Tons and tons of good stuff going on this weekend, so I'll start things off with the monumental pile for tonight, Friday, January 22nd... Hell, tonight's full of difficult, painful choices -- here're my recommendations, but as always, your mileage may vary:

listenlisten/Robert Ellis/Gin City @ Free Press Houston Warehouse (3412 Yupon; $5, 8:30PM)
Probably my favorite of the bunch tonight, although it's a close contest, honestly... I just can't help but love-love-love listenlisten, with their mournful, thoughtful, another-timey folk tent-revival vibe; every time I see 'em, I get chills, I swear to God. And no, that doesn't happen real often. Hymns From Rhodesia was honestly one of the best albums I lucked into getting this past year, and that includes a crapload of "big" releases from outside this city.

Then there's Robert Ellis, who in addition to playing in 2/3rds of the bands in the Montrose also does great things solo -- I desperately need to get a hold of last year's The Great Rearranger full-length sometime very, very soon. Opening are Austinites Gin City, who I heard for the first time today but whose name I like, for what that's worth. Some of their stuff's darn intriguing, like Billie Holiday backed by a minimalist dance-pop outfit or something; and hey, I can't help but like a band that does a reverent cover of "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea."

Haiti Relief Benefit, featuring The Factory Party, The Failed Attempt, Shark Attack, Versecity, DJ Sun, Kung Fu Pimp, Brad Slack, & Chris Costello @ Warehouse Live (6PM)
The third in a line of benefits for Haiti, which is most definitely a good cause in my book; this one's somewhat the dance/ska/reggae version, as far as I can tell, with cool folks like The Factory Party, DJ Sun, and Shark Attack on the bill. The proceeds go to the Red Cross, this time 'round. Get on out & help...

Chase Hamblin/The Nightmare River Band/Maryanna Sokol @ Mango's ($7)
Yeah, I already talked this one up a bit, I know, but trust me, it'll be good. Chase Hamblin does some good shit, and I like what I've heard so far of Maryanna Sokol, who does somewhat of a Regina Spektor-ish singer/songwriter pop thing.

Roky Moon & Bolt/Springfield Riots/Passengers/Big Black Spiders @ Walter's
Switchup time for this show -- one of the American Sharks guys reportedly had to leave town tonight, so they can't play, but Sharks frontman Mike is bringing his ever-ready Roky Moon & Bolt gang out to play, instead, running Bowie and T.Rex through some kind of "Punk Rawk" filter like they always do. Which is no bad thing, obviously -- add them to sweet, warm-sounding retro-popsters Springfield Riots, who ride the line between vintage '60s pop and, say, "Wish You Were Here"-era Floyd, and Passengers, who kinda take the psych-rock thing out to the garage and beat it with baseball bats for a while. (In a good way, of course).

J.T. Kerschen's Imaginarium/ Fiskadoro/If the War Should End @ Notsuoh
Can't find a Website for 'em, but J.T. Kerschen's Imaginarium is the latest project by A Thousand Cranes guy Travis Kerschen, so it promises to be interesting at the very least and quite possibly very cool. Plus, there's Fiskadoro, who're nicely murky and hypnotic; should be good.

29-95.com Presents, featuring The Live Lights, Tax The Wolf, & The Dardans @ The Continental Club
Think I've said this about these guys before, but I really need to pay more attention to The Live Lights -- they do some really cool, attitude-heavy, BRMC-sounding stuff. Ditto with Tax The Wolf, who reportedly have some really good new stuff on the way. And hey -- free. Probably should've mentioned that first...

Runners-Up:
Deep Ella/Language Room/Courier/Mahoney @ Fitzgerald's
Four Year Strong/The Bled/This Time Next Year/Fingers Crossed/Title Fight @ The Meridian
Malcolm Rollick @ Sedition Books
Million Stars Missing/The X-Pats/Night Flight/A Silent Canvas/Winter Road/Oscuridad Social/Oncoming Traffic/This Name's Temporary @ The Mink (7PM)
Mark Growden @ Avant Garden

Labels: Charitable Things, Flyeration, H-Town News, Musical Crap, Public Service Announcements, Things To Do

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Just a quick note for your upcoming Thursday (aka January 21st) evening, y'all... A few days back, your humble editor guy finally reviewed local retro-pop singer/songwriter/bandleader guy Chase Hamblin's debut EP, A Fine Time -- apologies to Chase for it taking so damn long (I think I got the damn EP back in the summer -- cringe), by the way; I'm afraid my pile of stuff I need to listen to & write about has grown to monumental proportions. Working through it, honest...

At any rate, now that I've gotten a chance to listen to it a bit more intently & write about it, I'm pretty damn impressed. It's a quick-hit of an EP, skipping cheerily past so I have to go back & try to fix in my head what I just heard, but that's never a bad thing; better still, it's got a nice bit of murky darkness lurking beneath the shiny, bouncy Beatlesque shell (no, really -- just listen to the title track). Kudos to the guy for coming up with an EP of songs that sound not like '60s ripoffs but like songs that grab the '60s sound and use it for their own nefarious ends. Check out the full review here, should you be inclined.

And hey, Chase will be playing tonight (naturally), opening for accordionist(!) Mark Growden, who I dunno, up at the Avant Garden. Show starts at 10PM, and the cover's $5. I don't care what anybody says -- accordions fucking rule.

Oh, and Chase's playing again tomorrow night, Friday, January 22nd, this time with his full band, headlining a show with Noo Yawkers The Nightmare River Band (who I keep wanting to call the Riverbottom Nightmare Band) and local songstress Maryanna Sokol. The show'll be at Mango's The flyer for that one's over there on the right.

And then, um, he's playing a third time in a week or so, next Friday, January 29th, at a fundraiser the Free Press gang's organizing (I believe?) for Abbas from Cafe Brasil, who's had to have hip surgery and needs help with the bills. Mango's, again, for that one. Plenty, plenty, plenty of chances to see Chase, so unless you, like me, are stuck at the casa with a kuato attached to you, you've got no excuse. Right?

Taft Street Haiti Benefit:
While I'm at it, tonight also happens to be the second in a handful of benefits going on 'round town for the earthquake-stricken people of Haiti (who're now coping with aftershocks nearly as bad as the initial quake). According to Houston Calling, local musician Derek Webb is organizing the thing over at the Taft Street Coffee House; he says there'll be "others" involved in tonight's show (which starts at 6PM), but I've got no details at to who. Still, a good cause; thanks to David for the tip.

Labels: Charitable Things, Flyeration, H-Town News, Musical Crap, Public Service Announcements, Things To Do

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I've been trying to post something about the disaster in Haiti and how horrific it is, encouraging folks to donate what they can to help out, but so far anything I've been able to come up with the write about the still-unfolding tragedy seems trite and pointless, honestly; what the hell can I say that's going to mean anything for the situation? Not knowing anybody from Haiti and having the good fortune to have my family safe & healthy, have a good job, and have a roof over my head, I find myself thinking, "well, not much." I can't say I know what it's like for the people there, because I've got no clue. I can't fathom what it must be like to lose your home, your family, and everything you own, all in one fell swoop. If nothing else, staring in dumbstruck horror at the pictures on the television the past several days has made me appreciate one thing even more -- I am very, very, very lucky.

And the way to show gratitude for that, to my mind, is to help less fortunate people however I can. I'll admit it, I make a decent paycheck, so I've donated already (to Oxfam, whom I like quite a bit) and will most likely donate again soon. I'll put some links below for folks to do the same, if they want, but tonight (today being Monday, January 18th) you Houstonians out there can help in a slightly different way.

How? Well, it turns out that the biggest names of H-town's hip-hop scene are doing their part up at Warehouse Live tonight, at a benefit they're calling Houston 4 Haiti. The lineup includes the stellar Bun B, Slim Thug, Paul Wall, Candi Redd, Lil' O, Trae, Just Brittany, The Party Boys, ESG, Young Problems, Cory Mo, and several others I don't know about besides, all donating their time and talent to help out.

The ticket prices may seem a little steep -- $25 online or $30 at the door -- but 100% of the proceeds go to benefit CARE, who're a group I personally admire and respect. This is definitely a good cause, in my book. The show starts early, at 4PM, and reportedly runs 'til 8PM or so, so if you can get on over to the Warehouse this afternoon/evening, do it.

Big, big thanks, btw, to David over at Houston Calling; I would've missed this thing completely if it weren't for his post on it earlier today. Good one, man.

If you can't make it out tonight, of course, there's plenty of other places you can donate online; here's my personal list of groups I like:

• Oxfam
• ActionAid
• Doctors Without Borders
• Partners In Health
• Save the Children
• CARE
• Mercy Corps

Obviously, this isn't any kind of canonical list -- these are just groups I've supported in the past and that I think do good things. There're plenty of other groups that are trying to help and plenty of other ways to donate (Charity Navigator has a great list over here); do what you can.

Labels: Charitable Things, H-Town News, Musical Crap, Public Service Announcements, Things To Do

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Yeah, I know it's late, sorry; I got the email last night & didn't get a chance to slap the info up here right now. The show, which was set up by Room 101's Roburt Reynolds, is a benefit for a hospital in the impoverished/ coup-stricken country of Honduras, run by a guy named Dr. Luther Castillo, where the poorest Hondurans can get healthcare.

The new Honduran government has repeatedly threatened Dr. Castillo and cut off the salaries of the doctor's at Castillo's hospital, so they need whatever assistance they can get to keep helping people. Definitely a worthy cause, I'd say.

The bad part? Well, the benefit's already going on right now, today -- the show started at 2PM. It'll run through 7PM or so tonight, though, and features a bunch of bands, plus veggie/Mexican food, drinks, and presentations and films on the hospital and the situation in Honduras. Here's the schedule Roburt sent out:

2:00-2:45p Okinawa
2:45-3:30 Evelyn Zuniga Presentation
3:30-4:00 Student Presentation
4:00-4:30 Permanent Vegetative State
4:40-5:15 Anarchitex
5:15-5:30 Geltab
5:30-5:45 Student Presentation
5:45-6:15 Short Film on Honduran Hospital
6:15-6:35 Room 101
6:45-7:15 The Delta Block

Anyway, the benefit's at Sedition Books, over at 901 Richmond -- good bands (esp. Roburt's own one-man-band), good cause, good food, good everything, so get on over there, eh?

Labels: Charitable Things, Flyeration, H-Town News, Musical Crap, Political Stuff, Public Service Announcements, Things To Do

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Yep, I'm a fan of H-town's very own anarchist bookstore (the only one I've heard of, anyway), Sedition Books (901 Richmond) -- I certainly wouldn't call myself an anarchist, but I think it's crucial to have some kind of a clearinghouse like this in our city, to provide access to information most Houstonians aren't going to be able to find otherwise.

They call themselves an "infoshop," which kind of makes sense, as they do more than just sell books -- they have a fairly large lending library that's open to all, they provide meeting spaces for nonprofits and activists, they have a zine library, and even offer free Internet access. All of which is very cool by me, at least.

They've hit some setbacks along the way to where they are, though, including a near-crippling arson at their original Washington Ave. location. They've bounced back, sure, but this stuff takes funding to keep going, so they're celebrating their "first year of rent paying and regular hours" with a series of benefit shows at Super Happy Fun Land, the first of which is today, Saturday, August 15th.

The cover's $7, the show starts around 8PM, and it'll feature some of Houston's rawest punk and strangest/most intriguing experimental acts: The Delta Block, A Thousand Cranes (whom I enjoy blissing out to), Anarchitex (old-school H-town punk rock), Room 101 (who rule, seriously), & Police State America (or P.S.A., for short). The proceeds go both to Sedition and to SHFL, so it's a good cause either way.

Labels: Charitable Things, H-Town News, Musical Crap, Political Stuff, Public Service Announcements, Things To Do

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Unless you've been dead for the past few months (or, okay, you don't happen to live here in Houston), odds are you've heard about the sure-to-be-epic Free Press Summerfest spanning Saturday and Sunday of this next weekend (the 8th & 9th, non-calendar-having punks) at Eleanor Tinsley Park. And trust me, "epic" is the word -- they've got a slew of badass headliners, folks like Broken Social Scene, The Sword, & Prince Paul, plus about a million of H-town's absolute best bands.

Seriously, if you gave me a piece of paper and asked me to come up with a list of everybody in town right now who rules, it'd look pretty much like the lineup for this thing: O Pioneers!!!, Muhammidali, Buxton, Fat Tony, The Tontons, Roky Moon & Bolt, The Small Sounds, Perseph One, etc., etc., etc. I won't bore y'all with the full schedule, but it's available right up here for those who need to know who's playing where when.

You can check out some very nice writeups, by the way, of folks playing the Summerfest, both over at Brigitte Zabak's blog I Keep Mine Hidden and at David Cobb's Houston Calling site. They're good writers and good people. Brigitte's already written News on the March, B L A C K I E, The Tontons, Young Mammals, and Austinites Explosions in the Sky, What Made Milwaukee Famous, & UME, and David's so far previewed Buxton, The Octopus Project, & Chase Hamblin. I applaud these two fine, fine writers for taking on a task that I myself am too freaking lazy to do...

But wait, there's more! As per the tag line up there, the ever-cool Omar of Free Press Houston, who're throwing this shindig (duh) has been kind enough to hand over 4 passes to the festival, which we'll be giving away to four lucky, totally-randomly-selected people out there who happen to read this.

If you want one, email me at "gaijin at spacecityrock DOTDOTDOT com" with the Subject: line "Sunstroke me, please!" and include your name, your email address, and your phone no. (just in case). You've got 'til 8AM tomorrow to get your name in the hat; at that point, we will use our usual ultra-scientific method of selecting names, which typically involves cajoling the house midget into pulling four scraps of paper w/names scrawled on 'em out of a hat.

Fire away, folks. And if you don't win, don't do anything drastic like jumping off the Hazard St. bridge -- day passes are still only $10, with two-day passes for $16 -- it's recession-style affordable, yo.

Oh, and if you want to see a truly, truly disturbing (and funny) promo for the festival, well, you're in luck:

FREE PRESS SUMMER FEST COMMERCIAL from mark armes on Vimeo.

Labels: Charitable Things, Free Stuff, H-Town News, Musical Crap, Public Service Announcements, Things To Do, Things To Read, Things To See

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Promised I'd mention this in a bit more detail, so here it goes... This coming Saturday, July 18th, a group called The Pure Water Project is throwing a festival/benefit, the Pure Water Music Festival, down in the La Porte 'hood.

It'll run from 1-9:30PM at the Fairmont Park Church (10401 Belfast Rd.), and they've managed to recruit some extremely talented folks, both local and from a bit further afield: listenlisten, B., The Eastern Sea (Austin/Houston), Cedar Boy Bailey (aka Sergio from Buxton, possibly with Anthony from The Western Civ & Hollywood Black), B L A C K I E, Papermoons (Austin/Houston), & Old Coyote (Austin; no clue who the "And More..." might be, sorry).

The festival costs $10, which isn't bad considering the lineup and is well worth it for the cause alone. I'll let the Pure Water folks explain that themselves, though:

The #1 killer in the world today is unsanitary water. Over 30,000 people die everyday from diseases due to contaminated drinking water. Over 1 billion people around the glove lack access to pure drinking water. The overwhelming majority of these victims live in the poverty stricken and wartorn countries of Sub-Saharan Africa.

The Pure Water Project exists to raise awareness and resources for the need in Africa. One well can bring new health and life to an entire community by providing over 600 gallons of safe water a day. The cost for one well is $5,390. You can help by donating or volunteering at a special event.

What is it?
Pure Water Music Festival.

When is it?
July 18th, 2009 1:00PM-9:30PM.

How much does it cost?
$10.

Where is it?
Fairmont Park Church
10401 Belfast Rd.
La Porte, TX, 77571

What's all this for?
To build water wells in Sub-Saharan Africa.

What can you expect?
Bands, a screening of a film about water wells in Africa, vegan-friendly food, and Sweet Leaf Tea!

What can you bring?
Yourself, friends, family, an open heart, and your own bottle of water, or canteen for water because NO PLASTIC WILL BE SERVED.

There you go; if you're into it and/or happen to live out that way, get on over to the Fairmont Park Church tomorrow. No idea what the fest itself will be like, but the bands will definitely be cool.

Labels: Charitable Things, Flyeration, H-Town News, Musical Crap, Public Service Announcements, Things To Do

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If you've been paying attention, you've been seeing/hearing me talk quite a bit lately about folks going out on tour -- I think it's a freaking awesome development, and the fact that nearly half of the coolest-ass bands in town right now seem to be either currently touring or planning to tour is one of the best things to happen to the H-town scene at large in quite a while.

Don't get me wrong; I'm still a sucker for the intimate feel of those down-to-earth, you-and-your-friends shows where it's like the band you're watching is this magical, special secret that nobody outside of Houston (or, hell, Montrose) is ever going to get to experience. But for the sake of the host of excellent bands here that're unknown outside of the city limits, I have to say that exposure is utterly, completely crucial. And I don't mean for one or two bands here or there -- I mean for everybody. This rising tide really does float all boats, in that if a half-dozen Houston bands get nation-wide exposure, more and more people and media outlets and record labels will start looking our way. While I don't want Houston to become The New Seattle (not that that's really possible anymore anyway), it'd sure be nice for people here to be able to make some money at this shit.

The downside, of course, is that touring is fucking expensive. Food, gas, lodging, road supplies, broken equipment, transportation -- it all adds up in a hurry, even when you do it DIY. So it makes perfect sense to me to see local punk crew Something Fierce turning to their friends & fans here in town for a little help with the touring costs; they're throwing a fundraiser of sorts this coming Friday, July 17th, in an effort to build up some bank for the road, with the promise of cool music (including DJs Sir Hiss, Nam Jam, King Chidora, & Modsesito; not sure the band'll play, though), beer, food, & other fun, entertaining things.

Here's the full spiel, straight from their Myspace page:

Hello everyone,
We've been planning a fundraiser party to help ease the costs of hitting the road, and also to hang out with our friends once more before we leave. The plan is to have a keg, good food, and some DJ's spinning. We're even considering setting up in the middle and playing a short set, although neighbors might prohibit such an event.

Unfortunately, that little get together is looking more like a necessity right now, as we've just found out that the brake and tire system on our van is in dire need of an overhaul. We know how to save for tour, but this one caught us a little off guard. We would absolutely love your support and monetary funds, however large or small, to help keep us moving ahead.

And hey, you get to party a little in the process!

FOR THE OUT OF TOWN PEOPLE:
If you really want, you can send Paypal Donations to "SomethingFierce" at "billybob DOTDOTDOTDOT com". If you donate $20 or more, we'll send you a super-limited edition, signed copy of There Are No Answers on white vinyl, as well as a signed Modern Girl 7".

Please get in touch for details on the party, or even if you'd just like to help.

Now, because this is a house-party deal, and those things can definitely get out of hand, the SF folks have wisely decided to make this a quasi-secret event -- meaning that you have to get a hold of them to get the directions & whatnot. As the bottom of the poster says, "No Randos". But if you love the band (as I do) and you want to help 'em out and/or party with 'em, get in touch with 'em. Help a struggling Houston band make it back out on the road to promote the left-field awesomeness of H-town far & wide...

Utterly Random Tour-Related Note: By the by, just in case any NYC hipsters out there happen to be reading this happy little blog (um, right...), y'all can experience both the bundle-of-wires energy of indie-rock/popsters Young Mammals and the smart, street-savvy hip-hop flow of Nosaprise up there in your 'hood this week. The Mammals are playing tonight (Thurs., July 16th) at Union Hall in Brooklyn, I'm told, and Nosa will be at Parkside Lounge (along with members of Free Radicals, apparently) in Manhattan on Fri., July 17th and at Fat Beats on Sun., July 19th. H-town, represent.

Labels: Charitable Things, H-Town News, Musical Crap, Out-of-Town Stuff, Public Service Announcements, Things To Do

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Not a music-related deal, really, but given the circumstances, I think it's well worth mentioning. Jason Nodler, the founder of the much-celebrated, ultra-indie local theater troupe Infernal Bridegroom Productions and current Artistic Director for (and also founding member of) the relatively-new Catastrophic Theatre, was apparently hit by a taxicab over in Amsterdam right at the end of May. I don't know all the details, but it doesn't sound like he's in good shape, and even though he's healing up, the bills are starting to pile up.

To help Jason out, his friends back here in H-town are throwing a benefit/open house tomorrow night (Sat., July 11th) for the guy at The Catastropic Theatre main office. Here's the specific info & some more background, from fellow Catastrophic player/founder Tamarie Cooper:

Many of you know that Jason was the victim of a serious hit and run accident while in Amsterdam this summer. He has had surgery and despite much pain, is finally starting to heal, very, very slowly.

Although Jason has a basic health insurance plan, there are many medical expenses that are not covered and he is currently in dire financial straits.

Unfortunately, the Dutch authorities are dragging their feet on charging the driver of the cab that hit Jason and, even if he is eventually compensated, it could be years before he recovers any of his expenses.

Jason is also not comfortable asking his friends for help with this matter, so I've taken it upon myself to do so for him.

Any size of financial contribution will greatly help. Please join me in raising these much-needed funds! Whether it's $10 or $100, any amount will help immensely.

In times of crisis, we must turn to friends and family for assistance. Let's help our friend and fearless leader of The Catastrophic Theatre, literally, get back on his feet.

We will be having an Open House/ SAVE JASON! Benefit at:

The new Catastrophic Office, 1540 Sul Ross (on the corner of Mandell & Sul Ross, directly across the street from the Menil Collection) on:

SATURDAY JULY 11th

6pm-11pm

Beer, wine, sodas, cocktails, delicious food, and lively banter will be offered for your enjoyment.

Cash and checks (made payable to Jason Nodler) will be happily accepted at the Benefit.

...

Contributions may also be made with credit cards via PayPal. Simply visit the PayPal website (www.paypal.com) and click the "Send Money" tab.

All you'll need to complete your transaction is Jason's email address: jnodler@gmail.com

Thanks Everyone!

Whether you can make it to the benefit itself or not, help the guy out -- he's been a major part of Houston's theater & art scenes for longer than I've lived here, and he needs our help.

Labels: Arty Shit, Charitable Things, Public Service Announcements, Things To Do

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I didn't know Dave Rask personally, unfortunately, but even before his untimely death I'd heard some amazing things about the Seabrook-dweller's music, both solo and with bands Death By Texas & Barstool Forest. The bits & pieces I'd heard made him sound like an impressively good songwriter, somebody with the potential to do some really incredible things, and the news from the Houston Press that he'd been badly burned and passed away in the hospital down in Galveston came as a shock.

Rask's friend and folky singer/songwriter Sara Van Buskirk (herself no slouch in the songwriting dept.) has organized a Memorial/Benefit Show for Rask's family, to be held tonight, Wed., July 8th over at the Avant Garden, reportedly Rask's favorite hangout. A star-studded cast of talented friends and compatriots will be there to celebrate the musician's life, including Van Buskirk, finnegan, Austin's Jim & The Toms, Jacob Houck (of Hungry Villagers), The Gold Sounds, & Death By Texas.

Here's the description of what tonight'll hopefully be like, courtesy of the show's organizers:

When our friend Dave Rask passed away he left some steep hospital bills to his family. We are throwing a show with all of his friends to help raise money for that and awareness of his exceptional art.

There will be a gallery of his paintings for viewing, his music for sale (if we are lucky), baked goods, raffle items & music performed by his fellow songwriters.

Please come out and celebrate a wonderful man's life.

If you'd like to come out & celebrate Rask's life with these folks, the memorial/benefit starts at 8PM, and there's a suggested donation of $5 to help his family out with the expenses.

Labels: Charitable Things, Flyeration, H-Town News, Musical Crap, Public Service Announcements

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Mentioned this briefly earlier on, but the next installment of the BandCamp series up at the Caroline Collective is set for today (again, Sun., June 14th). I haven't seen a lot in the way of details, unfortunately, but here's what I've got from co-organizer Matthew Wettergreen:

Next Bandcamp: Booking Party
Bring your press kit, a list of dates that you are available to play shows and a laptop. We will be gridding out the surrounding cities, dates and venues and contacting all of them over the course of a couple hours to help book Houston bands for the next several months.

It'll run from 2-5PM this afternoon, so make plans to head over to the Collective around then with all your press-type stuff. This sounds like it'll be an extremely handy thing; admittedly, the one band I was ever in never "toured" further than San Antonio or Austin, but still, booking shows is quite possibly the roughest, most pain-in-the-ass part of band life. I'm thinking any assistance/guidance is a good thing to get.

In semi-related bad news, apparently some imbecilic asshat came to the Caroline Collective Anniversary Party a week or so ago and walked off with Matthew's laptop, which, naturally, contained all the myriad secrets of the Collective & BandCamp, and all kinds of personal life-type junk besides.

And no, from the pics, it's not likely you accidentally grabbed it, thinking it was yours. If you're the fucking troll who decided it'd be fun to rip off the people throwing the nice, free party you're attending, you need to pick up the nearest heavy object and club your lame-ass head with it. And then get back in your car & return the damn thing. Got it?

If you yourself are innocent, keep an eye out, and if anybody you know magically appears one day with a slightly-used Dell Inspiron 6000 sporting a ton of KTRU, Caroline Collective, Amoeba Music, WordPress, & Yelp stickers, drop the Caroline folks a line at "carolinecollective" at "gmail dot com". Failing that, check out the link for how to use ChipIn to donate to help Matthew replaced the computer the thief/thieves swiped. The Collective isn't exactly raking in the dough, y'know, so he needs all the help he can get.

Shit like this pisses me off, could you tell? Esp. because I know that if some fuckwad stole my laptop, I would be well and truly screwed...

Labels: Charitable Things, H-Town News, Musical Crap, Public Service Announcements, Things To Do, Things To See

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And on it goes... Saturday & Sunday night're looking just as busy as last night did; plenty of good stuff to choose from:

Sat., June 13:
Something Fierce/Be My Doppelganger/Fat Tony/American Sharks @ The Mink
It's seriously been too damn long since I saw Something Fierce play last, and that's a damn shame, because I really, truly love that freaking band. They're one of the best things going in this city, in any musical genre, and one of the absolute best punk bands around, period, in my book. Plus, I've heard really good things about rapper Fat Tony, and I dig what I've heard of garage-y punks American Sharks.

Springfield Riots (EP release) @ Cactus (4PM)
A good early show, and one well worth seeing; more info about this already up here...

U.S. Air Guitar Championships - Houston Regionals @ Warehouse Live (7:30PM)
Yeah, you've already heard about this one from me, too -- get out & give Jacob Calle some fans to wow, eh?

Miniature Tigers/ listenlisten/ Forests @ Walter's on Washington
Not super familiar with Miniature Tigers, but I've been digging the jaunty, smirking pop of "Cannibal Queen", which marries the snarkiness of OK Go with the lightheartedness of, say, Fountains of Wayne. It's a bit of an odd fit with listenlisten's murky, gloomy, other-century sound, but hey, they're both cool bands, so I can't complain, right?

The Tontons/Mystery Flavor/Focusyn @ Mango's (free!)
I swear The Tontons get better even damn time I see 'em; I only briefly caught 'em at the FPH Block Party, but even that little taste was good. The combo of fuzzed-out psych-rock and singer Asli's sultry-smooth soul vocals is, in a word, amazing. Each and every time.

Super Happy Sat Afternoon Matinee Show, featuring AWAKE, Eminent Hero, & more @ Super Happy Fun Land
Dunno who all's playing this little "matinee" show -- I think they're a regular thing at Super Happy Fun Land, btw, and you can sign up beforehand if you want to play -- but I'm very happy to see AWAKE playing out again. I'd feared the worst, honestly... I've only caught 'em live twice now, but they're intriguing, to say the least, thundering and slow and heavy as fuck in the vein of older Isis or Ocean. Worth checking out, definitely.

Heartworn Highways Benefit for Old Quarter Acoustic Cafe, featuring Robert Ellis, John Hogan, Matt Harlan, & Carey Wolf @ The Orange Show (7PM; $10)
This was originally supposed to happen back in March, but since The Orange Show doesn't generally handles storms all that well (being outdoors), they had to reschedule to sunnier/warmer days, like right now. It's a benefit for Galveston's Old Quarter Acoustic Cafe, which was heavily damaged by Ike back in the fall, and is meant to be a tribute to the music of Townes Van Zandt, which sounds cool all by itself. Personally, I'd say it's worth seeing just for the excellent, excellent Robert Ellis...

Miss Leslie & Her Juke-Jointers @ The Continental Club (2PM)
Not sure if this is an every-Saturday deal or what, but even if it's not, it's still cool -- old-school, Patsy Cline-esque country fave Miss Leslie will be playing (for free, I think?) over at The Continental Club in the early afternoon, and that's never a bad thing.

Blaggards @ The Continental Club
Raging Gulf Coast Bikini Fest, featuring P.L.F., Nibiru, Bowel, The Delta Block, SUS, Sodomorrhea, Bleach Boys, H.R.A., Dissent, Strugglebear!, Room 101, Warcola, Slowly Truth Dies, Cop Warmth, Criminal Mischief, Rapeworm, Rusted Shut, & Power Pellut @ The Rats Nest (2305 Lyons; 3PM, $10)
Benefit Show, featuring Searching for Signal, Your Amsterdam, & Bows and Arrows @ Houston Lighthouse (3602 W. Dallas)
Under the Sun/Roots of Exile/Ballistics/Molotov Compromise/Always Guilty @ Notsuoh
Lovel46 Benefit Show, featuring Three 60, The Ride Home, 5 Years and Counting, 2Ate1, New Era, & Just Us @ Javajazz Coffee House
Come See My Dead Person/We are Halffnelson @ The Scout Bar (Clear Lake)

Sun., June 14:
Swap & Bop, featuring Chango Man, Opie Hendrix & the Texas Tallboys, Carrie Ann and the Apocalyptics, & Carl Piano Smith @ The Continental Club (free; 12-6PM)
I'd figured to post more on this separately, too, because it sounds like a very cool deal -- swap meet meets outdoor music fesival...

Revolution Mother/Trian Woodburns/The Scandal/Rats In The Attic @ Walter's on Washington
MeWithoutYou/The Dear Hunter/Bear Colony @ Javajazz Coffee House (16300 Kuykendahl)

Labels: Charitable Things, Flyeration, H-Town News, Musical Crap, Public Service Announcements, Things To Do

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It's like those non-sleeping folks over at the Free Press Houston are psychic, I swear. Just the other night I happened to be skimming through a recent issue of Outside, where they list out all the "big"/"cool" music festival scattered 'round the country this summer, and it was getting me down.

"Why the fuck don't we, the 3rd-biggest damn city in the country, have a decent music fest of our own?," I mused grumpily. "I mean, I love the Free Press Block Parties and the KTRU Outdoor Show and the Houston Press Awards, but none of those are a Bonnaroo or ACL or Sasquatch! or Pitchfork or Wakarusa or Coachella. Hell, it seems like all you need these days is a goofy name, and poof!, you've got yourself a music festival. How many does Austin have, alone? Four? Surely we could scrape together something, right?"

And yea, verily, the High and Most Munificent Gods of All Things Musical smiled down on me from their lofty abode in the skies. (And by "me," I mean "everybody in the greater Houston area who likes music and doesn't think Good Music begins and ends with what gets played on our shitty, shitty mainstream radio stations.)

Turns out the FPH crew have been working on this very freaking thing -- like I said, psychic. They're calling it the Free Press Summerfest (the name of which hopefully won't get 'em into hot water/confusion with the other "Summerfest," held up in Milwaukee every year), and holy fuck, does it look awesome. From Saturday, August 8th to Sunday, August 9th, Eleanor Tinsley Park (that's the one on Buffalo Bayou, wedged in between Memorial & Allen Parkway just west of downtown) will vibrate to the sounds of a handful of top-shelf, big-name-indie out-of-towners and nearly every good band in Houston right now, all for a measly $7 for a day pass or $12 for both days (that's the presale price, btw; it goes up to $9 & $14 if you wait).

The lineup's in the flyer over there, but here's the full list I've seen so far, in case you can't see it for yourself:

• Broken Social Scene
• Of Montreal
• Explosions in the Sky
• Voxtrot
• The Sword
• What Made Milwaukee Famous
• The Octopus Project
• UME
• Buxton
• Fat Tony
• The Wild Moccasins
• Young Mammals
• Sideshow Tramps
• Grandfather Child
• Hearts of Animals
• GRRRL Parts
• H.I.S.D.
• Mechanical Boy
• The Manichean
• The Tontons
• Scale The Summit
• The Small Sounds
• Skyblue72
• O Pioneers!!!
• American Fangs
• The Riff Tiffs
• Chase Hamblin
• Ceeplus Bad Knives
• The Eastern Sea
• Perseph One
• Los Skarnales
• News on the March
• Southern Backtones
• Muhammid Ali
• The Watermarks
• B L A C K I E vs. Cop Warmth
• Ghosttown Electric
• I am Mesmer
• Come See My Dead Person
• Tha Fucking Transmissions
• Ryan Scroggins and the Trenchtown Texans
• Juzcoz

Hoo-ah. If you don't like at least a handful of those people, I'm very sorry, but you're officially dead to me. You either wouldn't know good music if it bit you in the face or you have no soul, 'cause that is a badass lineup right there...

And to make things even better, unlike some festivals that do their thing outdoors in the brutal summer months regardkess of crippling temperatures & heatstroke, the Free Press-ers are taking the heat into account:

The park will host 2 stages, dozens of local artist booths, a craft beer garden, games, and several 'cooling elements' such as a misting tent to help attendees stage cool in the hot sun. Free Press Houston intends to make this greener than your average festival with a recycling program, carbon off-set credits, and a partnership with the Texas Campaign for the Environment. Participants are encouraged to wear bathing suits and loose fitting clothing. Free water will be available on site.

That's class, y'all. Oh, and the whole thing's a benefit for Project Row Houses down in the Third Ward, which means this thing's got heart, to boot. Omar, Shelby, & co., you all rock. Completely & totally. (No, I mean it.)

Labels: Charitable Things, Flyeration, H-Town News, Musical Crap, Public Service Announcements, Things To Do

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Damn, that sounds like a Chumbawumba song... (And for the uninitiated, no, the band didn't begin & end with that asinine "I get knocked down / and I get up again" football-lad singalong.)

Local "infoshop" Sedition Books is a welcome anomaly in our Metropolis of Greed and Conformity -- they're an out-and-out anarchist collective, lending library, meeting space, and book-/zine-seller that stocks stuff you really, truly can't find anywhere else in this city. I swear, they're like a funky little chunk of Portland or old-school Berkeley plunked down in the middle of Montrose.

As such, they deserve all the support they can get, especially when they come up with fun-sounding fundraisers like this. This coming Saturday, May 23rd, Sedition's holding a Kickball in the Park fundraiser at Dunlavy Park (4502 Dunlavy), with teams playing from 4PM 'til I dunno when -- $5 gets you on a team (and obviously, goes to benefit the bookstore -- er, infoshop, sorry). The info's on the flyer to the right; apologies for it being teeny-tiny, but that's the only size they had on their Website...

And hey, this is kickball we're talking about, as in "that awesome game you played as a kid but probably forgot about 'til reading this just now." I can't speak for everybody out there, but some of my fondest memories are of the 50-plus-kid kickball games we'd have back in the old neighborhood up in Fort Hood, TX., playing our hearts out from the moment the bus dropped us off until the sun went down & our moms called us in for dinner. At the very least, when your coworkers ask you, "what did you do this weekend?", you will have an utterly badass answer to give.

Labels: Charitable Things, H-Town News, Political Stuff, Public Service Announcements, Things To Do, Things To See

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I'm generally a non-drinker, myself, it's true, but even still, the entire concept of Poison Girl's Drink Houston Better deal. What's the idea? Well, you go to a bar (Poison Girl -- duh), drink up, and the bar donates the proceeds from every bottle, shot, etc., you buy to a truly worthy cause.

This Sunday, May 3rd, the beneficiary of your drunkenness is especially cool in a help-the-community way. This DHB's proceeds will go to Workshop Houston, a local nonprofit that gets disadvantaged kids involved in it's five workshops -- the Bike Shop, Chopper Shop, Beat Shop, Style Shop, & Scholar Shop -- via classes, free use of their equipment, & fun stuff like bike rides (their Tour de Hood, coming May 24th, sounds especially cool). The place is absolutely one-of-a-kind in this city; they deserve all the help they can get.

Drinking starts at 5PM (well, the charitable kind, anyway) and runs on through to midnight, for the dedicated, good-hearted boozers of the bunch...

Labels: Charitable Things, Flyeration, H-Town News, Public Service Announcements, Things To Do

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Nature, why do you toy with me? Here I was (er, am), all set to try to decide what the hell to do with a free evening, and then the sky darkens like it's nighttime at 3PM, a gigantic stormcloud hovers over most of SE Texas, and, loser that I am, I find myself contemplating a quiet night at home watching that Mongol DVD I got from Netflix. Dang.

Nevertheless, I'm going to try to persevere & get my ass out the house this evening, at least for a while. Why? Well, because in spite of the weather, there's a crapload of stuff going on.

Bad news first, though: both the on-air KTRU performance of The Eastern Sea and News on the March (promoting their joint-7" release party tomorrow night, natch) and the "live" screening of Metropolis at Discovery Green with accompaniment by the Golden Arm Trio have both been blown out of the water, the former due to a football game & the latter due to (duh) the rain. Damn; those both looked/sounded like good ones. Don't fret, though, 'cause there's plenty left to do tonight (more on the rest of the weekend later on):

The Wild Moccasins/Slingshot Dakota/Elaine Greer/We Monumental/Football Etc. @ Walter's on Washington ($8)
Ah, I love those Wild Moccasins kids. They're just about the most spot-on jangle-pop going right now 'round town (okay, with the exception of Piano Vines, but they don't play nearly as much), and are sweet, friendly, earnest folks besides. Elaine Greer, too, happens to be an excellent songwriter & quite a singer, although I have yet to catch a full show; Football Etc. are relatively new in town, transplants from New Jersey (I think?) who need some love. The songs I've heard so far are promising... (8PM, $8, in case you were wondering.)

The Favorites/Zen Archer @ Dean's Credit Clothing
I'm really torn on this one. Never seen The Favorites live, and I'd dearly love to, esp. given that "Something That You're Missing" has been stuck in my head all damn day -- gorgeous, synth-tinged guitar power-pop that gives Fountains of Wayne a run for their money. Unfortunately, there's the problem of tromping through downtown streets in the fucking rain to get to Dean's, which is not something that I particularly want to do. Argh.

The Lymbyc Systym/Loxsly/Springfield Riots @ Rudyard's
Another one I've been looking forward to, but really only to see openers Springfield Riots, who also do some very cool poppy tunes & consist of members/ex-members of Program, Co-Pilot, & Spain Colored Orange (which gives them quite a fine pedigree, in my book). They're gonna be good, but much as I hate to admit it, I know zero about The Lymbyc Systym & Loxsly, sorry.

Media Archaeology Festival, featuring The Joshua Light Show & Silver Apples @ Museum of Fine Arts Houston (8PM; $10)
This one promises to be trippy as all hell; Joshua White of The Joshua Light Show apparently got his start back in the '60s doing crazy projections for folks like the Dead & Hendrix, and here he'll be collaborating with similarly '60s-bred electronic instrumentalist Silver Apples. I have no freaking clue what this will sound like, sorry. It's pretty much guaranteed to look cool, though.

The Factory Party/Female Demand/Satin Hooks @ Mango's
Ooh, nice -- I'm liking the new Mango's, so I'm sorely tempted to run on over there tonight & finally check out The Factory Party, who I'd feared had broken up & vanished into the Houston smog a while back. Plus, Satin Hooks are good, nicely angular rock. Definitely a contender.

ABC Houston/Captive Voices Benefit Show, featuring Nosaprise, Ska Bands Like Us, Kyle Hubbard, Fighting Off Sleep, & Urbane Guerilla @ Fitzgerald's (8PM-12AM; $10)
I dunno most of these folks, but I've heard good things about Nosaprise, & I know Urbane Guerilla has some fine, fine taste in old-school soul music. Plus, it's a benefit for the Captive Voices zine, a deal written & edited by/for prisoners, which sounds intriguing to me, even if I'm not going to really benefit from it myself.

Texas Crawfish Festival, featuring Bob Schneider, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Brian Jack & the Zydeco Gamblers, LT Roberts & the Zydeco Mob, Jeff Boortz, The Tontons, Mother's Anthem, Right to Refuse, & The Rustlanders @ Old Town Spring (Spring)
A little too far out for me, I'm afraid, but hey, if you're a NE-suburbs-dweller, you can't really go wrong heading up to Old Town Spring for the first night of the Texas Crawfish Festival. Mudbugs + the sultry/fiery sounds of The Tontons == ain't nothing wrong with that.

Runners-Up:
Texas Amplified Showcase, featuring Prime Example, Hero & Rad, Ace & Dat Boy Pollo, Floorbound, A Dream Asleep, Another Run, Make You Escape, The Last Great Assault, & Skyylean @ The Meridian
Houston International Festival 2009, featuring Blaggards & Cass Irish Dancers @ Downtown Houston
Karina Nistal @ The Continental Club
thelastplaceyoulook @ Crazy Frog's
Skavajazz, featuring Unlikely Heroes, Angry Banana, Ryan Scroggins and the Trenchtown Texans, The Failed Attempt, Blindfolded Robbery, & Until We Got Caught @ Javajazz Coffee House (Spring)
Nuts and Volts performance, featuring Golden Whornet Project & The Misfires (after play) @ Super Happy Fun Land

Labels: Charitable Things, H-Town News, Musical Crap, Public Service Announcements, Things To Do

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I didn't know her, myself, but the tragic death of local artist and Houston Photography Center staffer Leigh Boone has rocked the local arts/music community here pretty hard -- it's awful to see somebody taken so young and in such a bizarre, freak-accident kind of way.

Now, if you want to help out with the family's expenses (because yes, even though you're gone, somebody generally has to foot the bill), you can help out on ChipIn here; just donate what you can. Beyond that, there was a benefit deal scheduled for tonight up at Poison Girl, and while I haven't been able to find out for sure if it's still going on, heck, I'd head on over there anyway. The info's on the flyer to the right.

In a few weeks, as well, the April 25th installment of Danseparc (at Numbers, I believe) will be dedicated to Leigh and will be a benefit of sorts to help ouy her family. Apparently the scheduled Pretty in Pink theme will still be in effect, since it was one of her favorite movies -- wear pink, donate money, you know the deal.

Condolences to all Leigh's friends & family; I'm really, truly sorry for your loss. Damn shame...

Labels: Arty Shit, Charitable Things, H-Town News, Musical Crap, Public Service Announcements, Things To Do

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Like I said before, not enough time to hit everything -- and even on a relatively light weekend, there's a lot to hit. Sunday'll have to wait, though, because honestly, the stuff going on both Saturday and Sunday deserve special attention. First (er, second) up, then, is the stuff for tomorrow, Saturday, April 4th:

The McKenzies/Giant Battle Monster/Paris Falls @ The Mink
Yes, yes, yes. Two of my favorite local bands, plus one I've heard many good things about. Openers Paris Falls do some seriously '60s-infuenced, semi-psychedelic rock, with nicely tortured, raw vocals & catchy hooks; both albums they've got out now are pretty great (and yes, there's supposedly a third on the way). Headliners The McKenzies, on the other hand, are a bit more straightforwardly pop-rock-ish, and I sadly still haven't heard their recent full-length, but holy fuck are they good live. They blaze with an energy you can't fake, and it's extremely cool to see. Giant Battle Monster are the odd man out, seeing as I have yet to hear 'em, but I've heard they're worth seeing, so take that for what it's worth, eh?

NeoPopStreetFunk First Annual Art Show After Party, featuring Stadium & more @ Lucky's Pub (801 St. Emanuel)
This one's a twofer, really -- there's the NeoPopStreetFunk art show, first of all, going on at Nance Street Gallery (1310 Nance), in the warehouses just east of downtown, which'll feature art from a ton of intriguing-sounding folks (I think my wife may actually know a couple of them from her days as an undergrad in the UH Art Dept., now that I'm looking at the list).

DJ Saba spins the tunes over there, but then there's the afterparty down the road at Lucky's Pub (801 St. Emanuel), which Jeff from awesome, mind-blowing post-emo rockers Stadium told me his band would be playing, apparently along with Potbelly. He promised a much longer set than the little taste at the Block Party, which is good.

Note, btw, that Lucky's is not where this was originally scheduled -- it was supposed to be at the Last Concert Cafe, but got moved for some reason. Go figure...

Lazy Squid Rekkids Showcase(?), featuring Exterminating Angels, The Homopolice, The Delta Block, & Thou Shall Not Kill...Except @ Super Happy Fun Land
Okay, so this might not actually be the "Lazy Squid Rekkids Showcase" anymore -- that's just how I saw it billed originally at SHFL, before any bands but Exterminating Angels (which is Scott Ayers of the Pain Teens, Walking Timebombs, & about a million other batshit-crazy Houston legends, plus Shaun Kelly & Carol Sandin of Sad Pygmy & even more other bands) were listed. Now they just list the bands themselves, so eh, your mileage may vary. What's in a name, anyway? Personally, I'd say go to this one to check out The Homopolice in all their faux-homoerotic authority-figure glory, then stick around to see what the hell Ayers is up to these days.

Two Star Symphony/Chiara String Quartet @ Avant Garden
I dunno the Chiara String Quartet, but Two Star Symphony are pretty amazing, I hear -- they play quirky, spooky chamber music about trolls and goblins and whatnot. And I love just the concept of "Classical in a Club"; there should be more events like this.

Lick Lick/The Invincible Czars/Opposite Day @ Rudyard's
Back in the day, Matt from Austin band Lick Lick used to live here, singing for a couple of little, kinda-known (yeah, right) bands called Sprawl & Middlefinger. I'm honestly not sure what his "new" band's like, but I've heard fellow Austinites The Invincible Czars and have been intrigued by the bizarre Russian-folk/klezmer/rock hybrid they play (including a polka cover of Metallica's "Blackened," I'm told). And hey, the show's also their CD release, which makes it extra-special cool, right?

6th Annual Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) Crawfish Boil and Music Festival, featuring Bleu Edmondson, Kyle Park, Robert Frith, Rich O'Toole, The Kyle Bennett Band, & Bourbon Street @ Warehouse Live
I'm afraid I know nobody playing this show, but who cares? It's a crawfish boil, a music festival, and a damn good cause, all rolled into one event. Get out & help.

Runners-Up:
D.R.U.M./The Mighty Orq/The Tiles @ The Continental Club
Strangefeather/Tod the Fox @ Notsuoh

Labels: Charitable Things, H-Town News, Musical Crap, Public Service Announcements, Things To Do

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Crap. This one sounded like a very cool deal, and I was getting all ready to enthuse-enthuse-enthuse about it (no, really). The Heartworn Highways show was supposed to take place tomorrow (Sat., March 14th) over at The Orange Show, but due to the nonstop rain we've had these past 48 hrs. or so in various parts of town, well, it ain't happening, at least not when it was originally scheduled.

Which sucks, because they had a good lineup going -- Robert Ellis (who I've already yammered a bit about today), John Hogan, Matt Harlan, John Evans, & Carey Wolf were all supposed to play, doing their own undoubtedly sweet, cool renditions of Townes Van Zandt (and Blaze Foley, too, although I'm a bit ignorant as to who that is, sorry) classics. To add insult to injury, it was going to be a benefit for the beleaguered Old Quarter Acoustic Cafe down in Galveston, which suffered quite a bit of damage in the last large pile of rain & wind we had here; kind of a painful irony that even a benefit show to help the place get back on its feet is being struck down by the weather.

Happily, it sounds like the show's not totally dead in the water, just rescheduled a ways down the road, in hopefully less-soggy months. The Orange Show folks are tentatively rescheduling for Sat., June 13th, so mark your calendars and keep an eye on their site for updates.

Labels: Charitable Things, H-Town News, Musical Crap, Public Service Announcements, Things To Do

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Well, it's better than that, really -- tonight's looking pretty damn good to my homebound ass. If you have yet to decide your evening, well, it's not too late; enjoy those chilly evenings while you can, y'all...

No Idea Festival, featuring Mario de Vega, Jawwaad Taylor, Annette Krebs, Jason Kahn, Bonnie Jones, David Dove, & Chris Cogburn @ Art League Houston (1953 Montrose; $10 for 18+, 7PM)
Yep, this one's already going on, but it's still worth running on over to, I'd say -- the good people at Nameless Sound tend to put together good shows/festivals, and this one's no exception. It features avant-garde noise-makers from as far afield as Baltimore (Bonnie Jones), Zurich (Jason Kahn), Berlin (Annette Krebs & Mario de Vega), NYC (trumpet player/MC Jawwaad Taylor), & Mexico City (de Vega, again), plus a couple of closer-to-home folks (ex-Sprawl jazz icon Dave Dove & Austinite percussionist Chris Cogburn), all coming together at the Art League to make what's bound to be some craaaaaazy noise.

Street Dogs/Flatfoot56/Ashers/Hell City Kings @ Warehouse Live
If I had a working vehicle, this is most likely where I'd be -- I've been on a "screw the out-of-towners" kick of late, but I've got a serious soft spot in my soul for the hardworking Boston boys (and one expat Houstonian) in Street Dogs. They're like the Dropkick Murphys (with whom they've shared members in the past) minus the over-the-top Irish-ness; instead, they're pretty much what the name says, just street-level, working-man's punk rawk. And local boys Hell City Kings are no slouch in that department, either.

Michelle Yom/Roberta Michel @ Avant Garden (upstairs)
Want a less electronics-focused avant-garde show than the No Idea fest to check out? Well, look no further than the Avant Garden tonight -- two flutists, local artist Michele Yom and NYC artist Roberta Michel will be up there doing things with their flutes that would probably make most flute players quiver and curl up into a tiny ball. (Get there asap, btw, 'cause the show started around 6PM...)

Miss Leslie & Her Juke-Jointers @ Hyde's Cafe (Spring)
A little ways out of town, yep, but this one's also near & dear to my heart -- Miss Leslie is hands-down my favorite country musician at the moment (and not just locally, although I'll admit she's nearly tied with Utah's Band of Annuals), and she's having a fundraiser-type show right now (5-9PM) up at Hyde's Cafe in Old Town Spring. She's trying to get together the cash to start recording her new album, and that's one heck of a good thing to put your $$$ towards. If you're in the 'hood, get on over there.

That's it from me; enjoy what's left of the weekend, all...

Labels: Charitable Things, H-Town News, Musical Crap, Public Service Announcements, Things To Do

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I'm all for helping folks out when you can, and when it comes to local art institution The Orange Show, that help is well-deserved & beyond. It's a cool place, one of the most unique of H-town's many (no, really) unique things, and on top of that, the upcoming bands they've got scheduled are pretty damn neat (i.e., Beach House, Dan Deacon, Phosphorescent, & wayward local daughter Jana Hunter).

If you feel like I do about the place, then, and you enjoying drinking, you can help keep 'em running by heading on up to Poison Girl tonight (1641 Westheimer), starting at 5PM -- Poison Girl's been doing its "Drink Houston Better" thing for a little while now, where they donate whatever they make in a particular evening to a local arts-related group or organization, and tonight is The Orange Show's turn.

There you go, then; you get to drink yourself into a stupor and feel good about it, 'cause it's benefiting The Arts. How fucking perfect is that?

Labels: Arty Shit, Charitable Things, H-Town News, Musical Crap, Public Service Announcements, Things To Do

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Attention all band folk -- want to play South By Southwest this year, but you didn't get the coveted nod from the festival organizers? Well, don't get too down on yourself, 'cause relatively few (23 in total, I'm told; see the full list here) of your H-town compatriots are; not sure if that means fewer Houstonians put themselves in to the hat to play or if SXSW has reverted to its seeming anti-Houston bias from before the last few years. It's a damn shame, either way, because I honestly think there are more fucking incredible bands playing 'round town right now than any time since I first made this place my home 18(!) years or so ago.

But y'know what? Fuck 'em. One thing that defines Houston's scene more than anything else, to my mind, is its unwillingness to just shrug and take what it's given. If bands, labels, zines, and whatever else in this town don't get invited to the party, so to speak, they give 'em the finger and make their own.

So, with that in mind, it makes perfect sense that there're a bunch of SXSW Houston-centric showcases being set up right now for the Austin musical love-fest. I'll get to the others in a later post, but first and foremost (and most critically, the good people behind the Bandcamp series of workshops is busily booking three free daytime parties to showcase H-town talent -- two for music, I believe, and one for Houston filmmakers & tech folk.

They're giving any and all Houston-based bands to play at their parties, which is very cool, but there's a catch (albeit a relatively painless one): if you want to play, you have to show up to the Bandcamp: SXSW PREP workshop going on today, Sun., March 1st, from 1-3PM over at the Caroline Collective (4820 Caroline). This session of BC will focus on getting bands prepped for playing SXSW by creating a real-live press kit to promote themselves to all the hungry label- and media-type people who'll be meandering around Austin later this month.

And trust me, this is a good thing -- as I've ranted about before, there's nothing more frustrating to me as a writer about things musical to not be able to easily find info on a band or musician I'm interested in. The harder you make it to find out about yourself, folks -- who's in the band, your band's history, what you sound like, where you're headed next, etc. -- the more likely it is that press and record label folks won't bother, no matter how mind-blowingly awesome you might be.

Success in this business is one part talent, three parts hard-ass work marketing and playing out, and two parts pure blind luck. By promoting yourself well, you can tilt the odds in your favor considerably, and the Bandcamp crew is willing and able to help you with that. Take them up on it. And again, if you want to play any of the day parties, you have to get your ass on up to Midtown this afternoon. The Bandcamp folks will be selecting bands to play from the attendees...

(Oh, and if you'd be up for helping out with the press kits -- whether you're a writer, graphic designer, web developer, or whatnot -- please, please, please get on up there, too, and donate a few hours of your time, eh? It's for a darn good cause.)

Labels: Charitable Things, H-Town News, Musical Crap, Public Service Announcements, SXSW, Things To Do

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I know, I know -- spent the last two days running around like a chicken with my head cut off, for reasons I'll hopefully enumerate soon in another post, and so I've been slacking big-time on writing up the good shit going on this weekend. And yeah, there's a ton of it (hell, that almost seems like a cliché, these days; the weekends where there aren't a half-dozen shows I'd like to see are few & far between, lately). Here goes...

Sat., February 14:
The McKenzies (CD release)/The Tontons/The Mathletes/Built By Snow @ Walter's on Washington ($10)
Yep, yep, and yep. If you're at all into the absolutely-crazy-good crew of young, wild, destined-for-greatness (if there's any justice at all, that is) pop-loving bands in this city, well, you're probably already here. If you're not, however, you're truly, truly missing out -- sadly, I have yet to hear The McKenzies' new CD, but I've seen them live a few times now and have been mightily impressed by their hard-charging, hook-laden indie-pop. Plus, there's also The Tontons, who marry psych to soul in ways I've never, ever heard before, The Mathletes, who honestly write some of the best pure, sweet, strange pop songs I've encountered. In terms of out-of-town talent, there's Built By Snow (who I keep wanting to call Built to Spill; sorry!), an Austin-based bunch who play good-hearted, catchy pop reminiscent of Say Hi or anything Dntel's involved in. My top pick of the night -- but hurry, 'cause I think the festivities started at 8PM. Oh, and grab a free copy of the McKenzies' new CD on your way in...

Heartless Bastards/Three Fantastic @ Last Concert Cafe
Almost missed this one entirely, which is sad, because I'm really enjoying what I've heard of the Heartless Bastards rough-edged, Pixies-gone-country thing; their latest, The Mountain, is pretty damn good, imho. And local(?) boys Three Fantastic make some truly freaky and unique pop. If you're not at #1, above, I'd aim for #2 -- 8PM, again, but get on over there, eh?

Dropdead/Hatred Surge/P.L.F./Rusted Shut/Dissent/Battle Rifle/N.I.B.I.R.U. @ T.M.M.C. Clubhouse (2305 Lyons; $5, 8PM)
If you like loud, raw shit, this is where you're already at, probably drunk off your ass and half-deaf. Awesome...

My Bloody Bunny Camp, featuring Fat Tony, You(Genious), Dee Rail, iPod Ammo, Young Squaddy, & Cornbreadd @ The Usual (5519 Allen St.)
The Boxing Lesson/The Calm Blue Sea @ Rudyard's
GRRRL PARTS @ The Mink

Sun., February 15:
Maggie Nicols/Fred Frith/Susan Alcorn @ DiverseWorks (8PM)
Yeah, I've already blathered about this one, so go here for the full deal -- or just take my word that it's gonna be extremely strange and interesting, at the very least...

Benefit for Diunna Greenleaf, featuring IJ Gosey and the Supremes, Faye Robinson, Texas Johnny Brown & the Quality Blues Band, Tha Lady D, Larry Guy, Annette Metoyer, Oscar O'Bear, Mene Gene Kelton, Diunna Greenleaf, & more @ The Big Easy
The best of good causes, seriously. A lot of musicians, even those that've been around a long time like Ms. Greenleaf, don't have medical insurance, and in our stupidly anti-"socialism" country, that can mean that one bad illness or surgery can break the bank. Help her out -- and hey, enjoy some of the best blues musicians in town while you're doing it.

Citizen Cope/Alice Smith @ House of Blues
Yeah, I'll admit it -- I'm recommending this one on the basis of one damn song, "Son's Gonna Rise," that I heard totally by accident somewhere. It's funky, cool, and desperate, all at the same time.

American Fangs/The Last Place You Look/Consider The Source @ The Scout Bar (Clear Lake; free)
And for those willing to make a bit of a drive, there's this one, down in Clear Lake -- The Last Place You Look are pretty interesting, although I'm still making my mind up (just got their latest CD in today; no chance to listen yet...), and Consider The Source I dunno at all, but American Fangs...whoa. I've heard a couple of the songs off their new EP, and they're honestly fucking awesome -- ballsy, hard-but-not-metal, sneering rawk that blows my mind, like the Foo Fighters with an injection of nasty trucker meth ("Le Kick," in particular). I need to hear more of these guys, seriously.

Stay tuned for more...

Labels: Charitable Things, H-Town News, Musical Crap, Public Service Announcements, Things To Do, Things To Hear

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I've dodged the Twitter bullet so far, and I have to say, I'm fairly glad of that. Heck, 'til the recent dive into Facebook hell and not counting the Myspace "mirror" for this wee blog, I've mostly avoided the whole social-networking thing completely. Yeah, I'm a cyber-Luddite on some levels, it's true; it just feels like it takes up too damn much time, y'know? This site eats my life as it is...

So I can't claim to get the whole Twitter/tweet thing, not completely. I do get the general idea of the Twestival, though, which is to bring people together across the world -- 105 cities, all together -- on one day, Thursday, February 12th, linking 'em via common interest and technology, to raise money and awareness for a cause that means something globally. This year, that cause is Charity:Water, a group that literally builds wells in areas where people are in desperate need of fresh, clean water to drink. Waterborne diseases are bad, bad news, the type of bad news that can kill a person, blind them, or leave them otherwise crippled, and having no water at all, well, how that's bad isn't hard to figure out.

With the whole "clean water" aim in mind, then, Houston's goal in this year's Twestival is to raise $4000 to build a water well. And to do that, the festival (er, Twestival, sorry) is all about bringing together the Twitter community here in H-town face-to-face, connecting them with Twitter users elsewhere, and hopefully help people at the same time. Which is a cool idea, if you ask me.

The Houston version of the event will be held at the ever-busy Caroline Collective in Midtown (4820 Caroline; and yes, it has its own Twitter tag, @carolineco), and will run from 5:30PM to 10PM. The admission fee, as far as I can tell, is pretty much up to what you can give -- go here to donate and then, uh, tweet about it. (If you want; I think that's part of the raising-awareness thing.)

And yes, there will be music, as well -- the Houston version of the Twestival includes Red Eye Carl and the Pirates, Wayside Drive (whom I've heard are good), Snake Charmers (who I've heard are really good), & Blue Funk, w/Blue Funk starting at 7PM or so.

There you go, then -- get on out this Thursday, tell all your tweeting friends and get them on out (because, c'mon, admit it -- this electronic-friend stuff really isn't a substitute for hanging out in person, is it?), donate to an ultra-worthy cause, have fun, enjoy some good music, and feel like your part of something truly global.

Labels: Charitable Things, Cool Web Junk, H-Town News, Musical Crap, Public Service Announcements, Things To Do, Things To See

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Okay, so here's another plea for some holiday cheer. Seems that on December 14th, talented-as-hell countrified H-town troubadour (and Amy's Ice Cream staffer) Airon Paul Dugas was hit head-on while riding his scooter and suffered some major, major injuries (see the poster to the right for details on what got broken, or check out the remains of the scooter he was on), and like many musicians/ice cream shop workers, he reportedly has no insurance. In short, he needs help, and us Houstonians have a chance to chip in.

Friends of Airon's have organized two different benefit shows that I've heard about so far; the first will be on Saturday, December 27th up at Walter's on Washington, and beyond the charitable, humanitarian aspects of the thing, the lineup for the night's, well, pretty sweet in itself. The organizers have pulled together Dugas pals Paris Falls (who played as Dugas's backing band early this month at the Continental Club), Dannzig (the Misfits cover band, not the real Miniature Prince of Darkness), Guitars, Teenage Kicks, The Wild Moccasins, and, as an added bonus, a rare appearance by local supergroup-ish "hugcore" crew Friendship. Hot damn. (Oh, and there may be other bands playing, too; I'll try to update this post if I hear of any last-minute additions.)

While we might butt heads at times on the political stuff, I truly dig Paris Falls' updating of fuzzy, garage-y Beatle-isms, and at the other end of the spectrum, I also truly, truly dig pretty much everything Brit-power-pop revivalists/worshipers Teenage Kicks do -- every time I think I've got a favorite song (i.e., "Bound for Glory"), they go and put out another that stages a coup on my iPod and takes its place (i.e., "I'm Not Surprised"). Plus, there's The Wild Moccasins, who by all accounts are freakin' incredible -- seriously looking forward to their CD release on January 23rd -- and Guitars, a supergroup in their own right and reportedly extremely cool. I missed Friendship the first time 'round, unfortunately, so I dunno what they're like, but there's a ridiculous amount of nostalgic scenester love for the band, so take that as a recommendation.

On top of all that, the shindig includes a keg and Amy's ice cream with admission, which is honestly pretty cool just all by itself (heck, I went to a St. Patrick's Day thing at St. Thomas once pretty much to score free Amy's Guinness ice cream, so y'know). And then there's Aaron Danger, who'll be selling bunches of records & donating all the money made to Airon, and a raffle/auction for cool stuff like tattoos. It costs $10 to get in, although I have no doubt any donations above & beyond are appreciated, and the thing starts at 8PM.

A bit further out, calendar-wise, there'll be a second benefit for Dugas on Sunday, January 4 at the Stitched Tire House (1506 Caywood Ln.). Which is handy, because some of us (ahem) already have set-in-stone out-of-town plans for the next several days, so the backup benefit thing is pretty cool. This one sounds to be a little more low-key, with laidback rockers Lenny Briscoe, Ellis and Hart, Rhett Burch, & quirky folksters Sew What playing starting at 7PM or so. This one'll be $5-$10 to get in, I guess depending on what you feel like, and it's apparently a potluck, so it'd probably be a good idea to bring food and/or brew.

Either way you want to do it, just do it -- think of Tiny Tim (the literary character, not the weird midget singer) on those sad, sad crutches, replace his face with Airon's, and do whatever you can to avert that future. Help the guy out, y'all...

Labels: Charitable Things, Flyeration, H-Town News, Musical Crap, Public Service Announcements, Things To Do

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Damn -- can't believe I missed this one. From Craig Hlavaty over at Rocks Off: it seems local soul-psych heroes The Tontons have started up a ChipIn account to receive donations from kind souls like you, me, & your parents. The money collected will go towards a really worthy cause, namely replacing the pile of gear guitarist Adam Martinez had stolen from his car early this month, which incidentally derailed the band's recording sessions for their much-anticipated full-length. (I'm assuming, btw, that this means the gear hasn't magically turned up on the doorstep...)

So, there you go, ladies & gents -- feel the need to help out somebody in need this holiday season? If so, I'd heartily suggest throwing some cash these kids' way. Bands in this city have enough working against 'em to have to deal w/shit like getting their stuff stolen and/or dreams crushed. Don't leave 'em with coal in their collective stocking.

Labels: Charitable Things, H-Town News, Musical Crap, Public Service Announcements

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And here's Part 2 for the weekened, this time for tonight, Saturday, December 20th -- a bit late, I'm afraid, seeing as I believe some of these shows are already (d'oh!) going on, but ah, well...

Free Press Houston Annual Celebration of the Christ, featuring Satin Hooks, The Eastern Sea, Piano Vines, Ozeal, Chase Hamblin, Nick Greer, Female Demand, & Marry Me @ Avant Garden
The highlight of the night, for absolute sure, this is local mag Free Press Houston's annual celebration of the wintry festivities. This one's at the Avant Garden/Helios/whatever the hell they're calling it this week (did "Avant Garden" just never take off or something? I always preferred "The Mausoleum," personally...), and it kicks off at 8PM w/a measly $8 cover.

Which is fair money, really, because a ton of good folks are playing, honest. Satin Hooks are pretty great indie-rock, Piano Vines craft some gorgeous indie-folk/pop, I've heard good things about new additions Marry Me & Chase Hamblin, and Austin band (led by H-town expat Matt Hines) The Eastern Sea blew me the fuck away when I saw them last. Seriously: jaw-droppingly good. Really. Just thinking about that show has me considering trying to convince the wife to let me escape the house for a while this evening. They've also got an awesomely good new-ish EP out now that I'd recommend highly -- review up here!

Festival of Life, featuring Don Paul, Room 101, Kristi Rae, Gary Yokie and the Coalition Band, & John "The Truth" Beatty @ Gulf Coast Electronics Museum
This was pretty much a left-field one, and I'm sorry it's late-late-late notice, but it still looks to be cool, if you can make it out for the last part (it reportedly runs from 1-6PM). I dunno what/where the Gulf Coast Electronics Museum is (the address is 1112 Windbern), but the whole deal sounds intriguing, with musicians and what sounds like poets and spiritual-type speakers and whatnot. And plus, punk-noise project Room 101 is pretty incredible in recorded form, and I hear live he's mind-blowing. Not bad for $2...

Do It Anyway You Wanna: It's Reprogram Multimedia Annual Holiday Party, featuring Spain Colored Orange, The Factory Party, B L A C K I E, Richard Henry, Yppah, Jeffery Mac, Paramour, Damon Allen, J. Calero, Dan Castillo, & Ceeplus Bad Knives @ Bootleg Studios
'Tis the season for par-tays, I swear... This time it's the Reprogram crew's party over at Bootleg Studios (2301 Commerce at Bastrop), featuring almost every cool DJ you've ever heard of here in Houston and crazed grime-hopper B L A C K I E, indie-chamber-pop/salsa band Spain Colored Orange, and excellent thought-they-were-dead indie-rockers The Factory Party. Go for the bands, stay for the DJs.

Benefit Show for Jacob Blaylock, featuring Nine Volt, Lluvia Dreams, The Delta Block, Young Ras Tesfa, Kozmik Nine, DJ Wayniac, & more @ Notsuoh
I never met Jacob Blaylock, but he played in local band Nine Volt 'til his tragic death last December, the cause of which is apparently still a bit murky. His widow's set up this benefit show at Notsuoh to try to honor his memory, and that sounds like a pretty cool thing to me. Dunno any of the bands real well, but it should be interesting, eh?

A Very Jerry X-Mas KPFT Benefit, featuring Psychodillos, Hightailers, Plump, Guy Schwartz and the New Jack Hippies, Little Brother Project, Gary Sapone, Third Ear, Fahl & Folk, JuJu Eyeball, & Space Patrol @ Dan Electro's Guitar Bar
Okay, so most of the musicians aren't really my thing, but hey, if you like your bands jam-y, bluesy, and/or funky, love Jerry Garcia, or -- most crucially -- love local indie radio station KPFT, then Dan Electro's may be where you need to be. It's not cheap, at a $15 donation, but hey, if you like good radio, it's hard to find a more worthy cause than anti-corporate KPFT. (And it starts at 5PM, so you'd better run.)

Leofest 2, featuring Before...There Was Rosalyn, The Western Civilization, Robert Ellis, Floorbound, Benjamin Wesley, Ghosts of Rome, Under The City Lights, Sedna Eats The Ship, The Brace, Veloche, Yesterday Never Came, O Victori!, & Threnodic @ The Cherotel (Clute)
And, of course, for the non-Inner Loop (er, non-Beltway 8)-ers, there's an excellent-sounding festival going on today/tonight out in beautiful Clute, TX -- it's Leofest 2, although I have no clue what the "Leo" part is, and it's got a ton of bands playing for $7 at someplace called The Cherotel starting at, um, 2 hrs. ago (3PM -- sorry!). For me, of course, the draw's gotta be The Western Civilization, who I haven't seen live for far too long, but I've heard excellent things about both Benjamin Wesley & Robert Ellis, too. Get on out of the city if you can...

Runners-Up!:
Come See My Dead Person/Two Star Symphony/Whorehound @ Rudyard's
Anti-Christ Mass XI, featuring Necrotic Void, Cerebral Rot, Adumus, Condemned, Ninth Kingdom, Insidious Decrepancy, Funeral Rites, To Scale The Throne, Golgotha, Demonical Genuflection, & Dismembered @ Walter's on Washington
The Mighty Orq/Skyblue72 @ Warehouse Live
King's X/Laidlaw/Jambi's Revenge @ The Meridian
Benefit for Hurricane Ike Victims in Baytown, featuring The Bayou Big Band, Mean Gene Kelton & The Die Hards, Sam Silva and the Good, & Cory Morrow @ Lee College Arena (Baytown; 1-9PM, $15-$20)

Labels: Charitable Things, Flyeration, H-Town News, Musical Crap, Public Service Announcements, Things To Do

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