earache!

OK, some of this was my fault. I'd been talking to Taj Mahal’s publicist about doing an interview before his Austin show for more than a week. We went back and forth a few times and after a while I didn’t think it was really going to happen. It’s not inside baseball to reveal sometimes you work on a story idea and it never sees the light of day. Then she calls me with a time to talk to him. The downside was that it only allowed me about an hour to prepare for it. So, to be honest, I wasn’t quite ready. Having whipped together some fairly generic questions, I reach Mahal (originally Henry Saint Clair Fredericks) on the phone from the West Coast and he doesn’t like the questions I’m asking. So he hijacks the interview, and the 65-year-old bluesman starts talking, in his gravelly, Wolfman Jack kind of voice, about what he’s interested in, and that's where this picks up.

The Taj Mahal Trio plays an early show at Antone’s – it was moved from the Glenn – tomorrow evening with opener Ruthie Foster. Read More | Comment »

When I got the Redwalls' new self-titled CD a few weeks back, it hit the CD player immediately and has lingered nearby ever since. I even pulled out their 2005 release, De Nova, and played them back-to-back for an afternoon of butt-rockin' Britpop with a dollop of Chicago rock chutzpah. When I play the Redwalls, I'm 20 years old and nothing can go wrong.

Except I'm nowhere near 20 any longer and that cussin' you'll hear tonight is me looking for parking spot near Emo's, where the quartet plays with Rooney and the Polyphonic Spree. That's OK. I'll just hum "Modern Diet" and "Little Sister" as I walk the blocks just to watch their shaggy heads bob and their skinny butts shake.

My Chicago buddy Cynthia Plaster Caster loves these boys too, and they were cool (and smart) enough to pay homage at her birthday party in May. I love it when young bands are savvy enough to recognize getting the thumbs-up from old school groupies like Cynthia is as good as a four-star review in whatever the hip publication of the moment is.

Of course, I could be persuaded to drop by Waterloo Records and see their in-store at 5pm today as well. That way I can ask if they named themselves after the Brian Jacques books with all those cute little mice dressed as pirates. If so, their next album should be called Mossflower County. Read More | Comment »

Along with the much-anticipated opening of the Alamo Drafthouse @ the Ritz comes the return of the $2 Music Monday. Tonight and next Monday, catch Susan Dynner's doc Punk's Not Dead, a meditation on the Hot Topicality of modern punk rock.

11/19: My Name Is Albert Ayler

11/26: Sound of Rio

12/3: Ziggy Stardust & the Spiders from Mars Read More | Comment »

Remember a few weeks ago when the Austin Music Commission announced it was calling a town hall meeting to discuss possible changes to the Austin sound ordinance and other legislation affecting the local music scene? It's happening tonight at Momo's (618 W. Sixth St., #200), 7pm, directly following the AMC's meeting at 6pm. All interested parties are encouraged to attend. Speak now or forever hold your piece. Read More | Comment »

November gets such a bad rap, represented by all those turkeys and pumpkins and pilgrims with muskets. The weather might dump freezing rain here but more likely we’ll see balmy days like the ones of late. That’s good news for the Texas Book Festival, which may soon need to change its name to the Texas Book and Music Festival if the entertainment gets any more ambitious.

Saturday's lineup in the music tent, next to the State Capitol, kicks off in the morning with Djembabes, Gypzee Heart, and Joel Guzman & Sarah Fox, but I love the afternoon bill: Ernie Mae Miller (1pm), Steven Fromholz (2pm), and Jesse Sublett (3pm). Miller’s appearances grow fewer and Fromholz is always a delight but Sublett’s recent solo gigs are a far cry from his days in the Skunks. Bear in mind that “solo” show means him playing acoustic guitar and upright bass plus an appearance by his son Dashiell and Jeff Jacoby. Sublett, who specializes in playing “noir blues and murder ballads” when he’s not script- or book-writing, will be introduced by special guest emcee Michael Connelly, author of Lincoln Lawyer and Black Echo. Read More | Comment »

Grounded in Music, a new Austin-based non-profit organization dedicated to turning underprivileged youth from the Boys & Girls Club on to music, holds its first benefit at Antone’s Monday with appearances from Adam Hood, Sonny Burgess, and Doug Moreland, among others. Former Sound Team bassist and current solo artist Bill Baird recently demonstrated some nifty guitar work for the organization. “I was playing my looping sampler and E-bow,” he recalls. “I got a bunch of gasps and one kid yelled out, ‘That's tight!'" Read More | Comment »

New Orleans funksters Galactic's Halloween show has become an Austin tradition. Sort of like Leslie hanging out in his bikini on the corner of Sixth and Congress. If Wednesday's performance was any indication, they may soon outgrow the amphitheater. Things kicked off slowly with a short set of hip-hop from Portland Ore.’s Lifesavas; the two MCs and a DJ shtick was a bit cliched at first, but ended on an upbeat blast of fist-pumping political fervor. At the very least, their message was a positive one.

Next came the costume contest, won by a guy dressed as a Transformer, though the third place finisher, Richard Nixon in a box (think about it), seemed the most inspired. Galactic hit the stage dressed as mad scientists, in white lab coats and fright wigs. Drawing heavily from their latest, From the Corner to the Block (Anti-), a mash-up of their heavy funk with a variety of rappers, the quintet veered from blues to soul to metal-laced beats. This go-round they were initially joined by Mr. Lif, who gave way to Galactic’s more traditional soul jazz sound. Jurassic 5’s Chali 2na set the righteous groove of “Think Back,” which led into a blast of blues that featured guitarist Jeff Raines. One of the set's high points came when saxophonist Ben Ellman was augmented by the Mingo Fishtrap Horns, dressed as Ewoks, for a freak-out worthy of Zappa.

The two-hour set ended with at least five MCs on stage urging the crowd to “put your hands up” and they obliged. Where Galactic heads next is anyone’s guess, but judging from this mighty throw down, their energetic combination of funk, rap, blues, and jazz remains fresh and unequaled. Read More | Comment »

The ripple effect caused by this year’s Fun Fun Fun Fest has reached Red River, with official aftershows taking place at venues like Room 710, Headhunters, and Beerland. Listed below is a breakdown of the more notable events, with some blanks left for unannounced special guests.

Friday: Club de Ville gets things started with a free show that includes NYC’s Robbers on High Street, Great Northern, Goodbye Girl Friday, and locals Til We're Blue or Destroy. DFA’s Tim Sweeney and Ian Orth work the ones and twos at Beauty Bar, while Scott Kelly of Neurosis and Buzzoven’s Kirk Fischer fly solo at Headhunters.

The clocks roll back an hour at midnight Saturday, so that translates to an extra hour of live music. Festival headliners Murder City Devils are hinted to be the special guests at Mohawk, following Those Peabodys. Beerland hosts a garage punk revival headlined by the Heart Attacks and High Tension Wires, the new project of Riverboat Gambler Mike Wiebe, with equally impressive openers Holy Shit and Teeners, who have a sweet new 7-inch on local imprint Super Secret Records. Denton’s most paranoid avant-rock act, the Paper Chase, is at Red 7 with Assacre and Death is Not a Joyride, but the real catch is Stinking Lizaveta, a progressive instrumental trio from Philadelphia. Swedish rockers Witchcraft enchant Room 710, while Sick of it All and Madball barrel through Headhunters. Busdriver is rumored to appear at Beauty Bar alongside Daedleus and Anitmc, and Mates of State close the night at Club de Ville with Small Sins and Immaculate Machines.

For those still standing Sunday, renowned California punk label TKO Records houses Lower Class Brats, Krum Bums, and the Heart Attacks at Red 7. Austin-bred standouts What Made Milwaukee Famous and Loxsly serenade Mohawk with New York-based Afro-punks Dragons of Zynth. Brownout and the Table Manners Crew lay down grooves next door at Club de Ville, and Beauty Bar hosts the Mad Decent party with Baltimore’s Blaqstarr, Prince Klassen, and Iheartcomics’ Franki Chan. Read More | Comment »

Austin, 2007, is a much different place than when David Lowery started playing here in the mid-Eighties with Camper Van Beethoven and later, Cracker. That’s OK, because David Lowery has changed a lot too: Cracker’s recent CD Greenland reaped much critical praise but on this day his job as a parent is to decide whether or not his son is really sick or if this is just a Monday morning don’t-wanna-go-to-school tummyache.

Luckily for the boy, Lowery decides that yes, there’s cause for concern, so after making arrangements with the child’s mother, he turns the conversation to one of his current projects: making videos from songs like “Deep Oblivion” and “Baby, All Those Girls Meant Nothing to Me” and posting them on YouTube. This won’t surprise longtime fans of Lowery, whose dry, wry Nineties-era cult hits “Low” and “Teen Angst” sold out Liberty Lunch on a regular basis.

Though Lowery was born in San Antonio, his music takes its cues as much from folk-rock as alt-rock, reflecting the panoply of sounds from the various places he lived during his military childhood. Read More | Comment »

Nothing says punk rock like a book party and puppet show.

Thursday at MonkeyWrench Books, Abby Banks celebrates the release of Punk House: Interiors in Anarchy, her collection of photographs documenting the communal lifestyle, with an introduction by Thurston Moore. Western Front, the Valley Arena, Saw Wheel, Dirty Monkey, and the Anchor also perform. 6pm.

Saturday, revered local DJ the Reverend Get Down brings his Afro-Boogaloo Soul Revue from the airwaves to the historic Victory Grill for the annual Dia de los Muertos benefit for UT’s Institute for Latin American Studies Student Association. Read More | Comment »

For her first full-length concert in Austin, Sinéad O’Connor performed much vocal shoegazing Sunday. She opened with “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” her upbeat hit from 1990’s I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got, followed by “I Am Stretched on Your Grave” from the same recording. “You Made Me the Thief of Your Heart” was a rarity plucked from the In the Name of the Father soundtrack (which made me pine for her glorious one-off “Ode to Billy Joe"), “The Lamb’s Book of Life,” from 2000’s Faith & Courage, and “Never Get Old,” which she introduced as “a song I wrote when I was 15.”

O’Connor sang beautifully, dressed in a man’s gray suit, hair still resolutely cropped, but only a handful of times did she seem truly engaged by her music. O’Connor’s career boasts little gray area but a lot of black and white. For an artistic subculture that loves rebels, her prickly passions have brought her more grief than respect among her fellow rock icons over the years. Read More | Comment »

Despite his clean cut, all-American image, you have to imagine Huey Lewis definitely indulged in the truckloads of drugs the Eighties had to offer. I mean, c'mon, "Hip to Be Square"?

With that in mind, members of Oh, Beast! and Awesome Cool Dudes have joined forces as the New Drugs, a Huey Lewis & the News cover band fronted by the Chronicle's own unflappable Greg Beets. It goes down tonight, at Beerland, and from the looks of that motley crew alone, Hue-Lew's body of work will be unearthed from the dead and vigorously violated.

And if that wasn't enough, local spazzes Pataphysics take on Hall & Oates and former Austinite Diamond Caverns returns as Roky Erickson. The whole night gets a kick in the brass from openers Jazzus Lizard. Read More | Comment »

The Daniel Pearl World Music Days is a universal network of events held each year to help build tolerance and bridge cultural divides through music. The event’s namesake was a journalist and musician who was executed in Pakistan in 2002 while reporting on a story. The Belleville Outfit, an eclectic and exciting new bluegrass group in town, led by fiddler Phoebe Hunt, celebrates the end of the festivities on tonight at the Parish. Warren Hood and BettySoo open. Read More | Comment »

Here are some other Halloween-related weekend soirees we couldn't fit in our round-up this week. Be careful out there, and wear a damn costume for chrissakes!

Friday 26

Jaime's Spanish Village: Misc. Music's anniversary and Halloween party with Little Aurora, Sharon Tate's Baby, Aliens, and the Ideals.

Elysium: The venerable Austin dance club celebrates its sixth anniversary weekend beginning tonight, featuring a "a live sci-fi/fantasy-themed" performance from the Brobdingnagian Bards, plus DJs and costume contests through Sunday.

La Luz: The South Austin fashion plate hosts a Day of the Dead fiesta with locals the Early Tapes. 6pm.

Do512 Compound (2208 S. Lamar): Local website do512.com celebrates its year anniversary with Bryan Scary & the Shedding Tears and Haunting Oboe Music. RSVP required.

Saturday 27

Ben's Longbranch Barbecue: Get a taste with Spooky Texas, the Down Here Band, McMercy Family Gospel Band, Ron Scott, The Lonesome Heroes, and Miss Jackson.

Scoot Inn: Face off with Herb, John Kelly, DJ I-Cue, Ramz vs. Boogiemonster, Lunsa vs. Jousee, Sir Jackson vs. Tribe, Hallowed vs. Elisha, and more.

501 Stage & Screen (501 N. I-35): The Black, the Golden Boys, the Shitty Beach Boys, the Pepperonis. Starts at midnight. Read More | Comment »

“Where should I park?” I asked the woman at the gate after she gave me my credentials.

“I suggest somewhere in the shade,” she replied.

It was going to be that kind of day, one where everyone was just so glad to be there, helpful to a fault, and filled with the spirit of good music. As I walked to the pavilion where the main acts were to perform at Camp Ben McCulloch, gaggles of musicians dotted the the campgrounds. The air was filled, throughout the day and well into the night, with the sounds of guitars, fiddles, mandolins, standup bass, banjos, and the occasional dobro and accordion. Some was bluegrass, some folk and pop, with a few added old-time tunes that had been passed down from one generation to the next. The pickers ranged from gray-haired men with ponytails to young women with tattoos and pierced navels.

Saturday of this year’s Austin String Band Festival was perfect in many ways, from the cool October weather to the engaging main stage acts. Attendance estimates were in the mid to low hundreds, but everyone was appreciative of the variety, whether they were actively performing or listening with ears wide open. This is how the annual Old Settlers Festival got its start – intentionally low key, just a gathering of folks filled with a love of music. Read More | 1 Comment »

… and gone to Heaven. This monkey’s gone to heaven.

Musically, the Nineties are fenced in by locale: Nirvana. Pearl Jam lives, transcended, but sometimes we remember Soundgarden, maybe Mudhoney. Mia Zapata’s Gits. Seattlites all. My favorite was L7.

Moments when your eyes roll back white with ecstasy hit nightly in rock & roll. The credits-roll of recall curls the corners of your mouth in eternal grin. L7 on my 30th birthday at Emo’s in 1995 is topped only by U2 in Barcelona a decade to the day later, but even the girlies' last gasp at Stubb’s, SXSW 1999, caused hot flashes. We climbed aboard Slap Happy’s "On My Rockin’ Machine" and peeled estrogen-fired wheelies in a Panzer. Bricks Are Heavy (1992), but guitars built the Trojan Horse.

Donita Sparks produced not one single L7 skeleton last night at the Parish, sandwiched mid-bill for 35 ch-ch-ch-cherry bomb minutes, but she killed nevertheless. Killed. Read More | Comment »

Damon & Naomi’s self-produced seventh album, Within These Walls, released on their 20/20/20 label, is the duo's most intensely intimate and elegant work to date. Progressing from their work in seminal shoegaze group Galaxie 500, the movements are accentuated once more with the peripheral brushstrokes of Michio Kurihara’s electric guitar. Off the Record recently spoke with Damon Krukowski about communicating with Kurihara, the influence of Frank Sinatra, and sharing a bill with Japan’s doom masters Boris. They all play tonight at Mohawk, for what’s being billed the "Roaring Silence Revue." Read More | Comment »

There's a whole lotta loud making its way to Austin this weekend.

Tonight, sludge-metal mainstays the Melvins and other half Big Business total Emo's outside; Japanese thrash legends AGE tear it up inside with Peligro Social, World Burns to Death, Chronic Seizure, and Tolar. Further down Red River, local riffmen Those Peabodys channel the Seventies, as do reformed punks the Avengers at Red 7, but more legitimately because, well, they were there.

Then there's feedback duo Magik Markers (Mohawk, Thursday); the Snake Eyes Vinyl benefit (Room 710, Thursday); Japanese Orange amp enthusiasts Boris (Mohawk, Friday); the Band AIDS benefit for victims in Kenya with Altered Intentions, We Killed Shelley, and Chapter of Resistance (Emo's Lounge, Saturday); and Richmond, Virginia punks Cloak/Dagger, along with Camp X-Ray, Warwulf, Hour of the Wolf, and Coptic Times (Beerland, Sunday).

Plug up and resist using your "inside voice." Read More | Comment »

If Bob Wills is still the King of Texas, then longtime drummer Johnny Cuviello remains a prince. The Texas Playboy celebrates his 92nd birthday at Patsy’s Cowgirl Café Friday, with help from fellow Playboy Herb Remington, Billy Dee, Maryann Price, Floyd Domino, Justin Trevino, and Bert Rivera, among others.

Recalling the record store’s notorious in-store performances, Snake Eyes Vinyl hosts a benefit tomorrow at Room 710 with the Roller, Maelstrom, Spittin' Bullets, Split Hoof, Fuck Work, and Voidland. While the hardcore outlet continues its search for a new location, the oft-forgotten Encore Video (1745 W. Anderson Ln.), which recently expanded its vinyl selection, is by default the best place in town to for all your death, black, and classic metal needs. Read More | Comment »

Update: It was reported Sunday that Lance Hahn passed away after a long battle with kidney disease. As a writer, musician, and human being, he will be missed.

J-Church guitarist Lance Hahn was back in the hospital as of Friday, making the Beerland benefit held last Sunday an especially crucial one. Hahn had undergone surgery for ongoing heart and kidney problems and eventually will need a kidney transplant but, like many Austin musicians, he doesn't have reliable health insurance and medical bills are mounting. His No Idea Records label has put out a benefit album, and you can also donate at various Vulcan Videos around town. Read More | Comment »