TCB
Music news
By Christopher Gray, Fri., Jan. 5, 2007
MORE TROUBLE DOWN SOUTH
The feud between the Rogue Performance Venue and Black Rose Rehearsal studio seemed to be winding down after Rogue owner James Cotton decided to seek new quarters. Not anymore. In the wee hours of Dec. 28, a band rehearsing at Black Rose, who asked not to be named, got into an all-out brawl with four people, including Cotton's brother, who were moving stuff out of the Rogue space. As expected, accounts vary as to who threw the first punch (both sides had been drinking), but neither emerged unscathed: One band member needed several staples to close a head wound, while Cotton's brother suffered a severe laceration that may require reconstructive facial surgery. Both Black Rose and Rogue were also severely vandalized. "This is turning into West Side Story," says Black Rose owner Monte Williams. "It's ridiculous." Cotton, who's been in California since before the incident, agrees. "It's a gigantic mess," he says. As all parties are now investigating various avenues of legal action, it could get a lot messier.
GRACE NOTES
• Austin stomp-metal quartet Shrapnel had less than a happy New Year when all their equipment and merchandise was stolen after Satur-day night's Redrum show. Anyone with information can contact the band, which plays Lucy's in San Marcos Jan. 12, at www.myspace.com/shrapnel.
• In its year-end issue, Billboard ranked Austin's Charles Attal Presents No. 23 among promoters, with a 2006 gross of nearly $19 million from 213 shows and 64 sellouts and a total attendance of more than 500,000. In festivals, the Austin City Limits Music Festival placed second to Bonnaroo, with a gross of more than $8 million and the highest attendance of the Top 10 at 225,827.
• Dennis Linde, who as a newlywed wrote Elvis Presley's 1972 hit "Burning Love" in 20 minutes, died Dec. 22 in Nashville from lung disease, The New York Times reported Tuesday. In 1969, the Abilene native signed to the same publisher as Kris Kristofferson, and he scored another hit in 1999 with the Dixie Chicks' "Goodbye Earl." Linde, 63, is survived by wife Pam and three children.
PLAYING FAVORITES
Rounding the corner into its second quarter-century, the Austin Music Poll (p.3) continues to adapt to the times. Although Best Local Ring Tone was voted down, the poll committee added Best Indie Band and Best Local Label to reflect Austin's flourishing DIY environment. In turn, several categories got the axe, among them Music Video/DVD, Concert by a Touring Band, and, tragically, Music Journalist/Critic/Writer. The ones that survived, with TCB's picks:
BAND OF THE YEAR: Black Angels
MUSICIAN OF THE YEAR: James Hand
SONG OF THE YEAR: Black Angels, "Black Grease"
ALBUM OF THE YEAR: Black Angels, Passover
NEW BAND: Brothers & Sisters
ROCK: Lions
INDIE: Voxtrot
PUNK: Riverboat Gamblers
METAL: Blackholicus
INDUSTRIAL/GOTH: Lucid Dementia
DJ: Car Stereo (Wars)
POP: Carrots
JAZZ: Jazz Pharaohs
BLUES: Chili Cold Blood
HIP-HOP: Basswood Lane
INSTRUMENTAL: Octopus Project
EXPERIMENTAL: Invincible Czars
COUNTRY: Texas Sapphires
BLUEGRASS: Weary Boys
ROOTS-ROCK: Mother Truckers
FOLK: Peter & the Wolf
LATIN TRADITIONAL: Charanga Cakewalk
LATIN CONTEMPORARY: Maneja Beto
WORLD: Atash
COVER BAND: K-Tel Hit Machine
KID BAND: Palm School Choir
NOVELTY: White Ghost Shivers
NONE OF THE ABOVE: Til We're Blue or Destroy
FEMALE VOCALS: Brennen Leigh
MALE VOCALS: James Hand
ELECTRIC GUITAR: Jim Ortiz, Amplified Heat
ACOUSTIC GUITAR: Will Courtney, Brothers & Sisters
BASS: Alex Livingston, Grand Champeen
DRUMS: Richard Galloway, Moonlight Towers
KEYBOARDS: Jeanine Attaway, Ugly Beats
HORNS: Ephraim Owens (trumpet)
STRINGS: Strings Attached
MISC. INSTRUMENT: Yvonne Lambert, Octopus Project (theremin)
SONGWRITER: Ramesh Srivastava, Voxtrot
PRODUCER: Erik Wofford
NEW CLUB: Mohawk
LIVE MUSIC VENUE: Emo's
ACOUSTIC VENUE: Continental Club Gallery
ALL-AGES VENUE: Red 7
RECORD STORE: Snake Eyes Vinyl
LOCAL LABEL: Super Secret
INSTRUMENT/EQUIPMENT STORE: MusicMakers
RADIO STATION: KOOP 91.7FM
RADIO MUSIC PROGRAM: Next Big Thing, 101X
RADIO PERSONALITY: Trina Quinn, 101X
CONCERT POSTER: Billy Bishop, Chumps reunion, Nov. 9, Beerland
UPSTAIRS, DOWNSTAIRS
Austin's newest club is located in one of its oldest structures: Lamberts, a downstairs restaurant and upstairs nightclub, opened last month in the Schneider general store building, which was erected in 1873. The building's status as a local historical site saved it from the wrecking ball that felled neighbor Liberty Lunch in 1999. "The city was pretty particular about what we could do with the building, mainly because they had spent over $500,000 restoring it in 2002," says co-owner Will Bridges. "That was just getting the place structurally sound." In keeping with the rustic architectural tone, Bridges wants the music at Lamberts to be fundamentally Austin. "There's a lot of emphasis on blues," he says. "To me, blues is kind of the common denominator to the Austin sound." So far he's held to that, booking happy hours with Erik Hokkanen, Kat Edmondson, and Christine Albert and flying in Cincinnati garage-blues grinders the Heartless Bastards (pictured, returning to the Parish Jan. 19) for a special New Year's Eve show. Tuesday, Lamberts became the latest venue to sign up for SXSW 07, and although SXSW is withholding its initial band list for a while longer to cut down on day-party poaching, TCB has heard that Interpol, Cold War Kids, Lily Allen, Bloc Party, Gilberto Gil, Turbonegro, Hoodoo Gurus, and a special Stax Records 50th anniversary soul revue just might be headed this way.
KISS ON MY LISTS
NATIONAL TOP 10 1) Jenny Lewis With the Watson Twins, Rabbit Fur Coat (Team Love)
2) Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs, Under the Covers Vol. 1 (Shout! Factory)
3) Dears, Gang of Losers (Arts & Crafts)
4) Pet Shop Boys, Fundamental (Rhino)
5) Camera Obscura, Let's Get Out of This Country (Merge)
6) Drive-by Truckers, A Blessing and a Curse (New West)
7) Morrissey, Ringleader of the Tormentors (Sanctuary)
8) M. Ward, Post-War (Merge)
9) Del McCoury Band, The Promised Land (Sugar Hill)
10) Weird Al Yankovic, Straight Outta Lynwood (Volcano)
LOCAL TOP 10
1) Black Angels, Passover (Light in the Attic)
2) ... And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, So Divided (Interscope)
3) Riverboat Gamblers, To the Confusion of Our Enemies (Volcom)
4) San Saba County, It's Not the Fall That Hurts (India)
5) Brennen Leigh, Devil's on My Trail
6) White Ghost Shivers, Everyone's Got 'Em (Chicken Ranch)
7) Faceless Werewolves, Medium Freaky (Super Secret)
8) Blue Diamond Shine, Shrimp Boat Town
9) James Hand, The Truth Will Set You Free! (Rounder)
10) Masonic, Without Warning
10 MORE LOCALS FOR THE ROAD
1) Banana Blender Surprise, Paint the Town Brown (Freedom)
2) Joe Doucet, Houston's Third Ward Blues (DialTone)
3) South Filthy, Crackin' Up (Licorice Tree)
4) Lower Class Brats, The New Seditionaries (TKO)
5) Hickoids, Corn Demon (SausTex)
6) When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth, Snacks (Emperor Jones)
7) The Dirty Hearts, (Salt Shaker)
8) American Graveyard, Rough Around the Edges
9) Sunny Sweeney, Heartbreaker's Hall of Fame
10) The Mad Dukes, The Mad Dukes Sing and Play for You (RippyFish)
10 ATXers TO WATCH IN 2007
AUX
Automusik
The Flood
Future Clouds & Radar
Go Nova
Low Line Caller
Mice & Rifles
Roger's Porn Collection
White Denim
Yellow Fever
