Dancing About Architecture

Llano County District Attorney Bill Lewis is said to be upset about rumors going around that Ministry mastermind Al Jourgensen has gotten off the hook from that heroin possession rap he was hit with at his Marble Falls/Horseshoe Bay "compound." Needless to say, Al wouldn't be upset if they were true but nosiree, that just isn't the case. (In fact, Jourgensen's current mood is most likely well represented by the photo at the head of this page.) Lewis confirms that Jourgensen has not "beaten the rap" in the case and that a grand jury is set to convene in November regarding the fourth degree felony of Jourgensen's alleged possession of less than one gram of China white heroin. Lewis adds that Jourgensen's relocation to Chicago (a move he was in the process of when he was arrested) is not a problem in the case, and that he's still waiting on more lab tests to determine whether Jourgensen was in possession of other illegal substances of at the time of his arrest. Jourgensen's lawyers are asking for an examining trial, which would be open to the public, before the grand jury trial, which would not. And since all this legal stuff is getting pretty dry, let's move on to another subject.

Uh, Oh, He's
Starting to Rant...

I just realized that I can't leave the subject of law until I throw this one out to you: Remember last week when I mentioned several of the infractions that can get you fined or imprisoned on the Drag? Well, I somehow managed to miss the one that says that you can receive a $500 fine for creating unpleasant or obnoxious odors on that particular stretch of Martin Luther King Avenue. Hoo, boy, are a lot of you people in trouble! Does this mean that if you stop in for a nosh at Taco Bell you should take the long way back to campus? And what about the World's Smelliest Dumpster between the Magic Wok and that sorority house? Shouldn't the city have been able to pay for their damn new baseball stadium with the fines off of that thing alone?

Of course, that deal is off now [see this week's "Naked City"], but that's just as well, I suppose. If the best musical/sports term these clowns could come up with as a team name was the "Swings," they don't need to be operating a playground sandlot, much less a minor league stadium. First of all, when people think of swing in a sports sense, I think "miss!" And in a musical sense, they think "old and out of date" (no offense to you swing revivalists out there). And to top it off, as one politics staffer who shall remain mercifully nameless put it, "It makes me think of sex. You know, like, swinging." Oh, boy. It took me and a couple of friends about 15 seconds to come up with a huge list of sports/music terms that would've been better than "Swings" (i.e., didn't suck). Top contenders: "Hits" and "Scores."

The Junior League Scores!

Nope, no lawsuits, arrests or further baseball references in this bit, thank god. I told you last week that Junior Brown was hot, though, and since then he's hit the number one spot on TNN with "Highway Patrol" and sales on his latest EP are estimated to have reached somewhere between 40-50,000 units. Brown's not just sittin' on the side of the highway these days either. He's currently in Tennessee filming a follow-up video of "My Wife Thinks You're Dead."

Mixed Notes

La Zona Rosa hasn't closed again yet, but don't look for Kris Kristofferson. He's cancelled his scheduled gig that was set for next Friday in favor of filming a movie... The Presidents of the United States of America recorded their cut for the upcoming Twisted Willie tribute album while they were in town playing last week. The Willie Nelson song they did for the compilation, by the way, is "Sad Songs and Waltzes"... The Derailers' Tony Villanueva stopped in to invite us (and you) to the band's Broken Spoke gig this Friday, which is a rehearsal of sorts for the band as they're going into the studio next week to start recording their Watermelon debut with Dave Alvin producing. Alvin, who's at Shady Grove tonight (Thursday 12), will be on hand at the show, and as to whether he'll play, Villanueva smiles and says "we'll try and talk him into it"... KLRU took home six awards out of 10 categories at the PBS Development Conference Awards on September 26 in San Antonio. Among those was the Special Fund-Raising Event award, which went to the Austin City Limits Season 20 Celebration featuring Willie Nelson, Bruce Hornsby, Asleep at the Wheel and Shelby Lynne... Lotsa live in-store music this week: Chris Knox plays at Waterloo Records this Friday, 6pm (he opens for Superchunk at Liberty Lunch that same night), at ABCDs this Saturday Wheel release their Hip Eponymous album. That starts at 2pm and Down and Cotton Mather both will play as well. And have I mentioned that Cotton Mather have a new drummer (well, of course I have, but I mean this particular new drummer)? MXPX slam into MusicMania at 5pm this coming Monday and the Guy Forsyth Band will needle their way into Waterloo at 5pm next Thursday... Buy a Mary Chapin Carpenter tour book at Starbucks One American Center between noon and 12:45 next Thursday (10/19 - same night she's at the Erwin Center with the Mavericks) and she'll autograph it. Part of the proceeds go to C.A.R.E.... More new recordings out now or just around the corner: a beautifully packaged double-LP set (the last ever of its kind?) from ST-37 on Prospective/Electric Jug Records called Glare, the new CD Happy Feet by 81/2 Souvenirs on Continental Records and have I already run it in to the ground how much the Dangerous Toys have updated their sound with their new album?... Don't have enough pictures of Tim Kerr on your wall? There's a good shot of Monkeywrench, his band with Mark Arm and Steve Turner, in the new Screaming Life: A Chronicle of the Seattle Music Scene... The all-star Mad Cat Trio provide the music at the 1995 Texas Music Awards Show next Wednesday at the Four Seasons Ballroom. Clifford Antone will be receiving a lifetime achievement award and - well, if I give away all the winners, you won't go out there, now will you?... Big names coming to the Austin Music Hall in upcoming months include Bob Dylan (11/4-5), Sonic Youth (11/15) and Chris Isaak (11/26)... Both Santiago Jimenez and Chicago's Switchback have CD release parties at Jovita's this Saturday. The Windy City band also performs the night before that at (logically) Chicago House... You'll hear no more from David Obermann on Folkways at KUT. Apparently, IBM offered him a nice job in jolly old England and he's outta here... October is Fire Prevention Month or something like that, so Liberty Lunch has set up a deal where you get $2.50 off at the bar when you donate a smoke detector. Coupla questions here: A) Don't those things cost a lot more than $2.50?, and therefore B) doesn't this just encourage people to rip the one off the ceiling at home?... Fiesta Texas is auditioning singers, actors and dancers from the Austin area between Oct. 18 & 20. If you'll be in S.A. then, you might wanna call 800/94-STAGE... KVRX is getting equipped for live band sets on the air soon - they're finishing up a bit more testing via cable. In the meantime, call Brad or Ty at 471-5106 to get your band in line... The Fabulous Thunderbirds rated a big ol' segment on CNN's Showbiz Today show Tuesday. Didja see it?... Well, I've gotta go now. If I'm gonna make it to the big party at Lord British's place this Friday night, I've got one mighty sick angel (or is that devil? - I'm not sure yet what kind of costumes we're supposed to wear) to nurse back to health... n