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Fuck The Pandas, we've got honeybears!

I got a Barnes & Noble gift card for Xmas and naturally spent it on music. Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears are new R&B revivalists, but that description sells them short. I saw them in NC and at ACL and they're great.

Monsters of Folk is Jim James (MMJ), Connor Oberst (Bright Eyes), M. Ward (solo and She & Him), and Mike Mogis (I don't know who he is). It's um...folky, but not in a bad way.

Finally, because I needed to spend another $3 to get free shipping, there's 'Toys In the Attic.' You could do worse.

Ah, Coastal Living

Looks like we're in for some heavy weather here in the next couple days/weeks. At this point we're not evacuating, but we'll see how things shape up.

The Motherlode...

Jay found this.

A 70s Vinyl Guiltfest!

My wife's uncle Tom was going to throw out his vinyl collection but fortunately offered it to me instead. It's quite the stash. About 50 records dating from the mid-70s to the early 80s and ranging from Eagles, Jackson Browne, Buffet singer-songwriter stuff to "jazz" like Mangione and Benson with some gems like the Police (Zenyatta, Ghosts and Synchronicity). And curiously two Mariah Carey albums, which I'm sure Dave could have FTP'd us if we'd just asked.

A couple of gems are the Buckingham Nicks album that pre-dated their Meetwood Flac days ('Rumors' is also in the collection'), 'Tubular Bells' (the zenith / nadir of pretentious prog), and 'Champagne Jam' by ARS. There's also an interesting assortment of one-hit wonder albums like Bob Welch's French Kiss, which has 'Sentimental Lady,' Nicolette Larson's album with 'Whole Lotta Love' (Neil wrote it, ya' know) and Little River Band's 'Sleeper Catcher' (whatever the fuck that means) which actually has two pretty big hits.

I've been in in a groovy paradise, fellas. Most of this shit I wouldn't pull from the bargain bin, but I've been listening to it for around 3 weeks now and it's the tits.

The Beach was Great!

Everyone was SO friendly! Actually, I had to spend most of the time pretending to work, but I did have one day in the sun and also ate a lot of fried dead sea things. I could get used to life on the beach. I had mixed feelings about leaving Ft. Walton, which made for an easy decision when I was offered a travel voucher to spend an extra night there, courtesy of Northwest. Sweet!

So, Dave's travels are also winding down, Joe's work plans are still a bit vague and Jay either has a bloxorz in his pocket or he's really happy to see us. It's good to be home!

Winding down Austin

I got my hair cut thish afternoon, happened upon a tap room that had $2 pints of local Austin breweries, spent a considerable amount of time there, stopped by my favorite local music shstore, then my favorite local; "From Thish Perschpective," I see Nick Cave's latest 'Grinderman' project, and the Amy Winehoushe I bought for my wife. I just don't get it, Jay, but I haven't given it a lishen.

P.Sch. I got free tix to Schea World, so I'm going to take the boy to see the conditioned Killer Whales tomorrow.

Gone!

I put my van up on Craigslist today, thinking it would take a while to sell. Someone called 5 mins after posting, and it's GONE! Amazing. One less thing to worry about. Of course, there's the small matter of transport, but...

May the Wind Take Your Troubles Away

After much hemming and hawing (I'm too busy, broke, tired, out of weed, etc.), I decided to go see Son Volt because one of the two friends I have in Austin (I've only lived here for 4 years) invited me. I must say, I'm glad I went. I haven't heard the new album, but it came across beautifully live, as did every other song they played. Don't know if you're familiar with them, but Jay Farrar has a tendency to come across as a bit of a downer (not that there's anything wrong with that, necessarily). For this show, it was all thunder, though. They brought it every song and didn't let up. They threw in a bit of Uncle Tupelo ("Life Worth Living," and "Chickamagua") and all the necessary old stuff ("Windfall" of course). They even brought out horns for a couple of songs.

It's nights like this that make me really think leaving Austin isn't the best thing to do. It just seems that every band that plays here brings their "A" game, and there are so so so many shows throughout the year. Sigh.

And they're playing Memphis (Young Avenue Deli) on the 9th. Of course, I'm sure it would be too much for the old fart Memphis bastards to make it out on a weeknight.

T-birds

Everyday after school, my kids go to the school playground to run off some energy. There are a couple of other moms there that I've gotten to be good friends with, and the other day we were talking about cars. One of them happened to mention that her parents had bought two old 1967 Thunderbirds, but her mother got sick and died (God rest her soul), so they've just been sitting in her sister's driveway in Atlanta. I mentioned how much I love old cars like that, and she said if I would go get them, I could have them. For FREE! I think only one of them runs, but as she remembers them, they are in decent shape.

The kicker is that they have the big 345 horse 428 cubic-inch V8s (just in time for $3.50 a gallon gas)! I spoke to her yesterday, and it's all lined up. I'm going to head up there after the move and pick them up.

How cool is that? I almost don't want to tell anybody b/c I'm afraid to jinx it.

Feel the Pharmacists...?

I sold some motorcycle parts late last week and spent all the money on music. Ted Leo and the Pharmacist's 'Living With the Living' is powerpop bliss. A couple of distractions, but there are a few songs that are just brilliant - "Colleen" and "La Costa Brava" stand out immediately. The guy's obviously been listening to the same music we have. You know where...

I also went and saw the True Believers this weekend at the Continental Club. I had heard of them for years, but never had the pleasure. Now I wonder what I've been doing with my time. They were SO loud and SO GOOD! Alejandro Escovedo's brother, Javier, is like a Mexican Dave Davies. They just smoked from beginning to end. Jim Dickinson produced them back in the day. Unfortunately no recording is available at this time.

They had a band called 'Manejo Beto' open for them, a Tejano punk band, more or less. Their CD doesn't do their live show justice at all, but is fun for a listen. They came across a lot better with a head full of beer and a lot of cute girls dancing. That's the way it goes, I guess. It's up too.

Finally, there's 'Flies on Sherbert.' You can see why AC produced the Cramps around this time. Also by Dickinson and also up.

And Mike Lurker, your Dylan 101 begins with 'Blonde on Blonde' and 'Blood on the Tracks.' The two, if not best, at least most important / accessible of the post folk stuff. And my hippy friend loaned me some old hip hop stuff, Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy and The Beatnigs, both of which involved Michael Franti.

Happy Monday, Bastards!

$11.00 More Than I Thought

When you enter a domain name on dnscoop, it'll estimate its value.

Too early to cash in?