Michael Jackson

SXSW 2013: Critically Important Questions Raised By This Year's Event

Editor: We have so many questions here in Austin. Here are 50 of them. 1. Will I like the pedicab costumed as The Hulk if he gets angry? 2. Are we all really just in New York? 3. Is this t-shirt rad? 4. Do you want to get some 'za, which is now absolutely the slang for pizza? 5. How far can yo ... More >>

Karaoke as Aphrodisiac?

Karaoke can be a dangerous endeavor. What can you sing that won't make friends shun you? How can you go balls-out during your next performance? Each week in "Ask a Karaoke Host," RFT Music writer and professional karaoke host Allison Babka answers your burning questions about maximizing your melodio ... More >>

Carry On, Carrie

The Ten Black Pop Stars Who Should Go Country

[Editor's note: Country Time is a new biweekly column for our sister music blog in Seattle, celebrating that city's favorite musical genre: mainstream country.] By Mike Seely With the nation's major-party political conventions drawing to a close recently with a rousing reelection appeal from the n ... More >>

Stevie Wonder at Outside Lands: San Francisco Gets Life Lessons From the School of Wonder

The following is a dispatch from Outside Lands Festival in San Francisco, from our sister paper, SF Weekly. Stevie Wonder, in theory, is an American artistic treasure. He's more than our Beatles or Rolling Stones; he's our Dickens or Dalí: a figure of impassable recognition, discussion, talent, lo ... More >>

In the Galleries - Bobby Fischer: Icon Among Icons (Photographs by Harry Benson) at the World Chess Hall of Fame

Shamus Aid: Chris Ward Creates Benefit Album to Revive Fallen Wizard Entertainment CEO

Gareb Shamus was a colossus among men, founding Wizard Entertainment and turning it into the go-to source for news and views on collectables. For years he was on top of his fantastical world, running a company that produced widely-read publications such as Wizard Magazine and Toyfare Magazine. Yet ... More >>

The Best Super Bowl Commercials by the Music

The Darkness saved Samsung's ad from spiraling down into forgettable territory. ​Let's be blunt. This year's Super Bowl was dismal for Midwesterners. Sure, there were exceptions. Transplants from Boston, New York City or New Jersey may have enjoyed the game. Some may have had a rooting intere ... More >>

The Six Best Song Count Offs

​In popular song, the count off is a tool of function. Somebody counts from one to four (or three, or if people have even once compared the band to Don Cabellero, seven), and the musicians know when to begin playing and how quickly to play. Some have used the countoff as a jumping off point fo ... More >>

Patrick Stump Is Coming To Fubar (!?!)

​Patrick Stump, the Fall Out Boy singer who is finally free to pursue the pop and R&B he's always loved, is coming to St. Louis. His former band's last show here was at the Pageant. His solo career has seen him on tour with Bruno Mars and Janelle Monae, and he'll be playing Lollapalooza this s ... More >>

Prince Vince

Show Review Photos Setlist: of Montreal Delights With an Extravagant Performance at the Pageant, Friday, October 21

(For a review of opener Janelle Monae at the Pageant, go here.)Todd Owyoungof Montreal last night at the Pageant​Some bands are content to let their music speak for itself in concert, while others like to go all-out in making their show a production. With a stage show involving actors in full ... More >>

John Legend, Bradd Young and Aloha at Fair St. Louis, Saturday, July 3

You couldn't have asked for better weather for Saturday night's festivities on the riverfront. Granted, it was a little on the hot and humid side, but still surprisingly mild for St. Louis in July. The crowd was as enormous as you might expect; many came out specifically for John Legend, while oth ... More >>

Last Collector Standing: Orlandez Lewis, Jr. on His Dream Job at Vintage Vinyl, Learning About Music from his Dad and Thriller

(The number of chain-record stores nationwide has dwindled. However, St. Louis has become an unlikely safe haven for indie record shops -- and for DJs who prefer to spin the black circle instead of scrolling their iPods. In this weekly column, we'll focus on personal portraits of St. Louis' record a ... More >>

Last Collector Standing: COR(E)YOGRAPHY on DJ Culture, Urban Outfitters' Role in New Music, and Club Shenanigans

Jon Scorfina​DJing under the pseudonym COR(E)YOGRAPHY, Corey McCarthy has become a vital part of the city's vibrant club scene - as a DJ and as someone helping to bring national acts to St. Louis. A former retail manager at Urban Outfitters, McCarthy now focuses his full attention on his Propa ... More >>

The Beertender: Viva la Revolution!

​We're in the midst of a nifty little revolution here. After decades of blandness in our food and beverages, Americans have rediscovered their palates. Twentieth-century industrial better-living-through-chemistry innovated the flavor right out of a lot of our foodstuffs, especially beer. But now ... More >>

Review: Naughty by Nature and Kid Capri at the Ambassador, Friday, December 4

This was my first concert at the Ambassador. I must say, if you don't mind getting a "St. Louis Ice-breaker" (my new name for a thorough pat-down at the door), it's really not a bad venue. The floor space is generous and the sound system was adequate, with several small bars around the perimeter and ... More >>

Top Sellers at Area Record Stores: Week of November 9-15

Euclid Records 1. Sting - If On A Winter's Night... 2. Beatles - Revolver 3. Monsters Of Folk - Monsters Of Folk 4. Nirvana - Live At Reading 5. REM - Live At The Olympia 6. Tegan & Sara - Sainthood* 7. Flight Of The Conchords - I Told You I Was F ... More >>

Show Review: Maxwell, Common and Chrisette Michele at the Scottrade Center, Friday October 9

Quite a crowd came out last night to watch Maxwell's return to the spotlight, some eight years after the release of his previous album. There was a "grown and sexy" vibe to the crowd -- the majority of the fans were over 30 and 'dressed to a T.' And although couples dominated the crowd, plenty of si ... More >>

Review Photos Setlist: Coldplay, Amadou & Mariam and Kitty, Daisy & Lewis at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater, July 24

Last night at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater, Coldplay delivered exactly the type of set you would want from it - and then some. That's not snark, either: For nearly two hours, the British quartet unleashed hit after hit after hit with little self-indulgence and plenty of spectacle. In fact, th ... More >>

Video: Short Interview with Anthony Gonzalez of M83 at Pitchfork Music Festival

Anthony Gonzalez, the man who makes up the French electronic group M83, was in the States for a few days over the weekend, playing Columbus, Ohio, on Saturday and Chicago's Pitchfork Music Festival on Sunday night.He talks about confronting violent bouncers at his Ohio show on Saturday night (one re ... More >>

Hump Day Slow Jam of the Week: Heatwave, "Always and Forever"

The Singers: Heatwave was helmed by brothers Keith Wilder and Johnnie Wilder, Jr., but the band's secret weapon was organist and songwriter Rod Temperton. The Englishman wrote all the songs on Heatwave's debut LP, including today's slow jam, but Temperton racked up a massive amount of songwriting cr ... More >>

LEGO Video: Metallica, Devo, U2, Queen, Daft Punk, System of a Down, Red Hot Chili Peppers

Show Review Setlist: "Weird Al" Yankovic at Family Arena, Friday, August 8

Bar of the Week: The Cat's Meow

This Band Could Be Your Life, Part I: So Many Dynamos Tours to SXSW

AA Bondy reinvents himself as an indie-folk artist

The Morning Brew: Tuesday, 9/4

Chris Cornell

Carry On (Suretone/Interscope)

Electro Snaps

Let There Be Rock

Ten albums that make it easy to avoid fretting about your old-fashioned, Rockist ways

Go to Hell

Emily Rose is possessed by silly nonsense

The Living Years

An open letter to the new Music Editor

Skin Crawls

Gregg Araki's latest is more icky than mysterious

Murder for Fun

Local shows explore the line between rock and death

Dried Out

Washington U. students fear their campus is turning into a booze-free zone

Which American Has Most Changed the World?

Week of September 15, 2004

Letters

Week of September 15, 2004

The Ten Most Hated Men in Rock

(Besides Sting)

Ursha Speaks

We sit in on an Usher wank-fest, chat with Evanescence and watch the Dems pull out their magic stick

Word to My Mother

We introduce mom to Rod Stewart, have a Quiet Riot and check out some Homegrown Sounds

Which Public Figure Are You Most Concerned About? (Part 1 of 2)

Week of March 3, 2004

What Are Your Predictions for 2004?

Week of January 14, 2004

A Fan's Notes

Ideas that were forgotten but not gone in 2003

Junior Senior

Monday, November 10; Creepy Crawl

Where's the Two-Headed Calf?

The Missouri State Fair offers surreal glimpses of Americana plus lots of tasty things on sticks

Filling the Blue-Eyed-Soul Hole

Justin Timberlake leads the charge of new melanin-challenged soul brothers

Blow Hard

Week of March 5, 2003

Chan Reaction

Is Cat Power free at last?

One Size Fits All

Roni Size is dedicated to moving forward, boundaries be damned