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Monday, October 26, 2009
Taylor Swift sells out Erwin Center in minutes
The Taylor Swift Fearless 2010 show is not until March 10, but tickets went on sale Friday and sold out within minutes. Kellie Pickler and Gloriana open the show.
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New Shearwater album, “The Golden Archipelago” due Feb. 9 on Matador Records
The new Shearwater album, “The Golden Archipelago,” is due Feb. 9 on Matador Records, out about a year after they started recording it in Dallas.
The band plays Fun Fun Fun fest Nov. 7 at 7:30 p.m., the last act before headliner Destroyer on the Yellow Stage.
Shearwater hits the road for a big U.S. jaunt in March.
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14 questions for KUT
The SaveKUTAustin steering committee has sent 14 questions to KUT general manager Stewart Vanderwilt. You can read them all here. (Scroll down) As of Monday, the committee has still not heard back from KUT.
Here are a few of the questions:
How can the community have an ongoing conversation with KUT on the future direction of KUT music programming?
Why does KUT management think it’s important to create continuity between the daytime music programs and the nighttime programs?
When does KUT plan to publish its 2008 and 2009 annual reports? The most recent annual report available is from 2007. Where are the audits for the past nine years, and why can’t the public, who provide 85% of KUT’s operating capital, access them?
How much has been paid to Public Radio Partners this year and each year over the past nine years?
How much has been paid to public relations firm Elizabeth Christian & Associates this year and each year over the past nine years?
What is the total cost of the HD radio channels, both in manpower and in programming? In light of HD radio’s failure to gain acceptance, does management plan to re-evaluate the expenditure to determine if it is an acceptable cost?
How is KUT’s key management evaluated? Who evaluates the General Manager’s overall performance?
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Doug Sahm Birthday Tribute Nov. 6 at Antone’s
Several musicians, including Augie Meyers and Shawn Sahm, members of the Texas Tornadoes and the Sir Douglas Quintet, Jimmie Vaughan, Lucky Tomblin Band, Paul Ray & the Cobras, Tortilla Flats, Greezy Wheels, Joe King Carassco, Ponty Bone and The Krayolas will take part in the event, which will raise money for a monument on Doug Sahm Hill.
Get tickets at www.antones.net.
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Scenes from the Amy Farris tribute at Continental Club
Last Wednesday night’s rain didn’t keep a capacity crowd away from paying its respects to Austin fiddler Amy Farris, who was found dead at her home in Los Angeles on Sept. 30.
Photo by Patrick Meredith FOR AMERICAN-STATESMAN
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Two Peter Case benefits this week
In January, former Plimsouls leader Peter Case had successful open heart surgery. But without health insurance, you can imagine the bills. Some Austin friends are playing benefits Wednesday at the Continental Club and Friday at the Cactus Cafe.
Here are the lineups:
Continetal Club 10/28
The Hickoids
Matt Divine, Jeff Copas, Carrie Clark + (most of Sixteen Deluxe)
Larry Seaman w/Randy Franklin, Cindy Toth & Terri Lord
Hilary York
Ron Flynt
Eric Hisaw & Chrissy Flatt
Bonny Holmes
Penny Jo Pullus
Craig Marshall
Freddie Krc & Cam King
The Krayolas
Gurf Morlix
Jon Dee Graham
Walter Tragert
Dustin Welch
The Daylight Titans
Cactus Cafe 10/30
James McMurtry,
Ian McLagan and the Bump Band
Gurf Morlix
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Live review: Art Brut at the Mohawk
When Eddie Argos shouts “Ready Art Brut!” at the top of each song, it’s not a question but a rallying cry, a giddy exclamation meant to prime the band — and the audience — for a thrilling, brutal blast of rock ‘n’ roll. Even before Argos, lead singer for the German and English rock quintet Art Brut, has crooned — or shouted — a single note, he’s already established the group’s exuberant attitude.
But Art Brut’s enthusiasm was doubly justified last night, as Oct. 25 marked Argos’ 30th birthday. It’s hard to say whether the occasion merited anything special — other than plugging a “Happy Birthday” singalong into the middle of encore song “Good Weekend” — given the band’s usual joie de vire. But Argos certainly appeared to be in a celebratory mood, snappily clad in a formal outfit (“my birthday suit,” he quipped) and belting out the group’s spiky punk rock anthems with a clear fervor. The Mohawk crowd was a bit on the sparse side, but those who showed up were treated to one heck of a birthday party.
Opening with an abridged and rollicking cover of the Modern Lovers’ “Roadrunner,” Art Brut packed their set with material from their latest, the Frank Black-produced “Art Brut Vs. Satan.” Argos, looking like the shlubby protagonist of a Judd Apatow film, sang his chipper blue-collar rock tunes with abandon. He packed the show with his signature banter, noting that the album’s title referred not to Satan literally but to “people who don’t like Art Brut” and making repeated references to his own (again signature) drunkenness. The set’s most thrilling moment came with a retooled version of the band’s hit “Modern Art.” Argos, a longtime comic book fan, has rewritten the song to be about DC Comics, and has taken to jumping into the audience midway through to tell a long and rambling story about visiting the DC Comics office in New York — and stealing an issue of “Booster Gold.” Art Brut standbys like “Little Brother” were delivered with the same love as the newer material, and even the set’s closest moments to ballads — like the thoughtful “Rusted Guns of Milan” — were delivered with a hard edge.
Some bands might be overshadowed by such a boisterous front man, but Art Brut’s players kept pace. Guitarist Jasper Future proved a particular highlight, with intricate playing and joyous facial contortions that few could pull off. When the band was given a chance to cut loose, as on “Direct Hit” or “The Passenger” (not, as you might think, a cover of the Iggy Pop song) they managed to be precise while still appearing just sloppy enough to be fun.
Setlist Roadrunner (Modern Lovers cover)
Alcoholics Unanimous
Summer Job
Little Brother
Direct Hit
Rusted Guns of Milan
Modern Art/DC Comics Make Me Want To Rock Out
Demons Out!
Emily Kane
The Passenger
DC Comics and Chocolate Milkshake
These Animal Menswear
Encore
Good Weekend (with an interlude of “Happy Birthday”)
Post Soothing Out
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KUT pledge drive ‘business as usual’
KUT’s current pledge drive is “ahead of schedule” to match previous fundraisers despite the controversy caused by the station’s cutting longtime DJs Larry Monroe and Paul Ray to one night a week. “We’re getting smaller gifts, but we’re getting more of them,” said KUT’s Erin Geisler, who describes the scene at KUT as “business as usual.”
As of 1 p.m. Monday, KUT had raised $589,853, according to the station’s Web site. The eight-day predge drive ends Wednesday. Here are previous totals raised:
$825,000 Spring 2009
$775,000 Fall 2008
$755,000 Spring 2008
$775,000 Fall 2008
$750,000 Spring 2007
$735,000 Fall 2007
$700,000 Spring 2006
$733,990 Fall 2006
Meanwhile, Geisler wanted to “clear up some misinformation” being put out by SaveKUTAustin. The dissident committee has inferred that KUT is continuing to pay former program director Jody Evans’ $80,000 a year salary even after she left her job in August and moved back to Vermont.
“She will perform some contract services for KUT in order to complete some open projects,” Geisler said of Evans’ role in an email. “Total payment for these services will likely be less than $10,000 over a six month period.” Evans was back in town for several days to help run the pledge drive and other tasks.
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Interview: Philip Chevron of The Pogues
Twenty-two years later, the Pogues’ crispest vignettes (“Thousands Are Sailing,” “Fairytale of New York”) remain modern songwriting masterworks. Unfortunately, front man Shane MacGowan’s legendary excesses steal most spotlights. “Our alcohol consumption will always be a part of our history, but I suppose we just have a less dramatic view of it than other people might have,” says guitarist Philip Chevron, who was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2007.
Absent Austin two decades, the Pogues perform Wednesday at Stubb’s.
American-Statesman: What’s the status of your cancer recovery?
Philip Chevron: As far as I can tell, it’s gone. Thanks for asking. Certainly it’s gone for the time being, and hopefully for the foreseeable future. The chemotherapy and radiation I had two years ago obviously worked. I’m pretty much back to normal health.
Has it affected you as a performer?
No, not since we got rid of the nuclear plant onstage (laughs). My voice is about as good or as bad as it’s ever been. I did actually go deaf for a while, which was a result of the chemotherapy.
You’d been remastering the Pogues catalog before your diagnosis. How necessary was that?
Well, you realize that when “Rum, Sodomy and (the) Lash” came out on CD in 1985, compact discs were in their infancy. The hype was that CDs sound brilliant. They said you can put them in the toaster and put butter and jelly on them and they’d still play. The reality is that most early CDs were pitifully mastered. They sound tinny and hollow.
How did the songs themselves stand up as you listened to them again?
We have discovered that the songs have their own long-term organic life. They remain really interesting to play; I suppose because we’re different people. We’re older and hopefully wiser. A huge portion of the material stands the test of time.
As a band, how are you standing against that test? Is the dynamic good today?
It’s pretty good, actually. This lineup, which we consider the classic eight-piece Pogues lineup from the “If I Should Fall From Grace With God” album, is now together twice as long as it was the first time around. That crept up on us without us even noticing. When we did this the first time around, it was inherently self-destructive because of the nature of the touring and what you have to keep the tour-album-tour-album circus going. Also, several of the members of the band have considerably different lifestyles.
Right. You’re 15 years sober. Does that make it frustrating to work with Shane?
It doesn’t matter in the slightest. All that matters to me is that I stay sober. Shane’s responsible for himself, and it’s not the least bit offputting or intimidating. Why would it be? He’s still the same Shane that I’ve always known and loved, and it doesn’t make the slightest bit of difference that we’ve gone on different lifestyle paths.
At least that path finally has led back to Austin.
Yeah, it’s been 20 years, I think, since we last played in Austin. We’re looking forward to it. Last time, they had to take a side of the venue off because it was so swelteringly hot. Even with one whole wall of the venue removed, it was still the hottest gig we’d ever played. We almost fainted after.
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Rep. Naishtat “inadvertently stepped into” KUT controversy
Like several local notables, State Rep. Elliott Naishtat recorded a spot with KUT announcing his support for KUT and public radio.
According to the dissident SaveKUTAustin group, formed in protest of the downsizing of longtime deejays Paul Ray and Larry Monroe, an unnamed person “informed Rep. Naishtat about the programming controversy, and he is now concerned that his pre-recorded comments have been used by KUT to defend management’s position, without their alerting him to the existing controversy.”
The SaveKUTAustin site has reprinted the following letter which Naishtat wrote to a citizen he identified as Pamela Daggett:
“Thank you for writing to me and advising me that, in recording a spot promoting KUT public radio in Austin, I had inadvertently “stepped into a controversy.”
On September 18th, I was interviewed by Rebecca McInroy of KUT about why I’d become a member of KUT, why I listen to KUT, why it’s important to support KUT and why I think KUT is important to Austin. We visited for half an hour in my Capitol office and I responded to her questions.
I told her about my “connections” to the station, focusing on my friendships and relationships over the years with Ray Magliozzi (Car Talk), Robert Siegel (All Things Considered), John Aielli (Eklektikos), Jay Trachtenberg (Music, Jazz), John Burnett (Morning Edition), and Garrison Keillor (Prairie Home Companion). I told her that I’ve been listening to KUT and public radio for more than 35 years and that my favorite programs include Morning Edition, On the Media, This American Life, Fresh Air, All Things Considered, Weekend Edition and, most recently, Wait Wait, Don’t Tell Me. I told her that KUT “is a part of Austin.”
We did not discuss the eroding of local programming or replacement of local programs with syndicated programming.
I fully support local programming and am sorry that KUT has decided to cut or eliminate some of the best that KUT has to offer. I am more than willing to work with you to encourage KUT’s management to reconsider the changes, stop the erosion of local programming and develop a citizens’ input process so that the public may be meaningfully involved in decision-making at the programmatic level.
Again, Rebecca McInroy and I spoke for 30 minutes and I did not know which of my statements would end up being aired on KUT. My only purpose in doing the taping was to indicate my long-standing support of public radio.
If you wish, you may share this response with anyone you want, including the 1600-plus people on Facebook you referenced.
I look forward to talking with you about how I might get involved with what you are trying to accomplish.”
Thank you very much. Sincerely, Elliott Naishtat
Rep. Naishtat received a call from KUT general manager Stewart Vanderwilt after his letter was posted, asking “do we have a problem?,” Naishtat recalled. “I said, no we don’t have a problem at all,” he said. “He offered to remove my spots from the air and I said ‘absolutely not.’ I’ve always supported KUT and I continue to.”
The SaveKUTAustin group, led by former Austin mayor Lee Cooke, met with Naishtat for about 45 minutes Friday. They left him with a copy of 14 questions they’ve asked KUT heads to answer.
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Guest list giveaway: St. Cloud and Justin Jones at Stubb’s
We’re giving away tickets to this week’s Austin360 concert.
E-mail your contact info to events@statesman.com for a chance to win two seats to see St. Cloud and Justin Jones at Stubb’s this Thursday, Oct. 29.
We’ll draw a winner today, Tuesday and Wednesday!
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Geoff Muldaur remembers Stephen Bruton
An undated photo of Austin musician Stephen Bruton/Shore Fire Media
After the great musician Stephen Bruton was diagnosed with cancer, some of his friends decided it would be a nice diversion for Steve to record an album of old blues and songster tunes with them as the Texas Sheiks. When the album was released in September, with Bruton’s stunning guitar a highlight, it become a Bruton memorial project, as the beloved guitarist/songwriter/ singer passed away in May. Sheiks leader Geoff Muldaur, who’ll perform with the group Dec. 6 at the Saxon Pub, recently penned this warm remembrance of his friend from Texas:
“In the mid-seventies I was very fortunate to be given the keys to the studio candy store by Mo Ostin at Warner Bros. Joe Boyd and I recorded a wish list album called, ‘Geoff Muldaur is Having a Wonderful Time,’ primarily in NYC at A&R Recording. There were also dates in London with a 24-piece orchestra and overdubbing sessions with John Cale on viola and the young, willowy Richard Thompson on guitar.
The main sessions in New York were done with dream rhythm sections, consisting of Bernard Purdie, Chris Parker (dr), Gerald Jemmott, Ron Carter, Bill Rich (bs), Cornell Dupree, Amos Garrett (gt), James Booker, Merl Saunders (pno). On one tune, “Why Should I Love You?” - a very lowdown blues - I asked Cornell to overdub a solo. Cornell is great, and the solo was good, but it didn’t quite do the trick for me. Then I asked Amos to overdub a solo… unique and beautiful as usual, but I still wasn’t satisfied. This was a delicate and unsettled situation, but I had a secret weapon. His name was Stephen Bruton. I had known Stephen since the days of the Kweskin Jug Band, and he was in New York City (probably on the road with Kris Kristofferson) We brought him into the studio to do the overdub solo and he burned the place down; music history.
Stephen came from Ft. Worth, TX. He was the son of Sumter Bruton, a swingin’ drummer with a bebop countenance. Sumter and his wife, Kathleen, ran a mom & pop record store in the university district named Record Town that became the hangout spot for the city’s jazz and blues musicians and lay aficionados. (The store is still in business today, with Stephen’s mother and brother, Sumter, tending to the legacy. If you’re ever down in Ft. Worth please drop by Record Town and say ‘hello’.)
Ft. Worth, located on the steamy plain of north-central Texas, became a melting pot of blues, jazz and Texas swing; home to King Curtis, Ornette Coleman, Bob Wills, et al. It was common for white and black musicians to jam with each other. They may have traded racial epithets while they did so, but the buzz was in the air and a marvelous musical cross-pollination took place. There were local blues wonders to hear at The Silver Dollar, T.J.’s Famous Chicken In The Basket, The New Bluebird, Mabel’s Eat Shop and the White Sands Supper Club.
Stephen and his friends, Delbert McClinton, T-Bone Burnett and Glen Clark came of age in this atmosphere. They palled around and played together. It was at T-Bone’s home studio that Stephen first recorded. Delbert became the great singer, T-Bone the producer, Glen the keyboardist, and Stephen the guitarist. It’s as if they divvied the place up.
Stephen’s guitar playing was smooth and sexy and rhythmically nuanced. He had a depth of musical knowledge - a musical head - that only a town like Fort Worth could give him. He was a quick study and, although his versatility kept him working primarily in the country music and pop arenas, he always kept his ‘pearl handles’ loaded for the blues.
We will miss Stephen Bruton along with the Golden Age and the leading lights it spawned.”
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Live review: Dinosaur Jr. and Built To Spill at Stubb’s
Dinosaur Jr. lead guitarist/singer J Mascis, backed by massive stacks of amps, was the dominant force during their set on Saturday at Stubb’s, tearing his way through songs from 2009’s well-received “Farm” as well as a few from earlier in their career.
Similar to their Idahoan tourmates Built To Spill, part of Dinosaur Jr.’s charm is their ability to mingle elements of classic rock with a noisier, more contemporary sound. Mascis reinforced this versatility on stage, exploring both ends of his stylistic spectrum, from more traditional, melodic guitar work to the in-your-face distortion that helped solidify the band’s place in music history.
Either way, it was really, really loud — Mascis said he felt the band was “getting swept away” on stage from the sound. After jumping into crowd-favorite “Feel The Pain,” diehards in front started slamming into each other like it was 1994.
Mascis’ guitar work also enlivened a few songs that tended to drag a bit, including “Plans” off of “Farm;” other new songs, including the driving “I Don’t Wanna Go There,” didn’t need any help, demonstrating the band is still vital after 25 years.
Built To Spill, also touring on a new album, “There Is No Enemy,” headlined.
Their set skewed more toward the jam-band side of the band’s personality, with bouncy songs like “Distopian Dream Girl” and “Hindsight” finding Doug Martsch bobbing his head over the poppy guitar lines. The band also stretched a bit with spacey, layered jams on songs like the darker “Untrustable, Part 2,” with the catchy coda that subtly recalls “Also Sprach Zarathustra” as Martsch’s voice climbs along with the guitars as he sings, “whatta gonna do?”
There were a few moments that disrupted the set’s flow, including an out-of-place but unsurprising political rant about the economy, and a moment toward the end where Martsch announced the band was skipping a song (you’re not supposed to tell us we’re getting less music than was planned).
Most was forgiven, however, with the encore, an energized version of “Going Against Your Mind” from “You In Reverse.”
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