5/30/22

So we hopped on the van and made that long ass drive from Clarksdale to Dallas. Oh boy. I’ll just say that some of us were fairly hungover, nothing too awful, but…

We went on at the Three Links early and kinda killed it. We were first of five and there weren’t a hell of a lot of folks there but that didn’t stop us!!

We were followed by the Me Thinks, Pat Todd (!), Lauretta Suede and the Hickoids. 

That’s right, the Hicks and Pat have been out while I’ve been out with Bigfoot. It’s a crazy world, changes everywhere!! ALL YHE TIME!!!

Speaking of… Austin tomorrow. 

5/30/21

 Another Gringopalooza? Yes. The pandemic killed it last year, this year it was back with a vengeance. 

At the Three Links with the Gringos (duh), George Jonestown Massacre, a band from California full of young dudes that I didn’t see or meet, and the Hickoids!

The place was pretty packed. I drove up myself and got a room down the street so I could stumble back and not worry about driving home until way later. The club was full when I got there. As in one in and one out with no covid capacity limits. Packed. 

The pandemic isn’t over but folks sure are acting like it. I’m desperate to play and travel and see shows and live a somewhat normal life again. But I’m pretty worried that we as a species are handling this in the worst way possible.  

I 100% blame our former national leadership and our CURRENT Texas “leadership”. Total assholes that are fucking up the world for personal gain and have zero compassion. There is a fair amount of willful ignorance and stupidity in there as well. It’s all gross and avoidable. 

Anyway. The show was a lot of fun. It was great being out and seeing a ton of folks I haven’t seen in what feels like a decade. We really tore it up and Frontier Dan even made the gig! It’s always great getting to hang and play with him. 

At the end of the night it was a series of drunken hugs with half the crowd and most of the band folks. Feels good to be missed

5/26/19

The last show of this little tour was Gringopalooza at Three Links in Dallas.  We have done this before, many times.  As a matter of fact, they did it without me last year when I was in Greece(!). 

Went up with Harvey first. It was the best we’d been received so far but I didn’t do as well as I should have.  Missed some stuff...  Oh well. 

Mean Motor Scooter was next. I don’t think describing them as “on fire” is a good enough description.  Those songs, and the way they are play them, that’s some serious shit!

Gringo’s played the best set I’ve seen them do in a while. They were up and ready.  Always nice to see them, that might have been my 30th time?!  

We closed it out with Frontier Dan.  Didn’t do any of the tunes we recorded with him but we hit our classics.  The crowd was really in to our set with and without him.  Great feeling having the biggest show of the tour on the last night. 

5/28/17

Gringopalooza, number four in Dallas Texas at the Three Links. Me Thinks, Beaumonts, Loco Gringoes and Hickoids. We've done this one a number of times even if it wasn't called gringopalooza. Once again it was pretty amazing.  

No reason to get in to any real detail on this lovefest. The highlight of the evening was when our buddy Hushpuppy decided to take off his shirt and lay down on the stage when we were playing. Then Smitty started teabaging him. It was amazing. Then it happened again and again again and... 

He almost got booted for knocking the monitors around. That happened a couple of times. Eventually one of the club guys started waving his shirt in front of him like a bull. It distracted him enough to get him outside. 

Yeah. Facebook is loaded with the pictures. 

Bend tomorrow. 

5/29/16

Gringopalooza 3 was last night at the Three Links in Deep Ellum, the former crime ridden  home of legal gambling and prostitution that has been gentrified over the last fifty years so lofts will sell to folks with money. "And it's so safe to walk around..."

There was the usual group of friends out and a few new ones. Made for a hell of a night. 

The Me-thinks had a smoke machine and a couple of them were wearing capes. They brought the rock as usual but it was amazing how cool they looked. They would be rocking along then there'd be a blast of smoke curling up from the back of the capes and it was swirling around in the lights. The smoke kept moving, the capes kept moving, fucking awesome. 

Gringos were on their shit too. And the crowd was all over it. They played tighter than any show I've seen them do in the last few years. Nice work fellas

We were on last and had a hell of a set. The place was packed and people were up front and singing along. Yeah!

We are headed to Bob's in Bend tomorrow. Then home!

5/24/15

I rode to Dallas with Smitty and Lance. We left Austin a little after 10 AM, about six hours after Plaidstock finished. We were all running on fumes. In theory this should have been a short day, the last band on the bill for Gringopalooza was scheduled to go on at 10 and we were playing around 7. Things didn't really work out that way...

As we drove north the evidence of previous night's storm was all over the place. Every few miles there was a missing roof or a sign across the street from where it was originally located. Loads of destruction. The worse we saw was a little north of my house on I-35. A storage place had about a third of it's top floor ripped off. Walls, roof and people's boxed up houses were gone and everything that was left was an absolute mess. More than a little sobering.

Anyway, the drive was easy, and we got to Dallas early. Tubb from the Gringos booked an extra room near the club so we went there and hung out for a bit. Then things got strange.

We were playing at the Gas Monkey on an outdoor stage and it was billed as a rain or shine show. But their power transformer is located under the stage and for the last fifteen hours it was under a couple of feet of water. Rain or shine my ass.

So some Dallas folks scrambled up a new venue, Club Dada in Deep Elum, a neighborhood that was once famous for legal gambling AND legal prostitution! By the time things got moving and the Me Thinks were going on it was after our original start time. It was gonna be a late night...

We went on third, after the Grannies and before the Beaumonts. Yup, more with both of them! Poor Dumb Bastards and The Gringos (duh) were also on the bill. Lots of love from lots of friends!

About half way through the Gringos set Tom was itching to go. Smitty and Lance were staying back at the hotel so I took the first Hickoid I could home. Tom drove the first shift and got us to Waco, I slept. We stopped for gas and I coffee'd up and drove the rest of the way home. After a shower and a beer I was in bed by 5AM. It felt good sleeping in on Monday.

5/4/14 part two

We got up to Dallas and and made our way to the Kessler. It was a fancy kind of a night, we were opening for The Flamin Groovies! That's right, little old us is opening for the Groovies on the same day we didn't get to see Billy Gibbons. It's a charmed life...

We brought our gear, the Groovies were gonna use our backline, but when we got there they had a backline already set up. So we added 400 pounds to the freak van for no real reason, it won't be the last time.

I was out by the backstage door talking with George, the Groovies bassist and he was telling me about how after they stopped playing, thirty years ago, he got a job at the post office and put in 23 years and is now retired and living off a post office pension. He's only out playing because it's a fun way to earn some extra cash! It sounds like a dream to me.

We go on to a decent crowd, it just didn't look that way. That's the problem with a place as big as the Kessler, a hundred people look like fifteen. You really need three-four hundred folks to make it look like anyone is there, five hundred would make it look packed, but there weren't that many people out on this Sunday.

We finished our set and the Groovies went on. It was a pretty ass kickin set. For a bunch of sixty year old dudes (and a thirtyish year old drummer) they really whipped it! The crowd was way in to it. There were only a few of them, but they were completely caught up in the moment.

The show ends and we pack up the freak and head back south. We stopped in West for the second time this trip and got a second round of kolaches from a second kolache shop.

That's how we roll.

12/31/13

It was the big fancy NYE show. We all made the drive separately and took along our ladies. Downtown Dallas was packed with folks ready for the big night. I saw multiple people walking in to our hotel with CASES of booze. These were not employees, these were guests and they were going to party. The drunken stupidity was inevitable.

Our hotel was a half a mile away from the HOB. I hoofed it over to set up my gear (Smitty brought the heavy stuff in the freak) and to check the place out.

The House of Blues in Dallas has three venues in it. One had a grunge show another had an oldies show and the big room had us opening for the Old '97's. I walked in the back stage entrance and off to the Hickoid green room. A lovely place with chips and salsa, a veggie tray, a coffee maker, a second coffee maker (for toilet coffee), a lovely assortment of soda and water.... and no beer... zero... we had to buy our own... NYE and no free beer for the band. Interesting decision since generally a "Blues" club feeds it's musicians booze like it's water and asks them if they want more when they are drooling and laying on the sidewalk (or ground if it's out in the country). We got food so it wasn't all bad but it still seemed odd. I never left the backstage area the whole night. The club looked like a cool place, but by the time I could check things out it was packed so I hid in the back.

RTB2 Kicked things off. They played the Saturday show at Antone's but I missed them then. This show they kicked ass! A little blues, a little rock and a little pop. A lot of sound for a two piece.

We were second and did pretty well. It was obvious that people were there for the '97's and wanted them on NOW! But we did our thing and did it good and by the end they were in to us.

The 97's went on and BOOM! The folks that were all reserved for our set boiled over into the drunken mob I knew was hiding under the surface. It's New Years Eve and these people ain't fucking around.

While they were rocking the Hickoids started drifting off into the night. We left by cab, van, car and foot. NYE would soon be in the past and another year of kicking musical ass is out there waiting for us.

Some BIG opportunities are on the way! Stay tuned.

5/4/13

Saturday night in Dallas, the big D. There were Gringos up there...

Hickoids made the drive separately. Smitty, Tom and Davy went up early in the freak to pick up some LPs from the Dallas pressing plant. Lance and I drove up later. Our time was filled with kolache and coffee.

We made it to Bryan Street Tavern in enough time for Tom to bully us into ordering our free pizza (apparently the Thai food he had three hours earlier wasn't holding him over). We ate and Graceland got up to play. They had a nice set, but they got into a little argument in the middle. Having been in SEVERAL bands that fought onstage (sometimes with fists) it was nice to see someone else do it.

We were next. I was sloppy and a little out of it. The two shows the night before, four hours of sleep, eight hours of work and a three and a half hour drive was knocking the crap out of me. Folks seemed happy with the show. I used Tubb's Orange rig and it's making me think about replacing mine. I am a gear whore.

Gringos go on playing the classics. They were kicking ass and I start dragging it. Lance and I head back to Austin early (lame, but needed). More kolache on the way home to

sleep...

Three Show Wrap-up

I'm late by three shows... Lame Lame Lame...

How can I improve this? By stepping up the lame a little more with a THREE SHOW POST!!

#1

Hickoids in Dallas. We were up to play a scooter/motorcycle fest at Lee Harvey's. We hadn't been back from Europe for a week and we made the drive. Well, I made the drive back and flew up (!) rock star style. Money to burn....

Good, happy crowd. They liked us a bunch and we were still pretty tight (but tired) from the tour.

Near the end of our set most of the bikes started peeling out and the smell of burnt rubber was making me think an amp was on fire. Then ALL of the bikes started up and it smelled like Midland. It was real hard to breathe, but we made it to the end.

We hit the Czech Stop on the way home!

#2

David Nobody benefit at the Longbranch. David fucked up his hand in a nasty way right before SXSW this year. Like most Austin musicians (like me) he had no insurance. So we benefit.

We were right before Churchwood (awesome as always) and after a stripped down Shootin pains (dandy work, fellas). I love the shit out of the sound of an acoustic through a tube amp.

We kicked ass. Still high off the tour it would have been hard for us to mess up.

#3

Two days later at the Mix. Stevie Tombstone was out for a few dates and the night was him solo and us. He did about 45 minutes and we did an hour and a half. It was a long slow build and by the end we were in full on rage mode.

They close the smoking deck at last call so the last fifteen minutes the place was packed and we were on fire. Lots of good, happy, drunk folks with nowhere else to go. Hickiod putty!

11/10/12

Hickoids in Dallas at the Doublewide. It took forever to get there. Bad traffic on 35 and a couple of extra stops on the way. Forgive us, it is hard driving by the Czech Stop in West and kolaches make the drive better!

We make it and load in. My favorite thing about this club is it has three different sections. The main bar, outside and the music part. It's nice because the bar can make money on drinkers without having to force them to watch a band they may not want to watch. And it's great for the bands because the people in the music room want to be there! Smart.

The openers were Lois and the Psycho Sidekicks and Graceland. Both did a hell of a job. The Graceland folks had a bunch of matching Orange amps, It looked and sounded really cool.

We played and kicked our usual amount of ass. We had to do some serious hauling of the ass to get home. Scott had a gig at the San Antonio marathon and needed to be there at 6 AM! I did the last half of the drive (after much caffeine) to Austin. We pulled up to Davy's a little after 5. I don't know if Lutz and Smitty made it the rest of the way.

As for me I was still jacked up on the wake up juice when I got home. After a couple of beers I made it to bed around 6:45 and woke up the next day around 3. I was glad I was off...

Breakdown

Two free beers and $2 Lone Stars after that. Not bad

Doublewide in Dallas

Hickoids will be there on Saturday. You gotta love a club with a mural like that.

5/5/12

This one started a little rough. The drive to Dallas went fine but there were some issues with getting all the Hickoids to the Kessler theater, but it all worked out. I got some 5 Hour to make it through the night. I really needed it after the week...

The May 5th celebration (they call it something else in Mexico!) was a lovefest of Dallas proportions. The Gringos brought out the usual big and happy crowd. It's nice heading up there and getting a bunch of hugs and free beers from people I generally only see in the big D. It actually makes me happy to be there (and that's saying something, I've had more than my share of bad evenings in Dallas).

Breakdown

The only free drinks I got were from the Gringos and a few of the lovely folks who came to watch. Shame on you Kessler...

The sound was great. I used Tubb's Orange Class D amp with the matching 4 X 10" cab. It sounds pretty mighty but it doesn't quite have the slam when things get LOUD! But I'm just being picky.

My Superpower 2

This one is from last year.

Hickoids were playing the "Gringopalooza" weekend up in the DFW portion of Texas. Friday night was in Ft Worth at a club next door to a club I played 10 years prior which was also the last time I'd been in FT Worth.

We play the set and say our goodbyes and we head off to find a motel for the night. We drive in the "Dallas" direction and we pass several sold out places and finally come up on a Motel 6 that has  a vacancy. One room for the four of us * and those double beds are small, as usual I'm sleepin in the van. I brush my teeth and pull up the hoodie hood and drift off to dreamland around 3AM.

At some point in the night I hear two girls talking near by and I wake up and see them head upstairs. I turned over as I heard them knock on a door to one of the rooms and I fell back asleep.

A few hours later I wake up with my cell phone asking me if I was ready for breakfast so I'm up and moving around. As I was pulling on my pants I noticed a bunch of guys leaving the room the girls went in to. They had a couple of video cameras. And several sets of professional lights. Had I known what was going on I would never be able to sleep next to people making a real live movie!

* There is always fluctuating number of band members, as Smitty says "Seeing the Hickoids is like a handjob from a leper, you never know how many your gonna get"

10/15/11

First mobile post

I'm on i35 sitting in the back of the freak van heading home. Hickoids played at this place called the Kessler theatre and it's one hell of a nice place. The deco front is really cool...

We could hear ourselves on stage which is something we aren't too accustomed to. It's amazing what good gear and competent sound people can do.

Breakdown

I ended up with three drink tickets, not bad but lone stars were $4 each! That is painful to my sensitive Austin wallet.

My rig rules

This is only the second show I've played with it, but It is incredibly versatile. I love turning up the tube tone and makin things "Bootsy"! One hell of a good sound.