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My Dinner with the Tornados
Margaret Moser
Tue Mar 9, 6:41pm
“Looky at that man with the cowboy hat, mama!” The little boy at a nearby table in Threadgill’s hadn’t quite mastered the art of the stage whisper and stared at the rope of hair down Augie Meyers' back, recognizable even through a window at night. The Texas Tornados had arrived, hungry, happy, and with their new CD Esta Bueno in tow.
Kinky in 2010
Margaret Moser
Wed Feb 24, 9:42am
Tags: Kinky Friedman
Now that he’s not running the gubernatorial race and instead going for Agricultural Commissioner, Kinky Friedman has hit the road. Tonight, 6pm at Antone’s, Kinky is performing songs, telling stories, and reading from his book Heroes of a Texas Childhood.
Mother Falcon’s Still Life
Margaret Moser
Mon Feb 15, 2:32pm
Tags: Mother Falcon
There’s nothing static about Mother Falcon’s Still Life EP, not when upwards of 14 instruments unite in song. Even among its peer bands – Speak, Bright Lights Social Hour, Oikos, and Diamonds – Mother Falcon is in a class of its own.
He Called Me Baby
Margaret Moser
Mon Feb 1, 12:24pm
At 55, I'm the old fart on our music writing staff, but when I put One Eskimo's "Kandi" in my 2009 Top 10, I knew that young band grand-slammed it outta the ballpark, using the one weapon that never fails: a killer song. When Bob Lefsetz wrote about it yesterday, I grinned.
Rock Ampersand Roll
Margaret Moser
Tue Dec 22, 3:44pm
, 2009
Tags: Beatles
It’s been a while since a book lingered long after I’d shut its cover, but Elijah Wald’s How the Beatles Destroyed Rock 'n' Roll:
An Alternative History of American Popular Music (Oxford University Press) really got under my skin and became my best book of 2010.
Exit Wounds
Margaret Moser
Mon Dec 14, 4:24pm
, 2009
“I am writing in regards to my uncle, David Martinez. He passed away this weekend.” So began the email this morning from Zeke Martinez. Another death to process, this one a bit easier on my heart, still bleeding from so many exit wounds this year.
Eva's Victory
Margaret Moser
Fri Dec 11, 1:58pm
, 2009
Tags: Victory Grill
Eva Lindsey witnessed the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. The Austin native contributed to a tremendous number of efforts over the years, an eyewitness to history in the making, and best known today as the beloved grand dame of the Victory Grill. Small wonder she is being honored at the Grill on Saturday night.
That's a Good Idea
Margaret Moser
Mon Nov 30, 10:53am
, 2009
Tags: Robin Shivers
When House of Songs opens the Cactus Café doors on Thursday night, the welcome mat will be bilingual – English and Danish. That’s because House of Songs is an Austin-based artist-in-residence program for Danish singer-songwriters.
Bill Narum: We Call That Art
Margaret Moser
Fri Nov 20, 1:16pm
, 2009
The news wafted through Austin, a town already unnerved by the recent death of Robin Shivers. This name was just as sad, the shock just as big: Bill Narum was dead.
New mAcdonald
Margaret Moser
Sat Nov 14, 10:05am
, 2009
Tags: Pat MacDonald
Maybe the road to PurgAtory Hill has been long, but few are better equipped to make the trip than Pat Macdonald. Make that pat mAcdonald, an effective way of driving grammarists crazy or maybe just a reminder to put the damn A in his last name without mentioning “The Future’s So Bright.”
Tejano Returns to 6th Street
Margaret Moser
Wed Nov 11, 11:01am
, 2009
Isidoro Lopez likes to use the phrase “invisible society” when referring to the Latino community and how it's often looked through. It’s a particularly apt phrase in regards to Tejano, that vibrant hybrid of Texas-born, Mexican-originated music. For every musical style that exists, there’s a Spanish take on it.
Sunny Side of the Street
Margaret Moser
Fri Oct 30, 11:27am
, 2009
There are two schools of thought about a Pogues show. The first is that any Pogues show is great, and the second is that any Pogues show is great, even if they are doing it by the numbers. Face it, at 25-plus years, this is a nostalgia act, just like Devo or the B-52's.
“Six Foot Five with Boots and Hat”
Margaret Moser
Sat Oct 10, 2:57pm
, 2009
It’s been seven years since I hung around with Rusty Wier for a story. I also saw his legendary Saxon Thanksgiving shows but those had ended in 2007 when the cancer made it too difficult for him. That was when it was clear Rusty wasn’t going to win this battle.
ACL Fest Day 3: Mud, Sweat, and Beers
Margaret Moser
Sun Oct 4, 10:28pm
, 2009
Tags: ACL Fest 2009
At the close of my fourth decade of outdoor festivals, I don’t mind confessing that at my first festival – the Buffalo Party in Washington, July 1970, I went topless like all the hippie girls. This year I have sore knees.
ACL Fest Day 2
Margaret Moser
Sat Oct 3, 11:38pm
, 2009
Tags: ACL Fest 2009
The sky wasn't just crying on Day 2 of ACL Fest, it was sobbing in big wet gulps. Flogging Molly embraced the day like beautiful Irish weather, but as the afternoon went on and the rain didn't relent, it prompted an audience member during The Decemberists' electrifying set to comment, "What are they singing? The hazards of mud?"
ACL Fest Day 1
Margaret Moser
Fri Oct 2, 5:42pm
, 2009
Tags: ACL Fest 2009
If it's fall, it must be Austin City Limits Festival, and the festival gods blessed it with great weather ... for the opening day, at least. The much ballyhooed grass is indeed cushy and plentiful, and though the day grew warm, it was as pleasant an opening day as I can remember.
Love Is All Around
Margaret Moser
Mon Sep 21, 1:32pm
, 2009
Tags: Lucinda Williams
(Minneapolis) - "Hank Williams got married onstage," drawled Lucinda Williams, as she was about to follow in his footsteps and marry her sweetheart of over two years, Tom Overby, onstage at First Ave. last Saturday night. As the Mary Tyler Moore Show theme sang, "Love is all around," so were Lu and Tom's closest friends and family.
They Were All My Friends
Margaret Moser
Mon Sep 14, 1:43pm
, 2009
Of all the obits, I wasn't expecting to see Jim Carroll's in the New York Times this morning. Dead at 60, Carroll carved his name in rock with one massively cool contribution, his anthemic "People Who Died" from 1980's Catholic Boy album.
Americano Rock
Margaret Moser
Fri Sep 11, 12:24pm
, 2009
Tags: Los Fabulocos
What Kid Ramos carries in his guitar case is history that intertwines not only generations but cultures and coasts. Once the Fabulous Thunderbirds guitarist, his heart beats closest to his current band, Los Fabulocos. Indisputably rock with that blade-sharp Latin edge, they are yet another entry into the new Tex-Cali-Mex genre dubbed Americano.
Teens4Autism Rocks Out
Margaret Moser
Mon Sep 7, 2:15pm
, 2009
It would be easy see the Teens4Autism show at the Austin Music Hall this Saturday, Sept. 12, as another benefit for yet another good cause, but the lineup alone tells you this is different. There's no big name, no sage Austin musician or popular local band, and that makes it all the more heartfelt and worthy.
2000 Light Years from Home
Margaret Moser
Mon Aug 31, 2:41pm
, 2009
What was the hot music of 1999? 1989? Fine Young Cannibals and Black Crowes, but they don't generate any real nostalgia, do they? How about 1979? Punk was big and getting bigger, and no one is throwing it parties. So how did the summer of festival love that turned into the winter of rock's discontent come to symbolize everything officially reaching middle age?
At the Corner of Starlight and Springtime
Margaret Moser
Mon Aug 31, 2:09pm
, 2009
Ellie Greenwich died last week. Hers was a passing that received enough notice to do her credit, yet it seemed flat to read the tributes in black and white. They should have been accompanied by pealing bells, chirping birdies, and taffeta skirts whispering amid sighing girl choruses.
The Other Blondie
Margaret Moser
Thu Aug 27, 4:59pm
, 2009
Tags: Blondie Chaplin
Taking a break outside an unassuming complex near Zilker Park, Blondie Chaplin leans against a parked car and grins at his all-star band. Standing next to him are bassist Chris Maresh and drummer J.J. Johnson; guitarist Derek O’Brien is ducking out for another gig and pianist Stephen
Barber is off on a B-double E-double R-U-N. The rehearsal, as they say, was smokin’.
No Dagwood
Margaret Moser
Mon Aug 24, 3:28pm
, 2009
Tags: Blondie Chaplin
This Friday, Aug. 28, at Antone’s, it’s Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk, Blondie Chaplin (with the extraordinary Stephen Barber and special guests), and the Lee Boys. Let’s forgo modesty here and just talk credentials.
Through the Past Brightly
Margaret Moser
Mon Aug 17, 2:56pm
, 2009
The real allure of rock & roll is that it’s the fabled fountain of youth. It keeps you young, makes it all okay again. The world can be bitter and glum and here comes that one song, shooting like a sunbeam through the dark clouds, zapping you into the past. Ah, you’re 15 again and the world’s all right.
