Rumors have been flying about another club’s demise, and this time it’s the
Back Room, whose doors are said to be closing so that a Tejano club can open.
Owner Ronnie Roark could not be reached for comment, but his wife Lisha Roark
told the Chronicle that she thinks the rumors are coming from employees
upset with the fact that the venue has trimmed their live music week down to
Thursday through Saturday. Lisha says that “Ronnie’s had the Back Room for 20
years and probably intends to keep it for another 20. He’s had it longer than
he’s had me!” Manager Mark Oliveras concurs with Roark. “I’m not aware
[of] any special plans for the Back Room,” he says. “As far as I’m concerned
it’s biz as usual.”
You know the rules: anytime I discuss a club’s possible closing, there’s
always a new one ready to open. This time, it’s one with the pre-used name the
Split Rail, and it should be opening at 705 Rio Grande, former home of Cowboys,
Kilimanjaro, the Cave Club, and about a dozen others. Now, when I say that Paul
Sessums is half-owner in this venture, I’m sure you’re all flipping to the
cover to see if this is our April Fools’ issue, but no, it’s not. Co-owner
Peter Turner, public-access talk-show host and former employee of both the
Continental Club and Liberty Lunch, assures me that the lease has been signed
and that the club will be open as soon as the beer license comes through, which
should be sometime in the next six weeks. Sessums will book the venue Mondays
through Wednesdays, and Turner will handle Thursdays through Saturdays, with an
emphasis on “alternative country” groups, plus roots and lounge acts. More on
this one when (if?) it opens.
Last Chance Scenario
Okay, kids, this is it. I won’t be telling you again that next Thursday,November 16, is the absolute deadline to apply for your band to play next
March’s SXSW Music Conference. On that day, you’ll want to take your demo tape,
press packet (such as it is) and $15 over to Ruby’s BBQ between 6pm and
midnight and fill out an application. The SXSW staff are still being secretive
about what big-name acts will be playing next year’s conference, as nobody’s
yet close to confirmed, but I can tell you that some pretty heavy acts have
expressed interest in performing. And if the multimedia folks at the conference
have been paying any attention to my demands that a certain subversive group
from Providence, Rhode Island, be asked to perform, there’s gonna be a helluva
time over in that part of the festival.
Return of the Cherubs?
Longtime Trance Syndicate act the Cherubs will be reuniting to make a fourthalbum for the label after a long absence. Singer/guitarist Keith Whitley,
currently living in Minneapolis, was down in Austin for a week’s visit, during
which plans were made for recording new material. The Trance crew confirm that
the band is “threatening to” get back together, rehearsing via four-track tapes
sent through the mail before assembling to record an album due out next year. A
CD of “old stuff” is also planned for release in April, while the Cherubs
remain alive in the record racks via the split single with the Fuck Emos (the
Cherubs’ “I Want Candy” and the Fucks’ “Do You Wanna Dance”) that Trance
released a couple of weeks ago. There’s also loose talk of a possible Cherubs
show in Austin in early ’96. Also in the maybe stages upcoming from Trance is a
CD from Sweetpea.
Butthole Surfer Watch
Well, somebody’s gotta keep an eye on the Buttholes, cuz you can’t do ityourself, now can ya? The latest word is that the basic tracks for 13 new songs
have been laid down at Bearsville Studios in New York, and that the band will
be heading back up in a couple of weeks for mixing. Drummer King Coffey, back
in town keeping his Trance Syndicate empire together (see above), says that
he’s surprised that things came together so fast. The album, produced by famed
mixer Steve Thompson (who also mixed the “Who Was in My Room Last Night”
single) still has no title, though there’s talk of a cover featuring drag
queens and naked people. Like that’s a surprise?
Tricky Dickies
Wow! If I’d known that Leonard Graves Phillips of the incredible Dickies wasgoing to pop in to Lovejoy’s while I was running my weekly Cartoon Fest
(shameless self-promotion: 5-7pm, no cover, Happy Hour prices), I would’ve made
sure to have had some Gigantor episodes on the bill (actually, I’m told
the whole band was there at some point, but I don’t know what the new guys look
like and I definitely didn’t see guitarist Stan Lee.) If you missed the Dickies
show at Emo’s last Saturday night, don’t fret. Phillips promised that the band,
which took 17 years to get to Austin for the first time, would be back “in the
year 2000.”
XL Ouch!
The Austin American-Statesman‘s mascot, a giant, winged rodent namedRex L. Bat, was beaten up by the Texas Tech band during the game last Saturday
after he (it?) taunted them — as mascots are paid to do — during the course
of the competition. From what I hear, the bat (like the kind under the Congress
Street Bridge, not like in baseball) costume which cost $12,000 to make, was
heavily damaged.
With a name like Rex L. Bat, it’s obvious that the Statesman is trying
to plug their weekly XL ent. supplement, and I think they’ve been going
about it all wrong. Now, it seems, it’s finally time for me to suggest to XL
ent. that they adopt the mascots I think they should’ve had from the
beginning; the lovable, demographics-friendly “XL Ants”! Seen here, these two
hip twentysomething Formicidae (Jen X. and Thor X.) are the perfect pair
to show their young, style-conscious readers that XL ent. really does
have the “insect-inside” scoop on the things that really “raise their
antennae!”
Police Blotter
Following the ongoing saga, the postering charge against the Flamingo Cantinanever even made it to the judge. The Assistant D.A. refused to prosecute
because no one had actually been caught putting up the poster. Gee, maybe the
system does work… Speaking of the Law, Lt. Gerald Rains of the APD
will be retiring on November 25, a move which has the Austin Music Commission,
among others, a bit uneasy. Rains, a Lieutenant with the Mounted Patrol, has
been considered somewhat of a liaison between the police and the Sixth Street
music community, and is in fact the officer that we at the Chronicle usually contact for information when matters musical meet matters legal. As far
as whether Rains’ replacement will be more or less sympathetic to the music
scene remains unknown: “No appointment [to the position] has been made” says
Rains.
Mixed Notes
Check out the November SPIN for a nice big page on Sixteen Deluxedominated by a really great picture that was shot by someone who doesn’t work
for the Chronicle… The folk-themed November 11 edition of
Billboard, rating venues for acoustic music around the country, singled
out the Cactus Cafe as being among the 15 best such locales in the country (I
would think the competition was even tougher than it might seem considering
they were up against a lot of places where you can smoke)… I should
also mention that Billboard named KLBJ-FM their “Rock Station of the
Year” for 1995, but this’ll be the fourth time they’ve taken that award in
eight years so, like, by this time it’s no big deal, right?… The Merchants of
Venus have returned from a four-month hiatus with a new singer. Look for them
back at their old last-Wednesday-of-the-month spot at the Carousel Lounge and
elsewhere… Bob Mould was spotted at Mike Watt’s show at Liberty Lunch a
couple weeks ago, but no, he didn’t join in the onstage activities. I thought
Watt had the power to get anyone to play in his band… In-stores this
week include Carla Olson at Waterloo Records on Friday at 5pm, plugging her new
“best of” album, Wave of the Hand, and the Rugburns, also at Waterloo,
next Tuesday at 5pm. Over at Local Flavor, Generic Guru are playing Saturday at
3pm. As always, in-stores are a great way to see a free show, get free
refreshments, and if you don’t like the band, you can always start your
Christmas shopping… The Jesus Christ Superfly van finally gave up the ghost
while the band was on tour, so they’re holding a benefit next Tuesday at the
Flamingo Cantina (and another at the Electric Lounge on the 22nd) for repair or
replacement costs. Bring your spare money and help the guys out (I know, I
know: Just exactly what is “spare” money?)… Old fans of New Sincerity
will want to check out the debut of a new band featuring Larry Seaman (Standing
Waves, et al.) and Kim Longacre (Reivers) opening for Javelin Boot at
the Hole in the Wall this Friday. The band will be heading into the studio with
another former Reiver, John Croslin, at the controls next week…
Resurrection of the Warlock, that T. Rex tribute album I mentioned with
Buick MacKane doing “Country Honey” on it, is now out. Among others on the
20-song disc are Mekons spinoff The Three Johns, and the now-defunct
Dramarama’s last recorded song… I popped in on one of the video shoots for
Ian Moore’s “Bar Line 99,” a “peep show” dive assembled within the Electric
Lounge (actually I was called in as a consultant on how to get one of those
Sixties blobby light effect thingies to work right — don’t ask me why). It
looked pretty impressive, especially since it’s Moore himself who’s having to
finance the thing out of pocket. I’m told that Capricorn Records aren’t much
into paying for their acts’ video clips. Be patient, guys, I think one day
those things will really catch on…
This article appears in November 10 • 1995 and November 10 • 1995 (Cover).
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