It's been a good week for power-pop, at least 'round SCR HQ. First off we got word that bizarrely catchy British power-popsters Art Brut have released five sneak-a-peek tracks from their soon-to-be-released next album on Downtown Recs. And thankfully, they're damn good, albeit somewhat of a love-or-hate proposition -- if frontman Eddie Argos's Jonathan Richman-esque talk-singing bugged you on Bang Bang Rock & Roll, well, it'll probably bug you here, too.

For my part, though, I'm over the moon. I love the heck out of BBR&R and was a wee bit concerned that any followup could easily jump the shark into a bad joke; the good news is that that ain't happening. The five tracks the band's let slip are the best kind of loud, bitterly sarcastic, guitar-heavy, record-obsessed pop around, all the way from the breakup-in-slow-motion track "Pump Up The Volume" to the disbelieving Cure/Smiths sound of "Nag Nag Nag Nag". Now, I'm fairly certain this'll get me in trouble, but what the hey -- download the songs for yourself here (they're all together in a .zip file).

Now, this week also saw even better news on the H-town front, seeing as local punkish popsters Something Fierce have put up two new tracks on their MySpace page that up the ante impressively even from their excellent debut, Come For The Bastards. "Teenage Ruins" comes off like the band was mainlining The Undertones for the past year or so and then ran the whole thing through a Ramones filter, and then "On Your Own" rips and shreds its way through pretty much any punk band since the late '70s, all while ringing with a hooky-as-hell melody. Can't wait for the next album for either band.

Ah, the midget's awake. Hopefully more soon...

Labels: H-Town News, Pseudo-Reviews, Things To Download

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Got some new stuff online, including an interview with Louis Posen (of Take Action! Tour/Hopeless Recs/Sub City) fame and a bunch of reviews: Palomar; Bayside; Unsparing Sea; Karrie Hopper; Jihad Jerry and the Evildoers; Smoke Or Fire; This Moment In Black History; & Tomihira.

Labels: Interviews, Reviews

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Yep, I'm gonna get all Karnak with this one: this band will be a big, gigantic, fucking huge deal, and it's going to happen soon.

I'm talking about The Western Civilization, a bunch of local kids who tomorrow night (Sat., 3/23 @ Walter's w/Peekaboo Theory and Buxton, who're pretty good themselves) will be dropping Letters of Resignation, which is possibly the most perfect indie-pop/rock album this city's seen in years (sorry, Mike Haaga...). And I'm saying this not even having heard all of the damn thing yet.

But forget that part, because the tracks I have heard are so freakin' brilliant they're worth the asking price of the album (released on cool local label Mia Kat Empire, by the by) all by themselves. The gentle, thoughtful tick-tocking of the title track hypnotizes me so I bob my head like an idiot, the insistent-yet-beautiful guitars on "Revelations 21:8" come off like Clem Snide at the top of their game, and then when the three/four-part harmonies kick in on "Love Struck Angel," it makes me want to weep (honest). The songs are simultaneously lush and melancholy, like Conor Oberst's best attempts at teen angst amplified and broadcast up to the skies.

And dammit, I won't be there. sigh. My wife is a very understanding lady in general, but if I were to bail on our anniversary to go see some band, well... You'll all have to go in my place; got it?

(Crap, almost forgot: if you can't wait 'til tomorrow PM to see the band, you can catch 'em early at the Westheimer Street Fest. They're playing 2:30PM @ Mango's, I believe.)

Labels: H-Town News, Pseudo-Reviews, Things To Do

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Yep, another busy-busy weekend here in Hell City, USA... Beyond the Westheimer Street Festival, er, Block Party tomorrow afternoon (Saturday, 3/23, that is), there's plenty of other shows/bands worth checking out in the next few days:

Fri., March 23:
Northern State/Nasty Nation/Mr. Pink Eyes/Shoo @ Jet Lounge (1515 Pease)
Not sure about Nasty Nation & co., but Northern State are sassy-smart NY rapper chicks who make a dorky hip-hop handle like "Hesta Prynn" seem cool.

The Dead Science/Parenthetical Girls/Graustark/Something Really Dirty @ Super Happy Fun Land
Good show; The Dead Science do some fine, good, old-fashioned indie-rock the way I used to love to hear it.

The Kimonos/The Charms/Les Thargic @ Rudyard's
There was a time I wasn't super-keen on The Kimonos, I have to say; with that said, though, their newer songs are damn cool.

listenlisten/Church of Philadelphia/Comrade @ Notsuoh
Heard good things about Church of Philadelphia, and what I've actually heard of listenlisten (or Listen, Listen, or ListenListen, or however it's spelled; I've never been real sure) has been cool -- somewhat freaky folk-pop stuff that's a little fragile and interesting.

Southern Culture On The Skids @ The Continental Club
Yeah, yeah. It's SCOTS; just go have fun, no heavy thinking involved.

Sat., March 24:
Clipd Beaks/Balaclavas/Church of the Snake/Wicked Poseur @ Notsuoh
Okay, so I haven't heard a thing by any of these folks, but the idea of Matt Brownlie doing a side project that's weirder than his full-time band, Bring Back The Guns, just cracks me up.

The Western Civilization (CD release)/Buxton @ Walter's on Washington
If you haven't already committed to some pretty major other event tonight (like yours truly has; gotta do what you gotta do), be here. Seriously. Buxton are good, and The Western Civilization blows me away. Awesomely great, gentle-yet-bitter indie-rock that sounds like it came straight outta Omaha. More later on this one...

8th Annual WorldFolk Battle of the Bands, featuring Drout Boyz, The Persuaders, Slivered, Breanne Fye, jEEt, Skepticynic, Three Crooked Hearts, & Larry Sepulvado and Sin City @ Papa's Ice House (Spring)
Not a clue on any band but Slivered -- who are good, and their guitarist used to be in old-timers Hayflick Limit -- but I love a good battle of the bands.

Vanilla Ice/IH5/Jumping Monks @ The Scout Bar (Clear Lake)
Vanilla Ice. In a rock bar a half-mile from NASA. Whee.

Sun., March 25:
Anberlin/Bayside @ The Meridian
Dunno Anberlin, sorry, but I've heard the new Bayside, and it's surprisingly good...

Mon., March 26:
missFlag/skyblue72/Tody Castillo @ The Meridian
Go early for this one; Tody's honestly one of the best songwriters currently operating in this city. His self-titled album makes me want to take a magnet to all my old 4-track recordings.

Tues., March 27:
Smoke or Fire/O Pioneers!!!/This Year's Tiger/Charger Fits @ Walter's on Washington
Richmond-dwelling headliners Smoke or Fire play solid, catchy, Avail-style punkish rock; O Pioneers!!! are some very strange-yet-compelling locals; and This Year's Tiger sound pretty interesting, too. (Sorry, don't know Charger Fits.)

Carolyn Wonderland/Jodi Adair @ Last Concert Cafe
Gotta give props to Carolyn Wonderland -- my wife loves her, and I have to say, she's good at what she does.

Ambulette/The New Trust/Satin Hooks @ Walter's on Washington
Another show-up-early deal; dunno The New Trust, and Ambulette are just kind of "eh" for me, but every time I catch Satin Hooks, I like 'em more.

Testament/Helstar/Dirt/Vozz @ The Scout Bar (Clear Lake)
Oh, hell yeah. This makes me wish my old Anthrax t-shirt hadn't dissolved into grimy dust a few years back. Decent old-school mëtäl from Testament and Houston's own (er, I think...) onetime heavy metal heroes Helstar. Who the fuck books this club?

Thurs., March 29:
Ragged Hearts/Prodigal Sons @ The Continental Club
Picked up the Ragged Hearts CD not long ago, and it's surprisingly tuneful and un-streetpunk, despite the photos on the cover. That's a good thing.

Damn. And here I thought the Southby Collateral Flood was over...

Labels: Things To Do

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...am I only just now hearing about this show? Tonight, Fri., 3/23, NY consciousness-minded grrl-rappers Northern State will be playing at Jet Lounge downtown (1515 Pease). Whoa. I'm not super-knowledgeable about Sprout, Hesta Prynn, and Spero -- haven't heard any of All City yet -- but "The Man's Dollar" rocks, and how can I not love a trio of smart, sassy, politically-savvy girl rappers? Check out their site for some song samples.

Labels: Pseudo-Reviews, Things To Do

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This really, truly makes my week. A while back, I stumbled across a two-year-old post over on The Skyline Network about the glory of the ancient-but-amazing It Came From Nowhere... 7" comp, where long-ago scene vets Mark Caperton of Ojet Recs and former Celindine/etc. guitarist/singer Trey Pool both popped up and offered a copy of all the old Celindine stuff on CD. Pathetic fanboy that I am, drool immediately began to form at the edges of my mouth.

So I tracked down Mark & Trey and begged/pleaded for a copy of the old stuff, and just yesterday I got a little envelope in the mail with a CD-R featuring a copy of the sick ghost currently covered in secret ants demo tape cover and a kind, sweet letter from Trey himself about hearing yours truly play the tape on the radio late-late-late one night way back when. Holy fuck. I slap it in the CD player, and it all comes back to me -- ahhh, that's it. Yes.

Really, when I think about it, Celindine were a band that was just too good to last. They were like the Squirrel Bait of the Houston scene at the time -- a supremely talented crew of guys who really just seemed to like to screw around, drink beer, and rock to crowds made up mostly of friends and fellow musicians, but who somehow managed to go on to be in a good dozen other influential local bands:

• Trey went on to form Trompedo (which was basically Celindine minus other guitarist/vocalist Damon), then Sad Like Crazy, before moving up to Austin w/his very nice wife Mari and their pal Thane...
• Bassist Shane played in The Linoleum Experiment, then Star City, and then moved off to, um, I've got no clue where...
• Damon (who himself used to front local straightedge heroes Refuse To Fall) played with a rotating cast of characters for a few years as That Gospel Sound and has since shifted over to the sweet life of a DJ with Boys & Girls Club...
• Replacement guitarist Jason played solo for a while as The Last Weak before heading home to Florida...
• Original drummer Jeremy played in The Linoleum Experiment w/Shane...
• Replacement drummer Gram started great-indie-hope Schrasj, played with Jessica Six, and then moved out to Cali and released an album as Golden Gram before joining Sub Pop indie-psych rockers Rogue Wave (yep, that Rogue Wave)...
• and replacement-replacement drummer Jeff played in Buzzie Rifle, then The Wholesome Rollers, then Telluride, which became Chasmatic and later transmuted into today's own alt-country slackers Bright Men of Learning.

I'm probably missing several incestuous band connections, here, but you get the idea. Celindine wasn't around long, really, and only ever put out a couple of tape demos, the aforementioned 7" comp appearance, and another two-song 7" before imploding in the face of some serious personality conflicts, but even now, I still feel like I can hear echoes of 'em in the Houston scene.

And what a sound it was. Equal parts Grifters-y backwoods daze (esp. in Trey's vocals), Yo La Tengo indie sensibility, and an Archers of Loaf-ish sideways take on rock, with lots of off-kilter guitar parts that sounded like they shouldn't work but somehow did, slow nod-inducing grooves, a bit of jam band slapdashery, and it fucking ruled. These guys simultaneously made me want to keep playing music because music was too damn cool and give it up because there was no hope of me ever coming near to their coolness. Celindine was honestly the first local band I ever idolized; they made it look so easy to write/play songs that were catchy and strange at the same time.

Okay, so I'll attempt to quit the fanboy blathering now. With Trey's blessing, here're a handful of tracks from the "Collected Works of Celindine" CD-R he's thrown my way; he says he occasionally toys with the idea of getting it all polished up & sending copies to a bunch of the old scenesters from those days, but eh, time moves on... I think the first two are from the sick ghost tape, the third is from the It Came From Nowhere... comp, and the last two are from what was reportedly going to be the band's first actual "real" release (sorry, there's some static, but Trey swears it was on his CD-R, too):

• "No Crest"
• "Flying Like Sitting Ducks"
• "Starry Eyes"
• "Ole"
• "Good Day"

Download 'em, stick 'em on the MP3 player, and throw your mind back to those days back in the early-to-mid-'90s when Rudyard's actually had bands play on a teeny stage where the dartboards are, the mainstream press gave even less of a crap about local bands than it does now, and touring bands routinely gave H-town the finger as they roared past in the tour buses/vans, barely bothering to even slow down, thus forcing us all to make our own fun. Enjoy.

Labels: H-Town News, Musical Crap, Things To Download

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While I'd really like to think I'm all deep and political from time to time (see the old blog over here), the truth is that in reality I'm generally one of those ever-annoying e-activists. Yep, if I get a bulletin from some group or another with an easy-peasy link to click & some fields to fill out to send a form letter to my senator, I'll do it; fire off the e-mail & forget about it. It's cheap, it's easy, it probably has about as much impact as me yelling at the TV when Bill O'Reilly or that smarmy Glenn Beck prick're on, and it makes me feel vaguely empowered. Sad, yes, but there it is.

(And to her credit, one of Texas's two senators, Ms. Kay Bailey Hutchison, actually sends me a paper form letter back for every freakin' one. If they do that for everybody, even non-party-liner reprobates like me, my hat is off to her staff; that's not a job I want, believe you me. John Cornyn, on the other hand, has never replied.)

Despite my inherent laziness, though, I do occasionally attempt to venture out of the house to do something vaguely political, and this is one of those cases. Oxfam, a group I tend to like (not least because I found Ffangs The Vampire Bat and the Kiss of Truth at one of their thrift stores in Ealing), is currently promoting a movie called Black Gold, which apparently delves into the lives and working conditions of the folks behind your/my steaming cup of morning coffee. The film follows the manager of an Ethiopian coffee cooperative as he tries to get a fair price for his co-op's crop, in a long journey 'round the globe that sounds both brutal and illuminating.

Now, I must confess that I'm currently on a break from coffee -- my recent bout of stomach flu forced me to cold-turkey on all forms of brownish liquid, including my AM work coffee and twice-daily Pepsi (one of my other few forms of political "activism," by the by, is boycotting Coke, my former carbonated love), and surprisingly, I feel okay. No headaches, no fogginess, nada; all I can figure is that I happened to hit the DTs right when I was feeling godawful anyway, so I didn't even notice.

Even still, while I'm not currently drinking it, I do love coffee. I love the mystique of it, the flavor, the whole thing. I can't claim to be a connoisseur, but I've read enough to be able to recognize decent coffee when I find it -- arabica beans all the way, yo, and Eight O'Clock Coffee is king (outside of the 5-lb. bag the wife and I bought once in Fez for $0.50, at least, which was the best coffee I've ever tasted). I'd heartily recommend Mark Prendergrast's Uncommon Grounds, by the way, if you really want to know the history of the stuff and how to know what's good & what's bad (beyond just drinking it, that is)...

Anyway, the movie's playing locally at the Rice Media Center (on Rice campus, naturally), and it'll be running March 23rd to March 25th, which doesn't give you much time to go check it out, so go see it while you can, eh?

Labels: Political Stuff, Things To Do, Things To Read

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[UPDATE: Yep, listings have been updated slightly (thanks, a.different.ryan); now Spain Colored Orange, The Generic Tribe, Noon, and Generation Landslide are playing instead of Skyblue 72, Free Radicals, & Prodigal Sons...]

Okay, so I'll admit it freely: I'm bitter about music festivals these days. Us here at SCR don't rate press passes to most of these sorts of things (ahem; South by Somethingorother...), and being po' working folk with day jobs and kids and things, we can't generally slap down the $$$ to fly/drive cross-country just so we can see Favorite Band X at some four-day festival in Chicago or Tennessee. Hell, we can't even afford to hit that little festival up in Austin that took place recently. Ah, for the days when I was mortgage-less and free to blow my cash on whatever the fuck took my fancy...

Anyway, this is why I'm very, very thankful for the Westheimer Street Festival (coming up this next Saturday, March 24th, naturally). WestFest is up there with Emo's and Rudz as the places/happenings that first introduced me to music here in Houston; as a naive young college kid, I'd wander through the crowds of tattooed people out under the hot H-town sun, gawking at the punks and standing in awe of bands like Jessica Six and Rubbur, amazed that a city seemingly so boring and crappy could produce anything so vibrant and weird. WestFest is the primary reason that I maintain to this day that Houston, not Austin, is the Weirdo Capitol of Texas. We/they may all live under rocks most of the time, but we're/they're here, in large numbers.

Naturally, I was disappointed when all the political wrangling and bullshit took over the Festival, eventually killing it and dumping it in a shallow grave just south of Freedmen's Town. "Fuck," I thought, as I drove on down towards the Southwest side from Montrose, moving into married life and home ownership and all that, "it's The End. Damn, Houston's turning into the blah, lame-ass place I originally thought it was."

Now the kind people at Free Press Houston have changed all that, and from the looks of it, the WestFest I loved back in the old days is back: 50 or so bands, all for free, all packed into a block or three of Westheimer (Westheimer & Taft, basically). I'm going to risk bodily harm to make it out for at least part of the day this Sat. (it's, uh, also my wedding anniversary), because going by the schedule, there're a shitload of great and possibly-great local bands playing. Here's the lineup, sheepishly swiped from ADR at The Skyline Network:

Numbers (Outside):
NOON - Sabra and the Big Brothers
12:50 - Novice
1:40 - .belville
2:30 - Flowers to Hide
3:20 - Thee Armada
4:10 - Stadium
5:00 - Medicine Show
5:50 - Satin Hooks
6:40 - Penny Royal

Numbers (Inside):
NOON - Deep Above Surface
12:50 - Generation Landslide
1:40 - The Chapter
2:30 - Bowel
3:20 - Ninja Stars
4:10 - Mic Skills
5:00 - The Riff Tiffs
5:50 - Concrete Rose Cabaret

Mango's (Outside):
NOON - Soledad Sons
1:00 - The Rudyments
2:00 - Suspenderman
2:20 - Doo Doo Butter
3:20 - Muzak John
3:50 - Cartwheels in Central Park
4:20 - Brains for Dinner
5:20 - Organ Failure
6:00 - Police State America
6:20 - The Riff Tiffs
7:20 - The Krinkles

Mango's (Inside):
Noon - The Jane Frequency
12:50 - The Ride Home
1:40 - Honeysuckle
2:30 - The Western Civilization
3:20 - Nine Volt
4:10 - Guns of Detroit
5:00 - Rusted Shut
5:50 - Buxton
6:40 - The Umbrella Man
7:50 - Poison Apple Martini

Helios:
Noon - Jesse's Delight
12:50 - Noon
1:40 - Arthur Yoria
2:30 - The Fucking Transmissions
3:20 - Guy Schwartz
4:10 - Nosaprise
5:00 - Million Year Dance
5:50 - Spain Colored Orange
6:40 - The Scattered Pages
7:50 - The Generic Tribe

Knowing where to be is going to be rough, really; folks I'd recommend would be .belville, Satin Hooks, The Western Civilization, Skyblue 72, Rusted Shut, Arthur Yoria, Million Year Dance, and Spain Colored Orange , and I'm really-truly-truly hoping to catch The Scattered Pages, The Fucking Transmissions, Buxton, Guns of Detroit (who I somehow managed to never see when they lived here), The Ride Home, Soledad Sons, The Riff Tiffs, Mic Skills, Penny Royal, Stadium, Thee Armada, Flowers to Hide, Novice, and Sabra and the Big Brothers. Hoo-ah. Looks like I'll be hanging out outside Numbers most of the day.

The best part of a festival like this, though, is that you can just wander, roaming through the crowd & taking it all in, catching a little bit of Band A here and enough of Band B there to make you curious. I can't speak for every past WestFest-goer out there, but over the years I found out about a ton of cool bands I'd never heard/heard of before just by meandering in a big circle from one stage to the next. Wherever you end up, you're not likely to go too far wrong.

Labels: H-Town News, Things To Do

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Man, what a week... It's fairly safe to say that things haven't gone quite the way I'd planned 'em. Seeing as this was shaping up to be one of the coolest weeks for The Rock here in Houston in quite some time, I'd hoped to be the music-fan-about-town. Screw SouthBy -- I figured a little Guilloteens here, some Blades there, plus some Jonah Matranga, all topped off w/some Palomar, maybe some Ladyhawk, and what the hey, some wild Irish fiddle, and I'd be a lot better off than if I were trying to negotiate the hordes of Sixth Street. I'm a married guy with a little midget at home, so I don't get to do this sort of thing real often; I was looking forward to it.

But alas, it was not to be. After spending last weekend nursing my wife and the munchkin w/no ill effects to my own health, I thought I was in the clear. I made it out to Walter's Monday to see the Fatal Flying Guilloteens (warning: do not view the site at work...) -- who I hadn't seen since Mike G. made the switch from drums to vocals, and I have to say that they get better every time I see 'em, amazingly -- and hang with out-of-town pal Conor, which was very cool, and got to re-meet the fabulous Ms. Rosa in person afterwards at Rudz. And hey, no cops raided Walter's, at least not while I was there, so that's a bonus.

I stuck around Walter's after the Guilloteens long enough to catch part of Iron Age's set, which wasn't bad, I'll grant, but mostly got me desperately needing to rip my Metallica CDs onto my iPod. And it was good to say "hey" to Mike and Shawn G. once again, even if Shawn thought I'd left town a while back to go to school up in Denton. Ah, well; better than dead, I guess, and I had a damn good time, all things considered.

Tuesday was equally a blast, at least at first. I swung up to Super Happy Fun Land in the pouring rain to catch Jonah Matranga and hang out w/friend Mel and his crew, all of whom happen to be the coolest folks. After a truly, truly bizarre, halfway-hysterical set by a SXSW passer-through named Toof who did things with a bass guitar, a keyboard, and an iMac that I still can't entirely comprehend (and if I could remember more of the lyrics to "Just Give Me Anal In the Morning, Baby," I would, but then this site would probably be blocked from every high-school PC in the known universe, if it isn't already), Jonah took the stage and played low-key balladeer to all us emo-kid types.

He played some new songs he's been working on, and they blew me away -- at one point I caught myself thinking, "oh, yeah, that would be great on a mix...no, wait, maybe that one..." The high point, though, was him acceding to audience demand and rocking out (acoustically) "We Had A Deal," off The Volunteers. I've never seen somebody so happy to hear the crowd singing the words louder than they were in my life (actually, that kind of thing's usually just uncomfortable and weird).

Afterward, I caught a bit of Barbez's set -- liked the klezmer-sounding songs, not so big on the rest -- and then headed for House of Pies w/Mel, Jonah, and two Jonah fans/friends whose names I'm utterly and completely blanking on (sorry, ladies; my memory of the evening is hazy). Sure, I was up way, way, way late on a work-night, but I couldn't pass up the chance to cap the show w/some chocolate cream pie.

Unfortunately, nature had its revenge on me, later that night, and by morning I was thoroughly miserable, sick, and exhausted. And I've been fighting this goddamn flu crap ever since. Profuse, profuse apologies if anybody I ran across/into, esp. at SHFL (which is, by the way, a very cool place to catch a show), is now sick thanks to my plague-infested self. I am really sorry, even if you cut me off on the freeway home or something; I wouldn't wish this on anyone. I don't remember anything of Wednesday, and was so out-cold I couldn't even make it to the Palomar show, despite their album being utterly great. I spent the next two days feeling up and down, and now it's St. Freakin' Paddy's (okay, it was, about 20 minutes ago), and I'm so sick I can't even knock back a celebratory glass of Jameson's. Fuck.

Ah, well. On the plus side, there's still time to check out one very-very-very cool show tomorrow, er, today (Sunday, 3/18, that is) -- Winterpills are playing at Last Concert Cafe with a bunch of local folks (Carrie Ann Buchanan, Dave Fahl, & a few others I can't remember). And because we here at SCR would like for this little e-zine to be at least a relatively-current proposition, we have -- lo and behold! -- put up a review of the new Winterpills disc, The Light Divides, in time for the show. Read the review here, then check out the band; they'll be good, honest.

And hey, while we're at it, we've also updated the Bands page slightly to include screamo/loud-and-noisy/whatever-core heroes The JonBenét. Enjoy; more updates to the horribly-outdated Featured Bands to come soon...

Labels: Featured Bands, Pseudo-Reviews, Reviews, Things To Do

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Yep, it's St. Paddy's, which is a holiday yours truly actually really likes, for no accountable reason other than a lifelong fascination with the Irish (from whom I'm descended, partly, despite being generally a Western European mutt). I kind of got into Irish culture first in high school, being interested in genealogy and history, and then when I got to an actual big city, I was happy to find that Houston's got a fair number of Irish/Celtic/whatever bands, clubs, and such.

These days I use the day primarily as an excuse to blast The Pogues, The Chieftains, and Dropkick Murphys, replace the wife's cheery Spring flag on the porch with the Irish colors, and drink some of the tiny-tiny-tiny amount of booze I generally consume (probably even less today, mind you, since I've still got a stomach bug). If you're out and about, though, I'd heartily recommend checking out the St. Paddy's festival at McGonigel's Mucky Duck (although it's been going on for a bit now, I think) or hitting one of the other clubs in town serving godawful green beer. It's worth it just to watch the drunken idiots, seriously. Check the shows list to see who's where (The Handsomes @ The Continental Club & Flying Fish Sailors @ The Big Top would be a good bet).

And hey, in honor of the day, I've dragged some Irish-themed music out of the stacks of CDs piled in the office; some new, some old:

1. Dropkick Murphys, "The Auld Triangle" (gotta love Brendan Behan)
2. Dropkick Murphys, "The Green Fields of France"
3. Young Dubliners, "Rocky Road to Dublin"
4. Black 47, "Fanatic Heart" (the most sadly-unrecognized Irish-American band ever)
5. Anonymous, "Whiskey In The Jar" (for all those people who think Metallica wrote the freakin' song)
6. Anonymous, "Finnegan's Wake" (this is by far the best recorded version I've ever heard; love the glasses clinking and people cracking jokes in the background)

(To anybody who owns any of the music above, I'm posting it here strictly for sampling purposes; I think these bands & albums are great and deserve to be heard. If anyone wants these taken down, just let me know, and I will.)

Labels: Things To Do, Things To Download

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Yep, new stuff up for the new week. Featured Bands: Sharks and Sailors; The Western Civilization. Live: DragonForce. Reviews: Loney, Dear; Die Hunns; The Jonx; Lucas Cates; Sebadoh re-issue; Teenage Harlets; tvfordogs; & Mike Uva.

Labels: Featured Bands, Live Reviews, Pseudo-Reviews

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Right. So, since I blew it on the Noise & Smoke thing and I've been a bit behind on recommending shows & such, I figured I'd give a quick rundown of some of the cooler shows coming up. And boy-freakin'-howdy, it's gonna be one hell of a month. Even for SXSW-flood time, which always means a shitload of good bands passing through town on their way, this is a little crazy. Here goes...

Sun., March 11:
Snow Patrol/OK Go/Silversun Pickups @ Verizon Wireless Theater
I could give a crap about Snow Patrol, but damn if I'm not wishing I was up at the Verizon tonight to see Silversun Pickups & OK Go -- the Pickups' Carnavas was my pick for best album of '06 because of its awesomely gorgeous MBV-meets-Kyuss sunblasted arena rock, and OK Go are masters of the hook, in addition to being damn smart people.

I Am Trees/Co-Pilot/Margot/Antarctica Starts Here @ Walter's on Washington
sigh. Given that I missed out on Noise & Smoke, I really should be here tonight. I love what I've heard from Co-Pilot (ex- a cool little band called Scooter from back in the day) and Antarctica Starts Here, and I need to hear more.

Mon., March 12:
Killswitch Engage/Dragonforce/Chimaira/He Is Legend @ Verizon Wireless Theater
Aww, yeah. Cheeseball hyperspeed technical metal from DragonForce and melodic emo-metal genius from Killswitch Engage (who're one of the best metal bands going these days, for my money). Dunno Chimaira, but I hear He Is Legend's good, too.

Fucked Up/Iron Age/Fatal Flying Guilloteens/I Am Wolf @ Walter's on Washington
No clue on most of these bands, but the Guilloteens are always, always, always worth seeing. I saw their old lead singer come about an inch from kicking a girl in the face once at Emo's, they got in a full-on brawl with Rainer Maria way back when, they supposedly caused a riot at the final Bates Motel show up in Austin, and guitarist Brian bashed me in the head (intentionally) with his guitar the first time I saw 'em. They're incredible. I've promised an out-of-town friend I'd try to make this one, so barring a relapse of the family illness thing, this's where I'll be tomorrow PM.

Snowden/Malajube/Million Year Dance/Lanky @ The Mink
Man... This is a rough one; I haven't heard as much of Snowden as I'd like, unfortunately, but their song "Anti-Anti" is pretty awesome. Malajube I've heard good things about, and locals Million Year Dance are the weirdest-yet-most-interesting rock band (er, "yoga-rock band"?) I've seen lately.

Lebanon/Sinews/Tambersauro/Blades @ Rudyard's
Oh, crap -- I may have to stop by Walter's and Rudz tomorrow night... Dunno Lebanon, but Blades are the one of the best relatively-new bands in town, doing a cool Don Cab-style instro-rock thing, Tambersauro sound intriguing, and I have it on good authority that Sinews are worth seeing, to boot.

Tues., March 13:
SXSW Overflow Fest, featuring Toof, Barbez, Jonah Matranga, & Mossy Rock @ Super Happy Fun Land
Yep, this is where I'll be (I think). As anybody who's read this e-zine for very long knows, we here at SCR love Jonah Matranga like a bro. He's single-handedly saved the whole solo-emo-guy-with-a-guitar shtick all by his lonesome, through sheer songwriting skill and earnestness. He's a great, great, very cool guy. Of course, I'm biased because he's friends with our own Mel House, remembers my name at every show I go to, and gives me presents, but hey.

Birds of Avalon/Ladyhawk/Saturday Looks Good to Me/The Castanets @ The Proletariat (FREE show) Dammit, why do people do this to me? I'd have gone to see this show just for Ladyhawk, who make some damn good indie-rock (despite reviewer Justin's opinion) and Birds of Avalon, who I've wanted to see for a while, but then for it to be free...fuck. Maybe I can swing by here, too...

Wed., March 14:
Albert Hammond Jr./The Mooney Suzuki/Dead Trees @ The Meridian
Yeah, yeah, yeah, he's the guy from The Strokes -- who cares? This one's cool because of The Mooney Suzuki; they do that Motor City garage-rock thing better than anybody but The Detroit Cobras.

Better Left Unsaid/Palomar @ Rudyard's
I'm still a little in shock at this show. No clue on Better Left Unsaid, but Palomar are very, very cool; see writeup here. If only the wife would let me hit the town three nights in a row...

The Draft/O Pioneers!!!/Brainworms/Bomb the Music Industry! @ The White Swan
I really need to get that Draft album -- this is what happened to the, er, surviving members of Hot Water Music, trying to do something a little different from the emo/hc/post-hardcore scene they used to inhabit. Oh, and then there's O Pioneers!!!, who are local and whom I really need to check out.

An Angle/Bright Light Fever/Emo Side Project/BoJones @ Java Jazz Coffeehouse (Spring)
Long, long drive, yes -- well, for us near-/inner-loopers, anyway, but An Angle are darn good in a seriously Bright Eyes-ish way.

Fri., March 16:
Tody Castillo @ Rudyard's
The Flamin' Hellcats/Amplified Heat @ The Continental Club
Yep, two really, really good local bands, one night. Tody writes awesomely cool pop songs and then rocks the hell out of 'em; The Flamin' Hellcats, on the other hand, do a rockabilly-ish punk thing so furious and fiery it starts fights. (No, really.)

Sat., March 17:
Sharks and Sailors/This Moment In Black History/Sinews @ Walter's on Washington
Ah, yes -- two of the better bands in town, Sharks and Sailors and Sinews, plus angry, nasty pseudo-political rawk from Ohio. Good, good, good.

RJD2/Busdriver/ANTIMC/Happy Chichester @ Warehouse Live
I have a soft spot for RJD2; the cinematic hip-hop thing has always appealed to me, and when he picks good collaborators, it goes from being good background music to being flat-out great. Oh, and Atmosphere told me Busdriver was cool, so take that for what it's worth.

St. Patrick's Day Celebration, featuring Clandestine, The Rogues, Wyndnwyre, O'Maoileidigh Irish Dancers, Martin Burniston, EJ Jones, & the Irish Session Players @ McGonigel's Mucky Duck
I love St. Paddy's, sappy though it is -- although that's a post for another time (possibly very soon, actually) -- and there's no place better in this city to celebrate. The Mucky Duck brings together the best Celtic musicians in town (including Clandestine, who I could've sworn were no more), throw in some awesome Irish stepdancing (think The Lord of the Dance minus the pretentious prick), and yes, good food. And lots of beer. Skip Guinness; try Murphy's.

Die Hunns/Los De Verdad @ Rudyard's
Whoa. Die Hunns are a punk supergroup, pulled from the Circle Jerks & a half-dozen other bands, who play a raw kind of garage-punk that rules. This is going to be a good one, trust me.
UPDATE: Ah, crap. Looks like I posted too soon -- according to the band's Website, the rest of their current tour's been canceled, apparently due to a number of health/legal/familial reasons. Damn...

The Handsomes/The Hideaways @ The Continental Club
If it weren't St. Paddy's...well, I'd be here. I dragged my wife to see the Handsomes play at last year's Houston Press Awards, and they even blew her skeptical self away. The funkiest band in town, and one that does it without being silly or cheesy. Which is damn hard to do.

Sun., March 18:
Public Enemy/X-Clan/the baNNed/SLAMjamz Artist Revue/Heet Mob @ Warehouse Live
Wow...it's been a long time; for a while there I thought PE were history. I dunno if their live shows are as incredible as they used to be -- the soldiers on stage with rifles were a nice touch -- but it's still Chuck D & Flav (and Terminator-X, maybe?), which means it's bound to be pretty amazing.

Ponys/Black Lips/Deerhunter/The Jonx @ The Mink
I'm told Deerhunter are badass. I haven't heard 'em myself, but I have heard The Jonx, and they are most undoubtedly badass. Go hear some of the tightest, most purposeful math-rock in town, then stick around for the other bands.

Winterpills @ Last Concert Cafe
I initially dismissed these folks, mostly because I was told they were big on NPR -- sadly, these days that's not a great recommendation for me -- but I'm having to rethink that now. Beautiful, gentle, lite-rock/folk, with hints of Hem, The Mendoza Line, and, uh, Fleetwood Mac. And I mean that in a good way.

Tues., March 20:
Battlefield Band @ McGonigel's Mucky Duck
Classic, classic Irish/Celtic folk with none of the New Age-y crap. I used to play these guys on KTRU; they always make me smile.

Wed., March 21:
Bleubird/Filkoe176/Babel Fishh @ Notsuoh
Weirdly, for being a seriously hip-hop city, H-town has relatively few quirky, smart rappers on the crew. Babel Fishh is one of the few; he's like our answer to the freaky cLOUDDEAD guys, plus a less-street Aesop Rock, all rolled into one person. He doesn't do very many shows, apparently, so check him out while you can.

Sat., March 24:
Westheimer Street Fest, featuring Penny Royal, Satin Hooks, The Scattered PAGES, CeePlus and the House of Bad Knives, Thee Armada, The Generic Tribe, Arthur Yoria, The Medicine Show, The Dimes, Free Radicals, Muzak John, .belville, Nosaprise, Stadium, Umbrella Man, Flowers to Hide, Honeysuckle, 9 Volt, Guy Schwartz, Brains for Dinner, The Guns of Detroit, Nnja Stars, National Electric, Police State America, The Krinkles, Million Year Dance, skyblue72, Doo Doo Butter, Novice, Mic Skills, The Jane Frequency, Standing Souls, Generation Landslide, Cartwheels in Central Park, Deep Above Surface, The Riff Tiffs, Poison Apple Martini, & Organ Failure @ Westheimer (Numbers, La Strada, Mango's, & Helios)
Thank God for the Free Press folks -- I'd almost given up hope of ever going to Westfest again. Going by the list of who's playing, this'll be a beautiful chance to see a few dozen really, really, really badass local bands. Screw, SXSW; this one's just as good, and a lot closer to home (and, uh, much cheaper). My picks (off this list, at least -- it's bound to change): The Dimes, Arthur Yoria, The Scattered PAGES, Penny Royal, Satin Hooks, Million Year Dance, The Guns of Detroit, Flowers to Hide, & skyblue72. More on this one as we get nearer to the day...

The Western Civilization (CD release)/Buxton @ Walter's on Washington
The CD release party/show for my New Favorite H-town Band. Gorgeously sublime, softly beautiful indie-rock reminiscent of Azure Ray, Bright Eyes, and a handful of other Saddle Creek-ish bands, but still unique in its own right. Seriously, I'm looking forward to hearing this CD as much as I am, say, the new Arcade Fire.

Tues., March 27:
Smoke or Fire/O Pioneers!!!/This Year's Tiger/Charger Fits @ Walter's on Washington Two of the more interesting local bands of the moment -- O Pioneers!!! & This Year's Tiger -- plus a damn good, rough-throated, Fat Wreck-dwelling, Avail-sounding punk band.

Gah. Okay, that's about all I can do right now; more later...

Labels: Things To Do

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Ah, the best-laid plans... I'd intended to hit the 2nd night of the Noise & Smoke H-town band extravaganza last night, but alas, it was not to be (sorry, Conor...). After a week of my little girl having the stomach flu, my wife finally caught it yesterday herself, so I stayed home to take care of her & missed out, sadly, on all the rock.

Which was disappointing, esp. since I was finally hoping to get to see/hear Blades, one of the best bands I've heard lately (local or not), and was looking forward to both Something Fierce and Indian Jewelry. But hey, you've gotta do what you gotta do, sometimes... Anybody know how it went?

Labels: Admin Stuff, Random Rambling

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Sorry, folks -- I'm well aware that we have yet to post any new reviews/features yet this week, and am working to correct that. I've spent the past day or so alternating between working at the day job, hanging out with my little brother, and taking care of a vomiting munchkin, and now I've been ordered to get to bed by 11PM, so I'm afraid events have conspired against me this week. Don't fret, though; new stuff will be up soon, soon, soon.

Labels: Admin Stuff

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This is a wee bit strange. I tend to visit the Houston Press blogs a fair amount, partly because they've been kind enough to have this little site in their blogroll since the get-go, so the other day I got curious about some of the other blogs/sites listed. I happened to click on The Bald Heretic, since it was one of the ones I didn't know much about, and the very first thing I saw was a picture of a guy who looked oddly familiar.

Wait a minute...oh, yeah. I remember now -- this Jay Lee guy was the guy taking pictures at the Suspects reunion show. That makes sense, yep. (Turns out he was actually taking pics of openers The Aqua Velva, a B-52's cover band, but eh, you get the point.)

Yesterday, then, I happened to be walking from my cube at DayJobCorp^TM (which I like much better than OldDayJobCorp, Inc., I should add, because that job ended up being somewhat soul-destroying and frustrating), and lo and behold, who was walking towards me but Jay Lee of The Bald Heretic. Suddenly it dawned on me: Jay Lee. Ahh...that was the name of the IT guy who helped me fix stuff when I first started here, who I talked to over the phone but never met in person. Holy crap, that's a little spooky.

To make things even stranger, it also turns out Mr. Lee happens to do the Technology Bytes show on KPFT, which I have listened to off and on for the past few years, mostly to confirm that despite my daily use of computers, I am still a relative idiot when it comes to how they work. (It's all magic, people. Not electricity and logic, magic. No other explanation makes sense. It's just like the Internet being a series of big tubes, really -- a no-brainer.)

The bad part is that now I feel inexplicably nervous that the next time I pass the guy in the hall, he's gonna turn around and punch me in the face. Why? I have no idea; that's why I added the "inexplicably," there. Of course, the odds that Mr. Lee will ever find this blog are pretty damn remote (although he is in the Flying Fish Sailors, who I think we link to), so I probably don't have anything to worry about. Still feels weird, though...

Labels: Random Rambling

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Damn -- I meant to get the jump on this, but ah, well... Today's the official release date for No, Not Me, Never, by Denver nu-New Wavers The Photo Atlas, and their people were kind enough to hand us an MP3 off the new album for free-free-free, baby. Best price there is, I'm tellin' you... Anyway, the track's "Handshake Heart Attack," and it's fairly addictive, in a frantic, angry, dance-punk kind of way -- I'm not big into that particular scene, I'll admit, but I like this because it feels a heck of a lot less self-aware and hipster-ironic than a lot of other practitioners of this sort of thing. It makes me think of The Rapture if the band got into a knife fight onstage with one'a them crayzee noise-punk bands, and that happens to sound entertaining as hell to me, at least.

Sadly, The Photo Atlas are one of the half-dozen or so SXSW bands not making a stop down here in Helltown, U.S.A., but if you're up there for the festivities, check 'em out (dates on their Website; they're apparently playing five freakin' shows in the span of three days, and I don't have the energy to put 'em all up here, sorry).

On the other side of the coin, the awesomely-cool Palomar will be playing our fair city over at Rudyard's on Wed., March 14th, before the head on up to Austin. When I first saw the listing, it was one of Rudz's "Turbojugend Humpday" things (what the hell's a Turbojugend, anyway?), and I did a bit of a double-take, since those shows seem to be mostly locals -- not that that's a bad thing, of course -- and Palomar are definitely not local. I'd halfway figured this was yet another case of local-band-with-the-same-name-itis (it's happened to me recently, although I'm blanking on the name), 'til I got an e-mail from the label.

At any rate, going by the sample they've got up from their new album (due out 3/20), All things, forests, "Our Haunt," it's going to be quite a show. It's a lot darker than the previous stuff I've heard from 'em, with some murky bass and a little bit of a Neko Case feel to Rachel Warren's gorgeous vocals, but there's plenty of fire there, too, particularly on the guitars. My one complaint is that it sounds like it ends about a minute too early. Hate that; want more, dammit.

Labels: Things To Do, Things To Download

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Well, it turns out ska heroes Los Skarnales aren't quite dead yet. Sort of, anyway. I'd heard a while back that after a long run -- if I remember right, these guys had started not long before yours truly was going to ska shows, and that was more than a decade ago now -- the band was toast, but that's thankfully not entirely the case.

Turns out that the Skarnales have reincarnated somewhat, at least on a limited basis, as Felipe Galvan y sus Carnales; the blog on the band's MySpace site says they'll be "playin' all the classics," so keep your fingers crossed. The ex-and-maybe-now-current Skarnales haven't been sitting around, mind you, but have been branching out as Ryan Scroggins and the Trenchtown Texans (which, by the way, is a freakin' awesome band name), Proper Villain Soundsystem, and The Umbrella Man, all of whom sound pretty good. Glad to hear these guys didn't just hang it up & fade away; that would've been a damn shame.

(Oh, and Felipe Galvan y sus Carnales is looking for horn players. Drop 'em a line if you're up for it...)

Labels: H-Town News

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Gah. Another late night, another review update/blog post... First off, we've got a review up of the new Bobby Conn, just in time for his show this coming Sunday, March 4th, up at Notsuoh; he's playing with Faux Fox, James Eck Rippie, and Laura Palmer, I'm told. I'm not super-familiar with Conn, myself, but the new disc is damned impressive in an intensely over-the-top way, and I've heard his live shows are truly something to behold. (And on a side note, if you go to the Website for his label, Thrill Jockey, you can download the whole damn CD right then & there. That's pretty cool; I haven't really noticed any labels doing that before...)

Speaking of the remarkable confluence of shows + reviews, we (in this case, I) took a crack at the disc Something Fierce put out last fall and enjoyed the hell out of it. Seriously, I've spent all day the past few days at work mumbling "Come for the bastards, come for the distant, come for the broken..." over and over again to myself, to the possible ire of my two cube cohabiters (yes, it's a big cube). Good shit. And for their part, they're playing next weekend, on Sat., March 10th, which is Day 2 of the Noise & Smoke festival over at The Axiom, with a bunch of cool local bands: Indian Jewelry, Skullening, The Wiggins, Blades, & The Sporatics. This (and Day 1, as well; check the site for details) is going to rule, honest.

Oh, and there's also a review of Sputnik Monroe, who're playing not one but three shows (if my e-mail sources are to be believed) over the span of about five days: 3/10 at Fitz with the Smoke Eaters; 3/11 at Super Happy Fun Land with Solarfed (is that the new name for Red Star of the Solar Federation, I'm guessing?) and Sunday Best; and 3/16 at Valhalla (Rice Univ. campus) all by their lonesomes. I'm afraid writer Scott didn't much care for their CD, but what the hey -- your mileage may vary.

And then there's the other new stuff: Robert Pollard, Blinded Black, Muller and Patton, The Sammies, & the Saw III soundtrack.

Crap. I think my three-year-old just woke up again. No sleep for me...

Labels: Reviews, Things To Do

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I've got the skin of a shark / And I'm gonna make a muscle...

Weird; in the span of just a couple of days, I've had a series of "remember when?"-type happenings that've made me think back to the Good Old Days of H-town rock (in this case, primarily defined as the period in the mid-late '90s when I was fresh out of college and playing in a band).

Nostalgic Moment #1: First I ran across this excellent post from back in '05 on The Skyline Network, extolling the virtues of Mark Caperton's It Came From Nowhere... 7" comp, which included songs by Blueprint, Gomez, Celindine, and The Linoleum Experiment. It was the inaugural release, as I recall, on Mark's then-fledgling Ojet Records, which would later go on to release stuff by Schrasj, Sad Like Crazy, Lucky Motors, The White Papers, etc. In its day, the comp was something else -- four cool bands I'd only barely heard of, almost all of which (Gomez excepted, sorry; just never got into 'em) I ended up loving dearly for years to come.

I remember being blown away by how cool it looked, even, compared to all the crappy 7"s floating around the SoundEx bins. Mark poured a ton of money into making that label a professional operation, and the records & CDs he put out still sit nicely on my CD shelves next to all the other non-Houston-indie-label releases.

Just thinking about this makes me want to drag that box of 7"s out from the trunk my daughter's computer is currently sitting on and slap 'em onto the turntable...

Nostalgic Moment #2: Then I hit a relatively-new local blog called The Westbury Squares (dead for the past few years; singer/guitarist Davey apparently moved on up to Portland) and The Jinkies (dead since '99 or so). Weirdest of all, the Jinkies MySpace page uses a little bio blurb written by, um, me, using quite possibly inaccurate info -- very odd... Oh, and Jim's also got links for The Allisons, who were before my time, and Toby Blunt, once of Fab Motion and later of Mary Jane's (aka Fat Cat's, aka The Shimmy Shack, etc., etc.), as well as some cool local bands. Heard some, like The Ragged Hearts & Bright Men of Learning, but others, like Les Thargic & Penny For The Guy, are new to me.

Nostalgic Moment #3: I got an e-mail out of the blue the other day from an old friend I hadn't heard from in a very long time, Hector Lanza, formerly the leather pants-wearing guitarist for long-gone local pals Big Top (with whom my little band did our first -- and only -- 7"). Hector's been gone from H-town for quite a while sadly; he moved up to Austin a long, long while back and has played in at least one band up there, a cool little group called Blued.

Damn, this all brings back the memories. I think I'm going to have to figure out how to hook up my tape deck & turntable to my wife's computer and transfer all that old stuff over to MP3, just so I can listen to it again.

Labels: H-Town News, Musical Crap

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Holy crap, this is amazing. I can't even describe it. I'm kinda up-and-down on graffiti/street art in general -- like to see it sometimes (saw some really incredible stuff riding a train from London to Holyhead one time, esp. when passing through all the urban blight around Birmingham), don't like it on the fence around my yard (thanks, assholes, whoever you were), y'know. I keep seeing "Drag" and "Sage" on walls and dumpsters in my part of town, but it's just tagging, just a couple of guys spray-painting their names on things in not-very-creative ways. Stuff like the Lollipauperz' work, on the other hand, is damn near mindblowing. Check out Dirty Third Streets for lots more.

Labels: Arty Shit

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Yep, it's gonna be a busy weekend, shows-wise. I'll hopefully be able to post again before tomorrow PM & mention a few more, but I wanted to make a note of one in particular, the 3rd Annual Rockin' for Rise Concert. It's a benefit deal for the Rise School of Houston, which is an awesome, awesome, awesome non-profit preschool for kids with serious developmental disabilities -- seriously, this is a place worth supporting.

Of course, it also helps that the bands are good, too. Day 1 is this Friday, March 2nd, and will be downtown at the Hard Rock Cafe (in Bayou Place; damn, forgot that place was still around. I miss the old Kirby location...). I don't know any of the bands playing at the Hard Rock, unfortunately (Savage Evolution, Jonathan Dewveall, Truck, Another Day, 3 Kisses, Jadewood, MiGGs, & Carmen & Camille), but I'm sure some of 'em are worth seeing, at least. The show starts at 8:30PM; check the Rockin' for Rise site to see who plays when.

Day 2, though, this Saturday (March 3rd, naturally), is the bomb. Friends and local alt-country-indie-rock heroes Bright Men of Learning are playing, as are Casino, who I like (and yes, Damon writes for SCR from time to time; wanna make something of it?), and Little Brother Project and Murder the Stout, both of whom I've heard good things about. There's also Anubis, Lee Alexander, Prognosis, Carmen & Camille, PeteSimple, Seminole County, MiGGs, The Mighty Orq, Owen Plant, Smythe and Taylor, Mojo Yoda, and holy-fucking-crap, Trout Fishing in America.

Wow. I think this may mark the first non-Mucky Duck/-ridiculously expensive show they've played here in half a decade or so. A friend of mine introduced me to 'em back in college, and they're amazing; it's probably cheesy for some, and yeah, the jokes can get pretty bad (but they know they're bad, which almost makes them good, right?), but Ezra Idlet and Keith Grimwood are damn good songwriters, whether they're writing for kids or for a more adult audience. Plus, it's early-early, like at noon, so if you have a kid, you could actually bring 'em. Don't worry, even their "adult" material is pretty much kid-friendly.

(Once they've finished, by the way, stick around for the Bright Men and teach the wee ones how to fold their arms and do the unsmiling hipster head-bob, indie-rock stylee.)

Oh, and Day 2'll be at the Last Concert Cafe (1403 Nance), up among the warehouses, and will start a lot earlier, as evidenced by Trout Fishing's noon start time. Tickets are 10 measly bucks at the door ($8 in advance), although I'm not clear if that'll get you in both days; you'll have to check with the Rockin' for Rise folks on that. Kids under 6 get in free w/an adult ticket purchase.

Should be a good one...

Labels: H-Town News, Things To Do

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Damn, this makes me mad. Got word earlier today that Sedition Books, a local co-op bookstore/meeting place/library/clothing exchange (formerly at 4420 Washington) run by a crew of hardworking local activists, burned Monday morning, between 3 and 4AM. HPD's saying the fire was deliberately set, and since the two residents of the co-op were asleep inside at the time with their cars in plain view in the driveway, it also looks a heck of a lot (to my unlawyerly eye) like attempted murder. Somebody not only wanted to burn down what was one of the few resources in this city for left-leaning organizers and activists, but they wanted to burn two people alive while they slept.

To make matters worse, the HPD officers doing the investigating apparently castigated the co-op members -- who'd just narrowly escaped an attempt on their lives and watched their home go up in flames, mind you -- for their "anti-American" views and lectured them on the wonders of capitalism. According to Sedition Books' official statement, the officers told the poor people that because of what they believe in, they were pretty much asking for it. Yay. And a woman who walks around wearing a halter top and high heels shouldn't complain if she gets harrassed or raped, right?

This is sickening on all fronts. I'm honestly not sure which pisses me off more, the arson itself or the cops' reactions to it. What is this, the '50s? Granted, this is Texas, but this is also The Big City -- I guess I expected too much from my fellow Houstonians. If speaking out about what you see as injustice is "anti-American," then fuck, I don't want to be one.

sigh. At any rate, the Sedition Books folks seem to be undeterred, bless 'em. They're trying to restart their little store/space/etc. somewhere else, and would greatly appreciate any donations of cash or "radical" literature (not entirely sure how they define that, actually). Send stuff to: Sedition Collective, c/o The Alarm, P O Box 66362, Houston, TX 77266-7614. You can also do the PayPal thing to seditioncollective@yahoo.com.

Keep fighting, you guys; there are some of us out here in Helltown, at least, who're with you.

Labels: H-Town News, Political Stuff

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