Wild Seeds

05/12/13 @ Continental Club
Margaret Moser Birthday Bash

My sad, panicked reaction to Margaret Moser’s text from the hospital back in February to tell me she had cancer and was undergoing surgery turned into action. I asked her permission to plan a benefit show. We’re calling it her birthday bash since her birthday’s May 16. I interviewed Moser with my version of the Marcel Proust questionnaire.

William Harries Graham: What no one knows about you?

Margaret Moser: I’m a high school dropout who got a GED in my 30s by taking night classes through AISD.

WHG: Your idea of perfect happiness?

MM: Sitting outside Saturday evenings with my boyfriend, a tall glass of iced tea, and Paul Ray’s Twine Time on KUTX.

WHG: Greatest fear?

MM: It used to be the fear of dying in an unknown way. Now it’s that I won’t get to do all the things I want before I check out, like travel. I’d like to go to Eastern Europe.

WHG: Trait you most deplore in yourself?

MM: Being too bossy.

WHG: Most overrated virtue?

MM: Virtuousness.

WHG: When and where were you happiest?

MM: Three days in 2010 I spent in Amsterdam alone.

WHG: Current state of mind?

MM: Doing pretty good for the shape I’m in, to quote the Arc Angels.

WHG: Greatest achievement?

MM: That there’s a generation of young local musicians I helped introduce.

WHG: Lowest depth of misery?

MM: Drug addiction as a speed freak.

WHG: What do you most value in your friends?

MM: Their loyalty, support, and humor.

WHG: Favorite musicians?

MM: Jimi Hendrix, Slim Harpo, Howlin’ Wolf, Jimmie Vaughan.

Line-up:

3:45pm: Finley Sexton/Seaside Swifts
4:30: Ty Gavin
4:45: Kathy Valentine
5: Kelly Willis & Bruce Robison
5:30: Wagoneers
6: Shoulders
6:30: Jon Dee Graham & the Skunks
7: Alejandro Escovedo
7:30 Wild Seeds
8: Mystic Knights of the Sea, with Lou Ann Barton and Jimmie Vaughan

09/08/12 @ ACL Live at the Moody Theater
Grulkefest
See that tattoo of the horse encircled by flames on the Grulkefest poster? I watched as my late ex-husband Rollo Banks applied it to the late Brent Grulke’s upper arm at the old China Sea Tattoo Company on Guadalupe sometime around 1985. I can still remember the tobacco-stanky walls, lined in brilliantly colored flash, and Brent wincing without complaint as Rollo sank the ink in his flesh.

Neither of those gentlemen are with us now, but come Saturday at the Moody Theater, they’ll be watching what we’re doing down here. That’s celebrating the life of Brent Grulke – father, husband, friend, family – with a perfect group of usual suspects: True Believers, Sixteen Deluxe, Fastball, Doctors’ Mob, Glass Eye, the Reivers, the Wannabes, Wild Seeds, and whoever else will be moved to get onstage and deal with the crushing pain of losing, not just a friend, but a beloved and integral part of the local music community.

Those are the right bands for the occasion, too, a loose gathering of post-punk and so-called “New Sincerity” survivors with a touch of early Nineties zeitgeist. At one end of the through line, Alejandro Escovedo and Jon Dee Graham anchor the True Believers with marching, charging guitars, while at the other Carrie Clark and Frenchie Smith summon Trance Syndicate Records’ neutron fuzz bomb. At all points in between regroup Cinderella stories (Fastball), Daniel Johnston-inspiring art rock (Glass Eye), cult indie legends (the Reivers, neé Zeitgeist), eternal ATX bar rock (the Wannabes, Doctors' Mob), and the anthemic cutting edge of Brent’s collaborative past (Wild Seeds).

While we at the Chronicle remember Brent Grulke as Music editor, it was his position as creative director of South by Southwest that honed his sharp vision and exquisitely good taste into never-to-be-forgotten showcases. And if it’s true that music hath charms to soothe the savage breast, it will be conjured over and over to ease this staggering loss. Proceeds benefit the Graham Grulke Education Fund.

True Believer (Music Story March 15, 2013)
BY MICHAEL CORCORAN
Brent Grulke, the heart of SXSW

Playback: Blood in the Water (Music Column March 8, 2013)
BY KEVIN CURTIN
Headliners avalanche SXSW a week out from the music fest

Bright Lights, Big City (Music Story March 8, 2013)
BY RAOUL HERNANDEZ
At the crossroads of the 2012/2013 Austin Music Awards

Page Two: GrulkeFest (September 7, 2012)
BY LOUIS BLACK
Local bands play loving tribute to Brent Grulke

Page Two: On Anniversaries and Loss (August 31, 2012)
BY LOUIS BLACK
A new print year begins as we celebrate an exceptional life

Playback: Brent Grulke, 1961-2012 (Music Column August 17, 2012)
BY KEVIN CURTIN
What SXSW Creative Director Brent Grulke meant to the music business

One Two Three Faw! (Music Story December 27, 2002)
BY MARGARET MOSER
A brief history of Texas garage rock

Page Two (October 5, 2001)
BY LOUIS BLACK
Our "Best of Austin" 2001 recognizes some heroes of daily life; the Chronicle celebrates its 20th anniversary with a number of upcoming special events.

Dancing About Architecture (Music Column September 21, 2001)
BY KEN LIECK
Texas musicians report from NYC and D.C., Nick Cave and others cancel shows, and the Trail of Dead headline a Red Cross benefit at the Mercury

Austin Confessions (Music Story March 9, 2001)
BY CHRISTOPHER GRAY
The 2000-01 Austin Music Awards You Won't See on HBO