All Good and Fine

We had a great day of music on Saturday. This was a free all-day concert held on a downtown street, a benefit for Comfort the Children International. Lots of "green" foodie vendors with samples/coupons, and the permanent shops and sidewalk joints. Ponderosa (Atlanta GA) and Cowboy & Indian (Austin TX) are excellent bands that we've seen before and liked a lot. We saw only partial sets of theirs because the stages were located at the other end of the street from where I was hanging out. I wanted to make sure and see Seryn (Denton TX).

Over a year ago we caught a few songs of theirs during SXSW, we were watching from the sidewalk outside an Irish pub, and were very impressed and asked the woman in the band who they were. She said "Seryn. S-E-R-Y-N." (pronounced sir-WREN, or sair-REN). We missed some opportunities to see them again since that, but got lucky on Saturday. I have been in love with their sound ever since. Gorgeous! High-energy, rich beauty.

The traffic light looked weird as a backdrop for the stage.

Believe me, it sounds good.

They are one of Paste Magazine's favorite bands - period. When the set was over, someone asked a band member who they were, and he replied "Seryn. S-E-R-Y-N." It must be spelled each time. Ha Ha!

Alpha Rev (Austin TX) is another favorite of ours, and they have added quite a bit of new material lately. Casey McPherson's voice is amazing to me. Good singer and songwriter too. Like Seryn, lots of lush sounds here. Check out this western-flavored "Lonely Man." I swore it was something that I'd heard from Mark Knopfler before, but it is an original tune co-written with the Texas Ukulele King (TUK), and his version that he calls "That's How You Die a Lonely Man." I'm not seeing a ukulele in his picture though. ;-)

We finished off the day with a night show at the great listening room, the Cactus Cafe, where 2 of the mainstays from The Band of Heathens were doing an unplugged show - Ed Jurdi and Gordy Quist. They are doing something special both at these unplugged and full-band gig - they are recording the show and making it available for sale on a thumb drive afterward.

This is Gordy Quist, the singer and songwriter of this tune. I didn't get any focused shots of Ed Jurdi, so apologies for that. Need to improve the camera situation soon for better low-light shots.

I love every one of their songs. Every one.

Saturday night with the Heathens

Went out to see one of our favorite bands to see live, The Band of Heathens, on Saturday night. A rather high-impact show for me these days since these 100°+ days we're having really drag me down, and standing up for 6-7 hours straight is tough on the old bones.

While waiting in line to get in, a man came along and gave us some free tickets! Saved us $30! (Also it made up for that fake "5 dollar bill" I picked up off the sidewalk.) They were comp tickets and there were a few pairs given out, we were glad to get them.

The song in the video is "Look at Miss Ohio," which is one of the few covers the band plays (this one comes from Gillian Welch) - and they do an energetic version with some cool Pink Floyd vibes in parts.

The Heathens are back out there on the road now, so if you like what you hear/see, check out their schedule.

Conspicuous name-dropping and shameless promotion

Above: The view of the Texas Union at UT by the light of the full blue moon, the building that houses the legendary listening room, the Cactus Cafe. The Longhorns had a win that day, hence the orange tower in the background (trivia note: that's the same tower where Charles Whitman made news as a sniper in 1966).

Kevin Welch "Andaman Sea"

Getting a little behind posting on current events here in the live music capital of the world. We've been doing less (as far as hitting the clubs) but have had a small flurry of activity lately. November 20 we went to see the outstanding singer-songwriter Kevin Welch at the Cactus Cafe. Check the video on the right, above, for a nice live recording done by Music Fog earlier this year in Memphis. Kevin is technically local now, living down the road in Wimberley. The Cactus gig was just him and his son Dustin, who's also one of our favorite local singer-songwriters. It was quite a treat. We had room at our table up front, and Earl Poole Ball +friend needed seats so we were happy to share. Earl plays honkytonk piano with several bands around town, and his recording résumé includes Merle Haggard, Buck Owens, Jerry Lee Lewis, Rick Nelson, Marty Robbins, Flying Burrito Brothers, Byrds, Carl Perkins... but the part that stands out is the 20 years he spent in Johnny Cash's band. Really nice guy. I love this town. Anyway, Kevin has a new album out called "A Patch of Blue Sky", we just bought it on "Small Business Saturday" at Waterloo Records, and it's a good one.

Wednesday (Day before Thanksgiving) we had The Greencards show at Threadgill's. Don't watch this video unless you want to hear beautiful mandolin, fiddle and guitar acoustic instrumental music.
The weather was outstanding, balmy warm breezes blew in to where you didn't even need a jacket at night outdoors - then the next day it turned really chilly. I have been working in a supporting role for this band since 2004 (and fans of theirs since 2003), and have recently passed the torch. It was time, and it's all good. We will always be friends, and they are so talented that it's mind-boggling. Here's a jam that I caught with Phoebe Hunt (from Belleville Outfit) sitting in. I think this is Cazadero but not 100% sure (I tend to get corrected on song titles by people who know better, and I don't mind that). They are launching a new campaign to make a record on their own (without a record label being involved) where fans can "Buy a Brick" (which will get your name imprinted on the CD insert) and support independent music - from the heart in every direction. Click here for more info.

The day after Thanksgiving (AKA Black Friday) has become a new traditional holiday at Momo's, and it's the birthday of the Band of Heathens. They are one of many local bands to have been hatched in that venue. Actually, you can go to their website link above and download a free MP3 of the song "Millionaire," which was written by the aforementioned Kevin Welch and made a bit more famous by Solomon Burke. Awesome song. Anyway, back to the show. The opener was James Hyland (pictured), and he sounded great. At one point I looked around and realized that I done websites and/or CD art for 2 of the folks onstage and one other person standing next to us... and it really feels like the end of an era (kind of like what I felt on Wednesday). Changes... every five years is like an eternity. Everything comes and goes.

Back to the Band of Heathens, which we all just call "the Heathens" (even though that bandname is technically taken by someone else in another town). This is one of the best live bands you can see. They are steeped in red dirt, bayou, gospel, all kinds of soul from Memphis through Texas. This one is called "Right Here With Me" and is a fun one to watch. Gordy (in the middle) gets a little off-key on one part and cracks himself up. It's a home town crowd though, and they are among friends. It's all good.

My feet are still recovering, and all is well. Put the tickets for next year up for sale and I will buy them.

Bat Night

The Mayor and City Council have declared the Mexican Free-Tailed Bat to be our official city animal, and celebrated it on Sunday with a kickoff event featuring Adam West, a special screening of his Batman movie at the Paramount (for $$), and another (free) appearance of Mr. West *and* the Batmobile -- plus -- a concert by our beloved Band of Heathens. Here's Adam West's quickie appearance and below is a once-over of the Batmobile.


Some people showed up in costumes, and I admire those people for wearing *any* extra clothing because it was a very, very, sweaty, hot day/night. Humidity put the heat index into the low hundreds. I guess sweating is healthy, right? Whew. Bats like it hot though, and it's all about them.

Here's what all the fuss is about, our largest urban bat colony in the world (not my video). They figure there are between 750,000 and 1.5 million bats flying out from under this bridge every night in summer. It's really pretty awesome, and gets rid of the mosquitoes. I hate mosquitoes.

SXSW day crawl - Fri, day 3

Day 3 and beyond... Started the day again at the Hilton for Elliot Brood (Toronto, Canada), followed by the legendary John Hiatt:

...and 2/3 of the Dixie Chicks (Martie & Emily), with their side project, Courtyard Hounds:
Now I have seen all of the Dixie Chicks perform, just not at the same time. After the Hilton morning, the day continued down the road with Bobby Bare Jr. and more local female musical goodness with Sarah Jarosz highlighting yet another Paste party, co-sponsored by Vanguard (Sugar Hill). We are acquainted with Sarah and her parents, they are all wonderful folks and it's great to see Sarah blossoming into a rising star. She has the talent.

We sat with a nice Canadian couple (about our age) who had driven down from Ottawa -- we were getting pretty comfy on an upper deck with free intense coffee drinks and hard ciders, with a view of the band, and working on a good old sunburn for awhile. Hit the pavement again to go down to Momo's for their party, and got to see a couple of local bands we hadn't seen (although the band members are ones we are pretty familiar with). There was Drew Smith/TED (I don't know what TED means), The Coveters (shown below) featuring Suzanna Choffel, Ed Jurdi and Warren Hood. After them there was a nice long set from St. Cloud. Momo's had great music (as it always does) and we saw lots of people we knew there, but decided to hit one more spot for the day. The Sin City Social Club party at Maria's Taco Xpress had Jesse Dayton on stage when we got there, followed by the band we went to see, The Trishas. I'll tell you what - just check them out, it's 4, sometimes 5 young Texas women with a lot of soul, great vocals, songwriting, fiddle, guitar, mandolin. Love them. They need to be famous.

Maria's was packed to the hilt and it was time to home to the cats, and we proceeded to have the only transportation screw-up of the week when we got on the wrong bus going the wrong way and it took a couple of hours to get home.

After 3 gorgeous weather days, the rain and cold, cold wind moved in on Saturday - and we were pretty much wound down by then anyway. The Cactus Cafe was having free music (acoustic singer-songwriters) from 4-midnight, best listening room in town. We saw Chris Masterson and Eleanor Whitmore, Matt The Electrician, Dana Falconberry, Mike Schoenfeld, and Graham Weber. They were all amazing. Only ended up with one pic from Saturday: Dana Falconberry

This is the last year for the Cactus Cafe. A boneheaded bureaucrat (who has the power over the building where it resides) wants it closed, and even if the forces of "Save The Cactus Cafe" manage to keep it open, it will be run in a completely different way. Either way, it's killed. If you've never been there, hit it before the end of August.

Festival regrets: managed to miss faves Or The Whale and Band of Heathens, and the never-seen-before Watson Twins and Black Prairie despite opportunities. This is merely from lack of super-powers and super-human strength. Later.

That's it for 2010's SXSW day crawler coverage from the Blueberry pit.

{addendum: Statesman gallery Day 3}

Rambling update

Posting has been light over the past week, I know. I took Thanksgiving week off and spent most of it cleaning out the junk room, which you can't call a bedroom at all since we haven't been able to see the floor in there for a couple of years at least. It's chock full of stuff I've collected over the years (mostly music memorabilia) that had gotten out-of-control disorganized during the 60 hr workweeks. At least those are much less frequent this year.

It wasn't all sorting little bits of paper and dust bunnies, we also went out a couple of times. On Thanksgiving Day we went to see The Road, which reminded me of a lot of dreams I've had (no wonder I had trouble sleeping!! who wants to go there?). We do recommend it, but don't go expecting any humor. It's not a feel-good movie (and describing a movie as "feel-good" is a sure way to keep me away from it, anyway) but it should get some conversations going.

Also over last weekend was another show featuring our beloved Band of Heathens, this time at Momo's, where they got started. The show was absolutely great, and they had a bunch of guest stars (Brian Keane, Seth Walker, Warren Hood), here's someone else's video of the band with Guy Forsyth.
This week brought a return to the office commute, and also some sinus hell (maybe a cold, maybe just allergies) but it's been kicking my ass hard all week with sniffy nose, clogged head, ear pain and trying to stay awake in an antihistamine fog. Couldn't really take sick time because of workload either, {gripe} but it's Friday... nuff said.

Austin's Heathens out there in the world now

Saw the Band of Heathens on Friday night. It was a beautiful crisp night in Threadgill's beer garden. They've been one of our favorite local bands since sometime in early 2006... thereabouts. They are getting out there in the world a lot lately, constantly on tour, so we don't get to see them that often here anymore... no more weekly gigs at Momo's or the Saxon Pub, and their latest record is #1 on the Americana playlist chart (there's a little animated ad on the sidebar of that page that I make, you can probably guess which one if you are a regular here). MrB took a bunch of videos, which all turned out good and are posted on my YouTube channel. Here is one of their new ones, an incredible song. I just love it.

Here's another one, this one is about 9 minutes long with some sweet vocals, organ, and guitar jams. Sit back and enjoy (hope it isn't hard to load, might need to hit pause and wait for the buffer to get ahead of you).

If you get Austin City Limits in your area (on PBS), they will be on there next week. Check your local listings.

August and September live music in Austin

I've been remiss. I have not been posting about the various music events that we've attended for quite a while, looks like August 3rd was the last time (for The Steps).

August 6 was Sarah Jarosz at Shady Grove, part of their summer series of free shows. Sarah’s debut CD on Sugar Hill records is so good it's like a grand slam home run. She was still in high school while she was recording it, and although it has a couple of covers, it’s mostly original material. She’s a wonderful singer/songwriter/player steeped in traditional music but definitely stretching out very creatively – and she has many of her mentors/inspirations playing on the record, people like Chris Thile, Tim O’Brien, and many more. We’ve been friends with Sarah and her parents for about 5 years. We got acquainted while waiting in line to see Nickel Creek (all of us being big Nickel Creek fans, plus I work for The Greencards who have always been big supporters and friends of Sarah). Now when Sarah plays a gig locally, you can bet that the audience will be packed with her friends, neighbors, relatives, half the people in Wimberley – all big supporters. She’s gone off to college in Boston now.

August 19 we went to a house concert with Bert Lams (California Guitar Trio) and Tom Griesgraber -- acoustic guitar wizardry. Tom actually plays the Chapman Stick, which is basically all neck and incorporates 6 strings each, guitar and bass all in one, and is played by tapping (a gross oversimplification... sorry). The way we met Bert (back in 2001) was a bit unusual. My friend showed up with him at a concert at Antone's. She had just picked him up at the airport, coming from Belgium (where he is from). She said that he was a guitar player, and we said "Great!" (a lot of the people we meet here are guitar players... it's a music town). Then we ran into them a bit later at Waterloo Records (CD release for Monte Montgomery), where they pointed out a flyer for his upcoming show as a member of the California Guitar Trio... so he was not just a guitar player, but quite an exceptionally talented one!

August 29 was Eric Johnson at Tim's Porch at the Backyard. We have missed seeing EJ, he has been in the studio and touring out there in not-Austin. He was back playing with Alien Love Child, which is Bill Maddox on drums and Chris Maresh on bass. It's more of a blues jam outfit than some of his other combos. Eric is my favorite guitar player, whether it's acoustic or electric. Lots of folks I know both in person and online came from other states (Minnesota, Illinois, Colorado) and cities for the show. EJ is a world-class player, highly regarded in the world of guitar players. I got acquainted with EJ from having done some support work on his website awhile back (I also conducted an interview with him once), and not only is he brilliant as a musician, he's a super-nice person.

I wish that was a better picture. September 6th we took advantage to not having to get up on Monday morning, and went to Momo's for James Hyland and Warren Hood. Warren always puts on a great show, and it's different from time to time, depending on who's playing in the band. He had Emily Gimble on vocals and keyboards, she's a sweet jazz singer, and also happens to be the granddaughter of the legendary Johnny Gimble from Bob Wills' Playboys. New to me was the clarinet and saxophone of John Doyle. Wow. He added such a dimension to the sound. I can't wait to hear him again. I think the most impressive thing was Willie Pipkin on guitar. I've loved Willie's playing for years , but he was just exceptionally good that night (Willie, James, and Warren are all ex-South Austin Jug Band, another band I did some work for before they broke up). Then, of course, there's Warren (usually on fiddle/vocals). His music ranges from swing jazz to classical to bluegrass and more, always great. He plays fiddle for The Waybacks, but locally here, people just know him because he's Warren. This show was extra fun because Miss Toni Price was in the house (she has moved back from California - she's home again), looking fabulous, dancing and enjoying the show. She got up on stage for a bit. How could she not? Shows like this are just Pure Austin.

September 9 and 12 were Band of Heathens days. The 9th was a CD release in-store at Waterloo Records, and the 12th was full-on rockin' show at Antone's. We hadn't seen them since the Austin City Limits TV show taping (where I caught the tambourine and won't let anyone forget it - John, the band's drummer, left some comments on that post) and since those boys have been growing in popularity so much lately it's getting hard to see them. They'd been in Europe before that, and all over the country, a couple of quick breezes through Texas, and now back to Europe. No actual shows in Austin until December (at the Armadillo Bazaar) [edit: just realized that there is one at Whole Foods for HAAM Day on 9/22]. They are outgrowing us. It happens. No more being able to see them every week at Momo's or the Saxon Pub. They have sure got some great songs and a lot of soul too. A great live band, just like all the others in this post.

That pretty much rounds out the last month or so in our live music. This week there's Redd Volkaert and Heybale playing free at Sholz Garten on Wednesday, Hayes Carll playing free at Shady Grove on Thursday (those are tentative and will come with cat penalties) and Friday is MilkDrive and Marshall Ford Swing Band at the Cactus Cafe. Maybe Del Castillo the week after... another bash at Antone's. Then... possibly... the ACL Festival. We'll see. :-)

Tags: Music - Austin - Texas - Texas Music

Austin City Limits - Our First Time

The experience of Austin City Limits [ACL] (and it is necessary to clarify that I mean the 34-year running TV show on PBS, and not the more recent annual ACL festival) is shrouded in mystery. People don’t talk about it much, either before or afterward. I will break that unwritten rule to some degree here.

It has always been very difficult for most people to get in. If you are not “connected”, then you need to do your homework to try and be prepared for the ticket giveaways. There are several ways that it’s done – most commonly through the years (I believe) there would be an announcement on the radio telling you where to go get them, beginning NOW… and then if you weren’t at that spot at that time you would not get tickets. The rest of this story is that the show tapings are not given much press, so the average Joe music fan will not even know that it happened until the episode airs.

For a couple of years now (and only discovered very recently by me) there has been a blog bearing info on all things ACL-TV including ticket giveaways. They also feature online drawings for the tickets – which is how we got ours. These tickets are called “Space Available.” The venue capacity is 320, the Space Available people can go in after the invited guest-listers, and they give away a LOT more tickets that they will be able to seat so they make no promises about you getting in, even with a ticket. They distributed line numbers at 5PM, and let us go in at 7:40. If you were old enough, there was free beer waiting before entering the studio – which is as close to a sanctuary for modern music as you will find.

::: some would argue in favor of the Grand Ole Opry as the music show of longevity, but it has changed venues over its many years, and carved itself into a deep genre niche in the 1970s when they shunned almost all the “longhairs” [Opry wiki entry] while Austin embraced them, Willie Nelson's outlaw redneck/hippie combo changed American music, and the ACL studio stayed in the same place, meaning that you just might be seeing the same piano that Ray Charles played :::

ACL started out by featuring mostly Texas artists of all types, but has branched out over the years to feature music from all over the musical and geographical map, all either established or rising stars. Look at this amazing list!

We’ve been wanting to see a taping of ACL ever since we’ve lived here, and would have been happy to see nearly anyone, whether it was somebody really big, or even someone we weren’t that familiar with, but it was really special to be able to see one of our favorite Austin bands, the Band of Heathens, on their own turf with their peeps in the house, get to play on Austin City Limits.

Some notes on the experience.

Happily, the ticket line was outside but shaded from the beating-down 105° sun. I had been expecting to fry on the sidewalk.

(photo snagged off Maggie's Austin)

If you’ve seen the show, you know that the set looks like the stage is outside in a park with the Austin night skyline in the background. When we walked in, I couldn’t conceive of how they were going make that plain-looking room come alive, there was an extremely drab mural painted on the wall – then they switched it on, and voila! It all appeared like magic. It’s quite complicated and done with artful lighting. I only wish that the real Austin skyline wasn’t getting so complicated with all the new towering view clutter being built, but that’s another issue.

The sound in there was incredibly good, They never sounded better, or played better, or looked better (in the great lighting and with that backdrop) – it was really very exciting for the audience and the band too. We were in the front row dancing area (so, yeah, we will be on the teevee) and it was fun dancing (do I get carried away sometimes? Yes, I guess so, I just can’t be still. Some things just make me so happy so that nothing can blot it out, at least for the duration and sometimes the high will go for days depending on the intensity of the joy. That’s why I seek out those things.). I don’t know if it was my amazing sense of rhythm or what, but – much to my surprise – Colin Brooks threw me his tambourine – and the other big surprise is that I caught the sucker without missing a beat. I will never forget that. Nope. Never.

We won’t get to see the Heathens in Austin again until September for one show at Antone’s (new CD then maybe?). They are touring this country until then, touring Europe after that, then back home again in December. Check their schedule and go see them if you can. Meant to be seen live (or on Austin City Limits this November with Elvis Costello) (I will post a heads-up later).

[addendum 7/11] here's another posting from someone who went to this.


Tags: Music - Austin - Texas - Texas Music

2 big hot malls and a grocery store

4th of July extended weekend roundup.

The Band of Heathens, “Here’s to You”
“Don't let the door hit you on your way out.” That sentiment from the song kind of sums up my feelings for Sarah Palin. Enjoying watching her wither under her own heat. This weekend also brought the return of the so-called tea parties, although their numbers have dwindled greatly. There were 2 of them in Austin; one starring the infamous (not really named) Joe the (never was a licensed) Plumber, and another tax-protest party the following day which starred Rick Perry and John Cornyn. Cornyn was booed at the rally, both before and after he spoke. If that doesn’t give you a chuckle, then his claim that he is not part of Washington should do the job. Even Perry was booed when he mentioned that he’s adding some toll roads (why he would mention that during a tea party is beyond me). So… I guess Joe the Plumber and Ron Paul are the only real heroes for that bunch. We stayed far, far away from all that ugliness. The heat itself is ugly enough (it’s been in the 104° range every day with hardly any relief), but we did get out a bit for music over the weekend, all freebies. Friday evening Del Castillo played at a sprawling mega-shopping complex. They played an absolutely great show, but I think I was worn out between the blistering heat and Henry the cat having some health issues (more on that later), so we watched most of it from an uncrowded distance. This complex includes over 125 stores, including Super-Target AND Wal-Mart, and sprawls out in such twisty turns of parking lots that the earlier time we went there, we nearly gave up in exasperation while looking for Specs (which is a BIG liquor store)!! They were having a free beer tasting event, and it would take something of that magnitude (or a free show by Del Castillo) to get me to ever visit it. Saturday evening, the 4th of July, we went to another mega-sprawl to see one of our favorite bands, The Band of Heathens. The video at top is from Saturday, and happened at the massive Hill Country Galleria out in Bee Cave TX (across from The Backyard). This is a 2-year-old high-end complex that is now threatening bankruptcy in the economic crisis. They actually have a fairly nice place for music (except that the stage is unsheltered from sun or rain), and when we were there 2 years ago for the Grand Opening to see the South Austin Jug Band, they had a little beverage stand for the concert-goers. Not so this time. People brought coolers, but there was nothing in the event ads about coolers so we came without. Not the best situation considering it was still over 100° at 8pm. There's a restaurant behind the little amphitheater but they didn’t allow you to leave with booze and I’m not willing to give up my good concert seats for mere beverages. I hiked around the place a bit, hoping to find a convenience store, but with no luck. It’s a holiday and you’re supposed to be having a party, damn you Galleria. Anyway, we survived with flying colors, The Band of Heathens (who are all set for a taping of the TV show Austin City Limits this week!!) played a great set. They had fireworks afterward, but by the looks of them, our neighbors back at the homestead had bigger ones in their backyard (now that’s pathetic), so we headed home to attempt to soothe down the panicky cats. Jax hates fireworks, and having spent his first 7 years as an alley cat, I imagine he has very good reasons to hate them. On Sunday we went over to Central Market at noon for MilkDrive and welcome them home from their first tour as this band. Their official CD release party is on Tuesday at Fiddler's Green music shop (7pm). I will be there (right after Sarah Jarosz has her official CD release party at Waterloo Records). So, big day of music on Tuesday, hopefully no vet visits for awhile... and if it rains it might even cool down to under 95-99°.

Father Sun

[Slideshow of Stonehenge Solstice 2009 at BBC news] The caption for this picture quoted a man who claimed to be a Stonehenge Druid, and I am hoping a nice Druid and not one of those nasty cannibal types. Have you seen National Geographic's recent feature on new discoveries about Stonehenge and its creation? Fascinating stuff - pre-dates the Druids by quite a lot, and apparently the Druids just took it over at some point because it really is a pretty cool place. This day was called Midsummer from ancient time, and is still called that in many places around the world. I don't know how the day became designated as the first day of summer in the USA and other places, and I have to wonder why someone would pick the day that begins the shortening of the days as the BEGINNING of summer. Makes no sense to me. Anyway, Midsummer is always a day that I wish I could be "Pagan For a Day." Hey, I could very easily become a Pagan if it didn't involve having gods. At least their holidays are to celebrate very real earthly events, like the solstices.

As for real earthly events in this geographical spot, here's our weather forecast. That partly cloudy stuff coming later in the week is only going to run up the humidity.
[update: jun30: it ended up being several degrees hotter than predicted. whew!]

There are lots of activities coming up, but more and more I limit them in the summer. The Greencards play on Friday night (an outdoor show at Threadgill's) with Sarah Jarosz opening, and we are doing that for sure, but I believe that this year I will give a pass to KGSR's annual Fan Drive all-day concert at the same venue on the same day, because I don't want to be completely depleted from a whole day out in triple-digit heat. Here's the lineup at Threadgill's:
7am: Dean Seltzer
8am: Grupo Fantasma
9am: Rosie Flores
10am: Joel Guzman & Sarah Fox
11am: Kelly Willis
12pm: The Band of Heathens
1pm: The Gourds
2pm: Bill Carter
3pm: Surprise Guests!
4pm: Seth Walker
5pm: Bettysoo
6pm: Vallejo – Debuting their brand new single

...okay... tempting... now I am thinking I might scoot over there at least to catch Vallejo. Then I can coast into the evening after the blazing sun sets at 8:36 PM.

As for Father's Day around here, this is one of the cards received by the Dad of the house:

This week's music roundup

I've been working under the gun on a gig poster design, which needed to be finished by the end of the month in time for September dates, and I got approval on it last night when I fully expected to be working on it all this holiday weekend! Somebody fist-bump me! Here's a web-sized version of it.

It's for MiLkDrive. They had been using an only-slightly modified version of the Scooby-Doo van for their logo (OOPS, can't do that!), so I redesigned that, and there are no publicity photos or even great shots of them as a band yet so I had to wing it. Believe me, it was harder to draw these cartoon guys than plunking in a photo. They (along with brother-group South Austin Jug Band) are back from their tour in Early September.

Tuesday night was our show night, and we went to see our beloved Band of Heathens at the Saxon Pub. Got a couple of videos, so here's one of them for your enjoyment. This is Bob Dylan's "It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry"


Tags: Music - Austin - Texas - Texas Music

Heathens and beloved Pig

A blog re-post from The Band of Heathens (linking to MySpace blogs is a pain). I'm always glad when people get home safe. Too bad they missed that Nashville gig though. That would have been a good'un with great exposure. Here's your soundtrack on the right.

*************

Sunday, June 08, 2008

Tankers on Fire

Last night we played a benefit in San Marcos for the youth shelter there. It was a good time and I think they raised a bunch of money for the children. Help for the little heathens. Always a good thing. We left by 11pm, giving us exactly 15 hours to drive through the night to Nashville, for a show at the CMA Festival on the big Chevy Stage outside the next afternoon. We figured 2 hours of slop time was enough for the 13 hour drive… Normally we'd leave earlier to give us more time, but we wanted to play both of these shows, so that's what it would have to be…

We were somewhere east of Greenville, Tx, about an hour from the Arkansas border around 4 or 5am when there was a loud explosion a couple hundred yards ahead of us. We roll up around the corner and there is a tanker truck engulfed in 100 foot flames laid out across the road before us, burning to a crisp. We come to a stop about 10 or 15 cars behind it as everybody gets out and gets as close as possible until we realize there is really nothing we can do. It's impossible to tell if anybody is inside, or if they all got out, or what was going on. One car turned around and came back towards us with it's whole front end charred and burned black. Must've been close when it happened. Fire trucks show up, 3 or 4 ambulances come and go, and we're in the pitch black early morning hours, wandering the streets of burning hell, wondering if and how anybody would have survived the mangled, burning heap of molten steel and rubber. Hopefully they all got out before it exploded. We're still not sure whether there was a collision with another car, or if it was just the truck, but either way, it was ugly.

Still in shock, somebody remembers the show we have in t-minus 8 hours, 550 miles away. I silently said a prayer for the early morning souls of I-30, and we press onward across the median to the feeder road and start backtracking to find some Deliverance back road and a pathway around the mess on the highway. Along the way we pass a couple horses spooked by the explosion milling around in the roads. They must've jumped their fences.

About an hour after the explosion occurred, we're back on the highway, farther down the line, on track to make it to Nashville with time to spare… until we hear another explosive sound coming from the engine of our Mighty White Pig, the Faithful Dodge Sprinter 2500. After a couple brief stops to bang on this, rattle that, and jiggle the fuel- combustible- injection- turbo- hose- something or other, we could not find the problem so we pressed on. At around 6 am (Saturday), 8 hours before our show, the Pig took her last breath and coasted to a silent stop in the parking lot in Mount Pleasant, Tx. Needless to say, there was nothing pleasant about this scene. We spent the day talking to mechanics, tow trucks drivers, rental car companies, and hecklers who thought it was funny to see the long haired hippies in their European looking Sprinter van with nowhere to go. There would be No repairman who knows this particular diesel engine until Monday, because he was at a funeral. There would be No rental companies from Dallas to Arkansas that have a single 15-18 passenger van to fit 6 of us and our gear. There would be No pleasant memories for the Heathens from Mount Pleasant, Tx. And most importantly, there would be No Heathens at the gig in Nashville at the CMA Festival this afternoon.

Although it sucks to start off our 12-day trek to the east coast by leaving our van with an auto repair shop in Mount Pleasant, Tx and by canceling our first show at the CMA Festival, we will not be denied. We found an econoline cargo van in the parking lot across the street from the mechanics shop and we're renting it for 2 weeks along with a 4-door sedan. We will caravan to the rest of our shows, bringing American Rock 'n' Roll to the people of this great nation, in rememberance of our Mighty White Pig, who we hope to reunite with in 2 weeks.

Since it's been 2 days without sleep, and we've got some miles ahead of us, I must go. I hope to see you in New York on Tuesday, New Jersey on Wednesday, Pennsylvania on Thursday, Arlington night... Blablablabla.

Peace,

Gordy

The Band of Heathens

Tags: Music - Austin - Texas - Texas Music

Hank, Hill's, Horton and Heathens

It was our first time to Hill’s Café. They have free “live on the radio” shows on Wednesdays in summer. The history of the venue goes way back to the 1940s (see the link), and The Band of Heathens were playing, so we tried it out.
[Click photos to enlarge] One of the most interesting features of Hill’s is their display of the Skyline Club neon sign. For those not familiar with the Skyline, it was a club that used to be outside of Austin and was the last place that Hank Williams performed before his death. It was also the last place that Johnny Horton (North to Alaska, Battle of New Orleans) performed, he was killed in a head-on collision with a drunk driver after leaving a gig there.

Horton and Hank were also coincidentally married to the same woman (Hank’s widow married Horton nine months after Hank’s death), and both died in Cadillacs.

The patio of Hill’s has several beautiful and huge live oak trees and a backyard feel to it, complete with the smell of BBQ (which for us is a smell we can do without… but hell… this is Texas. It’s unavoidable.). There was a really nice cat cruising around for pettings. Not sure if he lived there, but he was an intact male, packing a set, and sure to add to the burden of cat overpopulation.

The first band was Ruby Jane, a girl fiddler who’s only 13 years old! She was good and had some good players in the band. Here is her merch table above. The cow was not for sale. The venue was also making sure that the opening band did not guzzle down more than their share of cold refreshments.

The (Band of) Heathens is one of our favorite bands in town. They’re a force of three singer-songwriters/guitar players plus rhythm section, and loaded with flavors. They always put on a great show and I have to say that this show was one of the best. It was a real WOW, and also a very hot and sweaty experience dancing to a band like that when it’s as sweltering as it’s been lately. Whew! I’m exhausted… but trying to knit myself back together for another freebie tonight when Del Castillo plays at Shady Grove. I’m tired as hell but can’t miss that one.

Radio station KVET took photos of last night’s events. The Blueberrys are in some of the shots, HE: very cool and together. SHE: hot and sweaty. Ain’t it always like that?

Tags: Music - Austin - Texas - Texas Music

For the love of Willie

Willie Nelson is turning 75 on the 30th! There's a lot of Willie on the local media now, since he's a local guy. He's certainly one of the most popular people on the planet. Author Joe Nick Patoski has just released a book called "Willie Nelson: An Epic Life," and he tells a few stories on this public radio piece. Willie has a few to tell himself. Listen to the streaming audio on this page. Good stuff.

If you love Willie and are interested in more good streams, local radio KGSR is throwing an on-air party on Wednesday night. More information at this link (and click here for Listen Live links). Program starts at 6pm, live music featuring some of the best local music starts at 8pm Central.

Featured live: Willie's daughter Paula Nelson, Patty Griffin, Bob Schneider, Alejandro Escovedo, Ray Benson, Ruthie Foster, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Fastball, Jimmy LaFave, The South Austin Jug Band, Future Clouds & Radar, Ian McLagan, The Resentments, The Band Of Heathens, Charlie Sexton, Bobby Whitlock & Coco Carmel, Carolyn Wonderland, Joe Ely, Kelly Willis and many more.

I work for his daughter Paula, which has a coolness factor in itself, of course. She's a sweet and pretty woman with a sultry honky-tonk voice and a great band. That doesn't mean I know Willie though. I haven't met him (can't count getting an autograph from the stage... that's not a meeting), would like to someday. I saw him play for the first time way back in the early 60s when he wore the standard suit and had a flat top haircut. Things sure have changed since then, a lot of it because of Willie.

Tags: Music - Austin - Texas - Texas Music - Willie Nelson

SXSW Day Three (Friday)

Friday
Quite a different day than Thursday! After yesterday's debacle with parking downtown, we decided to get Dillo-savvy and did the park-and-ride free Dillo shuttle bus. We couldn't believe we hadn't done it sooner. What a brilliant idea! Oh well, live and learn.

We spent several hours at the Yep Roc party at the Dirty Dog (which used to be held at the Yard Dog -- so it's a whole different Dog) down on 6th Street. It started at noon with free Lone Star beer and BBQ (nothing for us veg-heads to eat but cole slaw, but we didn't need food yet anyway). Really excellent bands, some I'd seen and some I hadn't. Started off with the Iguanas, a favorite from New Orleans. Then a bluegrass band from North Carolina called Chatham County Line.

Next up was Chuck Prophet. We hadn't seen him before but we've heard him a lot on KGSR. Here's what he sounds like:

Liam Finn is the son of Neil Finn (I love Neil Finn) and a member of Crowded House. I heard a lot of his dad in his voice. He put on a wild and energetic set with just enough cowbell!

Our Dirty Dog visit ended up with The Sadies, a kind of an alt-country alt-surf hard-rockabilly band from Ontario. We saw them a few years ago opening for our beloved Jayhawks.

After walking many, many blocks we caught the Dillo back to the car (and just in time as I had begun to get blisters on the soles of my feet), and went over to Maria's Taco Xpress on So. Lamar for the Sin City Party. The name "Sin City" is taken from the Gram Parsons record, and is run by a family friend of his from L.A. A friend of MrB's was expected to meet us there, and if it hadn't been for that we might have left soon after we got there. It was just jam-packed, too loud, and no place to sit where the bands were playing, and my feet advised me not to do any more standing. But things worked out almost magically... he showed up, we went out to the patio, and managed to borrow 3 chairs near the stage... and all in plenty of time for the Mother Truckers! Perfect. Look at this cute picture of Teal as she poses for the camera!

She's got one hell of a voice, and Josh plays some great rockin' guitar! They are California transplants, now known as as an Austin band, and proud of it.

I couldn't resist taking of pic of this adorable pet iguana that someone brought with them. I was told that it was a girl. Don't know exactly what species.

Next up was the Band of Heathens, and the week wouldn't have been complete without seeing these guys, they are a favorite.

So, two short but great sets from local favorites, and nobody held back. Outstanding! We called it a day after that, and went home to our lonely and cranky cats.

Tags: Music - Austin - Texas - Texas Music - SXSW

Eenie Meenie Chili Beanie

It's fun to try and make predictions. I have had mixed success making forecasts on this political race. A couple of successes (and nooo, I didn't blog them, just stuff I said to MrB) are (1) when McCain was busted broke and it looked like he was out the door, I predicted that he was going to make a big comeback, and (2) when Guiliani said he was going to skip Iowa / NH and go for Florida it looked to me like he was wanting to drop out of the race for some hidden reason (personal change of heart, scandals, health, who knows?) but wanted to go with dignity and drop out because he was lagging behind -- a plausible logical reason. These things are just my iNtuition (the N in INTP) talking.

Some future wild-ass predictions: McCain will pick a running mate who is unmistakably perceived as conservative and not anyone else who is running now. Maybe Condi? {shudder... hope not}

The Democratic side has been tougher to call. I was really surprised that Clinton took California. Texas and Ohio are coming up, and I have no feelings about what will happen in Ohio, but for a penny, Puss in Boots over there in the Fortune Telling Booth has predicted that Obama will get the Texas Dems in March. Out there in the wide open spaces of This Big Red State, I think Huckabee will do very well. I see Huckabee and McCain with high numbers, followed by Ron Paul with Romney trailing [edit: looks like Romney might be dropping out, so he will even closer to the bottom of the heap than I thought]. Here in this little blue oasis of Austin, the motherlode of Texas Liberals, I think that our pretty blue face is going to be bruised purple in March from Democrats registering Republican so they can vote for Ron Paul. I believe most of the other Democrats will go Obama, but in the more "normal" cities like Houston and Dallas they just might go for Hillary. My feeling is that she's not popular in these parts, but then I don't get out of the city limits all that much.

I think that Clinton and Obama will both visit us in Austin (MrB thinks they will be busier elsewhere in the state, or concentrating more on Ohio). Obama already paid us a visit back in Feb 07 and drew a crowd of over 20,000 people (and that was in the rain, folks). He has used footage from the rally in his Super Bowl ad. Here are a couple of the obviously Austin screen captures from the vid: our beautiful skyline and a shot of one of our favorite bands, The Band of Heathens, who played at the rally.

Personally, I'm going for Obama. If Clinton gets the nomination I will vote for her in Nov. We have GOT to get the White House back, folks. You may not be in love with Hillary, but I think we've got to get the right-wing-nuts out of power. I'm not one to be taken in by the speeches, but we've got to try and start attempting to fix the economy and health care and bring the troops home and try and save the earth. I'm not saying a Democratic president can do that, but a glimmer of hope is better than no hope at all.

Puss 'n Boots Fortune Teller snagged from this page, where you can buy it if you want.

Austin Music Poll - vote

There's still time to vote in the Austin Music Poll. You don't have to live here and you don't have to fill out the whole form. The musicians really do appreciate (and need) your votes.

There are lots of criteria to use in voting, whether you are a fan or just want to show some love to someone who had a tough year. There are musicians living around here who are pretty famous, and oddly enough, they don't usually win these awards although by no means are they exempted from the contest. Michael Corcoran, in this post, lays out his description of the difference between an Austin musician and a musician who lives in Austin, and tells why he doesn't think Iron & Wine qualifies. (When Sam Beam moved here, he was already big enough to sell out Stubb's, so he doesn't have to bust his ass every night in little clubs for tips. No crime there.) There are soooo many choices in every category you could list a hundred for each slot, but it's still perfectly alright to plug a few people.

Musician of the year: Stephen Bruton
He's battling throat cancer but still out there playing at the Saxon Pub, solo or with The Resentments. He threw a huge concert last summer called The Road to Austin, a FREE outdoor show with Kristofferson, Raitt, Eric Johnson, Bobby Whitlock, Joe Ely and lots more. He's a wonderful songwriter with a lot of soul. He's a treasure, and he got my vote.

Electric Guitar: Eric Johnson
He's world-class, and my favorite guitar player... period... and as unconceited as he can possibly be. If you want to embarrass him, tell him how good he is. His Cliffs of Dover is part of Guitar Hero III, Legends of Rock.

Acoustic Guitar: several plugs: Eric Johnson is great. Also Rick del Castillo or Mark del Castillo are favorites, and Monte Montgomery. All as fine as they can be. Monte is busting his ass every Wednesday night at the Saxon Pub, and that's not his only gig. This is a guitar town, so there are hundreds of choices for both electric and acoustic.

Bass Guitar: Chris Maresh. Versatile to the max, plays every kind of music and can keep up with the best of them. Roscoe Beck, also a good choice.

Drums: Tommy Taylor, who usually plays with Eric. There's also Terry Bozzio. You may have heard of him. Used to be in a band with Jeff Beck. Rattletree is a Zimbawean-style marimba band, and they made their own instruments.

Latin anything: Del Castillo or Grupo Fantasma.

Bluegrass: South Austin Jug Band

Strings: Brian Beken, Warren Hood, or Dennis Ludiker (my favorite fiddlers!)

Kid Band: though not technically a "band", our young friend Sarah Jarosz and her amazing mandolin won this last year, and she is still eligible. Also write her in for "Miscellaneous instrument -- mandolin"

Blues: Gary Clark Jr. hits the big screen this year in the movie "Honeydripper" directed by John Sayles. He's been playing in these clubs since he was way too young to be in them. He's the real thing, and my pick this year.

Bands, Roots Rock, Folk, Male and Female Singers, good grief there are too many to mention: The Band of Heathens, Mother Truckers, Gougers, Reckless Kelly, Texas Sapphires, Joe Ely, Mario Matteoli, Del Castillo, Patty Griffin, Shawn Colvin, Dixie Chicks, Willie Nelson, Iron & Wine, Dale Watson, James McMurtry, Ruthie Foster, Terri Hendrix, Belleville Outfit, Jon Dee Graham, The Resentments, Tea Merchants, any band that plays any night at Momo's, Antone's, The Saxon Pub, Emo's, Flipnotics, over on Red River, or at the Continental Club (what have I left out?).

Novelty or none of the above: Austin Lounge Lizards, Asylum Street Spankers, Friends of Dean Martinez, White Ghost Shivers, Eggmen...

World Music: Mundi

My favorite club this year was Momo's, the best acoustic listening room is still The Cactus Cafe.

Best Record Store: Waterloo Records

Want to explore Austin music? There's not a comprehensive guide, but there's this and this or this.

Here's the ballot.

Tags: Music - Austin - Texas - Texas Music

Another night at Momo's

Saturday we got to Momo's early to see The Steps [listen on MySpace], who I've been wanting to see. They are a really good (teenaged) rock band. Their playing is tight, all are good musicians, and they've got a sound that's a bit of a throwback to the early 60s British stuff that I love so much, and I am not talking about the sweet stuff, I mean the Kinks, Van Morrison's Them, the Yardbirds, and early Beatles and Rolling Stones -- they are often compared to the Strokes as well. They are so young, 2 of them are still in high school, but they've already played the Austin City Limits Festival, toured in London, and have a record coming out next month. [read more about them]

I picked up their set list (which was written on a restaurant order check) and got them to autograph it afterwards. They seemed surprised, but they did it happily with a grin and a WTF look... but they might as well get used to requests like that. I think they are going to go somewhere if they can stay together, especially when that CD comes out. The kids are alright!

The main band we went to see came on next. It was the Band of Heathens, one of our favorite bands. They were having their live DVD release (Live at Antone's), and we were there at Antone's for the taping of it last June. The mayor of Austin was at the show too (he's a fan) so I got him to autograph my DVD too. The Heathens put on a great show, as usual. Mark del Castillo and his wife were sitting behind us, and he tapped me on the shoulder to say hi. They are doing an early show (7pm) at Antone's later this month, and we both agreed that their Austin shows are kind of a family affair (babies, moms, uncles, aunts and grandparents in attendance) so early is good, and besides... lots of us (including some in the band) have to get up early. They are both really nice people, it's always a pleasure to run into them or anyone else from Del Castillo.

There was one more band on the ticket, La Tampiquena, which is Will Dupuy's band (ex-Jug Band), and Warren Hood (Waybacks) (also ex-Jug Band) was sitting in, and it was sounding really good but it was time for us old folks to go home to some lonely cats, unhappy to have been left for the evening without the regularly scheduled pettins.

Tags: Music - Austin - Texas - Texas Music