Del Castillo Goes Batty!

South Texas is home to the largest concentration of bats in the world (at least according to National Geographic),about 40 million mexican freetails and about 5 other varieties. Only Austin,however,could find a way to celebrate the urbanization of their bats- holding a festival right over the place where the bats roost. Of course, it is one of the busiest bridges in the whole city, with cars, buses and such going overhead and, bikers, hikers and canoe- ers underneath. If the bats don't mind that, they shouldn't have too much trouble with some music, hm?

I was surprised really- even though I got there late-ish in the afternoon, I doubt the bats were any more roused than usual. Folks who have lived in Austin for years, many of whom had never seen this daily....err....nightly...event were congragating to watch the little mammals come out from under the bridge about 9 PM. I was astounded at how little people seemed to know about bats. Without them here in such numbers, the mass of south central Texas would be unlivable- the insects would overwhelm humans and crops. So be nice to the little fuzzy flying mice. They are not vermin, they do not suck blood, or automatically carry rabies. They ARE however a vital part of the local ecosystem,each eating nearly its weight in insects every night. It's natural pest control- appraciate it!

www.batcon.org

Okay- Del Castillo and the bands before them could've used some light-loving bats last night! Just about the time the little furry dudes were heading out, I looked over and saw the stage just swarming with insects. I started taking bets among the Posse how long it would take Alex to inadvertantly swallow a bug! He never did to my knowledge, but the little critters certainly did make themselves at home during the set. It remains to be seen if I caught the cricket sitting on Mark's knee during one of his solos, just paying complete attention to the guitar. See guys!? It's even intra-Species now!

We lucked out at this gig- it could've been a scorcher- but the weather gods let things cool down for us, and other than humidity, it was a good night. The Boys seemed to be happy to be home, and the despite some sound problems, it was a wonderful gig, Couple of new tunes, including one called Everlasting (possibly a partial title- got that from the set list) that has an absolutely BLISTERING bit of drumming from our Mike Zeoli! I love the DC Trio- Bert, Mike, and Carmelo, but this drum line stopped me in my tracks. I've seen Mikey play metal, and he showed some of that off in this number. Wow.

I am headed for Corpus Christi in a few hours and have some loose endss to tie up here before the drive. I will write more later. Ya know....I miss the Red Room sometimes. I found a lot of good new music there. But I am so glad to be able to go see Del Castillo again. There just isn't anything quite like them.

www.delcastillomusic.com