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Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Martha Vaughan 1928- 2009
Martha Vaughan, who supported her young sons’ love of blues music at an early age, passed away Saturday, just two days before her 81st birthday. The Vaughan brothers’ father Big Jim passed away in the 1980s.
Martha Vaughan’s funeral is Thursday in Dallas at the Laurel Land Funeral Home (6000 South R. L. Thornton Freeway; (214) 371-1336).
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations to pet rescue organizations be made in Martha Vaughan’s name.
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Your A-List: Best Pop Singer/Group
Bob Schneider is not only Rachael Ray’s favorite Austin musician, he’s just been voted the Your A-List best pop singer/group, winning in a landslide with 36 percent of the vote.
Whether it’s his Monday night singer-songwriter shows at the Saxon Pub, his funk workouts with the Scabs at Antone’s or his Bluegrass Massacre project at Threadgill’s, Schneider is the king of clubs, doing it day in and day out for years.
Others receiving votes
- Scorpio Rising, 16 percent
- Okkervil River, 13 percent
- Voxtrot, 5 percent
- Black & White Years, 5 percent
- Trish Murphy, 5 percent
- Wideawake, 4 percent
- Alpha Rev, 4 percent
- Nelo, 3 percent
- Kacy Crowley, 3 percent
- Dan Dyer, 2 percent
- Moonlight Towers, 2 percent
- Darin Murphy, 2 percent
- Shearwater, 1 percent
- Rite High Flyers, < 1 percent
- Noah Kelly, < 1 percent
- The Bad Rackets, < 1 percent
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Review: Grizzly Bear at the Parish
Brooklyn-based indie breakouts Grizzly Bear were last in Austin for South by Southwest, when they played a showcase at the Central Presbyterian Church. It was an intimate affair, with well-connected fans sitting cross-legged in the aisles, fighting for space.
Since then the band released the “Veckatimest,” the wildly successful follow-up to 2004’s “Yellow House,” have had their praises sung by just about every blogger and music critic on the planet and even covered “Graceland” (check out an mp3 of the performance here) at a Paul Simon tribute concert that also included appearances by Gillian Welch and Simon himself.
This time around they played the Parish to a crowd that was no less enthusiastic (although probably a bit more tipsy).
Opening was Here We Go Magic, a lo-fi psychedelic project led by Luke Temple. Fans of Grizzly Bear and bands such as Animal Collective will want to check out HWGM for its blend of folky rock songs and layers of percussion, vocal loops and other effects. Temple saved two standouts from the band’s self-titled debut, “Fangela” and “Tunnelvision,” for the end of the set. On “Fangela,” he did too good a job mimicking his muted studio recording; the song suffered a bit as a result. “Tunnelvision,” on the other hand, was sharper; members of the band sang the looped parts rather than producing them on a laptop.
Grizzly Bear set the tone for the evening with a pumped up “Southern Point” and “Cheerleader,” both from “Veckatimest,” and a discordant “Lullabye,” from “Yellow House.” The songs are simultaneously gentle and aggressive, with quiet folk tunes that erupt into noisy jams with haunting harmonies and catchy, not-quite-country rhythms.
The noisier side of the band won out for much of Tuesday’s set, with both Droste and Rossen elevating more sedate numbers with aggressive guitar work, especially the bluesy “Little Brother” and “Fine For Now.” Coupled with spacey lighting, it almost felt like a rock show. The punch of the rougher moments, of course, wouldn’t have been as moving without well-placed quiet, including the sleepy “Colorado,” as well as “He Hit Me,” a dark love song on which Droste’s smooth vocals absolutely shined.
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Police: Noise complaints should go to 311, not 911
In light of a call to 911 complaining about live music at Shady Grove on Thursday, we asked police whether people should use 911 or 311 to make such a complaint.
“We ask that people use 311 for non-emergency situations,” police spokeswoman Veneza Aguinaga said.
She said that if people abuse 911 or call multiple times for non-emergencies, they could be investigated.
“We set up 311 so we don’t tie up 911,” she said.
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Weekend picks: Proggy complexity, death-defying rock and surefire Austinites
FRIDAY
St. Vincent at the Mohawk. Her new album, ‘Actor,’ is one of the year’s most divisive. Those who love it’s strange proggy complexities really love it (and that includes a lot of critics). Those who can’t get down with it find her extremely precious music hard to take for more than a song or two. And everyone agrees she a very, very good guitarist and very, very skinny. 8 p.m. $13. 912 Red River St. 482-8404. (She also plays a free in-store at 3 p.m. at Waterloo Records.) —Joe Gross
Also recommended
- Screeching Weasel at Emo’s
- Dikes of Holland at Beerland
- Lair of the Minatour, at Red 7
- Steve Earle at the Paramount Theater
- Belligerent 86 at Room 710
SATURDAY
The Meat Puppets at the Parish. The fact that this band is even still around is a minor miracle. Bassist Cris Kirkwood’s heroin addiction nearly killed him a couple of times, including an altercation with a security guard that resulted in a gunshot wound and jail time for Kirkwood. But here they are and the band’s new album ‘Sewn Together,’ has received mostly positive notices. Like I said, a miracle. With Retribution Gospel Choir and Service Industry. 8 p.m. $15. — J.G.
Also recommended
- Phobia, Unholy Grave at Emo’s
- Sunset Rubdown at the Mohawk
- Coma in Algiers at Club 1808
- DJ Mel at the Beauty Bar
- Don Chani at Flamingo Cantina
SUNDAY
The Gourds at Nutty Brown Cafe & Amphitheater.I’m sure it gets a little boring after a fashion, but as long as the Gourds remain one of the most sure-fire live acts Austin has ever produced, we will continue to tell you to go see them. $10, kids younger than 18 get in free. Show at 5 p.m. — J.G.
Also recommended:
- Mosquito Bandito at Beerland
- Gas Mask Attire at Room 710
- Josh Hoge at Stubb’s
- Victoria Noll at the Hole in the Wall
- James Hyland at Momo’s
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Big guitars coming home
Remember all those oversized, decorated guitars that were around town in 2007 as Gibson’s “Austin Guitar Town” project? They were sold at auction to raise money for Austin charities.
Austin businessman Milton Verret paid $120,000 for eight of the guitars, but has just announced that he’s donating them to the city of Austin. Mayor Will Wynn will accept the donation during his final City Council meeting at 5:30 p.m. tomorrow. The “Big Guitars” will remain on display at City Hall until they are moved to their permanent Austin locations in a couple months.
The artists and their permanent venues include:
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“Music Capital” by Sharon Roy Finch, Austin City Hall.
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“Austin Music Flows” by Debra Prather Samples, Austin Bergstrom International Airport.
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“Keep Austin Weird” by Sara Hickman, Austin Convention and Visitors Bureau.
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“La Guitarra” by Delfin Escalante, Mexican-American Cultural Center.
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“Piece of My Heart” by Tracie Sutton, Zachary Scott Theatre.
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“Por Vida” by Kathy Marcus, Daugherty Arts Center.
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“Livestrong” by David Minder, Austin Convention Center.
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“Musician” by Howard Weliver, George Washington Carver Museum and Cultural Center.
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Iron and Wine to play the Paramount
Ralph Barrera AMERICAN-STATESMAN
Highly literate, deeply evocative singer-songwriter Sam Beam aka Iron and Wine will perform a solo acoustic set at the Paramount Theater on Monday, July 27. The show is a benefit for the Midwives Alliance of North America. (Beam’s wife, Kim, is a practicing midwife.) Glen Hansard of The Swell Season and The Frames will open. Tickets are $35 - $56 and go on sale on Saturday, June 20. More information.
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Austin punk map
A non-Austinite has produced this map of punk-friendly venues, record stores and veggie/vegan eateries in town. Nifty. (Thanks to the folks at webang.blogspot.com for the heads-up.)
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Here’s the Lollapalooza grid.
For those who are going to the C3-produced festival Aug. 7 to 9, here is the grid.
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Guest List Giveaway: Meat Puppets at the Parish
We’re giving away tickets to see 80s rockers the Meat Puppets at the Parish on Saturday, June 20.
Email us at events@statesman.com before midnight to enter. You MUST include your full name, email address and daytime phone number in the email to win. Winners will be drawn randomly and notified tomorrow. For complete contest rules email events@statesman.com.
