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November 2007
Funeral Service for Obatallah Hayter
The funeral service for Obatallah Hayter will be held 2:30 p.m. Saturday at Phillips Upshaw and Richard Funeral Home (1410 E. 12th St., 472-1934).
The jazz pianist, radio personality and Soul Happening “maestro of ceremonies” died Nov. 24 in Austin. He was 67 years old.
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Former Austin band offers some free music.
The formerly Austin-based psychedelic rock band Primordial Undermind is offering some l a batch of live tracks from 2002 to 2007 at the Primordial Undermind Last FM page. They’re in the ‘from the band’ album.
Enjoy.
Billboard on the on-going MP3ization of everything
This excellent story by Billboard reporter Ed Christman does a nice job of taking stock of the pressures on major labels to ramp up their MP3 offerings, including retail goliath Wal-Mart’s interest in MP3s and an Amazon/Pepsi Super Bowl cross-promotion open only to labels distributing on MP3.
On the other hand, the week before, Billboard discussed an issue we at Austin Music Source have bee harping on for a long time - that vinyl is making a very real resurgence, thanks to a hipness factor, the warmth and presence of vinyl.
These are strange, strange times to be in the CD business.
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Weekend Picks: English Beat, Grimy Styles, free Scotch and arm wrestling, more
Friday: The English Beat at Antone’s. This band is essentially former English Beat frontman Dave Wakeling and a solo band featuring Wayne Lothian of General Public and Special Beat, Rick Torres of Supreme Beings of Leisure and others. This band should not be confused with a band called the Beat in the UK, which features Ranking Rodger and a few original members of the Beat, which used to feature Dave Wakeling and was known in the States as the English Beat. Confusing, huh? $17.— Joe Gross
Friday: Grimy Styles, Kanko at Flamingo Cantina. Austin’s premiere dub band, Grimy Styles, has been putting in some serious tour mileage around the country this year. They bring their unique style of fuzzed out groove back to Flamingo just in time to kick off the weekend. Kanko is the latest project from former Grupo Fantasma frontman Brian Ramos. The music, while hard to classify (psycho-ska-cumbia?), is fast, loud and a whole lot of fun. Cover unspecified. — Deborah Sengupta Stith
Friday and Saturday: Party Ends presents… Local bloggers/promoters/scenesters John Gross and Luther Himes run Partyends.com a site about music and, you guessed it, parties. They host two happenings this weekend, Astronautalis, Listener Project and Transmography at the Mohawk on Friday and “Man Fest” with Golden Bear from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the south location of Birds Barbershop on Saturday. “Man Fest” features arm wrestling competitions, a lumberjack photo booth, hot dogs and, best of all, free Scotch from Dewars and beer from Steamworks Brewing Company. Mohawk cover unspecified; “Man Fest” is free. — D.S.S.
Saturday: Avenged Sevenfold at La Zona Rosa. These guys probably suspected that nu metal was peaking at the very moment they started and that metalcore — a combination of hardcore punk’s speed with metal’s blocky, complicated riffs — was the next metal subgenre to take flight. They also have names such as M. Shadows, Synyster Gates and Zacky Vengeance. With Operator, the Confession, Black Tide Comps. $26 advance, $28 at the door. — J.G.
Saturday: Afrofreque CD release party at Lamberts. If you’re an old-school Austin hip-hop head, chances are you remember the excellent instrumental hip-hop act Big Game Hunter that used to pack the Ritz Upstairs back when it was a classy music venue with candles on the tables. That was a decade ago. One of the two socially conscious BGH emcees, Tigre Liu, re-emerged a few years back as the frontman for Afrofreque a soulful groove unit that meshes hip-hop, reggae and electronic sounds. They celebrate the release of their long-awaited album ‘Fresh Soul Frequencies’ this weekend. $5. —D.S.S.
Saturday and Sunday: Famecast Fenom finals at Stubb’s BBQ. While I’m still not 100 percent sold on FameCast, the online “American Idol”-style competition/MySpace hybrid which is somehow already in its third season, the $10,000 grand prize awarded to the winning artist in each category is nothing to scoff at. The finals for Singer-Songwriter and Rock are on Saturday and Pop and Hip Hop/R&B are on Sunday and plenty of locals are competing. Famecast finals continue through December 5. $8 —D.S.S.
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In the clubs with the Black
Garage rock geniuses the Black have been poking around Austin and elsewhere since 2002. David Longoria had the tunes and the pipes. Andy Morales had the drums. Guitarist Alan Schaefer joined in ‘04, and Yamal Said replaced Morales in ‘05. Longoria has done time in the 2005 iteration of And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, as has Schaefer.
But the Black might be most notorious for a revolving cast of bassists, enough to field a decent, if short, basketball team. Previous occupants have included such luminaries as the Crackpipes’ Nick Moulos, Pink Nasty and Zach Hennard. The current draftee is Ryan Hall.
The Black’s only full-length CD, “Tanglewood,” was released in 2005. But the new EP “Donna” feels like a quantum leap. This is the kind of country that Bob Dylan used to make — lead twang, lightly strummed rhythm guitar, unobtrusive bass and driving drums. “Eshu Blues” and the title track really do sound like “Blonde on Blonde” outtakes. Clearly, they should have been on the soundtrack for “I’m Not There.”
For a preview of the Black’s magic in a live setting, check out the clip on the band’s home page.
In the clubs: The Black play a CD release party for the ‘Donna’ EP on Saturday with Black Joe Lewis and Yellow Fever at the Hole in the Wall. No cover.
(Pictured top: (L to r) Matt Simon, Alan Schaefer, Ryan “Stevie” Hall, Yamal Said, and David Longoria. All photos by Tammy Perez FOR AMERICAN-STATESMAN)
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Joe Ely on TV and radio this weekend
Joe Ely and accordionist Joel Guzman will appear on CBS’s Saturday Early Show on Dec. 2.
Later that day, he will join the cast of Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion, airing live on public radio nationwide from Town Hall in New York.
On Sunday, Ely and Guzman will appear on Sirius Radio with Dave Marsh’s Kick Out The Jams (11 a.m. EST on SIRIUS Talk Central/148).
(Pictured: Garrison Keillor (l) and Joe Ely at a 2006 event for Molly Ivins in Austin. Riccardo Brazziell AMERICAN-STATESMAN)
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White Demin hits us off with a free single.
White Denim is offering the song “The World As A Waiting Room” for free download here at the site for the Rcrd Lbl record label (get it?).
This is the debut track rom the group’s Rcrd Lbl EP. The EP, available for legal and free download only at RCRD LBL.com, will feature four songs, with a new track being released every month through February.
Look out for a full White Denim LP on Rcrd Lbl in early 2008.
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Make Austin Weirder: Groover’s Paradise
In August, the City Parks & Recreation Department unveiled a nifty 21-acre “urban park” next to the Palmer Events Center, where City Coliseum used to be. The naming process is in its first stage, with suggestions accepted until Dec. 10. After that, the Parks Board will hold a public hearing and make a recommendation to the City Council for approval. Since the park is near Lady Bird Lake, a natural choice as namesake is Liz Carpenter. Imagine taking the Ann Richards Bridge over Lady Bird Lake to get to Liz Carpenter Park. Let’s name that stretch of Riverside Drive after Molly Ivins and watch Republicans taking the long way around to get to Furr’s.
Main problem, well, not for Ms. Carpenter, is that Lady Bird’s former press secretary is still alive.
I propose going in a whole ‘nuther direction. I think we should call the park “Groover’s Paradise” and erect a statue of Doug Sahm at the fountain. More than anybody else, Sahm was the heart and soul of Austin music. He could play country, conjunto, rock, blues, Cajun, whatever and he was instrumental in recording an otherwise forgotten key period in Roky Erickson’s creative life. He never really achieved the icon status of Stevie Ray Vaughan or Willie Nelson, but in the day in and day out of the Austin music scene, no one’s influence is more evident than Sahm’s.
The new park also has a pond that I think we should name after the great percussionist and free spirit Mambo John Treanor, who used to swim a mile a day. Infamous for the hats and other garments he made from roadkill, Mambo succumbed to cancer in 2001.
Then there are trails, which lead to an observation hill. It would be nice to see, at the top of that hill, a pair of simple plaques bearing the names of Walter Hyatt and Champ Hood, two-thirds of Uncle Walt’s Band. That’s the group that showed Lyle Lovett that folk can be elegant.
A suggestion for naming a facility after an individual must contain a biographical sketch and the individual’s connection, if any, to the Austin park system, according to Parks & Rec guidelines. Nominating forms can be downloaded here or picked up at the main office: 200 S. Lamar Blvd.
(Pictured: Doug Sahm at Antone’s in 1998. Photo by Taylor Johnson AMERICAN-STATESMAN)
Okkervil River tops Harp chart
Four Austin-based acts are in the top six records of 2007 according to Harp magazine, with “The Stage Names” by Okkervil River coming in at No. 1. Here’s the top six, with asterisks next to local albums:
Okkervil River, “The Stage Names” *
Band Of Horses, “Cease To Begin”
Iron & Wine, “The Shepherd’s Dog” *
“Future Clouds & Radar” *
Feist, “The Reminder”
Spoon, “Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga” *
By the way, the Radiohead record was number 7.
Robert Harrison’s Future Clouds & Radar was named Best New Act by Harp.
Meanwhile, over at Paste, the highest-rated Austin area act was Iron & Wine at No. 10, with Patty Griffin’s “Children Running Through” at No. 24, Spoon at No. 29, Explosions In the Sky at No. 63, Okkervil at No. 76 and Ruthie Foster at No. 86. A banner year for Austin releases. The entirety of the Paste list
(Pictured: Okkervil River at Fun Fun Fun Fest. Photo by Jay Janner AMERICAN-STATESMAN)
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Review: Walter Tragert at the Saxon Pub
For more than three years, Walter Tragert’s weekly post-Resentments gig at the Saxon Pub provided one of the best reasons to stay out late on the worst night to stay out late. He ended his long run with a bang-up show last Sunday that kept the dance floor grooving even harder heading toward midnight than it had been in the early evening — even if the club was no longer as full.
Tragert has one of the strongest voices around, and one of the most versatile. With longtime cohort (and card-carrying Resentment) Scrappy Jud Newcomb on equally eclectic electric guitar, Tragert and his band covered enough ground Sunday to satiate the greediest musical omnivore.
Tuneful originals included the rocking “Harder Tonight” and “Hand of the Devil,” as well as “Singing on the Radio,” with its hard-charging soul groove. Tragert’s tenor showed its rough-hewn side on a ragged-but-right cover of the Band’s “The Weight,” and gathered gravelly urgency on a transcendentally raucous version of Van Morrison’s “Gloria.” His voice was just plain gorgeous on Jimmy Cliff’s ballad “Many Rivers to Cross,” and soulful and seductive on Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On.”
Tragert is on the Saxon’s schedule for the last Sunday in December, but he said by phone Wednesday that the date is only tentative, because it might be tricky getting enough players around New Year’s, what with all the private parties and such. It was partly the difficulty in keeping a regular band together for a low-paying Sunday gig that led Tragert to end his residency.
“It was fun, but I couldn’t always get the same people,” Tragert said. “The level of musicianship was never any question … but when you have the same lineup as a regular thing, hopefully you’re going to develop arrangements that will really gel. As a front guy, I want to really be free to do my thing, as opposed to having a little voice in the back of my head going ‘Oh my God, what’s it going to sound like?’”
Tragert said he plans to hibernate a little while, write some songs, maybe collaborate with some friends he hasn’t worked with before, and take into consideration the fact that he’s sold more records in Japan than in Austin.
“Japan is calling me. They like me over there. I’ve played a lot of really good shows over there, even signed autographs at Tower Records next to a big cutout of me and Jud!” he said with a laugh.
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George Strait ticket policy
Tickets go on sale Saturday at 10 a.m. for the Jan. 10 George Strait show. They are $54.50 and 64.50 each.
Here is the ticket policy:
Numbered wristbands for the first day of ticket sales will be distributed for one day only on Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Frank Erwin Center and at all Texas Box Office Outlets.
The beginning of the line will be randomly determined on Saturday at 9:30 a.m.
Wristbands guarantee a place in line, but do not guarantee tickets. There is a 10 ticket limit.
For more information on the wristband policy and for a complete listing of Texas Box Office outlets, visit uterwincenter.com.
CD Review: “KGSR Broadcasts Vol. 15”
Various Artists
“KGSR Broadcasts Vol.15” (KGSR)
Yes, kids, it’s that time of year again. The temperatures are cooler, we’re all recovering from a trytophan haze and yet another volume of KGSR’s Broadcast series has hit the shelves.
The series has a couple of functions, all of them vaguely related to one another.
As usual, all proceeds go to the SIMS Foundation — you are doing a good deed by buying the thing for yourself and as a gift. At about $15 for a double CD, it’s a bargain. And a good Austin gift it makes, too. Not only do you get a snapshot of the year in Austin roots rock (for the most part), but you get exactly what KGSR, one of the city’s signature stations, delivers. If you like the CD, you’ll like the station. If you don’t, there absolutely no reason to listen to it. (As a colleague noted, “Wait, these are all live versions of the songs they already play on the radio.”)
Ian McLagan and the Bump Band kick off the first CD with the organ-fueled groover “Spiritual Babe.” Gomez’s “See the World” reminds you that guy sure can sing (and really should do some sort of Joe Cocker tribute album). Tony Joe White sounds almost conscious on “Rainy Night in Georgia.” Cover model Jimmie Vaughan shows up twice, once playing the instrumental “Extra Jimmys” and once with Omar “Kent” Dykes taking the “Jimmy Reed Highway.” Rickie Lee Jones drop by with “Falling Up.” Patty Griffin’s acoustic “Heavenly Day” is a gauzy highlight, and Spoon’s acoustic “The Underdog” is a balm for anyone who doesn’t really like the horns on the studio version. Other out of towners include Ryan Adams and the Cardinals, Joan Armatrading, and album closer Los Lobos, who take us down the “Road to Gila Bend.”
Consistency, thy name is “Vol. 15.” And 14. And 13. And so on.
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C3 announces New Jersey rock festival
C3 Presents announced today the Vineland (N.J.) Music Festival for Aug. 8 to 10 to be held at a 500-acre farm in Vineland, N.J.,
The new Vineland fest is a partnership with U.K. festival producer Melvin Benn’s Festival Republic. Benn’s company produces the Reading (U.K.) Festival, the Leeds Festival and the legendary Glastonbury Festival, among others. The Glastonbury Festival all but kicked off the modern rock destination festival in the early 1970s.
The Vineland announcement comes two weeks after C3 seemed on track to produce a festival in Philadelphia, Penn., but Philadelphia-based company Electric Factory Concerts, wanted to throw a 40th anniversary concert at the same Belmont Plateau site that C3 was vying for.
On Nov. 14, Philadelphia’s Fairmount Park Commission tabled until next month a decision on which festival to select.
“The Philly deal looked like it wasn’t going to come off until ‘09 and we already had offer out to bands and a lot of money already invested,” Attal said. “We talked with Melvin over the years and this was a perfect opportunity.”
Festival fans will note that the Vineland Festival is scheduled for one week after Lollapalooza, also produced by C3 and scheduled for Aug. 1 to 3.
“Some bands will play both,” Attal says, “but the two festivals will be very different.”
Attal said Vineland would be of comparable size to the 80,000-capacity Bonnaroo, which is scheduled for June 12 to 15 in Manchester, Tenn.
In other C3 news, the company scored five nominations in the 2008 Pollstar Awards, including two noms for festival (for Austin City Limits Music Festival and Lollapalooza Festival), nightclub (Stubb’s), nightclub talent buyer (Amy Corbin), independent promoter (Charles Attal) and the Bill Graham award/ promoter of the year for Attal.
Plans to produce a festival on Mars in 2025 could not be confirmed at press time.
R.I.P. Obatallah
Obatallah Hayter, pianist, radio personality and “maestro of ceremonies” at many of the wildly popular Soul Happenings thrown by local vinyl fanatics Dr. Rhythm, Little Danny and Greg Most, died Saturday in Austin. He was 67 years old.
“I can’t overstate how much happiness emceeing the Soul Happenings gave him these past 10 years,” Dr. Rhythm wrote in an e-mail. “In times of sickness, the thought of the next event sustained him. He absolutely LOVED you, the people on the dance floor! Even just a few days before he passed, as he reminisced about past Soul Happenings, a smile came across his face as he said, ‘Damn, we’ve sure had some good times!’”
(Photo courtesy of Dr. Rhythm)
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In other festival news….
Get ready for the punk/garage powered Ground Zero fest the weekend of Dec. 6 through 8. It’s quite the line-up.
There’s a champagne toast and opening ceremony Dec. 6 at Sound on Sound, followed by a show at Beerland starring The Spits, The Reds, Nobunny, Cheap Time, Wax Museums and Hibachi Stranglers.
Dec. 7, get ready for a day show at 4 pm at Skatepark of Austin (1615 Rutherford Ln.)
with rhe Spits, Tunnel of Love, and Hex Dispensers.
That night check out The Bad Times (a underground/hipster garage supergroup featuring Jay Reatard, King Louie and Eric Oblivian), The Blowtops, Tunnel of Love, and the Barbaras at Beerland
Being the noise-rock nerd that I am, Dec. 8 might be my favorite night with (Expletive) Jeans, Die Rotzz, the almighty Snake Apartment, Total Abuse and The Young at Beerland
Dec. 9 closes out the fest with the Hex Dispensers, Don Juan and (Something we can’t put in the paper or on-line), the Teeners, Black Panda, the Hood Rats and the Pepperonis at Beerland.
Killer stuff, folks.
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Austin festivals take a quarter (or is that a third?) of the Plug Awards festival nods
No fewer than three Austin-based music festivals have been nominated in a for the independent music Plug awards.
The Austin City Limits Music Festival, Fun Fun Fun Fest and South By Southwest all took noms, as did the C3-orchestrated Lollapalooza.
Vote for your faves accordingly.
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Encore Top 10 for the week ending Nov. 26
Various Artists, ‘KGSR Broadcast Vol. 15’ (KGSR)
Dillinger Escape Plan, ‘Ire Works’ (Relapse)
Nine Inch Nails, ‘Yearzeroremixed’ (Interscope)
Electric Wizard, ‘Witchcult Today’ (Candlelight)
Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, ‘Raising Sand’ (Rounder)
The Hives, ‘The Black & White Album’ (A&M)
Puscifer, ‘V is for Vagina’ (Puscifer)
Witchcraft, ‘The Alchemist’ (Candlelight)
Angels & Airwaves, ‘I-Empire (Universal)
Sebastian Bach, ‘Angel Down’ (MRV)
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Musicmania Top 10 Week Ending Nov. 25
Trae ‘Life Goes On’ (Rap-A-Lot)
Alicia Keys ‘As I Am’ (J Records)
Mike Jones ‘American Dream’ (Asylum)
Keyshia Cole ‘Just Like You’ (Geffen)
KGSR ‘Broadcast Volume 15’ (KGSR)
Jay-Z ‘American Gangster’ (Def Jam)
Plies ‘Real Testament’ (Slip-N-Slide)
Soulja Boy ‘Souljaboytellem.com’ (Interscope)
Kanye West ‘Graduation’ (Def Jam)
UGK ‘Underground Kingz’ (Jive)
(Musicmania 3909 D North IH 35 #1 451-3361)
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The new Austin Music Hall throws a cool opening bash
Well, it’s like a venue. And yes, it does sound a little better, especially for the second-floor deck area where the bleachers will go. Even without the delay speakers in the back. Or, um, walls.
Monday night’s unveiling of the new Austin Music Hall was a cool affair and by cool I mean everyone kept their coats on. The benefit concert for HAAM and the SIMS Foundation proceeded smoothly, if a little behind schedule in typical Austin music fashion.
It also proceeded with cold air coming in from the outside. Second floor walls were not quite finished and by not quite finished I mean largely absent. I’m pretty sure this is not what Direct Event head honcho Tim O’Connor meant by excellent air conditioning.
But in fairness, it is a neat building, from the ultramodern, unfinished outside, a visual tangle of steel and brick, to the second-floor balcony, which puts patrons within 15 or so horizontal feet (and about 12 vertical feet) of the stage. It going to be quite a place when filled with all 4,400 bodies it can accommodate.
But Monday night smelled of drywall and plywood. The box office was a hole in the wall with construction equipment behind the fellow handing out tickets. While drinks and cheese cubes were consumed by patrons in hats and scarves, O’Connor made the rounds, telling everyone with a perfectly straight face it was 95 percent done. (We kid. Based on the amount of underground pylon sinking, ductwork, electrical upgrades and build out O’Connor’s contractors had to do, 95 percent sounds about right.)
But please put tell us doors are eventually going on the men’s room stalls. Please.
The sound? Well, it wasn’t that great from the ground floor, improving a bit on the second floor. Acts such as Nakia and his Southern Cousins and Carolyn Wonderland boomed in the new room. The ceiling is a maze of steel and ductwork, the floor a concrete slab, the original floor for the original Hall in fact. (But he did get rid of the columns. And that is a vast improvement.)
The front of the house PA was clearly temporary, and Direct Events folks said this will probably be the case from here on out. This isn’t entirely unexpected, in spite of early indications that Austin Music Hall would be acoustically treated and permanently tuned. With so many big name acts traveling with their own PA (or requiring easily rentable speakers), it makes a certain kind of financial sense to skip a permanent front-of-the-house PA, sink money into the permanent speakers in the back of the house and tune the room for each individual act at sound check for that particular gig.
It was also nice to have a layout that didn’t require a lot of security. O’Connor (and his architects) specifically designed the backstage areas to require only one guard per doorway. This sort of minimal security makes for a relaxed atmosphere. Let’s hope they’re able to keep this up for bigger shows.
The Bobby Bones Show Anniversary Bash takes place Dec. 8 and features Lifehouse, Sean Kingston, Good Charlotte and more. I look forward to the finished product. It’s 95 percent there. They swear.
(Photos by Larry Kolvoord AMERICAN-STATESMAN)
FameCast season three goes live
Finalists for the third season of the Austin-based online talent competition “FameCast” will be performing live Dec. 1 through 5 at Stubb’s and Antone’s. Season three artists started uploading videos in September. It is now down to the final 60 acts.
Five acts in each of 12 categories will compete live to determine a winner. The performances will then be webcast on www.famecast.com from Dec. 10 to 22, and online voters will determine which performers will earn the grand prize of $10,000 and be crowned a “FameCast Fenom.”
Tickets for the shows are $8 at FrontGateTickets.com. Check out Famecast.com for the full schedule.
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Austinsurreal: Houston rap blog don to relocate to Austin
Matt Sonzala, longtime champion of Houston rap and curator of the excellent blog Houstonsoreal.com announced last week that he’s relocating to Austin to take a full-time position working for SXSW. Sonzala has been booking shows at SXSW for a minute and he was largely responsible for the excellent selection of hip-hop and rap acts that made last year’s event the most diverse SXSW I’ve ever seen. He’s already working on the 2008 lineup and swears it will be hotter than ever.
In terms of his blog game, Sonzala plans to launch a new site called Austinsurreal.com (no link as it’s not up yet) which will host a couple weekly podcasts, one featuring Houston-centric rap and the other featuring all new music from a wide variety of genres. We look forward to the launch.
Welcome to Austin, Matt.
(Photo: Matt Sonzala at SXSW 2007)
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Waterloo Top 10 for the week ending Nov. 24
‘KGSR Broadcasts Vol. 15’ (KGSR)
‘KGSR Broadcasts Vol. 14’ (KGSR)
Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, ‘Raising Sand’ (Rounder)
Iron & Wine, ‘The Shepherd’s Dog’ (Sub Pop)
Lyle Lovett and His Large Band, ‘It’s Not Big it’s Large’ (Lost Highway)
Stevie Ray Vaughan, ‘Solos, Sessions & Encores’ (Sony)
Octopus Project, ‘Hello, Avalanche’ (Peek-A-Boo)
Levon Helm, ‘Dirt Farmer,’ (Vangaurd)
Toni Price, ‘Talk Memphis,’ (Texas Music Group)
Gram Parsons, ‘Archive Vol. One: Live at the Avalon Ballroom’ (Amoeba)
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Weekend Picks: Party in the woods, Bruce, Kelly, Ghostface, Grupo and more
Friday: Psychedelic Horse S at Beerland. This Ohio outfit was one of the true revelations of SXSW ’07, as in tune with the parameters of small-stakes no-fi guitar rock as early Pavement or earlier Guided By Voices. It’s 1990 all over again, people. Brilliant bummers Pink Reason headlining. —- Joe Gross
Friday: When Roots Attack! at Ruta Maya. Get your irie vibe on and help the kids from KVRX at this student radio benefit with McPullish, Don Chani, Judge, DJ Dubbist, and Green Belt Soundsystem. All proceeds go toward the station’s operating costs. $7 —- Deborah Sengupta Stith
Saturday: Grupo Fantasma at Antone’s. They have the funk, the soul, the salsa, the Latin heat. Prince loves them and so should you. With DJ Chicken George. This is a late show for Antone’s; doors at 10 p.m. $15. — J.G.
Saturday: Kelly Willis and Bruce Robison at the Paramount Theater. Kelly and Bruce play their fourth annual holiday show with special guest Kevin McKinney. $26.50 to $41.50. Online tickets
Saturday: Ghostface Killah at the Parish Room. While the Wu-Tang Clan whence he came appears to be in a state of utter disarray these days, Ghostface Killah’s star continues to rise. After dropping not one but two killer albums in 2006, he’s spent most of ’07 on the road with Rakim. (They dropped by SXSW in March.) With his latest album scheduled for a Dec. 4 release, Ghostface is back in town, once again on Scion’s dime. You know the drillie: The online RSVP puts you on the list, but doesn’t guarantee entry. Show up early to get in line. Free. —D.S.S.
Saturday: Not Your Typical Party at the Oaks (in Manor). I normally don’t recommend out of town events, but this throwdown at the Oaks in Manor features a whole mess of my favorite Austin hip-hop artists. (Plus the small-town girl in me is a sucker for a party in the woods.) On the bill are D.O.S., Uncle Suel, Crew 54, Young Nick, Public Offenders, DJs E. B. Low and Notion and a mess of others. Beer and barbecue will be available for purchase, but if you prefer to pack a flask of your favorite poison, setups will also be available. According to the flier, it’s a 15-minute drive from downtown Austin, so if you do plan to go, please, please designate a driver. $5 —D.S.S.
Sunday: Konflicto, Naw Dude, the Extravaganza at The Broken Neck. An early three-band punk rock bill off in some random nonbar venue, just as the gods of hard-core intended. The first band hails from Matamoros, Tamaulipas, and plays a (probably) political hard-core yelled entirely in Spanish. The second act might possess Austin’s best new band name and contains members of Army of Jesus, the Capitalist Kids and the Teeners. The third band is totally old-school shout-along thrash-o-rama. 8 p.m. sharp. The Broken Neck, 4701-B Red Bluff, near Cesar Chavez Street/Springdale Road. — J.G.
The real Blind Willie Johnson?
Blues fan Jeff Anderson has found a remarkable document, the 1918 draft registration card of a Willie Johnson, who was blind. But is it the great gospel bottleneck slide player Blind Willie Johnson, who recorded such songs as “If I Had My Way,” “Nobody’s Fault But Mine” and “Motherless Children Have a Hard Time” in the 1920s?
Some of the info on the draft registration card contradicts that of Blind Willie’s death certificate, which I hung much of this 2003 article on. But, then, some of the info Anderson found makes more sense. Especially this part: Johnson’s widow, Angeline Johnson, said that Johnson had been blinded at about age 7 when a girlfriend of Blind Willie’s father threw lye in his face to avenge a beating. In the 1918 document, when Johnson was 21, he says he’d been blind for 13 years. Intriguing.
The death certificate, with information provided by Angeline Johnson, has Blind Willie’s birthdate at Jan 22, 1897; draft card puts it at Jan. 25, 1897. Considering record-keeping of the time, especially among itinerant African Americans, that’s close enough. Death certificate says he was born in Independence, near Brenham; draft card puts his birth at Pendleton, near Temple, which has long been thought of as Blind Willie’s birthplace. Could it be that Angeline said “Pendleton” and the doctor heard “Independence?” Or wasn’t listening very closely? With Blind Willie’s mother, Mary Fields, coming from Moody and his father (named Willie Johnson Sr. on the death certificate, but Dock Johnson on the draft card) living in Temple, it makes much more sense that Blind Willie was born in Pendleton, which is just a few miles from those towns.
One thing on the draft card throws doubt that it belonged to Blind Willie Johnson. It listed his 1918 home as a Houston address, 912 Fuller Street in the Fourth Ward. In hours and hours of researching Blind Willie’s life, I couldn’t find any connection to Houston. Temple and nearby Marlin have evidence that Johnson lived there. He died in Beaumont in 1945, and Dallas and Atlanta was where he recorded. I called the helpful folks at the Houston Public Library and they looked up 912 Fuller Street in the 1919 city directory. I was hoping that maybe it was the address of a blind vocational school or Pentecostal church, but the owner of the building was a Narcissa Waters.
I guess we’ll never know for sure where and how the mysterious Blind Willie Johnson lived, but this newly discovered document should reopen the conversation. And maybe turn up some new leads.
Byron Scott funeral today
So sad to hear about the passing of Byron Scott, a local guitarist and ’80s fixture who could play rockabilly (Trouble Boys), funk (Do Dat), spy music (Double O Go-Go), ska (Twistyze) and just about everything else (Pez). With his trademark porkpie hat and broad smile, Scott was always a pleasure to run into at gigs and he always knew where the afterparty was.
A diabetic with recent heart problems, Scott was rushed to the hospital several weeks ago after suffering a stroke. He didn’t respond to treatment, his friend Cathy Criss says, and was found dead in his hospital room on Friday. He was 52.
The funeral is today at 1 p.m. at Austin Peel & Son Funeral Home at 607 E. Anderson Lane.
George Strait tickets on sale Dec. 1
As already announced, George Strait is kicking off his 2008 arena tour Jan. 10 at Austin’s Frank Erwin Center. We now know the tickets will go on sale at 10 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 1.
Tickets are $54.50 and 64.50 and will be available at all Texas Box Office outlets, by phone at (512) 477-6060 or (800) 982-2386 or online at TexasBoxOffice.com.
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Remembering Lance Hahn at the Mohawk
‘If you survive me/ tell them this/ I never gave up’ — Chumbawamba, ‘Rappoport’s Testament: I Never Gave Up,’ covered by Ted Leo and Pharmacists at Fun Fun Fun Fest on Nov. 4 and dedicated to Lance Hahn.
During the eulogy at Lance Hahn’s Austin memorial — held Sunday evening at the Mohawk — Hahn’s longtime friend David Uskovich mentioned this song dedication, and how could he not? It resonated with everyone in that crowd who knew Hahn, if only through his music or his job at Vulcan, because to meet Hahn was to be struck by his kindness, his fierce intelligence, his dedication to punk as a point of view. Leo wasn’t any different from the rest of us. Hahn died of complications from kidney disease Oct. 21.
In fact, as often happens at memorials, the personal testimonials tended to parallel each other but that never made them any less personal. Nearly everyone who spoke has reminiscences of fabulous conversations with Hahn, usually while driving him someplace, usually home after work. Hahn was a world-class talker (my own favorite kind of person) and could move from baseball to music to Situationism to “The Gilmore Girls” to unpacking the difference between Trotsky, Lenin and Stalin without batting an eye or sounding like a know-it-all. Which he did sometimes seem to. Know it all, I mean.
They spoke of his aesthetic sense, from his taste in film (both junky and refined) and TV (ditto). They spoke of his catholic taste in music. “I liked that he made me feel dumb,” one mourner said, and everyone knew exactly what he meant.
As I stood listening, looking at the pictures on the wall (gotta love that pink tie), I couldn’t help remembering something Martin Wong, co-founder of “Giant Robot” magazine, said to me as I was gathering material for Hahn’s obituary some weeks ago, something I wish I could have used at the time.
“Not only could he write about politics or anarchy,” Wong said, “but he could turn around and write a song about Faye Wong from ‘Chungking Express.’ He was very sophisticated and savvy, but he was also very into fun and small things. He recognized certain aspects of society were screwed up but he wasn’t hung up on it.”
This is an extraordinary quality in a person. Activists often find it hard to not let the injustices of the world occupy them constantly. Pop culture obsessives can get caught up in minutiae and ignore the outside world. But to balance the two and make it look natural? Amazing.
One of the earliest singles from Hahn’s band Cringer was called “Zen Flesh, Zen Bones” after the famous collection of Buddhist sayings. I have no idea what Hahn’s thoughts were on Buddhism. But when you look at the way he approached the world — always with a smile and a small laugh, having an opinion but never making it personal, moving from the large to the small with ease, maintaining an exceptionally sunny disposition even as his body was failing him, living against injustice but never allowing it to overwhelm him, always enjoying the moment, not even blinking at the loss of material things — you had to be reminded of Zen at its most organic, of the most compassionate vision of the idea of detachment. The dude made it look easy. He made it look like you could do it, simple as breathing. He made it look like life.
Maybe it was all that time he spent on the bus.
(Photo courtesy of j-church.com.)
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Musicmania Top 10 for the week ending Nov. 18
Trae ‘Life Goes On’ (Rap-A-Lot)
Alicia Keys ‘As I Am’ (J Records)
Jay-Z ‘American Gangster’ (Def Jam)
Chris Brown ‘Exclusive’ (J Records)
Soulja Boy ‘Souljaboytellem.com’ (Interscope)
Plies ‘Real Testament’ (Slip-N-Slide)
Playaz Circle ‘Supply & Demand’ (Def Jam)
Keyshia Cole ‘Just Like You’ (Geffen)
UGK ‘Underground Kingz’ (Jive)
Floyd Taylor ‘You Still Got It’ (Malaco)
(Musicmania 3909 D North IH 35 #1 451-3361)
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RRIICCEE coming to Alamo D-House
Those that can’t act…
Vincent Gallo’s new musical collaboration with Hole’s Eric Erlandson is coming to Austin Dec. 3 to play a set at the Alamo Drafthouse. Rumored to be the model for Billy Walsh of “Entourage,” Gallo is an abrasive sort who once feuded with Roger Ebert, who called Gallo’s movie “The Brown Bunny,” the worst movie in the history of Cannes. Gallo also had a band called Bunny in the early ’00s.
Billboard honors C3 Presents as Best Independent Promoter
According to Billboard, C3 Presents “edged out” Jam Productions of Chicago and Outback Concerts of Nashville for top independent promoter at the fourth annual Billboard Touring Awards Nov. 15.
The Billboard Touring Awards honor the industry’s top artists, venues and professionals for the year, based on box office.
The Police took awards for top tour and top draw (top-grossing tour and the top ticket-selling tour, respectively).
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Jon Dee doc coming
Jon Dee Graham’s next album “Swept Away” is the soundtrack to an upcoming documentary on his life and music produced by Mark Finkelpearl (Discovery Channel). See that, Alejandro; you’re not the only former True Believer with a documentary on the way.
Although “Swept Away” the film, of which you can see a sample above, won’t be released until the spring, the LP comes out in two weeks. Graham celebrates its release with a show at the Continental Club Nov. 30.
- SoundCheck360: Listen to Jon Dee Graham
Review: Ian Moore at Antone’s
Former Austinite Ian Moore brought his never-ending tour through Antone’s Thursday evening, displaying what happens when a couple of the right albums land in an artist’s record collection at just the right time.
Moore became widely known during the early 1990s as Austin’s next great hope to inherit the guitar hero mantel. Moore possessed all the right guitar shredding skills and a cocksure Southern charisma that warranted attention from both female and male fans worldwide.
Next thing you knew, Moore had moved to Seattle, and over a series of several albums, he began an inspiration exploration that appeared to culminate during his headlining show last night.
Ironically, Moore’s performance in the venue known as the “home of the blues” cemented his 180-degree artistic detour from the R&B guitar histrionics by which he cut his teeth. Playing to a small but adoring audience, Moore used an acoustic guitar to add earthy rhythmic textures to many of the songs from his latest release, “To Be Loved.” Three part Beatle-esque harmonies added additional richness to the songs and displayed the bonus strengths of his bandmates, keyboardist/trumpet player Kullen Fuch and bassist Josh Gravelin. Meanwhile, drummer extraordinaire Kyle Schneider fused multiple genres into some inspired kick drum and snare drum syncopation that would make even a trap set master like Terry Bozzio take a second look and listen.
To the surprise of some audience members, Moore didn’t even pick up an electric guitar until he was a quarter of the way into his set. Moore has always displayed good taste in his influences, but his hipness quotient grew exponentially with his band’s reverential cover of Chris Bell’s “I Am the Cosmos.” Moore’s first guitar solo of the evening was simultaneously smooth and blistering. When need be, he can still shred a Telecaster on command like no other.
“New Day” from “Luminaria” possessed unexpected moments of pathos in its simplistic lyrical beauty. But it was “Innocent Maneuvers” from “To Be Loved” that revealed Moore has become a songwriter of considerable skill. The song owned all the right blustery melancholy while still offering sentiments of hope and redemption.
Before the show, Schneider related a story that during one of the band’s recent performances, an audience member jumped onstage and took off his shirt in preparation to fist-fight Moore because he wasn’t playing the R&B guitar hero songs from his back catalog (club security quickly whisked the unruly fan off the stage). Luckily, the Antone’s crowd was much more accepting and supportive of Moore’s current artistic incarnation.
The evening’s encore included a Doug Sahm cover in which Moore and band were joined onstage by members of the opening band, Moonlight Towers. By that time it was clear from the rollicking multiband jam session that Moore was having fun with his phoenix-from-the-ashes musical rebirth.
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Armadillo X-Mas music schedule
Armadillo Christmas Bazaar organizers made the decision in August to move from the under-construction Austin Music Hall to the Austin Convention Center Exhibit Hall 2 (Second Street and Trinity Street entrance), which makes a lot more room for live music. Jimmy LaFave kicks it off Friday Dec. 14 at 8 p.m., with such other highlights as Eliza Gilkyson (8 p.m. Dec. 15), Marcia Ball’s Pianorama (3:30 p.m. Dec. 16), Ruthie Foster (8 p.m. Dec. 21) and Heybale! (12:30 p.m. Dec. 23). For a full schedule, go here.
‘Dillo X-Mas honcho Bruce Willenzik said that although the Music Hall should be ready for concerts by Dec. 14, there wouldn’t be enough time after completion to get fire department approval for the booth layout plans. “We miss the Music Hall,” Willenzik said. “That’s been our perfect home for years, but we started getting very concerned about whether it would be ready and made the move. It looks like the right move now.”
Willenzik said the Bazaar may return to the Music Hall next year, but he’s curious about how the Convention Center will work as a alternative. “Last year the closest booth was three feet from the music. This year the closest booth is 34 feet away.” There’s also room to dance this year.
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Review: the Hold Steady at La Zona Rosa
Still touring on the success of 2006’s “Boys and Girls in America,” singer/songsmith Craig Finn and co. took the stage on Thursday night to what seemed like a slightly smaller audience than had filled the room to hear opener Art Brut. Finn, with his thick-framed glasses and spasmodic gesticulations, comes across at times as a sort of indie-rock Alvy Singer. Keyboardist/accordion player Franz Nicolay added theatrics of his own, taking swigs from a bottle of wine and wearing his signature cap and handlebar mustache, which makes him look like a pizza-tossing extra in a mob movie.
Appearance aside, the band pleased the crowd with plenty of offerings from both “Boys and Girls in America” and 2005’s “Separation Sunday.” Finn supplemented rockers like “Hoodrat Friend” and “Massive Nights” with a few new tunes, including “Ask Her For Some Adderall” and the upbeat “Stay Positive,” which is full of references to other Hold Steady songs, a sign that Finn has no intention of veering from his formula of singing about the same characters and subject matter over and over. Although some might take issue with such repetitiveness, Finn’s loose narrative of substance abuse and redemption lends the songs a literary charm that makes them memorable (and easy to sing along with).
The Hold Steady’s stop in Austin comes toward the end of a massive tour; they’ve been performing several nights a week since June, and their playing seemed a bit worn at times. Finn admitted as much himself at the end of the show, when he joked about the rock n’ roll practice of going through the same set of thank-yous every night. Despite the fatigue, the band moved through the set, smiling the whole time, and keeping the crowd smiling as well.
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Camp X-Ray? Still a band; Tool sells out the Erwin Center
There was word that after a shaky (though free) show at the Mohawk, local punk band Camp X-Ray has called it a day. This is not, however, true. As of Friday afternoon, they are still a band. Carry on.
Hopefully this had nothing to do with their recent appearance here. I still hope we hear their record someday, but I’m not holding my breath.
Tool sold out the Erwin Center this past Wednesday. The final attendance was about 10,000. Not too shabby. The band’s most recent album, “10,000 Days” appeared in May 2006. A review appears here.
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Weekend Picks: From rock in the park to hip-hop and dance
Friday: Handsome Joel’s birthday at Room 710. An annual memorial for the beloved Red River fixture who was killed by a drunk driver in 2003. With Amplified Heat, Oklahomos, Split Hoof and Los Platos. —Joe Gross
Friday: Brownout, Chicken George and Bavu at Flamingo. The Flamingo Cantina gets the Hat Trick Award this Friday night with a triple threat from Austin’s urban music scene. It’s DJ Chicken George on the ones and twos opening the show with a mix of old-school hip-hop, funk and soul before veteran wordsmith Bavu Blakes drops his brand of conscious hip-hop on the crowd. Latin funk outfit Brownout, an offshoot of Grupo Fantasma, will keep the dance floor friction going with its Curtis Mayfield-meets-cumbia sound. Leave the six-inch pumps at home and bring some shoes you can dance in. You’re going to need them. —Brandon Cobb
- SoundCheck360: Brownout | DJ Chicken George | Bavu Blakes
Saturday: B-Girl City Championship at Ruta Maya. B-girls Stand Up. The second annual B-Girl City competition offers female breakdancers an opportunity to get their groove on this weekend at Ruta Maya. B-girl Honey Rockwell of the Seven Gems crew and the Brooklyn-based Ken Swift School of Hip-hop will get things moving with a workshop from 4 to 6 p.m. The actual competition kicks off at 6 with one-on-one b-girl battles, Mickey and Mallory (boy and girl) team battles and footwork battles for the b-boys. DJs Baby G, Element, Panda and Akshun Kid will be on the wheels and MC Bavu Blakes will be in the house as well. Workshop: $10 adults, $5 kids 12 and younger. Competition: $15, photo pass $10. —Deborah Sengupta Stith
Saturday: 2007 Power of the Cross Festival at Auditorium Shores. The second annual Power of the Cross festival brings together 21 contemporary Christian artists — including Untitled, Distal, Maria Long, Xsedus, Sound Minds and more — for a free concert and day of worship. As you might imagine, families are welcome as are coolers (no alcohol), blankets, pillows and folding chairs. No pets. More info.. —J.G.
Saturday: Coheed and Cambria at Waterloo Park. Progressive rock in the old style — big sci-fi themes, complicated songcraft and really high-pitched vocals a la Rush’s Geddy Lee. With hard-rock road warriors Clutch and the Fall of Troy. 5 p.m. $20. Tickets.. —J.G.
Saturday: Little Brother with Evidence at Stubb’s. With a strong old school sensibility and a healthy dose of humor in their rhymes Little Brother has been one of my favorite underground hip-hop groups for a hot minute. But why take my word? Download their latest mixtape “Just Us For All” from rappersiknow.com. It’s free! As for Evidence (of Dilated Peoples), back in March he killed his SXSW set, rocking a crowd that straight up mean-mugged fellow Cali rappers Zion I. $15 adv., $17 door. —D.S.S.
Saturday: Nickel Creek at Stubb’s. This is the popular bluegrass (excuse me, “progressive acoustic”) act’s Farewell (For Now) Tour, which they swear means hiatus rather than dissolution. Look for new projects from all three of these young lions in ‘08. And pray they play “Spit on a Stranger.” $25. —J.G
Saturday: James Hand at the Saxon Pub. Folks refer to country singer James “Slim” Hand as “the real deal” so much that it’s time to come up with something new. (Especially since they say the same thing, though not nearly as correctly, about Dale Watson.) This honky tonk throwback has a batch of great new songs he’s been recording for his next Rounder release, so he needs a new tag as well. I’m thinking, I’m thinking, but somehow “the real deal” just works best. $10. —Michael Corcoran
- SoundCheck360: James Hand
Saturday: Beauty Bash at the Beauty Bar. The flier bills this event as “the first installment of Electro Rap (an electronic, live, upbeat, old school, crunk, loud and techy musical journey).” At the party’s helm are DJs Rapid Ric, the hottest mixtape DJ in Texas and longtime community innovator/crowd mover Nicknack. Indie rock/punk band Glorium opens. Cover unspecified. —D.S.S.
- SoundCheck360: NickNack
Saturday: Crew 54 listening party at Plush. Though this soulful but gritty rap duo is actually from Killeen, they put in serious time on the ATX club circuit. This is a listening party for their new joint “Aggressive Soul,” which drops in early December. When rappers G-Christ and Master Of Self aren’t busy unveiling the new CD they’ll be video-blogging the event while the TMC crew works the tables. So dress fresh and prepare to bust a YouTube-able move or two. Free before 11:30 p.m. —D.S.S.
- SoundCheck360: Crew 54
Sunday: The Throwback at Six. Three DJs representing three decades battle it out on four turntables. DJ Protege will represent for the ’80s, Mike Swing works the ’90s golden era and Kunal M. from NYC holds it down for the ’00s. Who will reign supreme? Kunal himself (writing on a message board) concedes that Swing got the good decade, “but I do get ‘Souljah Boy’ and ‘Laffy Taffy’ and the endless days of blog house,” he declares. No cover. —D.S.S.
Sunday: Lance Hahn Memorial at the Mohawk. The Austin memorial for the late Lance Hahn will be held at the Mohawk from 4 to 9 p.m. More details available here.
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Review: Tool at the Erwin Center
Last time I saw Tool was more than a decade ago, before they’d even been bumped to the main stage at Lollapalooza. Since then they’ve gotten heavier, weirder and more complex, their high-concept proggy metal and emphasis on aesthetics (lenticular visuals, anyone?) sparking a huge cult following and winning them Grammys. If you’ve drunk the Kool-Aid, you find them deep and meaty and wildly artful. If you haven’t, it’s all sound and fury signifying … what now? Yeah, knock yourselves out, kids.
Their set Wednesday at the Frank Erwin Center — in the middle of a way long tour to support last year’s “10,000 Days,” on a white stage with lots and lots of video running — did a pretty fair job of pushing the new record (“Vicarious”) and digging back into the catalog (“46&2,”), and there’s no disputing they’re a ferociously tight band that never met an a weird time signature they couldn’t play with. And it’s cool that vocalist Maynard James Keenan — a fine and distinctive singer — stands in the back and never has a follow spot on him, putting the band’s sonic wallop ahead of his own ego. And in theory it might be fun to build a band that’s art rock’s answer to Wagner.
But you know what? Like a lot of bands that are too smart for their own good, Tool is more fun to think about than actually listen to. And they might actually consider that a compliment.
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Review: Zappa Plays Zappa
I thought it was odd that a concert promising so much energy was playing at Hogg Auditorium on UT’s campus, a sit-down venue with hardly any room for standing, let alone dancing. But just as I thought this, Dweezil Zappa and company took the stage; Zappa announced that the Tuesday night show would be filmed for a Zappa Plays Zappa DVD. This seemed to rally the crowd, who stood up and cheered as the first notes left the speakers.
After the first two songs I was impressed with the succinct sound, especially considering the variation of instruments on stage: gongs, xylophones, trumpets and saxophones, along with the usual guitar, bass, drums and keyboard. The backdrop to the second song was live footage of Frank Zappa in his prime, while Dweezil and the band filled in the blanks. The third song was a tribute to Austin, coming from the album “Bongo Furry,” which Frank recorded in Austin.
Dweezil and the rest of the musicians played for nearly three and a half hours and at times the music stalled. Guitar solos tended to drag on, leaving the rest of the band with little to contribute. But then Dweezil and company would bring the crowd back with ballads like “Quaalude Thunderclap,” a technical but emotionally charged song.
Midway through the concert, the band asked the audience for random phrases and special guest guitarist/vocalist Ray White went backstage and wrote a song with the offerings. The band performed the song through the vessels of jazz, then gospel and then finally in the form of an ’80s rock hyper ballad, showing the band’s range and diversity.
Dweezil has done a good job of mastering the technical art of his father’s music and I was surprised by how much emotion the music evoked. Frank’s music has been compared to a modern orchestra, and the band on Tuesday demonstrated its mastery of this “orchestration.” As the concert came to an end, the crowd members rose from their seats and began to dance, some making their way to the front of the stage. As the final notes played, Dweezil leaned into the microphone and uttered his father’s famous sign-off, “Goodnight Austin, wherever you are.”
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In the clubs with Hatred Surge
You would not know from Hatred Surge’s head-smashing hardcore that Surge’s leader and sole constant Alex Hughes studied string bass at the University of North Texas at Denton’s well-known music school.
“Played in the symphony, been playing classical music since I was 11,” Hughes says. But in junior high, like many of us, he started getting into punk. “Standard entry-level American hardcore — Black Flag, Minor Threat,” Hughes says. “A pal moved to Nebraska and he gave me a tape with a lot of Slap-A-Ham stuff — Spazz, (the band) Charles Bronson. That stuff floored me.”
Slap-A-Ham Records was the home of “power violence,” an extreme brand of hardcore punk that featured brutal speed, odd tempo changes, bellowed or screamed vocals and occasional collapses into slow, grinding sludge. Hughes was smitten: “I loved the intensity of it and coming from a classical background, the weird tempo changes really clicked with me.” Hughes started Hatred Surge as a solo project, recording all the parts himself on a four-track. He knocked out an EP in ‘05 and a split LP with fellow power violence revivalists Endless Blockade this year. Hughes moved to Austin in June and currently sings for Austin hardcore band Sacred Shock and plays guitar in Iron Age. Live, Hatred Surge is, well, whomever he feels like playing with at the time.
But don’t worry that suddenly you’ll start to hear classical parts on Hatred Surge records. “I’m not trying to pull a fast one on anybody,” Hughes says.
In the clubs: Hatred Surge plays Saturday with Iron Lung, Agents of Abhorrence and more at Emo’s, 603 Red River St. (512) 477-3667.
(Pictured - left to right: guitarist Hans Zimmerman, drummer Matt Badenhop and Hatred Surge founder Alex Hughes. Photos by Tammy Perez FOR AMERICAN-STATESMAN)
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Review: The Smashing Pumpkins at the Backyard
The Smashing Pumpkins have not played Austin since a May 2000 show at the Austin Music Hall during the “Machina” tour, a long wait for fans. The Backyard provided the right amount of intimacy Tuesday night to showcase the band’s sound and enhance the crispness of their more melodic beats.
Problems at the gate were an early nuisance, as many found themselves in a long line to park, followed by a 10-minute uphill trek to reach the gates. Already irritated, many were turned back by security to return cameras to their cars.
Being one of the unfortunate late attendees, I arrived to see the Smashing Pumpkins already playing. The band was clothed in all white, with lead singer/guitarist Billy Corgan in white scrubs with a black and white striped long-sleeved undershirt complemented with matching knee-high socks.
About midway through the show, Corgan channeled his softer, poetic side during the light melodic tracks “1979,” “Today” and “Stand Inside your love.” Drummer Jimmy Chamberlain displayed his signature driving backbeat jazzlike flourishes during “Zero.” Corgan smiled and nodded at his longtime friend and drummer as if to say, “on point as usual.” Then as quick and softly as the poet emerged, he was gone and an abrasive, much more intense Corgan unleashed shrieking yells upon the crowd. The new members of the group, bassist Ginger Reyes and guitarist Jeff Schroeder, matched the energy of Corgan and Chamberlain. Pure blissful prog-rock chaos hit the audience when duel guitar solos were showcased in “Heavy Metal Machine.” Just what I was waiting to hear from the Chicago band.
The crowd, on the other hand, did not match the band’s energy. Corgan attempted to interact with the crowd, but he was met with many blank faces. Only about a quarter of the crowd knew enough of the words to sing along and began filtering out just before the encore. The younger members of the audience didn’t seem familiar with the music, so they followed suit and cut their evening short.
By the end of the night, three quarters of the crowd remained, and were rewarded with some rarities and older hits, including “Cherub Rock” off 1993’s “Siamese Dream.” The band left the stage and appeared to be finished. However, not one person moved as they chanted for a second encore. Their chants were answered. The Pumpkins finished with “Lucky 13,” “I Only Play for Money,” “Taxman,” a Beatles cover and finally, “Disarm.” The crowd was left in awe, yearning for more.
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Review: Austin Secret Show series
It’s hard to top a cemetery for atmosphere, but the organizers of Austin’s Secret Show series found a setting almost as evocative for their sequel to last month’s spooky Halloween concert.
To reach Secret Show No. 4 Wednesday night, some 40 fans crossed through a darkened park, descended a rocky stairway and navigated an almost-dry creek bed where, finally, a host of tealights illuminated a drum kit parked in front of a retaining wall and battered metal shed covered with graffiti. The stony ground was pocked and cratered as the moon, and the gray silhouettes of trees made the spot seem remote — but a shiny shopping cart full of tin cans suggested otherwise.
Train whistles and rumbling on a nearby track underlined the lonesome, somber strains in songs from singer-songwriter-guitarist Ted Hadji, Frank Smith (not a person but a band, or on this occasion, a duo) and Some Say Leland.
Backed by the rhythm section from Some Say Leland, Hadji joked about the risk inherent in performing “Forty Days of Rain” in the creek bed. It ruminates on the unfairness of the biblical flood, with an implacable god complaining “the world is just a stain that I’ll wash out with 40 days of rain.” Hadji taught the audience the chorus to his sweet, melancholy “All We Have,” and passed out lyric sheets for a singalong on a bawdy pirate’s shanty.
Frank Smith’s Aaron Sinclair (on guitar) and Brett Saiia (guitar and banjo), recent transplants from Boston, harmonized on twangy, austerely pretty songs such as “Throwing Rocks,” with Saiia not only taking the high tenor but sometimes whistling with an uncanny tremolo.
Some Say Leland began with a mournful, almost sinister blues about flooding in New Orleans. Singer-guitarist Dan Grissom’s plain, conversational baritone has a modern quality that contrasted strikingly with stand-up bassist Lindsey Verrill’s piquant, old-timey soprano and folk-jazz instrumentation that also included accordion, trombone, drums and violin or cello. All their songs have an otherworldly bent, but a new waltz about a nightmare starring the devil was particularly eerie.
For the time, location and lineup of next month’s Secret Show, look to (naturally) the myspace page at www.myspace.com/theaustinsecretshow.
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Greg Ginn moves to Taylor.
Greg Ginn, founder of SST Records and hardcore punk pioneers Black Flag, is in the process of moving to Taylor.
No word yet on how this effects the label, if all operations will move to Taylor or this is just Ginn’s deal, but he is releasing three new Ginn-related projects on the one-time home of the Minutemen, Dinosaur, Jr., Sonic Youth, the Meat Puppets, Husker Du and a mess more of the most important American rock bands of the 1980s.
Greg Ginn and the Taylor Texas Currugators’ “Bent Edge” is Ginn’s take on Texas swing.
Mojack is a Ginn-centered funk-rock trio involving guitar, bass, drums and sax.
Ginn’s long-term jazz-rock power trio Gone has a double CD out called “The Epic Trilogy.” Three songs, 47 minutes. The first CD is instrumental, the second is the same three songs with Bad Brains singer HR singing over them.
Over the years Ginn has become a vocal advocate of cat rescue. In September 2003, an ad hoc Black Flag line-up (Ginn, Dez Cadena on vocals and rhythm guitar, C’el Revuelta on bass and Robo on drums) played three shows in Los Angeles benefiting cat rescue organizations. He was interviewed in the October 2003 issue of Cat Fancy.
Wier, Holzhaus benefits upcoming
A pair of out-of-town benefit concerts, to help two veteran musicians struggling with cancer, are on the horizon. This Sunday, Delbert McClinton, Eric Johnson, Stephen Bruton, Augie Meyers and more will play a concert in San Antonio to help blues guitarist Chris Holzhaus with his medical bills. The show’s at Sam’s Burger Joint at 330 E. Grayson St.
Rusty Wier will be honored and roasted (it’s a Rusty thing) on Friday, Nov. 23, at the Plano location of Texas music-themed restaurant Love & War in Texas. Among the featured artists are Larry Joe Taylor, Ed Burleson, Tommy Alverson and Eleven Hundred Springs. Love & War is at 601 E. Plano Parkway. Call (972) 422-6201 for more information.
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Austin band inks major label deal
Things are moving pretty fast for two-year-old Austin band Sounds Under Radio, who signed a multialbum recording contract with Epic Records Friday in Hollywood. “When you look at the catalog of Epic Records (Sly and the Family Stone, Oasis, etc.), we’re just blown away to be a part of that,” says singer/guitarist Lang Freeman.
The band got its first big break months ago when their “Portrait of a Summer Thief” was picked for the soundtrack CD for “Spiderman 3,” the only track by an unsigned band.
The rock quartet’s manager Keith Hagan got a copy of the Will Hoffman-produced LP “Cinematica” into the hands of Epic A&R scout Jeff Wooding about six months ago and both sides have been in talks ever since.
“Cinematica” will be released, exactly as it was recorded in Austin (at Wire on South Lamar Boulevard), on the Epic imprint on Feb. 19. First single “Sell Out” comes out a couple weeks earlier. The deal is technically for five albums, but Freeman said it’s a bit more complicated than that. “It’s based on the new media (downloads, etc.) so it has to do more with number of songs than albums.”
In other SUR news, producer Hoffman (ex-Pushmonkey) has signed on to co-manage the group, who don’t play locally until Dec. 21 at Stubb’s.
(Photo by Aubrey Edwards COURTESY OF MYSPACE.COM/SOUNDSUNDERRADIO)
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HAAM Day tally: $180,000
The Health Alliance for Austin Musicians just announced that the second annual HAAM Benefit Day, held Oct. 2, raised $180,000, almost double the take from last year. More than 170 Austin businesses donated at least 5 percent of that day’s proceeds to the musician health-care organization. More money came from the ME Television telethon, as well as matching grants from the Topfer Family Foundation and The Moody Foundation. Presenting sponsor Whole Foods Market kicked in another $25,000.
A date for the third annual HAAM Benefit Day has been announced for Oct. 7, 2008.
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New Music (and Jokes) Out Today
Boyz II Men “Motown: A Journey Through Hitsville USA” (Decca)
Vashti Bunyan “Some Things Just Stick in Your Mind: Early Singles and Demos 1964-1967” (DiCristina Stair Builders/Spinney)
Dane Cook “Rough Around the Edges: Live From Madison Square” (Comedy Central)
Dillinger Escape Plan “Ire Works” (Relapse, Nov. 12, 2007)
Céline Dion “Taking Chances” (Epic)
Duran Duran “Red Carpet Massacre” (Epic)
Aretha Franklin “Jewels in the Crown: All-Star Duets with the Queen” (Arista)
Hives, The “The Black and White Album” (Octone/Interscope)
House & Parish “One, One-Thousand [EP]” (Arena Rock Recording Company)
Alicia Keys “As I Am” (J)
LCD Soundsystem “45:33” (DFA)
Led Zeppelin “Mothership” (Atlantic/Rhino)
Queensrÿche “Take Cover” (Rhino)
Seal “System” (Warner)
Shaggy “Intoxication” (Big Yard/VP)
Michael Showalter “Sandwiches & Cats” (JDUB)
James Taylor “One Man Band (Hear Music)
Pam Tillis “Just in Time for Christmas” (Stellar Cat)
McCoy Tyner “Afro Blue” (Telarc)
Wire “Read & Burn 03 EP” ((Pink Flag)
Trisha Yearwood “Heaven, Heartache and the Power of Love” (Big Machine)
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Weekend Review: The Evens
If there’s one thing that characterizes Ian MacKaye’s career, it’s an ongoing quest for greater and greater independence from whatever he sees as a constriction, be it financial, cultural or otherwise.
His record label, Dischord, is one of the most famous independent rock labels in the world. His first well-known band, Minor Threat, was considered by many the definitive hardcore punk band, defining a sound and vision that is copied to this day.
His former band, Fugazi, had a reputation as the punkest of the punk, if you define punk as a lifelong devotion to maximum self-determination. Their shows were all ages and had low door prices. The albums were cheap and they had no manager or booking agent. They didn’t truck with jerks at their shows and occasionally kicked the truly obnoxious out with a refund. It helped Fugazi’s success that it was one of the best live bands that ever lived.
These days, MacKaye is playing in the Evens, a duo with his partner, drummer Amy Farina, known in underground rock circles for her time in the D.C. band the Warmers.
With this act, MacKaye continues to hammer away at underground rock’s conventions. The duo brings its own PA and acts as its own sound person (“If you can’t hear us, don’t yell at someone in the back,” MacKaye said.) They prefer non-conventional spaces to rock clubs. (This show was at the Compound, an open lot a few doors down from the Scoot Inn.) They play sitting down, MacKaye on baritone guitar and Farina on a full drum kit. The songs are usually played at middling volume, so the audience is forced to pay attention. It looks like a folk duo, but it isn’t, really.
The funny part is that MacKaye’s writing hasn’t changed that much from Fugazi’s endpoint. He still has a way with blocky riffs that resolve into surprisingly potent hooks. Were these songs louder and the players jumping around, they would be mid-tempo (if mellow) rock tunes, not unlike Fugazi. MacKaye’s concerns are still the same — institutions and the damage they do.
“Dinner With the President” takes aim at rewards from those you don’t respect: “I don’t exist in their worldview/ But if I went, I know what I’d like to do/ Stand up and scream while the food is served.”
‘You Won’t Feel A Thing” equates the state of our nation to a trip to the dentist (“It’s only when you’re numb does the real violence take place.”) MacKaye requested an epic rock fadeout on the final lines, “until you wake up.” Everyone sang along, quietly, then quieter, then out.
“That was really great,” MacKaye said. One has the feeling this was a level of crowd participation (and control) he been after for a long, long time.
Patoski’s Willie book set for April release
“Willie Nelson: An Epic Life” by Wimberley writer Joe Nick Patoski looks to be an epic biography. Publisher Little Brown lists the book, set for release the week before Nelson’s 75th birthday, April 30, at a whopping 480 pages. Patoski conducted more than 100 interviews for the book, which looks to be Willie’s “legacy” biography.
“It’s the most fun I’ve ever had working on a project,” Patoski said in August, soon after he turned in the first draft. He said he was actually a bit sad when he was done. The book not only chronicles Willie’s amazing career and humble upbringing, but it delves into the characters that make up the icon’s extended family.
You can pre-order the hardcover at amazon.com for $27.99.
Duran Duran to play rebooted Austin Music Hall.
Mix 94.7 announced today that Duran Duran will play the renovated Austin Music Hall Dec.11.
Tickets will be $45 plus service charge and go on sale Wednesday at 10 a.m. at all GetTix outlets including Waterloo Records, RunTex and the UT Co-op. They can also be charged by phone 1-866-I-GET-TIX (1-866-443-8849).
Weekend review: Tito Puente Jr.
“Bienvenidos! My name is Enrique Iglesias,” joked Tito Puente Jr.
The fans packing the dance floor laughed, and Puente added a rueful “I wish!”
But while Iglesias is undoubtedly hunkier, and sells a lot of records, the poor lad always appears to be brooding about something. Puente, on the other hand, looked to be having nothing but fun Saturday night at the Monarch Event Center as he celebrated his late father’s musical legacy of mambos, cha-chas, salsa and fiery Latin jazz.
The younger Puente enjoyed some success recording Latin house music a few years back, scoring a Billboard Dance chart hit with a remake of his father’s “Oye Como Va.” His last album, however, was the 2004 tribute “In My Father’s Shoes/En los Pasos de mi Padre.” These days he’s playing timbales — his father’s instrument — and singing Palladium Ballroom classics.
Puente, 36, shares his father’s ebullient personality, as well as his sense of rhythm. He and musical director/vocalist Louis Shati ribbed each other all night, and Puente traded quips with fans in Spanish and English. When someone up front requested the inevitable “Oye Como Va,” he replied “It’s coming! That’s the money tune!”
Puente seemed to savor each solo from the members of Shati’s terrific 12-piece San Antonio-based band, flashing a wide grin like his father’s. He showed off his own chops in lively solos in the classic “Ran Kan Kan” and, of course, the set-closing “Oye Como Va.” He may be fueling his career with nostalgia, but between his own high energy and the finesse of the band, it all sounded a lot fresher than the latest Enrique Iglesias hit.
Opening acts Cienfuegos, from Austin, and Salsa del Rio, from Texas State University in San Marcos, also kept the dance floor sizzling. The student group dazzled like consummate pros. Singer Leo Rodriguez was particularly impressive, not just for his bright, supple baritone, but also for the natural elegance of his phrasing and ease of his improvisations.
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The Steps play London
LONDON — Austin’s teenage rockers the Steps were just three days away from flying to England to promote their first single, “Outlaw.” On their MySpace page they told fans: “We can’t wait to enjoy the cold weather and meet girls with accents … Wish us luck.”
But little did they know, trouble was brewing.
The jet lag had kicked in as the four-piece band lined up a week ago in the arrivals hall at London’s Gatwick airport. But as they showed their passports to the customs officers, they learned something was wrong. Their U.K. record label hadn’t applied for work permits, and the four Steps — cousins Will and Sam Thompson, Stephen Ross and drummer Z Lynch — together with their manager, Kevin Wommack, and producer, Frenchie Smith, were carted off to a detention room for questioning.
Seven weary hours passed before they were allowed to leave. But even then it wasn’t clear whether they would be able to remain in Britain.
“They gave us chicken sandwiches,” Will Thompson says three nights later at London’s Shunt Lounge, site of the band’s second of five U.K. performances last week. “But they tasted pretty bad. In fact they were awful.”
Forget that the jet-lagged group had been detained for seven hours. Forget that they had their mug shots and fingerprints taken. It’s no wonder Britain has such a poor reputation for food among its American cousins when customs give detainees dodgy chicken sandwiches. But at least they can laugh about it now.
“We were so bored,” Will says, “but we knew we were going to get out. It was just going to take a lot of time.”
In the end, Wommack saved the day. “I hired the right people in the middle of the night,” he says, nonchalantly.
It’s a good job, too, as there had been a buzz building in London around the arrival of the Steps for a few weeks. The city’s hip Artrocker magazine said they were “pretty rocking for a bunch of teenagers … I bet their folks have got one hell of a record collection.” Tom Artrocker (the magazine’s founders don’t use their own surnames) said, “we reviewed the single in the November issue, and we’re planning another piece on them in January.”
And then there’s their record label. If you excuse the work permits mix-up, Young and Lost Club Records is one of the coolest indie labels in London. Started by 22-year-old school friends Nadia Dahlawi and Sara Jade, it soon attracted the attention of major label offshoot Vertigo, which subsequently bankrolled Young and Lost, presumably with the proviso that it would get first refusal on any bands Dahlawi and Jade discovered.
The Steps played at Madame Jojo’s club in Soho to a packed audience of scenesters and industry movers and shakers one night. There were fewer people at the next show, but that’s possibly because even Londoners haven’t yet cottoned on to the Shunt Lounge. Situated in the vast, cavernous arches adjacent to London Bridge underground station, it is probably the coolest venue in the city. Not many Londoners know it yet.
Either way, the Steps are having the time of their lives. They thrash through an eight-song set that includes “Outlaw” and catchy MySpace favorite “Belle.” The swagger and talent onstage straddles generations. The Steps echo the Ramones, the Faces and the Stones, and Thompson’s raspy vocals belie his age. As the American-Statesman’s Joe Gross has said, “Jimmy Page would probably approve.”
And luckily for the Steps, there were “girls with accents” in the audience, too. “They’re kind of more reserved than they are in Austin,” Z Lynch says with a laugh. But then Smith, their producer, pipes up: “You guys all have girlfriends, right, so you’re not interested in that.”
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Talking with Dweezil about Zappa Plays Zappa
Dweezil Zappa is on the road with “Zappa Plays Zappa,” his way to keep the musical legacy of his father, Frank Zappa, alive. He’ll play Tuesday in Austin (details here). We talked with Zappa about what Austin means to him, his expectations for the Austin show and his experiences playing his father’s music:
American-Statesman: Have you been to Austin?
Zappa: I’ve actually been to Austin several times for several different reasons. I recorded music with Eric Johnson at one point; I’ve been down there to play golf. It’s a great city to visit.
Did anything about Austin stand out to you?
The feel that Austin has to it is like no other. The food, the little river scene; I actually dated a girl whose family owned a boat on the river, and anyone who has had the privilege of going out there is lucky.
What are your expectations about playing ‘Zappa Plays Zappa’ in Austin? I know you guys didn’t play here last year.
Yeah, last year we played Dallas and Houston, and I think the real difference about Austin is that Frank has folklore-related times in Austin. His album “Bongo Furry” was actually recorded in Austin and makes references to the Guacamole Queen. It is also where the term “Good night Austin, wherever you are” was born.
What has been your favorite venue to play and why?
To me, the crowd is the aspect of the show that is always most memorable. One venue we played up in Montreal, the Metropolis, is the most memorable venue I’ve played. The place is set up so the entire crowd can see the stage and for some reason, the sound in there is amplified so that it sounds like twice as many people, and the place seems twice as big.
How difficult has it been to adjust your playing style to suit the needs of Frank’s music?
His music is very sophisticated. He played things on the guitar that were never meant to be played, and I had to sit down for two years to learn his style of playing. I had to make drastic changes in my stylistic approach to accommodate to his playing, especially in the technical sense. I have been playing guitar for 26 years now, and I think that learning his music is something most guitarists would give up on because they are so set in their way of playing. I would play one passage for six or seven hours a day, a passage that would only last a second during a song, and my wife would go crazy hearing me play the same passage over and over and over and over.
Whatever happened to the Hendrix guitar you restored?
I actually have it sitting in a corner in my home.
Do you ever play it?
I do, but not that frequently. I’ve actually considered selling it a few times. It’s a very valuable guitar, and I just know some lunatic with dot-com money would love to have it at the center of their home or studio.
How do you think the younger generation has accepted your father’s music, and in turn, your performance of his music?
I do not think that the younger generation, ages 14-25, has a great deal of exposure to Frank’s music. That is what I am trying to target and expose to a generation unfamiliar with his music. Frank has a quote, from the early ’80s, “Music has become wallpaper for your lifestyle.” Many people live their lives according to the music they listen to, especially younger kids. They are more content with watching their music or getting it for free, which takes away from the artistic integrity and merit of music. Kids these days are used to one-hit wonders, bands that if they have the right tattoos, bounce around and know how to play a 2-4 are becoming radio sensations. Radio music is too formulaic; it doesn’t take chances. And with Frank’s music, I am trying to show a generation of kids music that no one ever thought was possible.
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Review: Booker T. and the M.G.s with Eddie Floyd and William Bell
The crowd Thursday night at the Palmer Events Center seemed to be evenly split. Half of the room was out to support Clifford Antone’s Help Clifford Help Kids charity by bidding on items such as a $3,000 gift certificate to Ralph Lauren, which fetched a whopping $12,000. The other half of the room seemed to be there to see the legendary Stax rhythm section Booker T. and the M.G.s perform some classic soul.
When Motown was the slick, jazz-inspired sound of the inner-city in the ’60s, Stax was its counterpoint as the gritty, blues-based sound of the rural South. As Stax’s house band backing up Otis Redding, Sam and Dave and Wilson Pickett just to name a few, Booker T. and his “Memphis Groove” were the epicenter of this sound.
The band, comprised of keyboard player Booker T. Jones, guitarist Steve Cropper, bassist Donald “Duck” Dunn and drummer Steve Potts, emerged from the wings at Palmer Auditorium with little fanfare and jumped right into their set while most of the room was still fighting the concession lines. The band warmed up the crowd with the bouncy, Calypso-inspired “Soul Limbo” and turned “Summertime” into a slow blues before rolling into a funky version of “Hang ‘em High.”
It was the funky organ riff of “Green Onions,” that really drew the crowd in. Jones and company turned their signature song into a clinic on locking down a groove and keeping it in the pocket.
Stax artist William Bell joined the band on stage for “Private Number” and his 1961 hit “You Don’t Miss Your Water,” which turned into a passionate sing-a-long. The girl next to me was singing so out of tune that by the chorus she was actually hitting a nice harmony.
It was the Albert King classic “Born Under A Bad Sign,” which Bell co-wrote with Jones, that produced the biggest surprise of the evening when Jimmy Vaughan emerged to trade some greasy blues licks with Cropper. Vaughan unplugged afterward, not to return, unfortunately.
Eddie Floyd also joined the band and brought down the house with “Knock On Wood.” At 72, Floyd proved he can still move like he did back in 1966 when he pulled one lucky woman from the crowd on stage for a little bump and grind during the instrumental break. They should have raffled that off.
By the end of the evening, the philanthropic faithful and soul music junkies alike had coalesced into one funky congregation of clapping and swaying bodies singing along with Bell and Floyd to Otis Redding’s “Dock Of The Bay.” A small, but enthusiastic crowd stayed huddled around for the band’s short encore unwilling, to let loose of the band responsible for some of the most indelible soul music ever recorded.
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Salgado wins Latin Grammy for ‘En Vivo’
San Antonio musician Michael Salgado picked up a Latin Grammy Thursday night in the best norteno album category for his CD “‘En Vivo.”
No other central Texans won awards. Los Palominos nabbed the best Tejano album Latin Grammy for their CD “Evoluciones.” they hail from Uvalde.
Check out the full story here.
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Valentine’s Austin band
Native Austinite, Kathy Valentine of the Go-Go’s has put together a new group with a local all-star line-up of Tony Scalzo on guitar, Rachel Loy on bass and Johnny Goudie on keyboards. All four sing lead on occasion and there promises to be a lot of instrument swapping amongst these four (former and current) bassists.
Kathy Valentine and the Impossibles bow Thursday at the Continental Club as part of a great bill that includes Nick Curran’s new “Howlin’ Wolf Meets the Clash” project Deguello and the always hot Chili Cold Blood.
Scalzo’s Fastball plays the Continental Club the next three Wednesdays at 10 p.m., filling in for Jon Dee Graham. Wonder what they’ve been up to.
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Weekend Picks: Garage punk, guerrilla fashion, hot dance parties, more
Friday: Egyptian Lover and Prince Klassen at the Beauty Bar. It’s not rap, it’s electro. Egyptian Lover’s 1984 hit single “Egypt Egypt” epitomizes the 808-driven, breakdance-inspiring sound of the early eighties. Expect more than a few b-boys and b-girls to start popping and locking when the needle drops on this single Friday night. Beauty Bar fixture Prince Klassen opens the show. $5. — Brandon Cobb
Friday-Saturday: Creepout 2007 at Beerland and the Rio Rita Lounge. A garage, punk and garage-punk two-day throwdown. Do not expect more than three or four chords a song. On Friday, check out a reunion from the Immortal Lee County Killers as well as sets from the Hex Dispensers, Black Panda and Deadly Companions at Beerland. Saturday, rock out to Sex Dragon (featuring members of Immortal Lee County Killers and the Dexateens), John Schooley and His One Man Band, DFI at Rio Rita Lounge. — Joe Gross
Friday-Sunday: 13th Annual Jazz at St. James Festival featuring Cedar Walton. Bebop pianist Cedar Walton headlines the three-day Jazz at St. James Festival at St. James’ Episcopal Church. The word legend is tossed around loosely in the entertainment world, but Walton, a former member of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers with Wayne Shorter and Freddie Hubbard, certainly qualifies. He performs with his trio on Saturday evening and hosts a free jazz clinic Sunday afternoon. Local jazz cats Ephraim Owens, Seela and Crying Monkeys are also slated to perform. On Sunday the church will also offer two “jazz masses.” — B.C.
Saturday: Lyrics Born and Old Time Relijun at Emo’s. No, these shows aren’t related, but they’re both killer. Lyrics Born tours relentlessly. As a result, he has one of the best live hip-hop shows in the game. He’s playing the outside stage for $13. Old Time Relijun is one of the stranger underground bands, a mix of backwoods and Beefheart. With Meneguar and When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth. Cover unspecified. — J.G.
Saturday: Tito Puente Jr. at the Monarch Events Center. The son of legendary mambo king Puente Sr. strives to continue his father’s legacy with his own high-energy Latin orchestra. Texans Cienfuegos, Salsa del Rio and the Puerto Rican Folkloric Dance Ensemble open. $25 adv. $35 door. — Deborah Sengupta Stith
Saturday: Swoll at the Beauty Bar. DJ Mel’s wildly popular booty-centric Beauty Bar party features guests Smalltown DJs from Calgary and The Rub from NYC. You know the drillie, show up early and come prepared to shake something. — D.S.S.
Saturday: Stitch Fashion Show and after-party. Part fashion show, part musical event and part craft fair, last year’s Stitch show was so popular it sold out the Austin Music Hall. This year, the party’s at the Austin Convention Center. The craft fair starts at 4 p.m., and the runway show takes place at 9:30 p.m. Music will be provided by DJs Prince Klassen, Ian Orth Bigface and Jennifer. The after-party, with DJs Abominatron and Orion, goes down at the Mohawk after the show. Beautiful people will, no doubt, be abundant. Fashion show $10. After-party $5, free with your Stitch wristband. — D.S.S.
» Three questions with Jennifer Perkins of Stitch
Saturday: Issa at the Cactus Cafe. The artist formerly known as Jane Siberry has completely rebooted her life — scrapped her given name and started giving away her music for “tips” a la Radiohead. $25 advance, $28 at the door. — J.G.
Sunday: The Evens at the Compound. After Fugazi went on indefinite hiatus, Fugazi guitarist Ian MacKaye and D.C. scene fixture/drummer Amy Farina formed the Evens, a rather chill duo of baritone guitar and drums. They have released two albums of barely electric duo tunes that sound largely unlike anything they’ve done before. $5. — J.G.
Sunday: Ladies of the 80s Singalong at the Alamo Ritz. Check out the new downtown Alamo and set your inner 80s chick free. This is a somewhat expanded version of the Ladies of the 80s v.2 that ran this summer at the Alamo Village. This time, promoters promise that rainbows will fly through the theater as you belt out Cyndi Lauper’s “True Colors.” They also swear (tantalizingly) that “when the Weather Sisters start singing ‘It’s Raining Men,’ it will literally rain men inside the Alamo Ritz.” 7:15 and 9:45 p.m. $12. — D.S.S.
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Best of Led Zeppelin?
On Tuesday iTunes will make Led Zeppelin’s full catalog available for download. We know which tracks you’ll download first —- the monstrous riffs of “Whole Lotta Love,” the Thor’s-hammer thunder of “When the Levee Breaks,” “Stairway to Heaven” if you must. But beyond that, which of the 165 tracks stand out as must-haves?
Here are rock critic Joe Gross’ picks in no particular order (detailed explanations available here):
- 1. “Immigrant Song” from “How the West Was Won”
- 2. “Over the Hills and Far Away” from “Houses of the Holy”
- 3. “Nobody’s Fault But Mine” from “Presence”
- 4. “Achilles Last Stand” from “Presence”
- 5. “The Battle of Evermore” from “IV”
- 6. “Communication Breakdown” from “I”
- 7. “Wearing and Tearing” from “Coda”
- 8. “Houses of the Holy” from “Physical Graffiti”
- 9. “Kashmir” from “Physical Graffiti”
- 10. “Rock and Roll” from “IV”
Did Joe get it right? Which Led Zeppelin songs would make your top ten list? Tell us in the comments below.
PCL Fest? Phillapalooza?
Philadelphia wants what Austin and Chicago have: a major music festival in its downtown jewel of a park.
Thursday, the fundraising arm of Philly’s Fairmount Park put out a press release announcing that it was in talks with Austin’s C3 Presents about bringing a ACL Fest-like concert to the park next summer.
C3 promoter Charlie Walker confirmed that C3 has been in talks with Philadelphia for some time about making that city the next to host a three-day music festival in the model the company has made popular.
“We are working on Philadelphia and a few other places and will keep working on Philadelphia and a few other places,” Walker said Thursday afternoon.
The Fairmount Park Conservancy has sent a proposal to the City of Philadelphia that calls for C3 to pay for all city-related expenses and contribute half a million dollars (or 7.5% of the gross- whichever is greater) to the Fairmount Park System. This is a deal similar to what C3 has with the city of Austin. C3 pays Chicago Parkways Foundation about $1 million a year to use Grant Park.
The Fairmount Park Commission will vote on the proposal November 14th.
Concert industry trade magazine Pollstar ranked C3 as No. 3 in the United States and No. 9 in the world for ticket sales for the third quarter of 2007. Live Nation and AEG Live are first and second in the U.S.
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Willie feted with BMI Icon award
From Tuesday night’s BMI Awards, a black tie affair held at the performing right organization’s Music Row offices in Nashville, the night before the CMAs:
U2’s Bono said via videotape that when he was growing up and looking at America, he couldn’t decide if he wanted to be a cowboy or an Indian. “Then I saw Willie Nelson,” he said, “and he was both.” Other videotaped salutes to Willie, named a BMI Icon, came from two old Willie friends who are no longer with us: Waylon Jennings and Ray Charles.
Those who did show up for Tuesday night’s soiree included Jessica Simpson, who seems to be stalking Willie these days (as far as stalkers go …), Sheryl Crow, Nicole Kidman, Carrie Underwood, Vince Gill and on and on. Those who performed included Keith Urban, Emmylou Harris, Kris Kristofferson and Toby Keith.
CMT.com reports that Nelson’s Maui neighbor Kristofferson gave perhaps the most heartwarming tribute before he and Emmylou brought the house down with a duet on “Til I Can Gain Control.” Comparing Willie to Stephen Foster, Kristofferson went on to say “His voice and his guitar are a part of his body and soul. … Like Muhammad Ali and Johnny Cash, he’s become more than the art form that made him famous. … I’m still in awe of his artistry. … I love you, Willie. I always have, I always will.”
Recent ACL Fest headturner Jeffrey Steele was named Songwriter of the Year at the event.
Lance Hahn Memorial scheduled for Nov. 18
The Austin memorial for the late Lance Hahn will be held Nov. 18 at the Mohawk (912 Red River St.) from 4 to 9 p.m.
Check out lancehahn.org for more details.
There’s also an excellent tribute to Hahn over at the Onion’s A/V club site.
See you there.
(Photo courtesy of j-church.com/photos)
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CD review: Jay Z - American Gangster
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Boil down nine albums’ worth of lyrics and Jay-Z’s career can be summarized in one line: “I sold kilos of coke, so I’m guessing I can sell CDs.” The Armani suits and corporate image gloss over the fact that today’s more violent “hustler/rappers” (50 Cent, Jeezy) merely take his blueprint to its logical conclusion. He attempted to distance himself from that persona on last year’s comeback album “Kingdom Come,” only to be met with critical derision and lackluster sales.
So “American Gangster” is an almost spiteful return to his roots: “Y’all got me really confused out there. I make ‘Big Pimpin’ … you hail me as the greatest writer of the 21st century. I make some thought-provoking (stuff), you say I fallen off. I’m going to really confuse y’all on this one.”
The more commercial stylings of “Kingdom Come” are mostly absent; instead it is the type of old-school East Coast rap album rarely seen anymore — with soul samples on top of hard-hitting bass and dramatic instrumentation. Diddy even brings back the Hitmen (the production team for many of Bad Boy’s early hits) for five songs. And while lines of movie dialogue are occasionally interspersed, most effectively on “Success” where Jay-Z and Nas trade cocksure laments over how successful they are, “American Gangster” is really a Jay-Z album with some Frank Lucas packaging.
He uses the concept to embrace his inner “bad guy” and vividly detail the rise and fall of a hustler: from the bottom (“American Dreamin”) to the top (“Party Life”) and back again (“Fallin”). Yet even as he mesmerizes with stories from a life he left a lifetime ago, he can’t resist noting the absurdity of it all: “Don’t fear no rappers / They’re all weirdos, DeNiros and actors / So don’t believe everything your earlobe captures / None of what you hear, even if it’s spat by me / and with that said, I will kill (expletive) dead.” It’s the true genius of Jay-Z: in a game where authenticity is everything, he’s made a career out of acting.
Recommended tracks: “Ignorant (Expletive)” and “Fallin”
(Photo by Peter Kramer ASSOCIATED PRESS)
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Waterloo Top 10 for the week ending Nov. 3
Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, ‘Raising Sand’ (Rounder)
Iron & Wine, ‘The Shepherd’s Dog’ (Sub Pop)
Bruce Springsteen, ‘Magic’ (Columbia)
Neil Young, ‘Chrome Dreams II’ (Reprise)
Levon Helm, ‘Dirt Farmer’ (Vanguard)
Octopus Project, ‘Hello, Avalanche’ (Peek-A-Boo)
Eagles, ‘Long Road out of Eden’ (Wal-Mart)
Puscifer, ‘V is for Vagina’ (Pucifer Entertainment)
Lyle Lovett and His Large Band, ‘It’s Not Big it’s Large’ (Lost Highway)
Ryan Adams, ‘Follow the Lights’ (Lost Highway)
Musicmania Top 10 for the week Ending No.v 4
Trae ‘Life Goes On’ (Rap-A-Lot)
Playaz Circle ‘Supply & Demand’ (Def Jam)
Project Pat ‘Walkin Bank Roll’ (Hypnotize Minds)
UGK ‘Underground Kingz’ (Jive)
Keyshia Cole ‘Just Like You’ (Geffen)
Soulja Boy ‘Souljaboytellem.com’ (Interscope)
Plies ‘Real Testament’ (Slip-N-Slide)
Hurricane Chris ‘5150 Rachet’ (J Records)
Amanda Perez ‘Hand Of Fate’ (Upstairs)
Floyd Taylor ‘You Still Got It’ (Malaco)
(Musicmania 3909 D North IH 35 #1 451-3361)
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Hank Thompson 1925- 2007
Honky tonk pioneer Hank Thompson, who had a huge smash with “The Wild Side of Life” in 1952, lost his battle with lung cancer Tuesday at his residence in Keller, Thompson spokesman Tracy Pitcox said. The Country Music Hall of Famer was 82.
Thompson was born Sept. 2, 1925, in Waco and grew up idolizing Jimmie Rodgers, Gene Autry, the Carter Family and Vernon Dalhart. As a teenager, he appeared on WACO, where he was featured as “Hank The Hired Hand.”
After a stint in the Navy, Thompson formed his first band, the Brazos Valley Boys, in 1946. Thompson soon attracted the attention of Tex Ritter, who helped him get a record deal with Capitol Records in Nashville.
Thompson’s first hit was the honky tonk nursery rhyme “Humpty Dumpty Heart” in 1949, but his next hit, “The Wild Side of Life,” would become his signature song. It even inspired a classic answer song when Kitty Wells became the first female country artist to top the charts with “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels.”
Thompson was a pioneer in other ways; the first country star to travel with his own sound system, the first to record in stereo and the first to release a live album, 1961’s “Live At The Golden Nugget.”
Thompson’s final performance was Oct. 8 in Waco, where it was declared Hank Thompson Day. A bigger honor came in 1989 when Thompson was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
“Mr. Thompson requested that he not have a traditional funeral service,” Pitcox said. A Celebration of Life ceremony will take place Nov. 14 at Billy Bob’s in Fort Worth.
(Photo by Ralph Lauer ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Review: Regina Spektor at Stubb’s
Russian-born, Brooklyn-bred singer/songwriter Regina Spektor brought her signature grand piano to Austin Tuesday night to play a sold-out show at Stubb’s. Fans, who ranged from 12-year-old girls to middle-age men, didn’t seem to mind the chilly weather — the venue was packed hours before Spektor appeared.
After a Ben Gibbard-esque, mediocre opening solo act from Only Son, Spektor made her way on stage. Standing no more than 5 foot 5 inches tall and looking ethereal in a billowing, sparkly gray dress, she faced her screaming audience looking shy, surprised and pleased. After a soulful opener, Spektor sat down at her piano, looked sheepishly at her fans and said “Thank you” in a tiny, humble voice, as she would after nearly every song in her hour and a half long set.
This Spektor, the demure, adorable one who flirts with her audience, apologizes for technical difficulty, grins warmly, and looks shocked that everyone came to see her, contrasts sharply with Spektor the musician, who belts out intimate, unapologetic songs, often yelping, nearly swallowing her mike and breaking out in her native Russian. Red-lipped, close-eyed and confident while performing, Spektor throws her body up and down the keys of her shining black piano and shows off her classical training unabashedly.
Fans sang along loudest to songs from her latest, most accessible album, “Begin to Hope,” which sold more than 400,000 copies. The crowd nearly drowned out Spektor during her performances of songs such as “Fidelity,” “Better” and “On the Radio.” Spektor also sang some of her lesser-known works, including two songs she exclusively performs live, as well as work from her quirky “Soviet Kitsch.”
And as Spektor took her final, glittering bow, it was obvious the crowd didn’t want the night to end. They would have stayed as long as Spektor would have played. If the constant shouts of “I love you Regina” weren’t evidence enough, the ecstatic faces of everyone in the crowd surely were.
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Americana Music Festival report
From Entertainment Weekly, which recaps the festival that just wrapped in Nashville (and at which Patty Griffin won more than one award).
Read it here.
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In the clubs: The Strange Boys
- SoundCheck360: Listen to The Strange Boys
The Kinks changed people’s lives. Not just back in the 1960s, when most of the lives they changed were British, but now. There’s a whole generation of hipper than thou kids for whom the Beatles are as common as oxygen and the Stones rock dinosaurs, but the Kinks are an unexplored country.
The Strange Boys sure seem like one of those bands, evoking the Kinks at their earliest —-R&B covers, syncopated guitar, the flicker and hum of a gently distorted organ. (Then again, to judge by their mod-ish clothing, they’re also probably quite fond of ‘66-era Stones, that amazing first Question Mark and the Mysterians album, and, uh, Herman’s Hermits.) Guitarist Ryan Sambol sounds (and, let’s be frank, kind of looks) like an adenoidal 16-year-old, perfect for recalling the snot-nosed garage rock of ages past.
Long may they whine.
In the clubs: The Strange Boys play Thursday with the King Khan and BBQ Show, Black Panda and DJ Ray Ray at the Mohawk, 912 Red River St. $10. (512) 482-8404.
(Photos by Tammy Perez FOR AMERICAN-STATESMAN)
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In the clubs: Camp X-Ray
- SoundCheck360: Listen to Camp X-ray
There was a time when punk rock was about fun. About music that was not necessarily “funny” as much as “casual.” About playing howling rock music with pals just for the heck of it.
This is what Camp X-Ray is about. As it says on the band’s MySpace page, Camp X-Ray has been kicking around for three years, five “dudes that have conversations about things like Queensryche, fantasy sports, the marlin on the wall of the practice space, Chavez, wasabi Funyuns, Busch versus Busch Light, and how cool (long-gone San Diego punk band) Drive Like Jehu were.”
Which means meaty chordings, singer Joe Holzheimer’s throaty bellow and sharp, heavy tunes that will someday probably be about fantasy baseball.
“I really like how we write songs,” drummer Matt Buie says. “It’s a really organic, non-confrontational thing.” Along with Buie and Holzheimer, the band includes bassist Mark Grady and guitarists Joe P. and Doug Cohenour.
It helps that everyone in Camp X-Ray is close to or older than 30, a difficult, do-or-die age for those in the punk community. “We’re too old to be fighting over what happens at band practice,” Buie laughs. “We’ve all been in bands for years, who know what works and what doesn’t and I think we all try to stay out of each other’s hair when it comes to playing.”
How casual are they? Well, the album, their first, has just been mastered, but Holzheimer has no idea when or if it will ever come out. “We’re just happy to have the thing done,” he says. “We’ll worry about the next step later.”
Perfect.
In the clubs: Camp X-Ray plays Wednesday with the Ponys and Chin Up Chin Up at the Mohawk, 912 Red River St. (512) 482-8404
(Photos by Tammy Perez FOR AMERICAN-STATESMAN)
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Major gospel event at Riverbend
Last year, gospel performer Chester Baldwin had an idea to put together a praise and worhip celebration that would combine the efforts of 80 churches across Austin. It was a massive success.
The second annual Citywide Thanksgiving Praise & Worship Celebration, which boasts a 450-member choir, takes place Sunday at 5:57 p.m. at Riverbend Church, 4214 N. Capital of Texas Highway.
Besides all that great music, the event will feature such pastors as Dave Haney of Riverbend, Anthony Mays from Mount Sinai, Kermit Bell of Glad Tidings Church, Kenneth Phillips (seen on “Friday Night Lights”) from Promiseland, and more. Oughta be a Holy Ghost Party for the ages.
Grounded in Music benefit tonight at Antone’s
Grounded in Music, which encourages kids to turn to music as a hobby or career, has its first benefit concert at 9 p.m. today. Details here about the $10 show at Antone’s, 213 W. 5th St.
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Tribute for Wash Hamilton
Ponty Bone and the Squeezetones bassist Wash Hamilton is suffering from prostate cancer and medical bills are mounting, so a host of friends are throwing a benefit at Jovita’s Sunday Nov. 18. Read more about it here.
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Fun Fun Fun Festival: Cat Power & Dirty Delta Blues
As the grass in Waterloo Park gave way to dust, no doubt reminding some in the audience of the 2005 ACL dirt debacle, the crowd that was on hand for the well-received Battles dispersed to recharge before the final acts of the evening took the stage. It seemed that many chose the highly anticipated Murder City Devils or going home over Cat Power, but there was still a good deal of excitement as she and her band came on. Dirty Delta Blues laid down a groove as Chan Marshall excitedly danced around and introduced everyone, after which they launched into a cover-laden set that might have turned off many in the crowd who didn’t know what to expect.
Chan and Co. ran into trouble early when, after a couple of songs— including a slow soul version of “New York, New York” — Marshall began walking to the side of the stage, presumably to discuss sound. When it became apparent there was a problem, she anxiously explained to the audience that she was dealing with a blown eardrum, so she couldn’t hear anything, and also that she was on steroids, which made her feel angry. She attempted a few more songs, hanging close to the monitors, trying to hear what was going on. The band’s solution to the problem was to play quieter songs like James Brown’s “Lost Someone,” which will appear on her upcoming covers album along with another of the evening’s covers, Billie Holiday’s “Don’t Explain.”
The crowd continued to thin as Marshall persevered, with the people who remained offering their support. At one point a member of the audience passed out, prompting Marshall to request medics mid-song, after which organist Gregg Foreman did his best Rolling Stones impression from “Gimme Shelter.” Later in the show, when the band had regained some momentum, they referenced the Stones again with a cover of “Satisfaction.” It was a fitting selection toward the end of a difficult experience that Marshall would probably like to forget.
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Weekend review: the Avett Brothers
Acoustic bluegrass band the Avett Brothers rolled into Austin on Sunday night in their old Winnebago, concluding the Texas leg of their “Emotionalism” tour at La Zona Rosa. The three-man-band includes charismatic front men and brothers Seth and Scott Avett on acoustic guitar and banjo and eight-year-band-veteran Bob Crawford on the upright bass. With nearly a full house of loyal fans, the brothers finished their Texas stint with a classy bang.
The confidence and energy the Avett Brothers exude on stage is laced with soulful two-part harmonies, violent head banging and even blood-curdling screaming and shrieking on the more upbeat numbers, surprisingly a perfect fit. The brothers are known for their insightful, heartsick songwriting such as the acoustic “Ballad of Love and Hate” which Seth Avett crooned to the Austin crowd Sunday night. Scott had his turn as well and had the crowd chuckling over the comically spiteful “Pretend Love.” Carolina Bluegrass is obviously the primary influence for the band, but the Avett Brothers diversify by splicing their sound with creative variables such as hard rock and Spanish melodies in “Gabriella” and even hints of early ’60s Beatles in “Will You Return?” When asked if the Beatles were a major influence, Seth Avett smirked and joked, “Yeah, we kind of like those guys.”
“It’s definitely good to be back in Texas and healthy,” Seth Avett said. “The last time we played here in 2005 we all three had the flu. It was our goal to give Austin something special tonight.”
The only criticism for the Avett Brothers is goal-setting — their performance Sunday night far exceeded “special.”
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Highlights for Fun Fun Fun fest, Day Two
Second verse, same as the first: a little warm in the early afternoon, breathtakingly perfect at night.
Obligatory ‘Friday Night Lights’ sighting: Connie Britton. (Insert Homer Simpsons-style “Whoo-hoo!”)
You have to hand it to the Cave Singers. They were stuck with a thankless slot - 2 p.m., the day after all the after-parties (word has it the Murder City Devils show was a jam for the ages) and the time change that everyone seemed to have forgotten about. A bare handful of fans showed up, but they were in for one of the day’s best sets. Pete Quirk’s reedy vocals sang gorgeously low-key, folkish songs while newly-minted guitarist Derek Fudesco and drummer/guitarist Marty Lund sketched in spare, compelling melodies. Can’t wait to spin their debut, “Invitation Songs,” a couple dozen times or so.
Lowlight that eventually became so weak it turned into a highlight: The punk stage hosted a few more reunions in the early evening, the next less compelling than the last. The Saints ’77 punk sounded pro forma at best, while Youth Brigade’s trio thrash filled in the blanks but little more.
But the afternoon’s most bonkers pile-up belonged to Poison Idea, which consisted of singer Jerry A. - he of a much-imitated punk bellow and world-historical beer gut - and whomever he’s calling Poison Idea this time around. A., never the thinnest guy in the room, looked mighty unwell as he took the stage - it seemed to take him a few instrumentals to get up the nerve to sing (or were those introductions?) and once he started, his voice sounded junky and pale. He seemed to have fun, but much of the audience looked a little uncomfortable. The punks didn’t even really bother to slam - the pit consisted of a few tween girls at one point, a perfect objective correlative for how dangerous this once menacing band had become. A. even made a joke about getting a dodgeball for four-square. But those kids weren’t the ones embarrassing themselves.
The most surprising crowd had to be the masses gathered for Don Caballero. The band’s sole original member is drummer Damon Che, yet the two gents he’s currently playing with sound for all the world exactly like the band’s earliest trio lineup. Don Cab still specialize in proggy guitar rock, still taking the parts of King Crimson albums that sound like a sheet metal plant and tossing out the hippie stuff, like hummable melodies. Still, pretty impressive stuff for a band that, by all logic, should have sounded like warmed-up leftovers from the Clinton administration.
Over on the dance stage, Ocelot’s techno struggled against the sun, while the Ocote Sound System reminded everyone that yes, the flute is considered a funk instrument, especially when driven along by a drummer, percussionist, two guitars and two basses.
The festival closed with a few of the strongest, most explosive performances (physically and emotionally) I’ve seen in years. Not completely sure why Ted Leo and the Pharmacists aren’t being hailed as one of America’s best live bands, but I guess as long as Fall Out Boy are still touring, the kids will have their say. Pile-driving through some of their most high-octane songs (“Sons of Cain,” “Me and Mia,” “Little Things”), Leo and the Pharmacists seemed possessed at times. Between compulsively anthemic songwriting, political savvy, the explosive James Canty (ex-Make-Up, Nation of Ulysses) on second guitar and new bass player Marty “Violence” Key (Young Pioneers), the band seems edging ever closer to becoming the most logical heir to the indefinitely hiatus-ed Fugazi. The final song, a cover of Chumbawamba’s “”Rappaport’s Testament: I Never Gave Up” was dedicated to the late Lance Hahn. A highlight of my year, that set was.
While Cat Power turned “New York, New York” into something that sounded an awful lot like “Bullet the Blue Sky,” the Murder City Devils seemed determined to leave the audience in tiny, black-clad, pompadoured pieces on the Waterloo Park ground. Tearing through noirish, fan favorite garage burners such as “Press Gang” and “I Drink the Wine,” MCD reminded everyone that yes, they were one of the better bands of a fairly dull era for underground rock (‘96 to ‘01). Singer Spencer Moody, sporting a few more pounds and a beard for the ages, still sounds like David Sedaris when he talks, but like Satan himself when he breaks out his iconic, throaty bellow. Hypnotic, frankly.
All in all, very easily the best time I had at a festival this year, including Coachella, Bonnaroo, ACL and Lollapalooza. It wasn’t as big, not as swanky and not nearly as profitable as any of those, but this was festival music on a human scale. The backstage was open and relaxed, the vendors local and pleasant, the food reasonable. It did everything a rock festival should do - made you excited about the endless possibilities of vernacular music.
So, um, let’s talk about next year.
(Pictured: The Murder City Devils. Photo by Benjamin Sklar FOR AMERICAN-STATESMAN)
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First UK Step a stumble
The Steps visit to England got off to a bad start Sunday when the teen band, their producer Frenchie Smith and manager Kevin Wommack were detained at Heathrow customs for seven hours because they didn’t have work permits. Apparently, a UK label was in charge of getting the paperwork in order and didn’t know the Austin band, playing only five shows in London, needed work permits.
The band is currently at their London hotel, with the threat of deportation Tuesday, as their reps scramble to save the mini-tour.
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Urban Music Fest to revamp
Last year’s ice storm (and rain on the June make-up date) cost organizers big bank, but the setback hasn’t kill the Urban Music Festival, Donell Creech of Urban Music Partners says. “We are just having to be very creative in how we are going to make it happen,” he says. UMF is set to take place at Auditorium Shores on June 5 and 6, in conjunction with Texas Relays weekend. But the big change is that a big, free gospel concert is being planned for the Sunday of UMF. And the Saturday concert will be tied to a 5K fun run.
“Service On the Shores” hopes to attract the biggest names in Texas gospel — Yolanda Adams and Kirk Franklin are the aim — and organizers are working with local churches to underwrite the event.
The first day of Urban Music Fest, whose contract with the city runs out after this third year, will coincide with “the Sugar Run” — which will raise awareness that regular exercise can help combat diabetes. African Americans are three times more likely to become diabetic than whites.
It’s not yet known if UMF will continue to book “old school” R&B acts such as first-year headliner Chaka Khan and Cameo from last year for the Saturday show.
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Show review: Rock ‘n’ Roll Dia at La Zona Rosa
It was clear from the moment when we arrived at ME Television’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Dia at La Zona Rosa on Friday night that this show was more than just a concert. It was also both a cultural celebration and a made-for-TV happening. On the patio/entrance an altar had been built to honor the dead, official Dia T-shirts were sold for charity and a booth from the Rio Grande Restaurant served up fajita tacos. Inside the venue a stage-light-enhancing veil of fog clung to the ceiling, the evening’s hosts mingled charmingly in tongue-and-cheek formal wear (think powder-blue tuxedo coats, leopard print and feathers) and full skeleton makeup while Cine Las Americas projected black-and-white vampire flicks onto a screen to the side. Behind the sound booth an area was roped off for the METV crew to film live drops.
The cavernous room remained at less than half-capacity throughout the evening, and the crowd drifted in and out in the early part of the night. When we arrived shortly after 9 p.m., Austin’s Boombox was getting ready to take the stage. (In most un-Austin-like fashion the Dia was a very punctual affair, and the set list taped to the door that blocked out half-hour slots for each band was adhered to strictly and smoothly all evening long.) Largely driven by Carlos Sosa’s Grooveline horns (of Scabs fame), I’ve always thought of Boombox as more of an Austin groove band with a couple MCs than a hip-hop band with a horn section. Most of the band’s selections seemed generally crafted for crossover appeal, and I found myself more compelled by the grittier rock-oriented pieces where the horns grumble ominously as much as they flourish than the electric slide-inducing funk cuts.
The first real highlight of the evening came from the Salvador Santana Band. While the band takes its name from very capable MC/keyboardist Santana (son of the legendary Carlos), it was former Ozomatli player Jose “Crunchy” Espinosa who stole the show. Between turns spitting out blistering sax lines and fierce vocals in English and Spanish, the man worked a hand percussion rig and even picked up a flute on one track. Santana himself paled a little alongside this monstrous performance. But just when I was about to write him off, he pulled out a wide-ranging funky jazz keyboard solo that would have made Jimmy Smith smile. In a matter of moments, Santana deftly proved himself a legacy in more than name alone.
The main event, however, was San Diego’s B-Side Players. As the seven-piece band took the stage with the stuttered skank of a reggaeton riff, the patio emptied as everyone in the house gathered eagerly around the front of the stage. Vocalist Solrak rocked a leather vest, rose-colored glasses and long dreadlocks knotted behind his head, and his voice rang with both intensity and sincerity as he sang out indignantly against injustice on tracks like the searing pro-Zapatista “Nuestras Demandas.”
In between songs Solrak offered meditations on the meaning of the Day of the Dead holiday. “Our struggle is a celebration so we celebrate. All the victims of capitalism around the world we cry for you every night. We sing to you,” he declared.
Solrak clearly and unapologetically draws a strong influence from Bob Marley, both in tone and spirit, so it was no surprise that the band chose to honor the fallen reggae master with a heartfelt cover of “Could You Be Loved,” accented throughout with Latin horn blasts. Before the band left the stage, they led the crowd through salsas, cumbias and soulful reggae, professed their newfound love of Austin and warmly thanked METV for playing their video. At the end of a raucous Afro-dub encore, they implored to the crowd,
“Don’t forget about the B-Side Players. Bring us back to Austin.” With any luck someone will.
(Photos: 1. Sonido Boombox’s Paul Saucido and friends by David Weaver FOR AUSTIN 360, 2. and 3. The B-side Players by Deborah Sengupta)
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Weekend review: M.I.A.
Singer/visual artist/filmmaker/polemicist Mathangi “Maya” Arulpragasam, a.k.a. M.I.A., made it utterly obvious during her Saturday evening dance party at the University of Texas’ Hogg Auditorium that she does not suffer quietude, inhibited dancers and patriarchal oppressors lightly.
M.I.A. — along with her D.J. and backup singer/dancer Miss Cherry — blasted through a set of accelerated anthems mashed upon grimy, lo-fi beats that laid siege to the myriad problems of oppressed people the world over. (It’s fun to imagine how the show might have responded had she known that the University’s south mall is littered with statues of Confederate Army war veterans.)
Beats blasting from black metallic speakers at more than 100 beats per minute, at more than 100 decibels, M.I.A.’s Saturday evening show easily out-vamped her mid-afternoon, 110 degrees in-the-shade performance at the Austin City Limits Festival earlier this year. Despite Hogg Auditorium’s notoriously horrible acoustics (be warned if you ever attempt to view a film or hear a concert there), M.I.A. took no time to incite the entire audience to crumple upon one another at the front of the stage.
“It feels like a lecture,” M.I.A. quipped. Although the armchair desks were being used to hold beers and cocktails instead of notebooks as the audience danced, ironically her words were true: the subtext of her lyrical assault was equally suited for a cultural studies lecture concerning impoverished nations as it was for inciting a spontaneous party. M.I.A. was able to bring her unique and enthusiastic combination of international influences (hip-hop, ragga, electro, dancehall, baile funk) that she synthesizes on recordings to her live show without losing any of the painstakingly studio-crafted sonic intensity.
The show began with a humorous, satirical mock-political speech by a Chinese dictator — which encouraged the audience to overthrow all governments — projected on three big screens at the back of the stage. Minutes later M.I.A. emerged to rock the majority of her 2007 release, “Kala,” and a few of her underground hits.
During “Ten Dollar” from her debut, 2005’s “Arular,” M.I.A. invited the “ladies only” on stage to dance with her. Seemingly to the surprise of many of the ushers and security guards, the stage quickly filled with dozens of young Austin women bumping and grinding away with M.I.A. acting as their mischievous ringleader, herself dancing and singing the entire time. The scene was so ripe with sexual liberation and female empowerment that it was easy to forget that the song’s lyrics concern the insidious hardships of third world young women who become mail order brides.
Other highlights included “Paper Planes” wherein M.I.A. combined her rhymes with high hat 16th notes and an old-school kick drum sample dropped over the melody from the Clash’s “Straight To Hell.” M.I.A.’s production on the track worked a deep, inescapable groove that was a heady bit of ear candy for fans of hip-hop, indie rock and postmodern pastiche.
Newcomers on the hip-hop scene, the Cool Kids opened the show droppin’ steady rhymes that harkened back to the 1980s. The Cool Kids have mad skills. Now they just need to add more originality.
Personal to C3, concert promoters: We love that y’all booked this show, but please, let’s not do anymore concerts at Hogg Auditorium. It’s hard to dance with wooden desks from the early part of the 20th century hitting your knees.
Personal to M.I.A.: Even though you wear those gi-normous sunglasses that swallow your face, we know that you are extraordinarily cute. It’s cool. We love you for your mind and your ability to spit lyrics anyway. Please come back and throwdown again — in a more appropriate venue — soon.
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Fun Fun Fun Fest review: The New Pornographers
The New Pornographers took the stage around 7:30, full band in tow, a treat for many as this meant that frontman Carl Newman shared the spotlight with tambourine-toting vocalist Neko Case. Songwriter Dan Bejar, who had earlier joined violin loop-master Final Fantasy for a Broadway-style sing-along, also graced the stage when the band played his songs, his vocals at times reminiscent of pre-Bringing-It-All-Back-Home Dylan.
The Pornographers have been on the road for awhile, playing almost every night since August, and while such a schedule can take its toll on some bands, it only seems to have made them stronger. Newman and Case have also had plenty of time to perfect their stage banter, which included sharing a Rice Krispie treat (and Case throwing a couple to adoring fans below, who will probably enshrine said treats).
The hour-long set consisted mostly of songs off the bands new album, “Challengers,” as well as plenty of crowd-pleasers off 2005’s “Twin Cinema.” When “Challengers” was released earlier this year, the critical response seemed to be that Newman and Co. had offered up a sort of lite version of the band, a not-so-inspired showcase of different solo artists taking turns singing their own songs. Whether or not there is any truth to that sentiment, the band showed that they are plenty capable of bringing it just as hard on tunes like “Myriad Harbour” and “All the Old Showstoppers” as they can on Twin Cinema’s “Jackie, Dressed in Cobras” and “Sing Me Spanish Techno.” They closed with an epic version of “The Bleeding Hearts Show,” with synth/laptop/video-director Blaine Thurier firing up the crowd with a melodica.
The one low point of the set was the sound, which was fuzzy and only got worse as the volume increased. The crowd, dancing and singing along with every song, didn’t seem to mind.
(Photo by Jay Janner AMERICAN-STATESMAN)
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Fun Fun Fun Fest review: Okkervil River
On a sweltering Friday afternoon in September 2006, Austin’s Okkervil River played for a small, overheated audience on a side stage at the ACL Festival, still riding high on the success of 2005’s “Black Sheep Boy,” which was re-released in April 2006 after the band signed to Virgin/EMI in Europe. It was a good show, but a far cry from Saturday’s 5:25 p.m. set at Fun Fun Fun Fest, which drew the largest crowd up to that point as the festival-goers who chose to sit out the early sets began to funnel into the entrance to see the big guns scheduled for that evening.
Frontman Will Sheff and the boys started out on a fairly reserved note with “The President’s Dead,” but wasted no time after that with an energetic sampling of tunes, mostly from “Black Sheep Boy” and 2007’s “The Stage Names.” Keyboardist Jonathan Meiburg and drummer Travis Nelsen held it down as the band made their way through the set, with much of the crowd singing along to every word on songs like “Black” and “John Allyn Smith Sails,” the coda of which includes a rousing rendition of “Sloop John B” (a traditional song popularized by the Beach Boys). They closed the set with “Westfall,” off 2002’s “Don’t Fall in Love With Everyone You See,” complete with a bit of the Rolling Stones’ “Paint it Black” thrown in for good measure.
Sheff got sentimental with some talk of how good it was to be back in town, and even gave a playful shout-out to his pre-rockstar job as Web designer for the Texas State Senate (this being Austin, probably inspiring many in the crowd who are longing to quit their jobs as Web designers to pursue a career in music). He also noted that this was the band’s last stateside gig before they head to Europe to tour. It was a fitting sendoff for a band that has helped define a new generation of Austin music.
Update: As some people have pointed out in the comments section, Jonathan Meiburg was not with the band on Saturday. We are working to find out the name of the person who filled in.
(Photo by Jay Janner AMERICAN-STATESMAN)
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Weekend review: House party with Stephen Bruton and Scrappy Jud Newcomb
There can be few better ways to spend a beautiful fall evening than in a big backyard in far South Austin listening to Stephen Bruton and Scrappy Jud Newcomb with a few friends, some five dozen friends of friends, assorted kids, a cat, some chickens (sequestered in their coop), and a pointy-eared dog keeping perfect time with his tail.
My friends’ friends Karen and Tomas, who hosted one of their occasional house concerts Friday, had decorated their gazebo/stage with white Christmas lights. While Bruton and Newcomb set up their instruments, folks found spots on the lawn for chairs or blankets or baby strollers, and filtered in and out of the house to load up plates from a potluck buffet atop a Dia de los Muertos altar in the kids’ playroom.
Fans listened raptly as Bruton and Newcomb traded tunes, accompanying each other on guitar or mandolin and harmony vocals. Many of the songs were pensive or somber or full of regret, including Newcomb’s “How Much I Lost” and “Damaged Goods” and Bruton’s “Hate to Love,” “Getting Over You” and “I Am the Ghost.” The mood, however, was festive.
A small girl climbed a tree and then flipped from branch to branch like an Olympic gymnast. An up-tempo number compelled another tiny girl to jump up and wiggle her hips and wave her arms like a miniature Mick Jagger until she got so hot, she had to pull off her hoodie and, finally, collapse onto her supine father — only to spring up again seconds later.
The pointy-eared dog not only stood and barked approval at the end of every song, but woofed excitedly when Bruton and Newcomb embarked on a long, thrilling instrumental excursion. At the end of the dazzling display, they laughed and proclaimed it “a real guitar battle.” Newcomb explained that a Japanese fan of their band the Resentments had told them he liked their show “because it contained many nice guitar battles.”
“Like Mothra vs. Godzilla,” Bruton joked.
A whisper from the hostess led Bruton to announce “OK, we’ll do a ballad then.” But if the neighbors were developing anti-acoustic-guitar-war sentiments, the tip jar showed staunch support.
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Fun Fun Fun Fest review: Final Fantasy
There’s something puzzling about one-person acts who name themselves as if they were a band, but singer/songwriter/violinst/keyboardist/sample-master Owen Pallett, aka Final Fantasy, is his own band. It was tiring just watching the Canadian — who has admitted that he doesn’t have the patience to play the game after which he has named himself — moving back and forth on stage, searching for the appropriate violin sample (he created some of the layers on stage during the songs, others appeared to be pre-arranged) and shuffling between the keys and the violin, singing all the while. At one point he admitted that taking the keyboard on tour was a pain and asked the crowd whether they thought it was worth having on stage.
The crowd was attentive as Pallett made his way through songs from 2005’s “Has a Good Home” and 2006’s “He Poos Clouds.” Pallett’s violin work is both haunting and playful, a good match for lyrics that juxtapose intense feelings of loneliness and isolation with amusing verses like “But - what if they like it/And lock us in a cannery with your accordian/Until we canned our love?” The sound was at times piercing, and some audience members were seen walking away from the stage holding their ears, although Pallett commented that he couldn’t hear anything on stage.
The closing song was a cover of Destroyer’s (aka New Pornographer Dan Bejar) “An Actor’s Revenge,” which he played twice, the second time with Bejar and rapper Cadence Weapon joining him on stage for a version that would have been at home at a Broadway after-party.
(Photo by David Weaver FOR AUSTIN360.)
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Fun Etc. Etc. Fest
And then there were three.
The first sign that Fun Fun Fun Fest is quite different from its older brothers South By Southwest and Austin City Limits Music Festival was the sight of chief Funster Graham Williams peddling around the perimeter of Waterloo Park on a bicycle Saturday afternoon. Could you imagine “the three Charlies” who put on ACL riding around on anything besides their executive golf carts or seeing SXSW co-founders at all during the non-conversational times of their event?
Fun Fun Fun Fest was more than just a gathering of hip bands with bad names, it was a festival with a face, a local face.
Although the Austin music scene is defined by its behemoths of March and September, Fun Fun Fun, which takes its name from a song by 1980s local punk band the Big Boys, felt more like the way Austin really is. It was like the Spider House in a big field, for ten hours of live music each day on a weekend, with no one on their laptops.
There wasn’t any tension about finding a good spot to watch the bands or wondering if you’ll even get to see your favorites at all. Even for the New Pornographers and Explosions in the Sky, the two last bands to play Stage One (of three) Saturday, it was possible to walk up to within 50 feet of the stage if you came at it from the side. The attendance was almost as perfect as weather which made clear that November is to September what Alec Balwin is to Danny.
The louder, heavier Stage Two, where the Sword’s seamless metallic wallop made up for a punchless set by the reunited Angry Samoans (who were never very good to begin with) was a little harder to manuever around, but anyone could still get close enough to see and hear just fine. Now this is the way a music festival should be, I remember thinking almost out loud.
In only its second year, Fun Fun Fun Fest has been compared to Chicago’s Pitchfork Festival, where just being booked is like getting a four-star review. A big difference, however, is that the 4F Club is centered around the taste of one person- Graham Williams, who has been booking shows in Austin since junior high.
Williams no doubt has a collection of perfect memories from the weekend, but I have three, well, four really, if you count the Longhorns come-from-behind victory against Oklahoma State, which I caught at nearby Scholz’ Garten.
With the game-winning field goal fresh in my mind, I walked into Waterloo Park with Okkervil River flailing away on “Evil Doesn’t Look Like Anything” and it was great to see that this Austin band, whose latest LP “The Stage Names” has become a mild obsession for me, could pull it off so magnificently live. I had them pegged for studio tinkerers, but they flat-out rocked.
Moment no. 2 came at the midpoint of the New Pornographers set, which seemed a tad off early on. Neko Case and Carl Newman finally clicked on “Sing Me Spanish Techno” and I felt the blood rush to my head. Perfect pop on a perfect evening,
The third thing I’ll remember most from the concert’s first day was when Explosions in the Sky (who won’t be getting checks from the badly slumping “Friday Night Lights” after this year) were doing their shimmering guitar thing and I felt compelled to lay down. To hear the sensitive bombast that way. At first I was thinking that someone might trip over me or that security would think I’d passed out. But after a few seconds the vulnerability dissipated and I felt safe. The music filled the air like fireworks and I remember thinking now this is the way a music festival should be.
All that and an extra hour of sleep.
(Photos: 1. Fun Fun Fun Fest crowd by David Weaver FOR AUSTIN360, 2. The Sword by Bret Gerbe FOR AMERICAN-STATESMAN, 3. The New Pornographers by Jay Janner AMERICAN-STATESMAN)
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Fun x 4
Fun Fun Fun Fest is an organic party with a unique Austin vibe that well represents several of the key music scenes for which the city has become legend in this part of the country. In its second year, the fest is basically an amalgam of everything wonderful about the Red River music scene. You have the indie rock of places like the Mohawk, the hard-core and punk scenes so familiar at places like Room 710 and Beerland, and the DJ acts seen everywhere from Beauty Bar to Emo’s. With local vendors, a manageable crowd of 6,500 or so that allowed for easy and unobstructed viewing of almost every band, and familiar faces at every turn, Waterloo Park seems like it’s playing home this weekend to one big Red River block party; add the complement of perfect weather to the mix, and you have a recipe for one of the most enjoyable music events in this or any town.
The highlight for me Saturday had to be Okkervil River, a band about which I have heard plenty but never had the chance to enjoy live. The homegrown talents rocked a set composed primarily of tunes from ‘Black Sheep Boy’ and their latest, ‘The Stage Names,’ an album about which music critic Michael Corcoran has a borderline obsession. Following Okkervill, I managed to enjoy a few songs of Of Montreal before being bored with their over-the-top synth-pop, which in small doses can be entertaining, but after a few songs grates on my nerves. The androgynous Kevin Barnes knows how to get a crowd, and his band, going, but the hyper-bouncy rythms of the glam pop outfit lost my interest after a few songs, before recapturing my attention with a ’70s-era funk tune that seemed culled from the Beck catalog.
Indie rock stalwarts the New Pornographers were crippled by some bad sound throughout but played through a complication of which they may have been unaware, to a crowd which seemed to know every lyric belted out by Carl Newman and the tambourine-rattling Neko Case. I wrapped the night up by taking in the much ballyhooed Girl Talk over at the DJ stage. DJ Greg Gillis began his set by telling fans that he played part dance music and part chill out music, but it was evident that the dance portion would be highlighted on this cool November evening — within seconds the small stage was filled with tweens bopping up and down, hands swaying with the beats, almost engulfing the Pittsburgh DJ known as Girl Talk. Unfortunately, the park setting and rather weak amplification made it hard for Gillis’ set to permeate the entire audience. Gillis had made a name for himslef, and rightly so, by taking 10 second snippets of blasts from the past and mashing them into a musical collage that keeps audiences dancing along as the music seamlessly transitions from the Jackson 5 to Earth, Wind and Fire, and Steve Winwood. Steve Winwood, you say? Yep, pretty kitschy, eh? The set kept people on and near the stage bumping for the length of the set, but I left feeling the musical experience would have been a little more at home at Emo’s or even Spiros.
Random sighting: In addition to seeing about 75 percent of the people I know in Austin, I was also alerted to the presence of Matt Bonner of the San Antonio Spurs taking in some bands at Stage 1.
(Pictured: Diplo performs on the DJ stage on day 2 of Fun Fun Fun Fest. Photo by Benjamin Sklar FOR AMERICAN-STATESMAN)
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Word to CarterB
I did stop by the DJ tent on and off, but I never stayed for long enough to get more than a fleeting impression of Small Sins (who I wish I’d seen more of), Jester (who seemed fine) and Cadence Weapon (who seemed Canadian).
Missed Girl Talk entirely, sadly, but I heard great things.
Really bummed I missed Busdriver, frankly.
(Photo by Bret Gerbe FOR AMERICAN-STATESMAN)
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HIghlights of Fun Fun Fun Fest, Day One
The weather? Perfect. Low 80s during the day, high 60s at night. Seriously, this might have been the nicest Austin music festival weather of the 21st century. Total bullseye. Clearly the folks at Transmission sacrificed a goat or a virgin or something. But can you even find a virgin on Sixth or Red River? (“Ba-dump-ching”) Thanks, I’ll be here all week.
Love the “Return to Forever” T-shirt on the bass player for hipster metal titans Saviours. The band played a monster set, yet not jazz fusion. Discuss.
Swedish hard rockers Witchcraft were their own retro-metal miracle - melodic, swinging, denim clad.
The Evangelicals hail from Norman, Okla. So they can be forgiven for sounding an awful lot like early Flaming Lips, who hail from Oklahoma City. This isn’t a knock: the younger band’s set blended complicated pop song craft with simple, trippy keyboard melodies and overdriven guitar burn. Their smoldering hunks of psychedelic riff-style blended brilliantly with the cloudless sky. And hey, it’s a heck of a lot better than sounding like later Flaming Lips.
White Denim, perhaps Austin’s buzziest buzz band, lived up the exhausting amount of blog hype. They’re still kind of fuzzy on the whole song-band vs. groove-band thing, but it didn’t stop the trio from putting a frantic, sweaty set of soulful drum breaks, geeky funk and layers of serrated guitar.
And I do mean layers. It was a great day for guitar and violin loops. Owen Pallett, doing business as Final Fantasy, turned his lone violin into an orchestra (“It’s not as much a band as a magic show,” one megafan was overheard to note). The audience got a bonus when Pallett played a cover of Destroyer’s “An Actor’s Revenge.” The Destroyer himself, also doing business as Dan Bejar, was spotted backstage and brought up (Bejar is one of the songwriters in New Pornographers, but rarely plays live with them). The song was started again with Bejar’s glammy, Bowie-esque voice joining in, along with an entirely too excited Cadence Weapon. It truly was Pallett’s fans’ final fantasy. (Sorry.)
Speaking of Bejar, the New Pornographers set was strong, in spite of harsh sound (hello, midrange!). Bejar, however, only wandered out to sing his songs. They’re wonderful songs, eccentric and melodic in ways that work in solid contrast to lead tunesmith Carl Newman. But the effect was almost surreally prima-donna-ish.
As someone with absolutely no interest in ‘80s and especially ‘90s New York hardcore, it’s vaguely painful to admit Madball put in a ripping set, noting the lack of barriers between the stage and the audience. And it was cute to see the pit entirely comprised of guys in their early thirties pretending they were 18 again. The Angry Samoans, on the other hand, spent an awful lot of time talking about how old they were and how young the crowd was. The music could not have sounded more 1979, which is entirely appropriate. Corpus Christi O.P. (original punk) Tim Stegall made an appearance. OK, OK, you guys are old. (But they do get more points than you can imagine for $5 T-shirts, which were essentially random thrift store shirts with the Samoans logo silk-screened on them, which was perfect for one of the great junk culture punk bands.)
Speaking of, let’s hear it as well for Explosions in the Sky’s merch table. Ten dollars per LP (including the double from this year) = classy. I bought two. The Sword’s set was excellent - heavy, hair-swinging, sludgy, loud metal for brainy heshers alike. They had plenty of new, thunderous songs, including a tribute to science-fiction author George R.R. Martin’s novel “A Game of Thrones” called “Take the Black.” Heavy nerds united! (And I mean heavy both in the physical and metal senses.)
Though the audience for their set was dwarfed by the crowd for Explosions in the Sky, Neurosis’s epic art-metal was magnificent, equal parts ambient doom, crushing thrash and enigmatic, black and white visual projections. (The split audience thing was a shame. Each band could have easily picked up 500 new fans had they played at different times.) Opening with the title track from this year’s excellent “Given to the Rising,” it was impossible to know that this band barely plays live anymore and indeed lives in entirely different parts of the country. Guitarist (and fourth grade teacher) Steve Von Till’s “Hidden Faces” felt like an anthem of focus and power (“Through the weathering vine/ I WILL SEE YOU COMING/ The feral now feeds you/ Instinct is pure/ All actions are sane. “To the Wind” (gotta love that 45 second howl from Scott Kelly), “At the End of the Road” and “Water is Not Enough” emphasized the band’s ability to move from drift to pound at the drop of a drumstick. “Distill (Watching the Swarm)” probably should have been seen by any kid going to the upcoming Tool show to see how it’s done. (It’s pretty much impossible to imagine Tool without Neurosis.) Set closers “Burn” and “The Doorway” crashed into massive feedback walls and stopped on a dime. Sometime, 22 years of experience pays off.
(Pictured: 1. Sick Of It All. Photo by Jay Janner AMERICAN-STATESMAN, 2. Final Fantasy. Photo by David Weaver FOR AUSTIN360, 3. Neurosis. Photo by Bret Gerbe FOR AMERICAN-STATESMAN.)
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M.I.A. at Borders in Westgate
If you can’t make M.I.A.’s show Saturday night at Hogg Auditorium, you can still see her. She’ll be at the Borders Westgate, signing copies of her CDs.
Mathangi “Maya” Arulpragasam is scheduled to be there at 4 p.m. The store is in the Westgate Shopping Center, 4477 S. Lamar Blvd. Call 891-8974.
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Taj Mahal Trio with Ruthie Foster moved to Antone’s
The Taj Mahal Trio show (with Ruthie Foster) which was slated for the Glenn on Nov. 8 has been moved to Antone’s.
The date is still the same.
Doors open at 5:30 p.m. and the show begins at 6:30 p.m. Tickets purchased for the Glenn will be honored at the door.
Tickets are still available at GetTix.net or by calling (866) 443-8849.
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Conrads to play rare show
Austin’s best Austin tribute band, the Conrads, will be rockin’ the Hole in the Wall Sunday on a great bill that also includes McLemore Avenue, Superego and others.
The show was put together in honor of Kent Edwards, a great local music supporter who died a year ago from a heart attack. The Conrads go on at 10 p.m. The band also plays a Doug Sahm memorial show Tuesday at Casbeer’s in San Antonio.
Conrads singer/keyboardist David Beebe has been living in Marfa lately, working on opening a new live music club. We’ll keep you posted on how that’s going.
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The Austin Music Hall may make it yet.
It’s tough to tell from the outside, but Direct Events owner Tim O’Connor swears the Austin Music Hall is on track for a late November soft launch.
“We are still planning an event for late November,” Direct Events owner Tim O’Connor said Friday as he gave me a tour of the building. “Come back in four days; you won’t be able to recognize it from what you see today.”
Staff will begin to work from offices there in two weeks.
The interior still looks to be largely metal frames, but O’Connor says Sheetrock will start being installed in a matter of days, construction will start on the many bars on Monday and inspections are on-going. Brick has started to go up on the outside of the building, while the 45 foot by 36 foot stage (40 inches off the ground) will go in within the next week.
General addmission capacity is 4400, with a second floor that includes balconies which will soon hold dozens of risers.
The entire third floor will be a “Tower Club” reserved for subscription-based VIPs, while the second-floor deck (“our solutions to the smoking ban,” O’Connor says) lets you see all the way to the West Lake Hills area.
Late November. Get ready.
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Patty Griffin wins awards
Patty Griffin won artist of the year and album of the year (“Children Running Through”) Thursday night at the Americana Music awards in Nashville.
More on Griffin and other winners here.
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Review: Fiery Furnaces
“Widow City,” the Fiery Furnaces’ fifth album in as many years, is getting raked over the coals by critics who think Matthew and Eleanor Friedberger’s cleverness has run its course, that the brother-and-sister act has become too obsessed with process and not enough with product. A casual spin of the new one might yield as much — the Furnaces’ claim that it was conceived with the aid of a Ouija board certainly doesn’t help — but on Friday, the first of a two-night stand at Emo’s, there was no denying they razzle-dazzled the crowd with the album’s idiosyncratic songs.
This was especially apparent on “The Philadelphia Grand Jury,” seven-plus minutes of wild and crazy tempo changes that (intentionally) debilitated the song to the point where it would have fallen apart were it not for the crack rhythm section of drummer Bob D’Amico and bassist Jason Loewenstein (formerly of Sebadoh), whose anticipation kick-started it again and again. Their ability to play both with virtuosity and reckless abandon added unfounded dimensions to Matthew’s Chamberlin keyboard, from which he summoned a mélange of string, woodwind and brass samples.
But it was Eleanor, the one whose instrument was her voice, who was most compelling. As she unfurled the album’s narrative with speed-read versions of “My Egyptian Grammar,” “Duplexes of the Dead” and “Ex-Guru,” it was important to remember that she’s usually wielding a guitar. Without that security blanket on stage, she was vulnerable singing her brother’s kooky, novelistic verse about Navajo basketball coaches, a white-haired half Samoan girl from Darwin and an imaginary map of the Manifestations of Murder-Making. Yet despite “Meatballs” staring back at her from the big screen behind the bar, she managed to keep a straight face through all her forced rhymes and non sequiturs. And if that doesn’t show those critics what’s what, then Billy Murray’s not funny.
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Review: Pre-Halloween secret show with Manny & the Brokeback Boys, the McMercy Family Band and Wino Vino
Even the dead get to enjoy live music in Austin — at least on the night before Halloween, in a certain cemetery that played host Tuesday to the third in a series of “Secret Shows,” this one featuring Manny & the Brokeback Boys, the McMercy Family Band and Wino Vino.
At the appointed hour, ushers directed visitors through a gap in the fence and on through the headstones to a spot where tealight candles glimmered. Some 40 people gathered quickly and quietly, while band members scampered about setting up small pots that breathed wisps of spooky vapor.
There was one brief, early scare of a nonsupernatural nature, when word went round that the police had been spotted. Candles and smoke pots were snuffed, and people slipped off into the shadows. But soon a mournful bassline wafted across the graves, and the gathering reconvened in the dark.
I’m not sure how Lindsey Verrill had wrangled her stand-up bass into the cemetery, but she provided the fluid and faintly unsettling lines linking Manny & the Brokeback Boys and the McMercy Family Band, as well as a strong, girlish soprano that gives a good notion of what Iris DeMent would sound like as a character on a Halloween episode of “The Simpsons.”
The Brokeback Boys, cross-dressed in vintage clothes, also deployed concertina, accordion, guitar and banjo as they put a macabre twist on old-timey music. They turned sweet male-female harmonies to the service of songs about bawdy houses, the infamous misdeeds of Lizzie Borden and a gluttonous romantic obsession.
Lovely but slightly off-kilter multipart harmonies are also a trademark of the McMercy Family Band, which brought out dark undercurrents in traditional gospel tunes such as “Old Time Religion” and “Wade in the Water,” and dug up obscurities such as the vengeful “He Will Set Your Fields on Fire.”
A posse in matching skeleton costumes lit by glow-in-the-dark bracelets sauntered up to the edge of the crowd as Wino Vino played its piratical fusion of gypsy and klezmer music, which prominently featured clarinet and accordion on this occasion. A diminutive woman dressed as a circus trainer in a towering hat chased a friend in a bear costume around the tombstones and between band members. The hectic sing-along “Scallamoochie” provoked a final flurry of dancing before everyone slunk off into the night.
Naturally, even secrets have their own MySpace page these days, so you can check out this link for future details on the time and place of the November Secret Show, set to include Some Say Leland.
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Weekend Picks: MIA, Reggae en espanol, witty songwriters and many flavors of Fun Fun Fun
Friday: Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, Cracker at the Mohawk. Former Drive By Truckers guitarist and songwriter Jason Isbell takes the stage at the Mohawk with his band the 400 Unit. The band’s 2007 debut album, ‘Sirens of the Ditch,’ smolders with southern rock intensity like on ‘Drop That Weapon.’ Isbell can pen some wispy, tear-jerker ballads as well, so expect a set with more mood swings than Lindsey Lohan. Nineties alt-rockers Cracker headline. $13 (plus svc charges) Early show, doors at 7 p.m. —Brandon Cobb
Friday: 2nd Annual Rock ‘n’ Roll Dia at La Zona Rosa. METV’s Sonido Boombox hosts a celebration of Latino music and culture in honor of the Day of the Dead, the traditional Mexican celebration of All Souls and All Saint’s days observed at the beginning of November. This year’s concert is headlined by the B-Side Players a San Diego-based seven-piece outfit that won my heart with just 12 bars of the ridiculously infectious “reggae en espanol” in “Nuestras Demandas,” the first track on their MySpace page. Also performing are the Salvador Santana Band, Cipes and the People and Kanko, the new project from Brian Ramos, ex-frontman of Grupo Fantasma. $8 —Deborah Sengupta Stith
Saturday-Sunday: Fun Fun Fun Fest at Waterloo Park. Last year, Fun Fun Fun was the little festival that could, a one-day punk ‘n’ hipster bash that featured everyone from indie darling Spoon to oddballs Quintron and Miss Pussycat to a version of hardcore-punk oldsters Negative Approach. This year, expect more of a regular festival, including seven food vendors with vegetarian options and the sort of vendors you might expect to see on, say, North Loop: record stores and vintage clothing. And for bands, promoter Graham Williams was able to fly in several higher profile underground acts, including the influential-yet-rarely-touring punk veterans Neurosis and a reunited Murder City Devils, who have been gone for years. Also playing are local heroes Explosions in the Sky, guitar-pop sensations the New Pornographers and mega-hip DJ Diplo. READ MORE 2-day pass $54, 1-day pass $30-$35. —Joe Gross
» Fun Fun Fun Fest after-parties
Saturday: Zookeeper at the Parish. Zookeeper, the latest project from Chris Simpson, formerly of Mineral and The Gloria Record, celebrates its CD release party. Imagine Bob Dylan writing songs for and playing with Pavement, and you start to get a sense of what this completely unpretentious and wildly enjoyable band of indie folk poppers is all about. —Matthew Odam
Saturday:: Red Elvises at the Continental Club. The Red Elvises have been playing some of the weirdest rockabilly this side of Moscow for over fifteen years now. Founded in 1995 by political refugees Igor Yuzov and Oleg Bernov, the Elvises combine Elvis Presley’s panache and showmanship with Dick Dale’s fingers and Yakov Smirnoff’s accent. $15. —B.C.
Saturday: Dirty Dozen Brass Band at Antone’s. Internationally renowned as one of New Orleans’ finest exports, the Dirty Dozen, established in 1977, are credited with shaking up the traditional NOLA brass sound with elements of funk and bebop. They’ve recorded with everyone from Chuck D to Joss Stone. Their latest, released in 2006 on the anniversary of the Katrina disaster, is a timely reinterpretation of Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On.” Expect rich, multidimensional arrangements and heartfelt soul. $18-$20 —D.S.
Saturday: M.I.A. at Hogg Auditorium. Mathangi ‘Maya’ Arulpragasam’s 2007 album ‘Kala’ will probably end up on a host of year-end lists. People are still talking about her heady mix of grime hip-hop, raga, electro and funk that was a smash at ACL fest. With the Cool Kids. $25. — Joe Gross
Saturday: MIA afterparty with DJ Low B at the Whisky Bar. On his MySpace page, Philly-based DJ Low B aka Low Budget declares himself “not a rave DJ.” He carved a name for himself as half of the eclectic and wildly popular DJ duo Hollertronix (Diplo’s the other half). Currently on tour backing MIA, he’ll be rocking the Whisky Bar with DJ Digg (TMC) after the show at Hogg Auditorium. No word on whether or not Maya herself will show up. Cover unspecified. —D.S.
Sunday: Fun Fun Fun Fest Afterparty at the Beauty Bar. Hosted by Mad Decent (Diplo’s label), this throwdown at the Beauty Bar includes appearances from Baltimore club music up-and-comer DJ Blaqstarr, local hipster hero Prince Klassen and L.A.’s Franki Chan plus a surprise special guest. Expect the club to pack to capacity early and the dance floor to stay hot all night long. Cover unspecified. —D.S.
Smashing Pumpkins concert rescheduled
Austin fans of the Smashing Pumpkins will have to wait 11 more days for their Billy Corgan fix.
Friday’s Smashing Pumpkins concert at the Backyard has been rescheduled for Nov. 13. Tickets for Friday’s show will be honored at the door on that day.
Accoridng to SmashingPumpkins.com, drummer Jimmy Chamberlin was admitted to a hospital Oct. 29 after experiencing some chest discomfort.
For refunds, please contact GetTix at 1-866-443-8849. Refunds will be granted until Jan. 31. For more information, visit thebackyard.net.
Some excellent rock music you can see tonight
Clockcleaner. Tonight at Beerland.
One of the standout acts of this year’s SXSW and straight out of Philadelphia, Clockcleaner makes aggressive, often obnoxious rock that recalls such ’80s noise merchants as Big Black, Scratch Acid and the Brainbombs. Watch out for flying flour.
With headliner and garage rock savant Jay Reatard, new-school thrashers Evil Army, melodic punks the Young and flailers the Lost Controls.
Boy howdy, I’m looking forward to this show.
$10 at the door.
I have been told by Beerland folks that the show will kick off a little early, around 9:30 p.m., what with all the bands playing.
That address again: Beerland, 711 Red River St. 479-7625.
See you there.
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Is SXSW cracking down?
Some booking agents are becoming a tad unglued at revised language in the SXSW contract. To wit:
Exclusivity: Invited acts agree to the following:
A. Artist will not perform any other public shows in Austin between
March 12-16, 2008. Public shows are defined as
1) Shows that charge admission to the general public
2) Shows advertised in any media available to the general public.
3) Shows that occur between 7 p.m. and 2 a.m.
B. Artists agree that their official SXSW showcase is their first
priority, and to not undermine the success or inhibit attendance at
their showcase by accepting invitations for an excessive number of other
performances.
C. Artist agrees to notify SXSW of any and all other performances during
SXSW so SXSW can avoid scheduling conflicts.
SXSW music director Brent Grulke clarifies:
“It’s essentially the same policy that it’s always been, but we wanted to make it very clear,” Grulke said Wednesday. “It’s obviously an ongoing concern. What we want from the acts is that their SXSW showcase be the one that the primary devotion of time and resources is put toward. But the policy hasn’t changed. We just tried to make it more prominent.”
