Flanfire

I will never forget Labor Day at Ski Shores … Randy Weeks and Will Sexton playing for over 200 minutes straight (Randy’s songs) for a bunch of friends and with a very special guest who was the one really responsible for getting her daddy and his friends out on a sunny afternoon.  Nor will I forget one Wednesday happy hour earlier this year when I walked into Z Tejas and Will (noticing that every table was occupied) asked if someone would let his friend Duggan sit at their table.

Nor can I forget that night at the Driskill when Will was so excited about going into the studio with Mark Hallman and Andre Moran to cut all the tracks on his brand-new CD “Move the Balance” in one day.  Or his joy at getting a new MySpace page (which of course someone else is monitoring).  Then there was that night a few weeks back when Ruby James and I drove up to NXNW with some friends in from California and Will and Charlie Faye extended their set for a full hour just for us.  And that night, even more recently, when Ruby hopped on stage at the Hole in the Wall and realized that Will could not remember the words to his own songs.

I can write this last note because the whole town now knows that Will had a mild stroke — and that his friends in Austin have responded with great generosity and love to give him a cushion to rest and recuperate.  So right now the best thing we can do for Will — but even moreso for our own enjoyment — is to get down to Waterloo (or wherever good music is sold) and buy one, two, three or more copies (yeah, it’s after Christmas now, but good gifts are always in season) of the CD which has on its inner sleeve, “White Middle Aged Well Dressed Man Looking for Love.”

Will plays guitar and bass here, with Bukka Allen on B3 and accordian; Mike Thompson on piano, guitar and even trombone; and Dony Wynn on drums and percussion.  Ray Bonneville (harmonica), Bill Carter (bass), and Hallman (bass, vocals and lots more) are joined by Ruby (Red) James, Charlie Faye, and Noelle Hampton as guest vocalists for eleven songs written by Will (sometimes with friends and family).  All 11 songs, IMHO, are suitable for lots of airplay, and I even had the “bright idea” that we could raise a lot of money for Will (and get his great songs heard around the world) just by persuading some of his and brother Charlie’s high-profile friends to contribute their own vocal tracks to each of the songs here — for example, Steve Earle, who along with Charlie Sexton co-wrote “Amnesia Lights,” and why not Bob Dylan on “Pissed Off Nights”?  But then again, people worldwide just oughta hear Will singing these songs.

The title cut, “Move the Balance,” opens the CD, with Ruby on backing vocals, and Mike Thompson’s piano paves the way for this lilting, very moving song .. that you just want to play over and over again [but that's true of every song here].  One of my very favorites is “Certain Kind of Something,” with Will serenading his lady, explaining that she has “got me running round in circles with your image in my brain … “  This is like Buddy Holly meets the early Beatles … but up to date musically.  [Mind you, John, Paul & Co. modeled themselves after the Crickets!]  You just have to start singing along by the second time the chorus comes around.

But “Sunday Driver” is just as smart lyrically, with Will singing that, “and I know you’d like to be known as the world’s strongest known survivor, but I’ve done about all I can do, my Sunday driver.”   But ”Pissed Off Nights”  may be even better — “those you left behind keep getting nearer and nearer, and those you stand behind just keep on disappearing ….”  There is a LOT of Mike Thompson here, and Bukka on B3, and that’s always good.  But what about “For Always”?  A bouncy little ditty — easy to dance to — all about “my destination blues” — “but with all of the keepsakes of my heart, you know you will always be a part … for always.”  I again am hearing the ghost of Buddy Holly here …. even in the guitar solo.  And Charlie Faye!

“Best Intentions” is like Will as Tom Waits — his voice gets low and down and dirty … with Bonneville’s harmonica adding in lots of fog.  This song has Greg Goshorn and Stephanie Smith as co-writers … This is late-night music — for the 3 am club.  Next up is “Beauty Pageant,” a lament marked by some beautiful piano … that just grows on you. 

“Amnesia Lights” gets you dancing close with your honey … “we were only trying to find the time that passed us by …  if you try you just might forget it all tonight, underneath the amnesia lights …”  Now Ruby and Noelle join Will on “Little Late for Loving Me Now,” a rocker that once again evokes The Crickets (though Holly’s lads would not have added the ”whoo hoo hoo’s) and a hot guitar solo and Dony’s classic rhythm.  YUM!

All very good — and yet the final two cuts are my very very favorites.  “Closing the Airport” is like “Blue Christmas,” a sad ballad in whic ”time has tangled up all my thoughts, all I need to know no one can tell … seem to have lost, misplaced everything … close the airports and the highways in this town, close the street that I live on….”   Just beautiful.  And then there is “Happy Hour,” one of my favorite songs of all time … and so autobiographical.  Will sings, ”here comes the lonely clown, here comes the lonely clown, here comes the lonely clown with the big red heart … ” And yet, “Since time began the wisest men will meet again at happy hour.”  [Which must mean Bill Carter, Stephen Doster, and Will at Z Tejas every Wednesday.]  We get Thompson’s trombone as part of the happy hour celebration music at the end of the song … as the loneliness fades away while wise men play joyfully together….. you gotta be there!

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.

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).

Sorry, no photos — the camera is on the fritz!  But soon!  Monday night very late (after Bukka Allen) at Momo’s a bunch of us were sitting out on the deck and this long-haired guy with a high voice (someone suggested Ray LaMontagne like) was up on stage singing and playing guitar to an empty room (inside).  We of course could hear quite well, and we knew right away this guy had something.  So on Tuesday I am down at Jovita’s for the Tiny Tin Hearts and there he is again — Chris Jamison, hair and all, and his guitar — and his songs.  Guy’s got a big smile as he steps off stage to introduce himself.  Hands me BOTH of his CD’s.  Hangs out all evening — and later I find out maybe why.

Turns out Chris is a native Texan with lots of family around here — but his folks moved up to Radford, Virginia, and he ended up going to the University of Virginia and becoming quite a songwriter.  Put a band together up there and made a record, “Into Surrender,” some of which was recorded at Woodworm Studios in Oxfordshire, all of it mixed there, and the whole shebang mastered at Abbey Road.  A year later he made his second record, “Strangers and Lovers,” mostly in Virginia but again taking it to Abbey Road for mastering.  Now he’s working on his third song collection, but here in Austin.

And what songs — powerful stuff like “Savage Nation” and “A Heart Unbroken” on the first record, and “Hollywood Cemetery,” “Holy Ghost” (absolutely stunning!), and “Wonderland Avenue” and “River of Tears” on the second — and he is closing his sets now with even newer material that is pure poetry.  Chris is out at Patsy’s Cowgirl Cafe on Friday — HIGHLY RECOMMENDED (as is the Sin City showcase at the Scoot Inn, featuring Stonehoney’s final set in central Texas until September 6 at Gruene Hall, and the Book People showcase featuring Tiny Tin Hearts at Momos).

Speaking of the Hearts, I simply cannot get enough of these guys and gals — new songs galore as they prepare to unveil their still in the final stages CD that George Reiff is producing.  But that’s nowhere near ALL the good music that has been popping up in town.  I already mentioned Bukka Allen, fresh from opening for the Flatlanders (and playing with them as well) out at the Boulder Theatre (I got a great report from my Devil in My Closet pal who saw the show!) with Robbie Gjersoe on guitar.  Freedy Johnston is also off on the road now, having played his final Monday night show at Momo’s for quite a while — though he will be back at the Continental Club in late July for a couple of shows.  Lots of folks are on tour for much of the late spring and summer — as it should be.  It’s getting hot here and the long winters of preparation have brought forth new flowers (for example, new CD’s from Charlie Faye, BettySoo, and a whole lot more) that need to be admired by a nation in great need of the real thing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For this report, I will merely skim the highlights (memory and camera failing of late).  Let’s start with Ming’s, home to great jazz every Monday and tasty food every day (thanks, Fai Jow, for moving to Austin!).  Last week it was Gary Newcomb and his amazing skills on the pedal steel — so good that steel player John Leon showed up to take notes and get his picture taken with the master.  This week ringleaders Brad Houser and Eldridge Goins (now THERE’s a rhythm section for you) gathered together pianist extraordinaire Cole El-Saleh (Carolyn Wonderland, for starters) and Landis Armstrong (Paula Nelson, of late) with special guest Pat McCann (Troubadillos — but 25 years playing with Cole beginning in Shreveport and along with Landis one of the finest guitarists in town).  These guys are playing Autumn Leaves and Chopsticks and other standards (Moondance) — and Landis and Pat are trading off vocals as well as breathtaking guitar licks.  Did I mention the food – or the wine (BYO)?

Somewhere in between was a trip out to the Red Shed Tavern to see Shelley King and Floramay Holliday on their SASS tour — this place is flat out comfortable, and I had some tasty tamales from the Airstream diner on the premises.  [BTW, the Scoot now has its own semi-diner, too!]  Later that evening I stopped by House Wine (another great outdoor sitting venue) to visit with Margo Valiante, fresh from her successful showcase at the Wildflower Festival in Richardson (where she was one of three runners-up to the big kahuna winner and thus got to play again on Sunday).  There’s Margo through the rails with Etan Sekons — and the lovely smiling lady on the right is “Singer of the Year” Aria Hollingsworth, daughter of guitarist Kevin Hollingsworth, whom I ran into at Maria’s Taco X-press playing a set with Mandy Mercier (to whom I owe an apology for talking to Kevin while she was introing a song).  Aria, who will soon be at McCallum High, will tell you that it was “only” for her eighth grade class at school, but we know the girl is relentless and will have a good time on many stages in years to come. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then there was that WILD Thursday night (oh, wait!  That was right after seeing Aria!) when I ran back and forth between the Amsterdam Cafe and Momo’s because I first had to catch some o fJackie Bristow’s set, then hightail it outta there to fall in love over and over again with Molly Venter who for the first time in MY memory was playing with a full band (Bryan Austin on drums, Steve Zirkle on bass and keys, and the dashing Dave Madden on melodica?) — then back to the Amsterdam to catch a set from Noelle Hampton and Andre Moran (with Teal Collins and later though I missed it Josh Zee as well), and back to Momo’s for the David Newbould extravaganzabonanza whytheheckareyouleavingusforNashville celebration party where he both blew everyone awy on stage and handed out (for a small donation) hand-made copies of his brand-new CD.

David, who has after all given Austin seven pretty wonderful years (hosting the open mike at the Hideout, for example), nonetheless has been coming into his own as a kickass performer.  On this memorable occasion (with Cindy Cashdollar, Warren Hood, the unable to perform Redd Voelkart, Wendy Colonna, and Lord knows who all else — I DID miss a couple or three songs — plus the lovely new mom Megan Melara on vocals along with GOOD GOLLY MISS MOLLY!  And, yes, David closed his smashing set with a tribute to his opening act — which is just the type of dude he is!  And why Flanfire hopes to get to know this guy better on his occasional visits in the near and distant future.  Good GRIEF!  He is moving to Nashvegas! to become a BIG STAR!  Heck, he already IS a big star!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, I have to mention yet another visit to the Amsterdam — to see Leeann Atherton and the wonderful Sunny Coleman.  Now while we were there in walked a vision of loveliness wearing a mask — a mystery woman, to be sure (who just happens to be a dynamic singer who was born in Wyoming).  And so we will leave you with the unsolved along with yet another photo of Molly Venter “posing” with Aimee Bobruk (that’s two of my favorite women in the world who just happen to write topnotch songs).