Cover songs: one of the trickiest balancing acts in music. Artists face the tremendous pressure of putting their own stamp on a time-honored classic, while still paying homage to the original. Add extreme skepticism from purists to the mix, and it seems like a no-win situation for musicians simply trying to wear their influences on their sleeves. Still, against all odds, these artists’ renditions manage to not just make the cut, but even surpass the original versions in the eyes of the ORANGE music staff.

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Junk. At least, that’s what we call it. George Herms, however, marvels at trash heaps and paper scraps, blank canvases awaiting his transformative touch. For nearly 60 years, the Beat-generation artist has drawn from a hodgepodge of discarded, seemingly mundane objects to craft a myriad of collages and sculptures.

I haven’t produced a single piece of writing in nearly three months. That’s probably a mortal sin in this world, right? Shouldn’t I be stricken from the journalistic community and left to wither in my own irrelevance? Even if I’m allowed to stay, my creative muscles have probably atrophied past the point of no return. I’m lucky I even managed to eek out the last five sentences!

At the age of 19, American rock band Say Anything’s frontman Max Bemis was writing songs about his bipolar disorder and his issues with drugs and unhealthy relationships. Now 30, Bemis has channeled...

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This year’s South By Southwest had its fair share of glaring issues, as does everything that happens — ever. Some of the more pressing matters concerned fan safety, the evermore-exclusionary atmosphere and the oversaturation of big ass businesses. But please, save the commentary on Austin’s increasing corporatization for a more pretentious article. There is a more minute, but infinitely frustrating problem that has been making its presence known at every live music event, be it at Red 7 or Austin Music Hall.  

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