After – gosh, how long has it been now? – Spoon have finally caved in and made a choice between all the record companies
that have been sniffing the band’s butts. And the winner is (Tah-dah!) Matador
Records, the indie label distributed by Atlantic Records, who’ve been wining
and dining the band for more than a year now. Head Spoon man Britt Daniel
confirms that the band has signed a one-album deal with the label, specifically
limiting their connection with the label pending Matador finding another
distributor once their Atlantic connection expires. Look for a single in March
and an album in April. The working title is currently 30,000 Russians Below
Detroit, but the band is still deciding whether or not to go with it.
Sincola, who are currently in the studio, have also been trying to come up with
an album title lately, but I don’t think they liked my suggestion of
Tripping Miss Daisy.
Radio Wars, Pt. 1
If you’ve been listening to KLBJ-FM’s morning show lately and wondering whythere’s been so many, shall we say, negative comments regarding Will Sexton,
here’s the scoop. It appears that KLBJ deejay Chris Stone had Steamboat regular
Billy White (have you heard about Steamboat’s upcoming “White Christmas”? I’ll
get to that next week) do an interview and acoustic show on the station
recently and came to the Steamboat looking for more acts to have appear on the
air. He expressed an interest in Will, who happened to be sitting nearby, but
when Steamboat’s Danny Crooks introduced Will and Stone, they mixed like oil
and water. Sexton didn’t see why he should appear on a station he didn’t listen
to (saying that all their good people were now at KGSR) and Stone couldn’t
understand why anyone would want to turn down a chance for free publicity.
Crooks says things got worse from there, with Stone repeatedly pointing out
that you don’t have to like a station’s playlist to plug your band on it, and
Sexton making it clearer and clearer just how little he liked KLBJ (something
like “if there were 18 pre-set knobs on my radio, it still wouldn’t be
on there!”). In the ensuing days, KLBJ’s morning crew has been having a field
day with Will, making references to such things as “Charlie, the nice
Sexton,” and gosh darn it, I think it’s up to me to suggest a way to stop
all this silliness. This being the holiday season and all, I propose that KLBJ
offer to make a nice big donation to Will’s favorite charity if he comes on the
air for an interview and acoustic set (Did I say stop? I guess I meant
escalate).
Radio Wars, Pt. 2
The rivalry continues between New Rock (“don’t call us `alternative!'”)stations 101X and KNACK. At the 101X-mas Bash Monday night at La Zona Rosa, the
KNACK van showed up outside and deejays within tried to keep people from
entering by offering to trade them Green Day tickets (for the band’s show at
San Antonio’s Freeman Coliseum on Friday 8) for their 101X-mas tix. 101X-er Ray
“Ray-Dog” Seggern popped out to say hello to his old friends from KNACK, then
came up with “an idea for a little counter-terrorism.” The Dog started
intercepting tickets at the door before they were torn up and started sending
people out to the KNACK van for Green Day tickets, ending up with enough to
throw out to the audience at the X-mas show as he introduced Seed’s
performance.
Movers and Shakers
Los Lobos were said to be completely ablaze at their KGSR anniversaryperformance last Friday, especially during their encore of cover tunes like
“Cinnamon Girl” and “She’s About a Mover.” Of the latter song, though, the band
announced that they “wished that Doug Sahm could be here,” since they only knew
one verse of the damn song. Anyone who left the show afterwards and walked down
the street to Antone’s got to indulge in a nice tall glass of irony, as Sahm
had been at that club all the time, a mere two blocks from the Lobos who had
been calling his name. (One patron of both shows reports that Sahm got a hearty
chuckle out of the matter.) If you missed the show, by the way, the station
will be broadcasting it Saturday night from 7-10pm. On another KGSR
party-related note, those who wondered why the fire alarms went off that night
can blame special guests Del Amitri, who tripped the thing while having a smoke
in the dressing room.
The Many Trials of Hamell
Ed Hamell got everything but sleep during his half-a-week-long return toAustin. Aside from his Electric Lounge show, he ended up in Pat McDonald’s
studio with Wammo working on demos for the latter, stayed up way too late at
parties (like mine), and did a last-minute set at the Hole in the Wall on
Monday night (things ran early since Jon Sanchez didn’t show up; perhaps he was
ill and had to make an emergency visit to
Dr. Raul Cantu Lopez).
Year of the Gringo
The Third Annual Kerrville Music Awards were announced last Thursday, with“Best Independent CD/Cassette” and “Best Texas Album” going, respectively, to
Ray Wylie Hubbard’s Loco Gringo’s Lament and Robert Earl Keen’s
Gringo Honeymoon. Nanci Griffith’s Flyer won as “National Album
of the Year”; note how her last name starts with the same first three letters
as the word “gringo.” Jimmie Dale Gilmore took “Songwriter of the Year” and
“Male Vocalist,” Iris Dement got “Best Female Vocalist;” “Best Group or Band”
went, again, to Robert Earl Keen (or, more accurately, the R.E.K. Band),
“Instrumentalist of the Year” was Erik Hokkanen, “Best Duo” went to Trout
Fishing in America (who also snagged the Children’s Entertainer trophy). No
award was given for Best Pot Bust/Entrapment.
Mixed Notes
Sixteen Deluxe’s latest video has become the first clip from Trance Records tobe accepted by MTV, with a 120 Minutes debut set for January 7. Craig
Stewart at Trance says he’s pleased that MTV finally accepted one of the
label’s videos and that “this will give the punker-than-us people another
reason to hate us”… The Teen Titans have an album release party (and, they
say, a CD-ROM release party; how things have changed since that Atari video
game where Journey were a bunch of little squares on your TV screen) at Sound
Exchange this Friday at 5pm. For those of you who are CD-ROM crazy, I should
mention that Bill Wise (aka Nashville Bill, of the Gay Sportscasters and
numerous other pursuits) is starring in the Discovery Channel’s edutainment
CD-ROM Operation: Weather Disaster. There’s more about that in our
multimedia section… Hoot Nights are back with a vengeance, it seems. Next
Wednesday at the Hole in the Wall is D. Boon Hoot, a tribute to the Minutemen,
featuring Prescott Curlywolf, Texas Instruments, Cactus Smack Conspiracy, Brown
Hornet, Swine King, Gourds, Peglegasus, Good, Patsy Cline’s Mess, Can’t Have
Katherine, and Paul Newman. Proceeds will go to the Pediatric AIDS
Foundation… Ian Moore can’t keep out of trouble. He broke his leg during a
tumultuous racquetball game (Yeah, and Joe Ely fell off a fence trying to get a
kitten out of a tree. Right.) with Bukka Allen and is sporting a lovely purple
cast and matching painted purple toenails (and probably a nice purple leg
underneath. Ick!) His big New Year’s Modern Day Masquerade with Mojo Nixon is
still on though, which is good since otherwise this looks like a pretty shabby
city to be in during the changeover to 1996… Gear Records have announced
their first release, an EP by Happyface, to be released late next month. Expect
it to come in a really bright cover, as their press release was so garish I
thought Jones had another album coming out… Last week I told you about the
101X-mas CD. This week it’s Generation X-mas, a cassette-only
release from local Monkey Boy Records, the lineup of this one includes True
Light Beavers, Gut, Tallboy, Liquid Mice (doing “Frosty the Snowman”), Unhung
Heroes, Fuck Emos (“Do They Know It’s Christmas?”), Deep Sombreros, Korngarten,
10-inch Maria, Brown Hornet, Myra Manes (“X-mas Is Very Uncomfortable in
Hell”), and the Pocket FishRmen. It’s gonna be an ugly holiday season, ain’t
it?… Music, music everywhere. Quack’s, a new music club, has opened over
Quackenbush. Windsor for the Derby, who are finishing up work on their Trance
debut, and Denton’s American Analog Set are playing there Friday, for
instance… I keep forgetting to mention the new Pancakes With Cheese CD since
I don’t have it up here at the office. You can get one from Charles, somewhere
on the Drag, or ask him to play you an acoustic sample… Speaking of acoustic,
Home for the Holidays is an acoustic show that benefits Community Partners For
the Homeless, Inc. Tish Hinojosa, Storyville, Kris McKay, Kelly Willis, and
Charlie Sexton will be playing and it takes place this Friday at La Zona Rosa.
Expect a jam featuring all of the above… Diverse lineups your bag? Try the
one at the Swap & Bop flea market this Sunday at Waterloo Brewing: The
Bells of Joy, Los Pinkys, Tony Maserati & His Barebones Rockabilly Band,
Big Town Swingtet (featuring members of High Noon) and the Gourds… Sincola is
the official opening act for Evil Stig at Liberty Lunch this Saturday, but
don’t be surprised if Pork show up on the bill as well. According to the folks
at the Lunch, Joan Jett loves Pork (insert your own joke here) and has told the
club to try and snag ’em for the gig… The December 2 issue of
Billboard, in their section on producers, features a bit on Paul Leary.
Of course, so did the Chronicle weeks ago. Those darn copycats!…
Remember that picture I ran awhile back of the giant, armadillo-shaped disco
ball? It’s a key element of the decor at the Texas Gambling Hall and Casino in
Las Vegas. Next time you see Dale Watson, you can ask him how big it really is,
since he just played a week-long stint there… Besides being the Grey Ghost’s
birthday, tonight (Thursday) is Alternative Country Thursday, with a bit of an
unusual lineup at the Continental Club: Prescott Curlywolf, Showoffs, and
Slobberbone. You can also run by the Continental to get the second issue of
Peter Blackstock’s No Depression: the Alternative Country Quarterly before it hits the stores. You know, I just keep wondering; if Steve Wertheimer
manages to keep the Continental Club open until he’s 90 and senile and wearing
Depends, will he have to change the name to the Incontinental Club?…
– Contributors: Raoul Hernandez, Andy Langer, Margaret Moser
This article appears in December 8 • 1995 and December 8 • 1995 (Cover).