Yep, just a couple more things up before I head off to wander the fjords and freeways of Scandinavia, in search of traces of my wife's Viking forebears -- as of this AM, we've got up a cool, cool review of the Battles/Ponytails/Sharks and Sailors show in town a month or so ago (give or take a week) by writer Brigitte, and a snarky-ish review of Rush Hour 3 by our sometime film critic Creg.

This'll be the last update for a few weeks, for obvious reasons; despite the expansion of digital connectedness to every damn corner of the globe (I've checked my email, for example, in a trashed-out Internet cafe in the Old City of Fes, Morocco, which was a little bit bizarre), I'm afraid I'm going to be a bit busy dealing with travel & sightseeing & family-type stuff to try to post any new stuff. Sorry 'bout that, but hey, I've needed a vacation for a long time, so y'know... (Beyond that, I'm feeling the need to escape the H-town summer heat that's finally crushing us down like it does at some point each year.)

But never fear -- we'll be back shortly with tales to tell (uh, maybe) and a bunch of new reviews and all that to post. Cool? And thanks to the kind efforts of Chicago SCR representative Henry (who is The Man in many, many ways besides), the shows list will indeed be updated while I'm gone. Keep emailing any shows you want listed to "shows" at "spacecityrock dot com", and he'll do his best to get 'em up there. Please be gentle with him, folks...

Labels: Admin Stuff, Live Reviews, Moo-vies, Reviews

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Some of more astute/observant out there may know by now that Space City Rock writer & co-publisher guy Mel House is not only a darn good writer and musician, but that his first real love is making horror movies -- the gorier and freakier, the better.

Despite me being a big horror flick wuss (I still have nightmares about Hellraiser, seriously), I've seen and liked some of his stuff in the past, and have eagerly looked forward to seeing what could happen once he got a little cash and a good story to work with. And going by the trailers for his soon-to-be-released latest film, Closet Space, it's gonna be worth the wait. Gory, yes, with some creepy-ass tentacles and all that, but I also dig what I know of the story -- I won't go into it here, except to say that mysterious doors to other dimensions are always cool. Check the MySpace for further details, but trust me, it's gonna be good.

Now, the reason I'm mentioning the flick now (finally; been meaning to for a while) is because, hey, it's premiering in one short, short week. On Thursday, August 23rd, at 9PM, you can check out Closet Space on the big screen up at the Studio Movie Grill at 8580 Highway 6 North & West Road. Oh, and it's freakin' free. Yes, that means "zero dollars," zip, nada. The only money you have to shell out is for the gas, and unless you're driving in from San Antonio or Nacogdoches or something, that's still cheaper than it'd be to go see a movie at the Splendifilm Googolplex nearest to your 'hood.

And yeah, okay, I've got a teeny bit of vested interest in the screening, because in addition to the main movie, Mel will also be showing the "zombie video" he just did with indie-rock hero Jonah Matranga. Which, as longtime readers (are there any?) may know, yours truly happened to be in. (Well, I was filmed for it, at least, which I know isn't a guarantee...) If I make the cut, you get to laugh at my stupid ass as I pretend lamely to be a zombie (although I'm sure it'll look good while I do it, obviously).

The song's a new one, "Not About A Girl Or A Place", and if you find me in person I can probably sing it for you, I heard it so many damn times over those two nights I was involved in the filming. (Happily, it's a good song; if you want to hear what Jonah's like in a more tuneful fashion than I can muster, check out his MySpace.) If you want to see heartfelt emo-rock set to shambling zombies, mind you, get there early, 'cause I think it's before the movie...

As if that all wasn't enough, on the next night, Friday, August 24th, Mel & co. are throwing the official wrap party for Closet Space at The Proletariat (903 Richmond at Montrose) in the best way to possibly throw such a party: by rocking the fuck out. Jenny Westbury (who I've heard really good things about but sadly keep missing) opens at 7PM sharp, followed by Mel's own band, ex-Cedar of Lebanon/Tie That Binds/etc. guys Radio Pioneer at 8PM or so, and then by Jonah, at about 8:45 PM. The show isn't free, but it's a "sliding scale" deal in typical Jonah fashion, where you pay what you feel like you can afford between $7 and $10.

That's the deal. It's gonna be awesome, I swear. Good indie horror filmmaking + silly/gory zombie rock video + full-on rock heroics = badassness.

Labels: Free Stuff, Moo-vies, Things To Do, Things To See

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Well, I hadn't planned on posting about tonight's Times New Viking show over at DiverseWorks -- nothing against DW (who I like quite a bit), but I just hadn't heard Times New Viking and didn't think I'd have time to check 'em out before the show hit. Here I am, though, with a wee bit of downtime, so I bounce on over to the band's MySpace page, and...holy fucking wow. Okay, I'm impressed; it's been a long time since anybody channeled the spirit and sound of Guided By Voices' Bee Thousand (nope, not even GbV can pull it off, these days), but this band somehow manages to fucking nail it. The songs are scrappy and messy, noisy in a lo-fi-as-hell way, but the melodies work their way inexorably through the muck even still, and the result's catchy and endearing like you wouldn't believe. Think Sebadoh, early-early Spoon, or a less-melancholy Comet Gain, if you need more incentive to see/hear these folks.

Sadly, my evening's already spoken for (Wed. nights are bad for me...), but if yours isn't, then I'd highly recommend you get up off the couch and over to the warehouses to check out this show -- also playing are Little Claw, who I don't know, and The Wiggins, who are freakin' nuts (in a good way). $8, and the festivities start "a little after" 9PM, according to the show organizers...

Labels: Musical Crap, Pseudo-Reviews, Things To Do

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The above title is true on both counts. Not only am I a huge Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan, but I am indeed also a big, big dork. Not that the one follows the other, mind you -- I was a dork long before Buffy ever aired (see: AD&D, comics, Star Wars/Star Trek, fantasy/sci-fi novels, cyberpunk, that lameass picture of me doing the Vulcan hand symbol when I was 14, etc., etc.). But the fact that this makes me really kinda excited pretty much proves that yep, I'm still a big ol' dork.

So, for the others out there like me... At midnight on Fri., 8/31, and Sat., 9/1, the venerable, doomed-to-die Landmark River Oaks Theatre at 2009 West Gray will be hosting a special "sing-along screening" of one of the coolest, most ambitious bits of TV ever to hit the little screen. Yep, it's the musical ep, "Once More, With Feeling", wholly written & composed by Buffy creator Joss Whedon as a kind of insane homage to musicals, where everybody sings, nearly everybody dances, and very few lines of actual dialogue are spoken. And, believe it or not, it works. Honest. I loathe musicals, myself, but there's enough tongue-in-cheek humor tucked away in this episode that it overrides my distaste for the genre every freakin' time. Seriously, if you haven't seen it, it's well worth watching. (Hell, it's probably on YouTube somewhere, but I'm too lazy to go look...)

Anyway, this sounds like it could be ridiculously fun. I've been to the Rocky Horror screenings at the Landmark a few times, and despite me not really being a huge fan of RH, it's always been entertaining; this, to me, promises to be a whole heck of a lot better (it's actually well-written, for one thing -- sorry, RH fans...). You get to sing along with Buffy, Spike, Giles (Anthony Stewart Head can actually sing, by the by), Anya, & all the rest, yell things at the screen, join in what's probably gonna be a panic-inducing version of Buffy karaoke, and show off your BtVS trivia skillz. More info can be found here (if you didn't find the link above, that is).

Hrm. It occurs to me that if I'm gonna go to this thing, I'd better at least listen to the songs again -- 'cause there's nothing worse than a half-assed dork, I have to say...

Labels: Entertainobabble, H-Town News, Moo-vies, Things To Do

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Damn, gotta make this quick -- just put some new reviews up, one just in the nick for tonight's The Lonely H show up at Super Happy Fun Land with The Watermarks, Ladyheat, and The Gold Sounds. I wish I had the time to wax eloquent about the show, 'cause I've really enjoyed listening to the Lonely H's new disc, Hair (and the Watermarks are good, & I've heard good things about Ladyheat, too), but since I'm a bit rushed you'll just have to check out the review, eh?

Oh, and there's also a review of the brand-spankin'-new Rentals EP, since they'll be coming to town soon, and one of local heroes Blades also-brand-spankin'-new EP, 'cause they're playing soon, as well (check the site for the when/where). phew. Here's the list:

Reviews: The Lonely H; The Rentals; Blades; Ilad; Miracle Mile; & People for Audio.

More to come this week, so keep an eye here...gaijin || Link || E-mail || 0 comments

Okay, first things first -- tonight local indie-oddballs Bring Back The Guns are playing up at The Proletariat with an extremely weird/freaky/etc. band called The Show Is The Rainbow, and going solely by my repeated listenings to the not-yet-officially-released (October's when it drops, I believe) BBTG disc, Dry Futures, it's gonna be a badass show. Granted, I've seen these guys play numerous times, and a lot of the songs on Futures sound awfully familiar, but it's still a hell of an album; well worth the really, really long wait, honest. We've just put a review of it up, so check it out here if you feel like it.

As an added bonus, the show also includes Houston Press Music Award-destroyers The Dimes and some band from Austin I don't know called The Always Already. Oh, and here's the catch: it's a happy hour show. Meaning that it's early, as in "starts at 7PM." Perfect for all the old lamers like me who can't stay up late at night any more...

Beyond the BBTG disc, by the by, we've also got a new batch of reviews online as of this afternoon, including a review of the cool, cool, cool Something Fierce/The Hangouts split-7" I've been yearning for lo, these many moons. Seriously, I've needed to own my very own copy of "Teenage Ruins" literally since the first time I heard it on the band's Myspace; it rocks like a long-lost retort to the Undertones' "Teenage Kicks," if it were slammed into the ground by, say, The Adverts. (That's good, trust me.) Anyway, read the dang review; here's the links:

Reviews: Bring Back The Guns; Handsome Furs; Something Fierce/The Hangouts split-7"; Deb Ferrara; The Gods of Kansas; Guff; The Sleeping Pimps; & Speaker Speaker.

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

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[UPDATE, 8/3/07: Yep, things're changing fast...got confirmation that no, Sugar Shack won't be playing, but a pseudo-"supergroup" of Joint Chiefs & Fleshmop members will be. Awesome.]

[UPDATE, 8/2/07: Just got a note from Kyle of Sugar Shack; seems they're actually not playing the reunion show and had never planned to in the first place. Damn...]

Yes, they may seem like a ragtag, motley crew of bands, but when they unite, they form an unstoppable force...okay, maybe not quite like the Wonder Twins, but what the hey. Got an update on the baaaaadaaaasss Axiom 20th Anniversary Reunion show, coming up on Fri., October 12th and Sat., October 13th, from former Axiom PR/booking person Julie -- there's now an official Website/blog for the show, and the list of bands on there appears to be a little more firmed up than previously seen:

• Academy Black with special guest Michael Haaga of dead horse
• Sprawl
• Sugar Shack
• Joint Chiefs/Fleshmop
• Cinco Dudes
• Blunt
• de schmog
• Toho Ehio
• Sad Pygmy
• Bad Samaritans
• the Cave Reverend
• Grindin’ Teeth
• Naked America
• Turmoil in the Toybox
• Jimmy Bradshaw of Squat Thrust
• David von Ohlerking of the Awful Truth
• and more...

Not sure what that ambiguous/menacing "and more..." at the end means, but maybe there'll be some last-minute surprise guests stopping by. Sadly, this update brings a couple of pieces of bad news:

1. The much-beloved Pain Teens are not, as was reported by us a while back, playing the show. Apparently they tried to pull it together, but no dice. Ah, well...it would've been cool, but hey, there're enough other awesome bands playing that my heart's not utterly shattered into a bazillion pieces. I still have Sugar Shack (who somehow have a page on the VH1.com site? the fuck?), de Schmog, Sad Pygmy, and Sprawl to look forward to -- hell, I might even be able to drag Kim out of the house to see Sprawl again; she was a big fan back in the day.

2. With the closing of local experimental theater troupe Infernal Bridegroom Productions, it appears that the show ain't happening at The Axiom itself anymore. No word on what'll happen to the club post-IBP, but the reunion show organizers are currently working on finding another venue, which will be announced "SOON" (caps theirs, not mine).

More news/info on the show as we get it...

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

gaijin || Link || E-mail || 2 comments

Yes, sometimes I do. I'll admit to being a late-late-late, almost-past-its-peak Myspace user, but I have to admit that I've been able to hear some damn cool bands (local and otherwise) just by bumbling about from profile to profile. Did some of that today and found some very cool stuff I'd never heard before:

• Piano Vines: Oh, wow. The last thing I heard online that was this cool was fellow locals The Western Civilization; sweet-yet-strong indie-pop with vocals just this side of Elizabeth Elmore and a cool Palomar-esque feel. I need to hear more from these two.

• I Miss Being A Kid: Okay, so I was initially suckered in by the Curious George picture -- I have a three-year-old, so I kinda have to like George -- but the music kept me here. Gentle, alluring folk-pop with a melancholy edge to it that's reminiscent of Winterpills or maybe Bedhead. I'm gonna have to check these guys out, too...

• Mantis: Shambling, rollicking, subversively funky/soulful rock with some damn nice keys. I dunno why, but these guys make me think of bands like Traffic or Blind Faith. Badass; the three tracks on their Myspace are definitely going in the ol' iPod.

• Yppah: One of H-town's premiere DJ/remix/whatever guys, I've heard, although I'd never listened to his(?) stuff 'til now. Cool, organic-sounding electronics; some of it reminds me nicely of Bentley Rhythm Ace.

Check 'em out; if you haven't already heard of 'em (I think Yppah, at least, is on an out-of-town label already), I'm guessing you will soon...

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

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It's been an odd few days, that's for sure... I dragged the wife out to the Houston Press Music Awards this past Sunday in downtown, and although we got there late (right at 8PM), we still managed to catch some darn good bands. First we saw part of The Scattered Pages' set at Venue (they basically were playing their folky, melancholy pop-rock for the hip-hop headz who stuck around after the Grit Boys) before hiking over to the Verizon to catch funk/ska/pop/etc. guys The Handsomes (who were good but really needed to be playing a smaller room, unfortunately; things felt a bit empty in the big-ass theater).

After that Kim really wanted to see Million Year Dance at Livé (they bring plants on stage with 'em; no, really), so I watched part of their show and then ran down the block in time to catch the second half of Sharks and Sailors -- who, as I'd pretty much expected, crushed the place with their dextrous, math-y brand of heavy post-rock. Not as many bands as I'd hoped to see, admittedly, but under the circumstances (I couldn't very well bail on my dad's birthday party to get downtown earlier, so y'know), it was a good time. And hey, for $10 apiece, it's hard to beat. Damn, I love the HPMAs.

Meanwhile, as MYD was finishing up their set (they went on longer than most, apparently), SCR writer Russell managed to track me down after corralling any guy he saw with a blue T-shirt on, not to mention grabbing fellow SCR contributor Danny Mee, who was representin' wearing one of the very, very, very few Space City Rock shirts currently in existence. As the bar emptied, we grabbed a table and chatted for another hour or so about the state of the scene, journo shit in general (mind you, I don't particularly think of myself as a "journalist," myself, just a slacker amateur writer guy, but Russell's got quite a bit of real-live professional journalism experience), and the need to, yes, occasionally trash a band in a review. (It's sometimes necessary, I swear.)

We finally got up to head on back to the M-land 'hood, and Russell mentioned that he'd gotten invited to the official Houston Press Music Awards ceremony, and that I should come with him and crash the party (well, kinda, anyway). Neither of us really knew what to expect, so we joked about just standing around & dissing the Press -- I'd gotten an invitation, too, but I've never actually been to one of these things before, and I'm not entirely sure why they keep inviting me to this stuff. I haven't been in a band in years, and I've got about as much connection to the Press as I do, say, Der Spiegel. Maybe I'm on somebody's list as still being a freelancer for 'em, even though I haven't written an article for the paper since 2001 or so; I dunno.

At any rate, I went, and it wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be, all things considered. For one thing, my fears of being somehow found out and given the boot turned out to be unfounded -- as far as we could tell, there was no registration whatsoever, no vigilant Press staffers manning the door, and no embarrassing "My name is: Tony Vega" nametags being handed out. Hell, we didn't even get patted down, which is pretty rare at a venue like Warehouse Live. Anybody could've just meandered in off the street, grabbed themselves some free food, and mingled with a Who's Who (okay, kinda) of Houston music.

Russell pointed out, by the way, that there's really no reason the Press doesn't do that -- why not make the awards ceremony free for bands & such and have it open to everybody else for $5 or something? Granted, the bands only play a song or two apiece, but still, if you didn't get to see The Black Math Experiment play at the actual showcase, it might be worth your while.

Once inside, it was a little surreal. One of my all-time favorite hip-hop artists (and not just in H-town), Devin the Dude, wandered past me at one point, and I had to really fight the urge to grab him by the shoulder and yell, "You're Devin the fuckin' Dude! Holy shit!" Russell and I handicapped the nominees, mostly successfully (I think we were both clueless on the Alt-Rock, Metal, and Salsa categories), and he introduced me to Press Music Editor John Lomax, who I think had me confused with somebody else, 'cause he said it'd been a long time since he'd seen me (we'd never met in person before) and that I was clean-shaven back then (I haven't been clean-shaven since 1990 or so, barring a brief one-month period back in 2001 when my wife asked me to shave the 'stache off and immediately regretted it). But hey, he was friendly enough, and his new Assistant Editor, Chris, seemed pretty nice.

I got to tell Al of Sharks and Sailors how much I liked their performance at the showcase the other night, and then The Scattered Pages played a song, which sounded a heck of a lot better at Warehouse Live than it had at Venue. Arthur Yoria did an acoustic version of one of his newer songs, which was great as always, except that apparently only a handful of folks were paying attention.

Little Joe Washington was pretty much the highlight of the night, stumbling onstage to accept his well-deserved award for Best Blues and declaring that, "you may not know it, but I'm a baaaaad motherfucker." He then tried to tell a story about going on a plane to Japan, but he kept losing his train of thought when the audience clapped and cheered and he had to tell 'em to shut up. Man, that guy's freakin' incredible...

Russell ended up doing some networking with a gaggle of Press chicks, so after finally getting to see The Dimes play live -- congrats, by the way, you guys; you were incredible, and I'm glad you won -- I shuffled my homebody self on out the door and made the long trudge back to the car. Not sure if I'll ever make it out to the awards again (assuming I'm ever invited again, naturally), but it was good to see some folks I missed on Sunday (Arthur, Black Math Experiment, Dimes) and nice to at long last be able to put faces to some names I'd heard of for years, like The Mighty Orq and Uncle Tick. 'Til next year, HPMAs...

Labels: H-Town News, Musical Crap, Random Rambling

gaijin || Link || E-mail || 2 comments

Yep, a new batch of reviews up to kickstart August. And while we honestly didn't plan it that way to begin with, we've got two reviews up for the same damn show, Fri., August 3rd at Warehouse Live -- H-town's own awesomely excellent Riff Tiffs (to whom I have only recently been introduced, amazingly...) are playing with fellow local DJ Cuba Gooding Jr to open for touring guys The Lovemakers and The Death of a Party, and both the Tiffs and Death of a Party get the review treatment this time out. Plus, we've got The Locust, the new Iron and Wine single/EP(?), SF-ers Plot Against Rachel, and a bunch of other cool stuff. Here's the full list for this week:

Reviews: The Riff Tiffs; The Locust; Plot Against Rachel; Bobcrane; The Death of a Party; Iron and Wine; My Loving Tiger; & Strung Out.

Hrm. Actually, now that I'm going through this, it occurs to me that I think I forgot to actually post the last bunch of reviews. Crap. Mentioned the Parts & Labor and Unsane deals, but those poor, defenseless reviews got left out in the cold... Anyway, here's what went up on the site mid-July, in case you hadn't seen it yet: 500 Megatons of Boogie; Daphne Loves Derby; Citizen Fish/Leftover Crack split; Bernard Allison; The Clientele; & Spraydog.

Labels: Pseudo-Reviews, Reviews, Things To Do

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