BULLET THE BLUE SKY
• Shortly before TCB went to press Tuesday, the Church of the Friendly Ghost announced it will soon be shutting down due to zoning violations. A call to the Eastside experimental-music haven was not immediately returned, but programmer Aaron Mace said earlier, via e-mail, he hoped to transfer as many bookings after the unspecified cease-and-desist date to Beerland as possible.
• Blondie Chaplin, one of the Rolling Stones‘ backup singers, has been warming up for their upcoming tour by recording locally with Tosca, and surfaced Sunday at the Continental Club to enjoy Heybale!. Also watching were Elana Fremerman, fresh from the Bob Dylan tour, and Chip Taylor and Carrie Rodriguez. The Stones’ tour, which lands in Houston Dec. 1, is (again) rumored to be their last.
• Local sound collagists Single Frame have just released the Vinyl Disaster Mixes 12-inch, with a remix of “People Are Germs” by Nick Zinner of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, to go along with new LP Body/End/Basement (see “Texas Platters”). Just as industriously, their friends at Super!Alright! media have posted a video for “There’s an Exact Copy of This in the Basement” at www.singleframe.net, and cooked up multiprojector visuals for the trio’s tour, which stops at Emo’s Tuesday.
• Congratulations to McCallum High School, recent recipient of $7,000 in grants from the Grammy and Gibson foundations. Given for excellence in music education, the grants went to 42 schools nationwide and seven in Texas; local Grammy winner Shawn Colvin serenaded Austin’s only winners at Monday’s awards ceremony.
• Performance-pop kewpie dolls the TunaHelpers had to rent an expensive van for their five-week June jaunt through the East Coast and Midwest. For gas and meal money, they’re headlining their own benefit Saturday at Trophy’s over acrobats, modern dance, DJs, karaoke, and the bands Fine Fifteen and Hot as Shits. All this for only $5.
This article appears in May 13 • 2005.