Got two updates for the week, although if I get my shit together, there’ll hopefully be a few more reviews going up soon… First of all, I owe a big thank-you to new writer Michelle, who tracked down Scottish free-improvisation vocalist Maggie Nicols for what turned out to be an intriguing interview (check it out […]
[UPDATE: Okay, so I apparently jumped the gun; sadly, the Dead Roses crew had to cancel tonight’s festivities due to weather & Bronwyn being sick. Dang. They’re now pushing it back to after SXSW & the Rodeo are both over…] Got an email warning that tonight, in honor of the anniversary of the band’s founding, […]
This illness thing has me way, way behind — I’m still pissed that I missed this Tuesday’s reportedly-excellent Loney, Dear/News on the March/Alkari show, not to mention the fact that I totally blanked on awesome post-hardcore guys A Wilhelm Scream coming to the Javajazz. Argh. But dammit, I am determined — I won’t be in […]
Damn. Just when I thought being sick as a dog would have to be the worst part of today (for me, at least), things get even worse… I just found out in a roundabout way (i.e., Facebook and Jeoaf Monocles’ post on the Hands Up board) that ADR (aka Ryan Clark) has taken down his […]
I’ve dodged the Twitter bullet so far, and I have to say, I’m fairly glad of that. Heck, ’til the recent dive into Facebook hell and not counting the Myspace “mirror” for this wee blog, I’ve mostly avoided the whole social-networking thing completely. Yeah, I’m a cyber-Luddite on some levels, it’s true; it just feels […]
Well, this is some good news — I’d all but given up hope this last year or so of ever getting a chance to check out murky, bleak, indie-folk songstress Teresa M., aka georgia’s Horse. live & in full color & all that. She plays really sporadically, even here in town, which is a shame […]
Dammit, this cold-from-hell thing is getting really annoying. If I the fam weren’t still wiped out by this thing, I’d be seriously considering getting my ass up to the Warehouse Live tonight (Mon., February 9th) to catch Devotchka and Crooked Fingers… I’m not super-familiar with Devotchka, admittedly, but I like what I’ve heard so far […]
Got a bit of bad news tonight from the On Your Feet Foundation crew down in Alvin — apparently Sunken Teeth had to drop off tomorrow night’s (Sun., February 8th) show up at Walter’s on Washington, due in part, at least, to some asshole swiping a band member’s car from their driveway. Damn, y’all… At […]
Yet another crazy, spoiled-for-choice Saturday night, it looks like (Saturday, February 7th, that is). Missed Friday, for the most part (spent several late hours wrestling with the future direction/design of this here site, but that’s a subject for another two or three posts; suffice it to say that my brain still feels singed), but tonight […]
Ready to get the jump on the weekend before it comes up and blindsides you with the bazillion or so good shows that’re going to be going on? Well, you’re in luck — to get started on your Weekend o’ Good Shit one day early, you can head yourself on up to either The Mink […]
Much as I love this wee site/e-zine thing and tend to devote the bulk of my writing time (such as it is, these days) to it, heck, nobody can do the same damn thing over and over and over again forever, right? I’ve had a few quasi-successful stints writing for other publications, mostly scuttled because, […]
No time to write right now, sadly — off to The Munchkin’s b-day party — but there’s a ton of cool shows tonight, both local & (well, one) non-. Here’s a pile of flyers; if there’s a show flyer here, though, that means I think the show’s damn good (I couldn’t dig up a flyer […]
If you happen to be in a band that includes at least one person from Rice University, you & your band could be in luck — KTRU is holding a real-live Battle of the Bands at 7PM on February 20th, at the Lovett Undergrounds. Win, and you and your band could find yourselves playing the […]
All band folk who want to get noticed & play to bigger crowds & get reviewed & whatnot: a half-assed Myspace page is not enough. As somebody who writes about this stuff quasi-professionally, I can’t even count the number of times I’ve heard/heard of a band, then tried to check out their site — on […]
At least, I will be tomorrow (Fri., January 30th), if all goes according to plan — not fumbling around on a guitar or anything, don’t worry, but just chatting and shooting the shit with the guys of “The Revelry Report” show up at KTRU (91.7FM, in case you live under a rock). Matthew of TRR, […]
Ah, record labels. They can be a lot of fun, as somebody who’s run one; who doesn’t like the thought of putting music you love by musicians you love on a slab of vinyl or a plastic disc or a cassette tape? Of course, there’s the flipside, where you learn it’s real easy to bankrupt […]
Did you see the thing a while back where the good-hearted, all-for-The Scene Secret Saturday Shows crew finally bailed on their longstanding abode at The Shady (And I Do Mean “Shady”) Tavern? The future looked grim for our heroes. Where would they go? What would they do? Would they ever again be able to release […]
Here’s a bit of good news — turns out that in spite of all the damage that has yet to be fixed down on Galveston Island (some of which, I suspect, never may be), nothing stops Mardi Gras. The island may be down, but apparently some things never die, and drunken purple-and-gold-festooned revelers are among […]
The Wild Moccasins. Dang, that was a good one. Seriously — I haven’t seen a show as flat-out, nonstop, good as this past Friday’s Wild Moccasins CD release show with Buxton & Teenage Kicks in quite a while. There’ll hopefully be a full rundown at some point soon, but I had a blast & wanted […]
If you happen to think the only thing going on here in town this weekend is the sure-to-be-awesome Wild Moccasins CD release show, well, you couldn’t be further from the reality. These next few weekends are gonna be jam-freakin’-packed, honest. Here’re my picks for the next several days, beyond the Wild Mocs show: Fri., January […]
Barely three weeks into 2009, and believe it or not, there’s already a seeming torrent of eagerly-anticipated releases exploding out of H-town. Seriously; there’s now new stuff out by The Wild Moccasins and The Born Liars, with stuff right around the corner from Young Mammals, The Tontons, Teenage Kicks, and listenlisten. Oh, and then there’s […]
Okay, this is getting ridiculous. I’ve ranted at length about this before, back when Sharks and Sailors and The Tontons each got ripped off, but it fucking keeps happening. The latest casualty is Black Black Gold, who had their guitars swiped from Francisco’s last weekend (which, of course, means that it was likely somebody who’s […]
Yeah, I know I’m running behind — sorry about that, but it’s pretty much my life… If on the odd chance you’re a foolish blockhead who doesn’t immediately run out & buy every freakin’ disc we here at SCR tell you is So Good It Will Rule Your Life, then you may well not yet […]
Ah, Rad Rich — man, you amaze me. Not only is he a walking embodiment of H-town skate-punk, but he also comes up with some craaaaazy-yet-entertaining ideas. The latest? He’s planning to dress up in his wrestling gear to go see tonight’s 10PM showing of (duh) The Wrestler over at the River Oaks Theatre. And […]
[UPDATE: Okay, so I talked a bit w/Jacob about the “afterparty” show, and it turns out that yep, it is really an afterparty, music-wise — it’s the DJing that starts at 9PM. The actual live music-ness, with Balls Deep & Shunda K, kicks off at 11:30PM, after the “main” Yo Majesty show. Got it? Good…] […]
In a week that’s seen on-the-ground fighting in Palestine, cops shooting young guys for no reason whatsoever in both Oakland and Bellaire, an Austin activist outing himself as an FBI informant, bizarro Senatoria/Gubernatorial circus mayhem in Illinois & DC, and the company I work for laying off a slew of people and cutting back everybody […]
No, it’s not what you think — it’s just that the HandStamp folks broke the news that local old-school country diva Miss Leslie, who’s utterly phenomenal, is giving away autographed copies of her 2008 album, Between the Whiskey and the Wine to anybody who sends her their email addy (to be put on her mailing […]
And yes, because New Year’s insanity isn’t the only thing going on this week, uh, here’s the rest. Plenty of good stuff to keep you out enjoying this bizarro “is it really New Year’s?” weather. Here’s my picks: Thurs., January 1: Warbler/The Eastern Sea (tour kickoff)/Elaine Greer/News on the March @ The Mink I know, […]
So…there was this third installment of the “no, The Scene’s not broken, but we can make it better!” BandCamp originally scheduled for Sunday, December 7th and meant to be focused on how local H-town bands can get their shit together to actually tour and play shows outside of the Houston Metro area. (Which is a […]
Okay, so the above’s not entirely true. Yep, it’s about to be a new year, but rather than just shrug it off and wonder what the fuck the big deal is like I usually do (I’m The Gloomy One of my particular couple, if you couldn’t guess), I’m attempting to look at the State of […]
Okay, so here’s another plea for some holiday cheer. Seems that on December 14th, talented-as-hell countrified H-town troubadour (and Amy’s Ice Cream staffer) Airon Paul Dugas was hit head-on while riding his scooter and suffered some major, major injuries (see the poster to the right for details on what got broken, or check out the […]
Damn — can’t believe I missed this one. From Craig Hlavaty over at Rocks Off: it seems local soul-psych heroes The Tontons have started up a ChipIn account to receive donations from kind souls like you, me, & your parents. The money collected will go towards a really worthy cause, namely replacing the pile of […]
Well, it turns out Notsuoh‘s potential buyer was a con man with zero dollars, so the longstanding venue/whatever will live on, at least for now. Which truly, truly sucks for owner Jim Pirtle, but — damn, I hate to say it — my black-as-coal, selfish-bastard heart is clapping its hands in childish glee.
And here’s Part 2 for the weekened, this time for tonight, Saturday, December 20th — a bit late, I’m afraid, seeing as I believe some of these shows are already (d’oh!) going on, but ah, well… Free Press Houston Annual Celebration of the Christ, featuring Satin Hooks, The Eastern Sea, Piano Vines, Ozeal, Chase Hamblin, […]
Damn, this weekend…the sheer size of the pile of Good Shit going on is a little daunting. Not that that’s abnormal, really, lately — the supposed lack of Pitchfork-loved bands coming through H-town notwithstanding, this year’s been a banner year when it comes to shows, and that’s partly due to the number of truly good […]
I saw the rough cut of this one a week or two back, but now that it’s finally “officially” released, I figured it’d be a good time to post the new Mark Armes-created video for “Wires and Buttons”, by local heroes Young Mammals. I must admit that it’s not my favorite YM song, unfortunately (mostly […]
Got a company Christmas party to run to, but before I go I’ve got to mention a few of the damn cool-ass things going on this weekend. There’s good, good stuff going on tonight & tomorrow night, in particular, like the Insidious Decrepancy/Funeral Rites show tonight (Friday, Dec. 12th) at midnight (ooooooh…) up at the […]
I know I’ve posted sad stuff about this recently, but it looks like things are getting weirder & weirder. Per owner Jim Pirtle’s blog, he does have a buyer on the line for venerable downtown art-spot & oddball haunt Notsuoh, but now it looks like there’s some kind of legal difficulty standing in the way. […]
And here you thought all the electorializing was over, didn’t you? Well, no such luck — and no, I’m not talking, surprisingly, about Chris Bell’s impending runoff for that pesky Texas Senate seat, or even about the Al Franken/Norm Coleman thing still going on up north, nuh-uh. No, I’m talking about The Sammies, which is […]
Memo to the dirtbag who stole Tontons/Studemont Project guitarist Adam Martinez’s gear from his car: you’re a fucking waste of skin who needs to go jump off a building (or, alternatively, return it all right damn now). You’ve officially made the top of my own personal Worst Person in the World list. Beyond the fact […]
