It’s amazing the lengths that some bands at Emo’s will go to in order to not
get paid. Anal Cunt didn’t do anything to lessen the tensions at the
club last week when, barely a minute into the set, the singer managed to knock
his own guitarist out cold. Soon after he returned to consciousness, the band
threw a pitcher into the crowd, sending a club employee to the hospital to get
stitches. In all, the band played a total of about four songs, and the club
decided that the band’s paycheck would instead be used to pay the hospital
bill. Compared to that debacle, the Only Bowie CD release was a picnic.
All that went wrong there was that the CDs weren’t ready (an Austin release
party where the product is actually present is quite a rare bird), some
irreplaceable equipment ended up headed for the airport instead of the club –
thus postponing the six-band show for around an hour – one band had to be
yanked offstage mid-song, and another only got to play one tune. Practically an
unqualified success.
Leave Your Family at Aqua Fest…
The official word has been handed down from the Lollapalooza people that the
massive tour, this year featuring Mighty Mighty Bosstones, The Jesus Lizard,
Beck, Stinkhead O’Connor, Pavement, Cypress Hill, Hole, and Sonic
Youth on the main stage, will be coming to Austin. The place is Southpark
Meadows and the date is August 9. There’s a Dallas show the following day (at
the Starplex Ampitheatre), and then the show’s on to Phoenix and L.A. All dates
and bands are subject to change, and no doubt they will. Especially since
Courtney Love is involved.
White Rab-Byte
I thought viruses came from monkeys. The computer bug that came from New
Orleans via the internet-crazy band Machine Screw continues to infect
the minds of Austin clubowners. The net linkup that’s been set up at the
Electric Lounge since the band played there is Robby the Robot compared to what
the White Rabbit has got set up now. The latter venue has just announced the
completion of its Internet Global Broadcasting Facility, a permanent system of
audio visual net broadcasting equipment that is “hard-wired” into the club.
Their system improves over previous attempts, by Rolling Stone and
others, by increasing the number of frames per second to a smoothly watchable
level (they send 16 frames per second where earlier broadcasters used only
four, producing a “choppy” effect), and improving the audio quality. The shows
broadcast by the White Rabbit can be seen via the World Wide Web by using a
piece of free public domain software called C U See Me, available through
Cornell University’s WWW Home Page. The club also points out another benefit of
the system: it helps them attract acts that normally would play in a larger
venue. Hey, it don’t get no bigger than world-wide, baby!
Mixed Notes
You can stop calling now, the phone lines are closed. How to Serve
People, the band that wouldn’t play live until they were signed (not to be
confused with Prescott Curlywolf, who just wound up that way) have got a
single deal in the works with Trance Syndicate, so you can expect to see them
in clubs soon. Well, you can see them in clubs now, since the members are all
in other bands, right?… Speaking of seven-inchers there’s three new ones on
the way from Unclean within “a week or 10 days,” according to the Unclean guy
himself, Roger Morgan. Those’ll be new singles from the Inhalants,
Crown Roast (their single as Rig was a brainbiter, but the cover of
their CD scared me), and the Dropouts. Also coming within a week is
(wait for it!) the full-length Stretford CD. I’ve heard about half the
tracks on this, and it’s a keeper… I don’t have any real details at present,
but Lee Ving announced from the stage at last Sunday’s Emo’s benefit
that Fear would be recording a new album soon and doing it in Texas…
Ty Gavin (formerly of the Next and other solo projects),
guitarist Alan Black (formerly of Sharon Tate’s Baby, The
Droogs, and numerous other bands), and the Geraci brothers: guitarist Ken Geraci bass player Dan Geraci & drummer Marc Geraci (formerly of the Titans and Restless Natives) have formed the
Sons, who will play new stuff as well as tunes from Ty’s Next days.
Gavin and Black, who met in L.A., have just made their way back across the
Arizona desert to Austin… The Stubbs’ BBQ Jam Reunion is another
benefit for the ailing sauce king. That’ll be tonight at Hank’s Roadhouse Cafe,
with Tex�na Dames, Solid Senders, and others from 9pm-2am…
Chronicle contributor Stephen W. McGuire passes along this little
tidbit of information: Since July of last year a “cross-functional team” of
City Parks and Recreational Department Staff have been working on a “special
events policy” that will limit all parks events involving more than 500 people
to Auditorium Shores or a larger park. Put simply, this may mean no more
birthday parties for a certain lop-eared donkey named Eeyore in Pease Park. The
proposal comes before the Parks Board at a public hearing on May 23 (next
Tuesday) in the Town Lake Center assembly room… The four members of the
Charlie Sexton Sextet are being joined by Poi Dog Pondering violinist Susan Voelz for a national tour. The fivesome begin their
journey on the first of June with a Dallas performance at Trees. The New
York Times couldn’t praise the “third phase” of Sexton’s career much higher
than in a recent review that stated “With his husky, earnest baritone and a
penchant for marchlike, mid-tempo tunes, [Sexton] sometimes comes across as
Bruce Springsteen transplanted to the heartland.”… More benefits:
Ian Moore plays for the Texas Special Olympics next Wednesday at UT’s
Memorial Stadium, with tickets available at Bank One and Mr. Gatti’s. I wonder
if you’ll be able to hear Ian from Don Henley‘s house… Pop Culture
Press is having a benefit for KOOP radio this Sunday at the Electric
Lounge. That’s an early show; check listings for lineup… In-store
performances this week include Dale Watson at MusicMania and King
Friday at Waterloo Records, both at 5pm Friday, and Billy Bacon &
the Forbidden Pigs Saturday at 3pm at MusicMania… Van Wilks has a
new CD, Soul of a Man, out on Texas 51 Records. His release party is
this Saturday at Babe’s. Next door, Walt Lewis celebrates the release of
Wrong, Wrong, Wrong the same night… The Javelin Boot-hosted
Free for All at the Hole in the Wall finds them teaming with members of
Cotton Mather to form the new sounds of “Cotton Boot.” Think they’ll do
any Shoes covers?
This article appears in May 19 • 1995 and May 19 • 1995 (Cover).