Flanfire

Okay, already.  Our first photo here is Mingo Fishtrap – definitely NOT a teenaged band, but one worth mentioning for their Monday night Antone’s residency that is soon coming to an end.  And throughout this missal we may mention other bands whose guys have been shaving for more than a year or two.  But let’s get real — Austin is beginning to recognize the genuine talents and creativity of some of its younger musicians.  Now Flanfire, of course, has been writing about teen music in Austin for years, and so we are more than glad that people like Margaret Moser and Roggie Baer are giving props today.

So here we have the members of Edison Chair taking a little break from the hard work they did on a recent Sunday afternoon at Jovita’s, helping Roggie and ALTWorld host an all-afternoon showcase with half a dozen or so bands and four judges evaluating all of the younger musicians and more.  Ms. Moser was indeed one of the judges, as were Harmoni Kelley (my favorite red-headed bassist), Billy Harvey (whose own recognizable talent may soon be eclipsed by his production skills), and designer-photographer Mark Alba.  [Don't they all look superbly intent!]

As Ms. Moser reports in her own Chronicle blog, the bands (I missed half the show for reasons explained below) included South of Center (12-year-old funksters), Euphoria (winners of the Austin High battle of the bands) and a band I heard and liked — playing as an instrumental quartet, Team NEXT (whom I first met at Austin CAN Academy over a year ago), Edison Chair itself, the Fireants — fresh from Old Settlers, followed by a 30-minute jam that all the guys were talking about afterwards, the Carson Brock Group (just back from Germany), and the band I was most glad to see for the first time, the Cafe Racers, featuring Taylor Bartholemew [bottom left] and Brandon Mays (plus Sam on bass and Damian on drums).  This band really brought it — and Taylor writes good songs.

Earlier on Sunday, I had stopped by Jo’s Coffees on South Congress to visit with Ruby Jane Smith (and her lovely mom JoBelle) — and to hear a little of her band — Lefty Nafziger, Willie Pipkin, Lindsay Greene, and Damien Llanes (a more than passable bunch).  But I spent the better part of the day at the Second Annual Shotgun Party Chili Cook-off (I refuse to report on the contest other than to note that Kinky Friedman was one  of three chili judges — and that my two favorites did not even place).  This crowd photo shows people of all ages having a wonderful time — and why not?  Great food, great music, and a great bunch of friends having a blast together.  I got to see sets from J.W.W. and the Prospectors (bottom left — with Heather Rae on fiddle), Deadman, Leo Rondeau and his marvelous band, and Graham Wilkinson (dreads) and the Underground Township (featuring PJ on lead guitar — whose other band is Dub Kids).  Every set I heard was just downright fine and dandy!  And after all of that, I headed over to the Saxon for the Shelley King Band (see my review of Floramay Holliday’s CD).

 OK, that was Sunday.  Saturday was just as wild and crazy — with much of the action out at Threadgill’s World HQ in the form of a benefit concert hosted by none other than Margaret Moser.  Here we have the revitalized El Gaupos (with horns) and the Diving Captain (the band my pal Hoe’s daughter and her friends came to see).  Lots of others had played earlier, and I totally missed the Daze and Blues Mafia playing some Cinco de Mayo event over near Town Lake.

Now I did not take my camera out on Friday, but I have to mention sets at Momos from Jarrod Dickenson (playing solo) and Josh and Jake Halverson (Jake is Josh’s brother who is better known for his bronco riding on the rodeo circuit — but I like his singing, too).  Those, though, were lead-ins to the magnificent show at the Saxon Pub by Jackie Bristow and her hot band — George Reiff, Dony Wynn, and Aussie guitar god Mark Punch.  [But I take way too many photos of Jackie already!]

The photos below here are of Erin Ivey at the Parish (with Jon Dee Graham way down below) — the highlight had to be their duet, if for no other reason than that Jon Dee had never met Erin or impresario Brian Conway until he was asked to do the show with her.  Clearly, the magic was there — and Jon Dee showed why this “miracle man” should be one of the world’s most widely revered people who sing.  The other photo here is of Mike Harmeier and Burton Lee (Mike and the Moonpies) at Uncle Billy’s Second Anniversary Party on Thursday afternoon — Shotgun Party, Leo Rondeau and Slowtrain were also on the bill that day.  

Now here (left) is a major reason (other than the fine music from Jimi Lee and friends) to go to Hyde Park at Westgate on Tuesdays (Tony and his fried chicken are also there on Mondays).  The restaurant also has Sunday night swing (often with the Marshall Ford Swing Band — but look out — the texas Swing Kings will be coming soon!) — and may opt for another night of music here and there (how about late-night weekend jazz or whatever after the movies to nosh on HP’s famed snack foods)?

Wednesday nights are fast becoming Soul Track Mind parties at TC’s Lounge.  These events are not yet as crowded as Mondays with Little Elmore Reed, but rowdier for sure.  That’s mainly because of lead singer/lover Donovan Keith, who writhes on the floor, prances and dances, and falls into the loving arms of his womenfolk (see top right above).  And I have to mention George DeVore’s new project, the Twalls — who are playing late night Mondays in May at the Saxon but whom I saw at One 2 One (a really cool venue on 5th and Brazos with a great rooftop).

Finally here we have BettySoo playing accordian and singing harmonies with Charlie Faye after her own acoustic set at Momos on Tuesday night.  And, yes, I did see that little bit of Mingo Fishtrap after Stonehoney’s set at Antone’s last Monday (well, they ARE using Mingo’s drummer a lot).  Those California refugees will be on the road most of the summer — unlike Flanfire.

Now just for the record, I DID get out of the house a little bit this week too — Jimi Lee with Kevin Hollingsworth on Tuesday at Hyde Park, and Thursday was wild — but my camera battery was totally dead — so I may as well tell what I know about that night.  OK — I parked at House Wine, walked to Flipnotics for the Troy Campbell showcase that featured Will Cope and Lincoln Durham (out solo these days and sounding manly!) and a full set from Troy (do people here even realize just how good this guy is?) — and a surprise visit from Ray Wylie Hubbard, who is producing Lincoln’s new CD and has been the Itasca native’s mentor for years.  Ray Wylie (that old snake farmer) is playing Shady Grove next Thursday with Lincoln opening, by the way.

Then it was back to House Wine for a little bit of Kelley Mickwee (just back from Italy with Kevin Welch) and Andrew Hardin — and then over to Floramay Holliday’s CD release.  It was like old home week, with Kris Brown on guitar, Chip Dolan on keyboards, Arte Passes on pedal steel, Shelley King on harmony vocals along with Gabor Racz (Floramay’s hubbie who also plays harmonica), Greg Baumgardner on bass, and Vinnie Ambrosone on drums.  And later I got a private, one song concert from Austin newcomer Jessie Torrisi and her cellist, Alissa Schram at the Irie Bean right at closing time (I had missed the duo’s actual set, you see!).  Heck, they had me singing along!

Thanks to a “chance” encounter at Flipnotics,  Flanfire has become friends with Scottish Western Swing  King Stretch MacFayden and the lovely Gemma Donald from the band Stretch Dawrson and the Mending Hearts who just performed with the Texas Swing Kings at the Old Settlers Festival (among a number of gigs in the Lone Star State).  Stretch had a couple of days off in Austin, so I took him out on the town for some major fun and music.

Last Monday, for example, was the second anniversary of Ming’s Cafe in Austin  – yes, the same Ming’s that graced Houston’s Montrose district for over a decade — and owner (and good buddy — see photo) Fai Jow provided his friends and patrons with an amazing gumbo on top of his tasty Chinese dishes.  Ming’s is one of Austin’s hottest Monday night music venues, thanks to the Mingtones and special guests, and this night was no exception.  Pedal steel genius Gary Newcomb showed ow the instrument works in the jazz idiom, performing with Brad Houser, Eldridge Goins, and an all-star cast that included Jane Bond, Matt Hubbard, and Cole El-Saleh – and later it was Laura Scarborough showing she too can entertain on a drum kit (or just with her hands in the air).  In the house for the annual photo were such luminaries as Shelley King (new CD on the way that is awesome, baby!), Carolyn Wonderland, and others too numerous to mention.

 Later that evening, Stretch and I stopped by the Hole in the Wall to catch a preview of the big Tuesday night bash at the Continental Club at which sets by the Lonesome Heroes and Shotgun Party were wrapped around the big CD release party for Leo Rondeau (see our review, archived at this site).  Mind you, this show came right after the historic Hippie Hour and founder and sequined songbird Toni Price stuck around for the whole shebang (as did earth mother/barn dance queen Leeann Atherton and many of the Hippie Hour regulars).  Now Stretch, being an old friend of Greg Garing, is also an old friend of Shotgun Party’s Katy Rose Cox, who has also been doing shows this week in Austin with the Maybelles (including Happy Hour at the Contintental the very next night).

But let’s get down to basics here — top left below is Shotgun Party with Leo, Missy Beth, and Vaughn Walters of the Shake ‘Em Ups celebrating the debut of fellow Shake-Em-Up Andrew Thomas Austin-Petersen as Shotgun Party bassist and sometime vocalist.  Top right – same group dancing and singing along with the dancing and singing crazy audience.  Bottom left – Leeann and Toni having a ball; bottom middle -Katy Rose with the Maybelles; bottom right – Leo Rondeau and Jenny Parrott.

 Okay — Stretch was already in Bandera on Wednesday evening when Flanfire kicked off a stellar evening that began with the bluegrass trio the Maybelles (Katy Rose with Jan Bell on guitar, harmonica, and British accent, and Eureka Springs, Arkansas, native Melissa Carper on upright bass — and all three on vocals (see photo at top right below with Landry McMeans of the Lonesome Heroes with Melissa and Jan and a handsome devil in the middle). 

Then it was over to Antone’s for a powerful set from The Tiny Tin Hearts (top left below) who OWN that room with their wall of sound, followed by Chris Brecht (bottom left) with ALL of his Dead Flowers Band, and the wonderful Jess Klein (with Scrappy Jud Newcomb, no kin to Gary, apparently) who showcased songs from her forthcoming CD done at Aerie Studios here in town.  Later, a bunch of us went over to Momo’s Club for a late-night set from Deadman, featuring bassist John Michael Schoepf along with frontman Steven Collins, Scott Davis on lead guitar, Kevin McCullough on harmony vocals, Todd Pertll on pedal steel, and with special guest (from the Dead Flowers Band) Matt Mollica on Hammond B-3 (which he lugged up the stairs at Momos after a hot set with Brecht at Antone’s). 

UNCLE LUCIUS – BRINGING BACK THE SIXTIES!

This record makes me cry!  Stephen Doster has performed a major miracle with the help of four young Texans who were willing to learn from a master.  And now they are on tour and we will not see them for weeks — and it is killing me.  At least I have Deadman as consolation (and a big dose of Dustin Welch — and yes a lot more good Austin music).  But this is like Canned Heat meets The Band meets the Allman Brothers (especially with Red Young on stage at their CD release).

Let’s start with the cover art — grainy photos from a time gone by portraying visions from several of the songs — “Lift Your Head Up” (the title cut), “A Million Ways,” “One Day My Soul Will Fly Again.”   This stuff looks more like Stephen Foster than even Stephen Doster.  There can be no contest either locally or worldwide for best album cover art and design — this is just beautiful. 

Then there’s the band — Big Sandy’s Kevin Galloway, with his hair and beard grown out, on lead vocals and rhythm guitar, San Antonio’s Joshua Dane Greco on drums and percussion — yeah, he’s a jazz player in his first rock and roll band, and he grew out his hair as part of the “look” this band exhibits in spades!  Cypress Creek HIgh’s (I used to watch him play football!) Michael Carpenter on lead guitar, vocals, and harmonica, and yes he has a LOT more hair than in his football days, but more to the point he also uses a bow to play the guitar and (yes, I saw the Yardbirds with Beck and Page) with much more creativity than the guy who later became the backbone of Led Zeppelin.  Hal Jon Vorpahl on bass with the curly long hair (as long as John Michael’s from Deadman, but much curlier) and the hat. 

And, yeah, the band SMOKES as the guys grind out their Southern Classic Rock with all of the fervor of Mylon Lefevre in his prime.  As at the CD release (see video below), the band has help from producer Stephen Doster on guitar, Mark Wilson on alto and baritone sax, Ed McNames on trumpet, Red Young on keyboards and organ, and Devon Guilford, Sonia Moore, and Decamp on backing vocals (only Guilford was at th CD release, and she was flat out amazing!). 

At Threadgill’s I met the parents of most of the band – all solid Texas folk who are the salt of the Earth.  No wonder these guys have been able to put together a band that is beyond time.  Like Drew Smith’s Lonely Choir CD, there is not a cut here that is not a hit in its own right.  The crowd at Threadgills, by the way, was pegged as maybe the best ever for any show at the venue — and yes a good bit of that was spillover fom the sparkling opening set from Hector Ward and the Big Time (who will have their own CD release party at Threadgills on May 9th). 

There are, as there just about have to be in such timeless music, lots of gospel overtones in nearly every song, starting with the title cut, “Pick Your Head Up,” which is an exhortation (that there is still time to get away) that ends with a kicked-up verse of “I’ll Fly Away.”  Now this is very different songwriting from that of a Dustin Welch – yes, there is plenty of meat here, but this record is all about the SOUND — and the feelings it evokes. 

 Galloway has a voice as distinctive as that of John Fogerty — “Everybody Got Soul,” though has layers of guitars that remind one of Buffalo Springfield’s “Mr. Soul.”  Here the line is “the only one controlling my future is me….”  “Liquor Store” is a tale about losing — at the track, in life in general — and I’m searching for grace in the bottle tonight …   “Hold on Your Heart” is a rocker that ought to get people up onto the dance floor.

One of my favorites here is “San Bernadino” (where the Jokers play) — this is classicf Bob Seger music!  Another story song, that is — slowed down, opens with harmonica and organ (thanks, Red Young!) … “couldn’t see the stars in the Milky Way….”   But he moved to San Bernadino and became a local legend.

“Mississippi Highway” is a classic blues tribute to all of those who have gone before on the southern music circuit — and a lament that “they sent my jobs off to Japan.”  “Ain’t It the Same?” opens with a fistfight on a five dollar bill.  This is a song about a guy who “”used to have a woman and two more on the side ….”  but they ”cut my hair last winter, ain’t it the same?”

Carpenter sings lead on “Fire on the Rooftop,” and his Steve Winwood style tenor provides quite a contrast to Galloway’s gruss baritone.  But wow what a guitar solo!  “A Million Ways” is a dirge (opens with bass and organ) about how the powerful seek to deceive, while “Coming Down” is a flat-out rocker that opens with drums and then the guitar’s wail.  This is more city music .. “I know the believers and they say it’s coming down…”  and more smoking guitar.  The CD ends with “All Your Gold,” which opens quietly with these lines: “If I could stand out in the cold with all your gold in my hands, I’d throw it far as I could see, turn around and walk  away….”   and goes on to speak of one day “my soul will fly again….”   The pace picks up, and the guitar comes in and you realize this is a modern gospel song of the highest order.  Play this record loud on a day when you can just sit back and watch the clouds … drinking Dublin Dr Pepper and eating Moon Pies, playing baseball on a real sandlot and drinking grape Kool-Aid and talking about  nothin.  This record is grits and Virginia ham and old-fashioned barbecue music …                                                                        

 Let’s see — here’s a photo of Sarah [okay, they are BOTH named Sarah, and I am not sure which is which, but this is Sarah from Montgomery as opposed to Sarah from Corpus Christi) of the Reliques at the Hole in the Wall last Wednesday.  I was admittedly prepared to toss these two off until I heard them sing -- and now I am eager to get out to their next big show (not Momos on April 21 but the Living Water International Benefit on April 25th which also has my new friend David Ramirez on the bill).  There is just something good about this music and the women who are making it.

The duo opened for Greg Garing (shown below with his beloved Jaime) and Stretch Dawrson and the Mending Hearts.  Greg, by the way, has played his last Austin show for a while as he is moving to California where he has a bunch of shows lined up.  But if you see him before he heads west, just ask about his health (amazingly better!).  You may have seen the video I put up on my Youtube site of Stretch and Gemma Donald, the 20-year-old fiddler from the Shetland Islands who is fast becoming an international sensation (and she has family in Houston so may be in Texas more often if we just invite her). 

Then there's the photo of Kelley Mickwee and Savannah Welch singing harmonies for brother Dustin at his CD release Saturday night at the Continental.  What a show that was, with Eldridge Goins on drums and Andrew Duplantis on bass (plus Trisha Keefer on fiddle and Kyle Ellison on guitar).  Regular bassist Joe Beckham is on the road with Papa Mali (way to go, Joe!), and yes Dustin did get Jeremy Nail, Kacy Crowley, and Kevin Welch to help out a little here and there, but this was Savannah's real debut as lead backup singer (no Drew Smith) -- amazing energy plus a maturing voice that just cuts through. 

Next up is a photo of a painting from George Hampton (father of Noelle) taken at athe opening party for his exhibition at Z Tejas ... this one is of the Broken Spoke, and there are more to come featuring other historic Austin venues.  Not bad for a lifelong Californian who moved to Texas four years ago.

And here (above) we have Phil Roach with the horn section -- Mitch Vontes on saxes, Matt Price on trombone, and David Gilden on trumpet -- of the very hot band Hector Ward and the Big Time, who will have their own CD release in May after opening in April for Uncle Lucius at Threadgills.  This was my first time to see Kai's older brother play, and I was duly impressed.  My pal Scott Beardsley, whom I know through keyboardist Thomas Mann, is the bassist in this large band, which also has Dave Farris on congas, Mike McGurk on drums, and Kheli Kitts on backing vocals (a job shared with Alison Beardsley when she is not off in Boulder getting educated).  Hector -- whose prior band was Sigmond Fraud (with my old pal Long Distance Lance) -- also plays guitar and sings and dances -- all in a wheelchair that seems like a prop he is so vivacious in it.  This band has some GREAT songs, and Hector's voice is so strong he can cover both Elvis and Johnny Cash (and probably Bob Seger too), but he reminds me more of an Hispanic Omar Dykes.  This band truly is Big Time!

Had to throw in a photo of Dave Wilcox and his wonderful Gretsch -- from Brothers and Sisters (who were sans sister at the Continental Club as they opened for Li'l Cap'n Travis -- my first chance in a while to see Gary Newcomb and as always he does not disappoint.  [An aside -- got to see him playing jazz pedal steel at Mings' Second Anniversary Party along with El Goins, Brad Houser, and an all-star cast of characters -- chief among whom is owner and motorcyclist Fai Jow, whose coconut soup is to die for!  But for this party he brought out some mighty fine Louisiana gumbo!]  Gary is off to Holland next week for a Bruce Robison show across the pond. 

And here are Brennen Leigh and Sly Barrack jamming together on Telecasters along with Missy Beth (fiddle and vocals) and her badass band that also featured ATAP’s debut (that’s Andrew Thomas Austin-Petersen for novices) on electric bass.  The lovely women at the right — Tanya Winch, Elizabeth Wills (who only played percussion this evening), Karen Chisholm, who had invited me to the show, and Amanda Hickey – were all on stage at First Friday at Gateway Church along with the wonderful Jess Klein — and actually several other fine performers.  Just for the record, headlining their May 1 extravaganza will be Deadman – a band I really love.