, Where's Tony?
03:07PM 03/07/08 -
Over The Weekend: Centro-matic, All-Con, Texas Guitar Competition
01:10AM 03/10/08 -
Good Friday: Centro-matic, Beach House, Pleasant Grove, Sean Kirkpatrick
04:22PM 03/07/08 -
Video: Paul Thorn at Granada
08:11AM 03/07/08
What we are writing about
- $30,000 millionaires
- Avi Adelman
- basketball
- Bob Dylan
- carcinogens
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- cheap lunch
- Dallas Cowboys
- DART
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- douchebags
- DVD releases
- I'm Not There
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- Philip Seymour Hoffman
- railroad tie plant
- referendum
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Recent Articles By Merritt Martin
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Goldfrapp
Seventh Tree (Mute)
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Legendary Lena
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Red All Over
Eneroth brings Sweden stateside
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Warrior's Work
Ladysmith Black Mambazo performs at Bass Hall
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Fish Lips
National Features
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Houston Press
"It Was Like an Armageddon Movie"
For days after Hurricane Rita, a Texas prison was hell on earth.
By Chris Vogel -
SF Weekly
The Candidate
Our columnist knows Ralph Nader's running mate all too well.
By Matt Smith -
The Pitch
How Not To Be a Rap Star
First of all, lay off the Ecstasy.
By Nadia Pflaum -
Village Voice
Project Runaway
What becomes a gossip columnist most?
By Michael Musto
Sheryl Crow used to put out a good bit of songwriting. Looking back at the dates, though, those gems come distinctly from 1996 and 1998. There is no bluesy "Redemption Day," no solid pop of "The Difficult Kind" and certainly no incredibly soul-baring "Crash and Burn" on her latest scattered offering, aptly named Detours.
While causes are no stranger to Crow, it seems every track is armed for a new battle: children's welfare, genocide, Bush's war, global warming, Katrina/homelessness, big oil... I could go on. Some are brief references, some constitute the subject of whole songs, but when delivered as an album with only a few non-agenda tunes thrown in, the collection ends up a brow-beat-down of preachy lecture fodder that needed to marinate a bit longer in the studio.
Crow's "All I Wanna Do" talk-rap returns on the Rolling Stones wannabe "Gasoline," while her insistence on double-tracking her higher range is cringeworthy on the single "Love Is Free." The lovelorn and surely autobiographical "Diamond Ring," "Drunk With the Thought of You" and "Make It Go Away (Radiation Song)" prove her more impressive vocal performances—natural and emotive—and the closest to hard-hitting, real and personal protest on the entire album. It's a clear case of been-through-it winning over just-singing-about-it.
