Lindsey Henrie

Sinden at Rio Room

Last night, Dallas overfloweth. I love Parks and Recreation as much as the next gal, but the real must-see events were beyond your front door, sugars, what with Dallas darling du jour Shepard Fairey's talk at The Contemporary, and They Might Be Giants hosting '90s nostalgia at The Granada. Plus, a smattering of weekly events was plenty of inspiration to cancel those Friday meetings. (Quit scheduling Friday meetings!)

In one corner, we have Beauty Bar's beloved DJ Sober weekly, Big Bang, a Thursday staple. In the other, Rio Room's Thursday night rotating DJ series, currently under the '83 Series moniker, is getting hotter and hotter with Blake Ward's thoughtful programming. Can one Deb do it all?

Ryan Bingham

Bingham joins Jonathan Tyler & the Northern Lights on Saturday, March 17, for the Dallas Observer's St. Patrick's Day concert, which will be held in Energy Square on the corner of Greenville and University.

The big new this year: The Observer's partnered with Live Nation and House of Blues to bring you this annual shebang and, of course, the concert's preceded by a parade down Greenville Ave., complete with floats, costumes and, if you wish really hard, possibly a leprechaun or two. Oh, and lots of beer.

Tickets go on sale Friday, February 10, at 10 a.m. Stay tuned for a few more announcements!

There are millions more life-long Madonna fanatics who wince and grimace at their icon's haughtier moments, but manage to forgive her in the end. That fact alone grants her the opportunity to play the Super Bowl this weekend. Despite the media's subtle, ongoing rejection of her, Madonna's still a touchstone of sorts. She's got scads of radio hits, but there's enough non-radio-friendly material to go deep. Like, psychotic deep.

So, instead of speculating endlessly about what her halftime show will entail (Quick prediction: Crappy new song, "Express Yourself," "Vogue," "Ray of Light," "Holiday," hundreds of cheesy fan-cers doing choreography on the field), let's listen to some of her lesser-known tunes and album tracks. Some musical context via my Spotify playlist might help you better appreciate the artist on stage Sunday, rather than obsessing over how much Botox she got pre-game. Happy listening!

Mike Brooks

They Might Be Giants

When nerds sell out a show, you know you're in for it. Scanning the crowd at the Granada last night, I could tell there were quite a few folks paying babysitters until 11 p.m., who were maybe a bit pudgier than when they first got into the NYC duo in the '80s or '90s. Still, They Might Be Giants have retained that rabid fanbase by staying consistently true to their oddball sound, never trying to be commercial, but somehow managing to do so.

The polka-punk of "Istanbul" immediately took me back to the days of watching The Adventures of Pete & Pete and "Snowball in Hell" continued the "early stuff" trend most of the crowd was probably there for. "Birdhouse in Your Soul," from 1990's Flood, remains a stone-cold classic, an eternal love song for freaks and geeks: "Not to put too fine a point on it/Say I'm the only bee in your bonnet/Make a little birdhouse in your soul."

The two Johns behind TMBG -- keyboardist/accordionist Linnell and guitarist Flansburgh -- still have the chemistry that made the group such a catch. Flansburgh is the boisterous one, romping around the stage, never standing still. Linnell is the quiet, contemplative one. When Linnell brought out his bass clarinet for a song, people cheered. Again, they know their crowd.

Electro house musician Steve Aoki is much more than your run-of-the-mill remixer. Besides running the influential Dim Mak record label, Aoki also owns two restaurants, works with artists as diverse as Duran Duran and Drake, has a clothing line, invented his own brand of headphones and plays more than 250 shows a year. And Aoki's music is a mish-mash of old-school punk and contemporary electronica, all played to accompany a pounding, dancehall pulse.

Speaking from St. Louis in anticipation of tonight's show at the Palladium Ballroom, Aoki spoke about his remixing skills as well as his rapidly expanding business empire.

Good news for record nerds and fans of that smell: They've finally set a date for their grand opening. On February 25, Doc's breaks a bottle of champagne on its bow with performances from Drift Era, New Fumes, Slumberbuzz, Mind Spiders, Peopleodian, RTB2 and Spooky Folk. Mind Spiders release their new album, Meltdown, that same week, so it should be a pretty bonkers show.

This spells great things for the upcoming Record Store Day on April 21, but then, you know every day should be record store day, right?

Among the electronic music producers who have cashed in on dance music's popularity in the States, I'm most ambivalent about French DJ/producer David Guetta. Last year's album, Nothing But the Beat, took its title pretty literally with two discs of beat, and a couple cameos to keep things interesting.

Guetta's strength isn't in making memorable music; it's giving his guests a platform to excel, as he did with Usher on "Without You." I say he's like Cape Canaveral: He's only important because things launch into space off him.

Guetta's latest single, "Turn Me On," has Nicki Minaj on the launchpad, displaying her adaptability as a performer. She switches from European-style diva to emcee throughout the track's three minutes, and between her upcoming album and the buzzed-about Super Bowl XLVI halftime show appearance this weekend, she's keeping things interesting.