Holey Moley

What a weekend! Heck, what a week period. Went from Exhausted to in shock to exhausted again, and managed to keep going despite it all. I did find out that Red Jax tastes much better than either Monster or Rockstar, but I don't think it has quite the jolt the other two do. Or maybe I was beyond any help but sleep. Not certain.
Obviously, if you have read this blog, you know of the death in the Austin musical community. If not, check out the Austin chronicle on line, and learn a bit more about one of the most influential people in the last 25-30 years up there. I could ramble on about it, but really,...well, I don't know that Cliff himself would understand all the fuss....he was that kind of guy. Just know that Austin has changed forever, because of this man, and because he won't be there anymore, to help the new ones along.

My week otherwise was spent flyering my own city for the Red Room and Buttercup's CD release gig on Sunday. My partner Delphine was up at the Kerrville Folklife Festival for a couple of days, and sprained her ankle, so I ended up running things by myself. Many kudos to my best friend Casey for giving up his Friday evening to help me not panic. Los Mescaleros, a local blues group, played to an intimate but devoted crowd. These guys are one of a kind really, pulling in all kinds of influences, from the likes of John Lee Hooker to the Velvet Underground. Their music fit the mood of the RR better than lots of folks have. Almost everyone who has played the room has commented on the feel of the place; Los Mescaleros just seemed to slip into the inborn groove of the room, like they were a missing piece. It was very cool.
It could be that they are part of the room really, as guitarist Roland De La Cruz built the stage.....left more than just some nails and a hammer behind,hmm, Roland?

Saturday, Ms. Patricia Vonne and husband Bobby LaRoche graced our stage. Patricia is a San Antonio native, and thus has lots of friends and family that always come out in support. There were some lovely moments there, especially when Bobby improv-ed a tune about coming to SA to play the Red Room...got a sprained ankle up to dance, though she paid for it later! It was a great evening, and I was really glad to see the two of them again; they've been in Europe for like six weeks, on their fourth European tour in a year. I am so tickled for them that they are doing so well, but I bet it was nice to sleep in their own bed for a change.

Sunday Sunday Sunday...I was hired by Buttercup to flyer this city for this gig, though I did it as much for love of the band than any other reason. These guys have just brightened my world, and I knew this was going to be a special gig. I was pleased beyond words to see about 150-200 people turn up at the Beethoven Maennechor (an authentic German biergarten in San Antonio' art district, Southtown.) I think the guys were startled. This has got to be the largest audience I have ever heard of them playing for since I have known the band. Well, hell, I know why too. Great new CD, wonderful bunch of people playing in the band, and a holiday eve spent drinking good beer and listening to terrific music.

and it was amazing.
I caught a picture of Joe Reyes I can't wait to see: he went out on the back porch of this place (it's huge) with his ukelele...just stood there playing. Little by little, people started to pay attention, and then followed his back in, like rats with the pied piper! It was quite cute! And he knew it too! ;p


I snitched one of the set lists (a die-hard habit form Del Castillo gigs!), but what they played isn't quite as important as how. They had producer Mark Rubenstein on piano and others keys with them, and he played some delightful additions to the tunes. I am used to the Grackle session, where it's just BC. This was a treat. They also had local wiz-kid Marcus Rubio sit in on several tunes, first on violin, then guitar and finally saw. That was another picture I can't wait to see! At one point in the saw it, Erik held his mic out so we could better hear the saw. Then Joe did. Then Jamie did it! I was laughing so much, I hope that picture comes out. It was just a giant Grackle Sunday for these guys. I couldn't tell who pushed who higher, but by the end of a LONG set (about 2-2.5 hours) they were all just on such as energy high. Had it not been for the sensible management of the Maennechor, it might have been another hour. What a night. When I get the pictures back tomorrow, I am sure it will spark more stories. I am pretty sure last night is why i have been so tired today. I must say it was the cherry on top of the sundae of a weekend.

More later. Have to get up to the real world in the AM, which means rest now.

namaste.

Sad, Sad news from Austin......

I will not be able to look at 5th and Lavaca quite the same ever again.....
Rest in Peace, Cliff.

******************************************************************

Legendary club owner Clifford Antone dies.


Clifford Antone, 56, the legendary music club owner, died Tuesday.

He died of an apparent heart attack, his sister said.

In 2005, Antone's club celebrated its 30th anniversary. The club opened its original location on East Sixth Street as a small music venue on a street and neighborhood long ignored. It attracted famous blues acts from the Chicago and New York blues scenes. Among the players there were the likes of Chicago bluesman Buddy Guy and a very young Stevie Ray Vaughan.

That same club's success led to the birth of the now-famous East Sixth Street entertainment district, the heart and soul of Austin's multi-million dollar tourist trade and led to the citys nickname of 'Live Music Capital of the World.

The club is now in its third location.

In 2000, Antone went to prison on federal charges of drug trafficking and money laundering. He was released in 2003.
His career and the clubs history was captured in the documentary Antone's: Home of the Blues

"One of the primary reasons Austin is known as the Live Music Capital of the World is because of Clifford Antone. His devotion to the music spoke for itself. He was my friend and I will miss him dearly," Austin Mayor Will Wynn said. "I ask Austinites to join with me and remember the music giant this city has lost and the great things he brought to our community."

Review: Buttercup's CD "Hot Love"

This is my new Happy Album.
I have been trying to compose a lengthy review, all wordy and serious about this CD for several days now, and ell, Screw It! This ain't a newspaper, it's afan's opinion, so stay with that I will.
I found Buttercup last year, partly because of Lara & Reyes, a San Antonio jazz duo known worldwide. Joe Reyes also plays in Buttercup, along with many other projects. I fell in love the first evening I saw them and have been an avid fan ever since. This new CD is long overdue, apparently, and I cannot be happier it is finally surfacing.
The CD release isn't for about 10 days, but I have had a copy for almost that long and cannot quit playing it! When I am happy, I dance in my seat in the car. When I am blue or even keel, I still end up dancing in my seat! I do the lalas and the ooo's right along with them, because, save for a song or two, they have been playing some of this stuff as long as I have been going to their Grackle Mundys and other shows.
BC's first record, "Sick Yellow Flower," was catchy and memorable, a floating sea of soundscapes that please me to no end. "Hot Love" is infectious. It reaches out and makes the listener pay attention. The first three tunes are much more rock than the guys did for the first record, and yet the playful pop attitude, which is a Buttercup signature, shines through. I know one of their influences is Ray Davies of the Kinks (WWRDD? : What Would Ray Davies Do? - my own slogan for Buttercup!) but for some reason I have found reason to liken this new CD to the Turtles. For those too young, the Turtles were a mid- to late Sixties Pop band best known for the tune " Happy Together" (now sadly known mostly due to abuse for TV ads....) The harmonies, the poppiness, the time changes- all of it just rings of the Turtles to me. It is a tough comparison to give out when I know that way too many folks don't know who I am refering to. Not too strangely, I suspect the guys in Buttercup do.

I won't waste the readers' time with chopping up and describing each song in turn, as I had started out doing. That's part of the fun of finding something new- the experience becomes something special between you and the band. If I tell the world how I feel about it all, other than a general overview, I risk tainting someone else's moment of listening with opinions. And we all know how many opinions there are out there!
I will leave it at this for the time being, perhaps inspired after the CD release party here in San Antonio on the 28th of May to write some more. This is one band I would love to see make it, because they are so different, but as I watch one of my other bands outgrown fans like me to become another of those oversized fame riding groups, I sortof hope that Buttercup stays a bit more underground. There is a purity that gets lost as the business end of being a musician takes over. I do not wish them ill in the adventure- I just hope they can remain as down to earth and have as much fun as the burden to perform grows. It is a rough life.

I haven't said much about individual tunes on the CD, so I will mention a few that are particular favourites: "hello,goodbye", "you and you alone," "we're easy," and "shiyganai." I will leave up to the reader to investigate further! Here's how:

www.buttercult.com
www.gracklemundy.com
www.myspace.com/buttercup

and Dial-A Song: the Daily Tune. Call 1-210-PET-ABLE, and listen to one song per day off the new CD, as presented by lead singer Erik Sanden's answering machine. No Kidding.Use a landline though- cell phones don't do so well with music translation.

More later. Just don't miss this CD if you are a pop music fan with a twisted viewof the world. Buttercup will be right up your alley, and they will help you tap into a place of happiness in yourself you might not know was there!

Alright, this is getting out of hand!

I was looking up yet another band on MySpace today and noticed that they now have expanded their music definitions. I hate seeing music boxed and labeled, but most folks need a little security in their lives, and labels make the world feel a bit safer.

I just have to ask some questions though, because there seems to be an awful lot of genres (god, I hate that overused word!) that weren't there awhile back. I mean, I grew up with rock, and hard rock and country and country-western (not the same thing).
Then there was pop, and classical and jazz (heehee!); I grew up with Big Band and folk music. There was acoustic stuff and electric stuff, though we didn't try to break those into seperate definitions. One was just unplgged, the other a touch(!) louder.
As I grew up, things like punk came out. And heavy metal. To listen to what we called heavy metal today and compare it to what started that name off is laughable. Those now-old fogies (Zepplin, Sabbath, BOC, even Iron Maiden) are such music lightweights when put up against the wall-o-sound, make-your-ears-bleed groups out there now! My brother's in one of those bands- Machine Head- and really, they are more melodic than most of that ilk.

When I was little, there was Motown and soul music, and the blues, and on a rare occassion or two, some crossover hits from those sounds into other genres. Then came hip-hop. Okay, not my cup of tea, but hey, it obviously has its market value.

and now (getting to the crux of this diaribe), there is triphop......

I gotta wonder. I mean,I thought you had to hop before you could trip.

Seriously though, some of these new genre titles do have me scratching my head, music fanatic that I am, though I am sure the kids today would put up their noses and shrug me off as being "old". Of course, they have no idea who the Beatles were and how much they alone changed the music industry when I was barely in school, so poo on them. They have much to learn too, sadly from history books and legends that have turned to myth.

Some of the other titles that got a laugh out of me were things like "crunk". what the hell is Crunk?! Crunchy Punk?

Or Happy Hardcore. Okay, now that's just an oxymoron, like christian punk or metal. Something just don't jibe.

Though I question its correctness, I think turntablism is pretty self-explainatory.

Screamo....okay, well, you got me on that one. I imagine groups of kids who have managed to deafen themselves at metal gigs standing around trying to be heard by one another.

Post-hardcore. Damn, are those guys getting that old already?! What the hell does that make me?!? I was around long before hardcore was!


In truth, I understand the human need for boxing and defining things. We do it to everything. Have you seen the growing list of dinosaurs in the last few years!? There were a max of like 100 when I was in school. It has got to be in the thousand by now, and growing almost daily. I suppose music can survive it, because when you get past the industry's need to know how to sell something, people will listen to what what appeals to them, not just because something fits into a certain catagory.

I suppose new titles to things give the kids some sense of elitism, which we all needed at some point during growing up. And in this world where we are so in touch with what everyone else is doing, and how quickly fashion changes, having something to call your own makes people feel better.

Me, I got music. If you can play well, I don't need to know anything else. If you can't, I won't be hanging around.

(Coming soon to a blog near you, a review of the wonderful new CD by Buttercup, Hot Love.)