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 […]
[UPDATE: Well, apparently my attempt at embedding the Far video below didn’t work as well as I’d hoped; it appears to work in some browsers (like Firefox on my home Macbook) but not in others (like Firefox on my work PC). Dang. I’ve included the actual link to the video below, for folks who can’t […]
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 […]
[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…] […]
A good one tonight up at Walter’s on Washington — Austinites Followed By Static will be playing, as will fellow out-of-townies (Dallasians) Nervous Curtains and very, very, very cool local folks Antarctica Starts Here. Beyond the fact that I’m extremely happy to see ASH playing once more (it seemed like there was a quiet period […]
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 […]
A month or so ago, I picked up something I’ve been meaning to get for a while, a little gadget from Ion Audio they call both the U Record and the MixMeister (no, I have no clue why). It’s nothing fancy, just a little box I can hook up to my turntable & tape deck’s […]
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 […]
A few days late, I know, but still this YouTube video unearthed by Ramon over at Free Press Houston has me giggling with delight, so I feel compelled to spread it around: It’s a brilliant little snapshot of life (the local PBS affiliate’s take on it, anyway) at Rice’s own much-loved/oft-hated radio station, KTRU waaaaaaaay […]
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 […]
Damn, this is gonna be a good one, and it’s looking like I’m gonna miss it. Argh… Sucks to be me. Anyway, for those who don’t know, Peter and the Wolf are pretty fucking awesomely great, this kind of indie-folk-pop collective of sorts helmed by Red Hunter that plays strange, quirky, yet intensely catchy music […]
Again, lots of good stuff going on this weekend. And since I mentioned the microcinema thing, two of H-town’s indie-est theaters, the Rice Media Center and the Aurora Picture Show, both have intriguing-sounding films this afternoon & evening. (Damn, I love that picture…) The Aurora (800 Aurora in the Heights, if you didn’t know) is […]
Of course, it being the holidays and all (not to mention Houston in general; when people gripe about this city, they fail to recognize that in a place this big, there’s always something cool going on, somewhere. There’s literally a festival every freaking weekend in some part of the city, some film being shown at […]
Yes, ladies and gents, it’s true — in the intervening time between now and my last post on the subject, I have indeed been working on revamping, updating, and expanding the Awesomely Huge and All-Encompassing Houston Band Map (anybody got any ideas for a better name?). Check the super-duper-sized version of it here, but be […]
UPDATE: And there they go…thanks to the folks who emailed in, but the pair of Duran Duran tix are now officially won. Congrats, Joe! Thanks to the kind efforts of Marni at Sneak Attack, the PR person for ’80s pop legends Duran Duran, we here at SCR have a pair of tickets to give away […]
Damn…I apparently missed the grand opening (was there one?) of new local music-and-stuff site Indiehouston.org back in September (gah!), but it’s now alive & running. Looking good, too — they’ve got some cool new interviews w/folks like San Serac and Fertile Crescent, plus writeups of badass locals like The McKenzies (woo!), a bunch of show […]
Far be it from me to criticize somebody for the way they decide to promote the things they do (’cause we’d never stoop so low as to criticize people, no, never…), but the crew over at HoustonHipHop.com — a site that goes sadly unappreciated by the indie-rock set in town, btw — have unearthed what […]
Good, good, good news. Meant to post about this last week, but eh, Thanksgiving… Anyway, now I can say it with authority, having actually heard the new Something Fierce album, There Are No Answers: you really need to get yourself a copy. Really. It’s bad-fucking-ass, honest, a fiery burst of poppy punk with irresistible melodies […]
The title says it all, really. I should probably just leave it at that, but I feel compelled to explain myself when I make big declarations like this, so here it goes… I finally got a chance to check out Austin/expat Houston band The Eastern Sea this past Saturday night — although it turned out […]
Still reeling from/dealing with the Thanksgiving aftermath here — the family that puts up Christmas decorations together & all that — so I’ve got to keep it brief for right now, but for tonight, Friday, November 28th, you’ve got a few cool choices to fight the mid-holiday slump… First there’s the Secret Awesome Fest 9000, […]
This is what I get for staying off the email/message boards so I can hang with the family & all that. Trying to be good & do stuff with my mom & little girl & all that, and lo and behold, a fairly big-time show rolls surreptitiously into town, slipping right beneath my (admittedly often […]
