Home > Austin Music Source > Archives > 2009 > December > 10
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Alpha Rev hosts benefit for mental health
Alternative rock band and 2008 Hollywood Records signees Alpha Rev will host an all-star benefit for Mental Health America of Texas at Antone’s Friday Dec. 18. The nonprofit education and advocacy organization addresses issues of mental health and mental illness through research, legislative campaigns and public awareness initiatives.
Casey McPherson, lead vocalist, guitarist and songwriter for the band, sits on the organization’s board of directors. He’ll be joined by the Tosca String Quartet, the Boxing Lesson and intricate ambient rockers My Education — who recently announced they’ll be releasing a new album, “Sunrise,” in April. You can check out “Oars,” a cut off the upcoming release, here.
Tickets, $10, are available now from Front Gate Tickets.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment
Free tequila and free tunes tonight at the Longbranch Inn
Hat tip to Austin 360’s own Matthew Odam, who over at his blog the M.O. has details on tonight’s free Hornitos tequila-boasting Vice Magazine party. Beloved garage rockers the Strange Boys and infinitely charming 60s girl group throwback the Carrots will perform. The shindig kicks off at 10 p.m., with the free tequila flowing until midnight.
You can RSVP here, provided you’re older than 21.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment
Matador debuts new Harlem song “Friendly Ghost”
If you swung by Emo’s last night prior to the unfortunate jumping of Jay Reatard by a pair of drunken fans, you’d have caught a dynamite, high-energy set from Austin garage rock trio Harlem, who recently joined Reatard on Matador Records. Their first album with the label and follow-up to 2008’s “Free Drugs,” “Hippies,” will drop April 6.
Yesterday the Matador blog debuted the lead track off the album, “Friendly Ghost,” a peppy blast of lo-fi garage surf. The band’s next gig is opening for the Crystal Antlers at the Mohawk Thursday Dec. 17.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment
Patty Griffin, Jack Ingram to play Paramount
The event will also mark the launch of the new recording studio at the Boys and Girls Club in South Austin.
Pre-sale tickets are available today via the Paramount Theatre website.
For more info on the organization, go here
Permalink | Comments (2) | Post your comment
Band of Heathens announce New Year’s Eve show
2009 has been a productive year for Austin Americana rock outfit the Band of Heathens, with a November appearance on Austin City Limits, sharing an episode with Elvis Costello, and the release of sophomore studio album “One Foot in the Ether.”
They’ll be celebrating that accomplishment and ringing in 2010 alongside Robert Earl Keen. The quintet was just added as an opener to Keen New Year’s Eve show at the Austin Music Hall. Tickets, $50, are available now from Front Gate Tickets. The band is also playing at noon Saturday Dec. 18 at the Armadillo Christmas Bazaar at the Austin Convention Center.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment
Weekend picks: Charming Canadians, r’n’r lifers and bluegrass guitars
FRIDAY
The Rural Alberta Advantage at the Parish. Canada’s ability to churn out charming indie rock bands is only slightly less notable than its ability to churn out excellent hockey players, and Toronto trio the Rural Alberta Advantage are among the best (of the bands). Their 2008 album ‘Hometowns,’ with its sleepy strings and staccato drumming, won the band so many converts that Saddle Creek Records reissued it in July. With Adam Arcuragi and the Eastern Sea. 8 p.m. 214 E. Sixth St. theparishaustin.com. — Patrick Caldwell
Also recommended:
- Junior Brown at Antone’s
- Manikin at Club 1808
- Tex and the Horseheads at Moose Lodge
- Twang Twang Shock-a-Boom at the Cactus
- Balmorhea at the Mohawk
- Minor Mishap Marching Band at Ruta Maya
SATURDAY
Bill Carter and the Blame, Blondie Chaplin at the Continental Club.Though Carter’s best known for co-writing such Stevie Ray Vaughan classics as ‘Caught In the Crossfire’ and ‘Why Get Up’ for the Fabulous Thunderbirds, he had a pretty rockin’ band that signed to Columbia in the late ’80s. On this night, the Blame features Charlie Sexton and Denny Freeman, who have about nine years of backing Bob Dylan between them. Opener Blondie Chaplin not only wrote ‘Sail On Sailor,’ he also tours with the Rolling Stones and plays just about every instrument. 10 p.m. 1315 S. Congress Ave. continentalclub.com. — Michael Corcoran
Also recommended:
- Invincible Czars holiday show at Jovita’s
- Grupo Fantasma at Antone’s
- W.C. Clark at the Saxon Pub
- Warren Hood and the Hoodlums at Momo’s
SUNDAY
Dave Rawlings Machine and Gillian Welch at the Parish. Skilled folk and bluegrass guitarist and harmony singer Dave Rawlings has long labored under the umbrella of other performers, from Bright Eyes to Ryan Adams to Robyn Hitchcock. But with this year’s sleepy, winning ‘A Friend of a Friend,’ he finally takes the center stage he’s deserved for so long — though for this two-night stand at the Parish, he’ll be joined by longtime musical partner Gillian Welch. With Sarah Jarosz. $25. 8 p.m. Sunday and Monday. 214 E. Sixth St. theparishaustin.com. — P.C.
Also recommended:
- Daughtry at the Erwin Center
- Jon Dee Graham at the Continental Club Gallery
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment
Carrie Underwood to play the Frank Erwin Center
“American Idol” season four winner Carrie Underwood will bring her country twang to the Frank Erwin Center for the second time on May 12, as one of 45 shows promoting this year’s “Play On.”
Craig Moran and Sons of Sylvia will open. Tickets will go on-sale from Texas Box Office at 10 a.m. Friday Dec. 18.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment
Give Will Sexton a hand
On Thursday, Will Sexton suffered a minor stroke and spent the next few days in the hospital undergoing tests and observation to see what caused it. He’s expected to make a full recovery, but he has to quit working for a few weeks until he’s up to it.
Sexton epitomizes the term “working musician.” He usually gigs several times a week to make a living, playing bass for lounge singers, doing solo gigs, playing guitar in backing bands and duos with Stephen Doster or Bill Carter. He has two kids and this is how he pays the bills and puts food on the table.
An account has been created so Will can keep paying those bills while he’s laid up. This is a great guy, only 39 years old, who was literally raised, since he was a child, by the Austin music scene. I imagine this account will see quite a bit of activity. Get well, Will! You are loved.
Permalink | Comments (5) | Post your comment
Live review: Jay Reatard at Emo’s - 40 minutes and two arrests, yes that’s punk rock
Photos: See pics from the Jay Reatard show.
Jay Reatard, nee Jimmy Lee Lindsey, built his reputation on short, spazzy, furiously energetic garage punk with several bands in Memphis, Tenn. But by the time he graduated to solo material — first with 2006’s “Blood Visions” and this year with “Watch Me Fall” — he’d welded his guitar chops and rowdy rock sensibility with surprisingly catchy, pop-oriented songwriting that made him one of punk’s more accessible musicians. “Watch Me Fall” highlighted Reatard at his versatile best, with a more melodic sound that made greater use of harmonies and even strings.
But while Reatard’s recordings may have matured, his public persona — and the full-frontal assault that is his live show — haven’t aged a day. “Punk rock” is still the most apt description for Reatard’s image. After all, he’s the man who announced the loss of his band via Twitter in October (with the instantly quotable lines “Band quit ! (Expletive) them ! They are boring rich kids who can’t play for (expletive) anyways.”). Reatard’s famous for punching a zealous fan on-stage in Toronto last year. And Reatard has even claimed, also via Twitter, that shots were fired to disperse a fight during his Dec. 8 show at Walter’s in Houston.
That ethos was readily apparent at Wednesday night’s show at Emo’s, as Reatard and his new band pounded through 40 minutes of blistering punk. Fans gathered near the stage moshed violently, a firecracker was detonated on the floor and the show ended with the arrest of two concertgoers.
So, to reiterate: Punk. Rock.
Reatard took the stage after midnight and immediately launched into a series of highlights from his solo career. Though melody has taken on a greater prominence on his recordings, there’s little evidence of that in the live show — Reatard and band focused instead on fast, frenetic playing. They powered through a half dozen songs in the set’s first 10 minutes, treating their instruments less as objects to be coaxed and more as punching bags worthy of abuse. Reatard sliced into “It Ain’t Gonna Save Me,” the lead single off “Watch Me Fall,” with joyful abandon. Hooky riffs helped smooth out the rough edges on “Hammer I Miss You,” and Reatard’s high, Geddy Lee-esque voice rang out surprisingly clearly on “I Know A Place.”
While the set had all the makings of a fun night of pop-punk, it was sadly abridged at only 40 minutes — less than the opening performance by Austin’s own Harlem — after two rowdy fans attacked Reatard on-stage shortly after he announced he was playing the night’s final song. He retaliated by swinging his microphone stand and departed mid-song, giving the at-times rambunctious audience the finger as he exited the stage. There was to be no encore — the lights went up and the PA music kicked in as the two intruding fans were arrested by police outside the club’s Sixth Street entrance.
It was a good show — while it lasted. And Reatard can’t be held responsible for violent fans. But at less than 45 minutes and with a buzzkill of an ending, it’s hard to regard the night as anything more than an initially promising disappointment. That’s the sad thing about punk rock — sometimes the anger overtakes the fun and an audience walks away let down. With a too-short set and a combative ending, Reatard’s Wednesday night show ultimately felt less like a satisfactory set from a skilled player and more like a sad tease of the fun evening that might have been.
Update: The Austin Police Department’s public information office has confirmed that Michael Buehrer, 20, and Peter Aravello, 23, were the two men arrested. Both have been charged with public intoxication.
Pitchfork has this statement from Reatard’s publicist: “Jay was attacked, totally unprovoked, by two different people, both of whom were later arrested. One guy bolted onstage and came swinging at Jay, but security took him away pretty quickly. Soon after (the band hadn’t stopped playing, by the way), another guy sprinted onstage and hit Jay. Unlike the first guy, Jay didn’t even see this guy coming. So Jay defended himself with the mic stand until security took that guy away, too. Jay is safe and unhurt, and the cops were there for about an hour afterwards.”
Permalink | Comments (22) | Post your comment Categories: Reviews
