Maybe my favorite song on the record (starting with Dabbs’ opening guitar licks interspersed with the pedal steel) is “Think I’m Goin’ Crazy,” as Amanda sings, she used to think he was “the one,” but now, she tells him “…I’m thinkin’ maybe, you’re just a son of a gun.”

But the truth is that I am a pedal steel junkie — and Neil Flanz played with Gram and made his music sing! He makes Amanda’s music better, too, by also being her musical director — writing the charts, even giving fashion advice (again, he DID play with GP!), and being “very computer savvy” too. But I think the biggest thing Neil Flanz has done for Amanda Cevallos is to give his total affirmation — by, for example, writing out charts to ALL of her songs before they even had their first practice!.
Amanda and her band have been playing Tuesdays at the Spoke for several months, thanks to the wisdom of the legendary James White — and this Sunday (November 6) the band has the 10 pm slot at the Saxon Pub as part of a tribute to Doug Sahm.

[NOTE to self -- Beg, cajole, plead, do ANYTHING to make sure that Neil Flanz gets added to the GRAM PARSONS TRIBUTE SHOW at Threadgill's World Headquarters on Sunday night -- YUP -- that show precedes the Doug Sahm tribute at the Saxon, so you can get to BOTH if you can get in the door!]

Which brings me to a quick point about what an AMAZING TOWN AUSTIN IS! Just take the past couple of daze — great open mikes at Baker St. on Sunday and House Wine on Monday (and Lisa Kettyle is doing a great job at Romeo’s on Mondays as well); over at Momo’s on Monday, it was Meggan Carney and her hot band (in full Halloween regalia!), followed by the Huey Lewis endorsed Chewy Sprewis and the Screws (George DeVore and friends), then by the Velvet Underground as interpreted by Jack Edward Martin and Cause for Applause (with special guests). On Tuesday, I caught Amanda’s Loretta Lynn show at the Spoke, rolled down the street to the Saxon for a smokin’ hot set by The Moonlighters, featuring Lonnie (soon to be married and off to Spain for a honeymoon!) Trevino on bass and front and center vocals, slash and burn guitar gods Josh Zee (Mother Truckers) and Phil Hurley (Stonehoney), and drummer Phil Bass. You might say, “It doesn’t get any better than this!” OR you could go from electric to acoustic (as I did) and head back to Momo’s for the Drew Smith songwriter circle featuring (on this night) Graham Wilkinson, Jon Beckham, Kurt McMahan, and Ethan Kennedy. My idea here is that these guys should turn this into a college credit course in songwriting … and pack the house every week! Graham BTW has a release of his five-song EP “The Spiritual Accessories” on Friday (Drew’s band The Lonely Choir will also be on that bill at Momo’s); Ethan’s new band Kinky Machine (named after a Jimi Hendrix line) has a hot show at Frank on Thursday; Kurt’s band King Biscuit will be playing every Sunday in November at Momo’s; and the Beckham Brothers will open for the Band of Heathens on Thanksgiving Friday (again at Momo’s).

Meanwile, I am promoting TWO SHOWS with great lineups NEXT WEEK –

Tuesday, November 8th at Beauty Bar — Holiday, Sorne (fresh from their Southeast tour), and Brooklyn-based RUBBLEBUCKET whom I saw in Chicago three weeks ago and immediately jumped on board to help fill out this bill … This eight-piece band — with Hammond B3 and a great horn section — marched into the crowd at Chicago’s Double Door and they have asked local horn players to show up at the Beauty Bar for what they hope will be a Nawlins style parade as part of the show. My report is that I danced for 90 minutes straight to this band and plan to do so again!

Then on Wednesday, November 9th, it is Meggan Carney and her band opening for Nashville-based Madi Diaz and Kyle Andrews.
Like Gillian Welch and her inseparable, unbilled cohort David Rawlings, Madi Diaz is actually a duo. One half is Diaz herself, and the other is her performing and songwriting partner Kyle Ryan, whom she met while studying at Berklee College of Music in Boston. The two had begun playing music in their teens, and Diaz even had an odd, early brush with the spotlight: At 16, while attending Philadelphia’s now-infamous Paul Green School of Rock Music, she appeared in the documentary Rock School, which inspired the 2003 Jack Black flick. [OR SO THE STORY GOES -- Dave Sebree recalls that the movie's creators actually spent time at the Austin School of Music and Rock Camp in their research for the film.]

Kyle Andrews may be best known for his song “You Always Make Me Smile,” which was featured in a worldwide Holiday Inn ad that included a massive water balloon fight. He travels with a hot band and will be playing songs from his brand-new release, “Robot Learn Love.”
BOTH these shows will be absolutely awesome — and at Frank you can get waffle fries with your Chicago dog!

Before I go, I have to mention that, among the new to Austin artists whom I have caught at recent open mikes, these few stand out (though others are also pretty good!) –

Ima Nsien with Ashton Sullivan — Ima, whose family came to the U.S. from Nigeria, sings R&B, and Ashton, who hails from Virginia, is a fine jazz guitarist — they had a band together in L.A. and separately decided to move to Austin just a couple of months ago.

Thick Red Wine (aka Mike Wojciechowski) – This New Jersey native found his voice while at college in Chicago and then moved to Austin, where he regales a growing fan base regularly with his witty, self-revealing songs that transmit his zest for everyday life into the hearts of those blinded by boredom.

Erica Nobel — this Phoenix transplant just writes great songs and is attracting top players to back her.

Heidi Nadine — This Canadian songbird just flew in (by way of Denmark) bringing tracks she had recorded in Switzerland and around and borrowing a keyboard from the lovely Kristin Astourian (out on her own after leaving Children of the Feather). She totally STUNNED me at Baker St. the other night.

And let’s not forget nationally known author-public speaker Jenni Schaefer — whose book “Living with ED” has helped untold fellow sufferers of eating disorders — but who is also a singer-songwriter with a lovely voice and powerful lyrics. Jenni, by the way, is speaking (and hopefully also singing) at the National Eating Disorders Austin Walk at Mueller Lake Park in Austin on November 19rth.

AND BEST OF ALL — my new friend Laura Jean Thompson, who debuted her new CD “River of Doubt” at Chicago’s Uncommon Ground last Friday, will be bringing her songs to Austin in late December – shows are already set at Romeo’s (12-21) and the Ham Jam Concert Series (12-28), and others are lining up fast.

At the memorial service two Januarys ago for my darling wife Nancy, I found myself speaking words about scars — how sometimes people’s scars are invisible to the eye but painfully obvious to the touch, especially a touch that is just not gentle enough to bring healing and comfort.  I was talking about how we need to be aware of who we are conversing with, how not to put foot in mouth or down their throat — how to spread life and not the crush of death.

That’s why I don’t listen to Lucinda Williams any more — except of course at the annual Hank and Lucinda Williams Hoot at the Cactus Cafe, the brainchild of fellow Red Sox fan Jenny Reynolds.  You see, it’s not that she left Austin, not that the last time I saw her at ACL Festival she was (well) not all there on stage.  It’s just that song.  You know, the one BettySoo [shown here with Charlie Faye at the Saxon last Saturday] sang Tuesday night …. the one that breaks my heart every time I hear it — the one that every time I hear any song of Lucinda’s it breaks my heart because I cannot forget that song.  The one that tells me my Susan is never going to call me on the phone — or ask me to iron her shirt for work — or give me a long lecture about how I need to love people better — again.  [Well, on another plane, she does come to me over and over through the people I meet out on the streets of Austin.]

“See what you lost when you left this world, this sweet old world….”   You see, I can hear those words once a year (or any other Lucinda song) because July 27th is Susan’s birthday — and I have to celebrate her life every day but especially at this special time.  When it matters most.  And somehow (though a day after this year) the Williams Hoot always helps me (though this is just the third year) celebrate Susan’s wonderful life — the life she chose to sacrifice thinking it would be better for the rest of us.

The nights SHE would wander the streets of her beloved Houston to seek out her lost girlfriends and try to bring them home to safety.  The weekends she spent with her disabled friend, even going to New Orleans for Mardi Gras and still getting back for her American Humanics meeting.  The day she died, she went to her job interview and then to the graduation ceremonies at the elementary school she had volunteered at, teaching reading to immigrant first and second graders.  And then the love our family was shown by Austin’s music community (in which we were still fledglings at the time) that has driven the Flanfire ship for nearly six years now.  For me, of course, the song sounds like, “See what I lost when you left this world,” except that out of that loss we have had great gain.  As you all know, life is made better through celebration … and knowing that we are all dying and so should live life to the fullest every living breathing moment.  [I can never think of Susan and not see Snoopy dancing.]

Susan would have turned thirty on Monday.  And Monday night, where was I?  Out at House Wine with some of my dearest friends — B. Sterling Archer (whose B. Sterling Band will soon be releasing its debut CD) and Melanie Martinez of Tiny Tin Hearts (which likewise has a CD about ready for prime time) — and Abbi Sims, whose spirit reminds me so much of my daughter’s — adventurous, honest, forthright, caring, and sharing … and in Abbi’s case, a downrightr good singer and budding songwriter and outstanding Open Mike hostess at House Wine.  Also in the house (well, outside in the front lawn) were Craig Marshall and Jon Notarthomas and Will T. Massey and the lovely Valerie Fremin (more very dear friendds) — Drew de France and Kurt McMahan from the band Ouachita, which plays Friday at the Belmont — and one Donnie Jones (shown here surrounded by Kurt along with Abbi and her songwriter friend Anna who hails from just south of Brenham, Texas).  And, oh yeah, Donnie Jones (who is better known these days as a wine merchant and vineyard owner) is a songwriter — a man who counted among his friends Townes Van Zandt and Blaze Foley and John Prine too (and of course Guy Clark), and whose songs are of that same caliber.  Will T is working with Donnie to record a bunch of his songs — some brand new, others buried for maybe decades.  Monday, it turns out, was Jay Sims’ birthday too, but we were mostly there to celebrate Abbi’s birthday on July 29th (which SHE was celebrating at the Cathedral of Junk).

But back to Tuesday night at the Cactus — which opened with Eric Hisaw and Chrissy Flatt and then Kerry Polk and friends and then The Flyin’ A’s (Stuart and Hilary Adamson) before emcee Tom Pittman made his actual debut singing and playing guitar all by his lonesome on a public stage.  After 40 years!  An historic occasion!  And, despite his own protestations, he was good lookin’ – sang well too!

After the break, it was Jenny herself and then Seth Walker, BettySoo and finally Guy Forsyth.  So after the show I found the two world-renowned lads standing side by side and popped out the camera for this photo — and Guy says this may be the first photo ever of the two of them together.  Whatever – Guy had closed his set with a brand-new song he wrote in remembrance of fallen hero Stephen Bruton.  Later he was showing off dozens of photos of his pride and joy, his 2-year-old daughter who is just gorgeous!  I know a little something about being a proud papa — Guy admits it has changed his life.

A few more notes before I go — and I promise I WILL get to those CD reviews sometime soon.  First off, we have Margo Valiante flanked by Etan Sekons and three-string bassist Kyle Clayton at the Whip In, where I was eating some of the best Indian food ever to grace my lips AND enjoying one of that venue’s many nights of fine Austin music.  [Hats off for their support of Groundworks!]  That was on Saturday, and I left at intermission to run to the Saxon to catch a great set from porterdavis (sadly, no decent photos for you).  Just stunning!  Mike Meadows on vocals and his patented drum-percussion rig, birthday boy Simon Wallace on harmonica and vocals, and Daniel Barrett on slide guitar and vocals.  The band was taking orders for their own new CD, which will be available at their August 28th Saxon Pub show — if they make it back home from Nova Scotia.  Then, as noted, it was Bettysoo, who opened with “Do Right Woman,” a Dan Penn song made famous by the Flying Burrito Brothers (okay, theirs was by no means the first, or even the biggest hit version, but Earl Poole Ball played on that record — as did (duh!) Gram Parsons).  No wonder she’s opening for Joan Baez!

The little lady in the yellow dress is Akina Adderley (yes, Nat Adderley, Jr.’s baby girl) — and SHE was the opening act at Sunday’s very well attended Austin2Africa event that was raising money for an orphanage for South African children whose parents had died of AIDS.  [The $20,000 they need for the project is but a drop in the bucket of Oprah's budget for her posh girls' school.]

This was Akina’s fourth show with her Village Playboys in four days (Victory Grill, Antone’s, Marcus Cardwell‘s backyard!) and she had to run out the door to sing the national anthem at a RollerGirls throwdown.  Also on the bill were Kalu James, Tandoorifinger, Paul Banks (who will be back at Momo’s soon), and the amazing John Pointer (who broke a string on his very first song and never slowed down).

Susan would have loved this extended weekend — from Thursday through Tuesday, great music one night after another.  Her favorite, of course, was long-time Austinite Steve Ulrich, whom she used to see regularly at the Hole in the Wall during its glory days singnig in between Quatropaw sets.  I like to think she is hearing the music I hear in Austin from her special place in the clouds.