Yesterday afternoon's four-hour "off-site team meeting" == "lunch at Mi Luna followed by matinee of The Dark Knight." I love this place...

Labels: Random Rambling

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Update time, and somewhat of an urgent one, to boot -- in the spirit of Just-In-Time Reviewing (which is all the trend these days, don'tcha know), we've got a brand-new review up of Papermoons inaugural full-length, New Tales, and holy crap, they just happen to be playing tonight. Imagine that...

Anyway, the band's playing up at Boondocks (which I've never been to, but which sounds interesting), accompanied by fellow local hero Benjamin Davis Murphy (Bright Men of Learning/ex-Lucky Motors/ex-We've Got Airplanes/ex-Pop Deflation/ex-Panic in Detroit/ex-a billion other bands). It's going to be a frickin' great show, especially as the Papermoons men are bidding farewell to our sweaty hellhole of a city, moving on to bigger, better things, um, somewhere else. No, I've got no clue where they're headed, just that it's "away" somewhere. Damn. I can't say I blame 'em, things in my beloved/behated city being what they are, but it still makes me sad.

Heck, I never even really got to know the guys in the band (which, btw, seems to be the kiss of death for a band; I finally meet you in person, then you break up/move to Poughkeepsie/get in a car wreck -- I hide myself away to protect you, Houston Band People!), having only been introduced super-briefly to one of the 'moons recently. I console myself by quietly murmuring: "They'll be back...they always come back. Hey, look at Indian Jewelry..."

But take heart, because we've got other stuff for you, too, beyond things to make you sad. Writer extraordinaire Brandon H. was so perturbed by Frightened Rabbit's recent no-show here in Houston that he methodically tracked them eastward, following their spoor like Chingachgook 'til he finally cornered them in a dimly-lit bar in far-off Washington, DC., and skewered them with questions. The guy's tenacious, I tell you -- how many writers do you know who, when a band they're due to interview stands 'em up, follows 'em halfway across the fucking country so he can talk to 'em? For free? (Sorry, dude. I'll, um, reimburse you?) The guy's got stones. And hey, it's a great interview besides, so go check it out.

Oh, and skipping back over to here, we've also got a review of the brand-new Sharks and Sailors full-length, probably the most anticipated local disc of the year (when other bands start using your band's release as a deadline for when they'd better release theirs by...). And luckily, it lives up to the hype -- check the review here. The band will perform it all live this coming Friday, August 1st up at Walter's, along with excellent half-expats UME & The Jonx, somebody named This Man Is Art, & DJ Under Warranty (aka ADR from Skyline). It's gonna rule. I'm gonna attempt to be there. If you didn't see them at the HPMAs, you seriously missed out; "Fix Your Radar" and "Builds Brand New" rip walls down live.

Plus, we've got a long-awaited review of Paul Weller's latest disc, 22 Dreams -- writer Damon M. blew off my sad admissions that I just couldn't get a hold of the damn thing for SCR, found it himself, and proceeded to wax poetic over it in spite of everything. Review here, along with reviews of This Holiday Life, Autovein, & a bunch more. Here's the full list:

Interviews: How Heads Roll Off: An Interview with Frightened Rabbit

Reviews: Sharks and Sailors; Papermoons; Paul Weller; Autovein; This Holiday Life; The Delta Block; Aaron English; Los Doggies; Melba Toast; & The Willowz.

See you in August, folks...

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

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

I tend to not watch a whole lot of videos these days, partly because I get bored watching some band pretend to Rock Hard while actually just miming at their instruments (sorry, folks, but playing electric instruments in the rain just does not work the way you wish it would) and trying to look Badass and partly because, hell, I work a day job where I'm lucky I get to listen to music, much less have the time to sit back & watch it. Takes too much attention, y'know?

That said, things lately have been looking pretty damn good, at least here in town. First there was the Southern Backtones video for "Forever" (which I think might've won an award, although I'm not positive), then The Dimes/Young Mammals had a fun little video shot in a local Kwik-E-Mart, then Sharks and Sailors got all moody in their video from a little while back (see here).

And now, local space-rockers Co-Pilot have thrown their hat in the ring, with a cool, contemplative video for "Low Earth Orbit" created by Norwegian filmmaker Morten A. out of band footage and footage he shot while driving around the States. Now, I love-love-love this song, so seeing the sound put to images had me a little nervous at first, but it fits absolutely perfectly. Makes me just want to drive off into the sunset down some lonesome Texas Hill Country road, windows down, playing the song on infinite repeat.

(And yes, I love the Backtones' video in part because they filmed it at Foodarama, esp. because it looks like the Post Oak location nearest to our new house. Foodarama rules; I always know where to find things there, unlike at, say, the Wal-Mart Grocery down the road. Heck, I think I'll embed that video, too, even though it's fairly old by now...)

Labels: Cool Web Junk, H-Town News, Musical Crap, Public Service Announcements, Random Rambling, Things To See

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

Yeah, I got out there a bit late -- I didn't make it to this year's Houston Press Music Awards Showcase downtown 'til 6PM or so, which meant I missed 2 hrs' worth of cool-ass bands. Perils of domesticated life, unfortunately; it gets hard to force myself to hop in the car & abandon the wife & midget, even for a few hours. But after cramming down some leftovers for dinner, I finally jumped in the car & went, parked beneath Bayou Place, and emerged into the summer-evening heat to see as many bands on the schedule as I could. Some I missed (The Wild Moccasins, Miss Leslie, Two Star Symphony, Flyish Fish Sailors...sigh), but the ones I did see were just about uniformly awesome. H-town reaffirms my faith in its homegrown music, once again. Rather than blather about the thing as a whole, btw, I thought this time out I'd try my best to remember the mental notes I was making during each performance I caught (turns out I didn't have Blogger Mobile set up like I thought I had, or I would've done more than mentally make notes; argh...). Oh, and I tried to take pics, but it got to be progressively more & more of a pain, so I eventually gave up. Gotta ditch this camera & get a new one, dammit. The whole set of pics is here, those who care... The Scattered PAGES @ The Flying Saucer:

• First place I came to, so what the heck; I always like the PAGES (or is it just "Pages," now? no freakin' clue).
• Damn, the crowd for these guys is a lot more receptive than the last time I saw 'em play, over at Venue.
• The music definitely fits the vibe of the place, too.
• Down side? Not everybody's there for the band -- seems like half the room's there to drink fancy-shmancy beers & socialize.
• Can't get a view of the band that doesn't involve a big column or standing real close to somebody's girlfriend; time to move on.

Pale @ Venue:

• Man, I haven't seen these guys in forever -- seriously, the last time I saw 'em, I was still in a band & they were like Ultramagg's proto-emo/indie-rock pals.
• They've evolved, for sure; now they're more like a cross between Radiohead & The Killers.
• Makes sense, really -- Calvin's voice always sounded ill-suited to the whole emo thing, to me -- this fits a lot better.
• Mmmm, smoke machine.
• Why aren't these guys played on The Buzz by now? They blow most craptastic Buzz Bands out of the water, they're still alive and/or releasing music (gotta love how "Your New Music" includes music by a dead guy named Kurt and a good dozen bands that don't exist anymore), and they're relatively accessible.
• Crowd seems to like it; bouncers aren't into it, but the folks watching are.
• Hrm. Where the fuck is Jowell? He said he was going to try to get here about now...
• Why can't I check my email in here? Are the walls lined w/lead or something?
• Is that Hank from Southern Backtones filming everything?
• Wait a second...I think I know the crew 2 tables over from the Hash House Harriers. Weird.
• Last song, heading outside to figure out what next; got a text msg from Jowell telling me I'm on my own. Ah, damn.
• The Tontons are next, so back in I go.
• David C. Sighting #1.

The Tontons @ Venue:

• Holy fucking shit. I should just go home now; nothing will top this.
• (Okay, so that turned out to almost be true.)
• Ramon Sighting #1.
• Asli is amazing, like Nina Simone fronting The Experience.
• Love how she's sultry & playful, all at once.
• Never seen so many guys w/cameras taking pictures of the same woman at the same time.
• The band seems honestly humbled by the reaction they're getting.
• Hey, a Jay Lee Sighting!
• Raw and awesome; the bass makes my chest vibrate, & I love it.
• Band's almost done -- time to try to catch part of Black Math Experiment.
• God damn, BME's a long ways off; The Real Sammies is all the way past Notsuoh.
• Nice chat w/Rosa on the way up -- she's going for Wiggins, so I might, too.
• Ramon Sighting #2.
• Whoops...passers-by inform that Wiggins're done. On to Sammies.

Black Math Experiment @ The Real Sammies:

• Fuck, my feet hurt. Ingrown toenail surgery sucks ass.
• Damn, missed most of the show.
• For a reunion of a now-defunct band, they seem totally into it.
• Heck, why'd they quit?
• That Jef With One F, he's something else.
• Final song reminds me (favorably, somehow) of musical theatre, like a Rent outtake.
• Ah, for a toilet-paper gun/leafblower that actually works...
• (Apparently the key is better-quality toilet paper, as half the crowd informs Jef after. How do they know this? I'm afraid to ask.)
• Undaunted, Jef uses leafblower on tables & people's clothes. Sometimes you improvise, yo.
• Lady from the Press looks like she's ready for BME to get done.
• Nice to actually meet Jef in person; damn nice guy.
• And weirdly, he looks almost exactly how I'd pictured him, which hasn't ever happened before.
• Quit bugging Jef so he can load out, time to hike down to Notsuoh.
• According to people walking ahead of me, BME didn't play "You Can't Kill David Arquette," for some reason.
• Run into Justin & Larry Prkl8r (aka "my sometime accountant") @ Notsuoh while waiting for Hearts of Animals.
• Oh yeah, Buxton & Spain Colored Orange're right now, too...can I do all three?
• Larry heads off to talk to Jim Pirtle, so I tag along w/Justin to Buxton.
• Sounds like Twotenanny was good, if hot/packed; Sharks and Sailors as The Police == good.

Buxton @ Butterfly High:

• Never been here before; odd little bar.
• Wow, these guys are good live.
• And they sound different from A Family Light, too; louder & more countryish.
• Actually, reminds me of Lucero or Springsteen more than anything folky.
• Normally it really bugs the shit out of me when the singer explains the song before they play it, but here I somehow don't mind.
• Ah, and there's the Björk cover from last night @ Twotenanny. Justin says it's better here, but it may be that the sounds better.
• I really hope these guys record something new soon...
• Halfway through, so time to head over to Spain Colored Orange.

Spain Colored Orange(?) @ Havana Latin Grill and Bar:

• Um. What?
• Who the fuck is this? Did SCO & Espantapajaros get switched?
• Lot of people here to see Spain Colored Orange, but I honestly can't tell if it is them.
• If so, Gilbert looks like the love child of Santana & Tommy Chong these days.
• Whoa -- I haven't seen this band in a decade, since The Oven was still around. [NEXT-AM UPDATE FROM JUSTIN: It turns out that was, in fact Spaincoloredorange and the bearded guy was Gilbert. It seems they have changed.]
• Lots of funky horns, R&B rhythms, and keys.
• Why don't they require that bands have a big poster behind 'em w/their name? Wouldn't that be good publicity for the bands?
• Eh. Not doing much for me.
• Justin stays to see who the band actually is; I bail and try to catch Hearts of Animals.
• Ah, crap. HoA's backing band (I think?) Young Mammals just passed w/their gear.
• Yep, the set's over. Sorry, Ms. Mlee!

Sharks and Sailors @ Notsuoh:

• Hey, at least I'm here early for S&S.
• Need...soda...
• Wow, I've got a whole bench to myself. Lean back & close my eyes for a sec.
• Ramon Sighting #3.
• Hey, now I've got ADR from Skyline sitting next to me. Trippy...
• Stand up on bench to see the band, 'til I feel all vulnerable & exposed and sit back down.
• These folks still rule; "Fix Your Radar" rips the roof off. Like old-school Jawbox come back to life.
• David C. Sighting #2.
• Ramon & David C. are taking a picture of S&S's drummer at the exact same time, barely three feet apart. This cracks me up, proving I need sleep.
• Damn, partway done -- better go next door to see Bring Back The Guns.

Bring Back The Guns @ Dean's:

• Dear God is it hot in here. I can't breathe.
• Good old Matt...
• Sure hope that fratguy in front of him doesn't do anything stupid while Matt's all wrapped in that plastic banner.
• David C. Sighting #3.
• Ramon Sighting #4.
• Damn, the sound sucks. What the hell? Why's it sound like BBTG are playing through toy speakers?
• I can't do this; I've got to get out.
• Heading south to catch Young Mammals.

Young Mammals @ Butterfly High:

• Oh, wow. Tie w/the Tontons for best fucking performance of the night.
• I've never seen a crowd at the HPMAs react to a band the way these folks are digging Young Mammals.
• They're so damn driving, it's awesome.
• The drummer (Iram, I think?) truly is the engine of the band. Damn shame he's moving away...
• I think Clay's trying to get people onstage w/the band.
• Holy cow -- they just transformed the whole place into an indie-rock dance par-tay.
• Nice to see smiling faces all 'round; these people know they're witnessing something special.
• Only seen the band live once before, but this blows that performance out of the water. Incredible.
• Ramon Sighting #5. How does he move so damn fast?
• After, they're all genuinely nice guys, friendly & humble & all.
• Clay's kind enough to take me down the street to his car to give me a CD.
• Part of this wants this to continue all through the night, but another part of me says "hell, no."
• Time to hike back to Bayou Place & the car.
• On home...

I hurt. Damn, I feel old. Nighty-night, all.

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

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

The best-laid plans, damn...every time I put off posting about this stuff, it bites me on the ay-uss. We got some new stuff up last week -- brand-new show reviews! -- and earlier this week -- brand-new reviews! -- but I procrastinated, figuring I'd post about it sometime this afternoon. I had a quickie medical foot thing to get taken care of around 3PM, and then I could go home & just chill at the laptop.

But alas, 'twas not to be. Here I am, three hours later, with an aching foot, a limp, and a head full of Hydrocodone, and I'm only now able to post about the new stuff we've got up and some of the cool stuff that's going on in the next few days.

First off, tonight, Thurs., July 24th, the ever-astounding Mathletes will be playing at Rudyard's, along with Lazy Horse (who I've heard are really good) and The Misfires (who I'd never heard of before). I'll shamefacedly cop to never having seen an actual Mathletes show, but Joe Mathlete was kind enough to send a copy of his latest full-length, #$@% You and Your Cool to us here at SCR. And it's fucking beautiful, seriously. It makes me think of a ton of things (all good), but for some reason right now I keep thinking of soft-yet-snarky indie-popsters Eggs, with whom the Mathletes share a talent for quirky, tongue-in-cheek, smart, but still wonderfully-written pop songs. Check the review here.

They're good, y'all, and reports I've received from other folks say that live they're in a whole other galaxy. Sadly, I'm gonna miss it yet again, seeing as I'm sitting here feeling fuzzy around the edges and in no shape to rock out. Thankfully, a new ep of Burn Notice is on tonight, so the night's not a total loss.

And lucky for me, we're not done yet w/the good stuff. As anybody in this town who likes music undoubtedly knows by now, this Sunday, July 27th, is the 2008 Houston Press Music Awards showcase scattered all 'cross downtown and featuring probably 85% of the really, truly talented bands in this city (no Something Fierce? no Western Civ? no Stadium? damn...). Including The Tontons, who we've got a long-overdue review up for, for 2007's Sea and Stars EP. They're playing at Venue, which I don't think I've ever been to, and seeing as they don't play in H-town a whole lot these days (lead singer Asli is apparently currently studying at the Savannah College of Art & Design -- "SCAD," for short -- waaaay over in Georgia). The music's pretty incredible -- jazzy and jam-y but not just boring noodling, bluesy and raspy in the best way, and psychedelic like people've forgotten how to be these days.

Of course, this being H-town, there's always Plan B. And in this case, that'd be the show that same night with Tucson's Mostly Bears at Rudyard's with good local folk Over Sea, Under Stone. Check out Brandon H.'s fine, fine review here, where he sings the praises of the band, comparing 'em (favorably) to The Arcade Fire & Radiohead. And -- sad but true -- this show's even more of a big deal because it's (dum-da-de-dum) OSUS's last gig. Dang. Go see 'em now, while you can. If the HPMAs wear you down, take the Plan B route and just head on over to Rudz, pull up a chair (believe me, after an hour or two at the showcase, you will desperately yearn for a chair), and rock out with a smile on your face.

So, there's the future, at least w/regard to SCR reviewage. There's plenty of other stuff, too, like reviews of the new and old Mudhoney discs -- the Superfuzz Bigmuff reissue and the band's latest, The Lucky Ones -- Mission Giant, The Drawing Board, Spanish Prisoners, & others. Check 'em here.

And hey, can't forget the live stuff. Contributing writer Jef did a very cool writeup of the latest Underworld show at Numbers, featuring local heroes Ex-Voto & strip -- ahem -- burlesque performers Cardinal Cyn & Ruby Rocket. Plus, there's Brigitte's glowing review of the Manchester Orchestra show from back in April...oh, and uh, Say Anything, Biffy Clyro, & Weatherbox played the show, too, to a not-so-glowing reaction.

That's it for now; here's the list:

Live Reviews: The Dark Knight -- Ex-Voto, Cardinal Cyn, & Ruby Rocket; Manchester Orchestra (with Say Anything, Biffy Clyro, & Weatherbox)

Reviews: Cardinal Trait; The Drawing Board; The Kindness Kind; Marqui Adora; The Mathletes; Mission Giant; Mostly Bears; Mudhoney; Spanish Prisoners; & The Tontons.

More on the way, y'all...

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

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

Mark yr calendars, all & sundry -- Saturday, July 26th will see the cataclysmic return of The Skyline Network's Hootenanny, rechristened the Twotenanny this time around. Once again The Mink Backroom will play host to a slew of H-town's best & brightest as they live out their totally un-ironic rockstar karaoke dreams. (I mean, c'mon -- any guy who's ever picked up a guitar and actually tried to do more w/it than pound out a few power-chords has at least once in their life fantasized about being Alex Lifeson. Anybody who says otherwise is lying out their ass.)

Here's the current lineup:

• American Sharks as The Cars
• Buxton as Björk
• Custom Drinker (Marshall Preddy) as Rod Stewart
• Flowers to Hide as The Cure
• The Kimonos as Blondie
• Paris Falls as Rush
• Sharks and Sailors as The Police
• Tody Castillo and Friends as Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
• Welfare Mothers as Johnny Cash
• Wild Moccasins as The B-52s

No idea as to the schedule, but y'know what? It doesn't matter, not a bit. Just show up, hang out, and grin like an idiot to local yer indie-rocker/punker buddies bash out songs like "King of Pain" (um, please?), "Ring of Fire" (well, duh), or "Do You Think I'm Sexy?" (whoo, boy...). Caveat: Yes, I am totally guessing at what songs these good people will be playing. And again: it doesn't matter. Just go. I went last year and was over the moon to witness Panic in Detroit's note-perfect impersonation of Jawbox and The Jonx living out Danny's dream of being NoMeansNo. It was beautiful, truly.

Not sure how much this thing'll cost, either, but odds are that it'll be cheap, cheap, cheap, 'cause that's how these guys (organizers ADR & Ben Murphy, specifically) roll. Oh, and if you're still undecided, here's the "laugh so hard your coworkers will wonder why you didn't forward them the joke, too" ad:

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

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

Back at the keyboard once again, post-Grand Canyon debacle (which I will post about, btw, for those who give a crap; still trying to organize thoughts & force myself to actually type it up), and we've got two updates' worth of new stuff up for all to ogle and admire and deride, as they/you see fit.

Anyway, first up I feel completely and totally compelled to mention that there's this badass show going on tonight (Tuesday, July 15th, for all the poor fools who have no calendars) up at The Mink's Backroom. Headliners are Sleepercar, which is Jim Ward's (ex-At The Drive-In/Sparta) new band, plus excellently awesome locals The JonBenet, Buxton, B., and -- most important to SCR at this particular juncture -- Giant Princess. We'd like to emphasize the coolness of Giant Princess specifically, esp. 'cause we just slapped a review of their free-to-all self-titled CD-R up on the ol' Website (courtesy of Jef "With One F" Rouner; thanks, Jeff!). No slight intended to any of the other fine bands playing, mind you -- we like The JB and Buxton a hell of a lot and have heard very nice things about B., too. It's just that being the ADD-addled people we (okay, I) are, we've gotta focus on what's in front of us, y'know?

Which means this coming Thursday, July 17th, leaves my little brain in twitchy, spastic overdrive. Because not only is Darkest Hour -- a fine, fine metalcore band from DC we here at SCR have been fans of for many moons (old-school interview Ruben did back in the day up here) -- playing that night over at Warehouse Live with At the Gates, Municipal Waste, & Toxic Holocaust (about all three of whom: sorry, no clue what they're like...), but the Free Press's Recession Thursdays thingy will feature mind-blowingly awesome local folks The Riff Tiffs as headliners, playing alongside Lisa's Sons, longtime fave Pale, The Takes, Come See My Dead Person, & DJ Ceeplus Bad Knives.

And just so you're not totally uninformed as to what's going on, we've kindly posted two reviews for you, one of the Riff Tiffs latest EP, festival/snflwr, which you can pretty much only obtain from the band themselves, so pester 'em if you see 'em (I was too slow last time, myself, and they'd already run out of copies) and one for Darkest Hour's latest, Deliver Us. There're other reviews up, as well, like writeups of the new My Morning Jacket, Gallhammer, No Age, Sigur Rós (oh, how I loathe formatting Icelandic characters in HTML...), Pomegranates, & others. Check 'em all out here

While we're at it, we've also got a couple of new show reviews on the site, writeups on the recent Her Space Holiday/Lymbyc Systym/We Were Wolves show at Walter's (here) and the not-as-recent Black Mountain show at The Meridian back 'round SXSW-time (here). We're very proud of 'em, and we're slowly, slowly catching up with the slew of show reviews our indefatigable contributors have been cranking out lately. Y'all do good.

Lastly (but certainly not leastly), yours truly has been finally attempting to rev back up again on actually updating the "Featured Bands" list -- I've kept a ton of deserving folk waiting in the wings for far too long to receive the dubious honor of having me blather about them on the Bands page. I'm working on rectifying that, so now you can read my quasi-insightful writings about local heroes By the End of Tonight, Deathbed Repentance, and listenlisten (sorry that one took so long, you guys!). More will come, I swear.

For now, here's the list:

New Featured Bands: By the End of Tonight; Deathbed Repentance; listenlisten

Live Reviews: Her Space Holiday/Lymbyc Systym/We Were Wolves; SXSW Spills Over with Black Mountain

Reviews: Giant Princess; My Morning Jacket; Darkest Hour; Pomegranates; I Love Math; The Riff Tiffs; Sigur Rós; Gallhammer; Jordan; No Age; Driver Side Impact; Hello Tokyo; Eric Layer; Little Name; Pain Principle; The Gena Rowlands Band; Jet Black Kiss; Juhu Beach; The Oswald Effect; & The Soulshake Express.

Enjoy it, folks, & come on back...

Labels: Featured Bands, Live Reviews, Reviews, Things To Do, Things To See

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

Okay, so maybe it's not that bad, but check out Ramon's chilling rundown of all the talented musician-type people leaving Houston for other parts. Danny from The Jonx I knew about, of course, but Sabra Laval, too? Papermoons? I know I mentioned before that one-fifth of The Church of Philadelphia's now living in Uganda (he wins the award for longest escape route from this city); now Carrie Ann Buchanan's gone, too? Dang. Hopefully Young Mammals don't call it a day after Iram leaves...

What the hell's going on, y'all? People by the thousands are finally actually moving here (some from places with much more cohesive scenes than ours who might -- just maybe -- be looking for some good H-town music), and yet cool music-makers are still fleeing town? sigh. I mean, I know Seattle and Austin and all those other places are plenty nice to live in, but damn. From what I've seen of the state of the scene these past couple of years, I thought H-town's music climate was looking up; are things that bad? (Of course, that's assuming people aren't moving for Day Job/Family-type reasons, as Danny did, but y'know.) Is the rain of toads at hand?

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

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

From ThinkProgress (via life is a thrill; yo, Marshall!), yes, it seems that now pretty much anything can make right-wing nutjob demagogues quiver with outrage, including a movie about a cartoon robot. Who, um, works on cleaning up a polluted planet. And is looking for love. Did I mention this is a cartoon, and not the new Michael Moore movie?

What, did these folks run out of ways to compare the Iowa floods to Katrina and find themselves at a loss for something to freak out about? Yeesh. The next time some right-winger sneers at some liberally-minded person for being "P.C." and being insulted/threatened by everything, I may have to slap 'em across their imbecilic face. If I'm not doubled over laughing, of course.

(In the interests of fairness, I feel compelled to note, that not all Repubs are quite this stupid/nuts. My dad, for one, is a lifelong Republican, and he saw the movie last weekend and liked it. Dad's always been a big outdoors lover, however, and I think he now secretly loathes Bush, so maybe he's the oddball here, not the foaming-at-the-mouth talking heads.)

Labels: Entertainobabble, Political Stuff, Random Rambling

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

Ah, the wonderfully pungent smell of victory in the War of Online vs. Offline Reviewing-Type Publication Thingys (thanks to Paper Thin Walls/HypeBot for the link).

Of course, the survey also says that it's the opinions of friends & social-networking contacts that really do the job (response for which: duh), but screw it, I'm not gonna let that rain on my parade. After all, now's when the $$$ starts rollin' in, right? Right? Ah, dammit...

Labels: Entertainobabble, Musical Crap, Random Rambling

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

Okay, so it seems I inferred incorrectly from a very-very-very brief conversation w/Jacob Calle that he was also doing some kind of organizing for the Creature Comforts Art Show this coming July 12th, and I'm currently feeling like a big ol' idiot. Per more informed sources than me, Jacob's not running the show, but just happens to have some artwork in it...whoops. Just to be clear, I'd like to say that this was totally me drawing incorrect conclusions from a half-garbled conversation in a club, and Jacob in no way tried to claim credit for the show, so please-please-please don't bug him about it. This was me being a dumbass, without any help from anybody else -- mea culpa, y'all.

So, big apologies to the people who are actually behind the Creature Comforts show, the ArtStorm crew, who will hopefully not sneak up on me at some random point in the future and deliver a crushing kidney punch or something to my out-of-shape ass (you know how artists can be, yo). I didn't mean to misinform, and I am a fool -- kids, this is what happens when you frantically speed-blog a bunch of crap up on a site so you can go help your father-in-law lay down vinyl flooring...gah. (Every time I think nobody actually reads this damn thing but me, I swear, it bites me on the ass...)

Here's the actual info, just to clarify things -- the Creature Comforts show's a cool showcase of art & music that features a bunch of excellent H-town artists and music types, as well as Torontoan (Torontoite?) Michael Deforge. Local artists include Eli Sebastian Brumbaugh (who I think is the show's primary organizer, as well), Lisa Marie Godfrey, Rene Cruz, Shane Hillman, and yes, Jacob Calle, and there'll be bands on hand at the opening reception on the 12th (which runs from 7-10PM), like the ever-excellent Young Mammals, Wicked Poseur, News on the March, & L.A. band Hard Place. It'll be over at the recently-opened Caroline Collective at 4828 Caroline (where ArtStorm currently lives), and it sounds like be a good time. If you can't make it, though, the art (although not the music) will be on display 'til August 9th (check the ArtStorm site for hours).

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

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UPDATE! Argh, I screwed up -- ignore the art show stuff at the bottom & check the next post, instead...

Yesterday evening I dragged homeboy Jowell on up to Notsuoh for the rescheduled, shifted-around, and somewhat downsized (Ex-)Keene St. Warehouse Party. I had some serious misgivings about the whole thing, I have to admit -- I was halfway afraid we'd get there & find Notsuoh shuttered and locked down, with nobody in sight. Even if it was still going, I had a horrible feeling that there might only be a handful of people there. I figured, though, that I needed to make a go of it in spite of all that, with SCR acting as one of the show's sponsors & all.

Luckily, I was way off. The show did go on, and there was a pretty big crowd in attendance -- big enough that it was hard to move around inside the venue. I didn't see a whole lot of familiar faces, but hey, I'm thinking that's a good thing; I've been to more than enough shows that were attended pretty much solely by members of other local bands. The more kids that come out to shows, esp. the local ones, the better.

As soon as we got to the club, we ran into show organizer Jacob Calle, meeting him in the flesh for the first time, and I was mightily impressed. I've been to some shows where the booking folks just set the bands up to play & bail, but Jacob stuck it out the whole time, constantly bouncing from one part of the place to another. He explained the hassles he & Eric of I Heart U Productions (not to mention their army of kind volunteers) had gone through to get the show together, and man, the guy's had a rough week of it. Apparently the owner of the Keene St. Warehouse promised the moon w/regard to renovations and not only couldn't deliver but kept telling Jacob he'd have the place ship-shape in time for 7/5.

Alas, 'twas not to be. When Jacob & Eric finally got a look at the place, it still had no roof, no floor, and no power. The pair decided to take matters into their own hands and started building out the warehouse specifically for the show, but then nature intervened -- it rained, and when Jacob came by to finish the floor, he found four inches of water standing throughout the place. That's when the word went out that the whole shebang was cancelled.

Luckily, Jacob didn't want to give it up quite yet, so he headed on over to Notsuoh to see owner Jim Pirtle & beg and plead to be able to shift the show over to his home/club/coffeehouse, in part so that the organizers could begin to recoup some of their (substantial) losses. Pirtle, being the cool guy he is, immediately agreed -- from what I heard, he didn't even take any $$$ at the door.

So the show was a go. I don't know how much Jacob & co. still lost (as of 11PM or so, they had $500 of free beer that they couldn't do anything with), but things seemed to roll along nicely. And Jacob himself was hands-down the nicest guy, seriously -- I'm happy as hell I got to meet him.

Unfortunately, due to family stuff, we didn't make it up to Notsuoh 'til 8:30PM or so -- but the three bands we caught were pretty damn incredible. I'd heard all three before, but never seen any of 'em, so I was looking forward to checking 'em all out live for once. (Got some more pics up here on Flickr, if you're curious.)

O Pioneers!!!: Whoa. Color me impressed. I'd been up-and-down on these guys for a while, having only heard some of their older(?) recorded stuff, and I hate to say it, but it mostly just made me shrug and say "eh..." Live, though, I was bowled over -- Eric (who also does the I Heart U stuff, I believe) has nicely rough vocals, and the clean-yet-loud guitars make me think (favorably) of Against Me! or American Steel. Plus, Eric managed to put the evening into perspective nicely, summing up the show's difficulties by saying: "Fuck it, y'know? It's Saturday night; let's have some fun!"

The Riff Tiffs: Okay, so I still feel like an idiot for not realizing that the cute girl taking money at the door was Althea from the Tiffs; I asked her who was playing, and then spotted the list of scheduled bands and pointed to the Riff Tiffs' name and said, "yeah, they're who I'm really here to see." She gave me a funny smile, and I couldn't figure out why until I saw her step onstage and pick up her bass (at which point I slapped myself on the forehead). The band was freaking awesome live, hypnotic and mesmerizing and roaring all at once; surging, fiery guitars, high-pitched dreampop-y vocals, and the best damn rhythm section I've seen in a while. Jowell loved 'em, too (this was his first exposure to the Tiffs), comparing them to Royskopp and Sigur Rós, which makes some sense, although he said he lost the comparison when the band kicked it into overdrive.

By the End of Tonight: Another one I was somewhat uncertain about... I've heard BTEOT on CD many times, but it never really clicked for me, y'know? It was always too disjointed, too all-over-the-place, so much so that it gave me a headache and not a whole lot else. I think, though, that the live environment is really where the band shines -- they were absolutely fucking insane, spellbindingly so. The all-over-the-place-ness suddenly made perfect sense as the band threw itself across the floor of Notsuoh, stitching together a dozen different styles and tempos, and the whole thing just kind of snapped together for me: "Holy shit, this is what this band's about." The music was constantly on the verge of collapsing completely, but somehow pulled back from the precipice every time.

I should note, btw, that it was pretty obvious by the crowd reaction that By the End of Tonight was who the bulk of the crowd came to see, and people were going apeshit by about halfway through their set. The band played on the floor (as did O Pioneers!!!; Riff Tiffs took the actual stage), with their gigantic-ass speakers occupying the stage; bassist James (I think that's his name) climbed the stacks towards the end of the set and crouched on top, banging on his bass and screaming, "We will all be dead by the end of tonight!" at the top of his lungs. It was a beautiful sight to behold. When we left Notsuoh (with a brand-spankin'-new custom Space City Rock banner under my arm -- thanks, Jacob!), our heads were ringing, our mouths were open, and our necks were sore. All of which is a good thing, in my book.

So in the end, it all worked out, and Jacob finally got to throw his party, even if it didn't go quite like he'd planned (anybody know what they did with all the beer?).

UPDATE: Gah! Ignore the bit below -- real-live accurate info to come shortly...

Never one to rest on his laurels, though, he's got another show coming up, a combination art/music show on July 12th called Creature Comforts -- it'll be over at the ArtStorm/Caroline Collective (4828 Caroline), with a bunch of artists (incl. Jacob, Lisa Marie Godfrey, Eli Sebastian Brumbaugh, & others) and a bunch of cool bands/musicians, (incl. Young Mammals, Wicked Poseur, Hard Place, & News on the March). Check it out, y'all...

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

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Okay. So...it is on, albeit in a much-changed form. The Keene St. Warehouse Party has so far had its headliner (Andrew W.K., for those not paying attention) cancel, discovered that the venue (the Keene St. Warehouse -- duh) had not been rebuilt/renovated after it got hit by a fire a while back and was soaked with water, gotten canceled completely, had a bunch of local bands bow out, and then lurch back to life at a new location.

Here's the new info, as of this last night: the show is now going to be up at Notsuoh in downtown, with local cool folks By the End of Tonight, The Riff Tiffs, O Pioneers!!!, The Watermarks, Lisa's Sons, Welfare Mothers, Limb, and B L A C K I E still playing. It kicks off at 5PM, instead of 1PM, and looks to be ending a lot earlier than the original 4AM shutdown time. Dang. I'm bummed The Octopus Project & Bring Back The Guns aren't playing (and AWK, naturally, but I've already vented about that), but BTEOT, Riff Tiffs (who we've got a new review for up here!), and Watermarks are all very much worth checking out, so get on out and support 'em. See the schedule over to the right for times...

Big, big, big thank-yous, by the way, to Ramon over at Free Press Houston for playing detective yesterday & tracking down Eric at I Heart U to get the lowdown on the sorry state of the warehouse itself -- check out the writeup & pics if you want to see what it looks like. I'm thinking the switch to Notsuoh's a good thing.

(I'm a little irked, I should note, that SCR was a sponsor of this whole deal and yet I/we have had to find out what the fuck's going on at every stage of this either from the Free Press & the Hands Up board, with zero actual contact from the show organizers. I know y'all have been swamped, but still, a quick update for your sponsors would've been nice...)

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

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And here I was, all gearing up to rant & rave, only to swing by the Hands Up board and learn that Andrew W.K. will now not be playing the Keene St. Warehouse Party this coming Saturday, July 5th. From AWK's Website:

"I'm very sorry that the Houston show fell through. We did our best to salvage it, but the opportunity vanished. I'll come back to Houston soon and the party will be better than ever. We were advised by some of the show organizers that their original plans had fallen through, and in their opinion, we should cancel, rather than show up and not be able to play. I was sincerely looking forward to seeing many familiar faces and old friends, and I've been deeply frustrated by this turn of events. It wasn't meant to be this time, but there will be a next time, and it will be great."

This really, really, really bums me out. Seriously. I'd been psyched as hell for the show, folks, in a way that I have for few shows outside of Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings' Houston appearance a while back. sigh. Oh, well -- least we got to chat with the guy, albeit briefly.

On the positive side, it looks like the show will go on, although I'm a bit confused, in that case, about reports of permits not being appropriately obtained; if a lack of permits stops one guy from playing, uh, wouldn't it stop everybody? Anybody know? Whatever the story is, it still promises to be a heck of a show -- it's hard to go wrong with The Octopus Project, Bring Back the Guns, The Riff Tiffs, Papermoons, & The Watermarks on the bill, I've meant to catch O Pioneers!!! for a very long time, and I've heard really good things about Welfare Mothers, American Sharks, & B., as well. (Dunno much about the rest, sorry.)

So keep it penciled in, people, and go celebrate the fuck out of our great, strange, sometimes misguided but always hopeful country. Happy We-Kicked-the-English-Out-of-America Day, y'all.

(And yes, I do realize AWK's still playing tomorrow night up in Austin. Fuck Austin.)

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

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