Playlist

... 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.

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).

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)

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.

Tickets for "The Jones Experience," with Nas and special guests (can I get an amen?) Talib Kweli at the House of Blues, went on sale today at 10 a.m. The show is scheduled for Aug. 26, and tickets are $35 to $75. Also scheduled to perform are DJ Green Lantern and Jay Electronica.

DJ Green Lantern and Nas released a mixtape preceding Nas' new, untitled project. You know, the one with that word that caused a bit of an uproar. Need some incentive besides the invective used to originally title the album? Downloads are us.

(Peter Kramer/AP Photo)

Stephen Simmons writes about the sobering realities of life -- that is redemption, heartbreak, hangovers and the loneliness of the road. On his new CD, Something In Between, the Tennessee native delves more into interpersonal relationships. His songs are backed by a slew of talented musicians, from fiddle player Tammy Rogers to steel guitarist Al Perkins. Check out his website for more info.

Anyway, Mr. Simmons along with fellow Americana troubadours Mando Saenz and Jason Eady perform tonight at Love & War in Texas in Plano. Cover is only $8.

Photo: Stephen Simmons (Bob Delevante).

Major coup for Dallas' Old 97's: Rhett Miller's being interviewed and performing solo songs at this very moment on NPR's Fresh Air -- you can hear it locally on KERA.FM. Or check out NPR's web site later to listen to a podcast.

The Eagles will play a second American Airlines Center show, Sunday, Sept. 14. A Sept. 13 show was announced earlier. Tickets to both shows go on sale Monday at 10 a.m. Ticketmaster, ranging from $45 for the nosebleed sections to $175 for decent-to-good seats. The sluggish economy apparently played a role in the pricing: Seven years ago, the Eagles charged $55-$175 for their show at the AAC -- $10 higher than they're charging now.

One more thought about last night's Nashville Star episode: Coffey, from Bangs, Texas, did Tim McGraw and Faith Hill's "It's Your Love." Well, almost. Apparently he gets all emotional every time he hears that song. During rehearsals he couldn't get through it once without crying, he said on the show. You should have given it the old college try, Coffey. Onstage his already unwieldy vibrato sounded out of control as he fought to finish the tune. It was painful to hear. Emotions during a song are great. They prove the artist is human, like they are living the lyrics. But when you keep telling us you're going to break down and then you do, you come off contrived. Like you planned this all along.

But hey, the judges loved him for it. So go figure!

Photo: Coffey (Courtesy of nbc.com).

The first thing I noticed was the crowd. Not the one in the seats, mind you, the one on the stage. Lil Wayne brought a cast of, well, about a hundred, to play Nokia Theatre at Grand Prairie on Saturday night and cement his status as newly minted hip-hop king.

You can do this, as we were constantly reminded by DJs introducing the various acts, when you've sold a million-plus CDs in the first week of release of Tha Carter III. You can do this, as we were reminded again, when you've proclaimed yourself as the "greatest rapper alive," and no one (except a silent majority) is arguing.

Welcome to the rock-star world, Lil Wayne. Ready for your close-up?

(Lil Wayne at the BET Awards on June 24. Photo by Hector Mata/The Associated Press)

I've not been a fan of Shawn Mayer's Nashville Star performances since the start of this season. She was never the worse one for me, but always far from the best. Something about her came off as more shock value than substance. But whoa, her take on Carrie Underwood's "Before He Cheats" smoked tonight. It had fire, the kind that burns deep down inside. She felt the song, which is something I thought was lacking until now. Ms. Mayer was in the bottom two tonight, but was spared. Let's hope the major improvement is not too late for her.

Photo: Shawn Mayer (Courtesy of nbc.com).

And then there were five... The elimination of Laura & Sophie, who received the fewest viewer votes, leaves the sixth season of Nashville Star with a mere five finalists. Remaining are: Ashlee Hewitt, Melissa Lawson, Coffey, Gabe Garcia and Shawn Mayer. Three of them are Texans. Pretty cool, huh? Anyway, the best of the night was Mr. Garcia, whose smooth, confident and vocally sophisticated take on Billy Currington's "We Must Be Doing Something Right" proved yet another mature step for him. He even successfully used his falsetto. Ms. Lawson was good, too, singing Martina McBride's "My Baby Loves Me." She gave it lots of sass and swagger. Two of the judges said she overdid it. Any thoughts?

Photo: Gabe Garcia (Courtesy of nbc.com).

Did you go to the concert? Tell us how the night went, what the best number of the show was and anything else about the Father Figure's first tour in eons. Also, check out Hunter's George Michael breakdown here if you haven't seen it yet.

• Thor's review of the concert

Dallas' very own Grammy-winning production team, Play-N-Skillz, will host their All Star Weekend for the second year in a row, highlighted by the duo's performance at the K104 Summer Jam on Saturday at Nokia Theatre at Grand Prairie. The guys have a song on featured artist Lil Wayne's platinum-in-a-week Tha Carter III, "Got Money" featuring T-Pain (of course it does). They're also working their own single, "One Mo' Gin (Play that Song Mr. DJ)."

They guys have also joined with local community organization Juventud American to coach a soccer team during a community game on Sunday. A "special celebrity friend" will coach the other side.

The weekend guest list reads like a who's who in rap: Lil Wayne, Slim Thug, Mannie Fresh, Bun B, Krayzie Bone and Talib Kweli. One of my favorite groups, Big Red Rooster, is on that list, too. And Mavs player Josh Howard is on the list, too.

Check out the review from last' nights show here, video of screaming fans before the show here and comments from last night's concert-goers here.

Quick music man Hunter Hauk breaks down different George Michael songs since his Wham! days and categorizes them into four distinct styles: Butt-shakers, boot-knockers, slow-burners and killer covers. Check them out. He's in concert Sunday at American Airlines Center.

(AP photo: George Michael in concert in Inglewood, Calif., last month)

This is the fourth installment of our new "We were there" category, featuring blog-only mini-reviews of shows we check out in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

The Unlimited Enthusiasm Tour 2008 came through Dallas last night and despite slight technical difficulties, gave fans at the Granada theater an awesome show.
The tour features Harry and the Potters, Math the Band and Uncle Monsterface. Denton-based Fishboy joined them for the night to round out a very entertaining night. Since the show was at the Granada, fans got a more intimate experience. Band members milled around before and during sets, handing out nametags, temporary tattoos and showing off the merchandise.

Before and after interview with concert-goers:

• Hayley Caldwell, 15


• Brennan Tapp, 16


• Wesley Hackett, 16


• Deanna Dove, Wesley's grandmother


• Joe DeGeorge, keyboardist for Harry and the Potters

Hear music from Harry and the Potters:

• www.myspace.com/harryandthepotters


• www.eskimolabs.com/hp/news.htm


• unlimitedenthusiasm.com

(Photo: Harry and the Potters)

This is the third installment of our new "We were there" category, featuring blog-only mini-reviews of shows we check out in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. To see today's newspaper review of this concert, click here.

For me, watching the band Earth, Wind & Fire is more than witnessing seasoned musician pros in action; it's traveling back in time to my childhood, reliving my very first concert ever (when I saw them with Maurice White at Reunion Arena in 1979) and hearing their music as one endless 8-track after another fueled family trips back and forth to my native Cleveland, OH. They are more than entertainers to me, they feel like family.

So it felt like a reunion (minus the cookout) as my father, 11-year-old son and I danced, sang and cheered through "Fantasy," "Beijo," "Shining Star" and "In The Stone."

(Photo: Earth Wind & Fire member David "Tigger" Whitworth at Nokia last night. By Brandon Thibodeaux / Special to DMN.)

Hot off the hands of the fine, friendly folks at AEG Live: Eagles have finally announced that its tour to support Long Road Out of Eden will be coming Texas' way; Dallas' date is at American Airlines Center (yep, the venue that Eagles inaugurated way back in 2001) on Sept. 13.

The deets: tickets will go on sale to the public July 21 (that's a Monday, so you work-for-a-living types take note) at 10 a.m. through Ticketmaster, though the "American Express Early On Sale" will start on July 14. Those ultra-pricey VIP ticket packages will be available here. No word on prices yet, but based on similar gigs in similar venues, expect to pay $185 or so for choice passes and $50 for nosebleed perches.

(Photo: Andrew MacPherson)

My Morning Jacket won over Bonnaroo in June with its jammy cover of Erykah Badu's "Tyrone," which it also cut on 2004's Early Recordings. What the fascination? Aside from being a great tune, it also lets Jacket leader Jim James sing his own name in the line "You got to bring Jim, James, Paul & Tyrone." Maybe he and Ms. Badu can harmonize on it when the band plays the Palladium on Aug. 23.