Late notice, I know, but I only found out around lunchtime, & the day slipped away from me since then (darn day job...). Anyway, we here at SCR heard the news that Eisley, that quintet of elfin-looking post-emo popsters from Tyler, will be playing this evening up at the resurrected Cactus Music (now located at 2110 Portsmouth, about a half-block from Amy's), reportedly at 6PM or so, and for free, free, free.

The band seems to be kind of a love-'em-or-hate-'em thing, but after much prodding from SCR old salt (and now pro rock crit) Marc Hirsh, I have to admit that I've come around to their strange, otherworldly, almost Neil Gaiman-influenced brand of pop-rock. Lyrics about lovelorn robots and alien invasions actually seem to make a freaky kind of sense when sung by Sherri & Stacy DuPree, and the bulk of 2003 EP Laughing City has been stuck in my head since, well, 2005 or so.

(And no, I haven't yet listened to last year's Combinations, despite Marc kindheartedly forcing it upon me. Sorry, man, but the iPod gets full so damn fast these days...)

Anyway, this evening's show will be of the unplugged/acoustic variety, according to the Cactus folks -- if you're more into the electrified version, the band's playing at full volume tomorrow (April 1st) over at The Meridian, along with The Envy Corps (who I've heard are good), The Myriad, and Vedera (the latter two of which I know zero about). Pick your poison.

Plus, tonight the Merid's also got Tokyo Police Club (with Eagle Seagull) -- we've been somewhat lukewarm on 'em in the past (search the site for the review), but I've liked what I've heard lately, so I've got higher hopes.

If you're not up for that particular side of downtown, you can also head to Notsuoh for the Nick Jaina/Run On Sentence/Wild Moccasins show, which promises to be very, very cool as well. Too many dang choices...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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[UPDATE: Since the original posting, I've gotten info one more show formerly at SHFL, the Ukebox/Poopy Lungstuffing show on 4/10, was shifted to Free Range Studio. Just so you know...]

Damn. Despite reports to the contrary, it appears that the good people at recently-moved local venue/artspace Super Happy Fun Land are still shut down by The Man ("The Man," in this case, being the City of Houston). What folks initially thought would be a very temporary deal has turned into what sounds like a major headache/money pit, with the Fire Marshal closing the place down through at least April, possibly May. Which, obviously, sucks ass.

All is not lost, however, and you can help -- tonight (3/28, that is) at kind-hearted venue Notsuoh, the SHFLers will be throwing the Super Happy Fun Land 5 Year Anniversary Party & Art Auction, in the hopes that they can drum up some much-needed money to pay the bills & the cost of upgrading their new home so it meets CoH standards.

The auction itself starts at 8PM, with auctioneer Dave Roy (whom I don't know, but who apparently is the "founder" of sadly-departed Southmore House) wielding the gavel. If you've got art you want to donate to the cause, btw, they'd love to have it, it sounds like -- get a hold of them at "info" at "superhappyfunland dot com". Otherwise, show up and place a bid on some fine, most likely locally-produced artwork and trip out to the sounds of Poopy Lungstuffing, Sew What, Las Imagenes Ocultas, Concrete Violin, The Cave Reverend, The Delta Block, The Krinkles, Rusted Shut, & Muzak John, all for a good, good, good cause.

If you're in need of more detail-age, here's the scoop from the SHFL crew themselves, along w/some of the shutdown backstory:

Howdy folks! Come on out to Notsuoh tonight for our 5 Year Anniversary party and art auction benefit. Unfortunately we are still unable to open, so we are hoping to raise a little cash at the art auction to offset some of our bills. We have to submit architectural drawings to the city because we are reassigning the occupancy purpose of our current building, and that takes time and money. We are currently working with an architect, who is really cool, but unfortunately he can do all the plans the city requires, except for the electrical load diagrams we need for city approval. For those we need an electrical engineer (a master electrician or architect won't cut it, they have to be an engineer for the city to approve their plans). So if you are an engineer, or know one who would want to help out a goofy fun art and performance community center, let us know. Otherwise we have a few leads, but they are sounding incredibly expensive at this time. At any rate, it looks like we will still be shut down for April, and most likely into May, so we are canceling and rescheduling more shows unfortunately. But the good news is Notsuoh (as well as some other venues around town) has been really great about hosting the touring bands that we did have scheduled, and we are having a really awesome party there tonight! I hope you can make it, there are going to be some really amazing art pieces, Olivia's vegan chili, lots of bands, and the usual SHFL nonsense, only downtown at Notsuoh.

If you can't make it out but still want to give, you can head on over to the SHFL Website, as well, and donate $$$ via PayPal. Easy-peasy, and good for the soul besides.

Now, since SHFL is effectively closed 'til God-knows-when, that means that a number of bands/shows have had to either be cancelled or shuffled off to other venues. Here're the ones I'm aware of that've been moved and/or rescheduled:

Sun., March 30 - lucky you/Punk Bunny/Ultraviolet Sound @ Notsuoh

Mon., March 31 - Nick Jaina/The Wild Moccasins/Run On Sentence @ Notsuoh (8PM)

Wed., April 2 - The Seed Grass Gypsys @ Notsuoh

Thurs., April 3 - The Group Hug/Stale Fashion/The Dead of Night @ Notsuoh

NEW!!!: Thurs., April 10 - Ukebox/Poopy Lungstuffing @ Free Range Studio

Sun., April 20 (was 3/5) - STEEM Festival, featuring Translations, J. Andrew Bobbitt, Thomas Ayresol, Track53, Trills, Forests, & Everything is Beautiful and Nothing Hurts @ The Backroom (The Mink)

And then here's the list of shows/bands playing in March/April who don't appear to've been shuffled off to someplace else yet; booking people/venues/etc., help these folks out if you can, eh?:

Sat., March 29 - BK & Mr. E/My Life On Film/Rage Ranger @ Super Happy Fun Land

Fri., April 4 - The LP's/Tyler Flame and the Ellipsis/Jetpack Black/Riddle Lane @ Super Happy Fun Land

Sun., April 6 - Casa De Chihuahua/The Defenestration Unit/The Delta Block @ Super Happy Fun Land

Sun., April 13 - Abiku/Nudity @ Super Happy Fun Land

Tues., April 15 - Jared Friedman/Gabriel Miller-Phillips @ Super Happy Fun Land

Thurs., April 17 - Bigg Nugg/DaLyrical/Unecc @ Super Happy Fun Land

Sun., April 20 - Suspenderman/Hor/Then Something Happened.../G. Styles/Ajiibwa/The Delta Block @ Super Happy Fun Land

Thurs., April 24 - Kinch/Desmond Zavala/Wolves, At The Door/Las Imagenes Ocultas @ Super Happy Fun Land

Fri., April 25 - Motion Turns It On @ Super Happy Fun Land

Big, big, big thank-yous go out, I should note, to Notsuoh and The Mink for taking on some of these folks. People like y'all are what saves the scene in this city, I swear.

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

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Sorry, couldn't resist the song reference... I know I've been somewhat quiet lately on local fave band The Western Civilization (since we ran the interview last spring, actually, although they did appear in our best-of-2007 wrap-up), and frankly, that's pretty inexcusable. My only defense is that they've been somewhat quiet themselves lately, since coming back from their last tour.

And now, seemingly unsatisfied with just one go-round of this great nation, the band's headed back out on the road, starting with their tour kickoff show tomorrow night, Fri., March 28th, up at Walter's on Washington. 8PM start, supposedly, and it's $7 for the of-age and $10 for the not.

Also on the bill are fine local bands listenlisten, whom we also interviewed not long ago, and Motion Turns It On, who pretty much took the award for Local Band Everybody Loved in the 2007 top ten lists I saw around town (including ours); seriously, they showed up on like five different lists that I saw. Good people, all.

Those Western Civ kids put on a heck of a show, truly, and seeing as this may be the last time you'll be able to catch 'em locally for a while, well, you'd better get on out, eh? After this they're apparently headed east to Louisiana, Alabama, and Georgia, and then on up the coast through the Carolinas & all those eastern states to New York. On the "return" leg, they're coming back via Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, etc., before heading southward towards Texas once again (check their Myspace, linked above, for the exact dates/venues).

It looks to be a pretty intense, high-speed tour, so go see 'em before they come home all exhausted & ready to sleep for the next three months straight. Hrm. I think I need to go listen to Letters of Resignation on the ol' iPod once again...

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

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UPDATE: And...poof, the tickets are gone. Damn, that didn't take long at all. Congrats to winner JD!

Yep, slam poet/rapper/artiste extraordinaire Saul Williams will be in town this next Tuesday, April 1st over at Warehouse Live -- with the utterly awesome Dragons of Zynth, I've heard, although they weren't on the venue's Website the last time I checked -- and all signs point to it being utterly badass. I'll grant that some of his stuff gets a little long-winded & navel-gazer-y, but 95% of the time, I'm impressed as hell with what the guy does. At the very least, he's unique in a musical realm where how many times you've gotten your stupid ass shot apparently matters more to the music-purchasing public than how good you actually are.

Lucky for you, SCR has in its possession (well, virtually) two free tickets/guestlist spots to give away to the first person who emails us. Just send a quick note to "gaijin" at "spacecityrock dot com" with the Subject line "Give me the tickets, and nobody gets hurt!", and you'll be on the list over at the Warehouse the night of the show. The email I get first wins. Then you just show up & enjoy the free-flowing, beat-heavy poetry/hip-hop/rock/whatever. Capisce?

In case you're uncertain, here's the video for Williams' version of "Sunday Bloody Sunday" (yep, that one), off his latest, the Trent Reznor-produced The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust (which is, btw, one of the best album titles ever, hands down). Enjoy...

And since I'm in a Youtubing mood, here's the video for my favorite Williams track ever, his "Coded Language" collab with DJ Krust -- it's long, but Krust's beats are fucking awesome and it gets nicely intense when Williams starts spitting out names:

Labels: Free Stuff, Musical Crap, Things To Do, Things To Hear, Things To See

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I cannot put into words just how much this angers and offends me, as a consumer and a human being. This is what happens when the almighty dollar trumps decency and common sense.

Haven't the poor woman and her family suffered enough? I can't think of a worse hell imaginable than what she goes through every day to begin with, without a penny-pinching gigantic corporation stepping in to make things worse. I've tried for a while now to keep my shopping there to a minimum, but this tears it -- never shopping there again. Period.

Labels: Political Stuff, Public Service Announcements, Random Rambling

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Yep, we are officially all-all-all about the just-in-time updating, today. Like I just slapped a review of the latest A Wilhelm Scream disc, Career Suicide, up on the site, in the hopes that it will get some of you crazy, wonderful people out there to go, go, go see this band when they play this very evening (3/26/08) up at Warehouse Live with Unseen, The Krum Bums, & Blackstar. You've gotta go, honest. Seriously. No, I mean it. I have trouble getting into words just how deep into my soul 2005's Ruiner slammed me, and while Suicide's not quite to those heights (er, depths), it's still damn good.

Plus, live they're a fucking tornado of punk-rock fury, a far cry from their proggy, metalhead/nerd, post-ironic selves on CD; the pit the one time I've gotten to see 'em live was utterly insane. If you want more prodding, you can check out the review here, but otherwise, can I just say, "go, see, be amazed"? Trust me on this one.

Beyond tonight, of course, there's more going on, and today's update is all over that stuff, too. We've got awesomely awesome new reviews of Kelley Stoltz, who's playing with The Dirtbombs and our own Dead Roses at Rudyard's on 3/28/08 (and boy-howdy is that an odd bill...), Girl in a Coma, who'll be at Chances (yes, that Chances, you know the place) on 3/29/08, and H-town power-popstars Teenage Kicks, who're playing The Mink on 3/31/08 with Pink Razors, Erin Tobey, & Elaine Greer's new band, The Holly Hall. See reviews for all three here, and then get your ass out of the house. There: we just planned the rest of your week for you. Nice of us, eh?

On top of all that, we've got brand-new live reviews up, one of John Fogerty's recent Rodeo stop in our fair city and the other of the not-too-distant MGMT/Yeasayer cage match/tour, from which Yeasayer apparently emerged the victory (per our Brandon H., at least). Read 'em & weep that you weren't there in person.

More reviews are up, as well, but dammit, I've gotta run -- check the homepage, yo.

Labels: Live Reviews, Musical Crap, Reviews, Things To Do

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Sorry, all you folks out there who were psyched as hell about catching The Dodos, The Wild Moccasins, Silje Nes, & Missing Files tonight (Mon., March 24th) at The Mink...turns out the show was actually last night. Um. Whoops. Sorry, y'all -- my bad. Dunno how I got my crossed on that one, I swear.

As a consolation prize of sorts, though, your evening's not totally blown -- head on over to free band night at Boondocks, instead, & catch JD & Stacey of Over Sea Under Stone in their Lenny Briscoe incarnation, the folkadelic strangeness of Sew What (silly as it is, I do like the pinata guitar), and Like Yeah. And be entertained, and know that I am feeling very, very silly and stupid. Apologies to all...

Labels: Admin Stuff, Things To Do

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Man, what a week... There was supposed to be a nice, big update to the site this past week, including a few of our growing pile of need-to-get-posted live reviews, but then yours truly got laid real low by the flu -- I don't remember a thing from roughly last Monday evening to Tuesday night, and then Wed.'s a big blur, as well.

The one thing I did manage to do was dope myself up enough to drive (well, the wife drove) woozily to the Gogol Bordello show I'd been dying to go see for months now. It very nearly didn't happen, but thanks to the wonders of generic Tylenol, we managed to go at the last second, getting to The Meridian right when Eugene Hutz & co. went onstage, and we were able to see/hear all our favorite songs.

A very trippy night, esp. since I was pretty much continually on the verge of collapse -- I was actually hoping for a punk rock healing like I got from the Ramones once upon a time, but that didn't happen, unfortunately. We left just in time, it turned out; I started lapsing into fever & chills on the drive home. But dammit, we went, and we were even able to get The Munchkin her very own Gogol Bordello super-small-sized t-shirt (they're her favorite band, believe it or not, although Hannah Montana's possibly moved up into a tie position lately).

The next few days found me feeling half-dead and unable to do a whole heck of a lot, even while conscious. I finally went back to work on Friday, feeling totally overwhelmed by three days' worth of work crap that piled up while I was gone. By the end of the day, at least, I felt a bit caught up, but even now I'm still not 100%.

Anyway, that's my personal technical difficulties of late. For the site itself, some astute readers/contributors noticed a very odd thing over the past day or two -- somehow, our happy, relatively inoffensive, decidedly low-tech e-zine had gotten itself blacklisted. Blacklisted, specifically, by Google and anti-spyware/malware/etc. hub StopBadware.org. Which meant that if you'd Googled "space city rock" (or "Houston music," or "Houston bands," or whatever else) in the last 48 hours -- I don't think it went any further back than that -- you'd have seen a snippy little note from Google on the Space City Rock result that the site might download malicious software onto your computer, and you therefore probably shouldn't click on the link. Fuck.

This, as you might guess, was extremely distressing here at SCR HQ. We are not, obviously, a malware distribution site of any kind, which made the whole mess confusing as hell, as did the fact that Google was supposed to have emailed all the generic admin-type addresses for the site to let us know we were being blacklisted. And they didn't, which I know 'cause they would've all come to me. Double fuck.

In the meantime, we were looking pretty bad, and I've gotten at least one report that it wasn't just through Google. Fortunately, Google was able to pinpoint the culprit pages on the site somewhat, and they turned out not to be "real" Space City Rock pages, but the parts of the site belonging to my own now-defunct political blog, Something's Got to Break, which was where my personal political ramblings & pontifications went from, oh, about 2001 to 2006. (Damn, it's hard to believe it was around that long.)

On the negative side, those blog posts contained a shitload of links to sites all over the freakin' place, a couple thousand of which, statistically speaking, were probably since dead or co-opted by somebody evil & sneaky (it's been 2+ years since the blog got updated, y'know). Rather than painstakingly trawl back through every freakin' post, then, my only choice was to blow the whole thing away. Which breaks my heart, honestly, because I was intensely proud of some of the stuff in the SGTB blog -- I still feel like it was some of the best writing I've ever done.

Them's the breaks, though -- I couldn't justify keeping a defunct, out-of-date blog around at the risk of this site suffering more permanent damage, reputation- and readership-wise. So I'll have to content myself w/reading the archived files I was able to save down off the FTP site.

An e-appeal later, and it appears that we are once more on Google's (and, hopefully, StopBadware.org's) good side. As far as I can tell, the Google team has removed us from their blacklist, so you shouldn't see any freaky messages or anything when you search for us. phew. In the meantime, as well, I've used the burst of frantic activity to upgrade our ad-serving software from the now-unsupported phpAdsNew to Openads/OpenX, so you might also see some wigginess with banner ads not appearing on all pages, especially here in the blog.

Now, if you do happen to run across any messages online somewhere or get any bounced emails saying that Space City Rock has been blacklisted or blocked or what-have-you, I'd like to ask you to please email and let us know, because we've got to take care of stuff like that as soon as we possibly can, and we don't always know about it. Send an email, if you could, with the subject "SCR Blocked", to both "gaijin" at "spacecityrock DOT com" and "gaijintx" at "yahoo DOT com", and we'll get it one way or the other. Thanks...

(The Gogol Bordello show, btw, was amazing, especially the people-watching -- it had to be the weirdest, most diverse crowd I've seen in a long time, with elderly Russian-looking couples dancing traditional dances and clapping, Nu-Hippies in quasi-gypsy duds dancing around with abandon and beefy, fratboy-looking guys with lots of odd tattoos -- Eastern Promises, y'all? -- slamming and jumping up and down with their shirts off. The band, obviously, was great, like an insane, drunken cabaret act from behind the Iron Curtain in some alternate-timeline future where the U.S.S.R. didn't implode...)

Labels: Admin Stuff, Pseudo-Reviews, Random Rambling

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I've got a general distrust of members of the punditocracy, be they from the right or the left -- I loathe the likes of Ann Coulter & Rush Limbaugh, but at the same time I'm not wholly sold on folks like Arianna Huffington or James Carville. Anybody who makes their living pontificating about their personal beliefs and how the world/country doesn't fit 'em is immediately suspect, in my book.

I have to say, though, that I like Jim Hightower a heck of a lot. It helps that he's a Texan, naturally -- it's awful hard for the right-wingers to deflate somebody who sounds quite genuinely like he's from the Flyover States. I've listened to his radio show & subscribed to the Hightower Lowdown for several years now, and I always end up feeling enlightened after listening/reading. The guy's a dyed-in-the-wool populist, the kind that I'm amazed to see get into office (like Hightower himself did back during Ann Richards' time as governor of this state). If there were more pundits like him, our country would be a very, very different place.

Besides all that, I've seen him speak a couple of times now, and he's consistently entertaining, whether he's addressing a stadium full of people or the crowd in some alternative bookstore. And luckily for us Houstonians, he'll be speaking this very evening here in town, from 7-9PM over at the Landmark River Oaks Theatre (2009 W. Gray). He'll be doing a reading from his new book, Swim Against the Current: Even A Dead Fish Can Go With The Flow.

Tickets to get in are $10 in advance & $15 at the door, and if you feel like splashing out you can pony up $150 for a down-home "Meet and Greet" w/Mr. Hightower -- not sure when that's supposed to happen, but I'm guessing it's beforehand, since it includes appetizers & "preferred seating" for the reading itself (and hey, you also get an autographed copy of the book).

Best of all, the whole thing's a benefit for Houston's own KPFT, which -- love it or hate it -- is an out-and-out necessity in our media-lockdown city with only one paper & nothing else but Clear Channel-owned radio stations (and KTRU, too; can't forget them...). You may not like every show, no -- I myself tend to tune out when a couple of shows come on, just 'cause, eh, they don't really do much for me (not gonna name names, tho').

Anyway, that's the deal -- get on out, see Hightower speak, & support the real "alternative" radio station in town, all at the same time.

Labels: Political Stuff, Public Service Announcements, Things To Do

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

Dammit, dammit, dammit. I hate to admit it, but I tend to ignore all the emails I get from what look like crappy dance clubs, and sometimes it bites me in the ass. Like now, since I just bothered to look at one email & discovered that Talib Kweli, of all people (the non-Mos Def half of the excellent, excellent Black Star, if you don't know), was in town this past Friday night, acting as "celebrity host" and DJ over at Level. Crap...

On top of that, today's St. Patrick's Day, the one day a year where I get to flaunt my relative Irishness and subject others in my family to unforgivable amounts of The Pogues, The Chieftains, Black 47, and the Dropkick Murphys...and yet, all I want to do right now is go home and sleep for three days. Just my luck -- it's Irish People Day, and I get sick. The day before I'm due to finally catch Gogol Bordello here in town, no less. Argh.

Anyway, I'm afraid this is gonna have to be briefer than usual. All the below are good, good, good shows upcoming, and I wish I could keep my head upright long enough to write glorious paeans to each. Here's about all I can do for the moment -- I'll try to elaborate when I can, but after I post this, I'm going home, darnit:

Mon., March 17:
St. Patrick's Day Celebration, featuring E.J. Jones, Wyndnwyre, Martin Burniston's Irish Sing-a-Long, Irish Session Players, O'Mailoeidigh Irish Dancers, Teribus, Clandestine, Santry Rush, Irish Gypsies, & more @ McGonigel's Mucky Duck
Griff's St. Patrick's Day Festival, featuring Skyblue72, Hamilton Loomis, Liviya Compean, Zydeco Dots, Sugar Bayou, 11th Hour, Jerry Jones, Avizo, & Tom Ryan @ Griff's (3416 Roseland; 11AM)
Monotonix/Birds of Avalon/Dark Meat Vomit Lasers Family Band/Sharks and Sailors @ The Backroom (The Mink)
Junius/Constants/Look Mexico/Buxton/Forests @ The White Swan
So Many Dynamos/Bring Back The Guns/Something Fierce/Gentleman Auction House @ Boondocks (free!)
The Wiggins/Tyvek/Little Claw/Cygnus @ Jet Lounge
Fireflies/Goes Cube/Hammertorch/The Coma Lilies/Bryan Scary & The Shredding Tears @ Notsuoh
Magic Christian (ex-Flamin' Groovies/Plimsouls/Blondie)/Dead Roses/Born Liars @ Rudyard's
South by Due East 2008, featuring Harold Jamez, Tha Bottom, 4Deep, Koo Rod, Twank Star, Romeo Dogs, 3 Kisses, PJ Flowers, & more @ Dan Electro's Guitar Bar (7PM)

Tues., March 18:
Gogol Bordello/Skindred @ The Meridian
Scenes & Sirens/States of Nature/Thee Armada/Great American Actors @ Walter's on Washington
Tacks the Boy Disaster/The Hanks/Via Audio/The Forward @ The Mink

Thurs., March 20:
AM Syndicate/Spain Colored Orange @ Boondocks
Grandmaster Flash @ The Meridian (maybe???)
Raj Pickens/Free Radicals @ Notsuoh
The Umbrella Man @ The Big Top

Fri., March 21:
Rory & The Artificial Heart/The Eastern Sea/Earnie Banks/The Wild Moccasins/The Giddy Multitude @ Walter's on Washington
Studemont Project/Peekaboo Theory/Million Year Dance/The Ton Tons @ Warehouse Live (studio)
Perseph One (CD release)/Andacc @ Suckerpunch Clothing (2609 Dunlavy)
The Ultra Siberian Pant Factory/Snowplow/Deus Machina @ Fitzgerald's
Paul Oakenfold/Benjamin Dubose/Brian Paul/Carlos Cornell/BJORN/DJ Enfyniti/Marlon Mancilla/DJ Liquid Todd @ Level (412 Main)
Charger Fits @ Fuel Cyber Cafe (Humble)

Sat., March 22:
David Dondero/Benjamin Davis Murphy/Mitch Vegas @ Walter's on Washington
Punk Rock Fury 2, featuring Death From Afar, Gutter Rats, Riot Up Front, Dissent, Vatos Locos, & SMD @ The White Swan (9PM, $5)
The Wiggins/Nectarine/Hungry Villagers/A Thousand Cranes @ The Engine Room
Baroness/Young Widows/Canyon of the Skull @ Rudyard's
Scream Club/Mexican War Band/Atticus & The Foul Foul Gingerbrows/Shadows and Tall Trees/Shutting Up/Transense/The Hydra Melody @ Super Happy Fun Land
Vanilla Ice/IH5/Killing Caroline @ The Scout Bar (Clear Lake)
The Jonbenet/Storms Threaten to Destroy/Quiet Company/Sharks and Sailors @ The Vortex (Beaumont)

Sun., March 23:
Time Again/Los De Verdad/The Tag Alongs/Molotov Compromise/Deathbed Repentance @ Walter's on Washington
People Noise/Pale/Orange Is In @ Rudyard's

Mon., March 24:
The Dodos/Silje Nes/The Wild Moccasins/Missing Files @ The Mink
Lenny Briscoe/Sew What/Like Yeah @ Boondocks

Tues., March 25:
Street Dogs/The Riverboat Gamblers/Complete Control @ Warehouse Live

Wed., March 26:
Unseen/A Wilhelm Scream/The Krum Bums/Blackstar @ Warehouse Live
Billy Martin (of Medeski, Martin, and Wood) @ Heinen Theatre (HCC Central Campus, 3517 Austin & Holman; 7:30PM, $8)

Labels: Musical Crap, Random Rambling, Things To Do

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

SXSW defeated me. For the past two days I've hardly been able to get out of bed (by which I mean floor) my bones have ached so completely. My brain hurts, my body hates me, and I'm sad because it's over. And churches are stupid. Anyway, my last day in Austin for this year's sxsw was great. And, once again, I want to thank Jeremy for giving me the opportunity to contribute to his blog. It was an amazing four days.

Saturday started in a garden. I don't actually think I saw any acts in the garden (I faintly remember some music playing, but for the life of me can't remember if it was in my head or not), but I do remember that there was $1 Pabst and a lot of flowers. The reason I went to the garden (technically it wasn't just a garden--it was the French Legation museum) was to see what time Okkervil River was playing, but I got sucked in to the moment and had to sit down next to some bluebonnets. After about an hour I decided it was time to leave to catch Two Gallants at Waterloo park but on my way out I ran into the guys from Noah and the Whale (yep, them again) and had a chance to talk with them for a while. I told them that they're becoming huge in Houston (that's up to you guys--make it happen) wherein they promised to play a gig here next time they tour. I wish I could apologize for promoting this band as much as I have the past few days, but I just can't. I'm in love.

Giddily, I left (Is giddily a word? Whatever) the garden, and walked a short 16 blocks to Waterloo Park to see what was going on at this, how in the hell they pulled it off I have no idea, free to the public Austin City Limits style festival a block or so away from the capital. It was almost perfect--75 degrees, slight breeze, free music and cheap snow-cones. What else is there, right? So I got to see Grand Ole Party (how perfect is that so close to Georgie's old haunts?), Darker My Love, and then Two Gallants. They were two of the happiest hours of my week; nothing, at this point, was going to faze me. Until that stupid stupid church.

I left to go back to the garden party to see Okkervil River but they were running behind schedule so I got to see She & Him (Zoey Deschanel and M. Ward), and they were suprisingly good. Seeing M. Ward play backup guitar to an actor turned singer was a little weird, but Zoey put on a great show. She sounds very similar to Jenny Lewis (old Jenny Lewis, not Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins Jenny Lewis, and that's a good thing). The crowd was huge, too, which was, huh? So after about an hour Okkervil came onstage and Will Sheff is a fucking maniac. He's one of the most confident, I don't give a shit what you think of me performers I've ever seen, and never has Okkervil been more on than they were Saturday afternoon. It was loud, it was fast (sometimes it was slow), and it was just what I needed to start the night. $1 Pabst rules.

Which brings me to church. Shit. The Okkervil show ended at around 8:30 and I decided that I would wait for an hour so I could get a good seat to see M. Ward and Jim James at St. David's. Yeah, it didn't work out. By the time I got there the church was already at capacity and there was a line 200 people deep with people who had the same idea as me. The sxsw volunteers (who are, for the most part, total dicks) made it clear that, no matter how long we waited, none of us were getting in. But I waited anyway. Futilely I prayed (it was a church so I thought what the hell), but my wishes went unanswered. And then I thought, what's up god, why can't you just invent more pews and throw that shit down here so we can all get in? What I don't understand is how the planners of this year's festival didn't assume M. Ward and Jim James would bring more than 250 people (the capacity of the church). And these were all badge holders (or so the volunteers told me), which makes me a little, sort of a lot, angry and confused. The point of having a badge is to be guaranteed admission into every show, and then something like this happens? There was more than a little rage walking away from church Saturday night. And the sign on the door said "All are welcome here." Bullshit.

So it was on to plan B. Luckily I still had time to get to the Dirty Dog Bar to see the Saddle-Creek showcase. Three of my favorite bands were playing back to back to back so it made the night a little less of a downer. First it was Washington D.C. natives Georgie James, then Saddle-Creek's only rock and rock and rock and roll band, Neva Dinova (the lead singer moves his hand so fast while playing guitar it looks like a strobe light is shining on his fingers), and finally Two Gallants (I know, twice in one day, they're fucking good, ok?). If you haven't seen these guys live, you shoudl try your best to catch them if they ever come back to Houston (and thanks to our ultra-friendly cops who love to taze 14 year olds, they probably won't), because they put on one of the most fantastic live shows I've ever seen. There was a lone crowd surfer during "Las Cruces Jail," which made me wonder is this fucking Warped Tour or something?

Finally it was time for the last show of the week, Matt and Kim at the Mohawk. I had only listened to them a few times and had never seen any live footage, so I didn't really know what I was getting myself into, but it turned out to be the only way I could have ended the festival, really. The show was the most danceable, kicked in the face five timesable show I've ever been to, and I loved every second of it. It lasted only 35 or so minutes, but those 35 minutes are ones I'll never forget. Walking out of the venue, I could hardly move I was so sore (and I think with two less ribs in my body thanks to a dude with big black leather boots and his crazy Karate Kid style dance moves). But it was all worth it. The show ended what was the best four days I've had in years, and if I could start it all over tomorrow, I wouldn't even think twice. Only 362 days to go.

See you next year...

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

Brandon Hernsberger || Link || E-mail || 0 comments

Damn, I'm beat. Not because I spent today trudging around Austin in the hot, hot sun, mind you, but because I spent today kiddie birthday party-hopping, hitting two exhausting, extremely loud gatherings of munchkins in one long, long afternoon. I managed to overdose pretty severely on frosting, greasy pizza, bouncy castles, and Hannah Montana, all in the span of about five hours.

Which is pretty sad, really, but after last night I don't feel that bad about it -- who needs Austin, anyway? I managed to coerce/cajole buddy Jowell into coming over to Midtown with me to check out the Teenage Bottlerocket/The Femurs/Broadway Calls/Something Fierce/Teenage Kicks show at The Mink and happily walked away reassured that even when SXSW is on, the rest of the musical universe doesn't just stop moving. I've got some pics of the show below, with a few more up here for anybody who's interested.

Teenage Kicks

First off, I'm now heartily jealous of anybody who lives in the Montrose or along the Midtown edge of the Main corridor; that one block-long section of Main St. that includes The Mink, The Continental Club, Sig's Lagoon, The Big Top, Tacos A-Go-Go, & Julia's is an awe-inducing chunk of condensed coolness these days, not to mention one of the few areas in town where you can -- hey, imagine that! -- actually walk from one music venue (sorry, but dance clubs downtown don't count) to another. It was fucking cool to be able to step out of the show for a minute (more on that in a sec) to drag my fellow showgoer over to Sig's to gaze in awe at the copies of Down in Houston they've got for sale (one of which I will be buying someday soon), meander over to see who's playing at The Continental, and then head back in to catch the rest of the show.

And what a show it was. Despite a somewhat low turnout at the beginning and some technical difficulties w/a bass cabinet that'd been dropped down the stairs earlier on, local boys Teenage Kicks utterly ripped the floor off the Backroom, proving to be probably the highlight of the night, at least for me. You wouldn't think it to look at 'em, but they do a ridiculously good job of channeling the spirit & fire of late-'70s punk/pop, stuff like The Buzzcocks, The Undertones, The Boys, or The Jam, and trust me, I don't throw around comparisons like that lightly.

I'm still somewhat in shock that a trio of guys who look like they're young enough to be students are able to spit out snarling-yet-poppy tracks like "Bound For Glory" or "Electric Girl," but hell, there it is. Plus, the banter & occasional string-changing gave the whole thing a down-to-earth feel that was pretty entertaining, like we'd all just happened into a really, really together, on-fire band practice or something. Picked up a copy of their new demo, so look for a review of that sometime soon...

Something Fierce

Something Fierce took the stage next, looking somewhat tired but still, um, fierce -- Stephen G. said they were worn-out from a weird-ass outdoor house party show out in the hot Austin sun where the house itself was apparently so filthy the band was afraid they'd picked up scabies. (And if that ain't punk, well...) Even with the tiredness, though, the band rocked it, tearing through a some of Come For The Bastards and the 7" tracks, along with some newer(?) stuff I didn't know as well. "On Your Own" came off even better this time than the last time I saw SF play, and "Modern Girl" proves pretty much indisputably that these kids get better with every single thing they release, seriously.

My ears were ringing pretty badly by the time SF had finished, so I decided to make the aforementioned trip down to Sig's Lagoon & my car (for earplugs, although I somehow neglected to actually get them when I got back to the car...argh). Jowell & I ogled the CDs at Sig's, admiring the goofy books & such they sell, too, before we realized that hell, we'd better get back upstairs. Sadly, we missed all but the last two songs by Broadway Calls, which sucks, 'cause what we did hear actually sounded pretty good, quite a bit like the Alkaline Trio, whom I happen to really like. Dang.

The Femurs

Honestly, though, they weren't who I'd come to see -- the band I was most curious about had to be Seattle/NYC duo The Femurs, who I'd heard & fallen in love with pretty much just this past week. On disc the band comes off like a cross between The Ramones and The Beach Boys, all down-strummed acoustic power chords & earnest-boy vocal harmonies, but the live show turned out to lean heavily towards the Ramones side of the equation.

Rather than the ultra-clean guitars and pretty, amped-up love-lost melodies of Modern Mexico, the live Femurs were loud and distorted, so much so that it was hard to hear the harmonies and get past the full-on punk fury. Not that that's a bad thing, mind you, but I was kinda bummed that songs like "Crazy Girl" and "Not Giving Up" didn't have that nice sheen they had on the actual recording. I never thought I'd actually want a band to sound flat & jangly like a couple of coffeehouse bohos, but in this case, I think I do.

The nonstop, rapid-fire onstage banter between Rob & Colin Femur (friends since age 13, hence the witty repartee) made up for the over-distortion somewhat, and the band blew the doors off the place with "Crazy Girl" (distortion and all), "Plastic Swords," b-day song "September 1st," and "Peter Wolf" -- especially loved the Noo Yawk sneer on that last track. The vocals were a little rough at times, but all in all, it still worked for most of the set.

Sadly, at that point in the evening, yours truly had to bail and head for home; I'd promised the wife I wouldn't get home at or after 1AM, like usual. Sorry to the Teenage Bottlerocket guys -- I'm old & lame. sigh. On the way out, got to chat a bit with Austin/Houston-dweller Travis of He Said She Said Presents, finally meeting him for the first time after much email, and met Jon of Teenage Kicks, who also apparently runs the Always Summer Booking crew. Good people, both.

After that, Jowell & I wandered smiling & happy with the world out into the street, enthusing about the bands and dodging the light rail trains and the cops rousting some guy from Tacos A-Go-Go as we started to make our way on back to the near-'burbs of the Heights & Meyerland. Screw Austin; here in H-town, we make our own good times, and we don't need an industry lovefest to do it, right?

Labels: H-Town News, Live Reviews, Pseudo-Reviews, Random Rambling

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

Yeah, yeah, I know it's from back in 2005 or so, but homeboy Marc brought it to my attention recently, and now I feel completely and utterly compelled to post it here: Robbie Fulks' "Fountains of Wayne Hotline". The first time I listened to the song (sorry, Marc, it took a while for the iPod to hit it), I nearly drove into another car, I was laughing so hard.

Like the title says, it's the perfect, perfect little piece of satire/tribute ever, in that it's both poking at FoW with a sharp stick and a brilliant example of how well the shiny-sweet pop goodness the band comes up with works and a subtle in-joke for anybody even vaguely familiar with Tech Support. Holy shit, is it good.

(To Mr. Fulks/Whomever It May Concern: In the unlikely event that you ever come across our humble site, please don't sue my broke ass. I've got to keep my little girl in broccoli and hot dogs, and only a cruel, heartless person would take away a four-year-old's hot dog, right? You're a damn genius, and I swear I post this track strictly out of love and to bring it back to the attention of our 15-sec-of-fame world. I will remove it im-freakin'-mediately if asked.)

Labels: Cool Web Junk, Musical Crap, Things To Hear

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

Thank god for tap shoes. But more on that later. Day three at sxsw was fucking strange. I've been trying and trying to think of ways to capture it for you guys, but I'm afraid I'm going to come up a bit short. Words won't do it. I'll try anyway. I know each day I come on here and complain about how awful it is to try and find a place to park in Austin (and it is awful), but yesterday something happened. I found a space within earshot of at least a dozen venues and I didn't have to pay one single cent for it. Let me back up. I didn't actually go downtown to see any day shows Friday--I spent my afternoon finding acts to see around town, which made the day show experience so much better, not having to deal with the crazy lines and crazier people (I'm talking to you, frat dude passed out in the street at 1:00 in the afternoon trying to score a free burrito). Anyway, I went over to Guadalupe (or Gwaudaloop if you want to sound Austin) to see a show which was originally supposed to be Two Gallants at Urban Outfitters (huh?) but ended up being Tall Firs (who?) at Cream Vintage. The point of this story is not the band, because I've already forgotten what they sound like--it's all about that parking space. It was literally fifteen or so feet from the venue (and part time vintage clothes store I assume--there were a lot of clothes and hangers and the what not), and get this; there were like two hours still left in the meter so I didn't have to make the long reach into my pocket to search for a dime. Score. And there was free beer, tons of it. Oh, and the port-a-potties smelled like popsicles. It was a very good way to start the weekend, and a good break from the chaos.

I went to see Noah and the Whale again at 5:00; they were playing at a small coffee shop on South Congress called Jo's. The show was, as you probably could have guessed, fantastic. I know this is the second time I've talked glowingly about Noah and the Whale, and there is a purpose for that. Go listen to them and you'll see why. I haven't been this excited about a band in years, and this afternoon show didn't dissapoint. They covered Daniel Johnston's "Devil Town" in front of what looked to be at least six or seven people deep. Why people are ignoring this band at this year's sxsw is confounding me. There will be regrets.

My day show schedule ended there, and now it was time for me to wait in line for Vampire Weekend. Here we go. I got there (Antone's) at around 6:45 (the first band didn't go on until 8:00; Vampire Weekend til 11:00) and there was already a line. There were people waiting there since three in the fucking afternoon. And it was 97 degrees yesterday. For Vampire Weekend. Yep. So finally I got in and found a spot in the front row middle. And then I waited. And waited. And then oh yeah, waited. The first band, Bear in Heaven, began promptly at 8:00 and ended promptly at 8:40. It's a shame a band that interesting has to open for a band where it seems like every member of the audience is just waiting for them to leave. It was sad, because Bear in Heaven is really good. It seemed, though, that the entire day and night was just about waiting for Vampire Weekend so I'll move on. Basia Balat was next, and again--so good. Lead singer Basia Balat (I'm pretty sure that's here name--she's adorable) sounds eerily similar to Tracy Chapman (though, I must admit, I don't know how that reference will be received, but whatever--she was good). Basia Balat covered Daniel Johnston's "True Love Will Find You in the End," and it made the wait for Vampire Weekend a little more tolerable. At 10:00, Foreign Born took to the stage and they were foreign boring so I won't say much about their guitar guitar vocal vocal blah blah performance. The lead singer did have wicked nice teeth, though, so that's something.

And then there was Vampire Weekend. The wait was over. They got on stage and it was like the fucking Beatles, I swear to god. I don't know how to describe the scene, but in all the years I've been going to shows and festivals like this one I've never seen anything like it. Ever. And it was mostly 13 or 14 year old girls screaming at the top of their lungs, knowing things about the guys in the band that probably shouldn't be known. It was surreal. I knew that these guys were big, I just didn't know they were this big. I don't want to sound like one of those cynical music writers that seems to hate whatever's big at the moment, but for real, come on. Really? The show was good, but not great. Certainly not worthy of the hype, and absolutely positively not worthy of the six hour wait. I could go on for pages and pages about this show and about how confused I am about this phenomenon, but I'll save that for another time. I have a few theories about it, but I'm still trying to work out the kinks. It seems, though, that America has its Arctic Monkeys. Sigh.

Which brings me to the tap shoes. I went to see Tilly and the Wall at 1:00, ending my night. I've seen them probably ten times over the past three years, and I think it's impossible for them to give a performance that's not memorable. They're energy is infectious, and Jamie (the tap dancer) makes the audience go crazy with her akimbo arms and pony-tailed smile. Tilly and the Wall saved the night for me after the Vampire Weekend out of control extravaganza.

And then I didn't get to sleep until 5 in the morning because I didn't really have a place to stay until a friend of mine saved me by offering me his floor. And it smelled like garlic.

I'm off...See you Sunday.

Labels: Musical Crap, Pseudo-Reviews, SXSW

Brandon Hernsberger || Link || E-mail || 1 comments

Tried to get this up last night after watching more episodes than intended of Jericho Season 1 on DVD -- just couldn't shut the damn TV off, somehow -- and I couldn't do it; sorry, y'all, for this being a bit down-to-the-wire. sigh... I wanted to make absolute damn sure to get some new reviews online today, at the very latest, specifically so I could rant & rave about holy-fuck-they're-good pop-punk-folk duo The Femurs. I must confess that I'd initially set the band's album, Modern Mexico, aside for one of our writers after a cursory listen (this is what you do when you're the editor, yo), and only picked it up again when I saw the band listed on the schedule for tonight up at The Mink.

And dear lord, am I glad I did. Having the CD spinning near-continously for the past three days or so has almost made me feel less like the heel of The Man has crushed me down this week, and that's a very, very nice thing. The Brothers Femur (not their real name, obviously) play a desperate-sounding, fast, impassioned (but not, mind you, emo) kind of folk-pop with totally "clean" guitars, driving rhythms, a smart-guy smirk, and the best, most picture-perfect pop sensibility sense, well, Fountains of Wayne. The songs these two guys throw out are smart and romantic without the irony, sweet and beautiful and head-nod-inducing all at the same time. They're like The Ramones, if The Ramones listened to a hell of a lot of Jonathan Richman or Nick Lowe. I could go on and on, but instead I'll aim you towards the brand-new review, up here.

Now, of course, I'm struck by a terrible dilemma -- hang out with the fam at the house this evening, like I'd initially planned, or risk my wife's displeasure by bailing and running over to The Mink to catch the band, along with cool-as-fuck locals Something Fierce & Teenage Kicks, as well as headliners Teenage Bottlerocket & Broadway Calls. So basically, I have to choose between an evening of catchy, garagey pop-punk heaven and, uh, marital bliss. Dammit...

Anyway, we do have some more new reviews up, as well; sorry to get off-track, there. On top of the Femurs disc, there're also reviews of a cool new album by The Milwaukees, the long-awaited full-length from Chris Thile's Punch Brothers project, and a solo disc from ex-Erase Erratta frontwoman Jenny Hoyston (who, sadly, was scheduled to play this week but had to cancel due to illness striking down one of her band members). Good stuff, all, I swear. And if I can bolt myself back to the computer at some point later on this weekend, there'll be a couple pretty new live reviews up here, too, so check back for that. Here's the whole deal for now, though:

Reviews: The Femurs; The Milwaukees; Punch Brothers; Jenny Hoyston; Cricket; LEK; Gary Reynolds and the Brides of Obscurity; & So They Say.

Check back soon, y'all.

Labels: Pseudo-Reviews, Random Rambling, Reviews, Things To Do

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

Wow; that was probably the best night's sleep I've ever had. But more on that later. I'm halfway into this year's sxsw and already I feel like I'm taking advantage of the festival--I know a badge seems like a ton of money (and when I get home and see my electric bill then look in my wallet and realize oh shit, I might be singing a different tune), but right now it feels like I've paid for it a few times over. Yesterday was that good.

It didn't start out that way, though, and I had my doubts that this year's fest would live up to the ones I've been to in the past. I was wrong. First, the bad stuff.

I arrived downtown at around noon and resigned myself to thinking that I'd pay the $10 it costs to park semi-close to the goings on, but the closer I got to 6th St the more and more of an Austin bad ass I felt like, so I said fuck it, these streets can't defeat me--I'm not paying for shit. They not only beat me, I almost died from walk exhaustion. For those of you familiar with Austin, I had to park like a block from Riverside (and I'm staying on Riverside for god's sake), and the venues that host the shows are at least twenty-three miles away (rough estimate, of course). So my day started with feet aches. It was okay, though, because I was about to see the Shout Out Louds at my favorite place in Austin, The Parish. The line was tangled-Christmas tree chord long, and I had to wait at least an hour to get inside the door. So I saw two songs. Good songs, but two songs.

Thursday was becoming frustrating. But I didn't let it faze me; I was about to see Destroyer (of New Pornographers fame) at some little place I've never heard of and for the life of me can't remember the name; it starts with a V, though, and I think has two syllables. He went on at 2:00 and by 2:20 I realized that he really really didn't want to be there--his vocals (the best part of the band as far as I'm concerned) were off, the guitars sounded bored and the audience seemed like they belonged at a Jansport convention or some shit. Yeah, it seemed like all of them were wearing backpacks and all of them were standing right in front or behind or next to me, bumping me with their carelessness. Which brings me to my sxsw proposal:

Anyone, regardless of age, sex, race, religion, or opinion on how shitty Nickleback is--will, upon second backpack wearing offense, be promptly killed.

I don't know if it'll stick, but here's hoping.

In any case, after Destroyer I was all hyped to Vampire Weekend, back at The Parish. I should have known. Only people on the "the list" were able to get in. I assume this "the list" was a "the list" of all the American Apparel hipster 16 year olds in the Hill Country, because that's who got in. Whatever.

So instead of Vampire Weekend, I went to Cedar Street to see Be Your Own Pet. Again, failure. I don't know where they were or what they were doing, but they were supposed to go on at 4:00 and I ended up leaving at 4:30 without hearing one song. A friend of mine bought me a beer, though, so that ruled. By this point my day seemed almost lost. I really had no plans for an hour, so I made my way over to Emo's because maybe I'd see someone I knew there and score another free beer. When I saw Los Campasinos at Emo's, Jr I could feel my luck starting to change. They're one of those bands that I've been hearing a lot about but for some reason never had the time to listen to, but my god they're fun. A seven member band from Wales who play xylophone, violin, guitars, drums, and probably more who sound very very similar to Architecture in Helsinki. But that's okay; Architecture in Helsinki is a good band to copy, right? And they're from Wales, not Australia. So there's your difference.

From there I went to Emo's outside to see the sxsw '06 superstars Tapes 'n Tapes. I know these guys are sometimes scoffed at and sometimes maligned, but seriously, they're great. They played crowd favorites "Insistor" and "Cowbell" on top of maybe eight new songs, and they all sounded as if Tapes 'n Tapes is ready to be discovered again (I'm not sure they went anywhere, but still). Their new record is gonna get cha, I know it. The day shows were over. On to the night...

The first show I saw (after having a very good garden burger with my new best friend Ryan Jewell from Pink Reason and Psychedelic Horseshit, what up best friend Ryan Jewell...) was Noah and the Whale at Friends. This was, without question, the highlight of the festival so far (until a few hours later). There's always that one band at sxsw who always grabs me and makes me realize this is the reason I shell out the money every year to come to this festival. It was Tapes 'n Tapes two years ago, Beirut last year. This year it's Noah and the Whale. If you haven't seen the youtube video for their song "Five Years Time," you should probably stop reading this and go watch it. Now.

The rest of the night was good but not great; I mean, I saw some bands I love (Wussy, Man Man--who sound like Tom Waits would sound twenty years ago if he loved to dance and not drink whiskey and not smoke a pack and a half a day, which is a good way to sound, obviously, and a set of trashcan drummers who sounded interestingly like Animal Collective, playing outside on 6th St.).

But the night came to a transcendent stop when I saw Mark Kozelek (from Sun Kil Moon and Red Housepainters) at Central Presbyterian Church. It's hard, really, to put into words exactly how moving his performance was, so I won't even try. It feels like I'd be doing a disservice to the music if I used merely words to describe it. It did feel as if the entire frenzy of the festival came to a quick halt when the 100 or so of us in attendance heard him sing "Pancho Villa," which was the first song of his set. It was like living in a different musical world than the rest of the sxsw attendees. I honestly forgot where I was for a few minutes, the music covered me so completely. That moment alone was worth the price of admission. And there was an encore. An encore at a show at sxsw not taking place at Stubb's is a very rare thing, but it seemed natural here. It's sort of painful to try and write about it--I'm never going to have that moment back for the rest of my life, you know? The first time I heard the first note sung by Mark Kozelek. It sounds obsessive, I know, but what else is there?

See you again tomorrow...oh, and about the best night's sleep I've ever had. I got to sleep on a real couch last night and not a floor with dogs trying to chew my ears. I want to say it's because Mark Kozelek's voice is so amazing but that might be a jump in logic.

See you tomorrow...

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

Brandon Hernsberger || Link || E-mail || 0 comments

Greetings, spacecity-ers. I'm here in Austin at the annual music orgy that is sxsw, ready to embark on the monumental task of trying to remember my days. I want to first say thank you to Jeremy for allowing me to contribute to his blog and for giving me the assignment to be the first ever space city rock sxsw correspondent. The week is already getting crazy.

I arrived here yesterday optimistic that 11:00 a.m. was early enough to find a decent parking spot downtown but my optimism quickly turned to dread, as I should have expected. The first few moments of sxsw are always the most exciting; that feeling you have Christmas morning when you know you're getting Super Nintendo, remember? It's always so great going into the Austin Convention Center to pick up your badge and then making your way downstairs to pick up your overstuffed goody bag which this year featured a toy soldier asking us all to put down our guitars and pick up a gun, we're going to Iraq. What the...

In any case, Wednesday morning found roughly 5,000 people (could have been like 15,000--I'm bad with numbers) all waiting to feel important, and I waited amongst them for 30 or so minutes until I finally got my badge. I was now official. I first went to see David Dondero at the Austin Convention Center Day Stage, which was an altogether uneventful 20 minute set other than the fact that he sang "Rothko Chapel" to start the fest. A song about Houston's own little non-denomintational whatever it is; this year's sxsw seemed made for me.

The free day shows every year are oftentimes more exciting than the night, and this year seems to be living up to that--most likely, I wanna say, because of the free alcohol and/or free chips. I made my way over to the Red Eyed Fly to see Two Gallants at 2:50 where I was greeted with a free Dewer's and gingerale that not surprisingly, wasn't all that good. The show, though, was amazing. I've seen Two Gallants about eight or so times, and never in all these years have they sounded as full as they sounded Wednesday. Adam (the singer) and Tyson (the drummer) seemed to be in perfect step the entire 50 minute set. What a perfect way to start my week. After the show I hopped across the street to catch ex-Broken Social Scene-er Jason Collett (and was promptly given a free Lone Star and a big plate of chips and salsa; thanks, Capitalism!). The drink and food were the best part of the show and end it there. Oh and a side note, never take a beer on the street in Austin--the fuzz'll get you every time. I, ahem, saw it happen to someone. Moving on...

I had like an hour to kill so I ducked into some little bar (can't remember the name of it, it's right next door to Spiro's. Anyone?) and saw maybe the coolest three dudes ever to dawn wicked scary horse masks while playing confusing electronic music on what looked to be a homemade synth noise machine that made arcade sounding beats with merely the flick of a wrist. No joke. It was beautiful and terrifying at the same time. Rubber Robot, look em up. Went back to the Convetion Center to catch Saul Williams' sing about the affair between Frida Kahlo and Josephine Baker in between his sometimes moving, always brutally honest poetry. This time it was all moving. I wanted to cry. Then it was time for the night shows.

Oh and a note of promotion for the Mongolian BBQ restaurant across the street from the Convention Center--try the fried tofu with garlic sauce; it'll make you see god.

Wednsday night at sxsw is notrious for waiting around til late to see the acts worth seeing, and this Wednesday was no different. I didn't get to see my first "official" sxsw show until 10:00, but things'll pick up. It gave me a chance to shmooze with the local celebs on hand (by celebs, of course, I mean artsts waiting outside venues until it's their turn to go on). Caught a glimpse of the good life when I saw Dan Deacon (with a beard!) outside Emo's and Derek Presnall of Tilly and the Wall (sweet, sweet hair cut) and Jamina Pearl Abegg of Be Your Own Pet sort of trying to avoid eye contact with their fans. I understand, though, guys, you're big time. Anyway, Peter and the Wolf played their brand of jangly jang kids' music (or I suppose what could be called kids' music if the lyrics weren't about tying up girls to the ground with electrical tape) at Central Presbyterian Church on 8th Street--which is, I've gotta say, one of the coolest venues I've ever seen a band perform. Those church-ies sure know their acoustics. After the set I stepped foot outside and thought, what the fuck is it 40 degrees for, this is Austin. I guess that's neither here nor there, though, so whatever. My next stop was Emo's Lounge to see Kimya Dawson. Never in a milion gajillion years did I think Kimya would get this big but thanks to fucking Juno I had to stand behind a post. Other than that, though, she was as great as you would imagine.

Elf Power was next (at Spiro's)--one of the shows I was looking most forward to this year. I'm too sad to say anything about it other than I left after three songs. Shit. The last show of the night was back at Emo's Lounge--The Blow. By this time my feet were seriously about to fall off from my 16 miles of walking the streets of Austin, but it was great. The highlight of the set was Khaela Maricich's super duper cool cover of "Sweet Child of Mine" (woah woah woah). And then Wedneday was over. This week is just getting started, and let me just say; the belly of the beast tastes good.

Til tomorrow...

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

Brandon Hernsberger || Link || E-mail || 1 comments

Working on an actual review of the show, but here're some pics I took w/my little camera during last night's Jonah Matranga show over. Sweet, quiet, friendly little gathering of folks, hanging out in a warehouse/movie set complete with blood-spattered chains, fake barbed wire, & monster props -- nowhere near as big as I'd hoped, but eh, on SXSW Spillover Week, I dunno how much you can really expect. Next time he comes to town, I swear I'm going to promote the shit out of it...

Anyway, the pics came out interesting, I think, mostly due to my camera not being real good at taking pictures in low light. Most of 'em tended to have a Jacob's Ladder-esque quality to 'em; more here, if you're bored.

Actual writing to come, I promise.

Labels: Arty Shit, Random Rambling, Things To See

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

Dammit, will the string of bad news just quit, already? I know it may not seem like much in The Grand Scheme of Things, but it feels frighteningly like the Scene is eroding right out from under us Houston music types, like sand being washed out by the tide. Case in point: as of today, stalwart Rad Rich's Rock and Roll Revue, formerly on KPFT, is now sadly off the air.

Fuck. I can't claim to know Rich personally -- only met him once, completely by accident while hanging out w/friend Conor outside Walter's -- but he's been an integral part of the musical universe now for more years than I've lived here, if memory serves. Here's hoping he stays involved with the strange little scene here, one way or another, even if he's no longer on the air...

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

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

I know, I know -- it's about damn time. This little site/magazine/e-zine's been rolling for 10+ years (counting the "pre-zine" days, at least), and we're only now getting 'round to covering the colossal musical clusterfuck/lovefest that is South by Southwest. Despite the fact that the happy little Austin music festival has ballooned in the intervening years to insane proportions and seemingly includes every damn band you've ever-ever heard of (including, this year, a decent-sized pile from H-town), we here at SCR have, well, pretty much ignored it.

I wish I could say this was because of some kind of principled stand -- a steadfast commitment to only-Houston coverage and/or a rabid hatred of all things Hill Country, maybe -- but dammit, none of that's true (heck, I'm from the Hill Country). The root cause, really, is that I've been lazy as hell about it. In a typical year, I cringe as SXSW draws near, wishing & hoping I could just go and cover the damn thing, but then the Day Job and Real Life intervene, and so I'm left waving at the taillights.

Which, actually, is still the case this year, for me. Bills to pay, vacation time to save (promised my dad I'd hike the Grand Canyon w/him in June, so I've gotta hold onto my vacation days for that), kid to tuck in at night, bank account to keep solvent, etc...yeah, I'm out once again. Maybe next year?

This time 'round, though, things are gonna be different, and Space City Rock will indeed be covering Southby in the '08, even if it ain't your humble editor guy providing the coverage -- brave Space City Rock writer Brandon Hernsberger will serve as our First-Ever Official Roving SXSW Correspondent, and a huge "thank you!!!" to him for being so gung-ho about it. If all goes to plan, Brandon'll spend the next several days meandering from day show to party to whatever and back again, sporadically posting his thoughts & opinions on this little blog for all to read & enjoy. In between, he'll be attempting to corner various musicians/artists and ask them questions in the midst of all the chaos, which should also be very cool.

Anyway, keep your eyes out for the carnage -- it's gonna be very cool, I think. And if you see Brandon out and about up there in A-town (that's him up there on the top right), please be kind to him; buy him a beer or something, eh?

Other People's Coverage: If you yourself are going (or considering going) to SXSW, btw, I'd recommend checking out both The Skyline Network and the latest issue of ENVY. He's only been "back" a day or so, but TSN's ADR has already been a busy, busy boy, and he's put together an awesome little map of cool Houston bands appearing at SXSW/SXSW-area shows over the next few days. It's not all-inclusive, naturally, but it's still very cool -- he's got badass locals like Something Fierce, The Western Civilization, Sharks and Sailors, Indian Jewelry, Bring Back The Guns, Fatal Flying Guilloteens, Satin Hooks, & Co-Pilot, among others. Take a look & see where your hometown heroes will be, then go & show some love. H-town bands need your support, folks!

On the ENVY side, Music Editor David Cobb has put together a stellar "Music Issue" this month, including a ridiculously in-depth scan of the various bands playing Austin this week. With writeups on everybody from Times New Viking to Chingo Bling to British Sea Power and listings of tons of parties & shows that're going on (not to mention "big" interviews w/the likes of Bun B and a neat feature on the rejuvenated Cactus Music), it's got my head spinning. If ENVY was like it's "Music Issue" all year long...well, I'd probably have to just quit this thing and apply for a job. Seriously. Great job, David. And SXSW-goers, make sure you pick up a copy on your way out of town...

Those of us left behind down here in Houston, meanwhile, will have to content ourselves with being Armchair SXSWers and enjoy the experience vicariously, both from this blog and these other fine establishments, all of whom will be doing some kind of SXSW coverage:

• donewaiting.com SXSW Blog
• The Skyline Network
• Chron.com: SXSW
• Free Press Houston
• Hands Up Houston board
• HoustonSoReal
• HouStoned

And don't worry that we're gonna leave the Houston crowd hanging -- no, no, no. Yours truly will be posting as often as he can about all the cool shows & such coming up, reveling in Blogger finally working once again (ah, the joy of being able to randomly type something in and hit "Post"...and having it work; feels so good...). Keep checking in, eh?

Labels: Admin Stuff, Musical Crap, Things To Do, Things To Read

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

This week's killing me, I swear. In addition to needing to tend to the work & home life, I feel awash in the head-high tide of SXSW sideswipes with which our fair city's currently being blessed -- tonight, for example, what would otherwise have been a humdrum, nothing-goin'-on Tuesday night is instead filled to overflowing with awesome-sounding shows. I've already ranted/raved about tonight's Jonah Matranga and Parts & Labor shows, but there's also Anathallo/By the End of Tonight @ Walter's, Flogging Molly @ Warehouse Live, Von Iva/Pash/Wicked Poseur/Lenny Briscoe @ Rudz, The Cribs/Ra Ra Riot/Jeffrey Lewis @ The Engine Room, NYC-dwellin' country boys The Weight @ somebody's house at 1601 Castle Ct., thedeathset/Ponytail/These Are Powers @ Boondocks, & Warhammer 48K/Cop Warmth/Wallbangers @ The White Swan. phew. And those are just the ones that stick in my head; there's more out there.

There's also this little gem of a show -- tonight the misleadingly-named Canada (they're from Detroit; way to play off the current wave of Canadahype, y'all), The Cotton Jones Basket Ride, and Houston's own The Right Villanous John Hall will all be doing their thing over on the campus of my own alma mater, Rice U., playing at the beloved Willy's Pub, smack-dab under the Student Center.

Now, for one thing, it's nice to see Willy's alive & well; the last time I saw it, it was in ashes after a drunk asshole burned the fucking place down in a fit of stupid, alcoholic vindictiveness. Up to that point, it had been a cool place to hang out w/friends, watch somebody play guitar, or do dumb (yet non-destructive, mind you) college student crap. I think I first saw fabled Houston math-prog-rock trio Dyn@mutt, who were like The Jonx but were totally at the wrong time and the members of which are now scattered as far afield as New Zealand, SF, and Austin, down in the basement. Heck, once, long, long ago, I even played Willy's, meandering in my craptacular way through the Smashing Pumpkins' "Disarm" for our college's Talent Night (Team fuckin' Wiess...). Good times, good times.

Anyway. It makes my soul's frown turn upside down just a wee bit to know that the place has not only survived but is once again hosting musical events. And luckily for the audience-to-be this evening, the bands tonight are much better than yours truly (no Pumpkins covers, I don't think). Headliners Canada are gentle-but-smart, sweet, ensemble-ish indie-folk-pop, kind of like a less-morose Winterpills or a much (much) mellower Okkervil River. You can check out "Hexenhaus", "Record Function", & "Beige Station Wagon", all off their 2006 full-length, This Cursed House.

Before they hit the stage, though, there's also The Cotton Jones Basket Ride, who're grooving and kinda old-timey-sounding, with a bit of '60s haze swirling over the proceedings; interesting stuff, even if it's not entirely my thing. Check out "Had Not A Body", from 2007's Paranoid Cocoon.

And first but certainly not least, The Right Villanous John Hall opens the show with their quirky, twitchy, oddly '70s-sounding pop-rock. To these ears, at least, their debut EP (which I, uh, desperately need to write a damn review of...sorry, you guys? I suck...) come off like a snarkier, brainier Semisonic, with Tony Goddess of Papas Fritas on vocals and a bunch of theater nerds providing the music. No MP3s to swipe for your iPod, sorry -- you'll just have to listen via the Myspace link above.

(Disclosure time: yes, valiant SCR scribe Andrew P. plays in The Right Villanous John Hall, and yes, they know they missed the "i" in "Villanous"; it's intentional genius, people, get with it.)

The details: the show'll start at 6PM, a mere 3 hrs. from this posting, and will run 'til 9PM or so, which means that you (yes, you!) will be able to go here and then go hit one'a them other million shows in town. Oh, and it'll be free, daddy, free, which is the best price. Not sure how Willy's is pulling that off, honestly, since Canada & TCJBR are both touring bands with (several) mouths to feed, but the pub calendar says tonight's a "Jones School Live Music Event," which may mean that some kind MBA candidate/prof has agreed to underwrite the whole dang shebang out of the goodness of their hearts. That, my friends, means you're morally obligated to go. Right?

Radio, Radio: Speaking of things Rice-related, by the way, if you honestly just can't get down to the tree-lined boulevards of the University in time for The Rock Show, you can instead listen in tonight on KTRU's Local Show, where DJ Ian has cool, cool local kids The Wild Moccasins playing starting at 8PM. It won't be like seeing the show down at Willy's, but at least you'll feel some level of connectedness to the university. Kinda.

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

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

Since I'd threatened to mention this yet again...yep, SCR fave, indie-rock hero, Emo Implosion survivor, and all-round nice guy Jonah Matranga will be playing tomorrow night, Tues., March 11th, at a super-duper-D.I.Y. show up in The Heights. It'll be at pal/SCR collaborator/high-falutin' filmmaker Mel's Upstart Filmworks warehouse, 3612 Mangum Rd., #209 (77092), starting around 8PM.

Here's some more details, courtesy of Mel:

We're holding the show at my new warehouse/studio: 3612 Mangum Rd, #209, Houston TX 77092. (Just FYI, the address is on Mangum, but the warehouse park entrance is on Tulsa Rd. - the street we live on.)

Here are some easy directions for the end of the journey:
From 290 West, exit Mangum
Right on Mangum
Right on Tulsa
Left into the first business warehouse park on the left.

The show will be very "intimate", acoustic, no P.A., $6-10 sliding-scale donations as usual. Jonah will start around 8 pm. It might also be a good idea to bring a fold up chair, cushion, or pillow to sit on.

Oddly enough, this sort of thing seems to suit Jonah's musical style very well -- I've seen him play several times over the years, and the shows that've stuck most firmly in my little brain have been the ones where he's played sitting on the floor of some theater space or on the front porch of Fitzgerald's, with a circle of attentive listeners huddled around, either quietly absorbing the vibe or singing along softly. I've very rarely run across such an unassuming, down-to-earth artist as this guy, seriously.

Best of all, he knows his way around a song; "Aeroplanes," the very first song of his that I ever-ever heard, from like 1999, still resonates with me, even almost a full decade on. And that's pretty much continued throughout -- not every album/project (New End Original, Gratitude, Onelinedrawing, etc.) has been necessarily perfect all the way through, mind you, but more of it is great than not, and each time Jonah puts out an album, damn, there's at least one mind-blowingly incredible song on there. (Off his latest, And, it has to be "Every Mistake," for me.) If you want to check out some of his songs for yourself, try here and here; the song about Obama's pretty neat.

Anyway, Mel wanted me to make sure people got that this really is going to be a D.I.Y.-all-the-way show, more like a house show than anything else, but I think that's the best part of the whole deal. Just a bunch of friends & acquaintances, sitting on blankets on the concrete warehouse floor, everybody smiling & chilling out listening to a guy with a guitar pour his heart out for everybody to hear & see & experience.

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

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

Mentioned these folks already, but I was able to snag a couple of MP3s today & listen to 'em while I wait for the Phone Company Man to show up & make my telephone all better, and now I feel much more knowledgeable about Boston's The Motion Sick and qualified to say that, yeah, they're pretty dang good.

Which is cool, 'cause they happen to be playing this very evening up at Boondocks with local space-gazers Antarctica Starts Here -- who are themselves excellent and whom I need to hear more from. I'd figured both bands were kinda in the shoegaze/space-rock vein, but that's not strictly the case; The Motion Sick are more of a straight-ahead indie-pop kind of thing, w/plenty of sarcastic sweetness & smiling melodies. But hey, there's nothing wrong with mixing up styles, if you ask me...

Anyway, here're links to the couple of Motion Sick MP3s I've run across: "30 Lives" & "Jean-Paul". Enjoy, and if you're not already planning to be at Yo La Tengo/My Morning Jacket, The Slits/This Bike Is A Pipe Bomb, Nicole Atkins, Back Door Slam, Municipal Waste, & the other bazillion bands playing tonight (what the hell? isn't it a Monday?), head on over to Boondocks...

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

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

Yeah, of late the future of fabled local music-scenester blog The Skyline Network was looking a mite shaky, and frankly, folks were worried, including me. TSN's ADR knows more about H-town's indie-rock-etc. scene than, well, pretty much anybody, and the thought of his well-written, insanely in-depth glimpses of the H-town musical underbelly going away Houmidity-style left many in a cold sweat. Seriously -- the site's where I go to find out what heck's going on w/bands in this town (well, there and the Hands Up board, pretty much).

Thankfully, though, ADR's popped his head back up to let all & sundry know that no, he's not dead, not on paternity leave (as one rumor suggested), and not giving up the site -- he's just been swamped w/The Day Job lately. Which, honestly, is a feeling I myself know all too damn well (anybody remember the "Dark Period" from '04-'05 or so?). I've often wondered how in the hell ADR managed to do the site and the job what pays the bills, and it turns out that, yes, he is indeed human like the rest of us. Kinda comforting, in a way.

At any rate, I'm very glad to hear that Skyline/ADR aren't going to die an untimely death, at least not yet. The site's a serious boon to The Scene as a whole and has done more to kick yours truly in the ass & get my shit together than anything since, uh, well, I dunno what. At any rate, this is good news for all, Rudyard's graffiti be damned.

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

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

[UPDATE: A few more of the "orphaned" Super Happy bands listed below have now found homes; I'll keep updating as I get more info...]

I've been slacking on the Rundowns lately, but with Ramon @ Free Press taking a couple of weeks off to hit SXSW and ADR @ Skyline M.I.A., dammit, it seems it's all come down to me. (Well, and David @ Houston Calling and the HandStamp folks, but y'know.) Agh, the pressure! Must... ignore... TV... write... about... shows...gah! I've been getting used to there being other folks out there more reliable than me for this stuff, y'know? I'm gettin' soft, man. Damn...

First off, just a couple of show changes/cancellations. Unfortunately, Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin has cancelled her Houston show on 4/26, according to the folks at the Chronic; last I checked, she hadn't given any kind of explanation, but there're all kinds of theories that she's mad at Beyoncé. Whatever -- way to be grown-up about it, Your Highness.

On top of that, the very, very Euro-electric Gunther & The Sunshine Girls (of "Ding Dong Song" fame/infamy) have had to reschedule their show at The Meridian, which was going to be this coming Sunday, for 4/4. Apparently Gunther & crew got sick & had to postpone their tour a bit. Yes, I can hear your whimpering sobs all the way over here; keep it together, please.

Now for the really bad news. Sorry to break the news, fans of that SXSW Spillover Effect we Houstonians sometimes experience, but life just got harder. Apparently Super Happy Fun Land is still fighting to reopen after being smacked down by The Man in the form of the fire marshal. Which sucks a whole lot of ass, because if you've looked at the shows list any time recently, you've no doubt noticed that they'd booked a whole ton of SXSW-players -- some of whom haven't even been here before that I've heard of -- for their "SXSW Overflow Fest 2008."

Sadly, what with The Man's smackdown, the SHFL folks have confirmed that yes, they will be closed down for a few weeks, not reopening to 3/18 or so...which is pretty much after all the SXSW crossover-ness was due to hit. Which means that alllllll those shows are -- poof -- not happening. Damn. Sucks for the bands, sucks for the Super Happy people, sucks for all us music lovers here in H-town. Sucks all 'round.

On the positive side, it appears that a some of the other clubs/venues in town have tried to step in and rescue as many of the orphaned bands as they can. Which is a very good thing, because I was really looking forward to these folks coming through -- Jason Webley, Great Lakes Myth Society, The Pharmacy, Die! Die! Die!, all of 'em excellent bands. Thanks to the kind reshuffling of people at Notsuoh, Rudyard's, Fitzgerald's, The Mink, & others, I (and you) are no longer out of luck.

Here's the schedule that was, with notes to update y'all as to where bands have been moved, as far as I know 'em:

Fri., March 7 - SXSW Overflow Fest 2008, featuring The Vincent Black Shadow & Wolff (mem. of Drums and Tuba) @ Super Happy Fun Land

Sat., March 8 - SXSW Overflow Fest 2008, featuring AutoVaughn & The Payola Reserve @ Super Happy Fun Land

Sun., March 9 - SXSW Overflow Fest 2008, featuring Have Gun Will Travel, The Vettes, Brenn, Mermaid Police, & Band LeGrand @ Super Happy Fun Land

UPDATED: Band LeGrand --> The Mink (also @ Notsuoh 3/10)

Mon., March 10 - SXSW Overflow Fest 2008, featuring Everthus the Deadbeats, Grampall Jookabox, All American Werewolves, Infected, Kill Toby Wyatt, Mumpsy, & The Swimmers (4PM) @ Super Happy Fun Land

Mumpsey/The Swimmers/Band LeGrand --> Notsuoh

Tues., March 11 - SXSW Overflow Fest 2008, featuring We Versus the Shark, Pash Band, The LK, Justice Yeldhelm, Mossyrock, Meredith Bragg and the Terminals, Knifeworld, Biclops, All Parallels, & You, Me, And Everyone You Know @ Super Happy Fun Land

We Versus the Shark --> The Mink

Pash Band --> Rudyard's

Meredith Bragg and the Terminals/The LK/Biclops/All Parallels --> Notsuoh

Wed., March 12 - SXSW Overflow Fest 2008, featuring The 8 Bit Revival, Dead Legs, Jason Webley, Black Horse, O! Captain! My Captain!, & Apteka @ Super Happy Fun Land

UPDATED: Jason Webley/Apteka/The 8 Bit Revival --> Notsuoh

Thurs., March 13 - SXSW Overflow Fest 2008, featuring Iceage Cobra, Royce Icon, The Coma Lilies, The Coma Recovery, Adai, All the Saints, & Hi Red Center @ Super Happy Fun Land

UPDATED: Iceage Cobra --> Notsuoh (3/14)

UPDATED: The Coma Lilies --> Notsuoh (3/17)

Fri., March 14 - SXSW Overflow Fest 2008, featuring Minmae, Tom Vollman, Chase Frank, Rademacher, & Goodbye Gadget @ Super Happy Fun Land

UPDATED: Tom Vollman --> Notsuoh

Sat., March 15 - SXSW Overflow Fest 2008, featuring Thee Emergency, Whitman, & Me Talk Pretty @ Super Happy Fun Land

Me Talk Pretty --> The Scout Bar (Clear Lake)

Whitman --> Notsuoh

Sun., March 16 - SXSW Overflow Fest 2008, featuring Die! Die! Die!, The Pasties, Audrey Ryan, Kimya Dawson, Angelo Spencer, Great Lakes Myth Society, Mia and Jonah, Cameron McGill And What Army, & Boy Bathing @ Super Happy Fun Land

The Pasties/Cameron McGill And What Army/Great Lakes Myth Society --> Notsuoh

Mon., March 17 - SXSW Overflow Fest 2008, featuring The Pharmacy, Pleasureboaters, Goes Cube, Cougar Den, Fire Flies, Bryan Scary & The Shredding Tears, Wildlife, Capitol K, & Puddin' Tang @ Super Happy Fun Land

Fireflies/Goes Cube/Bryan Scary & The Shredding Tears --> Notsuoh

Bands Still Without (Temporary) Homes: Have Gun Will Travel, The Vettes, Brenn, Mermaid Police, Everthus the Deadbeats, Grampall Jookabox, All American Werewolves, Infected, Kill Toby Wyatt, Justice Yeldhelm, Mossyrock, Knifeworld, Biclops, You, Me, And Everyone You Know, Dead Legs, Black Horse, O! Captain! My Captain!, Royce Icon, The Coma Lilies, The Coma Recovery, Adai, All the Saints, Hi Red Center, Minmae, Chase Frank, Rademacher, Goodbye Gadget, Thee Emergency, Die! Die! Die!, Audrey Ryan, Kimya Dawson, Angelo Spencer, Mia and Jonah, Boy Bathing, The Pharmacy, Pleasureboaters, Cougar Den, Wildlife, Capitol K, & Puddin' Tang.

So, all isn't quite lost, and hopefully Super Happy Fun Land will be back on its feet soon enough -- gotta keep that place around, y'all.

Oh, and in terms of other positive news (this time pretty much completely positive, mind you): on Wed., April 16, alt-country icons Son Volt will be at The Continental Club (along with Bobby Bare Jr., who's pretty great in his own right. Screw Wilco; these are the guys I want to see...

Beyond that, there's seriously a ton of good stuff on its way:

Sat., March 8:
Risky Bizniss, featuring The Fluokids, Spain Colored Orange, Satin Hooks, The Factory Party, Damon Allen vs. Fixture, Michele (Spinnin' Kitties), Juan The Terrible, Dayta vs. Witnes, O Pioneers!!!, Elron Hubbard, B., El Nino, FredSTER, Boy Boy, & DJ Psychedelic Sex Panther @ Thunderdome Warehouse (Garrow St.; call 832-221-3331 for directions)
Now, this here is partly why I love Houston's fractured music scene so damn much -- by and large, the truly talented ones honestly don't give a damn for labels, which is how you get cool nu-New Wave rockers like The Factory Party and great post-punks like Satin Hooks playing alongside a slew of DJs, all at a warehouse I've never heard of before. Nice. (Oh, and if you can't make it out, The Factory Party'll be playing @ Cactus around 3:30PM...)

The Hates/Rusted Shut/Nectarine/The Delta Block/A Thousand Cranes @ The Engine Room ($5)
Two old-timers, three (relative) newbies, all from right here. How in the hell is this at the Engine Room, of all places? If this is a sign that Houston's venues are finally willing to let local folks play, then hell, maybe something good'll come out of the Prolo's passing.

Chron.com Hometown Showdown V, featuring Paul Wall, Smitty, Young Redd, The Grit Boys, Another Day, Coop, Three Fantastic, Full Service, The Mighty Orq, Dirty, Hearsay, Skepticynic, & Capgun Suicide @ Warehouse Live
Yeah, I like Paul Wall -- not everything he does blows me away, but in terms of representing H-town hip-hop, I'd much rather see him (& Chingo Bling, for that matter) out there than, say, Mike Jones. Not that Mr. Jones or Mr. Wall are gonna give a shit what I think, but y'know.

The Black Math Experiment @ The Backroom (The Mink)
Caught these guys at the Press Awards ceremony last year, and despite the innate goofiness, they weren't bad...worth a second look, definitely.

Texas Metal Fest 2008, featuring DevilDriver, Asesino, Napalm Death, Divine Heresy, Straight Line Stitch, Necro Faith, 36 Crazy Fists, 28th St., Invitro, Bludstreem, Pinhed, Lone Star Massacre, BloodVoid, Sever The Silence, Cain Was Able, Diminished, Chaos With A Smile, Burn The Wicked, Lao Tzu, Lycophile, Dead Trip, Last Rosary, Krank Shaft, Cryptic, To Scale The Throne, Paegan, BloodRequim, Vehement, Splinter, Devoured By Darkness, Cerebral Down, & Lay To Waste @ The Meridian
Yuuuuuuuurrrrrrgggggghhhh. And hey: Napalm Death? Really? Cool...

While You Were Gone/Artist vs. Poet @ Fuel Cyber Cafe (Humble)
Still have yet to see WYWG, but I'm going to have to keep an eye out for their next in-city show (sorry, Humble's a little far for me these days), 'cause they're honestly one of the best surviving emo-ish bands around right now.

Sun., March 9:
Secret Chiefs 3/Awake @ Walter's on Washington
Yeah, I'll admit it -- I have no idea what Secret Chiefs 3 sound like, but I caught local guys Awake recently, and they were impressive, in addition to being mind-destroyingly loud. Think Arbouretum with bigger amps, or Jesu with more(?) vocals.

The Black Hollies/Bipolaroid/The Gold Sounds @ Rudyard's
From what I hear, this fits quite nicely -- The Black Hollies do a '60s Mod revival-type thing, while The Gold Sounds make a similar kind of distinctly Americanized, retro-style roar. Gonna be good.

Mon., March 10:
Nicole Atkins & The Sea/Papermoons/Parlour Mob/Astra Heights @ The Mink
Yes, yes, who?, and yes. SCR oldtimer Marc has raved to me about seeing Nicole Atkins up in Boston, L.A.-dwelling Houston expats Astra Heights are pretty entertaining, and I enjoy the heck out of my Papermoons 7". (Speaking of which: more, please?)

The Motion Sick/Antarctica Starts Here @ Boondocks
Heard good, good things about Boston indie-pop/rockers The Motion Sick, and heck, I don't need to hear anything else about Antarctica Starts Here to like 'em. Looking like a dream-poppy evening.

The Slits/This Bike Is A Pipe Bomb/Future Virgins/Shellshag/Sad Pygmy @ Numbers
Whoa. I never thought I'd see the day when pioneering British fem-punks The Slits reformed and then played Numbers; I mean, they've only been to the US, what?, four times since they first formed back in the '70s? Throw in folky punks This Bike Is A Pipe Bomb (who I hadn't realized were still around) & H-town crusty noise-punk legends Sad Pygmy, and you've got A Show for the Ages.

Flying Fish Sailors @ The Continental Club
No, I'm not listing this just so my PC at the office won't "mysteriously" come down with a crippling virus (hi, Jay!), but because the Sailors are a damned entertaining band, and they don't play very often these days. Check 'em out while you can.

Tues., March 11:
Parts & Labor/Ecstatic Sunshine/Red Rocket/Giant Princess/We Versus The Shark @ The Backroom (The Mink)
Jonah Matranga @ 3612 Mangum Rd. #209 (entrance on Tulsa; 8PM)
God, why must you torment me so? I mean, it was bad enough when I had to try to think of a way to get out of a professional society meeting this Tuesday, but now I also have to somehow get from homeboy Mel's warehouse in the Heights, where the ever-amazing Jonah Matranga's playing, over to the Mink in Midtown in time to bask in Parts & Labor's noise-blaze glory. I'd be resentful, if it wasn't pretty much guaranteed to be an awesome night.

Anathallo/By the End of Tonight/News On The March @ Walter's on Washington
I'm lukewarm on Anathallo -- some songs I've heard have been good, some not -- but I suspect that they're mind-bendingly good live. And besides, I know By the End of Tonight are.

Warhammer 48K/Cop Warmth/Wallbangers @ The White Swan
Yes, I'm a geek for recogning the wargame reference, but what the fuck; I still need to get out sometime & check out excellent-sounding locals Cop Warmth.

SXSW Performers Showcase, featuring Peelander-Z, The Slits, Palmerston, Cloud Minder, & more @ Fitzdown
Um. Wha? Okay, so Fitz has The Slits listed on 3/11, on top of their 3/10 show @ Scumbers...except that the band's PR lady swears she doesn't know anything about the second show. Hrm. If The Slits are who you're looking to see, you'd better call the club before going.

Von Iva/Pash/Wicked Poseur/Lenny Briscoe @ Rudyard's
Dunno the out-of-towners, but I recently checked out Wicked Poseur & Lenny Briscoe (love that name; Jerry, I miss you, man...) and was very impressed by both bands, esp. Wicked Poseur. Good shit.

Wed., March 12:
Sia/Har Mar Superstar @ Warehouse Live
Up front, I should say that Har Mar wears on me after only a short time. That said, I've heard his live show's not bad, and in any case, eccentric Aussie indie-soul singer Sia is probably worth waiting through his set.

The Valley Arena/Jason Webley @ Notsuoh
This one's not entirely confirmed -- The Valley Arena's definitely on the Notsuoh calendar, but Super Happy 'fugee Jason Webley isn't. I've only heard through the grapevine that the Notsuoh crew have offered him their venue to play at. Which is very cool, because Webley's this lunatic younger version of Tom Waits, all gravel voice and booze.

Digitalism/Glasnost @ The Engine Room
I'm afraid I have no idea who Digitalism are, but I do know a bit about Glasnost, a sort of a synth-goth revival thing that actually works quite nicely. Again: glad to see stuff like this @ The Engine Room.

Thurs., March 13:
Ghost Buffalo/Git Some/Scouts Honor/Kingdom of Magic/This Year's Tiger/*ONE* @ The Mink (8PM)
Another one of those i.am.we commUNITY shows, and it promises to be a good one -- I like Ghost Buffalo, and I've heard excellent things about This Year's Tiger, in particular.

Fri., March 14:
South by Due East 2008, featuring de Sangre, duneTX, Orange Is In, Fruet & Os Cozinheiros, Another Run, The Jane Frequency, The Rising, & Idol Hand @ Dan Electro's Guitar Bar (7PM)
Yep, the first installment of this year's South by Due East counter-festival, which also happens to be one of those things where local bands mingle w/no regard for genre or style. Very cool.

Teenage Bottlerocket/Broadway Calls/The Femurs/Something Fierce/Teenage Kicks @ The Backroom (The Mink)
Get there early for this one, 'cause between them, Something Fierce & Teenage Kicks will blast out so much roaring, catchy power-pop/punk that the walls may not be standing afterwards for the rest of the bands to play.

Since The Ashes/Sevi/The Guns of Detroit @ The Engine Room
Is this happening? Not sure -- some kind of DJ night's listed on the Engine Room site, but the Guns of Detroit folks emailed me the invite, so...

Sat., March 15:
South by Due East 2008, featuring Mojofromopolis, Brad Cordle, The Mighty Orq, Big Al Bettis, Chango Man, Chris Elliott & The Bodacious Ta Ta's, Guy Schwartz & the New Jack Hippies, Westborn, The Western Civilization, Brock Rodarte, MUZAK, Radiocracy, The McKenzies, Sabra Laval, TC & The Cannonballs, The Correction Brothers, Johnny Smith, Slivered, The Robert Smalls Group, Almas Intocables, Mundo Tribe, Leslie Newman, Third Ear, Chaz Nadege, & Happy Anarchy @ Dan Electro's Guitar Bar (3PM)
Night #2 of SXDE, and this one's my favorite -- not only is Chango Man (one-half of Chango Jackson) playing, but so is darkly gorgeous singer Sabra Laval and one of my favorite local bands ever, The Western Civilization.

Sara Bareilles/Cary Brothers/Ingrid Michaelson/Joshua Radin/Greg Laswell @ The Meridian
Eh, kind of an "edge" one, admittedly, but what the heck -- I accidentally saw Ingrid Michaelson perform at a festival this past fall in Malmö, Sweden, and was pleasantly surprised at how good the songs were...

Sunburned Hand of the Man/Citay/listenlisten @ Rudyard's
Hard choice time, folks -- heard good things about Sunburned Hand of the Man & Citay, but best of all are local bleak folksters listenlisten, who've been sadly absent from the music scene 'til very recently. They're prepping for their new full-length, so stop by & check out the new songs.

The Flamin' Hellcats/Sleeping Rubies/The New Satans @ The Continental Club
Woo! Flamin' Hellcats -- thank God vatobilly never dies. Plus, I heard Sleeping Rubies quite a while ago, now, and really liked what I heard...

Buxton/Hollywood Black/Gazelles @ The Forum (LaPorte)
Hallelujah for Buxton; not only do those crazy kids make some fine, fine, countrified indie-pop, but they (well, one of 'em's parents, anyway) also happen to run the only real "venue" I've ever even heard of down there in LaPorte. Good job, y'all.

Tues., March 18:
Gogol Bordello/Skindred @ The Meridian
Skipping ahead a teeny bit... Other things are probably going on on the 18th, but unless they involve crazed, drunken gypsy punks, I could give a fuck. Already got my ticket to this one.

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

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

Yes, yes, yes. Had to skip a day or two since they actually went up, but here's the deal on the new stuff, either way... I'm extremely proud, for one, to announce that our super-duper-official 2007 Top Ten Lists are now online. While most mags/e-zines/blogs do their best-ofs in the actual year, we here at SCR firmly believe in our music-nerd-obsessive little hearts that you can't truly judge the year 'til it's over, dammit. The people who run the Oscars know this; that's why the awards show's in Feb. In our view, then, all those best-of-ers who published their lists in '07 and claimed to know The Real Deal were full of crap, 'cause the year was not yet done. They are but poseurs, and therefore our opinion is all that matters. (Or something like that.)

Anyway, this year we've doubled the size of the damn thing from the '06 lists, with a full ten writers contributing -- big "thank yous" go out to Dwayne Cathey, David Hanrahan, Brandon Hernsberger, Mel House, Henry Mayer, Danny Mee, Andrew Perkins, Bill Reed, & the lone stabilizing force of female-ness, Brigitte Zabak. It pretty much covers the gamut of things musical, movie, and otherwise, and we think it's very, very good. Go read it now. No, really -- the rest of this blog post will still be here when you get back.

Moving on... We've also got some fine, fresh new reviews up on the site, including Damon Murrah's timely review of The Black Crowes' new disc, Warpaint -- read it here and revel in the fact that unlike some publications which shall go unnamed, our writer actually listened to the thing. Similarly, our writers listened to the rest of the reviewed discs, as well, 'cause that's just how we roll. And several of 'em are also somewhat timely.

Jonah Matranga: More on this later on, but Jonah will be coming through H-town on an impromptu visit this next Tues., March 11th, and because of the short-notice-ness of it all, he'll be playing at the warehouse/work space/studio of pal & SCR guy Mel House, located at 3612 Mangum Rd., #209. The show'll start at 8PM or so, and as per usual w/Jonah, the cover's on a "what can you pay?" sliding scale. I'll definitely rave more about this in a day or so, but 'til then you can content yourself w/reading the review of his latest disc, And, here.

Astra Heights: Another crew that's coming in from California, Astra Heights at least know their way around -- they're actually H-town expats of a year or two ago, having fled to band-friendlier climes out on the West Coast. This'll be their "homecoming" show of sorts, opening for Nicole Atkins & The Sea, Papermoons, & Parlour Mob at The Mink on Mon., March 10th, and it promises to be very cool. Check out the review of their album here.

Silverstein: And lastly, these guys are swinging through town this very Fri., March 7th, playing at The Meridian with The Devil Wears Prada & A Day To Remember. Our review of the band's latest isn't super complimentary, unfortunately, but the band still shows some promise, I think, and if you're into the whole post-emo Taking Back Sunday/Straylight Run/Jimmy Eat World cohort of rock, well, the band's probably right up your alley.

As always, there's plenty more up on the site, too; here's the list:

New Feature: We Like Things, 2007: You will like them, too..

Reviews: The Black Crowes; Jonah Matranga; Astra Heights; Silverstein; Arise and Ruin; Guns Are For Kids; Little Brian; & Not So Quiet on the Country Western Front.

More to come, y'all, so keep watching...

Labels: Admin Stuff, Features, Reviews, Things To Do, Things To Read

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

Yes, yes, yes. Had to skip a day or two since they actually went up, but here's the deal on the new stuff, either way... I'm extremely proud, for one, to announce that our super-duper-official 2007 Top Ten Lists are now online. While most mags/e-zines/blogs do their best-ofs in the actual year, we here at SCR firmly believe in our music-nerd-obsessive little hearts that you can't truly judge the year 'til it's over, dammit. The people who run the Oscars know this; that's why the awards show's in Feb. In our view, then, all those best-of-ers who published their lists in '07 and claimed to know The Real Deal were full of crap, 'cause the year was not yet done. They are but poseurs, and therefore our opinion is all that matters. (Or something like that.)

Anyway, this year we've doubled the size of the damn thing from the '06 lists, with a full ten writers contributing -- big "thank yous" go out to Dwayne Cathey, David Hanrahan, Brandon Hernsberger, Mel House, Henry Mayer, Danny Mee, Andrew Perkins, Bill Reed, & the lone stabilizing force of female-ness, Brigitte Zabak. It pretty much covers the gamut of things musical, movie, and otherwise, and we think it's very, very good. Go read it now. No, really -- the rest of this blog post will still be here when you get back.

Moving on... We've also got some fine, fresh new reviews up on the site, including Damon Murrah's timely review of The Black Crowes' new disc, Warpaint -- read it here and revel in the fact that unlike some publications which shall go unnamed, our writer actually listened to the thing. Similarly, our writers listened to the rest of the reviewed discs, as well, 'cause that's just how we roll. And several of 'em are also somewhat timely.

Jonah Matranga: More on this later on, but Jonah will be coming through H-town on an impromptu visit this next Tues., March 11th, and because of the short-notice-ness of it all, he'll be playing at the warehouse/work space/studio of pal & SCR guy Mel House, located at 3612 Mangum Rd., #209. The show'll start at 8PM or so, and as per usual w/Jonah, the cover's on a "what can you pay?" sliding scale. I'll definitely rave more about this in a day or so, but 'til then you can content yourself w/reading the review of his latest disc, And, here.

Astra Heights: Another crew that's coming in from California, Astra Heights at least know their way around -- they're actually H-town expats of a year or two ago, having fled to band-friendlier climes out on the West Coast. This'll be their "homecoming" show of sorts, opening for Nicole Atkins & The Sea, Papermoons, & Parlour Mob at The Mink on Mon., March 10th, and it promises to be very cool. Check out the review of their album here.

Silverstein: And lastly, these guys are swinging through town this very Fri., March 7th, playing at The Meridian with The Devil Wears Prada & A Day To Remember. Our review of the band's latest isn't super complimentary, unfortunately, but the band still shows some promise, I think, and if you're into the whole post-emo Taking Back Sunday/Straylight Run/Jimmy Eat World cohort of rock, well, the band's probably right up your alley.

As always, there's plenty more up on the site, too; here's the list:

New Feature: We Like Things, 2007: You will like them, too..

Reviews: The Black Crowes; Jonah Matranga; Astra Heights; Silverstein; Arise and Ruin; Guns Are For Kids; Little Brian; & Not So Quiet on the Country Western Front.

More to come, y'all, so keep watching...

Labels: Admin Stuff, Features, Reviews, Things To Do, Things To Read

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

This reunion thing is getting really, really old. For example, I honestly, I just can't get excited over the "ha-ha, just kidding!" Pavement maybe-reunion that's being bandied about; the band was interesting while they were around the first time, but that doesn't mean I still give a crap about seeing 'em play live. Most of the "iconic" bands I'd really like to see reunite can't because, well, one of the key band members (Kurt Cobain, Joe Strummer) is dead. So I'm out of luck, there.

Besides, I'm stunned on a weekly basis by the wealth of amazing music growing & seething right here under our H-town feet, often totally unnoticed. To paraphrase a very wise person over on the Hands Up board, I'd much rather see one of the many, many excellent bands here in town than shell out an insane amount of cash to see somebody rehash their greatest hits from a decade-plus ago. Time to move on and do something new, people.

So here's to badass local music; long may it blare. And while I'm raving about it, I wanted to point to a few folks who've got some excellent (relatively) new stuff up online for all to hear & gape at in awe:

georgia's horse: I was seriously starting to think this band didn't really exist. They promised to release an album last year, Mammoth, that I was never able to find/buy, and then I heard nada about 'em for a long, long time. Turns out that they've been working on a new-new album, Weather Codes, and they've got some great new songs up on their Myspace page. "Strep Throat," in particular, sucks me in (partly because I spent a large chunk of my life getting monthly shots to avoid getting that particular ailment and, uh, dying from it), but I'm also liking "The Bullet Sinks," "Thistlebomb," and the posted-to-their-blog-only "6" (not sure if that's the real title).

The more I hear from these folks, the more they remind me of Beth Gibbons' Out of Season project; the music's dense and spooky, full of floating strings, warbling, eerie voices, and percussive, menacing acoustic guitars. If there is any justice in the world, I'll stumble across a treasure trove of these people's recordings within the next two days or so. (If it doesn't happen, I'm just going to assume the gods hate me and go from there.)

Teenage Kicks: After hearing their installment in the Grey Ghost CD-R series, I was a teeny bit skeptical about these guys, I'll admit; I liked some of what I heard, but man, was it raw and rough. Having recently visited their Myspace and listened to new(?) tracks "Electric Girl," "Bound for Glory," "Art School," and "Another Night," though, I'm now drooling like a freakin' fanboy for their hopefully-forthcoming next release. These three guys play old-school power-pop, the kind you find on those Rhino D.I.Y. releases, all reminiscent of folks like The Undertones (which, given the band's name: duh), The Boys (damn, I need to hear "Brickfield Nights" again), Joe Jackson, & The Buzzcocks. It's poignant and sharp-edged at the same time, earnestly sincere and un-ironic while being smart-assed, and that strikes me as being damned difficult to do.

Something Fierce: I really just can't say enough about how great this band is. Like Teenage Kicks, Something Fierce harks back to an era before irony and self-reference overwhelmed every goddamn thing, and tracks like "Have Your Kids And Eat Them Too" grab hold of that old, tired punk-rock cliché and drag it forcibly out into the harsh light '00s so it can pump its fist in the air once again. There's a snarling energy behind the songs, and a whip-smart sense of timing, to boot. And looking at their Myspace site reminds me, actually, that I really need to somehow get a hold of their new-ish "Modern Girl"/"Why Can't I" 7" -- I heard the demo version of "Modern Girl" a while back and liked it, but the polished, New Wave-tinged release version blows it out of the water.

Piano Vines: Yeah, yeah. I know I've babbled a few times recently about this fine, fine band of gentle indie-popsters; fuck it, I can't help it. They're just that good, I swear. And now here's further evidence, again courtesy of the band's Myspace -- the swelling, dreampop-ish "The Life of Walter Price," which makes me think of The Sundays and The Jesus and Mary Chain, both at the same time. Holy fuck, these folks are good. While I do indeed love the loud stuff (see above), it does my soul good to see/hear somebody that doesn't need to blaze, full-volume, to make good music.

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

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

I don't know what's scarier, the fact that this happened, or the fact that I already knew some of the backstory. Sorry, Randy Parton fans and inhabitants of Roanoke Rapids, NC (hi, Brandi & Chris!), but apparently the long-awaited "companion" theme park to Dollywood, "Randyland", ain't gonna happen. (Or, actually, it still will, just without him and under a different name. Way to blow a cushy deal, man...)

Labels: Entertainobabble, Random Rambling

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

Yeah, you really shouldn't, ever. Naturally, we're happy as hell to hear the news, but dang, way to make liars out of us poor SCR saps, Mr. Keith...

(And hey, our little interview somehow ended up as a reference to the Face to Face Wikipedia entry; does this make us big-time? Hrm, maybe not.)

Labels: Musical Crap, Random Rambling

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

Wow...this is getting a little weird. I mean, I definitely get why people like Barack Obama, believe me, but the past couple of weeks have been downright surreal, at least by Houston standards. Tonight, just as we were putting the munchkin to bed, I got my third visit/call from the Obama campaign crew, this time in the form of a very earnest, middle-aged man with an Obama pin and a loud, booming voice. A very nice guy, who was happy to learn that yes, I did indeed vote for his candidate in the Dem primary and that I'm aware of the whole caucus thing, to boot.

Mind you, this is after two different phone calls, again from very earnest Obama volunteers. Very polite, very enthusiastic, and very happy to hear I'd voted the way they were hoping I would. And oddest of all, none of these folks asked me for a dime. Which, frankly, is weird as shit. I remember the 2004 primaries clearly, in part because I myself did a teeny bit of phone-banking for Kucinich back then, and I can't remember a time I got a phone call from the campaign for one of the Democratic candidates that didn't ask for cold, hard cash. Apparently, though, the Obama crew could care less if I give 'em the dough, as long as I vote for the guy.

Like I said, odd. But kind of heartening, really, especially considering that in yard after yard around my 'hood, I see sign after sign for Obama. I've seen a couple for Clinton, sure, but by and large, I've seen Obama signs, even in yards where they sit side-by-side with campaign signs for local Republican candidates.

And yeah, I've heard of the whole "Republicans for Obama"/"Obamicans" thing, although it mystifies me -- I don't get what people like David Duke are hoping to get out of an Obama candidacy. Are they hoping a black man running for the highest office in the land will light the spark of some kind of Ultimate Race War or something? If that's the case, I think they're on crack, but hey, if they want to help out, I'm okay with that.

The funniest part is that I've seen zero signs for any Republican presidential candidate except, uh, Ron Paul (who I hear could well be knocked out of his own constituency down south of here). All the way back when Giuliani & Romney & Thompson were still in the race, I saw absolutely no Repub signs anywhere around town. And while I tend to live on the edge of a black/Hispanic district, I also live on the border of relatively-right-leaning Bellaire, where a lot of this city's well-off live.

Which makes the whole Obama push seem even more strange, and paradoxically cool. We here in Texas tend to get ignored by national politics, since in our winner-takes-all electoral system the Repub voters in this state basically smack down the Dem voters every damn time. It feels weirdly nice to see Democratic leadership actually doing something down here, with Clinton and Obama reportedly neck-and-neck in the state -- it's like we're the plain girl at the prom, and the captain of the football team just came over to hang out and chat for a little while. We're not dancing or anything, no, but hey, the attention's nice.

Labels: Political Stuff, Random Rambling

gaijin || Link || E-mail || 3 comments

Yeah, I know I'm late -- had a whole ton of stuff planned for yesterday, including getting some blog-time in, but then my father-in-law came over and decided it was time to re-panel the wall of the toolshed and add a lean-to for the lawnmower, and it blew my whole goddamn day & left me aching and beat into the evening. (Yes, these are the things you sometimes must do as a homeowner, particularly if you happen to have an aging, obsessive-compulsive pseudo-handyman for a father-in-law.)

At any rate, what's done is done, so here we are; by the time you read this, the par-tay has already started (it was supposed to kick off at 4PM) over at Rudyard's for the second cool-ass benefit show of the week, the Rudz Bike Bonanza. This shindig benefits the Third Ward Bike Shop, part of Workshop Houston that helps residents of Third Ward (and elsewhere) learn how to build and maintain their very own bikes without the cost of fancy bike parts or snooty pro-shop people. It's a cool deal that deserves a heck of a lot of support.

The Bonanza's kinda bike-focused, obviously, with a bicycle swap meet and what Rudz is calling "cycling side events" (not sure what that means), but there's also free (I think? don't quote me on that...) beer from the Real Ale Brewing Company & New Belgium Brewing, and starting at 7:30PM, a triumvirate of three of H-town's best indie-rock-ish bands will take the stage. The $5 cover/donation (I'm sure you can donate more if you feel like it) not only gets you the cycling insanity, but also sets by Bright Men of Learning, Bring Back the Guns, & Spain Colored Orange.

If you haven't heard any of the three of these bands, just take my word for it: they're freakin' great. Seriously. Go see them, and enjoy the simultaneous joy of awesomely awesome music and warm shininess from helping somebody else out. It's a good thing.

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

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