Yeah, I totally get it now. Wow. It's been barely three days since I got my Jesusphone -- er, iPhone -- and I completely and totally get the nickname. I feel like a kid who's been riding a tricycle all his life, only to be abruptly plopped down in the driver's seat of a fully-loaded Volvo and handed the keys. I'm in awe of this little slab of plastic & glass.

The funny thing is that I'd actually stayed well clear 'til now; I figured I could wait out the price a bit longer, I didn't really want to mess with our current phone setup, and I'd heard bad, bad things about the enormous bills we'd get saddled with if I got an iPhone. Oh, and two of my coworkers waited in line for four fucking hours to get one. Nope, not doing that, nuh-uh.

Then fate intervened, as it sometimes does. First my third-and-final Handspring Visor (bought off eBay, naturally, since Palm split-offs Handspring got gobbled back up by Palm a few years back and quit making 'em) died inexplicably, refusing to sync or, eventually, even turn on no matter what I did. It was only its many years as a trusted companion (okay, it and its predecessors, anyway) that saved it from me picking it up and playing hockey with it in the driveway. "Fine," I said, "I'll just use my damn phone. It's got a decent to-do list, it can hold all my contacts, and it's supposed to sync with my Mac, so that'll do." Of course, when I finally tried to sync my contacts, it didn't work -- turned out I had a too-old version of the Mac OS running on my laptop.

Then the laptop died. Or, rather, the legacy Airport card I'd bought on eBay & installed a year or so before died, having basically been fried by the heat from the damn laptop itself. (And yeah, I was using a little stand that lifted it off the desk, even.) Damn. Can't live without a laptop -- off I went to the Apple Store, and came back with a shiny (er, murky) new MacBook. Which is very nice on its own, definitely. And hey, it finally synced my contacts, although it did it weirdly, breaking each contact up into different personas for each phone no. And I had to keep track of calendar stuff separately. But eh, not a big deal; some is better than none, right?

Then we went to the beach. I had a fleeting thought as we parked the van up on the Galveston Seawall that I definitely needed to put my phone in the beach bag before going in the water -- I didn't want to leave it in the car, 'cause I'm a paranoiac who's sure the alarm people will be calling the very second I turn it off to say we're being broken into. Somewhere between the van and the water, I totally forgot about the phone. We set up, and my dad pumped up his big old innertube, which Abbie immediately wanted to ride, except that the hole's a little big. So here, she could sit in Daddy's lap. We rode the waves on our little tube, paddling madly when the swell neared us and actually catching a few, and as we slowly started floating back in, my hand brushed against the pocket where my phone was. Oh, shit.

I'm proud to say I was very philosophical about it. The first thing I did was start laughing hysterically, because I fucking knew I was going to do exactly that thing, and yet, being the bonehead I am, I went and did it anyway. And hey, it's just a waterlogged phone, right? It would probably be fixable, and besides they're replaceable.

Well, kinda. The salt water did a number on the phone -- if you do like me and dunk yours in the ocean, make sure you rinse it with fresh water before it dries. Otherwise the corrosion apparently sets in. So my phone was toast, dead as a doornail. And it turned out the one I had we got a good deal on; normally they cost $300 or so. Gah. So I went on eBay and found what I thought was the same model & brand of phone.

The folks who sold it to me (greenstreamtechnology, I believe) were speedy as hell -- I ordered it on the weekend and received it on Tuesday. I got it and quickly realized it wasn't the same phone I'd had before, but eh, that wasn't that big a deal. Heck, in some ways, it was better; I was finally able to sync both my contacts and calendar events, although the contacts still did the weird multiple personality thing. What the phone didn't do, though, was take pictures. At all. Every time I hit the camera button, I got a message saying "Busy. Please try again later." A little Googling, and it seems this is something common to phones of this model -- and it's a hardware, not a software, issue. Fuck, fuck, fuck.

This was turning into a mess. The greenstreamtechnology folks were extremely understanding and immediately offered to do whatever it took to make me happy, but I was still out a fully-functional cellphone. So one night when the wife & I were watching TV, I mentioned my dilemma with the phones and grumbled that someday I'd have to go to an iPhone if I really wanted a phone that'd work fully with my Mac. Her response: "Well, why don't we just get you one and quit messing around with these other phones?"

And off we went to the AT&T store (after I'd picked my face up off the floor and demanded to know what this impostor had done with my wife), where we picked up a brand new 3G model for me for $200 or so, plus an extra $30 a month on the cell bill. I cringed when we decided to go for it and get it, expecting to be told we'd need to come back on the fifth alternate Tuesday or something to wait in line with half of southwest Houston to get the phone, but the lady just said, "I'll go and get you one out of the back." And there it was.

I'm sold. This is the future of phones, absolutely and completely. I'm not going to declare that it's perfect, but damn, it's perfect enough for me, anyway. I've got all my contacts and calendars synced, I can happily read/send both home and work email (woo!), I'm watching more movies on YouTube than I ever have in my life, I've got some nice-looking pics I've taken with the camera, plus a hundred or so I've synced over from iPhoto, I've bookmarked a pile of stuff I want to read on it, and I've downloaded every free little app I could find. I'm bummed I missed out on the iSaber, unfortunately, but Dual Level is very cool (it's the one that most impressed my DIY-loving father-in-law, naturally). Plus, there's Pageonce, which lets me immediately get all my info on everything from my Netflix queue to our mortgage, and the CW39 Houston Traffic app, which is -- no lie -- free almost-real-time webcams of various traffic spots around Houston.

Oh, and y'know the one thing I haven't really been using the 'phone for? Music. Weird, I know, but it just doesn't gel for me, not yet -- I find myself enjoying the heck out of the phone's other features, enough that I haven't bothered to move much in the way of music over to it at all. Besides, I already have a fully-stocked iPod, so why do I need another? Maybe when they come out with a 60GB iPhone, in 2015...ah, I can dream.

So happy freakin' birthday to me, dammit. (It was yesterday, but I'm still celebrating.) I'm loving my little present-to-myself. Now I've just got to figure a good way to blog from the thing...

Labels: Random Rambling, Things To Get

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Damn...my head's spinning and I really, really need to get to bed, but dammit, this sounds too cool to pass up writing about. According to our inside source over at cool-ass Midtown record store Sig's Lagoon (which is coming close to eclipsing my love of Cactus, I have to say), awesome poster artist Uncle Charlie will be having a show this weekend (Saturday, to be specific, June 21st, from 6PM-midnight) of his artwork.

If you don't know who the guy is, well, trust me -- you may not realize it, but you actually do. The guy practically created the whole bright-colors-and-kitschy-iconography style of poster art that's been the mainstay of show flyers everywhere, and he's like some kind of Godfather to the whole hot rod art scene, I think. After 18 years, the man's a bona fide legend. Oh, and he'll be selling his stuff at the show, too -- everything that's on display, apparently -- so take some of that "incentive" money The Man threw just at you like a scumbal john throwing dollar bills at a cheap-ass hooker and put it to good use buying some capital-and-lowercase-"A"/"a" art. (Hell, if you're feeling extra-special generous, you're welcome to splash out & get some for me, eh? No? Fuck off? Ah, well -- worth a shot...)

Labels: Arty Shit, Public Service Announcements, Random Rambling, Things To Do, Things To Get

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Big, big, big "thank-yous" to my little bro for pointing out this news. Not only will The State, probably the funniest sketch-comedy troupe outside of the original SNL cast (okay, and maybe SCTV), be finally releasing their long-awaited DVD set(?), but they'll be doing a reunion show, to boot. Holy fuck. Once I see that, I'll be able to die happy.

Labels: Entertainobabble, Random Rambling, Things To Get, Things To See

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So, I've had my 4G iPod for a few years now -- same one I initially bought, never replaced or upgraded or anything like that. It kept me sane during my time as a contractor, esp. at The Big Red H and ExxonMobil's Bell St. office (right next to the elevator; yay!), and while I haven't been as diligent about keeping it in good shape as I should have, it's still working fine, and I love it.

Well, except for the battery, that is. Seems that Apple's got some battery issues they have yet to address, and I've done pretty well to have avoided running into it before now. Lately, though, I've been noticing that my iPod barely holds a charge -- by the time I finish mowing the lawn (which, I'll admit, is a multi-hour deal), the damn thing's just about empty. Running it in the car with the iTrip & the radio drains it even faster; I was stunned last week when I sat down in the car on the way home, plugged it in, and -- poof -- gone. Dead.

Now, seeing as I'm headed off to the outlet-less Grand Canyon in a week or so, I started to get kinda alarmed. While the lure of an 80GB "Classic" iPod is hard to resist, shit, I don't have that kind of money to blow right now, y'know? I went out and slapped down some cash, instead, for something I'd wanted for a while, the Solio Hybrid 1000 solar charger (see up there on the right). Clips onto a backpack, comes with USB/mini-USB connectors that'll let me charge the iPod, my cell, and my cheap-ass digital camera (plus a bunch of extra phone connectors I'll never use), the whole deal, and it weighs nothing and is just a smidge longer than a paperback book. I was also happy to discover that it actually stores the charge, rather than just channeling it through, and it'll both charge and put out power at the same time, so you can suck down solar energy and power your gadgets at the same time.

The only downside is that it doesn't charge the iPod real fast -- it took quite a while to recharge using the Solio, even in bright sunlight w/the iPod not running, 'cause just a little bit of use was zapping the 'pod so damn much. So if I spend 4+ hours trudging along behind my dad in the hot, hot sun, I figured the iPod'd still die somewhere within the first two hrs. or so. Not so good.

The other option, then, given that I couldn't (and still can't) justify the $250 for a new iPod, was to replace the battery. After the first uproar over the whole battery-life thing, Apple started offering its own service to "replace" the battery, but you have to actually send the iPod in question to them (paying your own way w/the postage), and they'll send you back a new/new-ish iPod with a new battery. While the price has gone down some since that initial deal (now it's about $60, plus the cost of shipping), I just wasn't able to force myself to send the whole 'pod off for God-knows-how-long -- especially since I'd be leaving town within a week or so. And beyond that, Apple doesn't actually transfer anything to the replacement iPod, and the thought of uploading all 4000 songs all over again made my stomach do backflips.

Thankfully, in the yawning vacuum left by Apple in the iPod battery aftermarket, a number of folks have started making and selling their own DIY kits for ripping out the old, dead battery and sticking in a new one. When I initially saw the procedure described, I'll admit that I broke out in a cold sweat -- I'm not particularly handy w/electronics, so I wasn't real keen on cracking open my beloved musical friend. Particularly since doing so, uh, voids Apple's warranty.

Now, though, I'm a few more years down the line, totally out of warranty, and halfway to buying a new iPod anyway, so I figured, "why not?" Why not try the battery replacement, considering I was able to find a battery for my 4th gen. model for about $40? I dug around a bit and found a decent-looking upgrade/replacement kit (including "iOpener," patent pending -- woo!), from San Antonio-based iPodjuice/Milliamp LTD (who also run the handy iPodBatteryFAQ.com, although it's a little cheesy the way they promote themselves there), the battery for which purports to last 100% longer than the default iPod battery, and I took the plunge.

And I have to say, I'm still somewhat stunned at how easy the whole thing was. I mean, seriously, seriously easy. Easy. My new battery kit, complete with Crutchfield-style instructions, arrived about 2 days later, so after the wife & munchkin went to bed one night, I set everything up at my nice, static-free kitchen table and went to work.

One thing to note: the instructions iPodjuice provides point out that actually opening the iPod is the absolute hardest part of the whole thing, and believe me, they're not kidding. Getting the 'pod open took me roughly a half-hour of sweating, cringing, and swearing, and after watching the instructional video on the iPodjuice site (after the fact, naturally), I think I did it wrong, 'cause that guy cracks his open like he's shelling walnuts. I think the key is that you have to jam the iOpener down in there pretty hard, then slide it sideways, even if it doesn't look like it'll go -- once I finally got it going, it was like unzipping the thing around the edges.

If you ever decide to give this a shot w/the same kit I used (or another, actually; I think most of 'em include a tool of some kind), do not use anything but the provided tool to open your iPod. I made the mistake of using a thin kitchen knife to try to pry it open when I had the iOpener jammed down in there, and not only did it not pop out like I thought it would, but I, uh, bent in the metal sides somewhat. Fuck. Ah, well -- my 'pod's a tough customer, and he lives in his little Marware carrier most of the time anyway, so eh.

Also somewhat tricky -- and again, the iPodjuice people warn you up-front -- is balancing one half of the iPod "shell" on its side and holding the battery up somehow while you're trying to pull out the tightly-seated battery leads. (Which are, of course, very fragile.) Partway through I found myself wishing my wife hadn't already gone to bed, but I persevered with the help of a mini-screwdriver to jimmy the lead connector up & out. After that, I slid the new iPod battery in, shifted the cable around under the motherboard-looking thingy (like I said, not handy with electronics), and carefully snapped the two sides of the shell back together, trying not to pinch any wires in the process.

I let it charge for a full six hours or so, and praise be to whoever, it works. Minus the creases some idiot (cough) put in the metal on the sides, it looks and runs as good as new -- hell, better, even. I may be imagining it, but I'd swear the battery charges faster and runs down more slowly than the old one ever did, even when it was brand new.

Moral to the story: if I can do this, trust me, you can. I've done some rudimentary wiring/installation-type stuff in the past, but it's always been ceiling fans, light fixtures, Crutchfield car stereos, stuff that's meant for morons to be able to do it. This was way easier than the last two ceiling fans I had to put up, so that's a big plus in its favor. Heck, I think it might've even been simpler than switching out my car stereo. I'd highly recommend the iPodjuice folks if anybody reads this & decides to give it a go, but you can also get batteries and replacement kits from Laptops for Less, PowerbookMedic, the iStore, and RapidRepair. There're probably others, too, but those are the ones I ran across while researching this stuff.

I'd also recommend checking out methodshop.com's handy info on fixing whatever goes wrong with your iPod, and definitely BatteryUniversity.com's awesomely informative page on prolonging the life of lithium-based batteries. Apple uses lithium-ion batteries for its iPods, and they operate very differently in some ways from other types of rechargeable batteries -- for one thing, they actually do better with short, frequent charges, rather than the old-school way of letting the whole thing run down to zero before recharging. (This goes for a lot of current cellphones, too; I now keep mine plugged in at night no matter what, and the battery performance seems to've improved.) Anyway, there you go -- learn from my experimentation...

Now I've gotta head home & get to packing.

Labels: Cool Web Junk, Public Service Announcements, Random Rambling, Things To Do, Things To Get

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Been meaning to mention this for a little while now -- with the "on hiatus" nature of things over at Super Not-So-Happy Fun Land, I was really, really worried that the Zine Fest Houston extravaganza was going to get cancelled or postponed indefinitely.

Which would suck, frankly, because zines -- not the digital kind like this one, mind you, although I am somewhat fond of it, but real-live paper ones (as, in fact, this e-zine used to be) -- are totally fascinating to me. I started picking 'em up everywhere I could find 'em while still a wee student, devouring 'em as fast as I could, amazed that those brave, crazy kids could put something out there into the world like that, warts and all. Most were intensely personal, many were intensely obscure, some were out-and-out hysterical, and with a few exceptions, they were almost all entertaining as hell.

When this site first came about, one of the first things I did w/it was start writing up little reviews of all the local zines I came across, lovingly scanning the covers in on the Day Job scanner (didn't have my own, at the time) and slapping 'em up online -- due to time constraints and a heavy dose of nostalgia, some of 'em are still up here for all to see/read. I hit the zine racks at SoundEx, Soundwaves, and Cactus constantly, always looking for a new one I hadn't seen yet. After a while, people were even sending me their zines to check out. It was a blast.

And looking back, I'm not sure this site or e-zine would even have ever existed without me flipping through all those Xeroxed, scissored, & stapled pages. Along with a handful of big-name out-of-town magazines/zines, folks like I'm Not Afraid (who did very cool pieces on Jawbreaker, Celindine, & Spent, among others), Russell Etchen's Smack, The Toilet Papers, Ah Lost Taco, and music/surfing zine Red Flag (which was like my personal Holy Grail of Local Zinedom for many years, because I could never find a damn shred of info about the fucking thing, and I only ever got my hands on one issue) inspired the birth of the long-lived-yet-relatively-sparse print run of the Space City Rock paper zine.

Then, as the '90s ended, I had to sadly watch as the DIY Wave seemed to crest and crash and leave not a whole lot standing but, well, the Internet. Which is cool and all, but I still miss the days when I could pick up a new issue of Dance Party or Out of Order at SoundEx and marvel at Russell's awesome artwork or wonder how in the hell I could ever get some of the records talked about in the other zines. It felt like the end of an era.

Don't get me wrong; e-zines are great, and I enjoy doing this one (most of the time). It's not the same, though, as holding that little stapled-together thing in your hands and feeling how much actual work went into producing the one copy you yourself got. Printing or copying and distributing something is a whole other ballgame, let me tell you. So, given that, I'm very, very heartened to see zine-making alive and well, and like I said, I was horrified to realize that with SHFL being shut down, the Zine Fest might be toast, too.

Thankfully, that didn't happen, and the resourceful Zine Fest folks have found a new home, at least temporarily. They'll be doing their thing this coming Saturday, May 24th, as part of the always-entertaining Secret Saturday Show deal up in the Heights at The Shady Tavern (1206 W. 20th). The insanity starts at 12PM with DJs & such, continues with a handful(?) of super-duper-secret bands playing in the Tavern's open-air space (which looks oddly like my garage, only cleaner), and continues on into the night, finally winding up at 9PM(!).

From 6-9PM, as well, they'll be staging an auction to benefit the beleaguered and aforementioned Super Happy Fun Land. Who, frankly, need all the help they can get, and who in turn we as Houston music/art lovers need to help keep The Scene alive. Oh, and there're door prizes, we're told. Gotta love door prizes...

In addition to the bands/DJs, of course, there's going to be a ton of zines, comix, art, books, and whatever else media-ish you can think of -- it is a Zine Fest, after all. And hey, you can participate, too, although you probably ought to get on it, since I dunno how much space they've got. Here're the details on that from organizer Shane:

Artists, zinesters, organizations, publishers and distros interested in setting up tables can contact "shane" at "zinefesthouston dot org" for more information. Table space is free. Bring your own table.

Zine Fest Houston (formerly known as The Houston Comix and Zine Festival) is an event dedicated to promoting zines, independent/ small press comics, minicomics, and other forms of self-publishing and independent, alternative, underground and diy media & art.

It is also a grassroots attempt to build the local zine, self-publishing and comics scenes and form networks with comics and zine creators in other areas.

Admission is free and free table space is available for zinesters, cartoonists, writers, artists, publishers and distros.

The festival is a new and different experience every time, offering a new crop of zines and comics every year (including many never before seen anywhere else) and other unique sights (such as a live chicken manning one of the exhibitor tables during our first festival).

The goal of the event is for attendees to not only discover new zines, but also to be inspired to create their own diy projects.

So, there you have it -- take advantage of the last gasp of Spring (hopefully?) and hang out under the shady trees whilst perusing handmade/printed/etc. writings and art, listening to cool music, and drinking cold beverages.

Labels: Arty Shit, Musical Crap, Public Service Announcements, Things To Do, Things To Get, Things To See

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I suck, suck, suck. In my frantic rush to post about Record Store Day, I woefully neglected to give even the briefest shoutout to the wondrous, magical Midtown haven that is Sig's Lagoon (3710 Main, if you were wondering). Which is doubly stupid considering that in the past six months or so I've shopped there more recently and more frequently than I have anywhere else. Argh...

Sig's folks, I'm really sorry -- y'all are a fine, fine store, and I truly didn't mean to leave you out; I'm just a scatterbrain, is all. I've learned, btw, somewhat belatedly (been offline since lunchtime, I'm afraid, hanging with a certain midget who loves Shrek, rock music, and ice cream, in that order), that Sig's is participating in the Record Store Day shenanigans, and hey, since the day ain't over yet, and the store generally seems to be open late...why not stop by, eh?

Seriously, if you get a chance, even if it's not today, I'd give 'em a look, 'cause it's quite a place. And if you happen to be in the Midtown 'hood between now & closing time (which I think is midnight, but don't quote me), I'm told Sig's is selling all used vinyl at 50% off and are throwing in some cool promo vinyl, too. I hit Cactus this afternoon, and while it was a bona-fide madhouse, they had some truly neat stuff; I'm guessing Sig's is the same kind of deal.

Sorry again for the miss...but hey, while we're on the subject, it 'pears Sig's is having a bash of its own a little further down the road -- they're hosting the Night of the Living Tiki art show, featuring (duh) tiki/hotrod/exotica/skull/etc.-themed art by Crash (aka Cindy Raschke) on this May 12th from 6-10PM. It's a little ways off, sure, but it sounds cool, esp. as the art I've seen so far is pretty stunning and the music for the event will be provided by Clouseaux, Sig's owner Tomas Escalante's tiki-lounge-weirdness band and a badass crew I don't see playing shows nearly enough these days. They're awesome, truly.

That's it, then -- hopefully I'll get something up at some point on the craziness of today, but for right now I've gotta pack and listen to the sound of my glass courtyard door quietly falling to pieces as the warmth of the day leaves... (Lesson-learned memo to homeowners: if you have a courtyard w/glass doors in it, do not have any yard guys you hire weedwhack in there. Weedwhackers are very, very bad, and glass gets expensive when it's door-sized. Seriously.)

Labels: Arty Shit, Musical Crap, Public Service Announcements, Things To Do, Things To Get

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I've always thought of myself as being relatively environmentally-aware, but man, having a kid puts that whole thing into overdrive, believe it. These days I find myself become maniacal about checking labels, avoiding super-processed crap, and feeding as much organic food as possible to the curly-haired, Gogol Bordello-/Hannah Montana-loving midget who lives in my house. Since having Abbie, we've become hyper-sensitive of hormones, preservatives, sugar, and all that other fun junk that regularly gets pumped into food to make it more "appealing." Uh-huh, right.

Luckily, several friends of ours are into the same sorts of things, so a couple of 'em (one of whom works for local nonprofit Urban Harvest) eventually prodded the wife & I into meandering over to the Bayou City Farmers Market one Saturday. The market's held every Saturday morning (getting there early is best, I've found), from 8AM-12PM, in a parking lot back behind the building at 3000 Richmond, on the north side of Richmond at Eastside, just east of Buffalo Speedway & north of 59. Our first experience was a little underwhelming, admittedly -- it was hot as hell w/almost no shade in the parking lot, and there weren't very many vendors there that day -- but since then we've been trying to go back as often as we can.

And over time, we've been pretty impressed. While my wife insists she could easily be a vegetarian, I'm a can't-help-it carnivore, so I was blown away when we showed up one morning to find the Olde World Farms booth all set up, w/piles and piles of gorgeous-looking all-natural beef on display. It's a little pricey for me in general, but damn, their sausages are good. We've gotten some good organic veggies, homemade bread, candles, honey, even flowers, all grown by Houston-area folks (sometimes in areas you wouldn't expect, actually; there're apparently some community gardens down in Westbury that sell produce at the market). And the milk? Whoo, boy. When the milk people come by, it's hard to beat.

The best of the bunch so far, though, was the morning when a local shrimper had brought their catch to the market. For $9, I bought a pound of the biggest, freshest (they didn't even smell like fish, which was pretty cool) shrimp I've ever seen in my life. We took 'em home, peeled & deveined 'em, slapped 'em under the broiler w/some butter, garlic, oil, & shallots, and gorged ourselves on shrimp scampi that night. They were awesome, if I do say so myself. (Now my wife makes me make scampi every time we get shrimp from anywhere, which is cool, 'cause I don't get to do much cooking these days...)

Anyway, the reason I'm mentioning all this is because tomorrow, Saturday, March 29th, the market's having its annual(?) Kids' Market Day, where they encourage folks to bring their munchkins out to check out the goings-on, pet some animals, get their faces painted, see some demonstrations, and supposedly even take home a free tomato plant. Plus, there'll be music from singer Danielle Reich and jazz bassist Thomas Helton, both of whom I've actually heard of before, so that's cool.

Of course, it's free, and it supports strictly local growers, craft-y types, and businesses, which is a nice, consumerism-minded way of sticking it to The Man ("The Man" in this case not referring to the City of Houston, but rather to the Wal-Marts & factory-farm monstrosities we're all tied to by the purse strings. Fight the power, yo.

Oh, and if you're feeling really greenie tomorrow, you can also participate in Earth Hour 2008, where millions of people all over the planet will turn off all their lights. It's meant to be a statement about climate change and global warming, but it's also interesting to see what you can do without having all the lights in the house on. The last time the power got cut in our neighborhood, it was actually kinda cool -- we all sat in the living room and read books or scribbled in journals by candlelight. (But then, we're pretty dorky.) So there you go...

Labels: Environmental Junk, Political Stuff, Things To Do, Things To Get

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Well, after last year's ridiculously good bumper crop of local releases, I'd kind of wondered what 2008 would bring -- I feared it'd be a quiet year, relatively, with everybody touring on past CDs & 7"s & such, and no new stuff out 'til later on. What the hell am I gonna do without new stuff from the billion or so excellent bands making music in this city?

Looks like I needn't have worried. We're only just halfway or so through the first month of '08, and I've already heard & seen evidence of a veritable flood of H-town releases coming our way. Here's a quick glance at the ones I've heard about, at least, for bands I like -- if anybody knows of others, hey, feel free to mention/plug 'em in the Comments. And just so nobody gets their feelings hurt, I want to make clear that these are not in order of preference/coolness/whatever, but just in the order they generally popped into my little head. Here goes:

While You Were Gone, Heavy Lies The Crown:
Been waiting for this one for a while now -- WYWG hit it somewhat big at the Houston Press Awards a year or two back & then mostly dropped off the radar, which is a damn shame, because they're one of the best emo-ish rock bands going in this smoggy city. There're some heavy Christian undertones, for sure (take this lyric from "Sinner," for example: "I am a merchant / and I sell good news"), but with rock this lushly gorgeous and emotive, eh, I'm down with it. Besides, they're so damn earnest I just have to respect it, y'know? I have yet to see 'em play live, but reports compare 'em to Austin's Cruiserweight, which makes some sense, and vocalist/pianist Misty Gray has some of the baddest-ass soft-post-punk vocals out there today (and no, I'm not talking about just within SE Texas).

Anyway, everything I've heard so far off upcoming EP Heavy Lies The Crown is great, great stuff -- esp. "Thief," which is just plain heartbreaking in an almost Eisley-ish way -- so keep an eye out for it. The release date's 1/25, and the band'll be playing their CD release show that night at Fuel Cyber Cafe up in Humble. You can pick up the new EP there and enter a contest to snag 2 tix to see Emery & As Cities Burn in Feb., to boot.

Buxton, A Family Light:
Yep, LaPorte's favorite sons are back with their second full-length, A Family Light, which is a jangly, jaunty-yet-sad, countrified affair that tramps deeper into the backwoods than the previous one, Red Follows Red, ever did. It's good, oddly familiar, old-timey, "warm"-sounding music that brings to mind The Elected, The Mendoza Line, Iron and Wine (the faster bits, at least), or Murder by Death (no, really; check out "Blood On The Streets"). I've heard some of the band's earlier stuff, too, but I think I like the new stuff better, believe it or not -- they sound like they're really coming into their own.

The release show for this one's on 1/19 at Walter's on Washington, with excellent fellow locals By the End of Tonight and Papermoons and a fourth band, Ghost Mountain, about which I know nada. Oh, and if you hit the show you not only get a free copy of the new album, but you also get a copy of Red Follows Red & an EP the band, uh, never got around to actually releasing. Can't beat that, damn...

The American Masquerade, Unveiled:
Haven't yet heard all of Unveiled, but I've been waiting for this disc since first hearing about these guys over on The Skyline Network. Following a name change (or two? can't remember...), the Masquerade released this one, although I can't tell for sure when it was released (dammit, people, this is what those Myspace blogs're for). If there was a release show, I missed it, unfortunately, but I'm happy to see these songs hit the light of day, even still. Unveiled is interesting, entertaining stuff, in the vein of The Killers and Interpol -- and despite what you might think, I don't mean that as a slam. I enjoy both bands, personally, and the Masquerade boys acquit themselves admirably here in the same general camp of retro-'80s, glam-y, dramatic, electronified pop-rock. No clue where you can pick it up, sadly, but I'd bet you can contact the band via Myspace and snag a copy (or hell, just catch a show).

Hearts of Animals, 7":
I wish-wish-wish I knew more about this one, but here's what I do know: HoA will apparently be putting out its third "real" release (counting the two Grey Ghost EPs Ms. Mlee's done to date), a real-live 7", on Dull Knife Recs in early-to-mid February. I dunno what songs'll be on it, but going by her previous work, it's bound to be goooooood. Seriously. There's a release show already planned for Feb. 12th over at Rudyard's, with Hearts of Animals, Nat Baldwin of Dirty Projectors fame, & somebody I've never heard of before called Whiskey Priest. So here's what you need to do, in order (trust me, I'm a technical writer, so I know these things): 1) Go to show. 2) Listen. 3) Pick up jaw. 4) Fumble frantically for cash to buy record. 5) Go home and put new record on stereo. 6) Pick up jaw second time.

On top of that, the last time I saw Hearts of Animals play, Mlee said that there'd be a new "release" coming out this spring, which would seem logically to be the aforementioned record, but when I asked if it'd be an actual CD, she said "yes." So maybe -- hopefully -- this means that there's an honest-to-Jeebus album in the works? Dunno. In the loudness of Rudz, maybe she didn't hear what I asked and just smiled and said "yes" so I'd get lost. But hey, I can hope...

Something Fierce/The Monocles, Modern Girl/The Monocles:
Yep, I've babbled about this a bit about Something Fierce & The Monocles before now, but I've got a little correcting to do, I'm afraid. For some damn reason, I saw "record release" on the note about last Friday's show w/both bands and assumed it was a split record with the two of 'em. Turns out that's not the case -- the two bands are out on tour together, yes, but they're putting out two different records, one for each. Which is badass, obviously; hell, we've already reviewed the dang Monocles disc here. I swear, I've got no clue where I got the idea that there was one record and it was a split w/both bands...weird. Sorry for the confusion, y'all.

At any rate, I can tell you for absolute-freakin'-sure that both records are excellent, and since you're unable to get your old-school pop-punk fix for the duration of the "Teenage Mustache" tour (I think they're somewhere in Georgia as I type this), do yourself a favor and head on over to SoundEx or Vinal Edge and grab two pieces of cool-ass vinyl to tide yourself over. Cool?

Rustler, Shark Week:
Hot damn. Not too long after the release of their great-great-great debut EP threw me into a gleeful spiral of prog-and-not metal worship, apparently the three Big Easy transplants in Rustler are hard at work on their second release, to be entitled Shark Week. Which, weirdly enough, fits pretty much perfectly with the band's jazzy/crazed take on instro-metal -- I mean, seriously, why the hell aren't Rustler scoring Discovery Channel specials? It works for the Dub Trio, right? Anyway. No sign of the new tracks yet, but I'm awaiting the new disc with bated breath nonetheless.

Tody Castillo:
This one's been in a the works for a while now -- sounds like Tody underestimated how long it'd take to put together the followup to his awesome debut CD from a few years back -- he says it'll most likely be out in March/April of '08. I haven't heard it yet, but David from Houston Calling apparently has, and he says it's gonna be good. Keep yr fingers crossed.

Sharks and Sailors:
Dunno the details on this, but per ADR over at Skyline, the new S&S album's all done & ready to go -- it just needs to be mastered. Damn cool.

Balaclavas, Balaclavas/Inferno:
Not really "new" releases, no, but according to Ramon at Free Press Houston, the band's re-releasing its two self-released EPs on vinyl on Phonographic Arts/Compound Recordings. Good to hear...

Mantis, namas te:
Okay, so this one's got me totally confused, but what the hey... I really like what I've heard of these guys, kind of a cool, bluesy, pseudo-classic rock thing, but I'm a little at a loss for details on what looks like an upcoming release, namas te, which their Website says will be both the band's first full-length and nine free tracks for absolute free. I'm guessing they're planning on a strictly digital release, but I can't tell, 'cause that's all the info there is. Gonna have to keep an eye out for that one.

Labels: H-Town News, Public Service Announcements, Things To Get, Things To Hear

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It just seems like it's been one thing after another lately, doesn't it? Clubs closing down left and right (R.I.P., Cosmos Cafe, the most recent casualty that I've heard about), musicians passing away or getting injured (I'm sure everybody's heard about Pimp C's untimely death -- heck, it made the nightly news last night -- but there's also local musician Chris King, who per the folks on the Last Concert Cafe mailing list was in a car wreck over the weekend and was pretty badly hurt; more info here and here...), folks leaving town (like Lanky or bound-for-Austin Matt Sonzala), and even local video stores and theatres going belly-up or getting torn down (Movies The Store is gone, and the Landmark River Oaks Theatre may soon be, too)...it's been a parade of craptacular news of late.

Dammit, I need some good news. Seriously. Otherwise, no amount of holiday cheer is gonna keep me afloat. So here are some good, happy, to-be-thankful-for things to keep us all from getting too down in the dumps:

• Super Happy Fun New Home!: Yep, Super Happy Fun Land has reportedly found a new home, over in the east-of-downtown warehouses near the Last Concert Cafe (near the Atomic Cafe, maybe? is that still around?). And thank goodness for that, because not only does this city desperately need a weirdo-music/art/whatever place like SHFL, but downtown is seriously in need of upping its coolness quotient. I dunno if the deal's final yet, but the SHFLers have nailed down at least a date range for the move: January 11th through January 23rd. If you want to help -- having seen the old SHFL, I can attest that moving will be a monumental task -- and email "info" at "superhappyfunland dot com". Help 'em out, eh?

• Southmore, Too!: I hadn't realized 'til recently that the Southmore House had found a new place to dwell, too -- they're now cohabitating, as it were, with the Bill Hicks Resurrection Labs at 2915 Delafield. Big "thanks" to their Bill Hicks Labs compatriots for putting 'em up...

• Cactus Does Shows!: Ah, nice... Not that I don't love SoundEx, but when I think of fun in-store performances, Cactus Music is what immediately jumps to mind, mostly because, well, I saw more bands play there back in its Mk. 1 Alabama days. And thankfully, with the rejuvenated, reopened (and freakin' awesome; I blew a ridiculous amount of $$$ there recently on stocking stuffer joke gifts & random CDs) store back with the living, so too are their in-store shows, starting tomorrow. They've got Ben Lee playing this Thursday, December 6th, at 6PM, which sounds intriguing (I haven't heard any of Lee's last few albums, but I liked the first few quite a bit), and then they've got The Derailers and The Gougers on December 7th and 8th, respectively. Hot damn, I'm glad Cactus is alive & kicking again. (Oh, and it's now over at 2110 Portsmouth, across from the 59 Diner.)

• The Sammies!: Local fave The Skyline Network's answer to the Houston Press Awards, except a lot more straightforward, category-wise. Go, vote, and let your favorite Houston musician/band/artiste bask in the warm glow of local-scenester adulation.

• Stuff Online at the Free Press!: I'm a confirmed fan of the Free Press Houston, but for some damn reason, I hadn't been able to find much of the mag's content on their Website for quite a long while. Which sucks, 'cause they don't even drop the HP in my part of town, much less the FP. Post-Website update, though, they are an online-music-coverin' machine, with LP4 ringmaster Ramon Medina seemingly leading the charge -- his article on the excellent Hearts of Animals is particularly killer.

• The Judy's on CD!: Not sure where I saw this first, 'cause it popped up on my Google Reader from all over the place at once -- TSN, Houston Calling, the Hands Up board, wherever. Anyway, the upshot is that the back catalog of inimitable works created by The Judy's, possibly the most-beloved H-town band ever (locally, at least), is now available on CD via the band's own resurrected (was it ever really dead?) Wasted Talent Records label. Just in time for Christmas, naturally; place an order for your nearest & dearest now.

• Rosa's Ditch Water Photo Zine!: I picked up local photog/scenester Rosa Guerrero's new "fotozine," Ditch Water, at SoundEx last weekend, and I'm very glad I did. Not only is it cool to see actual, real-live paper zines once more (found a few other new ones at Domy, as well), but it's awesome to be able to finally put names to faces for some of the local (and non-local) music folk Rosa's photographed over the past couple of years. For a homebody like myself, that's kinda neat. Plus, she's a darn good photographer -- I think my fave photo is the one of Chris Ryan (I think that's him, anyway) sitting on a chair outside Notsuoh as the Metrorail train blurs past. Or maybe the one with the guy (Tody Castillo, maybe?) crouching down behind his old-school amp, with the amp in sharp focus and the guy blurred. Nice. Get your copy soon, as there're only 50 in existence, and I've got #12 in hand...

There. I feel better now. Maybe the scene's not doomed, after all...

Labels: H-Town News, Public Service Announcements, Things To Do, Things To Get, Things To Hear, Things To Read

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Just a quick note to let you know that this next week's installment of the Grey Ghost CD-R series is gonna be ever more supremely badass than it usually is -- it's reportedly one eleven-minute Hell's Angels clusterfuck entitled "Hawg!", by none other than the Linus Pauling Quartet, who thanks to their latest album All Things Are Light have lately swooped on up to sit on/near the top of my personal heap of Cool H-Town Bands. No, I have yet to hear the new(?) song on GG #48, but I have no doubt that it'll be something special (although which definition of "special" you'd care to use is totally up to you). Get on up to Domy this coming week to grab your copy before they're gone forever.

Labels: H-Town News, Musical Crap, Things To Get, Things To Hear

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Yes, it's true. Scenester/erst-and-again booking guy Bucky has decided that dangit, he just hasn't done enough music-related crap in this here city, so now he's opening his own record store, to boot, called On The Mouth. Not only is the new enterprise named after one of the best.damn.Superchunk.songs.EVER (okay, yeah, I love the OtM album, too), but it's also carrying some very cool, somewhat hard-to-find stuff. Lots of local (Papermoons, By the End of Tonight, O Pioneers!!!, Sore Loser, etc.), but also stuff like Shotbaker, Monikers (ex-Discount), Deadline, Coalesce, Strikeforce Diablo, & that ever-awesome First Crush emo comp that came out a long damn time ago. More will apparently be forthcoming in the near future.

Oh, but here's The Twist -- 'cause y'know, we live in the Age of the Police Procedural, where there's always got to be a Twist ("But wait...the nanny and Mrs. Schrodinger are the same person! She murdered herself and got away with it!"). On The Mouth is not yet its own separate bricks-and-mortar entity, no, but instead resides in the back portion of the existing (and absolutely awesome, I should add, since I don't know that I've ever given 'em their props here) music emporium Sig's Lagoon, over at 3710 Main next to The Continental Club & Tacos-A-Go-Go.

The store will carry Bucky's stock, and Bucky will be there to sell it from 11AM-9PM Monday-Wednesday and 11AM-12AM Thursday-Saturday (he goes home to sleep on Sundays, apparently). You can also call the meta-store at 713-533-9525, if you either can't make the slog over to Midtown or just fear the evil Light Rail that has claimed so many lives, er, fenders. Go. Buy things. We need more places like both On The Mouth and Sig's Lagoon (and Domy, and SoundEx, and Vinal Edge...) in this city. It's fucking criminal that a city this size can count the cool record stores on one of its sweaty, pimpled hands. Get out there, people.

Labels: H-Town News, Public Service Announcements, Things To Get

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Damn. I've been meaning to post about this for days now, seriously, ever since the beginning of the week... Today (Saturday, that is) is the very, very last-last day to buy the week's installment of the Grey Ghost CD-R series, this ultra-super-limited edition (13 copies only) bunch of little EPs put out by Grey Ghost's John Sears for ridiculous cheap & featuring pretty much everybody cool here in Helltown at some point or another. Each CD-R's available for sale only at Domy Books on Westheimer (next to Brasil), and each is only there for one week before it vanishes into Sears' archives and is replaced by a new pile.

See here and here, by the by, for a detailed history of Grey Ghost -- thankyew, Skyline, for posting the info for the enlightenment of all. Sears has been doing cool stuff in this city for as long as yours truly has been paying attention, all the way back to the first ridiculously badass Fatal Flying Guilloteens tape I think I snagged at an Amy's Ice Cream show back, back, back in the day.)

This week's EP, Tire Fire, comes from Hearts of Animals' own Mlee Marie, and while I haven't heard it (I'm sneakily trying to think of ways to get up to Domy sometime this afternoon...), I like what I've heard of HoA, so it's probably pretty neat. The coming week's release is from BDM (aka Benjamin Davis Murphy, currently of Bright Men of Learning, ex-Lucky Motors, ex-We've Got Airplanes, ex-Pop Deflation, ex-etc., etc.), and it's reportedly a shiny little pop gem that even includes a cover of Big Star's "Thirteen." If you've heard anything Ben's done before now -- and you really should've, if you haven't -- then you know how good he is. Otherwise, you'll just have to take my word for it.

Not sure what all's coming down the pipe or when, but rumor has it that there'll be releases from Halocline (ex-Port Vale) & awesome local punk rockers Something Fierce. Sadly, if you haven't been hitting up Domy regularly 'til now, you've already missed out on EPs from Blades, Punkin Pie, Cop Warmth, & Little Red Lighthouse. Shame, shame...

Labels: H-Town News, Things To Get, Things To Hear

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Dang. Y'know how sometimes you keep meaning to mention something, but something else always comes up, so you forget that first thing over and over and over again? I sure as hell do (come to think of it, that pretty much describes my life; what the hell was I talking about, here...?).

Like with this: Georgia rock-n-rollers Black Lips are coming to The Engine Room on Sat., October 6th, to rock the town back and to the left, and when they hit our fair city, they will be taking some lucky soul down to Buffalo Exchange on Westheimer to buy shit, hang out, and just generally do cool things.

Which could be pretty damn entertaining, if you're a fan of the band -- what I've heard off their new album, Good Bad Not Evil, is pretty good, and it'd be, uh, a little weird if you entered just for the clothes and won an afternoon with a band you don't actually like. Can you say "awkward"? (Just sayin', in case it crosses anybody's mind...) Oh, and according to their site, Buffalo Exchange are also giving out Black Lips samplers "with minimum purchase," however much that might be. (No, I have no idea how much $$$ the kids play for clothes these days; my metrosexual coworker blew $200 on a t-shirt a while back, and the ridiculous waste of it made me want to just sit in my chair & weep, I swear...)

Anyway, now for the "mea culpa" bit. If I'd actually posted this back when I meant to post it (like, say, 9/19 or so), you'd have had oodles & oodles of time in which to meander down to the Big W to enter the raffle. But sadly, the deadline to enter the raffle for the shopping spree is this Saturday, Sept. 29th, which only leaves you two measly freakin' days to get your near-urb-anite ass back to the 'hood you used to live in before the yuppies took over. Sorry 'bout that. If you want to snag some hipster clothes and/or meet the band, get on down & sign up quick-fast.

Labels: Free Stuff, Musical Crap, Things To Do, Things To Get

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Okay, so this makes me feel a bit better -- got my very own copy of the new Something Fierce/The Hangouts split-7" (out on Manic Attack!!! Records) yesterday in the mail. And unsurprisingly, it fucking rocks.

Alright, so I haven't yet listened to the Hangouts side (sorry; I will soon, I swear), but I couldn't resist slapping side A on and checking out "Teenage Ruins" and "On Your Own", both by H-town's own Something Fierce kids. In-depth review to come, but here's the brief version: holy shit. My 3-year-old daughter and I both went berserk dancing/pogoing around the room while the record spun, goofy-wide grins on our faces, 'til I collapsed on the floor in (pathetic) exhaustion. And that's a good thing.

(And hey, I'm sorry to hear about the recent clothing thievage on the tour, you guys, but just remember, whatever doesn't kill you...)

Labels: H-Town News, Musical Crap, Pseudo-Reviews, Things To Get

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Weird; June's already shaping up to be Giveaway Month here at SCR HQ (and this one's somewhat bigger one than the last, to boot...).

We've got a pair of tickets to the Fall Out Boy show a week from today, Monday, 6/18, up at The Woodlands' Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion; also on the bill are The Academy Is, Cobra Starship, +44, and H-town's own Paul Wall (who, really, seems like the best reason to go, at least to us).

Now, I've been wracking my brain trying to come up with some kind of creative contest to use to pick a winner, but dang it, I'm coming up empty. So we're going to do it the old-fashioned, Russian-roulette, completely random way: if you want the tickets, send an email to "gaijin" at "spacecityrock dot com" with the "Subject" line "I CAN HAS TICKETZ?" and your real-world address. The winner will be randomly selected from the pile, along with a runner-up, who'll win a Fall Out Boy prize pack, which includes copy of the Fall Out Boy "This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race" 7-inch and a bunch of FOB pins.

(If you happen to write for or otherwise contribute to SCR, by the way, you can still enter. All are equal in our eyes.)

Anyway, if you want 'em, let us know...good luck!

Labels: Free Stuff, Things To Get

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Had this one listed in the Rundown from the other day, but now it turns out its even cooler than I'd figured it would be: Sun., June 3 (i.e., tomorrow), theAUDITION, New Atlantic, The Graduate, and now also Monty Are I and 1997 are all playing at the Java Jazz Coffeehouse up in Spring.

Now, I've rarely been up that way in all my years here in H-town -- that's the insular, pocket-riddled city we live in, sadly -- but I'm damn tempted to make long haul up the freeway to see 1997. These five Chicago kids came out of nowhere and blew yours truly away with their latest (only?) album, A Better View of the Rising Moon; seriously, it walloped me with a heavenly dose of Anniversary-esque harmonies, bludgeoned me with some old-school Mineral epic-ness, and left me sitting, stunned, in the front seat of my car as the blazing guitars and emo-yet-un-bitter rock poured out of the speakers.

Late recommendation, I know, but if you live in the Spring/Kingwood/Humble 'hood -- or are willing to blow the gas money to see a freakin' great band -- get your ass on up to Java Jazz tomorrow night. (And show up early, 'cause I hear those N. Houston kids like their rock emo-/screamo-flavored; it could be pretty packed...)

And to make things even more enticing, now seems like as good a time as any to kick off our first giveaway deal in a looooong while: e-mail us here at Space City Rock ("gaijin" at "spacecityrock" dot "com") with the subject line "1997 rocks my ass!", your name, and your mailing address, and win...dum-da-da-dum...a signed copy of A Better View of the Rising Moon sent to your door by Chicago punk/etc. label Victory Recs. Winners will be selected totally at random, and you only get to enter once, sorry.

Of course, if you enter the contest and you do make it out to the show, you may just have to risk getting two copies of the same disc if you happen to win -- but what the hell, you can always gift it on to a friend, right? Cheers...

Labels: Pseudo-Reviews, Things To Do, Things To Get

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