Showing posts with label sxsw. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sxsw. Show all posts

Saturday, March 17, 2018

SXSW DAY 3



Austin March 2018
Those wascally Waco Brothers with some Waco sisters
I've been going to see The Waco Brothers play the annual Bloodshot Records Party at the Yard Dog Gallery during South by Southwest for more than 20 years now. Not every year. When I started covering the state Legislature back in 2001 I had to start skipping every other year because the last week of the 60-day session always falls during SXSW. And I had to miss SXSW 2010. And there was one year, 2004 I believe, that The Wacos didn't play, though Jon Langford was there with The Mekons and with various other bands he plays in.

Austin March 2018
A rare fiddle solo from Tracy Dear
(the world's greatest living Englishman)
But I've been going to see The Waco Brothers at the Yard Dog for more than 20 years now. I guess you could call it a ritual -- a  Dionysian ritual where the frenzy becomes enlightenment.

Or something like that.

all these times I've seen The Wacos play, no show has ever been the same. They've all been high-energy, irreverent, frequently chaotic and almost always inspiring. But they've never been the same.They never get old and almost always they are one of my favorite SXSW shows.

That's certainty the case this year at the Yard Dog on Friday.

For those not acquainted, The Waco Brothers started off as a country-rock side project for Mekons conspirator Jon Langford back in the mid '90s after he moved to Chicago. The group quickly took on a life of its own, hooking up with Bloodshot, an upstart independent record company in Chicago. They've done 11 albums for Bloodshot. (The only non-Bloodshot record the Wacos did was 2004's Nine Slices of My Midlife Crisis, which was done under the name of  Uncle Dave & The Waco Brothers. Uncle Dave was Dave Herndon, a former editor of New Mexico Magazine.)

Besides Langford, the group have two other lead singers -- Dean Schlabowske and Tracey Dear -- which means you don't get sick of the same voice over and over again. While membership has changed over the year -- and for the record I miss steel guitarist Mark Durante -- Langford, Schlabowske and Dear have been there from the start. And bassist Alan Doughty has been there almost as long.

On Friday, the band stormed through their classic songs -- "See Willy Fly By," "Red Brick Wall," "Plenty Tough Union Made," including some of their most inspired covers like George Jones' "White Lightnin' ," Johnny Cash's "Big River," and Neil Young's "Revolution Blues."

My favorite moment in today's show came after their performance of "Walking on Hell's Roof." In the middle of the song Langford announced a fiddle solo from Jean Cook. However, her microphone wasn't working, so the solo was unheard. You could tell this irked Langford. So, after the mike problem was solved, the band decided to play that part again so Cook could have her solo. It was short but amazing.

I just hope I'm able to go to Waco Brothers shows at the Yard Dog for another 20 years.

Austin March 2018
Shinyribs
* Another great show Friday was Shinyribs' set at a West 6th Street bar called the Dogwood.

I was a huge fan of The Gourds, perhaps the greatest alt-country group to come out of Austin during the great alt-country scare of the late '90s. I'm not sure what happened to them.

But Gourd singer Kevin Russell has carried on with a new band, Shinyribs and done quite well.

Last year they released a fine New Orleans flavored album called I Got Your Medicine. And just recently the band was named band of the year by the Austin Chronicle.

The band includes a horn section (sax and trumpet), two female backup singers, piano and bass, with Russell on guitar.

Dressed in a loud yellow suit he did songs including a medley of ”Hey Pocky Way,” “Shotgun Willie” and at least one other song. At other points in the show he started singing "Helter Skelter" during an unrelated song. And at least a couple of times he made incongruous references to Roky Erikson's "Cold Night for Alligators."

I do miss The Gourds, but Shinyribs is fantastic in its own right.

Austin March 2018

Friday, March 16, 2018

SXSW DAY 2



Sxsw 3-15-18
Count Vaseline preaches to the sinners

When I was a younger man going to South by Southwest back in the 1990s, I'd frequently zig-zag across downtown Austin walking great lengths to see the next act. From the old Austin Music Hall to Emo's, then back to Antone's then over to Stubbs' ... I'm getting exhausted just writing about it.

In recent years though I've tried to stay in one area in a night. And Thursday night I managed to stay in one venue -- Hotel Vegas on East 6th Street the whole night (except one short excursion a couple of blocks up the street to a bar where I didn't find any notable music.) Guess I'm getting old and lazy but sometimes that works.
Untitled
Beware of Puppy

Here's who I heard Thursday night:

* Bubble Puppy. This is the band that brought to Hotel Vegas. They're a Texas psychedelic band from the late '60s known mostly for their one hit "Hot Smoke and Sassafras."

Unfortunately the Puppy disappointed.

No, it's not because they're old guys. I'm way too old to be an ageist. Besides, two of the greatest rock 'n' roll shows I've seen in recent years -- The Sonics, who I saw in New Orleans in 2013 and Question Mark & The Mysterians, who I saw in New York in 2010 - were old guys by the time I saw them. But both of these bands play with the same abandon and energy that propelled them as youngsters, sticking to their unique original visions.

Bubble Puppy, which features three lead guitarists, are competent musicians. But instead of the crazy energy that I remember from "Hot Smoke and Sassafras" the group seems to have settled into a style I'll describe as "Dad Metal." They seem to have embraced that moment when psychedelic music drifted away from t.he spirit of proto-punk garage music and music became "heavy."

I admit I got to the show late and I assume I missed "Hot Smoke and Sassafras." Perhaps my opinion would have been softened had I heard that.

I did, however, get to Bubble Puppy's set in plenty of time for the drum solo ...

* Yamantaka // Sonic Titan. This was my major music discovery Thursday. It's an avant-garde experimental noise group from Canada that calls its style "Noh-Wave" -- a sly reference to Noh theater, a Japanese musical theater that's been around since the 14th Century.

Untitled
The band has two female singers, one of whom plays guitar, the other playing percussion instruments, including a large round drum and cymbals.

Yamantaka did one number with serious Native American overtones. My first thought was that it sounded like Yoko Ono had produced a pow wow record.

I've got to hear more of this band.


* Holy Wave. This definitely is my favorite psychedelic band from El Paso. They're about to release their latest album Adult Fear.

The sickly sweet aroma of illegal and dangerous marijuana permeated the area in front of he stage as the band started out slow and dreamy.

Slowly and methodically, the music builds. Drums slowly come in and the beat builds slowly. Before you know it, the buzzing guitars build up to the point it seems like they're going to explode. A listener finds himself engulfed.

Damn, it IS like a wave!

* Count Vaseline. I didn't even realize the Count was playing tonight. But he turned out to be my favorite act of the evening.

Sxsw 3-15-18
Born Stefan Murphy, Vaseline is an Irish guy with a Beatle Bob hairdo who on stage adopts the persona of a deranged man standing on a soapbox (he actually was standing on a plastic box for much of his set) demanding his crackpot warnings be heard. His band includes a guitarist and drummer, though I also saw Vaseline fooling with some kind of music software on a tablet.

Like Holy Wave, who were still playing outside when Count Vaseline began his indoors performance, Vaseline started off slow. A growling guitar and ominous drums created the atmosphere as the Count went into a Jim Morrison-like vamp like some beatnik shaman. There is more than a little Mark E. Smith from the latter-day Fall in this heady stew.

He sounded like he was trying to stave off Doomsday by prodding the audience to dance.  Occasionally Vaseline would pick up an electric guitar. At one point, he had a tambourine around his neck.

I've gotta say this performance is much different than Vaseline's recent EP Tales From The Megaplex, which is far poppier. While I like that record, especially a Velvetesque song called "John Cale" ("Lou Reed wishes he could be John Cale ...") I like Thursday's version of the Count even more.

Damn, it's already Friday ...


Sxsw 3-15-18
Holy Wave, getting holy



Thursday, March 15, 2018

SXSW DAY 1

SXSW 2018
The Ghost Wolves at the 720 Club Austin
Barely a year ago I had never heard of the duo known as The Ghost Wolves.

But after seeing them tear up the Red River Street dive known as the 720 Club Wednesday night with their unique brand of punk/blues/garage sounds, I feel like an over-zealous cult member bent on spreading the word.

Carley of The Ghost Wolves
"Nobody like a cry baby!"
Faithful readers should know I already was a fan. Their most recent album Texa$ Platinum was high in my Top 10 list for 2017

As I wrote in my review of that record:

The Austin couple of singer/guitarist Carley Wolf and her husband, drummer Jonathan Wolf, rock hard and wild with lyrics and song titles (“Attitude Problem,” “Whettin’ My Knife,” “Strychnine in My Lemonade”) that seem to seethe with vexation. And yet somehow listening to them only makes me grin.

Indeed. I was grinning plenty last night.

But the cool thing was Carley was grinning even more. The lady has an infectious smile that serves to fortify her monster guitar playing.

And she doesn't even need all six strings to make her magic. On the last several songs, Carley played an electric guitar with only one string -- the low E string I think, though it might have been the A. I couldn't help but be reminded of Eddie "One-String" Jones, the mysterious Skid Row bluesman discovered in Los Angeles in 1960 whose amazing primitive music was documented on the album One-String Blues.

But like I said, this is a duo and The Ghost Wolves wouldn't be the Ghost Wolves with the sturdy drumming of Johnny Wolf. He keeps the relentless energy going.

Speaking of energy, I'm about out mine. Stay tuned for tomorrow!

SXSW 2018

Monday, March 12, 2018

It's SXSW Music Festival Week!

Untitled
Thee Oh Sees at SXSW 2016

Once again I'm heading to Austin, Texas this week for South by Southwest.

Starting Wednesday -- (meaning early Thursday) I'll be posting here about the music I see. It looks like great year for punk and garage-punk. Among the bands I hope to be seeing are The Dwarves, The Ghost Wolves, The Sloths, Bubble Puppy (!), local Austin favorites The Ugly Beats, etc. Plus, as usual, Bloodshot Records has a great line-up, including my old favorites The Waco Brothers and a new favorite, Sarah Shook & The Disarmers.
Jon Langford and Bill Kirchen Reenact the Battle of Waco
Bill Kirchen with The Waco Brothers during SXSW 2012

Because of SXSW there will be no Wacky Wednesday or Throwback Thursday this week. (And no radio playlists because Tom Adler's covering The Santa Fe Opry for me and Steve Tibbs is doing Terrell's Sound World.)

Last time I went to SXSW, two years ago, I had to crap out on my blogging because I was trying to do it on my iPad and the blogging program I had sucked the warts. Hopefully you won't have to put up with my sniveling excuses this year.

Be sure to follow my Instagram feed for cool bitchen iPhone shots of rock 'n' roll in action. (Of course there you'll have to endure cute snapshots of my grandsons, who live in Austin.)

I posted this memory on this blog exactly four years. Hope it's not too early to recycle.

IMG_4025
The Grannies, during SXSW 2014
I've got a long history with SXSW. The first time I attended was in 1995. It basically was a spur of the moment decision following a conversation with the late Alex Magosci, a coworker who had a band called Junk, which he fondly referred to as "Santa Fe's most dysfunctional band." He convinced me to travel with junk, which at that point was just a duo, Alex and his girlfriend Virginia Plain (but everyone knew her as "Sandy"), in their convertred school bus, lovingly dubbed The Junk Heap.

No, they didn't have an actual slot at the festival, but Alex thought he had lined up a few non-affiliated gigs. So I got my press credentials (which was so much easier back then) and talked my editor into giving me time off to go to Austin for a big Sunday spread. She even got me a little walking around money for the trip. (That was so much easier back then too.)

It was a wild trip. The Junk Heap, which we all thought was parked safely, started rolling unmanned and nearly hit a gas pump in Santa Rosa. The the damned thing broke down in Clovis. It was obvious the bus would never get to Austin. My editor was expecting a big feature on the festival, so I ditched Alex and Sandy and took a plane from Lubbock.

I felt bad for them, but a couple of days later, who did I run into but Alex and Sandy. The Junk Heap had come through. Of course, all the gigs Alex thought he had lined up fizzled one by one. They tried to set up in various spots along Sixth Street only to get get thwarted one by one. 
Junk rocks the Littlefield Mall, 1995

Finally Alex found a friendly shopkeep on Brazos who let him plug into the store's electrical outlet. They started playing right after an Irma Thomas outdoor show about a block away, so they got an instant crowd. They played an inspired handful of songs, which was cut short once again by the Austin police. But they sold about $200 worth of their cassette tapes.

I joined them for the drive back. The Junk Heap broke down again, this time in Fort Stockton, Texas. I barely made it to work Monday afternoon.



Austin Banjo Band
Perhaps the Austin Banjo Club is playing this week

Friday, March 25, 2016

TERRELL'S TUNE-UP: My Last Words on SXSW 2016


Austin, Texas. Once again, the crowds were too big, the traffic was too crazy, and the hype is getting way too obnoxious. Yet here I was again back in Austin for another South by Southwest music festival. And here I was again enjoying some of my favorite bands and having a great time — despite the crowds, the traffic, the unrelenting hype.

I was there without actual festival credentials. (I don’t need no steenking badges!) So I didn’t go to very many “official” festival showcases. But, as veteran attendees know, there are more than enough unofficial shows to make up for that.

Here are some of the better ones I saw.
Thee Oh Sees

* Thee Oh Sees at Hotel Vegas. This is the third time I’ve seen John Dwyer and his merry band. But neither of the first two shows I saw was half as fierce, aggressive, or intense as the one I saw this year. They started off on full-blast warp speed and rarely eased up for the hour-plus they played. The latest version of Thee Oh Sees has two drummers, a bass player and, of course, leader John Dwyer on guitar, vocals, and occasional keyboards. The crowd was well-past fired up, immediately forming a frenzied mosh pit, which inspired a seemingly endless stream of stage divers/crowd surfers. It was as if the early’90s never ended. And yes, that can be off-putting to us older fans who don’t want to lose our dentures to some idiot slam dancer. Dwyer’s crazed otherworldly musical vision — the distorted falsetto vocals, the crazy sci-fi guitar bleeps and bloops — cuts to the bone.

Hickoids
* The Hickoids at The White Horse. This long-running Texas cow-punk goofball group has become one of my chief must-see bands every time I go to Austin. Having a Santa Fe crony, guitarist Tom Trusnovic, in the group helps, but I was already a casual Hickhead even before he joined several years ago. I was a little apprehensive about seeing the group this time because it would be the first Hickoids performance I would have seen since the death of original member, guitar slinger and cosmic cowboy Davy Jones. Earlier that evening, before The White Horse show, Jones was honored at the Austin Music Awards. Two years after The Hickoids were inducted into the Austin Music Hall of Fame, Jones was inducted as a “solo” artist. Head Hickoid honcho, Jeff Smith, was there to accept that award. He held it up onstage at The White Horse before the band started playing. Then the surviving Hickoids proceeded to live up to Jones’ memory, bashing through some of their greatest hits including “Git Back on the Truck,” “Cool Arrow,” “Working Man’s Friend” and the fabulously filthy “Stop It! You’re Killing Me.” By the end, we were all screaming for more. Davy would have been proud.

And the next night, I caught Trusnovic playing at The 04 Lounge with the latest version of his garage/punk group Monkeyshines, which he started years ago in Santa Fe. Monkeyshines still has that wild joyful noise.

Jean Cook and Jon Langford of The Waco Brothers
* The Waco Brothers at the Yard Dog Gallery. The Wacos’ performance at the annual Bloodshot
Records party has been a SXSW highlight for 20 years now. You always know it will be a fun show. But this year, Jon Langford, Dean Schlabowske, Tracey Dear, and the others seemed supercharged. The old songs — “See Willie Fly By,” “Plenty Tuff and Union Made,” “Do You Think about Me” — sounded more vital than that they have in years, and their new tunes from their recently released Going Down in History were all punches that landed.

* Timmy Thomas at Saxon Pub. Thomas is a Miami-based soul singer who had a hit in 1973 called “Why Can’t We Live Together.” That was his biggest success, though Thomas kept recording for another decade or so, routinely hitting the R & B charts. He basically dropped out of sight for a few decades. But then last year Drake sampled a little bit of “Why Can’t We Live Together” and that seemed to give Thomas a late-career second wind. Playing with a band complete with a couple of sax players, Thomas, whose vocals remind me a little bit of Swamp Dog, performed a funky set including old hits and material from an upcoming comeback record.

* Eve & The Exiles at The Continental Club. Eve Monsees, a local Austin favorite, is one amazing guitarist. She’s a longtime friend and former schoolmate of bluesman Gary Clark Jr.’s and a co-owner of Antone’s Record Shop. She’s been playing since she was a kid, and the fact that she loves it is obvious in every note she plays. The first time I saw her was a couple of years ago when she was performing with The Bluebonnets, ex-Go-Go Kathy Valentine’s group. On Wednesday she was fronting her own band, The Exiles, at a Continental Club event called Garage Fest Day Party. It’s a simple guitar/guitar/bass/drums quartet with Eve handling nearly all the vocals. Together they make a tasty bluesy, garagey, early Stonesy stew.

* The Woggles at Garage Fest Day Party. This veteran garage band from Georgia specializes in
unrelenting, raw-rocking, soul-informed good-time sounds. They’ve been around since the early ’90s. They definitely look their age, and they seem a little uncomfortable in their little matching red-and-black uniforms. But all this only adds to their crazy charm. They’ve got more energy than a hundred horny teenagers, and singer Mighty Manfred takes the role of a hyped up master of ceremonies of a party that might just last forever. Manfred announced that “Karate Monkey,” a Chubby Checker song The Woggles cover, is the best dance song in the world. I was skeptical at first. And then, The Woggles removed all doubt.

Night Beats at The Mohawk. This Seattle-based psychedelic trio, which has roots in Texas, was playing all over Austin during South by Southwest, but I didn’t catch the group until late Saturday afternoon, near the end of the festival. They looked exhausted, but they managed to play an energetic set. Like many of the first-wave acid-rock groups, Night Beats fuse spacey guitar with hopped-up soul riffs. While their instrumentals hint at mind-expanding excursions, unlike your typical “jam bands,” they tend to keep their songs nice and short. The group has a new album, Who Sold My Generation, which I just ordered. Stay tuned.

Video Bonus

Here are Thee Oh Sees, same place I saw them but I think a couple of nights later.



This is from the Timmy Thomas set I saw at The Saxon


Here's "Karate Monkey" by The Woggles at the Continental Club last year



I wasn't at this show, Saturday night. But allegedly this performance got Jon Langford, playing with one of his bands, Bad Luck Jonathan, kicked out of The Saxon Pub. He's quite a lovely dancer.





Friday, March 18, 2016

SXSW: Blog Malfunctions


The Austin Banjo Club
AUSTIN _ Here's the good news: I've been having a great time going out to see bands and spending a lot of time with my kids and grandkids, who live in this town.
Here's the bad news: I've gotten way behind on my blogging about t he festivities surrounding SXSW. My old cronies like Chuck and Alec will scoff at this notion, as they'll remember me in years past staying up to 5 a.m. At the old Excel Inn to blog this silly stuff. I guess I'm just getting feeble in my old age.

Also, during the few scraps of time that I've had to spend on this mess has been frustrating because my iPad blog program (Blogsy) isn't cooperating with placing and arranging photos like I want them.
At one point tonight I nearly started screaming at my screen in the Study Room of Strange Brew coffee house, which would have been extremely rude. (I've never been 86ed from a coffee joint before.

Tomorrow looks like a fun and busy day. Hopefully I'll finally catch The Night Beats Saturday at noon at Whole Foods on South Lamar. And there is more after that. So I'm going to do a blog moratorium for the rest of the trip.

And you can follow me on Twitter and on Instagram
The Wackos of Waco

Thursday, March 17, 2016

SXSW Day 2

The Hickoids: America's Sweethearts
AUSTIN, TEXAS _ Hands down my musical highlight Wednesday was The midnight set of The Hickoids over at The White Horse, a nothin' fancy but welcoming joint off East 6th Street that in recent years has become one of my favorite Austin venues in recent years. And, of course, The Hickoids have become one of my chief must-see bands every time I come to Austin. Having a Santa Fe crony, guitarist Tom Trusnovic in the group helps, but I already was a casual Hickhead even before Tommy joined several years ago.

But I was a little apprehensive about seeing them last night because this would be the first show I'd see them since last year's death of original member, guitar slinger, no-shit cosmic cowboy, "The True Heart of Austin Rock 'n' Roll" and Prince of the Plaid Davy Jones.

Publicist extraordinaire Heather West and Hickoid Jeff Smith with Davy's award
Last time I saw Davy, or The Hickoids, was during the 2014 SXSW. I saw them play twice (once in San Marcos and once at the White Horse) and I watched them get formally inducted in the Austin Music Hall of Fame at the Austin Music Awards show. He was in great spirits that week and played like the maniac he was.

Last night before the White Horse show, Davy was honored again at the Austin Music Awards. He got inducted posthumously into the Hall of Fame, this time as a "solo" artist. Head Hickoids Honcho Jeff Smith was there to accept that award. He held it up on stage at the beginning of the band's set to great applause. And then the surviving Hickoids proceeded to live up to his memory.

Smith, Trusnovic, bassist Rice Moorehead and drummer Lance Farley -- along with new guitarist Cody Richardson (who also plays with The Beaumonts) bashed through some of my favorite Hickoid hits including "Git Back on The Truck," "Cool Arrow," "Working Man's Friend" and the fabulously filthy "Stop It, You're Killing Me," which put to shame anything in the Blowfly tribute set, which was on immediately before.

My son, who lives in Austin, went with me to the show, so it was heartwarming to see it through the eyes of a newcomer to the warped world of The Hickoids. (He'd seen the band once before, when they opened for Roky Erikson on New Year's Eve. But I'm so bitter and resentful for missing that show, I don't like to talk about it.)

Actually that Blowfly tribute was pretty disappointing. The main problem was it just went on way too long. I loved Blowfly, who died earlier this year, but a little of him goes a long way ...) But that set was sandwiched between two fantastic sets, The Hickoids and The Beaumonts.

I walked into the White Horse just as The Beaumonts were starting one of my favorite tunes, "Money for Drugs."

Unfortunately, we got there too late to see Churchwood and Stevie Tombstone. In my golden years I guess I'm starting to lose my schedule management abilities for SXSW ...

Wednesday, March 16, 2016

SXSW Day 1

.
A look behind Thee Oh Sees
AUSTIN, TEXAS _ As Roger Miller would say, my ears still ring from last night's show at Hotel Vegas over on East Sixth Street. The stars of Tuesday's show were Thee Oh Sees, which longtime readers of this humble blog should know is one of my favorite living bands.

This is the third time I've seen John Dwyer and his merry band. I first caught them during the 2012 South by Southwest festival in Austin before I even knew who they were, playing on a bill with The Gories and Kid Congo Powers. By the second time I saw them, a couple of years ago in Albuquerque, their album Floating Coffin was one of my favorites of that year. (It's still my favorite Oh Sees record, though they've done a couple of fine ones since.)

Of those three shows I've seen, last night's was definitely the fiercest, most aggressive and most intense. They started off on full blast warp speed and rarely eased up for the hour-plus they played. Dwyer, after putting Thee Oh Sees on a ridiculously short "hiatus" shortly after the last time I saw them, moved from San Francisco to Los Angeles and put together a new version of the group.

The band I saw last night had two drummers (which also was the case when I first saw them four years ago), a bass player and, of course Dwyer on guitar, vocals and occasional keyboards.

Oh si!
This Austin crowd was extremely fired up, immediately forming a frenzied mosh pit, which inspired a seemingly endless stream of stage-divers/crowd surfers. It was as if the early '90s never ended.


And I've got to go on the record here as a hip and swingin' rock 'n' roll grandpappy and say that this crap irritates me. I've avoided the mosh pits since that night a few years ago I nearly lost my upper plate when some dumbass mosher thought it would be cool to slam into my back. One reason I hate it so much is that the quality of my snapshots suffer when I lost my place up front and center.

But all that geezer stuff aside, this show left me grinning. Not only was the show full of fire, the crazed other-worldliness of Dwyer's musical vision -- his distorted falsetto vocals, the crazy sci-fi guitar bleeps and blorches -- cuts to the bone.

It's all on a visceral level. I couldn't actually make out any of the lyrics he was singing and I didn't recognize many of the songs until several minutes in -- and many of them, I didn't recognize at all.
But you could feel the power, that call of the weird that rock 'n' roll fans crave.

If you're in Austin right now, don't kick yourself for missing this show last night. Thee Oh Sees have taken up residency at Hotel Vegas and will be playing tonight and every night through Saturday there. (Not sure of the times though.)

One disappointment: Another favorite underground band I love, The Night Beats, also was on the bill at Hotel Vegas Tuesday. However, they played hours before I arrived, around 5 p.m. (5 p.m.? What is this, the early bird special at Denny's?) So hopefully I'll catch them somewhere later this week.

Sunday, March 13, 2016

SXSW 2016: WATCH THIS BLOG

Love is in the air in Austin next week.
And The Waco Brothers will be there too

I'm headed down to Texas once again for the festivities surrounding South by Southwest. Please bookmark this blog and watch for my posts. Hopefully, if my grandsons allow it, I'll be posting ever day, starting Wednesday morning.

No, I didn't get a badge or wristband. But as any music fiend who has attended this Spring Break for the Music Industry knows, you don't need no stinking badge! There are plenty of unofficial, unsanctioned, unspeakable events to keep you thoroughly entertained.

The last time I was there, in 2014, there was a senseless, tragic crime in the streets of Austin that left four people dead (just a few blocks from where I was at the time.) A maniac named Rashad Owens plowed through Red River Street, which was full of pedestrians, leaving four people dead. this was near the Mohawk, where some musical acts I love, including X, The Black ANgels and Les Claypool were playing.

Last November a jury found Owens guilty of capital murder. Because the state didn't seek the death penalty, he received an automatic life sentence.

If anyone gives a rodent's posterior, you can find my posts from past years, going back to 2004 HERE.  And you can find a whole lot of my SXSW snapshots HERE

The bad news: No Wacky Wednesday or Throwback Thursday next week. But follow the links and catch up on some old ones.

Someone I won't be seeing next week is the late Davy Jones of The Hickoids. Davy died of cancer in November. But I bet his spirit will be there Tuesday night when Hickoids, Beaumonts, Churchwood, Stevie Tombstone and others play The White Horse.

R.I.P. Davy Jones





Friday, March 21, 2014

TERRELL'S TUNE-UP:SXSW RECAP

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican 
March 21, 2014



Note to loyal blog readers: This column is based on the blogging I did at SXSW last week (and early this week). 

For all of my fabulous snapshots of SXSW and other musical shows I saw in Texas last week CLICK HERE

I had just sat down to blog about what a fun evening of rock ’n’ roll I’d had on the opening day of the South by Southwest music festival on March 12 — all the great music I heard, all the cool people I saw, and all the friends I got to hang out with — when I got a Facebook message from my brother in Santa Fe. He had news of a bizarre tragedy at SXSW and wanted to know if I was OK.

It seems that a car that was the subject of a police pursuit plowed into a crowd in front of The Mohawk near 9th and Red River Streets. At that point, two people had died and five more were critically injured. By Monday morning, one of those five had died from injuries she’d sustained in the incident. A couple of dozen people injured by that driver were transported to hospitals that night.

I’ve heard grumbling for years about how the festival has grown too big and how the streets of Austin can’t handle the traffic, the crowds, and the insanity. You can’t blame the festival organizers for the alleged actions of the defendant, Rashad Owens, an aspiring rapper and music producer, who reportedly had a gig on the festival’s last night. According to police he was fleeing from a DWI checkpoint, may have been intoxicated, and had outstanding arrest warrants.

But this is a music column, not an op-ed piece, and I did hear lots of great music at the festival and at the unofficial events that surrounded SXSW.

Lucinda
There were a couple of singers I hadn’t planned on seeing who I saw at my very first SXSW in 1995. One was Lucinda Williams, who played a brief set at the Austin Music Awards. Accompanied by her own guitar and a lead guitarist, Williams played mostly old songs like “Passionate Kisses,” “Lake Charles,” and “Drunken Angel.” She was wonderful.

Another unexpected pleasure was Howe Gelb, who I’d caught two or three times before with his old group Giant Sand. I stumbled into the Continental Club, where he was playing with a trio. On his quieter songs, he sounded like Marty Robbins after a three-week peyote trip. But Gelb can also tear loose on electric guitar with the same weird vision and fire that made me love Giant Sand to begin with.

And of course, I didn’t miss The Waco Brothers playing at the annual Bloodshot Records party at the Yard Dog Gallery. The original “insurgent country” band did some of my favorites, including “See Willie Fly By” and “Plenty Tuff Union Made.” They also did their covers of Johnny Cash’s “Big River” (which Jon Langford introduced as “Hotel California” by The Eagles), “I Fought the Law,” and a rousing (and I suspect spontaneous) “Hey! Bo Diddley.”

Smitty of The Hickoids gets ready for
his next dental appointment
I caught the classic Texas cowpunk crazies, The Hickoids (which includes longtime Santa Fe musician Tom Trusnovic), twice this year — at an east Austin joint called The White Horse, right after they were inducted into the Austin Music Hall of Fame, and later at the Triple Crown, a bar in San Marcos. As usual, they lean on the punk much heavier than the cow, but their raunchy tunes never fail to delight.

Barrence Whitfield and the Savages performed a set at C-Boy’s Heart & Soul that was sheer intensity. Playing lots of stuff from his latest, Dig Thy Savage Soul, Whitfield raised the energy level several notches. Guitarist (and Taos resident) Peter Greenberg’s fingers were bleeding well before he left the stage.

Possessed by Paul James, the musical superhero whose secret identity is mild-mannered teacher Konrad Wert, played at the off-the-beaten-track Austin Moose Lodge, at a showcase by the small but impressive Hillgrass Bluebilly Records. Wert was in his one-man-band mode, playing a small arsenal of stringed instruments and using his trademark stomp-box — which is basically a wooden board that is miked — as percussion. All that, and his voice. When Wert gets to wailing, sometimes it seems as if he really is possessed.
Bobby Patterson

Veteran Dallas soul man Bobby Patterson, who was celebrating his 70th birthday that night, performed at C-Boy’s. Never very famous as a performer, Patterson is known mainly as a producer and a DJ. He produced records for Little Johnny Taylor, Fontella Bass, and Chuck Jackson. He was backed by a band that included a horn section, and at one point he was joined onstage by Whitfield.

I first latched onto The Grannies two years ago at SXSW. Appearing in colorful wigs, horrible frocks, and muumuus, the band just tore up the Triple Crown. They attacked the music with humor as much as fury. Singer Wizard Sleeves was wearing some kind of flesh-colored body suit, and guitarist Sluggo ended his set with a classic-rock guitar smashing demonstration.

Sluggo of The Grannies
Playing at the Moose Lodge show were several bands new to me, including The Pine Hill Haints, an acoustic group (with a washtub bass) from Alabama who describe their sound as “Alabama ghost music.” Peewee Moore, a Tennessee-born songwriter, also played with an acoustic band, though his honky-tonk sound would work with a full country band — fiddle, steel, drums etc. (Apparently Moore has played the Cowgirl BBQ in Santa Fe. I hope he comes back so I can catch him again.) The Rock Bottom String Band is a gaggle of countrified hippie kids who play a variety of instruments and sing with so much enthusiasm it was impossible not to get into the spirit.

Left Lane Cruiser has a raw slide-guitar-based sound you might call “damaged blues.” The group’s bass player also made crazy noises on a bizarre homemade instrument fashioned from an old skateboard and a beer bottle on a couple of songs. It’s a type of diddley bow he calls “skidley bow.” Playing harmonica on the band’s first song was  J.D. Wilkes from The Legendary Shack Shakers. Wilkes made a similar cameo earlier in the evening with The Pine Hill Haints.
Col. Wilkes with Pine Hill Haints at The Moose Lodge

The Woggles, who played at C-Boy’s, is a neo-garage band that’s been around several years. You can hear a little Count Five in The Woggles’ guitar and see a little Paul Revere & The Raiders in their moves. But mostly I heard echoes of Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels in The Woggles’ music.

A Pony Named Olga, who played at the Triple Crown, is a high-energy psychobilly trio from Berlin (they call themselves “country-punk and polkabilly”), featuring an electric guitarist/singer, a doghouse bassist, and a drummer. They have the basics of psychobilly down pat, but they also have a few unusual melodies and chord changes that bring a twist to that sound.

And then there are The Beaumonts, a tight little honky-tonk band from Lubbock led by singer Troy Wayne Delco. They play sweet country music with foul-mouthed lyrics about sex, drugs, getting drunk, and more sex. But that’s not all. They also have a song called “Toby Keith,” in which they declare that the jingoistic country star is the “ugliest woman I swear I’ve ever seen.”

Sunday, March 16, 2014

SOUTH BY SOUTHWEST DAY 4: Mayhem in San Marcos


The Grannies: Such a sweet group of old ladies

It was about 6:30 p.m. Saturday and I was teetering on exhaustion. I'd had perhaps 10 hours of sleep over the previous three nights -- which is fairly typical for me during SXSW. (Those of you who have read the typo-laden gibberish of my previous SXSW posts probably suspected as much.) I was coming down with some kind of cold. And the thought of driving back to Austin was filling me with dread. You see, I screwed up this year and made my motel reservations late. By the time I started looking there were no rooms left in Austin for less than hundreds of dollars a night.
The Hickoids' Davy Jones buys his suits
at a thrift store in another dimension

So I ended up in San Marcos, in a cheap motel 30 miles away. At that point, the way I was feeling, 30 miles might as well have been 300.

And even worse, I wasn't even sure what I wanted to go see. Cheetah Chrome was playing on what looked like a decent bill at The Saxon Pub, but that's a pretty small place and I was afraid of driving all the way there only to get spurned at the door.

But looking at Facebook, I noticed a show I'd forgotten about: : The Hickoids, The Grannies, A Pony Named Olga and The Beaumonts at a bar I'd never been to called the Triple Crown. And I almost shed tears of joy when I saw it was in San Marcos. A five minute drive from my motel! Suddenly, I was re-energized and ready to rock 'n' roll.

I'd seen The Hickoids earlier in the week over at The White Horse on Austin's east side, right after they got inducted into The Austin Music Hall of Fame.

The Grannies: This guitar isn't long for this world.
But while the set they played in San Marcos wasn't completely different than the one they did at the White Horse, the group's repertoire is so big there were several tunes I hadn't heard at the earlier gig, including "If Drinkin' Don't Kill Me, Kill Me" and "Talking Hot Pants Blues" from their latest album, Hairy Chaffin' Ape Suit and their cover of "Brontosaurus" ( originally done by The Move). Plus, Jeff Smith's lengthy shaggy-dog spoken-word part of the despicably obscene and always enjoyable "Stop It, You're Killing Me" was a completely different story than the one on the record and past live versions I've seen. My only complaint is that they didn't do my favorite "Cool Arrow" at either of the shows I saw. But the band played something like nine shows during SXSW, so for all I know, they played it at all their other gigs.

While it was fun hanging out backstage with The Hickoids at the Austin Music Awards Wednesday (and yes, I did enjoy seeing Lucinda Williams perform there), I was disappointed that I missed The Grannies when they played the White Horse right before The Hickoids set. I'd seen these San Francisco punk vets my previous SXSW trip in 2012.

A Pony Named Olga
Appearing in full Granny regalia -- colorful wigs, horrible frocks and muumuus -- the band just tore up the joint. They attack the music with humor as much as fury. Singer Wizard Sleeves was wearing some kind of flesh-colored body suit, with elongated drooping breasts, which the audience discovered when he took off his dress, and came out into the crowd twirling his fake mammaries. And guitarist Sluggo ended his set with a classic-rock guitar smashing demonstration.

The other acts were a lot of fun too. A Pony Named Olga is a high-energy psychobilly (they call themselves "country-punk and polkabilly") trio from Berlin, featuring an electric guitarist/singer, a doghouse bass and drummer. They have basics of the genre down pat, but they also have a few unusual melodies and chord changes that bring a twist to that basic sound.

And then there's The Beaumonts, a tight little honky-tonk band from Lubbock led by singer Trow Wayne Delco that plays sweet country music with foul-mouthed lyrics about sex and drugs and getting drunk and more sex. But that's not all. They also have a song called "Toby Keith," in which they declare that the jingoistic country star is the "ugliest woman I swear I've ever seen" and compares him with a muskrat in a mini-skirt. Apparently Delco is still riled -- and rightfully so -- about the way Keith treated Natalie Maines, a fllow Lubbockite -- after she denounced President Bush at the outsewt of the Iraq war.

This show was the perfect way to cap off a great week of music.


RIP Sluggo's guitar

.


Saturday, March 15, 2014

SOUTH BY SOUTHWEST DAY 3: Call of the Moose

J.D. Wilkes of Legendary Shack Shakers (right) joins Left Lane Cruiser
at Austin Moose Lodge for Hillgrass Bluebilly showcase

Two years ago, my favorite new venue discovery during SXSW was Austin's Moose Lodge -- yes, the actual Moose Lodge ! -- on the city's east side. That was the place where Hillgrass Bluebilly Records held its showcase (that year, with the Muddy Roots Festival and Saving County Music). I loved the venue, not to mention the musical lineup, which included James Hand and The Calamity.

I went back to the Moose Lodge last night for this year's Hillgrass Bluebilly show for another fantastic show. If anything, the music was even better this year. I really do like this place. I like the crowds I've seen both years, which were big enough to provide a good springboard for a performance, but not enough to make you feel claustrophobic.
Possessed by Paul James gets all possessed

Possessed by Paul James, the musical superhero whose secret identity is mild-mannered teacher Konrad Wert, was one of the main reasons I went to the Moose Lodge this year. For those of you not familiar with his music (and who didn't read my recent review of his excellent album There Will Be Nights When I'm Lonely).

Although that album found Wert working with backup musicians on some songs, last night he was in his one-man band mode, playing a small arsenal of stringed instruments and using his trademark stomp-box -- which basically is a board that is miked -- as percussion.

All that, and his voice. I'm certainly not the first to note this, but when Wert gets to wailing, sometimes it seems as if he really is possessed. Before he started his set, he said he was having some trouble with his throat. But when he got going, I didn't notice many problems. Possible there were one or two scratchy moments, but that just added some character.
The Skidley Bow.

The other main attraction was Left Lane Cruiser, which plays a raw slide-guitar-based sound you might
 call "damaged blues." They are billed as duo --singer/guitarist Frederick Joe Evans IV and drummer/ harmonica player Brenn Beck, both from Indiana --  in recent press material.

But last night, they had a bass player who also made crazy noises on a bizarre homemade instrument fashioned from an old skateboard and a beer bottle. I asked him whether it was a type of diddley bow. He said he calls it a "Skidley Bow."

And on the first song LLC was joined by a fourth player -- Col. J.D. Wilkes from The Legendary Shack Shakers. He played harmonica on an instrumental and the crowd went nuts. Wilkes, whose other band, The Dirt Daubers is in Austin for SXSW, made a similar cameo earlier in the evening with The Pine Hill Haints.

Peewee Moore (center)
I was completely unfamiliar with the rest acts I saw at the Moose Lodge last night, but I liked every one of them. There was the Pine Hill Haints, who began playing a few moments after I walked in. They're a group from Alabama who describe their sound as "Alabama Ghost Music." In addition to stringed instruments, they also have a drummer playing just a snare, a washtub bass, an accordion and -- on their first song, at least, a musical saw.

Pee Wee More, a Tennessee-born songwriter also played with his band -- a lead guitarist and a mandolin player -- who like Moore, sport long Z.Z. Top/Duck Dynasty beards. He writes good honky-tonk tunes that work fine with his acoustic lineup. Buut I'd like to hear him sings these with a full country band -- fiddle, steel, drums etc. Apparently Moore has played at the Cowgirl in Santa Fe before. I hope he comes back so I can catch him again.

And unannounced was a group from nearby San Marcos, Texas called The Rock Bottom String Band. This is a group of countrified hippie kids who play a variety of instruments and sing with so much enthusiasm it was impossible not to get into the spirit. One lady played a bunch of homemade percussion instruments including washboard, spoons and a large plastic water bottle, which she beat the hell out of.

How Gelb
Before I went over to the Moose Lodge, I stumbled into the Continental Club just in time to catch former Giant Sand mastermind Howe Gelb. Seeing him just made me extremely happy. I saw Giant Sand over at the (long defunct) Electric Lounge in 1995, my first South by Southwest. I saw Giant Sand once or twice after that, but it's been years.

Gelb's act was a little lower-key than his Sandy heyday. He was backed by a bass player and a second guitarist who doubled on drums. Some of his quieter songs sound like Marty Robbins after a three-week peyote trip, And on one song, he played an electric cocktail-lounge piano, tickling the ivories (or the plastic) with a subtle insanity that seemed like he could break out and pounce on the audience at any time. But my favorite songs were the ones where Gelb tore lose on electric guitar. He's still got weird vision and fire that made us love Giant Sand to begin with.

And, as I've written so many times before, it wouldn't be SXSW without seeing The Waco Brothers at Bloodshot Records' annual party at Yard Dog Gallery. I was lucky to find a decent parking space and make it just in time for the first song.
Viva Los Wacos!

They did some of my favorites such as "See Willie Fly By," "Plenty Tuff and Union Made" and, the Lonesome Bob tune "Do You Think About Me," which I hadn't heard them perform in years. They also did their covers of Johnny Cash's "Big River," (which Jon Langford introduced as "Hotel California" by The Eagles), "I Fought the Law (and the Law Won)," and a rousing (and I suspect spontaneous) "Hey Bo Diddley."

But I have to play grumpy old man here. As much as I love The Wacos, I couldn't help but feel a little nostalgic for the old Yard Dog Parties of yore, when the size of the crowd squeezing into that back yard of the gallery were smaller and easier to navigate. Back in those golden days of yore (late '90s, basically) I never had any problem finding a space on the front row. The past couple of times I was lucky to even get near the stage.

O.K., back to be being a rock 'n' roller and not an old fart. It's Saturday night already!


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