Most Popular
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Barack Obama and Me
It was the year 2000 and I was a young hungry reporter in Chicago covering a young hungry state legislator
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Mescaline on the Mexican Border
Texas is the only state in the country where peyote is sold legally. Really.
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A Prison Cover-up During Hurricane Rita
For days after the storm, inmates in Beaumont lived without A/C, electricity or hot meals. Press releases kept saying everything inside was fine. Guards and prisoners agree — that was nothing but B.S.
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Little Bitty Burger Barn
"It's okay to be little bitty in the big city" is an apt slogan for this new burger joint, where sliders rule
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Ghost Town CFS: Carriage House Cafe
Step back in time — to a spooky old carriage barn with a monster chicken-fried steak
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Barack Obama and Me (253)
It was the year 2000 and I was a young hungry reporter in Chicago covering a young hungry state legislator
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A Prison Cover-up During Hurricane Rita (21)
For days after the storm, inmates in Beaumont lived without A/C, electricity or hot meals. Press releases kept saying everything inside was fine. Guards and prisoners agree — that was nothing but B.S.
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Save Lobo: A Siberian Husky Mix is Sentenced to Die (28)
Why? Because he's big and intimidating and because one family complained about him over and over again
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Are You Hot Enough for Citizen Lounge? (7)
All This Useless Beauty
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HoustonHipHop.com Relaunch Party (5)
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Are You Hot Enough for Citizen Lounge?
All This Useless Beauty
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Tired of the Hype, But That's All There Is
Next month, Houston gets to be a cool kid. But only for a week.
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The improbable redemption of Ashlee Simpson
"La La" Love You
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Rap's Rapidly Vanishing Female MC
The Why Chromosome
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A New Official State Song for Texas?
A case for a new — or different, anyway — state song
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Over the Weekend: Fotos, Dogs and Sausage. And Hannah Montana Too.
08:50AM 03/10/08 -
Be of Good (Blue) Cheer
06:42AM 03/12/08 -
Spring Training: Draft Dennis Quaid!
02:04AM 03/12/08 -
Jameson’s Rarest Vintage Reserve at $250 a Bottle
12:20PM 03/11/08
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Recent Articles By William Michael Smith
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Old Town School of Folk Music Songbook Vols. 2 & 3
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Jimmy Raycraft Benefit
concert preview
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Terri Hendrix
concert preview
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I.J. Gosey’s Sunday Afternoon Blues Party
Check out one of the few remaining Duke-Peacock sessions players
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Shake Russell
The singer/songwriter still packs ‘em in
National Features
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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.
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Village Voice
Project Runaway
What becomes a gossip columnist most?
By Michael Musto
The Detroit Cobras
Thursday, October 27, at Rudyard's, 2010 Waugh Drive, 713-521-0521.
By William Michael Smith
Published: October 27, 2005-
The Detroit Cobras
Subject(s): The Detroit Cobras
The Detroit Cobras may look like another smash 'n' bash Motor City garage band trailing in the wake of the White Stripes or the Dirt Bombs, but there are distinct differences. The Cobras are essentially a cover band, but other than the occasional remake of tunes like Hank Ballard's "The Twist," 90 percent of the Cobras' material comes from obscure, deep tracks like "I Wanna Holler But the Town's Too Small" or Willie Dixon's "Insane Asylum" that will only vaguely jar the memory cells, if at all. The band has a knack for putting its own spin on such overlooked chestnuts, and Rachel Nagy's vocals (which always trigger my Martha Reeves and the Vandellas synapse) project all the frivolity of Debbie Harry in her earliest, Blondie-est incarnation. The tight, fluid band, led by tough-girl guitar riffer Mary Ramirez, finds steady grooves, landing them in the same party-band territory as venerable combos like Paul Revere and the Raiders and the Box Tops. The Detroit Cobras aren't trying to remake the world, but they do make a good case that maybe this whole music thing has gotten way too complicated.
