Playlist

Thor's written a story about how some people forget that two-thirds of the Houston-formed band ZZ Top are actually from the Dallas area, born and raised (find the story online here late Sunday night/early Monday, or in the Sunday paper). Dusty Hill and Frank Beard are pretty proud of their Dallas roots and have played at all sorts of venues in the area — the big ones, the legendary ones that aren't around anymore, the sketchy underground ones.

Have you ever seen the band play in the area? Tell us where, when and how it went. If you haven't, what's their best album or song?

(Photo: The band's recently-released DVD, Live from Texas, recorded in concert last year at Nokia Theater/Superpages.com Center)

Texan Trent Willmon sings, writes songs, records albums. He can host a TV reality competition for cowboys, act in a Western movie ... and now he has a computer game. Trent Willmon's Cold Beer and a Fishin' Pole Fishing Game is a casual, interactive game created by PlanetCazmo.com. It ties into the Amarillo native's latest single, "Cold Beer and a Fishin' Pole" from his criminally underrated new album, Broken In. Anyway, to play go to either www.countryweekly.com, www.compadrerecords.com or www.trentwillmon.com.

And isn't that cartoon version of Trent Willmon too clever?!

Photo: Cartoon Trent (Courtesy of PlanetCazmo.com).

Last year, Disney and Wal-Mart teamed up to give kids back-to-school wake-up calls from High School Musical characters. This year, they're partnering again for free pre-recorded wake-up calls or activity reminders from Hannah Montana. Through Sept. 15, parents can log in here to sign up.

Did you go? I want to know who rocked, what sucked, if you had a good time or what. Look for the review here.

Didn't get your metal fix last night? There's always the Mayhem Festival tonight.

OK, I never thought DMX would be arrested for -- what am I saying? DMX was indicted the other day for theft and identity theft. He allegedly used a pseudonym and fake social security number to avoid paying $7,500 in hospital bills.

He pleaded not guilty to those charges today. But he's back in court Aug. 12 for a conference on other charges, among them cruelty to animals.

I mean, come on dawg ... plugging your new album at the courthouse? Whatever floats your boat, I guess.

(Associated Press via Maricopa County Sheriff's Office)

Top-four finalist on Nashville Star and Arlington resident Melissa Lawson performed last night in her hometown, and we have a slideshow and review of the benefit show. The concert was at Arlington High School; fitting, since she attended there her senior year.

Besides Melissa being a local on a televised, national country music competition, I'm rooting for her for two other reasons.

Nashville-based Len Snow penned every song on his CD, Country's What I Choose. His style is relaxed, old-school and honest. A highlight is the traditional country ballad "The Price I Pay." Listen to it and other songs from the disc on his website. Mr. Snow performs Saturday night at Poor David's Pub. The gig starts at 9 p.m. with opening act Mark Wayne Glasmire. Mr. Glasmire, who resides in Arlington, recently won the B.W. Stevenson Memorial Songwriter Competition at Poor David's Pub. He's a singer-songwriter to watch.

Photo: Len Snow (Courtesy of www.lensnowmusic.com).

... That is, if you consider Thursday part of the weekend. CrueFest (I don't feel like looking up the html code to put the umlaut-dot-things above the u, sorry) hits Thursday evening and the Mayhem Festival with Slipknot and Disturbed starts Friday afternoon, both at Superpages.com Center. Are you going to either one? Let us know.

(Photo by Jason Janik / Special to DMN: Slipknot guitarist Mick Thomson)

Nas' untitled album just took over the top spot on Billboard's Top 200. It seems as if the controversy over the album's original n-word title didn't hurt. (Or could it be that everyone already has Lil Wayne's Tha Carter III? Just wondering ...) God's Son sits atop the charts after selling 187,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan, for his fifth No. 1.

Don't count Weezy out, though. He's still selling over 100,000 per week ... if you remember, Tha Carter III sold a million in the first week of release. And he's held the top spot for three non-consecutive weeks. Guess hip-hop isn't so dead after all ...

Nas, supported by Talib Kweli, Jay Electronica and DJ Green Lantern, will appear at Dallas' House of Blues on The Jones Experiece Tour on Aug. 26.

Ah, what I'd give for a cold day. How I would love to be on the Kenai Peninsula south of Anchorage, feeling the 50-degree breeze hit me in the face. But since I'm not there, I will turn up the air conditioning in my house in Plano and put on a movie. So, my choice is Sliding Doors, starring Gwyneth Paltrow, circa 1998. Near the end, I hear someone singing the old Warren Zevon-Jackson Browne song "Tenderness On the Block." Perfect choice for the finale of that movie, but whose voice is that? It sounds so familiar ... it turns out to be Patty Larkin, whom I reviewed just a few weeks ago at Uncle Calvin's Coffeehouse. Wow. Patty Larkin doing a song that was co-written by Warren Zevon and Jackson Browne (and which appears on Mr. Zevon's best album, Excitable Boy). It turns out the song appears only in the movie, not even on the soundtrack album. And not on any Patty Larkin album. And you can bet it will be a cold day in Plano in July before it's released again on any album. Enjoy it while you can. Makes me wonder how many terrific single cuts end up with a similar fate.

Photo: Patty Larkin in concert

Single-disc rereleases and deluxe editions of U2's first three albums — War, Boy and October — just came out (read Thor's review of them here). Are you U2 fan enough to go buy them? Tell us which of the three albums is the best, or at least your favorite U2 album overall.

This Jessica Simpson/Tony Romo bit was in today's paper, but it didn't publish to the Web site overnight, for some reason. But lucky you, I've got it right here. You can thank me in one-pound bags of high-tone coffee and free gas cards.

In this episode of Bimbo and the Romo, we have Jessica Simpson taking the stage Saturday for the first time in three years and getting emotional about it. She then dedicates a song she wrote called "You're My Sunday" to "this guy here" who "throws a football" and is "really good at it."

Arlington's Melissa Lawson, who keeps proving her artistic mettle on Nashville Star, comes home for a benefit concert Wednesday evening at Arlington High School Auditorium, 818 W. Park Row. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the show starts at 8 p.m. Seating is first come, first served. The gig is a fundraiser for State Farm's "High School Dropout Prevention" program. It will surely be filmed for inclusion in the next Nashville Star episode. For more information, click here.

Photo: Melissa Lawson (Courtesy of nbc.com).

It's New Music Tuesday again, and Mario says that Candlebox has made a robust return with Into the Sun. What do you think? Check here for that CD review and others by Eliza Carthy and Sugarland, along with a report on how the album of controversial French first lady Carla Bruni is doing. Then come back and give us your insight.

Ashlee Hewitt, the fresh-faced blond with the serviceable voice that once seemed destined to win Nashville Star, was eliminated tonight. She had the fewest viewer votes. Surprising, yes, especially when Coffey is the weakest artistic link on the show right now. Guess his weepy rendition of the Tim McGraw-Faith Hill duet "It's Your Love" last week struck a chord with America. Anyway, it was original song night and the judges raved about Arlington's Melissa Lawson. Ditto Gabe Garcia, from Lytle, Texas. Shawn Mayer survived, too, and got good notices. She did a power ballad called "I'm Not Looking Back." Next week: four finalists turn into three, one of which will be crowned the sixth winner of Nashville Star. The finale should be Aug. 4.

Photo: Ashlee Hewitt (Courtesy of nbc.com).

True to one of Maze's signature songs, there were nothing but "happy feelings everywhere" after the group performed at Nokia Theatre at Grand Prairie on Saturday night.

Frankie Beverly, in his customary all-white attire and matching ball cap, was met with a standing ovation from a crowd that never seemed to sit down. The strong-voiced frontman welcomed the audience participation as the crowd became his backing choir, singing along loudly without any provocation. Somewhere, audience members are probably still dancing, wondering why that song is stuck in their heads.

The concert was being taped for a live DVD/CD, which lended an air of anticipation to the proceedings.

(Photo by RANDY ELI GROTHE/Staff Photographer)

Our Metro department got a tip that the Jonas Brothers family is moving to Westlake. Check out the story and documents here. We'll be on top of the details as they come.

The prospect of tween girls' favorite boy band becoming North Texas residents — exciting or annoying? Or are you simply indifferent, as long as it's not your street getting clogged with a bunch of drive-by swooning? Tell us what you think.

• More Jonas Brothers on the blog

(AP photo: Joe, Nick and Kevin)

Yes, Tejano fans, as I reported here earlier this year, the Tejano Music Convention kicks off at the Dallas Convention Center Aug. 15 and runs through Aug. 17. There will be seminars, dance lessons, a fanfare and expo, classes teaching saxophone, accordion and trumpet, and of course concert performances from Jay Perez, Shelly Lares, the Hometown Boys, Ruben Ramos, Michael Salgado, Elida Reyna, Sunny Sauceda, Jaime y los Chamacos and many others. Check out www.tejanoticket.com for all the info you could possibly need.

Photo: Jay Perez at the Tejano Music Convention press conference last February (G.J. McCarthy/DMN).

Normally if we're going to have have a corresponding "How was the show?" blog post that goes with a concert review, we put a note in the newspaper version that routes people here. This isn't one of those. But something tells me it's gonna be good, so I'm curious — did you go? If you did, how was it? Find Mario's review of the concert here.

I'll be honest. Behind the scenes details don't interest me much. So I'd never heard of this Scott Storch character (former pianist for The Roots and producer of several pop and hip-hop hits, for those of you who didn't know, either) until embarrassing revelations about his bling-to-broke situation got plastered all over the Web recently. Check out the story, a few videos of his hits and other info here.

(AP photo: Storch with Paris Hilton in 2006)