earache!

Estranged Austin/Fort Worth duo Best Fwends, whose hysterical debut album, Alphabetically Arranged (Moshi Moshi), was recently heralded by Vice as the "Worst Album of the Month,"is taking its retro anti-pop to the overseas equivalent of CMJ, the Iceland Airwaves Festival. After that, the two plan on rummaging through Europe, but there's no telling where they'll end up.

In case you've never caught Best Fwends live, here's a video that sums up the experience. Check out their Myspace page for a killer cover of Necros' "Tarnished Words." Read More | Comment »

In addition to celebrating her 70th birthday tomorrow night at the Continental Club, rockabilly queen Wanda Jackson has signed a Daisy Rock guitar, which will be raffled off to benefit the Girls Rock Camp of Austin. Tickets cost $5. GRC director Emily Marks mentioned over the summer that Jackson may also be involved in the camp next year. Read More | Comment »

A sea of camera phones. A gaggle of scantily-clad women on stage. The smell of weed. Yes, it’s the traditional trinity of hip-hop shows, and it was no different for Three 6 Mafia's headlining slot at Stubb's last night, part of Hot 93.3's Meltdown 2007. Although the set was more a medley of songs – some chopped disappointingly short right in the middle – DJ Paul and Juicy J gave the crowd what they wanted to hear, which was “Poppin’ My Collar,” “Slob On My Knob,” “Sippin’ On Syrup,” “Ridin’ Spinners,” “Tear Da Club Up,” "Stay Fly," and the song that won the Memphis duo an Oscar, “It's Hard Out Here For a Pimp.” This was all in 30 minutes.

It’d be impossible, what with their immense, decade-spanning catalog, to squeeze and please everyone (i.e. me) by playing something from, say, the Choices album (i.e. “2-Way Freak,” “Baby Mama”) but they made up for it with the little things: bowel-shaking bass, DJ Paul’s stylish studded leather glovette/kerchief combo, and two male backup dancers who were popping and locking, mirroring what seems to be a current dance renaissance in hip-hop. Watch them feet.

Even the two guys with Insane Clown Posse facepaint were grinding, though not on each other. More photos above. Read More | 1 Comment »

Death comes much too quickly and silently after a certain age. Last week saw two very unexpected deaths from opposite ends of the local musical spectrum and they’ve provoked myriad thoughts.

The email from singer Libbi Bosworth was short but sad: Did I know Gary Primich had been found dead? No.

Primich was an outstanding harp player, one of the most loved and respected ones. His name was evoked this past weekend in places like Patsy’s Cowgirl Café and the Continental Club. Over on his website, his family and former wife and friend Tina posted notice along with a link to three suggested recipients for memorial donations in lieu of flowers. The Oak Hill House, SIMS Foundation, and Animal Trustees of Austin are the chosen organizations, and fine ones they are.

I talked to Bosworth on the phone for a while that day but she was terribly shell-shocked by the news, having recorded with him before. “When he played, it was like a wild love affair,” she enthused. “I just loved him as a person.” Read More | Comment »

If you watched the season debut of The Bachelor Monday, you might know 34-year-old Brad Womack's the owner of the Chuggin' Monkey and Uncle Flirty's, among other Sixth Street drinking establishments. With all these local bachelor searches lately, the Chronicle's going the opposite direction with our first-ever least-eligible bachelor search. Visit our Bacheloser site to submit someone you feel fits the criteria, or to submit yourself if you're a local male over 18 who might not have a job or a car, but possesses an, you know, "inner" beauty. Visit austinchronicle.com/bacheloser for more details. Read More | Comment »

With her third record, Firebird (Bandolera), Patricia Vonne makes good on her potent Texas roots rock and San Antonio heritage. Because she’s fighting laryngitis this week, the singer-songwriter-actress wanted to save her voice for tonight's CD release party at the Continental Club, so we checked in via email.

Geezerville: Firebird opens with "Missing Women," which concerns the murder of hundreds of women in Juarez, Mexico. How did you become involved with the Juarez Project, which strives to shed light on this situation?

Patricia Vonne: When I was performing in Mexico City, I was given a documentary called Senoritas Extraviada by Lourdes Portillo. The graphic descriptions and extent of these inhumane murders haunted me. I traveled to Juarez and met with the mothers of some of the victims who let me in to their tragic world. I felt compelled to write "Missing Women" as a tribute to these innocent forgotten souls and help bring awareness to this ongoing tragedy.

G: Your music is a rather unique combination of Latino and Texas influences. Who are your biggest influences and how did they shape what you do? Read More | Comment »

The wind has finally blown Amy Annelle, aka the Places, and Ralph White home to Austin.

"The tour was epic and very enjoyable until a bad twist of fate on the way back into town Sunday," Annelle reports. "Ralph's dog Stella got bit in the face by a rattlesnake by the Llano River. She is a trooper and it looks like she is going to make it, but the vet bills are crazy."

The Places and Ralph White host a benefit tonight at Lovejoys. The show is free, but all donations and proceeds will help offset Stella's bills. Read More | Comment »

To the surprise of perhaps no one, the three-ring circus known as the Phil Spector murder trial has been declared a mistrial as the jury entered its 12th day of deliberations. Yes, pretty ridiculous, given Spector's past fascination with guns and inclination for assaulting women. Take a look to the right for his hairstyle now as opposed to his infamous bouffant at the start of the trial. If it doesn't scream guilty, I don't know what does. Read More | Comment »

The clean-cut young twentysomething stood over a garbage can near La Zona Rosa’s front entrance and heaved pulpy orange liquid in spasmodic waves. No one paid him any heed.

When he was finished, he straightened, wiped his mouth on his tee sleeve, and exhaled as if to say, "There, that’s done." His eyes were clear, his expression blank, and with renewed vigor, he disappeared back into the compact crowd of mostly underage indie youth, nearly 1,000 strong. Clearly, he wasn’t your father’s metal head.

Onstage, Buffalo quartet Every Time I Die, the third of four bands last night, raged against the machine. Opening with "Buffalo Gals," off the band’s battering new LP The Big Dirty, three of the foursome looked frighteningly collegiate, tatts et al. Frontman Keith Buckley’s higher-register peaks could even be considered screamo. ETID is no emo act, though. Nor are they a Christian group, as were the trio of angsters before and after (Advent, Maylene & the Sons of Disaster, and headliner UnderØath). Hellraiser hooks, hammer and tong dual guitars, and a big bottom: ETID clangs as metal as Nigel St. Hubbins. Read More | Comment »

The broadcast schedule for Austin City Limits' 33rd season has been announced. Check it:

10-06 Norah Jones
10-13 The Decemberists/Explosions in the Sky
10-20 Femi Kuti
10-27 Jimmy Reed Highway: Jimmie Vaughan and Friends
11-03 Wilco
11-10 Arcade Fire
11-17 Brad Paisley/Dierks Bentley
11-24 Van Morrison (Encore)
12-01 Gretchen Wilson/Miranda Lambert (Encore)
12-08 Ladysmith Black Mambazo (Encore)
12-15 John Mayer
12-22 Lucinda Williams/Old Crow Medicine Show
12-29 Bloc Party/Ghostland Observatory
01-05 Crowded House/Grupo Fantasma
01-12 Regina Spektor /Paolo Nutini
01-19 Roky Erickson/Kings of Leon
01-26 The Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival

The Femi Kuti taping was an epiphany. Don't miss it. Read More | Comment »

While studiously avoiding anything related to the Austin City Limits Festival, I attended the Wyndham Garden Hotel’s grand opening for its Austin Music Project.

Project Manager Allan Reagan contacted me midsummer about writing a few of the biographies for the designated musicians being honored. Local tech writer Dave Raum was already on board so I drafted by brother Stephen, who knows much, much more about local music than you’d guess, and my longtime friend John T. Davis, who feels as much like a classmate as a peer because we both started at the Austin Sun in the mid-Seventies. I wrote some of the biographical notes for the exhibit but ended up editing all 52 of them, which was a fantastic experience, an annotated trip through Austin’s musical history.

The evening itself was low-key, but it was a lovely chance to leisurely stroll the Wyndham’s upgraded grounds, admire the granite counters in the rooms, and lounge by the poolside casitas. I was tickled to be able to introduce Ray Wylie Hubbard to Blues Boy Hubbard. The latter Hubbard was honored that evening, as was W.C. Clark, and later they performed together and gave the audience a sweet taste of hard Texas blues.

I missed Dylan. And Lucinda. And all the cool young bands I am currently enamored of, like LCD Soundsystem (too quirky to resist), M.I.A. (I love her feistiness and musical vision), and … well, I may as well admit it … Arcade Fire (I can’t help it. Should I not mention I secretly want to see Fall Out Boy when they come? Shoot me now!). But since I despise outdoor concerts, this cool, air-conditioned reception with sublime Texas blues was my ticket for a great evening. Read More | Comment »

Back in the halcyon days of alt.country, almost ten years ago now, Portland, Ore.’s Richmond Fontaine broke into the scene. They seemed too much like an Uncle Tupelo clone and I dismissed them after a SXSW show that was less than impressive. The resulting years have been kind to the quartet, their last couple of discs garnering them critical acclaim and a growing fan base internationally.

Willy Vlautin, Richmond Fontaine’s lead vocalist and songwriter, appears at BookPeople tonight at 7pm, and although he might perform a song or two, he’ll mainly be there to read from his new novel, The Motel Life (Harper Perennial). It’s his first and, while it contains some awkward moments, the story of two downtrodden twentysomething brothers living in Reno, Nev., dealing with an accidental hit-and-run that results in death, is one of the most gut-wrenching I’ve read.

Told in prose as bleak as the territory it covers, it’s soaked in beer and whiskey and snow and ice, with outrageous flights of fancy from one brother and understated napkin drawings from the other. Vlautin’s way with words has been compared to Steinbeck and Carver, and while he’s not in that sort of stratosphere yet, The Motel Life is an undeniably good first effort. Once you accustom yourself to the disasters its characters are facing, it ends.

Fittingly, Guillermo Arriaga, screenwriter for Babel and 21 Grams, bought the movie rights to the novel, and the translation of tragedy to the big screen is sure to follow in those films' layered, gritty style. Read More | Comment »

Austin's lucky. One reason's that we're visited on a fairly regular basis by guitar god, master storyteller, and humorous human being Richard Thompson. He returns to the Texas Union Ballroom Saturday night just six months after his last appearance. The difference this time is that, for the first time in years, he'll be appearing with a band.

The occasion is latest disc Sweet Warrior (Shout! Factory), his first electric effort since 2003's The Old Kit Bag. It's another well-crafted collection of folk and Celtic influenced rock, one that explores the different types of war we can experience; the wars between many and the wars between individuals.

One of Thompson's most overtly political songs, "Dad's Gonna Kill Me," is told from the perspective of a soldier in Baghdad (the 'Dad'), wondering what might happen next. The other side of the coin is explored on the biting "Johnny's Far Away," a morality tale of a couple who cheat on each other yet maintain "the job of man and wife."

Thompson's career has spanned decades, so expect old and new. With longtime sideman Pete Zorn coloring with everything from saxophone to mandolin, it's sure to be another night of the joyous, intense, and sweet, if you're lucky. Read More | Comment »

Apparently "nerdcore" is making a comeback. I mean, there was a NYT Style article about it last month, so you know it's true. Featured was Austin improv artist/ColdTowne Theater co-founder Chris Trew, aka Terp 2 It. Check out his video for "Don't Feel Like Learning" below. Gotta say it's not really "nerdcore." Um, 'prov-hop? He also performs Friday at Emo's with fellow weirdo Pleaseeasaur and Black Joe Lewis.


Read More | Comment »

I’m back from the skateboard store. I’ll leave shortly to go to Walmart to look at iPods or some generic version of it. Grand Theft Auto is hooked up to the Xbox on the plasma TV; I know because I tripped over the controllers left on the floor when Jackass II went into the DVD player. Good thing I can speak Myspace fluently: Teenagers have taken over my house.

The idea seemed good and felt noble – my brother Scott decided to relocate to Austin and we thought it would be better to get the boys settled in school at the beginning of the year instead of midway through. At last – my chance to put all that armchair parenting to good use! I thanked the TV gods I’d watched enough Cheaters on G4 to name-drop video game titles. Teens couldn’t possibly be as frightening as I’ve always heard they were. After all, I was one once.

Both are in school so party time at my house now occurs after the last one boards the school bus in the morning and before the first one gets home in the afternoon. Two Sundays ago, we watched the MTV VMAs while I explained frame-by-frame why Britney Spears’ career was crashing and burning before our eyes. Their response? “Dude, she’s hot.”

For fun this last weekend, we dropped them off near the Austin City Limits Festival on Saturday around 2pm. About 3:30pm, they called from Jack in the Box on Barton Springs. They were ready to come home. So far, so good.

And music? Dude, I am SO psyched about Avenged Sevenfold’s new CD that I can’t wait until the end of October when it comes out! That’s the day I leave on vacation. Read More | Comment »

The first thing I see when I walk through the gates Sunday afternoon: An extremely sunburned man with a peace sign shaved into his back hair. I fumbled for my camera, and then he was gone, like Sasquatch. Highlights:

- Lucinda Williams covering the Doors' "Riders on the Storm."

- My Morning Jacket's yacht rock-themed set. (Solos counted: 27.)

- Nels Cline has reinvigorated Wilco with his insanely great guitar playing.

- Has the dancing sign language lady always been at this fest?

- Ghostland Observatory had capes, lazers, and a very large, very enthusiastic crowd. "This reminds me of seeing the Dead in '72," said someone passing by.

See the photo gallery to the right for a few curious ACL fashion choices. Read More | 2 Comments »

Bands you love whose albums you didn't - on the next Jerry Springer!

Boulder trio Rose Hill Drive left my jaw on the skeezy floor of Emo's front room the first time I saw them several years ago. They've been through Austin regularly since, but I haven't been able to catch up to them. Until today.

As they stormed through their 45-minute set on the Austin Ventures stage just now, steam rolling through their high watt blues-rock rampage like a cross between the Allman Brothers and Cream, I felt bad for my review of their LP studio debut in the Chronicle's ACL preview.

The self-titled disc comes off like a typical first time effort in many ways: a dearth of songs badly produced by a major label veteran. The threepiece rolled out a number of new cuts that buzzed louder and angrier than a rock-breached hornet's nest, though it was their set's penultimate song that rammed home the performance, the Beatles' "Birthday." That wasn't quite the highlight, however.

That honor belongs to that which I said/blogged was the only thing missing from Peter, Bjorn & John's ACL fist-pumping highlight on Friday: a smashed instrument. Bass-playing Sproul brother Jacob, who'd been having equipment problems all show long, promised to destroy his instrument at the end of set, and did just that, bashing it into the stage two or three times before handing the headless guitar to a couple of kids leaning against the stage barricade when he was done. There's an ACL souvenir for you.

Rose Hill Drive's next album may or may not fall prey to the dreaded sophomore slump, but you can be damn sure that I'll get my hands on it quicker than you can say "Whipping Post" and debut it on my home stereo on 11. If it's not as good as the band's live set, then my stereo better quiver and quake lest it end up like Jacob Sproul's poor dead bass... Read More | 1 Comment »

“We’ve got to take care of the Earth, kids,” Ziggy Marley prefaced his three-song, all-encompassing history lesson at the Austin Kiddie Limits stage. Bookended with the title tracks of his two latest, 2003’s Dragonfly, an appropriate theme for this weekend’s festivities, and 2006’s Love Is My Religion, Marley’s 12-minute set explored universal truths through timeless reggae classics. “Kids, in case you don’t know, my father’s name is Bob Marley,” Ziggy explained before a meditative version of “Lively Up Yourself.” “All we need is love,” he later concluded. Indeed. Class dismissed. Read More | Comment »

The Ice Cream Man returned to Austin this weekend for his second consecutive ACL. Matt Allen made the journey in his custom Toyota Yaris, “Bessita,” following stops at MFNW in Portland, Ore. “Does festival season ever end?” he laughs backstage, where he hands out free frozen treats, sponsored by corporations like Levi’s. Allen’s trusty 1969 Chevy Stepvan, “Bessie,” is employed near ICM’s headquarters in Southern California at the Treasure Island Music Festival, where Ghostland Observatory performed this weekend. Read More | 2 Comments »

"Now I'm bleeding. I'm always bleeding." That's what Annie Clark, aka St. Vincent, said after she ripped the strings off her SG around 4pm Saturday. The Dallas-based multi-instrumentalist stood alone in ripped fishnets and a white dress, the sound from Cold War Kids bleeding all over her too. Still, Clark managed an inspired set as the fest's late add, including a fantastic cover of the Beatles' "Dig a Pony" and a noise-bombed ending to debut Marry Me's "Your Lips Are Red." Her set at the Mohawk tonight promises to sound a little better.

Apparently another fire broke out last night, behind one of the speakers on stage at Bjork. I looked up at one point and saw it, but figured it was just part of her crazy stage show. Read More | Comment »