2008 was a whirlwind for California’s Delta Spirit. The punky folk quintet from San Diego toured with Dr. Dog and Cold War Kids, had their self-released album Ode to Sunshine remastered and reissued by Rounder Records, and were invited to play festivals like Sasquatch, Noise Pop, and Austin City Limits. Now they’re on their first headlining tour, which stops at Emo’s Saturday. Delta Spirit’s bass player Jon Jameson seemed extra happy when I spoke to him last week. Maybe it was because their shows on the East Coast had sold out; maybe it was because he had just had a good night’s sleep. “We’ve been touring the last two years,” Jameson explained. “Probably eight months out of the year and then towards the end of last year, we thought 2009 was going to be easy. You know, do a little touring, then write and make a record. But it’s been non-stop touring. We did the Nada Surf tour, then went to Europe for a couple of weeks, then we were home for one and a half days and took off for this tour which is 29 shows in 30 days. Then we’re home for a week, go to South by Southwest, then home for a couple of days, then to Europe for a two and half weeks. It’s insane. My back and my knees are starting to go out. This is our first real headlining tour and the fact that all the shows have lots of people at them and some of them are sold out is pretty sweet for us.”

There's been rumors about how annoyed House Democrats were about getting fobbed off with second tier committee assignments. But it seems that Rep. Harold Dutton, D-Houston, isn't going to give Speaker Joe Straus a break until he gets off either Corrections or Public Education.

I don’t know about you, but when I heard the news that Alex Rodriguez had taken performance enhancing drugs while playing for the Texas Rangers, my reactions was, “Who the #$%@ cares.” Honestly, does it come as a shock to anyone when a professional baseball player is busted for taking steroids? These are professional athletes, who are some of the most competitive people on earth and are getting paid millions of dollars to play a game. The stakes are high and the pressure is intense, so when someone offers them a drug or a cream that will give them an advantage can we really be shocked when they take it? When A-Rod played for the Texas Rangers they never won anything. Nada! From 2001 to 2003 Alex Rodriguez had one of the richest contracts in baseball history and yet the Rangers never finished with a record higher than .500 and never finished better than fourth place in the American League West. He was arguably the best player in baseball playing for one of the worst teams in the league, so why else would he have taken steroids if for no other reason than to boost his own stats? He can cry on TV and apologize all he wants, but the bottom line is that he cheated and as far as I’m concerned he is no different than Barry Bonds. Both players still belong in the Hall of Fame beyond a doubt, but from here on out every single record they break and every honor that they earn should come with an asterisk that says that they cheated.

While not exactly Cutting Edge circa 1985, the Story Of is still reaping the benefits of appearing on MTV2’s Austin Music Week in late December. “We’ve gotten a lot of emails from random people across the country that saw it and an incredible amount of traffic on our Myspace,” confirms singer Christman Hersha. The local quintet were filmed live at Stubb’s and interviewed at Maryann Price’s Eastside cabin on the Colorado River, where the band recorded its forthcoming sophomore LP, Until the Autumn, a soft and sincere collection of indie pop that would nestle up nicely on The OC. “It wasn’t a very comfortable living environment,” Hersha laughs. “We had blow up mattresses that we would inflate every night, but it was really inspiring to wake up each morning on the river.”

Normally, the Texas Department of Transportation is held up as a "how not to" guide for running a state agency. So there was some eye-rubbing this morning when Rep. Jim Dunnam, D-Waco, put out a press release saying more state agencies need to act like TxDoT when it comes to their federal stimulus cash. The road agency had originally planned to make its decisions about how to spend its $1.6 billion during a vote this Thursday: But after an appearance before Dunnam's new House Select Committee on Federal Economic Stabilization Funding, they reversed that decision. Dunnam wrote, "The federal economic stimulus provides an historic opportunity for our state […] I hope that all agencies will seek input from House members before finalizing decisions where that is possible under Federal deadline." TxDoT generally has been getting plaudits for being more open this Lege session than before (although, that said, a few commenters have noticed that this is a Sunset Review year for them, so they do have an incentive to play nice). Full press release after the jump.

Bill Holloway was a familiar figure in the progressive, human rights and ecological communities in Austin, and his sad death on January 8 was a deep personal blow to many who had worked and campaigned with him. Talking to Rep. Elliott Naishtat's office this morning, they confirmed that House Resolution 285, commemorating Holloway's life and achievements, will be read on the House floor on March 30. See below the fold for the full text, which serves as a tribute to his achievements.

This past Monday night, I had the honor of joining a panel discussion hosted by the Austin Music Foundation on the future of Austin music. About 150 Austinites turned out for the event at Antone’s. Moderated by David Sullivan, who chaired the musicians’ services sub committee of the recent Live Music Task Force, the panel also included Rich Garza from Giant Noise PR, who is responsible for the success of last year’s Pachanga Fest, Waterloo Records owner John Kunz, Transmission Entertainment’s Graham Williams, and artists Carolyn Wonderland and Alex Vallejo. Carolyn Wonderland, who seems only able to speak in poetic metaphors, served as the highlight of the panel, but the conversation was lively, balancing a guarded recognition of the tough times that the economy is leveraging on Austin music with an excitement for the possibilities. There was a general echo from all the various industry representatives of Wonderland’s statement that we need to embrace the change to new mediums and models rather than resist them. Otherwise artists, retailers, PR, and even media risk falling behind the pace of their audiences and ultimately being left out.

Sure, it's way far out from the election, but never too early for a forum! Lee Leffingwell and Brewster McCracken laid out their platforms at a Democratic-backed forum this week, and the Hustle was there for posterity. (Not to mention the free grub.) One note: Carole Keeton Strayhorn was supposedly scheduled to attend the forum; according to the planners, she canceled, but her campaign says they never signed-on in the first place. Stay tuned for the next thrilling episode of the Hust where she speaks on the matter …

There's no doubt that drug-fueled violence in Mexico, particularly along the border, is a serious problem, fed by drug demand in the U.S. and the relative ease with which money and weapons make their way south across the border. In all, the situation is a clear example of how the U.S. approach to drug policy is a failure. Now, in an attempt to bust up cartels and other criminal gangs, Rep. Aaron Peña, D-Edinburg, has joined forces with Sen. Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands, and Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott to introduce the Texas Racketeering and Corruption Act (HB 1618), giving the AG's office the power to file suit against individuals and/or organizations involved in criminal activity and to seize assets and profits of their criminal enterprise. "This landmark legislation would give the state an opportunity to dismantle violent gangs and organized criminal activity similar to the powerful, mafia-busting federal RICO Act," Peña said in a press statement. "We can inflict some heavy damage to these gangs and cartels by not only jailing...individuals but by bankrupting their criminal enterprises." Whether this would have some meaningful effect by itself (that is, without a corresponding shift in drug policy, for example, in the case of drug trafficking cases), or whether it is simply another way to put more money back into the same-old drug war enforcement tactics, remains to be seen.