Flanfire

So I was at Momo’s Club tonight (Monday) and ran into my pal Ben Mallott, and he was telling me about his trip to Dallas to see the Longhorns beat North Carolina at the new Cowboys Stadium on Saturday and how after the game he was trekking about town and ran into Graham Wilkinson who was playing a show there.  And so I got the message that it was long past time for me to post comments about Graham’s (to date) masterpiece, “Yearbook,” which Graham had given me a copy of (late even then) at his Halloween party at the Ghost Room.

Truth be told, one reason I had not reviewed it was it has been in my car CD player ever since, and I normally put records (CD’s are records) there AFTER I have finished a review.  I flat-out LOVE the Underground Township, and Graham — dreads and all — is just about larger than life.  But then I know a little something about living with more than one spirit inside … Yeah, there’s enough reggae in this big blond white guy to attract the likes of P. J. Herrington, whom I know through Kris Brown and Mr. Brown, to play guitars.  Other official band members (the “senior class” on the record yearbook) include Matt Morris on drums, Wayne Dalchau on bass, Chris Stringer on keys, and Patrick Herzfeld on drums — but there are often horns, and here and there buddies of Graham (like Alejandro and Hayes Carll) who show up to sing or maybe rap on the furniture in time.  The M&M Horns (Margaret Whitt and Meg Kemp, also known for their work in Jabarvy), Nick Warrenchuk (trombone), Mark Wilson (saxes), and Leila Hanley (alto sax and flute) are on this collection of songs.  For the whole schoolfull, get the record!

Because this column is all about SONGS!  “Let It Go” encourages us to “laugh until life makes sense” when things around us threaten to swallow us whole (such as the death of a daughter or a brother).  “Boys and Girls” yearns for a simpler time, “before the false truths were written in stone.”  After all, what we face in real life today is “criminals as politicians,” and “all this pain in so many lives….”  But this record is all about the “Ragamuffin,” Graham’s brother Aaron, and on this powerful song Lloyd Maines lends his considerable skill on pedal steel.  Indeed, the whole record was inspired (Graham tells us) by a band trip to New York City to play a gig with some of his brother’s friends that turned into a month-long tour in the summer of ‘08.

On the other hand, the record is also about Graham’s big loving heart – songs like “Star Blue – Spend All My Time with You” and “Our 1st Night,” tender love songs (okay, I just see some Red Skelton soft shoe on Star Blue).  Another one of my favorites is “Ghost,” one of many songs here where Graham talks about the discord in today’s world and wonders, “why don’t we love one another?”  The big guy with the big heart sings this great song, “Blame,” when you want to blame the mess on just about everybody else, but if you want to let love win the day you just let them blame it on you and get over it.  My decade in Baton Rouge (and eternity in Houston) makes me smile at “From Covington,” even though “sister Melody has got some felonies, thirteen class A, in all,” when the one I know best got busted mostly for walking to the Randall’s after curfew to get a soda.

“Blank Pages” is just Graham and a piano in that sepia-sounding effect singing, “scraping with worn fingertips and broken nails, I scream, ‘the living stay hungry, the dead they are not alone…..”  And so, after you listen to the 15-song set all the way through, you find yourself back at track 1, a rockin’ number, “Watertowers & Windmills,” a song about coming to grips with things you cannot understand when the world seems about to fall totally apart (the water tower is two days shy of running dry, and the old windmill has stiopped singing it’s song….”  And “Sunrise,” a toe-tapping, horn-happy ditty that must have been written on the bus on the way back from New York that ends with the sounds of real live Boys and Girls (and of course the intro to that reggae song).

I have to close out these comments by mentioning, “Personality Disorder,” a tap-dance number reminiscent of Richard Gere in Chicago — tap-dancing through the muck and mire of a world “so unbelievably full of idiotic super-natural-light-hearted wild turkey babble ….”  And I am brought back to Halloween, with Bobby Perkins playing bass wearing a grass skirt and me in my Zoot suit …

And that brings me back to why Ben and I were at Momo’s this Monday — but before that I gotta tell you Ben was the victim last Friday night of a flying skillet he had to catch with his bare left hand and all of a sudden unable to play his scheduled gig at Flipnotics.  So naturally, BettySoo and Mailman Dave came to the rescue, showing up on half an hour’s notice for unsuspecting folks like me who had been at Momo’s for an early set or two.  Oh, Ben did drop by, ostensibly to sing a duet (on a Tom Waits song) with Noelle Hampton and her band — and the guy, for some strange reason, grabbed Noelle’s guitar and painfully but poignantly gave his friends the treat of his version of “White Christmas” before yielding the floor to Will Sexton and Charlie Faye and later Jess Klein (all of whom Noelle graciously lent her stage to during the evening).

The very next night I was back at Flipnotics to catch a set from Margo Valiante after stopping by House Wine to hear some new songs from John and Kristen Nixin.  Wise birds got to Momo’s early on Monday to hear Jess Klein and Randy Weeks swap songs for an hour, whetting the appetite for the main event, one that I have a sense might one day be seen as historic.  Dustin Welch has done the string quartet show before — with violinist Trisha Keefer, bassist Joe Beckham, and cellist Brian Standefer, notably at a show I caught at Lambert’s what seems to be a lifetime ago.  This time though Dustin brought out James Duvall and Eli to record the second of two shows also featuring Phoebe Hunt and sister Savannah Welch — with dad Kevin (plus grandparents and little sister) shooting video and the rest of the family basking in the glow. 

And speaking of family week, last Wednesday I got to see Eleanor Whitmore and hubby Chris Masterson at the Scoot Inn and Vanessa and Jason Lively and full band on Vanessa Lively Day at Momo’s.  Just good stuff.  On the horizon — Christmas Night at Antone’s with Blues Mafia, Shelley King, and Carolyn Wonderland, and next Sunday at Threadgill’s North Lamar for Hank and Shadri Alrich (lunch) and then out to the iguana Grill to catch the beautiful Barbara Nesbitt.  Finally, KUDOS to Jazz Mills for collecting (and organizing into gift baskets) tons of stuff for Christmas presents for Austin’s homeless and hopeless.

Once in a while you still hear the laments about “the good old daze” in Austin and the venues that once were — and people saying that live music here is dying out for whatever reason.  Yet every day it seems I am meeting musicians who just moved to Austin and every week I seem to find another new music venue — and new venues are opening faster than I can check out.  Even better, some of these new venues are some of the best in the city.

Let’s start with an old venue that has taken on new life thanks to the vision and a lot of hard work by partners CJ Vinson and Lauren Bucherie, who started the “Sessions at the Hideout” just a few months ago.  Months earlier, Brian Conway was booking Erin Ivey and special guests for shows at this old theatre in the back of the Hideout coffeehouse at 7th and Congress — that’s when I first learned that this old theatre, which seats maybe a hundred folks (if you add a lot of chairs), could become a fabulous listening room.

Well, CJ and Lauren have turned this musty old room into a warm and friendly gathering place where people come just because the doors are open.  I finally got over to the Sessions to see my friends Justin and Tiffani (who are old friends of CJ’s during their days in Brooklyn) and their duo Justif.  Now I had first met this couple back in February at the impromptu Stonehoney show at Threadgill’s on North Lamar (the day Justin told the lads he would gladly play drums for them and did NOT mention he had quit playing drums for real a decade earlier).  Well, Justin did play with Stonehoney at the Saxon Pub, and that was not his only show with the band.  I did not know at that time that they were singing together (Justin on guitar), but ran into the couple at the Monday night House Wine open mike where everybody who gets on stage is pretty darn good.  And they were too!.  What a joy to catch their set at the Hideout, and then to hang out for the rest of the evening.

Vanessa Peters was up second — I remembered meeting her at a Melissa Mullins showcase at El Mercado years ago, and I had seen her more recently at Momo’s Club.  The bandleader of “Ice Cream on Mondays” has put out two more records since our first encounter (at which I immediately pegged her as a Dallas gal) and is touring (including in Europe) extensively.  Then it was another Brooklyn buddy of CJ — Ted Hefko, a Wisconsin native who spent nine years in the Crescent City before heading north long before Katrina hit town.  I really liked Ted’s music, and that is good as he does get to Austin here and now (sometimes playing sax with CJ’s band), and his songs impressed me quite a bit.  His brand-new record, Egyptland, was recorded partly here in Austin (at Trampa Studios under the direction of Adam Ahrens).  Indeed, Ted gives kudos to my friend Rose Reyes “for opening up the Austin music scene to me.”  Last but hardly least on this night’s bill was Jess Klein — in town for a short while before hitting the road again with her brand new CD, Bound to Love.

The next “Sessions” event will be November 5th — with Aimee Bobruk (fresh from her sister’s wedding), The Blue Hit (love that Grace Rowland), Jason Poe (of the band Jets Under Fire), and Bethany Solonika (maybe on autoharp and vocals).  Judging by the talented friends who have already played the Sessions, I would recommend that any time CJ and Lauren and friends open the doors the show will be well worth the small cover charge — and then some.

One night a while back at the House Wine open mike, I got to hear this gal Lauren Bruno (just here from Berklee School of Music) sing a song or three and she kept talking about this benefit concert she was throwing at her house (which turned out to be in far northeast Austin, even north of my humble abode).  So my new pal Brett Randell and I drive up, find the place, and walk into this trippy backyard with a video screen, a mini-stage that sits at the doorway of an outdoor shed that has been turned into a music room (compleat with soundproofing all around) — and that, we learned, is where they put the drum kit and bass amp so that the noise does not escape into the neighborhood. 

We pay the two dollars, which we learn is going to Clayton Lillard’s Backyard Crew project — since he was a ten-year-old in San Antonio, Clayton has been repairing bicycles to give to children with at least one parent incarcerated.  Yeah, this guy (who just moved to Austin after two years at Berklee) has been fixing about 100 bicycles a year — and has been written up in a whole bunch of newspapers, magazines, and oh yeah just got to speak at Texas A & M with two U.S. Presidents in the house.  No big deal — he just loves to play good music — mostly drums and guitar.

Lauren and Clayton have started up the Austin expansion of “$2 Shows,” a concept begun in Los Angeles by the equally renowned Spencer Ludwig, who one day decided to throw a benefit concert where all the proceeds would go to a charity of his choosing, musicians could play without hassles from the club scene, and a community might be created.  $2 Shows is now an official nonprofit that is also expanding into Louisiana — you can learn more at www.twodollarshows.com . 

So at this music event, we also get to see a video of Spencer Ludwig welcoming the Austin audience to his little idea made flesh.  Clayton played drums for the band Salesman and guitar with Lauren in their band — Anna Noel was there, and there were several others who performed before the night ended with an acoustic jam.  The event  raised 146 dollars for Clayton’s Backyard Crew.  Lauren and Clayton hope to have a second $2 Show the third week in November.

Flanfire flew up to New England last week to check out the hometowns of T-Bird Crane and the queen of Momo’s, Princess Grace — and fell in love with both Northampton (MA) and Burlington (VT).  And why not?  Austin’s own (since a year ago, at least) Jess Klein played shows in both cities, opening her first tour with her new CD, Bound to Love.  Jess will be back at Momo’s on October 3rd to formally release the CD, produced by Mark Addison and Scrappy Jud Newcomb, that friends are saying is Jess’ best of the seven recordings she has released in her storied career.

Burlington is on Lake Champlain, which I hear ices over many winters, but which on this weekend had a thriving outdoor music scene highlighted by historic Church Street where restaurants open out into the closed old street and musicians perform up and down the six-block area as people chow down on a wide variety of delicacies and consume local Vermont beer (my favorite, Long Point Blackbeary).  I, however, stopped by The Skinny Pancake to get a Nutella and strawberry crepe (The Love Maker). 

Northampton, home of Smith College and just a few miles south of UMass Amherst, is another smallish city with lots of good restaurants and several music venues.  My man Tim (T-Bird) took me to the Haymarket for tea and some delightful food, and steered me to nearby Look Park where Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings and Grace Potter and the Nocturnals opened at an event celebrating the 10th anniversary of the funk band SouLive (those guys are good!).  Ms. Jones and her band put on quite a show (though I think several of Austin’s soul bands have better songs and more overall energy), but the highlight for me was the presence of the Waking Dream puppets.

JESS KLEIN – Bound To Love

There is something apparently magical about the Austin music scene that is attracting seasoned musicians to relocate here and find new energy, new hope for their futures.  In the past year alone Flanfire has had the great pleasure of getting to know such artists as Jackie Bristow, Jess Klein, and Ruby James (others, too) who have come to Austin to live and record new music.  Others (Alyse Black, Aly Tadros, and brand-new Austinite Barbara Nesbitt, for a few) made records elsewhere and then came to live in our fair city – certainly not because they love 100-degree weather all summer long.  Reviews will be coming soon for Ruby, Jackie, Barbara, and hopefully that pixie Jackie Daum (who came here to record with Billy Harvey, worked at Botticellis and rarely graced a stage but made a lot of friends before relocating to San Diego).

She has lived here for a year now, but few Austinites even know Jess Klein, despite the fact that she has six or seven (depends on how you count) prior CD’s, is a Telluride Troubadour Songwriting Contest winner, toured worldwide (Europe and Japan) with her first Rkyodisc release, Draw Them Near, performed her song “Little White Dove” on Good Morning America, and had her song Strawberry Lover  voted as one of the 10 sexiest songs of the year by the New York Daily News. 

The Rochester, New York, native has lived in Boston and New York City but came to Austin, she says, to “find a home where I could park myself between tours and feel inspired and supported. Living here and writing these songs uplifted me. Recording them was so much fun, and playing them live feels like a pure expression of my love for the world.”  Indeed, Jess’ new record, Bound To Love, is a pure expression of her gratefulness — and her courage to stand before sometimes rowdy audiences to pour her heart out, telling stories from deep within her own soul and sometimes her vivid imagination — all of which grip our hearts especially when her voice soars to the higher registers.

I first met Jess Klein at Momo’s Club (where else?), but when I first saw her on stage at Flipnotics in January (it was cold outside) I thought seriously about opening the windows thanks to the hot flamesshe was sending out to an enraptured audience.  I still sometimes get tongue-tied around this gentle woman whose passion for life has been rekindled by her move halfway across the USA.  I recall the other night at Threadgill’s she was sitting on a low wall in the back listening to a Jimmy LaFave song — and you could just see the boogeying energy that was largely in her head but yet emanating out into the night with a force ten.  Probably getting inspired to write another song.

I recall one night long ago in Washington, DC’s Montrose Park, a bunch of us were hanging out long after dark when someone came over and whispered, come into the maze and listen — but be very quiet and still .. and we tiptoed in and heard this young woman playing the flute and it was wonderful and we instantly knew why we had been warned against bluster.  Jess Klein is sometimes like that flautist — you have to be quiet so she can soar and touch your heart in ways you had not imagined possible anymore. 

Her old friends tell me Bound to Love is Jess’ best record yet, and lots of thanks must go to Mark Addison and Jud Newcomb, as well as to supporting musicians Rob Hooper, Harmoni Kelley, George Reiff, Slaid Cleaves, Matt the Electrician, Kim DesChamps, Susan Howe and Freedy Johnston.  The truth is that good as this record is, it cannot capture the electricity of Jess’ live performance, but people often drive while listening to CD’s and we do not need autos on cruise control with drivers and passengers totally oblivious to their surroundings.

Get to a Jess Klein live show (I heartily recommend Momo’s on October 3rd, when Jess will be joined for the evening by fellow TB Artists performers Josh Grider (new CD release that date as well) and the incomparable Randy Weeks (how many songwriters can you listen to for four hours and never get tired?).  But when you come to see Jess Klein, get up close and be quiet and still — well, that is, until she blows you away and you cannot contain yourself.

“When the Time Comes” opens the record — “What you want is up ahead and what you had is all behind, all the voices in your head have finally left you peace of mind, and you walk like you’re on water now, you’re following a sign ….”  This song Jess wrote traveling toward Austin with a clear vision that freedom was in her future and she needed to be ready to soar.  Now let’s imagine Jess is telling a fictional story in “Don’t Wanna Say It,” as she sings that, “I have tried, oh I’ve tried to let no one see me cryin’, but the world passes on and I’m dyin’.”  This is a song about surrender .. and hope.

The title cut speaks to those voices that our writer has “seen the proof in the breeze blowin’ through my window shade, seen the proof in the sun glowin’ on the house I’ve made, where my heart’s growin’, where I’m not afraid — I’m free … and I’m bound to love.”  The key to this new joy and confidence — “My energy comes from giving to you … you help me pull the right things through…”  “I Just Want To Know Your Name” is a penetrating song that asks all of us are we just putting on a show and do we even know who we really are?  About being on stage, our writer says, “When I’m not smilin’ for them I’m starin’ at my shoes, I walk a mile for them, I sing another blues.” 

Then Jess tells another of her famous stories — “Postcard” is about a woman whose “true” love did not quite work out, and her memories of what might have been that keep her going.  Jess’ cover of John Hiatt’s “Before I Go” fit right in with the theme of the recording, and Jess too “will try .. and stumble” but like Hiatt, she can sing, “But I will fly, He told me so.”  Thanks so much to the loverly Abi Tapia (in whose house in the Berkshires Jess spent a few days last week) for co-writing “Fool,” and to Slaid Cleaves for his powerful duet vocal on this airplay-necessary cut.  Another story song — about a waitress and a truck driver finding and quivering through the beginnings of what could be true love.

“Putty” is a tough song about a “mental love affair” — and the presumptions so many of us have that we are so indispensable to another person whose life we want to manipulate for our pleasure.  As Jess says, “Buddy, what will you do when I’ve laid it all out on the floor and I ain’t got no more lazy days or time to spend?”  Life is not a game we can win but an adventure we must let take us where it will.

“It Will Come to Me” is one of my favorites – Jess here sings that she is embarking on a “bigger ship in a broader sea” (could that be Austin?) and yet recognizes that, “you won’t ever get too far if you don’t let the stars do their work and pull you out of that corner where you are.”  And just to remind us that she is one tough cookie, Jess tells a fictional story about a ”Traveling’ Woman” who is just plain frustrated with all of the phony lovers and would be boyfriends none of whom is really true – and she says what she wants — with the key being that whoever would be hers would not try to put her in a cage – if you want her love you had best not try to make her put her suitcase down!  This is a sexy song — and live she just flat out BELTS this one (as Jess says, her family always said she was too loud!).

“Rosalie” goes to the other side — a quiet, tender song about a lost love.  This song makes you cry when Jess’s voice soars into the stratosphere … and if we can learn anything, it teaches us to cherish each moment and be very careful with our own hearts and especially the hearts of those we profess to love.  Maybe Jess is even singing about someone who foolishly walked away from her long ago.  This could be the one song here that defines why Jess Klein touches the heart so deeply.

But “What For” is an anthem — you want to stand and place your hand on your heart.  Jess dedicated this album to her father, and this song reflects a deep love for someone whose “rare, sole example gives a night flyer ample fuel for the burning and the turning up for more.”  This very personal song lets us know that this woman who “live my life safely, making steps like a baby” would get on stage “where I’d open the cage and soar….”  Now, after years of dealing with a world that often makes us call into question our own deepset values, the die is cast and the time has come to stand bravely up and let those whom we love know that “we are all in this together” and maybe it is time that the one who was being led takes the lead in love and grace.  This Jess Klein is quite a woman, and Austin should be proud that she feels loved here …  and just might stick around for a while if we are willing to let her keep her suitcase packed to travel to Narnia and back and places in between.

Time flies when you are having fun.  Sometimes you just have to play catch up — and in this case, Flanfire had to back off on this column to write a speech that justified his recent pilgrimage to the shanties outside Cancun with a bunch of eager beaver college kids.  So here we have some of the OTHER stuff from the August month of 100-degree pure joy.  Sometimes we even just put down the camera and enjoyed the day — usually that happens on Monday nights at House Wine, thanks to Abbi Sims and the wonderful Kerry White (and her main man Nick).  Just yesterday we got to hang out with old pal Chris Jamison, my new great friend Ruby James, and a BUNCH of newcomers to the House Wine stage — including one Barbara Nesbitt, transplanted Georgia peach who had just escaped San Diego four days earlier.  Gal has the spunk, the spark, and the smile — and yes she paid her dues in Virginia Beach with a Grateful Dead cover band before embarking on a career as a singer-songwriter.  But that was not all — just two nights earlier I had been hanging with Natalie Zoe as her daughter’s band blew away Gary Clark Jr.’s crowd at Antone’s (see below) and I looked around and saw not only my good friend Nano Whitman (who played a solo set at Botticellis on Monday) but also an even older acquaintance — guitar genius Brad Tretola, whom I had not seen in five years.  He promised me he was back in Austin for good (or at least a good while) this time.  Next I know (maybe I said something), Ruby is over at Nuno’s on Monday recruiting Brad to come and play a few songs at House Wine – and nobody who had stuck around till nearly midnight was disappointed.  Brad’s return to Austin is great news for music lovers — and good friends.

And speaking of those returning to town, here is Jackie Bristow fresh from six weeks in Australia working on her new record at the Red Shed Tavern (how about that stage built by Chad Pope?) with my favorite Austin guitarist, Van Wilks.  I think these two ought to play LOTS of shows together — Van was as energetic as I have seen him on acoustic guitar making beautiful notes happen, and my good pal Mark Addison was caught playing DRUMS on one of the songs they did together.

In the middle is that same David Ramirez whose new record I just reviewed — shown here playing at Momo’s Club just before embarking on a lengthy tour with Boerne native Matt McCloskey (last I heard the boys were chowing down at Katz’s Deli in Noo Yawk City).  And truth be told, no collection of photos of Austin music would be complete without Scrappy Jud Newcomb, shown here on the Momo’s stage backing Jess Klein just before the two left on a West Coast tour.  Jess will be back at Flipnotics on September 3rd before heading east this time — to New England where the rain has been falling every day this summer, I am told by old friends) and the Carolinas. 

There is NOBODY better as a lead singer on any stage in Austin than Drew Smith — and I mean NOBODY.  Last week Drew was set to play a trio with drummer Kyle (the Smile) Thompson and Ryan (Beef Beeferson) Bowman, but at the last minute Guitar Hero Jake Owens (who admits to being influenced by fellow San Antonian Joe Reyes) showed up, and it was the Lonely Choir in toto sans keyboardist Matt Russell — and thus a brand-new sound, edgier in some ways.  And Drew?  He was just out there sweating and shouting and bringing goosebumps to just about everybody at Momo’s Club — especially that lovely woman in the second tier of tables who inspires many of his songs.

My very next trip to Momo’s was just as good — what with Ian Stewart and the Fireants down to just three members for the night (Victor Ziolkowski and Rebecca Pledger) but with musical magician Erik Hokkanen swapping licks with Ian, nobody seemed to mind.  Just WOW!  Erik has also been spotted at Momo’s lately sitting in with Utah emigres Wisebird (a band NOT to be missed while the price of admission is still affordable).  Earlier that same evening I had stopped by Flipnotics for a RARE appearance by sultry songbird Tawnya Lorae (again, a packed house cheering her every breath).  And to my joy and surprise there was Ram Zimmerman tapping out the rhythm to her blues … but no wonder!  I had not seen Ram since the Kim Deschamps Band days of olde. 

Here we have Austin newcomer (and Berklee grad who hails from California) Michelle Alany playing fiddle with The Inheritance (featuring Amanda Kitchens on accordian) at a packed-out Flipnotics (this band is HOT and will be back there and elsewhere soon).  Next up is Sasha Ortiz in total ecstasy at a Blues Mafia show at Antone’s (opening for Gary Clark, Jr., who along with Eric Zapata and a killer rhythm section blew the walls off the storied blues venue on Saturday night.  Blues Mafia was just as impressive in a shorter set — and they will be back at Antone’s on August 27th with the Bubbles as openers at The Daze CD release party.  The rowdy Mandy Rowden, she of Girl Guitar, is shown HERE with her all girl (what else?) band, Cover Girl (playing, what else, covers!) during a nine-band, six hour showcase at Antone’s sponsored by Austin Music Marketing.  I got in early to catch a short set from my old pal James Bullard and returned later for a kicking set from The Skeletons — punkabilly at its very best!  I have long been fond of Jeremiah and Amanda Ingram (that gal can pound the skins!), and bassist Vincent Salcedo is just pure slap-happy — but the band has taken on new life with lead guitarist Dan Nettles and mandolinist Nick Wicker.  I wanted these guys to play another hour or two.

“Find the cost of freedom, buried in the ground, Mother Earth will swallow you, lay your body down…”  To me, American innocence died at Kent State along with my beloved Allison Krause (she whom I would visit only ostensibly to buy bagels and cream cheese and to lie on the grass and look up at the clouds together once in a while).  But what IS the cost of freedom?  And how do we find it?

Those days of innocence turned to days of rage as some I had counted as friends took up firebombs (blew themselves up, some did) and vitriol (much of it misdirected away from hatred of their parents’ lives), ripped off Bobby Z and called themselves “Weathermen.”  Fast forward to U2’s “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For,” and you quickly realize that finding the true cost of freedom has eluded so many of us as we travel life’s pathways.  We want to be free — and yet …. we fall for the same old granfalloons time and time again.

And yet — there is this life force that now seems to be emerging as a new generation that first cast off religion as something phony people use to gain control over others then slowly began to realize that politics is often just another religious con game and what do we say, it is the music alone that has the truth inside.  We all have gone through the “Self-Actualization” crazes of one sort or another — thinking for a time that life was all about US (even if we condescendingly “helped” the poor according to our own standards — and surely not theirs [how could THEY know what is best for themselves, we might have said].  But then becoming poor ourselves we begin to realize that every true voice is worth listening to, every beating heart has a song to sing, and we begin to quieten ourselves so we can hear that sound of the universe revealing secrets we are all supposed to know.

So my friend Chris Jamison sings, “you only get what you’re giving away,” and Jess Klein announces that she is free and nothing is expected of her, but for sure, she’ll “be ready when the time comes.”  Blues Mafia has this new song, too — “Live Free” — that electrified the crowd at Antone’s for Gary Clark, Jr., the other night. 

All these words resonate, for we have all begun to learn that we cannot put our salvation, our true freedom, into the hands of those who manipulate us or those who schmooze us and take our wealth and our energy promising to do it all for us — and all the time robbing us of the excitement of the adventures that are our real lives.  So there it was all along — to find the cost of freedom, we have to “lay our bodies down,” on the line, holding nothing back, trusting somehow that the energy of true freedom will be so stunning that even those who might seek to take advantage of our wide openness are instead transformed before their very own eyes (if only for the moment) and they dance with us.

Life is stunning if we live it full on — if we listen to the breeze and the brooks and smell the roses and even prick our fingers on the thorns.  Which brings me to some stunning new music that I have had the pleasure of listening to these past few days.  [And right now I have to tell you I have a brand new CD from Alex Dupree and the Trapdoor Band -- Alex whose songs have more words even than those of Danny Schmidt, and from Ruby James (who got hugged by Kris Kristofferson the other night and has pictures to prove it), and from the Tiny Tin Hearts (who play on August 27th at Emo's).

I first met David Ramirez on Easter Sunday as both of us were guests of B. Sterling Archer and his lovely wife Jess for a fabulous lunch and party.  So now both of these guys handed me their new CD's within days of each other -- and I have nearly worn both of them out already.  Now I have walked down many roads with B. Sterling (who is 6'-7" and plays standup and electric bass, trumpet, guitar cello, and more) and only one or two with David (who is much shorter and a little chunky by comparison).  David recorded his "American Soil" up in Nashville with guys who are not his everyday band, while the B. Sterling Band (including former guitarist Micah Miller) played on every track of "Time Has Come."  And yet both of these men have written tender, passionate songs about real life with a partner -- how love is hard and forces us to die to our vanities, our conceits, even our feelings of total inadequacy.  And how we really do just have to give ourselves away in order to love -- and to be loved -- and how the personal is the proving ground for how we deal with the outside world.

B. STERLING BAND  -- "Time Has Come"

I really like this record -- B's vocals are upfront and passionate, whether singing about his wife and his life ("Not Going Back," "Let It Out," and more) or broader themes ("When the Body Fails," ").  Nicolette Manglos plays piano and keyboards and sings so well -- and yet she has since had to put her music on the back burner to complete work on her Ph. D., including a second summer in Africa.  After a series of incarnations, B. found lead guitarist (and pedal steel player) Justin Crowell, bassist (and harmonica player) Doug Frazier, and drummer Colin Wood to fill out the band that went on tour back in June (with Sarah Lincoln subbing for Nicolette). 

B. says he writes for the song, not the genre, and indeed the music here is varied -- from soft rock to harder stuff to that country feel -- "Why We Stay" is one of the most significant songs I have heard in YEARS.  Anyone who has tried to hold a marriage together has to identify with this masterpiece -- "we're feeling ways to make each other whole, and you're the only one I care to know."  "There's days when we lose track of our words, there's months when we can barely afford, we make do sometimes out of thin air, while we're growing there's always cracks to repair.... but through the years I'm finding love's a tangled web worth unwinding ..."  Listen to this song late at night over a glass of wine with your sweetheart -- and then spend an hour or two (or three or four) keeping the song alive in your own hearts.

The title song is cut from another cloth -- and here we find that selflessness of which freedom is made.  "Smooth out the line in the sand, kiss all the wounds that you can, join with the lonely coz you're not the only one ... the time has come."  "So go out tonight and dance with a stranger ... mend what you can ... and give what you've got till it's gone."  Just pour yourselves out -- and then listen to B's trumpet solo.  "Cash in your plans and go bold, live out the story of old," B. urges us -- and then we get the piano, followed by a piercing guitar solo over Frazier's harmonica. 

"Pictures" is an amazing song about how God sees us -- "there are no flaws .. at all," despite all of the ugly lines we have imagined in our own faces from the days we have spent with burdened hearts and pettiness and gossip and whatever else we remember as making us unworthy of being loved.  How liberating to hear that we are sons and daughters who are pleasing in the Father's sight.  Makes it so easy to pick up and go on spreading our appleseeds everywhere we go.  [Raina Rose knows -- and she will be in Austin on September 15th with Carley Wolf at the Cactus!]

I especially like the opening music to “Strike a Nerve,” the quiet organ sound … and B let’s us know that “the wrong hand on your heart can ruin what’s inside.”  “Let It Out” has this staccato energy that splays into a crescendo and a shout and then a very New Order kind of chorus.  In fact if I hear any precursors to this joyfully diverse set of songs, it would be the music of the 80’s .. lots of color, pyrodynamics too — but layered and rich and full.  “Let It Out” just keeps on coming — I just gotta see this one done live.  Total contrast — “Here’s to You,” a tender love song, a ballad, a lullabye almost … “I’m not here to win my side” — a marriage lesson in a song, with B. on cello and Alexis Ebbets on violin.  “So Far Down” opens with a classic guitar riff — and the organ tells you it is time to dance … but this song, too, is about coming to the end of ourselves and then what?  The album closes as it opens — with one of my favorites, the bouncy ”Not Going Back,” this time with Micah Miller on mandolin.  Now if we can just get these guys playing closer to Austin than the Lost Pines Resort in Bastrop.

DAVID RAMIREZ — “American Soil”

David Ramirez has made a record that reminds me so much of Doug Burr’s “On Promenade” in its beauty and power.  “Carry Me Like the Wind” — “we were born of dreamers, so a dreamer I’ll remain, even if I’m the only one … for there’s too much road to be left alone…’  This song is an anthem to our great land — and moreso to that great spirit of freedom that lets us find our way from city to countryside to park to river all the time with our souls in awe of what has been created for us to enjoy.  “Arithmetic” — okay, let me just say that guitarists Paul Moak and Tyler Burkum, keyboardist Cason Cooley (who also produced the record), drummer Will Sayles, bassist Tony Lucino, and vocalist Faith Gilmore have worked with David to make this record stunningly beautiful (there, I said it again!) — here, Ramirez tells us that “I’ve been taught to walk away,” a lament that gets in the way of finding the arithmetic that adds up to real love.  This is just awesome as the music takes you away — I can just picture the cowboy riding west into the sunset on his trusty horse after kissing the girl goodbye.

“Deal Me In” — “this is the life that I choose even if I lose, so deal me in” — “I’m slowly learning just what it means to love, and I don’t think I have it down, I just know … it’s not leaving you…”  Or, put another, way, LOVE is a choice — and for that matter, love is a verb — an action word that costs us everything we wanted to hold back.  “Good To Be Bad” is pure guilty pleasure — we know the lyrics here are NOT who we want to be, but it just does “feel good to be bad….” — at least for the moment.  Later on, not so sure?  Now none of US ever gloated in hurting the one we claim to “love.”  (You Only Kiss Me When You’re) “Drunk” is another tough song — it really is saying that we often mask our selfishness to hold onto what we are comfortable with rather than deal soberly with the changes we have to make in order to make relationships work.  So once again, freedom comes simply from giving ourselves away — baring our souls warts and all and telling the truth even to ourselves.

“Bloom” is another tough song — Ramirez has even told audiences his songs are hard and dark — “You may tend your garden but I’ll bloom without you now, and just like the seasons you’ll find that I can change, so don’t tell me that you love me and put me down.”  “Fires” opens quietly, yet with the pace of a drumbeat that interrupts the stillness and then there is this piano and some muted guitars … and finally the words …. “the best things in life are hard to come by, sometimes the best things come by accident.”  The passion here is penetrating, pulsating — and we see the vulnerability of even the tenderest relationships in songs like these (and as noted earlier in songs like B. Sterling’s Why We Stay”). 

“Mothers and Fathers” may be the best song on this record — “I watched my mother fold the sheets for me, and I see the wrinkles on her hands and see all the love that she holds can be seen in the lines around her knuckles…. so tell me who is gonna lay you down, who is gonna turn the lights out, just like our mothers and and fathers prayed … I wanna love you like that.” 

“I Am Ready To Go Home” is a paean to the Creator — “This life for me is hard cos I am living in the dark but even if I find the switch, things might never change.  I could read all the books, and pray all my thoughts, but I’m still right down here and you’re up there .. If you look close you’ll see a river in my soul leading me upstream where I’m loved .. so do it now, as I am ready to go home.”  And after the power and the glory, David quietly moves us to the closing song, “Goodnight.”  “Give me my pillow, give me my bed, shut off my phone and the light over me, thank you America my beautiful country, you treated me well, now it’s time to sleep…..”

Two men — brothers in arms who have laid down their arms — two sets of stories, yet one common thread.  The cost of freedom is everything we want to hold onto that gets in the way of loving someone else and setting them free.  But as Jess Klein says, “I’m free, and I’m bound to love.”  So there it is — time to lay your body down.

BETTYSOO – HEAT SIN WATER SKIN

Sometimes we import ‘em — the Jess Kleins and Charlie Fayes and Jenny Reynolds’ of the world.  Other times we grow ‘em right here in Austin (Suzanna Choffel, for example), or at least here in Texas (that would be BettySoo).  Or you could throw in Kat Edmonson or Carolyn Wonderland (both, like BettySoo, from Houston), or Eve Monsees (Austin’s own) — or a bunch of others.  Bottom line — there is NO PLACE LIKE AUSTIN for live music.  Not when you are at Momo’s Club (for example) and Jess Klein brings up BettySoo and Suzanna Choffel (with Charlie Faye looking on joyfully) or last Saturday at the Cactus when BettySoo at her own CD release party brought up Jess and Aimee Bobruk and Jenny Reynolds and Ben Mallott and Graham Weber and of course Gurf Morlix himself sang a song for us all. 

WHO IS THIS BETTYSOO?  That was a question I was asking myself after totally missing her contirbution to last year’s Hank and Lucinda Hoot Night at the Cactus (hosted by Jenny Reynolds).  Then one night at the Saxon Pub when I was there to see Charlie Faye and Will Sexton and friends there was BettySoo jumping on stage to sing harmonies.  And there were parties and such — and still it took months for me to get to hear this woman sing — and all I could say was WOWOWOWOWOW!  Plus she’s just a great friend and a real wit.  And she haws a great husband (Mail Man Dave) who plays in her band sometimes.

Okay, you can read all about BettySoo in this week’s Austin Chronicle (she’s the COVER GIRL — not bad for a woman who wrote that amazing song, “Never the Pretty Girl”).  Did I mention that she is scheduled to open for Joan Baez (yeah, that’s JOAN BAEZ!!!) in Wisconsin in August?  Right in the middle of her California tour.  Well, if YOU were BettySoo, you’d drop it all to open for the woman with that pure soprano who was the voice of the Sixties.  Then again, if you are Joan Baez and heard BettySoo on stage before your set, you just might want to get out and share that spotlight — with a woman who not only has a voice to compare with your own but whose real life story (which is really that of her family ofwhich she is a living, breathing part) is more than captivating.

BettySoo did not even tell her parents about her CD release party — she’s had two of those before, and thought, “My folks would drive all the way back to Houston after the show so they could work (as medical doctors to Houston’s poor) the next morning.  But they showed up anyway — and this modest couple had a hard time getting a seat until someone let out who they were).  The CD release party (sorry, folks, no photos) was hands down the BEST SHOW that Flanfire has EVER seen atthis venue.  Standing room only, with people turned away (including Jim Patton and Sherry Brokus, who hosted BettySoo at the Amsterdam along with Karen Mal and Will Taylor the next Thursday [that was tonight]). 

I guess I have to mention her songs — starting with that Little Secrets song from an older album that sends chills up the spine of any cheating husband.  But this is all about “Heat Sin Water Skin,” produced by Gurf Morlix with Fred Remmert doing various things and Gene Elders on violin (and, yes, folks, the incomparable John Conquest has compared the quality of BettySoo’s voice to that of Gene’s lovely wife Betty  – and he is DEAD ON).  Gurf even stuck around hot, sticky Austin just to play at the CD release party — and his guitar solos (someone once said he can play a 3-note solo and it is better than anything most other guitarists can do with much more fanfare) on the two songs JEnny Reynolds did were phenomenal (drawing huge applause).

Okay, already — my favorites are cuts 1-11 (there are 11 cuts).  But how can you not be moved by “Never the Pretty Girl” and “Whisper My Name” (actually, the Chronicle reviewer — not Margaret Moser — called the “Pretty Girl” a little “naked” and “Whisper” “a little schmaltzy” and complained that she does not belt it out enough — is she just jealous?) 

But BettySoo DOES belt out the opening cut — “Never Knew No Love” — and for that matter “Still Small Voice,” a song that bespeaks her upbringing.  “Just Another Lover” opens with Gene Elders on fiddle — and then BettySoo hits us in the breadbasket, asking whether this relationship is real or just a fill-in for self-gratification, without any real contact with the person in the skin he is touching.  Women — and men, too, these days — ought to ask that question if they are looking for real love.  Saves a lot of heartache — and disappointment.  That’s what she is saying to all of us.

Gurf’s guitar is dark and murky on “Who Knows,” and Todd Wilson’s organ adds to the aura of this powerful song that sounds a little like one Stefanie Fix would write.  “Forever” fits right in with Deadman’s music — rich and warm and yet quite sad.  “Get Clean” also rocks — especially when she does it live.  But let’s get real — “What We’ve Got” is a love song that is just gorgeous and rich in its imagery (as are many of this woman’s songs).

I will mention the rendition of “Lonesome Whistle,” a collaboration between Gov. Himmie Davis and Hank Williams, for its pure simplicity and BettySoo’s awesome quiet delivery — but ther emay not be a better song on the record than “Next Big Thing,” which opens with a wailing steel and tells th story of the woman who left home in Iowa to become a star on “that music highway.”  Now I guess it was just the right thing that BettySoo made me wait for weeks (well, she cannot find her keys sometime either, I hear) to get my review copy — and I had a self-imposed deadline of getting this done BEFORE the JOINT BETTYSOO-CHARLIE FAYE show at Momo’s on June Teenth [ a show I may not even make, given that Jess Klein and Noelle Hampton are on at the same time in two other venues -- NOT FAIR!].

CHARLIE FAYE – WILSON ST.

So back when a friend of mine was raving about Charlie Faye, I was thinking, who is this Nashville country singer who has come to Austin?  And then I met Charlie Faye — the New York woman with the heels as tall as she is who single-handedly (later on, of course) saved at least some of the famed Wilson Street cottages [hence this album title] from the wrecking ball and kept herself and fantastic neighbors like Jess Klein from being homeless.  Then I got Charlie Faye’s first record and played it 15 times while I was moving back into my old house on Hermitage Drive — alternating with Steve Carter’s great record that Courtney Audain produced.

So the new – AUSTIN – record opens with one of my favorites off that old record, “Bottletops,” a song I must by now have played 300 or more times (it is on my late-night personal playlist), and there is “Lady of the Leading Man” again as well.  But this is not just a redo of the New York record — what we have here is Mark Hallman’s genius and Andre Moran’s engineering (he who is Noelle Hampton’s hubby and guitarist) and featuring that man about town Will Sexton on bass, guitar, and vocals, David Holt on guitar and Rick Richards on drums — with appearances from half the town on various songs.

“Runaround” (co-written with Will) is brassy (reminiscent of Runaround Sue in its chorus, oddly enough), while “She’s Gonna Go” (written with Philip Gibbs) also has a little Dion in it.  Then there is “Simple Seduction,” one of Charlie’s signature songs — about a woman (or a man?) needing a little attention from her man — for example, “you alone without the children and the triple evening blues.”  This cut features Katy Rose Cox on fiddle, Gabe Rhodes on guitar, George Reiff on bass, and JJ Johnson on drums. 

Charlie and Will also co-wrote “Waitin’ (on Something)”, a ballad that has that lazy bayou feel, a song to listen to with a glass of wine and a cigarette (and you know I don’t smoke) in the reverie of the very late evening — a song that provokes us to think about our own failures to follow through with those with whom we are entwined but perhaps not inspired.  This is a KILLER song!

But it is not “Jersey Pride” (and did I mention that Charlie, Jess Klein, and Jenifer Jackson are ALL New Jersey refugees, as are some other of my “New York” friends).  The land of Bruce and Bon Jovi and the Amboy Dukes and the FREAKIN’ RAMONES!!!! — THIS is a song that just shouts out at you — you can leave New Jersey (and “the smell of the backyard pines”) and yet you never forget that it was something good you left behind.  My favorite line — “Now you’re left with all of those damn memories and stories too sweet to tell of secret and unstolen nights in the cradle of America …..”  And, oh yeah, Gurf Morlix plays lead guitar and Joe Humel is on drums and Cornbread on bass here. 

Maybe even better is “Coward’s Lament,” a song that may soon catch up with “Bottletops” on my personal playlist — “Baby, I’m so afraid that the truth will set you free, I’ll become a coward and a liar just to keep you right here with me….”  “Summer Legs,” like Bottletops, features Abra Moore on harmony vocals and Will Sexton singing some key lines as well.  And John X Reed plays guitar on “Lady of the Leading Man,” which features Will and Philip Gibbs on harmonies.  No claws here!

“Ready to Fall” is the final cut here — a love song of sorts.  What we know is that Will Sexton has recorded his own brand-new song collection, and that he even has a new MySpace page.  Meanwhile, Charlie Faye may be gearing up for a run for city council (or to run off the city council that has been shutting down music venues on technicalities that could have easily been worked out peacefully) — and that she is bringing down her friends from New York to live and vote in Austin – and make great music (well, it was Charlie Faye who introduced me to Jess Klein).

If it’s June in Austin it must be Kerrville spillover city — so naturally, Flanfire went out to the beautiful Wyldwood House Concert site in deep south Austin (thank you Andrew and Amy for sharing your home with all of us — and Andy’s birthday cake!) to see my old friend Carrie Elkin (you know, that blonde who hangs out with that Danny Schmidt who is topping the folk charts these days) and a friend of hers whom I had met a few months back at the Continental Club — Tennessean Robby Hecht (with whom Carrie will be headed on tour to England very soon).

There is NOTHING like great food, great music, and the beautiful Texas sky (complete this night with an amazing full moon and lots of stars).  Let’s start with the FOOD!  Okay — Andy and Amy DO provide hot dogs and s’mores (by the campfire) for their guests as part of the suggeseted donation (sic) — but of late they have added an extra special deal — gourmet barbecue from Brendan Retherford and Nakita Santiago!  Here’s the deal (for anyone going to see Kevin Russell on June 20th or any future shows) — you order by Wednesday and your food is there for you on Saturday (and you must order ahead to get this great deal).  Brendan is founder of Sapor, a personal chef and catering service, while Nakita’s parents were longtime staff at Castle Hill Cafe who passed on their skills to their daughter.  OK they let me try some of their food — and one bite of the macaroni and cheese (which they normally feed to the kiddies) was enough to make my day!  And that was before I had the prime rib.

But this IS a music column, and so I guess I have to tell you about Carrie Elkin (who enjoys letting her pal Danny grab all the headlines while she just writes and sings great songs) and Robby Hecht (who has been called a young James Taylor in both voice and songwriting quality even though he is grousing about not having enough songs for a second album yet).  “But you will,” said Flanfire, promising he will gain great inspiration from days on the road in Merrie Olde England and Scotland with Ms. Elkin, who once wrote a song while stranded somewhere in NEBRASKA until her car got fixed.  One MIGHT say the performers were joined in song by a chorus of crickets OR that one of the macaroni generation danced in front of the stage showing off a FROG he had caught somewhere on the property (or was it, as Robby speculated, just a TOAD?) 

Just a day or so earlier, I had been called out to Lambert’s by my pals Andre and Noelle to meet Andy and Amy and hear a set from folk-punker Cory Branan (whose next Austin show will be at the Red 7’s Punk Rock BBQ on July 4th).  Cory (red shirt) who hails from North Mississippi and made his first mark in Memphis, reminds one a little of John Prine in his voice and his humor — and yet he can lay down some very heady stuff with significant power.  I have been seeing Cory here and there in Austin since he moved here about a year ago but this was my first time to hear him on stage.  I WILL be back!  I absolutely LOVED the “Prettiest Waitress in Memphis.”

I went BACK to the Madison (5th Street next to Rainbow Cattle Co.) to catch a longer set from Graham Wilkinson (at this dance club with some pretty nice amenities and lots of people having fun) — and this time he had (in addition to Mr. Swift on drums and vocals) Joe Beckham on bass (filling in on four hours’ notice) and a horn player.  It was a GAS the second week in a row.   I also caught a second set from Meagan Tubb and Shady People — that long-legged gal can flat out wear some threads, and she sings and picks guitar pretty well, too! 

Okay — I did not see any shows this week at Flipnotics, but I DID stop by to take a photo of the new outdoor seating areas that the new owners have graced the place with (along with a whole new deck, new paint, and a lot more work that really spruces up the old place).  Carrie Elkin, Molly Venter and Vanessa Lively will be at the venue on June 13th, but I have been told by Miss BettySoo NOT to miss HER CD release party at the Cactus.  Of course I would also love to be up at Journey for Grace Pettis’s show there — and down at the Amsterdam to see Jarrod Dickenson (but I just saw HIM at Momo’s).  Jarrod would get a photo spot here but he sings with his eyes closed — so I am throwing in a photo of the lovely Caitlin Bailey (cello), who is moving to New York State to further her musical education. 

Now THAT is a lead-in to talk about Jessie Torrisi, who came to Austin from New York in January and is already doing shows at places like Botticellis with cellist Alissa Schramm and multi-talented Rob Jewett (who played everything BUT standup bass that evening).  Later I went out to see Goldcure at the Szxon (great show and another debut song or two — these guys are ROCKSTARS!).  And then back to Momo’s for Jess Klein with Mark Addison, Rob Hooper, Scrappy Jud Newcomb and special guest Suzanna Choffel (she of the Momo’s late night dance club that was founded by Johnnie Goudie).

And the hits just keep on coming!  Just wait till you see the astounding video of the stormy West Texas gal Jen Womble’s Momo’s debut with Kalu James and Josh Halverson — on Kalu James Day in Austin but also Ms. Womble’s own birthday!  Ahhhh — but that’s enough of a foretaste.  I gotta get out to the club district for some more great Austin music.

THIS, folks, is guitar gunslinger Kevin Hollingsworth on that Gibson and Austin legend Mandy Mercier (the ONLY woman whom I have ever heard sing Janis with as much passion as Janis) on guitar and vocals — all at Maria’s Taco X-Press.  The song is “Outlaw Man,” one of my favorites from Mandy, a woman who personally took care of more than her share of “outlaw men” (Blaze Foley, for one).

Why is Jodi Adair dancing on stage?  Maybe because her band this evening at the Amsterdam Cafe is Carl Ryals on drums, BB Morse on bass, and the Stratocaster Kings — Spencer Jarmon and Landis Armstrong — on twin lead guitar.  Landis had played a set with the lovely Paula Nelson (along with bassist Mark “Eppy” Epstein, who just flew in from Hawaii — guy’s credits include Johnny Winter and Jon Bonamassa), and for some ODD reason needed little armtwisting to stick around.  Gotta love Paula’s new songs, BTW.

The ABSOLUTELY AMAZING Jess Klein at Flipnotics and her AMAZING song, “Out on the Riverview,” perhaps the most beautiful, most powerful song she has ever written .. but then again, there are so many.  Wise birds and people will FLOCK to Momo’s Club Tuesdays in June to see this treasured jewel before her new album (produced by Mark Addison and Scrappy Jud Newcomb, who with Rob Hooper are her band these days at Momo’s) is released and she is flying all over the world again.

I will always remember the first time I met Jess Klein — at Momo’s, of course — Charlie Faye introduced us.  So a couple of weeks ago, Jess introduces me to her old friend Jessie Torrisi — who, like Jess, escaped from New York (a la Kurt Russell?), another in the never ending parade of wonderful people who were wise enough to come to Paradise where the streets are paved with golded songs and our pockets are lined with lint and sweat.

I will also never forget the first time I heard Jess Klein sing — last January at Flipnotices, and thank God the window was open, because her songs heated up the room.  Last Saturday I got to hear Jess again at Flipnotics, first solo (with her hair down), then with Jud Newcomb (who has just buried his close friend and fellow Resentment, Stephen Bruton, a man whom I admired and loved but nowhere near as much as Scrappy and the guys who knew him best). 

Like Suzanna Choffel, Jess appears the mild-mannered woman off stage but as soon as her guitar gets some action, she is pure dynamite.  I was just sitting there in awe and all of a sudden it hit me — Jess’s songwriting reminds me of the young Bruce Springsteen (and, by inference, Tom Waits at any age) in the way she weaves her stories from the vignettes of life she captures in her soul as she goes through everyday life.  Austin is so very blessed to have her here and yet Jess says that Austin has been a life saver for her as well – and folks, this new record she did with Scrappy and also with Mark Addison is like a seven course meal followed by another one — and dessert and brandy and coffee.  [Which is to say there's a lot of meat, plenty of spice, a touch of sugar but a pound of honey, and vegetables like great-grandma used to make.   [But for us here in Paradise, we get that kind of cookin' so often we may forget to kiss the cook even when it's finger lickin' good!]

Earlier in the evening, I got to see Jessie Torrisi (whose mom told me that Jess has had concerts in her living room), who had dragged me out to see Elvis Perkins in Dearland earlier in the week (a rare event for Flanfire checking out a non-Austin band, but what a wonderful experience that I will tell you about for hours if you just ask (but not here, though DO check out the photo of the young man whose father was Norman Bates and whose mother was Marisa Berenson’s sister).  [The photo is of Elvis to the right of the trombone player from Stillwater (OK) band Other Lives, who opened the show -- the Dearland guys, like Elvis, are Brown graduates.

Now, Jessie is really from Philadelphia but did go to Columbia and lived in NYC for a decade -- so she knows her bagels and her cheesesteak and STILL came to Austin for the music and the life.  And she is a drummer and percussionist and a very good one, as friends have told me.  At Ego's on Saturday, though, she brought out an acoustic and an electric guitar and her friend Alissa Schram to play cello -- and Carl Ryals on drums, Raul Vallejo on trombone and a brand new father Josef Butts on upright bass.  The thing with Ms. Torrisi is that she just gets you before she even sings a note -- maybe it's the time she spent learning Brazilian beats, maybe it's just her natural gift of gab, maybe it's just her devilish smile -- but she filled up the room with fans (some all the way from Manhattan) and with smiles of joy.

Later in the evening, I went over to Momo's to catch Goldcure in their final set before a Southeast tour -- now they are covering the Who, Bowie, and the Beatles and yet their originals are what blow people away.  Even their closest friends are amazed at how these guys have gotten so much better since arriving maybe two years ago from Fort Lauderdale (well, Adam, Craig and Gavin - bassist Marcus is their best Austin find other than producer (and great guitarist and songwriter) Stephen Doster (shown here with birthday boy Gavin Inverso -- and yeah it was also Will Evans' birthday too!)  The big surprise of the evening, though, was Ryan Harkrider and his band -- wish I had gotten the name of that pretty law school student who sang harmonies and leads with Ryan all night long.  Ryan, BTW, won the Austin song contest -- just gotta love the emerging talent this town produces (yup, he's a native!).

Friday was sort of a makeup day for Wednesday, when to accommidate a late-booked private party, Scholz's Biergarten moved the Fireants and Blues Mafia show to the choirlike Sangerrunde Hall, which does not handle electric instruments well and which did not attract anywhere near the normal crowd you get outside at the venue.  Plus, it was a chance to check out Tim's Porch at the Old Backyard -- just a fabulous place to sit outside and listen to great music.  And folks, Malford Milligan is back in town to do a show there on May 30th!

The Fireants were missing Rebecca Pledger (bass) and Steven Campbell (keys) but then again that put Danny Levin on fiddle, cello, and keys and Jon Blondell on bass for quite a show.  Carson Brock even sat in on a song or two -- after telling me he was a little ill and "glad he was not playing." But of course he is a featured member of the Lake Travis Fiddlers (playing guitar) as is my old friend Richard Parke's lovely daughter Catherine.  I really enjoyed this ensemble, which is directed by Anna Macias who has been such a developer of young talent for so long in this town.  And yet -- the best show of the night may just have been the very informal jam sessions with Carson Brock (he of the weak-kneed feeling earlier), Victor ZIolkowski, Zeke Jarmon, and Danny Levin -- sometimes with Zeke or Carson sitting in on drums).

Later on Friday, I stopped by Ginny's Little Longhorn for a set from Jenny and the Corn Ponies (which includes my pal Missy Beth on fiddle and vocals) -- and Vaughan and Sly from the Shake-Em-Ups showed up, Mr. Barrack on his brand-new motorcycle!

 NOTE - I am reserving an entire post just for the Ricky Stein CD release and family fun fest at the Continental Club last Thursday.  Earlier that evening, the lovely Jackie Bristow (with Mark Punch and Mark Hays) put on an amazing show at the Amsterdam despite the ongoing renovations at the venue that its owners hope will turn the former diner into one of the city's top intimate music venues.  ANd I even had been to Momo's for Happy Hour thanks to Aimee Bobruk who had told me not to miss her friend from south Georgia via Noo Yawk City (there's that place again!), Mary Bragg.  ANd boy she was RIGHT!  Lovely woman (with her husband on bass), gorgeous songs.

Despite the last-minute relocation, there was much good to say about the Fireants and Blues Mafia at Scholz's -- first, I had never been to Sangerrunde Hall, but now I see why acoustic groups love to play there during SXSW or at any time.  Second, I got to go see and hear Stefanie Fix with Mark Williams on bass and cello down at Botticellis.  [Which makes me wonder just how good "the Marks brothers" would be -- Mark Williams on bass/cello, Mark Hays on drums/percussion, Mark Addison on keyboards and some guitar, and Mark Punch on lead guitar, all from this post. 

 Gotta throw in a few kudos for Slaid Cleaves, out with his brand-new CD (I caught part of his Waterloo show, which was phenomenal -- and have to note he sings a duet with Jess Klein on her new CD.]  And then there’s that great new project for George DeVore (he gets to wear his overalls), the Twalls, which also features Matt Powell — and Curley Sue Twall on bass.  The garralous Douglas Jay Boyd made his Saxon Pub debut last week (he’s also singing with Dertybird of late) — and the always fun Nathan Hubble delivered as promised with Miss Brennen Leigh on electric, rock and roll mandolin at Momo’s.  [I might also mention Jackie Bristow’s warmup show at Flipnotics and my late-night taste of Warren Hood with Ruby Jane Smith at Momo’s on Sunday — after the Kris Brown Taurus birthday party — his mom and girlfriend are also Taureans, and it was a great party at Happiness Nursery which I heretofore had not even known about but which was such a cool little place tudked away off South First Street.

Finally, I have to give kudos to Blues Mafia (and to the Greyhounds and to Stephen Marcus of San Antonio’s blues rock band The 46, who also played) for helping raise nearly a thousand dollars for hte Leukemia and Lymphoma Society last weekend at Jovita’s.  Stephen’s drummer was in bed recovering from a tonsillectomy so he just came solo but ended up in another of those famous Austin jams with Patrick Mertens, Chris Copeland and Kai Roach of Blues Mafia and later Syd Sanchez on guitar.  The Mafia then put on a show that brought out the dancers (young and older, got a saxophonist up on stage for a song or two, and unveiled another new song that totally blew me away.  Later that evening I stopped by Botticellis to see Margo Valiante, dropped in at the Continental to catch two songs from LZ Love, and then went over to the Saxon and watched in total awe as New Orleans’ Theresa Andersson (who lived in Austin after Katrina) just mesmerized a packed house with her one-woman, five voices band show — violin, guitar, drum kit, various other percussion, and of course her loop machine that enables her to dance around barefoot pushing pedals and harmonizing with herself in four octaves. 

And after she sang a joyful tribute song  in the Nawlins tradition to Poodie Locke (it really WAS a hard week for Austin music, losing two of its finest who were both born in 1948), Theresa got a note telling her that Stephen Bruton, too, had died.  She paused for just a moment, then announced she was doing one more song — and proceeded to sing “Find the Cost of Freedom,” that great anthem from CSNY, with just her voice (looped for effect) — and as we cried our bitter tears we were slowly transfigured by the power of her soul as Bruton’s spirit entered the room and calmed all of our hearts.  My boys from Stonehoney closed out the night, but even their sweet four-part harmonies could not touch what we all had just seen and heard.

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).