Dang, gotta make this quick. Some good, good, good stuff tonight, but I've blathered about Too $hort, Thee Armada, etc., once already, so I'm gonna skip those... If I could get out & about this evening, I'd be flipping my patented three-sided coin to decide which of these shows to be at:

Treehouse Project/Slivered (CD release)/Hearts Fail @ Rudyard's
I dunno Treehouse Project or Hearts Fail, but Slivered is a band I've been meaning to see for quite a while -- I've known bandleader(?) Robin Moore for a very long time now, going all the way back to his days in Hayflick Limit, who my own band used to play with and be blown away by every damn time. In the intervening years, he's gone a bit more "rock," I think, and has dropped the bass in favor of the guitar, but it sounds like he's still making some damn good music. Tonight's his band's ultra-official CD release up at Rudz, so go check it out, eh?

The Western Civilization/Papermoons/Another Run @ Walter's on Washington (doors 8PM; $7)
Damn, I love those Western Civ kids -- sweet, poignant, sometimes bitter indie-rock that's more confident and beautiful than almost any other band like 'em in this city. Plus, Papermoons rule, at least on vinyl, and sound like they'd be well worth seeing in the flesh, and I like what I've heard from Another Run, too.

Super Happy Fun Land Art Auction Benefit, featuring Indian Jenny, Poopy Lungstuffing, & more @ GLBT Community Center (3400 Montrose, Suite #207; 8PM)
Yep, the Super Happy Fun Land folks need our/your help. Here's the details (thanks to the Free Press for the info):

Hey folks, we finalized the location for our art auction benefit. It will be at the GLBT Community Center at 3400 Montrose Suite #207 on the second floor of the same building that the Sky Bar is in (right by that Kroger on Montrose near Westheimer). The auction will start at 8pm on Friday March 29th, and will feature entertainment by Indian Jenny, Poopy Lungstuffing, and more TBA, as well as food, drinks, and lots of great art for sale cheap! This event will benefit the Super Happy Fun Land occupancy permit fund. We are still looking for more people to donate art, performance, time/labor, food, drinks, and of course cash is always good too. If you would like to donate art or help out, give us a call at 713-880-2100 or email us on MySpace or at info@superhappyfunland.com , or you can donate money directly via PayPal to info@superhappyfunland.com

Give however you can, and be safe out there, y'all...

Labels: Musical Crap, Public Service Announcements, Things To Do

gaijin || Link || E-mail || 0 comments

phew...another late night, another update. Big thanks to all the hard-working writer folk, by the by, for getting this stuff in -- this little e-zine would die a sad and lonely death with only yours truly doing the writing for it, I swear. Everybody, your efforts are very much appreciated. I owe you all beers.

Oh, and it seems that for some reason, Blogger and/or Network Solutions is/are working like they're supposed to once more. Wish I knew why...argh. Not gonna look a gift horse in the mouth, though, so please join me in thanking the Gods of the Bloggernet for somehow granting my wish that I be able to blog again without having to republish 17 times and then turn off my computer for the night & go to sleep hoping. I will sacrifice a USB cable in your honor, o Gods...

Anyway, we've got a brand-new interview with local folk-ish mysteriosos listenlisten now, which answers burning questions like, "how in the hell do y'all capitalize your band's name?" and "who came up with the wooden CD sleeve idea?" The band seem a bit on the shy side, and they profess to not be very good at interviews (which makes, uh, four of us, y'all), but all things considered, I think our little chat was damned interesting. Plus, they're playing soon, March 15th up at Rudyard's, opening for Sunburned Hand of the Man & Citay, neither of whom I know a damn thing about, sorry. Go to see listenlisten, if nothing else.

In somewhat earlier news, though, you might recall that I mentioned Paris Falls very, very recently in this li'l blog -- well, now there's a sparkling-shiny-new review up of their newest opus, Vol. II, which happens to be very, very good. Check out the review for the details, then hit Boondocks tonight to see the band play live for their official, fancy-shmancy CD release shindig. Gonna be good, honest.

On top of both of those, we've also got new reviews of both big-ish shots The Besnard Lakes and local post-emo heroes While You Were Gone, the latter of which have put out a heck of a compelling new EP that's been stuck in my head for a few weeks now (esp. "Thief"; man, I love that song). WYWG also happen to be playing in the relatively-near future, w/shows on both March 7th & 8th -- the former's at the First Baptist Church in Shepherd, TX., wherever the heck that is, and the latter's up in Humble at Fuel Cyber Cafe with Artist vs. Poet. Again: read about, then go see. This is what we're here for, people...

Anyway, there's more up there, too including happy-slappy reviews of NYC's The Forms, Austin's Built By Snow, & more. Here's the pile:

New Interview: listenlisten.

Reviews: Paris Falls; The Besnard Lakes; While You Were Gone; The Forms; Built By Snow; The King Hen; Miller; & Used Alien Mind.

More next week...

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

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Y'know, on the one hand the Maxim mess is pathetic and disturbing (and props to Broken Record for talking about it before anybody else I subscribe to did), but I'll be damned if it doesn't strike me as being mostly hysterically funny. I mean, c'mon, how much more "meta" could we possibly get? My favorite Threadless tee, the one which I will one day actually go & buy, proudly declares "I listen to bands that don't even exist yet," but dammit, Maxim had the unmitigated gall to go one better (er, worse) -- they review albums that don't exist yet, at least not in the public realm where one can listen to them. Call it "non-listening," a new form, of sorts, of music criticism.

Yes, that's right -- if you haven't yet heard, Maxim hack David Peisner wrote a review of the to-be-released Black Crowes album, Warpaint, for the latest issue of the mag. He smacked it down fairly solidly, which probably didn't make the band happy, but they were apparently much less happy when they read it again, checked the date, and said, "hey, wait a minute -- how'd he even hear the album?" As detailed in the press release linked above, the new Crowes album isn't just unavailable to Joe Schmoe on the Street, but it's also unavailable to Big Important Music Critic Guy. No, seriously -- the band's label was so worried about leaks of the new tracks that they decided not to send out any press advances.

Which I know, by the by, because SCR attempted to get our hands on one, so that writer Damon could get his Black Crowes fix. And rather than receiving zero response from the PR people (which is pretty much what I expect when we're talking about a band like the Black Crowes; I'm still somewhat in awe that PR types respond to my emails at all, actually), we got a note apologizing and saying that no press advances were being released.

Naturally, with no disc/MP3s to listen to, we decided we'd have to hold off 'til the dang thing actually comes out. Which makes our little e-zine, I guess, more ethical than Maxim. Woo-hoo! I'm gonna pin that review up in my cube, right next to the cautionary Amplifier clipping, so it'll make me feel a teeny bit better about my lazy-but-principled pseudo-journalistic ass.

Obviously, the whole debacle raises a host of frightening visions -- if a relatively major mag like Maxim can just go and review an album, sound unheard, where's it stop? I mean, why bother to actually see that new Definitely, Maybe movie if you don't have to, right? Hell, you can find the synopsis on IMDb, and you can probably guess enough of the most-likely-sappy plot to fill out the rest. Poof -- review completed! We could be looking at a whole new world of critical endeavor where there's no, ah, actual criticism involved.

The scariest part, though, to me, is that if it weren't so damn blatant -- i.e., writing about an album the guy couldn't possibly have heard -- who's to say Maxim would've even been caught? Hell, if they'd held off for a couple of weeks and then released it right as the album hit the streets, nobody would've been the wiser. Totally fake journalism, totally undetected.

That's the part that makes me twitch, a bit, and it's partly because, y'know, the thought's occurred to me in the past, too. We're not Maxim, no, but there's still time pressure from time to time, and it'd be all too damn easy to just slap together a couple hundred words on Big-Time Band X's latest release we just got sent so we can put the review up before they play H-town. I mean, I basically did just that for 2-3 of the 4 years I spent in college, and then honed the craft while working book PR; it's easier than you'd think to say a lot of nothing about something.

All of which makes me wonder, how often does this happen? I think it's fairly likely that it happens a lot, honestly, especially when you get up to the Rolling Stone/Pitchfork/SPIN level. Pressure to deliver, tight deadlines, etc., etc. How many other reputable, big-name music crit outlets do shit like this? And that's where I stop chuckling and shaking my head at how stupid Maxim is -- maybe they're stupid, in a sense, not because of what they did but because they got caught doing it. If they were smarter, nobody would even know they'd pulled the review out of their ass. Which is nowhere near funny, if you ask me.

Labels: Entertainobabble, Musical Crap, Random Rambling

gaijin || Link || E-mail || 4 comments

So, if you happen to not be able to escape from the house this evening to check out the NOFX/Latch Key Kids show, the Wiggins/Aunt Dracula show, or the Aiden/Schoolyard Heroes show (or, heck, even if you can get out of the house), all is not lost. Simply turn on that trusty stereo and point the tuner at 91.7 FM at around 8PM tonight to catch the awesome power of Paris Falls live on the air on KTRU's "Local Show," hosted by bi-cityite Ian Varley.

Paris Falls are honestly one of the coolest, most intriguing bands around these days, with Raymond Brown's blues-belter howl, those dirty-but-not-too-distorted guitars, and longtime scenester (and ex-Jinkie) Mike Deleon solidly behind the drum kit; I've been inexcusably sitting on their out-this-week second full-length, Vol. II, which they'll be debuting at Boondocks on February 28th with friend Jason Puffer DJing. Tune in for the radio show, then go see 'em play live. You have my solemn word that this will be good.

(Oh, and apparently the Local Show will have promising young'uns The Wild Moccasins two weeks from tonight, and the ever-excellent Papermoons two weeks after that. Guess you know what your Tuesday nights are gonna be about for the forseeable future, don't you?)

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

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Big, big, big "thank yous" to Sara Cress & Joey Guerra over at HandStamp for this one. Earlier today they leaked a bit of the lineup for this year's iFEST, formerly known as the Houston International Festival, and hot damn -- Bettye LaVette is on the bill.

There're lots of other good folks, too, both local and non, but having recently stumbled across last year's The Scene of the Crime, where LaVette heads back to the site of her near-brush with stardom back in the '70s to try to right a host of grievous wrongs, she's the one I desperately want to see. I haven't been this excited about an iFEST bill since Steve Earle played...

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

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Okay, I'm getting some seriously mixed signals here, folks. According to their PR people and JamBase, funky, soulful, retro-indie-rockers Catfish Haven are playing up in the glorious 'trose at Rudyard's this very eve, possibly alongside another band of Chicago-dwellers, the excellent Redwalls (whose booking people also have the show listed).

When I visit Rudz's Myspace, though, they've got "Comedy - Carolyn Agnew & Company!" listed, and Catfish Haven & the Redwalls' own Myspace pages don't show any tour dates earlier than, uh, tomorrow, when they're apparently in Fort Worth. So...what the heck's up? Did somebody schedule a show at Rudz without telling the Rudz folks? Or did the bands decide (as many do) to skip our fair city for more northerly climes, and the info just hasn't filtered out yet?

Frankly, I've got no idea. If you head up to Rudz tonight, you might get to enjoy some fine, earth-toned, gently retro pop-rock from two fine, fine bands -- The Redwalls' De Nova, in particular, is a great disc, esp. if you happen to be a Beatles fan (although that's not really a requirement). On the other hand, you might get to enjoy some undoubtedly witty standup from local comedienne Carolyn Agnew. Never seen her, myself, but I'm gonna give her the benefit of a doubt and say she's probably good (Rudz is notoriously picky about who they let perform, or at least they were back when I was in a band trying to get a gig there).

Roll the dice, y'all -- up to you.

Labels: Musical Crap, Public Service Announcements, Things To Do

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

I'm a bit embarrassed to admit that I've been out of the loop on the whole Secret Saturday Shows deal for the past month or two -- while I dearly love the idea, it gets a little hard to plug something where the participants are meant to be a surprise each week, y'know? "Hey, everybody, come see this great weekly show...um...except that we can't tell you who's playing!" You get my meaning; love it, but it's somewhat difficult to promote. Normally the most I can tell you is that it's at The Shady Tavern up in the Heights (1206 W. 20th), some bands will be playing, and they'll be playing from 2-5PM. Anything more, and you've gotta go see for yourself.

This week, though, a well-placed insider has leaked the news that this week's installment of SSS will include one of the more promising bands I've heard of late, Alkari, who do a nicely melodic-but-still-defiant pop-rock thing that brings to mind The Flaming Lips and Lucero-esque roots rock in equal parts (well, at least to me). Oh, and the vocals remind me in a cool way of the Archers of Loaf's Eric Bachmann, and that's never a bad thing. I'm sure I've said it before, but I'm still bowled over by Myspace tracks "The Code" and "If I Could," and "Quality" ain't bad, either -- haven't seen the band play live yet, but I'm going to have to soon. (Hrm. Maybe I can somehow drag the wife & munchkin out tomorrow afternoon; the wee one does like "rock songs"...)

Said insider has also let it be known that Dentonites Oso Closo will also be playing, after which they'll head over to another semi-secret deal, Paadzzi's, which is technically Alkari's rehearsal space but is also where the band puts on shows every once in a while. I've got no clue where the place actually is, other than it's somewhere up on the northwest side of town -- if you want directions to the place, you've got to become the "venue"'s Myspace friend. The Paadzzi's show'll start at 8PM, and Oso Closo will be playing with Kenny Bernal, The Soarce, and Low Man's Joe (no Alkari, unfortunately). Should be good.

While I'm at it, don't forget that this Saturday is also the Free Press 5th Anniversary Show, which should also be really good. Ramon's got the details up here, and you've really gotta go if you can. Reasons why? How 'bout: Piano Vines are incredible; I hear Studemont Project are great (even if they screwed me when I tried to buy their CD); Ceeplus is a hell of a DJ, and The Sideshow Tramps are quite the party people; and the Free Press is an awesomely cool paper I don't get to read nearly as often as I'd like.

Granted, you may not even get the chance to see the Free Press show, since the bands playing at Rudyard's tonight (Fri., 2/22, for those without calendars) will be so fucking heavy the bar is likely to collapse into a gigantic sinkhole, trapping about half of Houston's music scene beneath large chunks of rubble. I dunno Potbelly except by name, but Kvalla play some badass, heavy-as-hell metal that makes you feel as if you were drinking flagons of mead with Odin and the rest of the Aesir (or something), and I was very impressed by Awake's gloomy, tidal-wave-like dirges when I caught 'em last weekend; they're kinda like Earth and kinda like Arbouretum, both of which are good things to get compared to. Oh, and I think the fact that not one but two Jonx side project bands are playing back-to-back in one night (drummer Danny is in Kvalla, while bassist Trey is in Awake) may well cause the universe to implode. Just so you're prepared if that happens, instead of the whole sinkhole thing.

You have many, many options this weekend -- these are but three. If you wanted to go see Cobra Starship on Saturday, by the way, you missed the boat, 'cause it's sold out. From where I'm sitting, though, you're in luck; wouldn't you much rather see some fine-quality bands like the ones mentioned above than pay way too much money to see a half-assed joke band nobody's gonna remember a decade from now? Consider yourself fortunate.

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

gaijin || Link || E-mail || 0 comments

Yep, got a bunch of new stuff up lately, including a nicely-sized (I think, anyway) pile of reviews. There's one of the new NOFX live disc, which is surprisingly good despite the title (these days I find myself blasting "You're Wrong" and "Franco-Unamerican" while driving around, at least as long as my daughter's not in the car), and the band themselves will be here in town on 2/26 at Warehouse Live with No Use For A Name, The Flatliners, and Houston's own resurrected pop-punk heroes the Latch Key Kids, plus an after-party with fellow H-towners The Hates. Gonna be good; check out the review here.

On top of that, naturally, we've got a good-sized pile of other reviews, including former King's X frontman dUg Pinnick (the capitalization's his, I swear, not mine), ASG, Emily Jane White, & ex-Casket Lottery/Small Brown Bike-ers Able Baker Fox, among others.

Oh, and I'd meant to post about 'em a long time before now, but we've now got some new Featured Band writeups up, for incredible local folks like Buxton & The Gold Sounds. Here's the whole pile:

New Featured Bands: The Riff Tiffs; The Gold Sounds; Buxton; & Latch Key Kids.

Reviews: NOFX; dUg Pinnick; ASG; Emily Jane White; Able Baker Fox; Plastic Idols; Patient Patient; & The Playing Favorites.

That's it for now. I'm gonna head to bed so I can wake up early & prepare my monkey suit for wearin' tonight. sigh.

Labels: Featured Bands, Musical Crap, Reviews, Things To Do

gaijin || Link || E-mail || 0 comments

On the walls, not on canvases, mind you. The good people at DiverseWorks are reportedly going to be painting their main gallery space black, as black as Dick Cheney's ebon-hued heart, this next Monday and Tuesday, Feb. 25th-26th, from 10AM-6PM (or is it 10PM-6AM? I seriously hope it's the former...). If willing to lend a hand, email or call Jon: 713-223-8346 or "jread" at "diverseworks dot org". He promises to get "any helpers drunk afterwards," so hey, can't beat that.

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

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If you've been paying attention at all to the H-town scene for the past while, you probably already know who the awesomely awesome Rosa Guerrero is, and if you don't, you've probably seen her photos either way. She's the sweet-yet-tough stepmom of the Scene Kids on the one hand, and on the other she's a kickass photographer who's taken pitchers of pretty much everybody you can think of who's somehow related to music in this city.

Anyway, in addition to her fine, fine Ditch Water 'zine, Rosa will be having a full-on photography-and-art exhibition-type thingy called Gulf Coast Underground Art up at Sound Exchange tomorrow, er, tonight (Fri., 2/22, that is) from 7PM or so. It'll be Rosa's photos and punk/hardcore/grindcore artwork by Daniel "Sawblade" Shaw, who also did that scary-ass poster up there with the skulls & whatnot. I'm pretty sure it's free, but here's more details, in Rosa's own words:

hey there rock and rollers!

if you're interested in punkrock photography and art (current) come out to a little one-night exhibit me and daniel "sawblade" shaw are doing. its called gulf coast underground art: the harcore, grindcore and metal scene (or something like that).

i'll be presenting my scene photography along with (and more importantly) daniel's pen and ink illustrations. i'm attaching the pen and ink illustration he did for our show poster (how old school is that?) because it is too cool for school. a couple of his other pieces and a couple of my craptastic shots are here: http://s251.photobucket.com/albums/gg284/rosa_foto/

show starts at 7pm. at sound exchange, richmond at hazard. byob. free but bring wads of cash for records and photos (just don't touch the illustrations unless you wanna get pounced!)

ONE NIGHT ONLY!!! you snooze you lose! so come out and schmooze like its "heavy metal parking lot" 2008!!!

pass this on to the pissed-off, no-goodnik, brooding, outcast teen in your life. they are our future!!

Indeed, they are. Sadly, yours truly will be otherwise engaged -- specifically, I'll be handing little paper certificates out to people who a bunch of other people think write good -- but believe me, I would much rather be enjoying me some art at SoundEx. Oh, and if you want to know more about Ms. Guerrero, check out this damn insightful interview over on The Skyline Network.

Labels: Public Service Announcements, Things To Do, Things To See

gaijin || Link || E-mail || 0 comments

Crap, crap, crap. Not only did I miss out on the "official" Hearts of Animals 7" release this Tues., but I blew it Wed. night w/Sharks and Sailors opening for Dead Meadow, and with Grant Hart on Thurs. at the Continental Club, and with CEX and Satin Hooks last night. Damn.

Sorry, y'all -- my bosses at the day-job have decided I'm responsible enough to run my own projects, which is nice & all, but which means that my time for occasional slacking & taking a "blog-break" at lunchtime has dropped to about zero. My work days the past few weeks have been run-run-run, as soon as I get in the door. Not that I mind working, of course; heck, I like my job quite a bit, and I work with good people. It's been a big step up from past gigs at places like The Big Red H & Exxon, so I don't wanna mess it up, y'know?

Anyway, there's a lot going on in the not-too-distant future. On top of the about-to-happen stuff, I feel compelled to mention the following, even though they're not happening immediately:

• Parts & Labor returning to town on 3/11 to give yours truly yet another chance to get off his ass and bask in their noise-rock glory (I'm sure that's the sole reason they came back through, right?)
• Times New Viking & Great Lakes Myth Society are making SXSW-ish stops on 3/16 (at The Mink & Super Happy Fun Land, respectively)
• The bound-to-be-incredible Gogol Bordello is finally coming to H-town on 3/18 (at The Meridian)
• Slam poet/rapper Saul Williams and Dragons of Zynth are at Warehouse Live 4/1
• Say Anything hit Warehouse Live 4/8
• Mae comes to town again (missed 'em last time, but I heard from friends that the show was great) 4/16 at the Meridian
• And to cap it all off -- dum-da-de-dum -- Cat Power will be at Warehouse Live 4/22. Which I've absolutely, totally got to see.

On the downside, some of the upcoming shows seem a little confused -- are The Slits playing both at Numbers on 3/10 and at Fitz on 3/11 -- and Lorene Drive apparently cancelled their show at the Meridian next weekend. Ah, well. Here's what is still on that looks good to me:

Sat., February 16:
Co-Pilot/Awake/Ringo Deathstarr/For That Day @ Walter's on Washington
Arthur Yoria/Bear Colony/Dignan/Buxton @ The Backroom (The Mink)
Carrie Ann and the Apocalyptics (CD release)/Tribal Lillies Belly Dancers/Opie Hendrix @ Dan Electro's Guitar Bar
Spain Colored Orange/The Drawing Board/Paris Falls @ Rudyard's
Argh. This one hurts. I've been wanting to see space-rock heroes Co-Pilot for a looooong time now -- they don't play out real often, these days -- but at the same time I love accomplished popster Arthur Yoria & nu-country act Buxton, have heard excellent things about Bear Colony (which includes members of Unwed Sailor & Lovedrug, if you're into either of them), like what I've heard of Carrie Ann Buchanan's countrified folk, dig psych-poppers Spain Colored Orange, and have been dying to see the uncategorizable Paris Falls. What's a boy to do? I think, sadly, that this one may come down to a coin toss...

Know Your Idols, featuring Bad Brains (by Eye Against), Jimi Hendrix (by Amplified Heat), Kiss (by Hell City Kings), Mötley Crüe (by American Terrorists), Black Sabbath (by Dead End Lake), Iron Maiden (by Until Dawn), Mötörhead (by The Drunks), David Bowie (by Morgue City), At the Drive-In (by Jalambo Chispa), Melvins (by Whorehound), Tears for Fears (by Mechanical Boy), & Adolescents (by Dicky Hands) @ The Meridian
Yeah, you know the deal -- all your favorite local people (in this case, mostly the heaviest of the heavy) fulfilling their rockstar dreams by pretending to be the people they idolized as young'uns. When it works (see: Panic in Detroit playing as Jawbox @ the Hootenanny a short while back), it can pretty damn awesome. And if it's not, well, hopefully it's at least funny.

Benefit Concert for Josh Shupak, featuring Perry Thomas, Patti Sullivan, April Kelly, Tom Tranchilla, & Brock Rodarte @ Mainstreet Crossing (111 West Main St., Tomball; 8PM, $20 suggested donation)
This one breaks my heart -- more info up here...

Sherwood/The Matches/The Higher/We Shot The Moon/Barely Blind @ Javajazz Coffee House (Spring)
Despite the glut of similar bands -- and the fact that they were the first band on the Myspace record label, which is just plain weird -- I actually really like Sherwood. See the review here, if you care. And local boys Barely Blind are pretty great; hopefully there'll be a review of their EP up here sometime soon.

Sun., February 17:
Death Before Dishonor/Die Young/Grave Robbers/Bottomfeeder @ Walter's on Washington ($10; 8PM)
I don't know most of these folks, but Die Young are pretty cool. All hardcore, I think, and there ain't nothin' wrong w/that.

Carrie Ann and the Apocalyptics/Fahl and Folk @ Last Concert Cafe
Yep, a second dose of Carrie Ann, in case you didn't catch her the night before...

The Delta Block @ Notsuoh
I'm afraid I don't know a lot about these folks, but they've been nicely persistent in their emails, and they sound like they could be darn good. Give 'em a shot, if you dare.

Mon., February 18:
Sabra Laval/The Wild Moccasins @ Boondocks
Sabra Laval has one of the best, most distinctive voices you're going to hear at a club 'round these parts, period -- she's husky and melancholy and dark without being mopey. And plus, I like what I've heard of the Wild Moccasins...

Calabi Yau @ i.am.we.commUNITY House (819 Land Grant, Richmond)
Tambersauro/Calabi Yau/Eat Grapes/Hear You Me @ Notsuoh
The people behind the i.am.we.commUNITY thing, Teri & Rich, are pretty great -- I honestly don't know where they get the energy to do all the stuff they seem to be into. Monday they're bringing in a band I've heard really good stuff about, Calabi Yau, for not one but two shows; the first is at their house out in Richmond @ 3PM, and then the second's up in downtown at Notsuoh @ 9PM. Whichever (or both) you check out, it should be damn cool.

The Riot Before/O Pioneers!!!/Altus/The American Sharks/Molotov Compromise @ The White Swan
Dunno most of these people, but I keep meaning to check out O Pioneers!!!, and American Sharks are an especially promising local punk band. Worth a shot, definitely.

Fri., February 22:
30footFALL/Latch Key Kids/Dig Dug @ The Backroom (The Mink)
Yes! This show is like stepping back to 1998, I swear. This marks the first appearance of the long-dead-and-buried Latch Key Kids since their late-'90s heyday, and damn, it's about time. Seriously, back then they were one of the best of the crop of Cali-style, speedy pop-punk bands floating around this city. Then there's 30footFALL, who thankfully keep reuniting on occasion to prove that they're still one of the best punk bands Houston's ever produced (they've been having a harder time of it lately, what with Butch being off at school on the East Coast), and Dig Dug, one of my personal fave bands from the proto-emo scene we had once upon a long time ago. I actually bought a record player so I could listen to their first 7" comp on Act Your Age. Good times...

Awake/Kvalla/Potbelly @ Rudyard's
Whoa. Never heard Awake or Potbelly, but Kvalla (which happens to include Danny from The Jonx/Houston Press/etc. on drums) play good, LOUD, sludgy, heavy-as-fuck metal in the vein of Mastodon or Isis. The one time I've seen 'em so far, my ears were ringing even with the earplugs in. Take that as a recommendation.

The Mighty Orq (CD release)/Tody Castillo/James Reese Band @ The Meridian (Red Room)
Ah, Tody. This guy's such a good, good songwriter that I got all embarrassed and starstruck when I spotted him at Rudyard's recently; I dearly wanted to (re-)introduce myself and pester him about his upcoming album, but felt like a big fanboy dork for even thinking about it. Seriously, he makes me want to burn all those old notebooks of half-written songs, 'cause there's now way they could ever compare.

HBC New Membership Showcase, featuring The Rising, DML Cartel, Sovern, Silenced Within, & Cell 13 @ Fitzdown
Not real familiar w/any of these folks, sadly, but this is an HBC show, and the Houston Band Coalition people truly have their hearts in the right place -- they've served as a union of sorts for some woefully under-appreciated rock bands (well, mostly rock bands) for, what?, almost a decade now? Has it been that long? Man...

Hero & Rad/GT Garza & V-Zilla/Mic Skillz/Pay La V & Roco/Remix/License 2 Thrill @ Fitzgerald's
No, I dunno a lot of these, but I have heard Mic Skillz, and he's damn good.

Sat., February 23:
Free Press 5 Year Anniversary Clutch-time Scheizzer, featuring Sideshow Tramps, Studemont Project, Ceeplus Bad Knives, Piano Vines, H-Town Zillionaires, & The Free Press Houston Clutch-time Orchestra @ Super Happy Fun Land ($8)
I really, truly, truly love the Free Press -- after watching a half-dozen or so similar attempts at a truly alternative newspaper die slow, painful deaths or overextend and crash (not naming anybody else, mind you, but I think the print version of SCR qualifies for the first category), I admire the hell out the FP crew for not only sticking it out but getting better and better each issue. They're who I wish I wrote for, if I, er, wrote for anything other than this here e-zine these days. Kudos, you folks, on hitting the five-year mark, and here's hoping you'll be around for five years more. (Oh, and there're some really good people playing the anniversary show, esp. my faves Piano Vines, who could literally sing the phonebook and make it sound amazing.)

Sun., February 24:
Jucifer @ Super Happy Fun Land
This one boggles my mind. Granted, I haven't seen the new SHFL yet, but if it's anything like the old, having Jucifer on the stage there is going to be like 10 lbs. of Rock in a 5-lb. bag.

The Gunshy/Mustangs and Madras/Come See My Dead Person/This Year's Tiger @ The Backroom (The Mink)
Yes, I am a sucker for freaky band names, and this show's got more than its fair share. Plus, This Year's Tiger rock.

Mon., February 25:
Joe Lally/Edie Sedgwick @ Walter's on Washington
I'm not really a fan of Edie Sedgwick, I must admit, but I figure, hey, what are the odds of us Houstonians getting to see incredible bassist Joe Lally (ex-Fugazi/ex-Decahedron/Ataxia) play here again any time soon?

Brand Nubian/Connie Price & The Keystrokes/Cosmo Baker @ Warehouse Live
Wow. I honestly hadn't realized Brand Nubian were still around -- I can't for the life of me remember anything they did, but I remember liking them back in the day, all the same...

Tues., February 26:
NOFX/No Use For A Name/The Flatliners/Latch Key Kids/The Hates @ Warehouse Live
And here we've got the second re-appearance of legendary locals the Latch Key Kids, plus big-time punk rockers NOFX -- who, oddly enough, impress me more & more as they get older -- No Use For A Name, & The Flatliners. As an added bonus, apparently fellow local punk icons The Hates (who've been doing it for longer than any of the other bands on the bill, actually) are playing an after-show deal. Here's your punk fix for the next three months, y'all.

Catfish Haven/The Redwalls @ Rudyard's
Okay, so does anybody know if this show's actually happening? The label people emailed to tell me to get on out & see it, but Rudz's calendar lists "Comedy with Carolyn Agnew". What gives? I'm not up on Catfish Haven, sorry, but I really liked The Redwalls' last album, so I don't wanna show up to hear some cool retro-'60s/'70s power-pop and instead get subjected to stand-up comedy. (Nothing against stand-up or Ms. Agnew, mind you, but I generally like to be prepared for that sort of thing, y'know?)

Aiden/Schoolyard Heroes/Farewell To Freeway @ The Meridian
Yeah, yeah -- I know they wear more makeup than Poison used to and apparently think they're vampires or something, but I swear, Aiden's latest album is actually really good. Trust me on this one. And I hear the Schoolyard Heroes disc is pretty decent, too.

Aunt Dracula/The Wiggins/Wicked Poseur/Bully Pulpit @ The Backroom (The Mink)
Now, with this one, the question seems to be not whether it's happening but where. I saw Aunt Dracula listed as playing both at The Mink and at Super Happy Fun Land. Anybody know which it is? Dunno a thing about them, by the way -- I'd go to catch the ever-weird Wiggins and Wicked Poseur, myself.

Thurs., February 28:
Paris Falls @ Boondocks
I dearly, dearly, dearly need to include these folks on the Featured Bands page, 'cause they're a bona fide local gem. Rock, raw and simple, with some classic-rock touches, a lot of emotion, and cool-ass organ sounds. (And to any PF people who read this, I promise that I will get a review up of Vol. II, and soon...)

Homeless Benefit, featuring Free Radicals, Peekaboo Theory, & Audio in the Pregap @ Notsuoh (all ages, free; bring old clothing/non-perishable food items)
Not sure if this one's still happening, either -- it's no longer listed on Notsuoh's Myspace page -- but I sure hope it is, 'cause it's a good cause and a good lineup. Love the Free Radicals, heard good things about Peekaboo Theory, and AitP are good people.

Fri., February 29:
Too $hort/K Notch & BLB/Bama Boyz @ The Meridian
Holy crap. All those memories of high school come flooding back... Make all the wisecracks you want, but Too $hort seriously paved the way for everybody from Snoop Dogg to NWA to Ludacris. Not sure what he's like now, but I remember listening to his tapes back when I was a kid and being blown away.

Thee Armada/The Finalist/Dremnt The End/The American Masquerade/Great American Actors @ Fitzgerald's
If Stadium were playing, this would literally be my absolute-perfect dream post-emo rock show. Thee Armada are great, I like the songs I've heard by The Finalist, The American Masquerade are excellent, and Great American Actors sound promising.

The Western Civilization/Papermoons/Another Run @ Walter's on Washington
Oooh, and another good one. I've been dearly missing The Western Civ lately, seeing as they got back from touring not long before the holidays, and adding the excellent, excellent Papermoons and Another Run, whose CD I really need to take another listen to, makes it even better. Between this show & the Fitz one above, this evening you've got your choice of some of the best bands in town.

Treehouse Project/Slivered (CD release)/Hearts Fail @ Rudyard's
Not a clue on Treehouse Project, but I've been meaning to check out Slivered for a while now -- frontguy Robin's been a friend since his Hayflick Limit days, and he's darn good at what he does.

The Last Starfighter/The Aerial Second/Breath of the Dying/Unchaste Entities @ Javajazz Coffee House (Spring)
I have to say, those kids in the northern 'burbs have it pretty good. Not only do they get some of the better touring hardcore bands stopping only in their 'hood and skipping Houston proper entirely, but they've got excellent locals like The Last Starfighter playing regularly. I've heard good things about Aerial Second, to boot...

Labels: Public Service Announcements, Things To Do, Things To Hear

gaijin || Link || E-mail || 1 comments

I've found that since becoming a parent myself, stuff involving kids just breaks my heart, y'know? Not that I didn't care at all before, but it seems to hit a heck of a lot closer to home now that I've got my own little person to watch over and worry about. I guess that's kind of part of the point of the whole parenthood deal.

At any rate, that's partly why the email I got a few days back hit me pretty hard. There'll be a Benefit Concert tonight (Sat., February 16th) out in Tomball at a place called "Mainstreet Crossing" (111 West Main St.), and it's for a 12-year-old boy named Josh Shupak who was horribly burned, along with his dad, in a campfire accident back in November. The details are tragic; here's the info from the flyer itself:

Josh Shupak, 12 years old, and his Father Don, were badly burned in a freak accident involving a small campfire. Flames shot into the air and ignited their clothing. Josh's father stumbled to the ground in shock as others put out the flames. Frightened, Josh ran from the flames. By the time the flames were put out, Josh had burns over 85% of his body. Don had over 50% of his body burned.

Josh and Don were taken by air ambulance to get medical treatment. Josh was taken to the Shriner's Burn Center in Galveston and Don was taken to to the University of Texas Medical Branch.

Because of extensive burns, Josh has had quite a few surgeries already and has had to have some of his fingers trimmed back, as well as his ears. His mother, Cheryl, has said he has been very brave throughout this traggic event. Cheryl is not working and has had to relocate to Galveston to be nearby her son during his surgical procedures, so they need financial assistance. Any and all donations will be greatly appreciated.

Josh attended public school in Magnolia and was known as a "sweet kid," and he is very well liked and missed by his schoolmates.

All proceeds of this Benefit Concert will go to Cheryl Shupak.

The poor kid; man, it just kills me reading it again... There are some more details here, courtesy of the Tomball Magnolia Tribune.

In order to help cover the family's financial burden -- wonderful system, isn't it, where your kid getting hurt can throw you into financial ruin on top of the injury itself? -- some kind local (I think?) musicians are playing at the concert tonight, including Patti Sullivan, April Kelly, Tom Tranchilla, Brock Rodarte, Danny Everitt, & Perry Thomas. The show kicks off at 8PM, and the suggested donation's $20, although they may accept less, I dunno. You can call 281-252-9141 for more info.

If you can't make it to the show tonight, apparently a teacher in Josh's hometown of Magnolia has started a trust fund for Josh and his family at Woodforest National Bank to help with the medical & other expenses -- if interested in contributing, contact her at "tberry" at "magnoliaisd dot org".

At any rate, there you go. Please help out if you can.

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

gaijin || Link || E-mail || 0 comments

Yep, they finally pulled the trigger & did it -- following a threat of lawsuit, H-town's own The Dimes are now...dum-da-dee-dum...Young Mammals. Same band, they swear, just a different name. Not bad, not bad...

Labels: H-Town News, Public Service Announcements

gaijin || Link || E-mail || 0 comments

Well, I pretty much lucked out, I think, this past Thursday. The wife was having a moms' group thing (something involving chocolate & a lot of women) at our house, so the munchkin went to Grandma's for the night & I was banished temporarily from the premises. And lo and behold, in spite of it being a weeknight, there seemed like a wealth of shows to check out.

I took a bit of a walk down Memory Lane first, since I had some time to kill. After a quick stop at the Bellaire Broiler Burger, I headed on over to Montrose, stopping at Diedrich's to sit outside like I used to back in my Montrose-dwelling days, drinking iced mocha and reading a bit of Rory Stewart's The Prince of the Marshes (which is good, by the way, if a bit on the pro-CPA side). Then on up the road to Soundwaves, which I still can't help but thinking of as "the new Soundwaves," despite it being at its current location for, what, a decade now? Picked up the awesomely good soundtrack to the movie Once (yay, Netflix!) and proceeded to cruise around listening to that the rest of the night.

On up to Walter's -- God damn, there are a lot of condos up there now. The 'hood seems far removed from the days when friends would get mugged walking back their cars from a show at the Abyss or Fitz or Mary Jane's. Now there are winebars, "urban housing" showrooms, swanky restaurants, ultra-high-end furniture stores, and block after block of townhouse/condo/whatever things. Granted, I've never yet been a Heights resident, but it still feels a bit like visiting an alien planet these days.

Anyway, I got there just in time to see The Church of Philadelphia do a short set, which is good, considering that they were who I really wanted to see; the last time I tried to go see them play, I ended up having to stay home to tend to a sick wife & midget. I'm still amazed at the way the C of P crew can so blithely switch instruments up there on the stage, seemingly without even having to worry about tuning or whatnot; one of 'em will just drop the guitar, and the other'll pick it back up and start playing. And the singing -- oh, man. It's enough to make me want to start going to church (well, almost).

Plus, I love how each of their songs starts of unassuming and delicate and steadily builds and builds to an Arcade Fire-like crescendo. Not every band can do that, and it takes something special to really pull it off. The band hit all my personal high notes, including "This Time Around," "Recover," and "Never Give Up," and even "Kingdom of Hearts," which I'm not as keen on on the CD, worked really well live. Oh, and it was nice to see the harp onstage, despite the snickering of the near-teenage brats to my left. It takes cojones to have a harp in your band these days, people.

(Apologies for the craptacularness of my photos, by the way. I am too damn chickenshit to get right up at the stage and have this irrational fear that if I pop a flash in somebody's face, they're gonna drop their guitar and pound me one, art or no art. This, coupled with my fumbling ignorance of how my camera works, means that most of the photos I get turn out washed-out and trippy at best. Sadly, I am no rosaphoto, Jordan Graber, or Ramon. I am but a schmuck with a cheapo digital camera. More online here, if you care.)

I'd intended to bail right after the Church finished playing, figuring to head on down to Rudyard's to see Kvalla play, but it was barely 9:30 when they started taking their gear off the stage, so I decided to stick around for at least part of Brooklynites The Jealous Girlfriends' set. And I'm glad I did, actually -- the band was really, really good, kind of drifting and dreampop-y at points and late-'90s indie-rock at others. For some reason I kept thinking of Space Mtn, but that might've been because of brunette lead singer Holly Miranda (who I thought looked oddly like a skinny Jennifer Connelly). Her voice, though, hits notes I can't put my finger on -- raspy and sweet, growling and sultry at the same time, like an old-school blues belter fronting an nu-shoegaze band. By the time I had to leave for Rudz, I was really regretting it and wishing I'd gotten more cash out of the bank so I could pick up a CD. Damn...

On to Rudz -- south and a little bit east, and here I am again, back in the old neighborhood. Oddly, even though I was psyched back when I moved to Montrose proper, prior to the exodus out to Meyerland, thinking "hey, this is awesome -- I can walk to Rudyard's!", guess how many times I actually went to Rudz in the two years or so we lived at the house on Willard? Answer: zero, nada. Didn't go there once in all that time. Sad, sad, sad.

I made it to the bar intact and headed upstairs to find a mostly-empty room; I'd kind of figured that'd be the case, despite the 10PM start time, since nothing ever starts early at Rudyard's. The only people there were members of & friends of the bands (and the bartenders, naturally). I planted myself at a table and checked my email via phone -- god damn, sometimes I love modern technology -- hoping to get in touch w/homeboy Mel, with whom I'd been tentatively planning to meet up that night, and lo and behold, the poor guy was home sick with something SARS-like. Mel, if you're reading this, I hope you're doing better, man...

Just as I was finishing the phone-surfing, the members of ¡alarma! meandered onto the stage, grabbed their gear, and silenced whatever conversation was going on in the room with an explosive "is this thing on?" guitar noise. Frontwoman april5k apologized sarcastically (I'm assuming, anyway) for interrupting everybody studying for their midterms, and then the band launched into some interesting proto-punk-sounding rawk.

They didn't get real far, unfortunately -- it took 'em a little while to find a groove, partly because they're still working in new drummer Noah, but right after they did, as bad luck would have it, guitarist Ryan broke a string. He didn't have a spare, and attempts to borrow a guitar from headliners Shat seemed to backfire, so the band called it done and ambled back off the stage the same low-key way they'd come.

Next up, Kvalla, the band I'd come to see. And holy fucking shit, were they something else. And loud. Looooouuuuud. Like, literally the loudest band I've ever experienced in a small(-ish) room. There was one note the bassist ("Fosterdad," per the band's Myspace?) would hit that made the fillings in my teeth vibrate, to the point where I was worried they might start coming out. I mean, damn, y'all.

Luckily, they were not only loud, but good, to boot. The songs tended to bounce between Mastodon-esque crunching metal and ISIS-like slow-roiling turbulence, both of which I dig in general; I've got no idea what "Mouse" was singing about, but hell, I don't care. This isn't Ronnie James Dio "devil-woman-look-out-tonite!" metal, but rather the kind where you just sit back and let it wash over you like building-sized ocean waves. My eardrums hurt afterwards, even though I did keep the earplugs in the whole damn time for once. Nice.

I feel I should mention, by the way, that if Danny Mee hasn't yet been nominated for "Best Drummer" in the Press Awards, he really, really needs to be. I dunno how the whole anti-nepotism thing works there, since he freelances for 'em these days, but still -- anybody who can play fills and rhythms that intricate while playing that freakin' loud really merits at least the nomination. And that's on top of his stellar work with The Jonx. Danny, you're The Man (on Drums, that is).

(In the case of the Kvalla pics, I was less afraid of being beaten up by the band & more afraid that sheer force of The Mëtäl stripping the skin from my eyelids or something if I got too close. Oh, and I'm lazy. Therefore, all pics were taken while sitting in my comfy chair about 10-15 feet from the stage. A few more pics here, for all you foolhardy souls with more time and bandwidth than sense.)

About one song from the end of Kvalla's set, the wife called out of the blue -- all the ladies had left, the chocolate was making her sick, and there were creepy noises coming from the back of the house, so could I please come home soon? (This always happens when she watches that damn Paranormal State show...) I promised I would as soon as the band finished, so I headed back in for the rest of the final song, then made my goodbyes. And dammit, I felt like the biggest heel ever, 'cause it sure seemed like nobody was going to stick around for out-of-towners Shat, on tour from Jersey and apparently prepared to do evil, evil things to all our moms. While somewhat intimidating, with lots of tats and muscles -- if I hadn't known better, I would've thought they were some Sick Of It All-style hardcore band -- they were really friendly, nice guys, so I felt like a jerk for bailing. Gotta do what you've gotta do, though; I packed it in and blazed on down 59 to home, yelling along with Glen Hansard the whole way.

Postscript: Apparently all was not lost for Shat, in the end. According to Danny, the Rudz folks opened up the upstairs area, which brought about 30-35 people in for the band's set. They apparently paraded through the downstairs wearing, um, dildo helmets & such, which I can imagine would've been more than enough to entice the average Rudz-goer to follow them, Pied Piper-style, up to the second floor. Glad to hear it, y'all.

Labels: Live Reviews, Musical Crap, Pseudo-Reviews, Random Rambling

gaijin || Link || E-mail || 0 comments

Well, at least they're going out with a bang -- you can't really get more indie-hipster than the difficult-to-pin-down Fiery Furnaces, at least in my book. They're a quirky, quirky bunch of people, whose latest release, Widow City, I'm still endeavoring to wrap my head around, honestly -- it's like '70s rock gone totally freakin' insane. But even given that I don't think I entirely get the band, I think it's a safe bet that tonight at The Proletariat is gonna be one killer blow-out of a gig.

After all, Saturday marks the second-to-last day of operation for The Little Club That Could, which rose up out of the ashes of the departed Blue Iguana from back in the day to become a bona fide focal point for a large sector of the Houston scene. I've heard the accusations of cliquishness and hipster bullshit, but what the fuck: it's a bar, people. If you want to hang at a bar, you bring your friends with you. If you go see a band play there & you know nobody, that's certainly not the other patrons' fault, is it?

I'm gonna cut that rant off right there, in honor of the day. It's a day to pay respects, not bitch, right? So if you're out and about tonight, this is where you need to be -- while there are indeed a small horde of cool shows going on (like White Williams, Rings, & Cry Blood Apache up at Walter's, The Delta Block, Cop Warmth, & the awesomely named Strugglebear, among others, at The White Swan, The Gold Sounds & The McKenzies down at The Forum in LaPorte, and, hell, Digital Underground at The Scout Bar in Clear Lake), this is The One, trust me.

Why? Well, beyond the general Irish wake-ness of the proceedings & the aforementioned Furnaces, the soon-to-be-renamed Dimes will also reportedly be playing, as will the excellent, excellent Hearts of Animals (who're also, I'm told, doing a sneaky "early" release of the new 7" they've got coming out), & Elaine Greer, about whom I've heard many, many good things.

So, there it is. Go, raise a glass, enjoy the music while trying not to get all teary-eyed, and hope that the vacuum the Prolo leaves in the scene can be filled somehow, 'cause we're gonna need it...

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

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