So. I stopped doing these little weekend-preview things a while back, because honestly, it was eating my life and giving me a nervous breakdown; I kept running out of time to do ’em, which meant I had to scramble, and that stressed me out, and y’know, other stuff needed to get done, right? Lately, though, I’ve been missing it…
Written on September 23, 2016 | Posted in
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Oh, man. I got a bit wrapped up in the countdown to Yes, Indeed! 2016 last week, so I let this one slip a bit, and that means that unless you’ve been sailing a raft across the ocean for seven or eight days now — or, alternately, hate music and/or joy, in which case I don’t have a clue how you’re reading this — you know that the organizers of Day for Night, FPSF‘s quasi-sister festival in the winter months, released the official lineup…
Written on September 22, 2016 | Posted in
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From the moment the video for Frog Hair’s “My Best Foot Forward” begins, it is clear both in its immediate inspirations and the longer, deeper history it is part of. A lonely-looking mad scientist puppet weaves his perfect companion together, or attempts to, unaware that he is succeeding beyond his wildest dreams…
Written on September 20, 2016 | Posted in
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Alright, and here we are again, with Round Two of our little writeups for this Saturday‘s (September 17th, for the calendar-less) Yes, Indeed! Music Festival, slated to explode into the area east of Downtown, right around Warehouse Live, wedged in between the George R. Brown Convention Center and the BBVA Compass Stadium…
Written on September 16, 2016 | Posted in
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Yes, friends, neighbors, Houstonianites, it’s just about time again for the “other” half of the bi-annual music festival extravaganza that’s known either as the Yes, Indeed! Music Festival or Madness on Main Street, both put on by super-organized people Jason Smith and Phil “Bassman Pep” Peterson…
Written on September 15, 2016 | Posted in
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I know I’ve been missing a ton of great shows lately, but dammit, I can’t let this one slip by without a mention. Keeton Coffman, who the longer-memory-having folks among you might remember as the frontman of gone-too-soon band The 71’s, is my absolute favorite guy singer/songwriter in town these days…
Written on September 9, 2016 | Posted in
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So, it looks like Arthur Yoria has come back home to Houston, and oh, man, am I glad to see it. The last I’d heard from Arthur, back in 2010, he was moving up to Brooklyn to try out his sweet-voiced, sometimes stoner-like pop songwriting chops on the hipsters that dwell there…
Written on September 9, 2016 | Posted in
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I don’t get out much these days; it’s a sad, sad truth of my near-suburban Soccer-/Theater-/Cub Scout-Dad existence. When I see a show coming up, even one that sounds truly, truly awesome, my immediate, instinctual response is, “ah, fuck, I’m too damn tired, it’s gonna be too far away, too late a night; I should just stay home and watch TV or read.” So, in a lot of cases, that’s exactly what I do…
Written on September 8, 2016 | Posted in
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This is one hell of a busy weekend, it’s true, but there’re some cool things that rise to the top of my personal little list, at least. One of those things is happening tonight — Saturday, May 28th, that is — up at Walter’s…
Written on May 28, 2016 | Posted in
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Alright, back with Part 3 of this rundown thing for Madness on Main Street 2016, which may well be the last, since this thing starts in less than 24 hours — see Part 1 and Part 2, over here…
Written on May 7, 2016 | Posted in
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Over the past year, I’ve missed and/or dropped the ball on a whole bunch of stuff, I seriously have. I’ve got a to-do list like you wouldn’t believe. And one of the things I want to punch myself in the face for most is all the awesome, excellent, strange, quirky videos from Houston bands and musicians I’ve let slip past these past 12 months (or more, honestly)…
Written on January 29, 2016 | Posted in
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And now, here we are. After much hyping, Day for Night is finally here, bursting into life tomorrow, Saturday, December 19th, and Sunday, December 20th, over at Silver Street Studios (2000 Edwards St.). And to me, at least, said hyping looks very much justified…
Written on December 19, 2015 | Posted in
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One of the things I love best about the scene here (and yes, I’m well aware that lots of other cities have music scenes that are similar in this respect) is that after a while, you start to see a lot of the same characters roaming in and around, joining up in different configurations and doing stuff that they’ve maybe never tried before. Sure, people do leave, and it’s a bummer when that happens, but if you look at a lot of the coolest, most interesting bands in H-town…
Written on September 23, 2015 | Posted in
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Okay, I know it’s short notice, but I didn’t want to let this one slip past… There’s a cool little show happening tonight, Thursday, August 27th, up at a place I’ve only recently started seeing in the show listings called Ladybirds. No idea what it’s like, but I do know who’s playing, and that’s the important part…
Written on August 27, 2015 | Posted in
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Yeah, yeah — I know The World’s About to End (again), what with a maybe-hurricane maybe-bearing down on Houston, but that doesn’t mean all movement has to cease, right? That’s especially true today, because H-town rawk dudes Knights of the Fire Kingdom cut loose with some big, big news. Not only have they finally announced the release of their long-awaited full-length (which I swear to God I’ve been listening to for in some form or another for close to two years now)…
Written on June 15, 2015 | Posted in
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Oh, how I love this band. {The Suffers} may be the ones getting all the press right now (and deservedly so), but my own personal Magic 8-Ball proclaims/hopes that {The Wheel Workers} are the next H-town band to surge upwards into the spotlight. They are simultaneously brilliant and down-to-earth, sincerely progressive and catchy as hell, that rare band that can incorporate thoughtful politics into music while keeping things fun and engaging. All of which explains why I’m so, so happy to see/hear new full-length Citizens coming down the pike…
Written on May 7, 2015 | Posted in
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Alright, friends and countrymen and everybody else, we’re back once again with another batch of writeups (possibly the last one before the actual thing starts) of all the awesome folks playing this year’s Madness on Main Street Music Festival tomorrow, Saturday, May 2nd. There will be 30 or so excellent bands…
Written on May 2, 2015 | Posted in
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Yes, yes, yes. It’s May, just starting to edge into the warmer months here in H-town, and that means it’s time once again for the ever-awesome Madness on Main Street Music Fest. Virtual high-five to both organizers Jason Smith and Phil “Bassman Pep” Peterson for pulling this thing together once again, damn near out of thin air — they’ve worked their asses off to put on one hell of a music festival…
Written on May 1, 2015 | Posted in
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Alright, y’all — I know it’s late, and I know I’ve been freaking godawful at doing these lately; apologies on both fronts. Trying to do better, honest. First off for tonight (Friday, April 17th, for those not bothering to keep track), {The Tontons}‘ scheduled show over at Market Square Park was cancelled due to the nasty-ass weather…
Written on April 17, 2015 | Posted in
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So, if you live in a small hole in the ground and only communicate with squirrels or something (or alternatively, if you just plain hate music and joy), you may not have heard that H-town’s own awesome soul-rocksteady crew {The Suffers} just happened to make their big-time network TV debut this past Monday, on The Late Show With David Letterman…
Written on April 1, 2015 | Posted in
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Alrighty; been on vacation of late, both out of town and offline, and I know I’ve missed quite a bit — apologies for that, folks. Trying to pick things up again now, though, and I figured I’d start with a musical-type thing tonight (Wed., March 25th, that is) that’s a bit of a twofer…
Written on March 25, 2015 | Posted in
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Hey, folks — I’m headed to SXSW this week, and I wanted to give a quick rundown of the 15 new-by-newish bands I can’t wait to see at SXSW. They’re in alphabetical order, with very short descriptions of each and a video that you should watch to decide for yourself…
Written on March 17, 2015 | Posted in
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Hey, y’all — it’s the weekend once again, with today being Friday, December 12th and all, and while the list of shows tonight isn’t massive (look at tomorrow’s list for that), it’s still pretty damn impressive. Here goes…
Written on December 12, 2014 | Posted in
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Okay, so I know there’re actually several very, very cool shows happening tonight, but the absolute top of my list is happening at Bayou Music Center tonight, where ridiculously great Manchester band The 1975 will be rolling through town. Others may disagree, but for my money, the band’s self-titled debut was one of the best damn things I heard all of last year…
Written on November 26, 2014 | Posted in
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And here, folks, is where I will be tonight (specifically, Thursday, November 13th). I’ve been waiting very literally for years now to see/hear Scottish post-punk rockers We Were Promised Jetpacks, and when I saw their name appear on the list of upcoming shows over at Fitzgerald’s, I very nearly went through the damn ceiling in excitement…
Written on November 13, 2014 | Posted in
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Alright, people — this coming weekend is going be insane, frankly, and I wanted to point a finger at a particularly cool show that’s going on, so it doesn’t get swallowed up in the giant pile of other Cool Things to Do… See, tomorrow, Saturday, November 8th, happens to be the day o’ birth of Ian Hlavacek, lead guitarist for badass indie-rock band {Jealous Creatures} (whom I love dearly)…
Written on November 7, 2014 | Posted in
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Some cool news today that I wanted to share/disseminate/etc… After a while spent quietly working away on their forthcoming full-length, excellent indie-rock band {Glass the Sky} have resurfaced, not only with brand-new single “Touch,” but also a video for said brand-new single…
Written on October 21, 2014 | Posted in
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Yep, I do know what day it is, don’t worry (it’s Thursday, October 2nd, derr). It’s just that since I completely blew last weekend’s writeups, I figured I’d attempt to get a jump on this weekend’s. Hence, a quick glimpse of what’s happening tonight. Here we go…
Written on October 2, 2014 | Posted in
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Okay, so I owe a big, big apology on this one, bigger than my usual apologies for my usual slacker-ness. Way, way, way back in December of last year, I ran into Dre Giles, vocalist for alt-prog-rock dudes {The Lotus Effect} (and a good friend both of SCR and myself), at the now-annual {the last place you look} Christmas show up at Warehouse Live…
Written on July 12, 2014 | Posted in
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Alright, folks — back again with installment #3 of the previews (see installments #1 and #2 over here and here) for the rapidly-approaching Madness on Main Street Music Fest, coming up this Saturday, May 9th over on the Mid-Main strip. Get your advance tickets now, BTW; I’m told they’re running out fast…
Written on May 9, 2014 | Posted in
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Alright, so this may sound a little familiar, but…do you remember last month, when we got all psyched about the return of Roky Moon & BOLT!? Of course you do! And why in the hell am I bringing it up yet again?…
Written on March 27, 2014 | Posted in
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Well, wow. After dealing with a house full of sick people the past few days, this was seriously some welcome good news. See, way, way back in 2007, yours truly was frankly pretty disillusioned with music in general. All the bands I loved from around here were dying off or moving away, it seemed like, and I was having a harder and harder time liking any of it, y’know?…
Written on March 25, 2014 | Posted in
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Welcome to my “Baker’s Dozen of Must See (Relatively) New Acts at SXSW 2014” Blog, if you’re heading to Austin this week…and why wouldn’t you be? I mean, we’re all teachers who get Spring Break off, right?…
Written on March 10, 2014 | Posted in
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Whoa. It is one heck of a busy Thursday tonight, December 5th, especially for a post-holiday week like this one. But hey, I’m not one to look a gift horse in the mouth; here’s what looks cool to me…
Written on December 5, 2013 | Posted in
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It’s been a while since we last took a peek ’round town at what our favorite local folks have been doing, video-wise…and it turns out that, holy crap, there’s been a lot of cool videos released over the past 8 months or so. Here’re a few…
Written on October 18, 2013 | Posted in
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Hey, y’all — there’s some very, very cool stuff happening tonight (Thursday, October 3rd), and I didn’t want to let it slip through my twitchy little fingers without it getting a mention up here…
Written on October 3, 2013 | Posted in
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Damn. Sorry, y’all — family-related things had me tied up all day yesterday, and I’m afraid I blew it on the Saturday installment of this weekend’s shows-and-such rundown. sigh. Apologies to all…
Written on September 29, 2013 | Posted in
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If there’s anything I’ve learned in all the years I’ve spent doing critical writing, both in college and after, it’s that you can make anything have a theme. Not that everything actually has a theme, mind you, but rather that if you read…
Written on July 17, 2013 | Posted in
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While I do try to keep the political stuff a little low-key on this blog, sometimes I can’t help it. So, here we go: I, like a lot of folks down here in Texas, apparently, spent Tuesday night (and parts of Wednesday) glued to the TV/Internet as Senator Wendy Davis…
Written on June 27, 2013 | Posted in
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Keen-eyed observers of things musical (and artsy) in our fair city may remember around this time last year when ultra-cool, ultra-dramatic rockers {The Manichean} debuted their then-new album, LOVERS in an unusual setting…
Written on June 25, 2013 | Posted in
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