7/30/12

This was one of those times where being exhausted made things better. Me and the ladies at the Frontier Bar, our first show with the double drummer lineup and we were mighty. We opened things up with "the record" * and went on from there. There was a proper amount of slop to make things pretty and we played as if we were on tour for the last five days.

I love this band.

Heather Bishop opened the show. I'd never seen her with a band before, they were great. Her bass player was wearing an Otis shirt so that made me real happy. Dickie Lee closed things out with his cosmic cowboy leanings. I hadn't seen him since he opened for the Hickoids a couple of months back, this was another great set. Brooks, the former Hole in the Wall bartender who has seen me play several hundred shows and has poured me several thousand beers, was still with him playing leads on a telecaster. That fucker is good. And hell, Donnie on drums... i know 75% of that band!

Breakdown

I've been friends the bartender since he was 19. I got two drink tickets and was taken care of after that. I like Frontier Bar and we will be playing there again.

I pretty much have this week off with practices/shows starting back up next week. I'm gonna go nap.


* The record means we start with the first two tracks on "You Make Me Feel...".

7/29/12

Hickoids at Padres in Marfa. This time we had a chance to enjoy the town for a few hours. We were there last year, for the final show of the tour. We'd left the club in San Diego at 3AM the night (morning) before and got in to Marfa about a half hour before showtime. I played solo for 45 minutes then the Hickoids played for about an hour. We were beyond exhausted, and then we drove home. This time was a hell of a lot nicer. We still had the 7-8 hour drive after the show, but it only took us three and a half hours to get there from Midland so we had a few hours to wander and bullshit with a bunch of cool people.

We were there for the Viva Big Bend festival that was put on by Texas Music magazine. We kicked some serious ass. Kicked it in the way that it can only be kicked after you've played the last four nights in a row and spent a ton of time in the van, motels and suffered through a pile of shitty truck stop food together. We are Hickoids.

Last time the stage seemed pretty big, but with two extra people (and ALL of Scott's gear) it was crowded as hell up there. I only had one little area to jump around in. And zero places to hide from Smitty and the microphone of death. He took a shower before the show, but that mic has Smitty stank living deep in it's recesses. Plenty of "Smitty" stored up inside...

Breakdown

Free food, free beer....  We are spoiled! And it's gonna be hard to go back.

The hay made it through the whole set, no hay dust in every inch of everything we own!! A huge win for the end of the tour (and for Padres).


Me and the Ladies tonight!

7/28/12

We are already in the van and heading to Marfa. Midland doesn't offer much for afternoon entertainment...

Hickoids and the Beaumonts at the Blue Max. It's a club stuck out in the middle of drilling supply companies, railroad tracks and a 1/8 mile drag strip where you can pay some cash and punch your gas pedal to the floor... for 1/8 of a mile. I was told by multiple people that there was a lot of oil money in town and folks generally spend it on booze, drugs and their cars. So there is a lot if drag racing.

I loved the club. They had a big spread of BBQ with a bunch of sides to feed us AND the regular customers. The coolest part was when the owner, Erica came and asked what she could get me because she knew I was a veg. Once again I'm spoiled when away from Austin.

Beaumonts were pretty amazing once again. Troy's voice was shot so Steve took over the singing. It was great. The same set we've seen for the past couple of days being sung by the other guy! They also got Lance and Tom up to sing, once again, one hell of a set.

The freak van has been filled with their beautiful music. ALL of us have been singing their songs over and over again. It's hard to argue with the truth, Toby Keith is one I the ugliest women I've ever seen.

Someone brought a mini bale of hay for the Hickoids set. For the first time in history it wasn't torn apart and thrown all over the club. We even took it with us and its in the van right now. Maybe it will be our new mascot or Davy's eventual replacement. Most likely it will be all over Padres this evening.

7/27/12

Hickoids in San Angelo at the Penny Pub

It was another sloppy set, but it was a hell of a lot of fun. Beaumonts continue to kill. Song after song of brilliant, smart ass country songs. I'm really happy we are playing these shows with them. This is "tour" will continue to kick ass.

Charlie's holy happy hour was the opener. He lived in Austin for years and he and I played in many of the same songwriters nights back in my early days. I found out he was on the bill a half hour before we got to town. Nice surprise.

Breakdown

We'd been at the club for about 15 minutes, basically long enough to unload the freak and I was offered food and beer from two different people. Once again, spoiled by leaving Austin.

Davy and I finished the night with a smoke by the pool at the best western on the 306. It's really calm and quiet. A nice end to the night.

We will be back San Angelo. Midland tomorrow.

7/26/12

Hickoids at the Hole. I got there just as the Beaumonts were starting they were strong as always. I'm glad I like them since this was the first of three shows with them. I was running late because I went to see BC and Draya's other band, Hey Gurl at the Frontier bar. Yup, half of my band was playing in another band at the same club we are playing on Monday. It's even weirder, Wiley was playing in the band after Hey Gurl... It's an Austin thing, play in as many bands as you can as often as possible. The slow orgy continues.

Hickoids had a good but sloppy set. The sound guy kept having us turn down so he could mix the room better. I get it and I appreciate a sound guy caring how things sound, but we will play better if our boxes are loud. It's a fact. A band like the Hickoids does not need a finely crafted soundstage where every nuance is revealed in layers of beauty. We are a cow punk band. We need to be loud.

Breakdown

I didn't pay for one beer last night! That's even better than the old hole. I even got lucky while we were playing, folks brought up four lonestar tallboys and sat them in front of me! Eventually half of them spilled all over the stage but it was pretty close to closing time so it didn't matter. Beer!

San Angelo tonight.

7/25/12

This is the way to "tour". Granted you never get too far, but it sure is nice sleeping at home when your "on the road". Two days away from home for a five day tour is a pretty sweet deal.

First night at Nightrocker's in San Antonio. Hickoids played with the Limes from Memphis and The Hares from SA. It was a nice night musically and a decent turnout for a Wednesday. After our set we loaded up the Freak with all the gear and I drove it up to Austin so everything would be set for our second "tour" date, tonight in Austin...

Breakdown

Two beer tickets, this time it was fine since I was driving the Freak home and didn't need to be pounding them down...  It's the exact opposite of driving home as Davy's passenger. Then I like to guzzle beers AND liquor so I don't pay attention to the road. It's a self preservation thing.

For these shows we are playing as a six piece. Lutz is with us for the whole time and that means his entire pile of gear comes with us. Two guitars, a pedal steel, a keyboard, an effects rack as big as the steels case, a Fender twin and a keyboard stand. He travels with five hundred pounds of gear at a minimum. And it's in the back of the van with two other half stacks, my bass rig, drums, various guitars and the merch. Packed!

The freak did fine on the drive home but it will be interesting to see what happens when five more Hickoids are on board.

This week

Practice with the ladies last night. It's our last one before our first show with the double drummer line up. It keeps getting tighter and sounds so damn good... reconstituted Rice, exciting stuff! Our debut is on Monday the 30th at Frontier Bar in east Austin. We are on at 10:30 and will be kicking ass by 10:31 at the latest.

Prepare for a brunch of activity on the blog in the next week. Not only with "the Ladies", the Hickoids are hitting a few dates in west Texas but we start things off tonight in San Antonio and Austin on Thursday.

Many things to follow.

The coolest drug dealer I've ever met

This happened last Sunday night in New Orleans. We got to town around three and I'd been doing my typical NO shuffle, bouncing between food, booze and the casino. I really love that town... Somewhere around one AM I get a little itchy and I want a cocktail. There are plenty of places that make great drinks all over town but I was in the mood for The Absinthe House. It's right on Bourbon so it can get stupid touristy but it's been around for 150ish years and I love a 150 year old bar.

I leave the Casino and step out in to the street and it's ridiculously hot and humid outside. The air is so heavy it's hard to breathe. It feels like the inside a humidifier. I head up Iberville, passing the REALLY low rent strip clubs and several "massage" parlors and make my way to the bar. Two of the bartenders were taking about a drink called a Kingston Club and since I like putting myself in the hands of a capable bartender, I had one. Not sure what's in it other than Drambuie but it was kind of spicy and I really liked it.

I sat around talking with the bartenders and the security guys for twenty minutes or so. Finished my drink and headed back in to the humidifier. And that's when I saw him.

I've "run" in to street dealers in almost every city I've been to since I was sixteen. I've met all types of dealers trying to sell all kinds of drugs. Once in Amsterdam I walked in the middle of a sting operation and I was their target. These two guys walked up to me and tried to sell me coke and heroin. The one who was doing the talking was wearing a Yankees jacket and the other one looked like a skinhead wrestler. A very angry skinhead wrestler. The first guy asked "Do you want Heroin or Cocaine?" I said "Uhhh no thanks, everything I like is legal here". "Yankees" cop pulled out a walkie talkie and said "It's a no go. He Said NO" while the other guy looked upset that he couldn't slam my head in to the cobblestones and kick the shit out of me. I'd like to think I was wise and somehow knew they were cops but the truth was "everything I like is legal here"...

Last month I saw a couple of farm boys who were learning a lesson just outside of Times Square. The dealers had the "team" system in place. As in you pay this guy and you pick your dope up from this other guy standing a little down the street. The farm boys scored, but it was some week ass smelling weed I'm sure they overpaid for. That's how it goes if you are buying on the street. Your probably gonna get ripped off one way or another. I'm willing to bet those farm boys headed home and talked about the "sick weed" they scored in the big city.

Generally when I'm approached by someone they say something along the lines of "Hey man you want to buy some smoke?" My regular answer is along the lines of "No thanks. I have some in my room". This gets a variety of responses from "Fuck You Man" to "Hey do you mind if I walk with you through the casino so security doesn't hassle me?" I laugh at the first one and if I'm headed in the same direction I'm more than happy to walk through the Excalibur to the Luxor and bullshit with some of the local criminal element while providing a little cover.

Then there was the guy I met in New Orleans. He was in his late fifties at a minimum. He was pretty fat with white hair and a white scraggly beard. The second I saw him I knew he was dealing and heading my way. But I'd never imagine how cool it would be.

He came up to me with a huge smile on his face and with half mast eyelids that matched mine. He had his hand out to shake and asked...

"Hey brother what's your name? Where you from?"

I answered truthfully "Rice/ATX"

He said "Cool man... Hey, you wouldn't be interested in a little smoke or powder would you? I got some really good powder, Damn it's good powder..."

"Well I'm not really interested in powder... and I got plenty of weed back in my room"

He looked at me for a second and a grin started to sneak across his face as his eyes started getting wider. He starts cracking up and throws his arms around me and gives me a huge bear hug and said "Alright Rice! Well you go on back to your room and enjoy your smoke and have yourself a good night."

Then he turned the corner and headed down Bourbon still laughing. The coolest dealer I've ever met.

7/14/12

This one is really late. The morning after I hopped in a car and went to New Orleans for eating/drinking purposes. I hope the delay is understandable.

Casters at the Hole. Andy was out sick so it was just the five of us (and the two dancers). It was Michaelanne's five year wedding anniversary, well it would have been if she was still married... She asked if I would wear her wedding dress for the occasion, I did and I looked lovely. I couldn't believe how tight it was. I guess that's what a bodice is for... That thing was so huge, I could barely move around the stage. On a positive note it did keep Smitty's mic out of my face!

Breakdown

The "new" Hole kinda sucks. They finally get that a band tab is a good idea, but you can only get drinks on that tab from the front bar. Not the bar in the room you are playing... It's a small but incredibly stupid rule.
I know I'm showing my age here, but I liked that place a whole lot more when their focus was on music. Time moves on even if I don't.

The Hickoids are playing there next Thursday, so I should probably just shut up and smile. Wish me luck with that.

Hole...

In the wall. Still a crap hole.

7/3/12

OK, so it looks like Trophy's is never gonna go away. Somebody was gonna knock it down and build condos. Someone was gonna build a better club. Someone was gonna build a grocery store... Right now none of that's gonna happen. You can't even rub the place out of South Congress, it just keeps working it's way in deeper.

When I got there the front door was being put back on the hinges because it came off again. On a more positive note there wasn't a sewer smell coming from the ladies room all night. It only lasted a little while and I played on the other side of the stage so I had another ten feet of smell dissipation between me and the sewer. With of the recent Austin club scandals like Jovitas ($7K a day in wholesale heroin sales!) Trophy's has moved up a few notches in it's overall status. It's a total shithole but an "honest" one. No one is getting rich out of that place...

Breakdown

Once again the free six pack per band. Lame, but enough people bought me beers I was happy. We kicked ass. Just the five of us, the new "core" of the Hickoids. We made a lot of fun of Davy and his porn addiction. The man is too busy masturbating to find porn on the internet! Sad...