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Thursday, August 28, 2008
Can there be a worse name than the Reivers?
Zeitgeist was so perfect. Then Austin’s best ’80s indie pop band had to change their name- to the Reivers. The newly reformed band announced Thursday at Antone’s sold-out Child Guidance Center benefit that they are now called Right Or Happy - as in when you’re in a fight with your signif-o, do you want to be right or happy? (Isn’t that a Blue Collar Comedy routine?)
Our number one Right Or Happy fan Jay says John, Kim, Toth and Garrett played “four new amazing songs.” They’re back!
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Weekend Picks: Power pop, candy, cigarettes and bats
Friday: East Side Blues at the Victory Grill. Long before East Eleventh Street was a stomping ground for hipsters and condo-dwellers, the Victory Grill, a storied juke joint, was home base for pioneers of Austin’s jazz and blues scene. DiverseArts celebrates that history with a screening of the film “Austin, Texas: East Side Blues” a 30-minute documentary chronicling the local greats of the post-war scene. Film screens at 8 p.m., a panel discussion will follow. $5-$10 suggested donation. —Deborah Sengupta Stith
Friday: Prince Klassen CD release at the Beauty Bar. Klassen, who’s been known to drop everything from danceable indie-pop to rugged gangsta rap in a set, celebrates the release of a new CD. Bodies will be rocked. —-D.S.S.
Friday and Saturday: Wild Weekend power pop festival at the Mohawk and Beerland. For fans of bouncy, hooky, high-speed guitar rock and the people who put up with them. Friday night, check out Paul Collins’ Beat, Pointed Sticks, Nikki Corvette and more at the Mohawk. (Grand Champeen, Power Chords, Prima Donna and more play at Beerland on Friday during the day.) The Boys, playing their first and only U.S. show in more than 25 years, perform Saturday night at the Mohawk with 20/20, Boss Martians and more. Poor People, Luxury Sweets and more play a day show at Beerland. Mohawk shows are 9 p.m. and $25. The Beerland shows are 21 and older and free. Check out www.myspace.com/wildweekendaustin for more info. — Joe Gross
Saturday: KVRX Back to School Blowout at Emo’s. A benefit for University of Texas student station KVRX with Ringo Deathstarr, T-Bird and the Breaks, Death is Not a Joyride and more. 10 p.m. $7. — J.G.
Saturday: Candy & Cigarettes No. 2 Zine Release Party at Club DeVille. One of Austin’s best and weirdest new ‘zines celebrates its second issue. With Learning Secrets, a Faulty Chromosome and more. 9 p.m. $4, $6. — J.G.
Saturday-Sunday: Batfest on the First Street Bridge between West Cesar Chavez Street and Riverside Drive. Crafts, food, kids’ activities, more than 30 bands including Edgar Winter, the BoDeans, Carolyn Wonderland, Flobots and more. Plus bat watching. 2 p.m. to midnight Saturday, 2 to 10 p.m. Sunday. $5 at the door; 10 and younger are free. — J.G.
Sunday: Jeremy Enigk at Stubb’s. On the cusp of 34, the former frontman of the insanely influential emo band Sunny Day Real Estate has developed a solid solo career. Perhaps the fanbase is not as devout as SDRE’s, but what is? With Amy Cook. 9 p.m. $13. — J.G.
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Latin music live chat with Paul Saucido today at 2 p.m.
Join us Thursday at 2 p.m. for a live chat about Latin music in Austin and beyond with guest host Paul Saucido. Until recently, Paul served as Latin Music Director of ME Television where he hosted the groundbreaking show “Sonido Boombox.” Paul also hosts the annual Rock ‘n’ Roll Dia celebration which brings to the stage a broad mix of local and national Latino artists. You can catch Paul on the Internet at rockyrollradio.com where he hosts a weekly Webcast featuring excellent local, national and international Spanish-language music mixed with entertaining chat. New shows air every Monday and Friday and old shows are archived for your listening pleasure.
(Pictured: Paul Saucido at the 2007 Rock ‘n’ Roll Dia. Photo by David Weaver FOR AMERICAN-STATESMAN)
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Big day for Boland
Not many artists undergo surgery the day their new record is released, but both proceedures were deemed complete successes.
Jason Boland and The Stragglers new album “Comal County Blue,” which was released Tuesday, shot to #1 on the i-Tunes country sales chart. The singer-songwriter, meanwhile, went under the knife to remove a polyp from his vocal chords.
Boland’s expected to be back on the road soon, promoting the record that’s received the best reviews of his career. He’s currently in Oklahoma with his family, recovering from the surgery.
Go here for updates.
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Review: Jon Dee Graham first night back at Continental
A phoenix rose from its ashes Wednesday night at the Continental Club. It was Jon Dee Graham’s first gig since a near-fatal car crash a month prior laid him up at Brackenridge with three broken ribs, a concussion, and internal bleeding. In a pre-show interview, Graham was feeling no pain. That’s because, he said, he was on OxyContin. He relayed how smoking saved his life, telling of the cigarette he snuck while in the hospital and how the severe vomiting it triggered alerted doctors that he needed his spleen removed … stat. He also talked about the antibiotics required to subside perilous fevers, the 45 stitches running along his torso, and how the realignment of his body makes it susceptible to high altitudes. “Another lifelong dream crushed,” he said. “I can’t climb Mt. Everest.”
Ascending the stage was feat enough. And when he did, applause erupted from the mid-week regulars who’ve been coming to see him at the Continental for nearly 10 years now. (Absent was Graham’s fellow True Believer Alejandro Escovedo, who returns to the fold tonight at Antone’s after a similarly uncontrollable hiatus.) Knowing full well his first song back would carry added meaning, Graham chose “Something Wonderful,” an allusion to his second lease on life. He walked stage left to his longtime guitarist Mike Hardwick, smiled, and then did the same to bassist Andrew Duplantis, stage right, all the while slinging his guitar with added muster, as if to convince himself he really was where he thought he was.
The seven songs he played — spelled at one point by fellow Skunk Jesse Sublett, among others — included an unrehearsed, crash-inspired rocker seemingly titled “Busted up Inside,” wherein he sang, “It’s not as bad as it looks/Ok, it’s pretty bad.” But for a performer like Graham, songs are only part of the reason people pack places. His monologues alone are worth the price of admission. On this night, folks were treated to gems about $19 Advil at Brack and the rumor that he was found wandering down South Congress in his pajamas at 3 a.m. But the evening achieved the full-on earnestness of someone who has peeked at the other side when Graham said, “Man, you have no idea how good it feels to be back up here.”
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Metallica’s favorite Austin band
Fresh from dates with Ozzfest and opening for Metallica in Europe, Austin heavies the Sword are set to embark on a headlining tour that takes them to Stubb’s Oct. 4.
The band is promoting its second album, the humility-free “Gods of the Earth.” The band plans to hook up again with Metallica by the end of the year for another tour.
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Iron and Wine at ‘Austin City Limits’
Iron and Wine’s music rewards sitting down, which makes it perfect for an “Austin City Limits” taping. Even when band leader, sole constant and Dripping Springs resident Sam Beam’s earliest acoustic reveries are given full-band rearrangements, the songs remain chilled out even as they gain steam.
Looking in a sweater and jacket like a hippieish political science professor, with his sister Sara on backing vocals and a crack band that could move from loping chug reminiscent of ’70s German “Krautrock” to jam band choogle reminiscent of, well, Phish, Beam moved around his career with ease Wednesday night.
He and Sara opened with a crisp, acoustic “Each Coming Night,” an early song that moved like spun gold in the crowded studio. Augmented at various points with pedal steel, electric guitars, precussion, bass, keys and all of the above, the set built in intensity.
Fan-favorite “Woman King” was a juggernaut, heaps of small sounds rubbing against a dramatic groove like gravel flying off a truck on a dirt road. “King” rolled into “Wolves” for the set’s jammiest phase; all that was missing was a hacky sack and some guy juggling Devil’s sticks.
“Upward Over the Mountain,” lo-fi and heart-rendingly spare in its original form was given an almost jaunty makeover that shouldn’t have worked nearly as well as it did. Beam returned to his acoustic duo for “Trapeze Swinger” his most Dylanish ramble. A three song encore was an unexpected bonus, but everyone was already charmed into submission.
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