2/4/22

 

Hicks were out at the Gray Horse in San Marcos last Friday night. It’s a pretty cool joint in a strip mall just outside of town on the way to Wimberly. I would have missed it if the lady in my phone hadn’t told be to turn in the parking lot. 

We went up after the Bulemics who i hadn’t seen in… forever? They were so fucking good!!  When they went up I was getting crabby because they started late. But once they were going I was all “Holy Shit!! They are rocking this shit!”   THEN they ended after thirty minutes (oh, they didn’t start late at all…). 

I’m easy to get crabby but hard to impress musically. This was a definite win here. 

Then we went up and had a decent one. Harvey wasn’t  with us and we were missing some of our sound but we kept it going and played until 80% of the crowd left…

It’s what we do. 

10/26/19

Third night in a row in San Antonio, BUT first there is a party in San Marcos and Bigfoot was playing it. 

It was a pretty cool affair. Out on a ranch that had a real stage and food and BEER!!

We were kinda terrible. We aren’t good at playing tunes longer to fill time. It’s a huge flaw in that band and a skill we should learn. Not sure we will...

Then the Harvey band played at Francis Bogside. I’d never been here before but it’s a really cool joint and our set was pretty damn good. Felt nice to have a good one after the earlier one. 

4/19/19

Last night the Hickoids were at the Buzzmill in San Marcos. We were last on a bill of three. I got there after Hammel On Trial had already started. He was second....  chronic I tell ya. 

Hammel did his usual kill it thing. That dude is a machine, his right arm is a fucking piston. Pretty amazing.  And it’s been that way for 25+ years!!

We went up and had a pretty wild set. Nothing specific happened, it was just one of those totally unhinged shows that goes all over the place and (somehow) still stays focused.  We do that. 

And speaking of stuff we do, we ended the night with “The New Canadian Leaf Leaf Rag”. Five Canadian rock tunes mashed together in a ridiculous way. We haven’t played it live since we were in Canada last year and we kinda pulled it off with no major fuckups. 

Dentin tomorrow! 

10/5/17

Last night had us in San Marcos at the Buzzmill.


When I showed up Pat and the Outsiders were setting up, I'd already missed Harvey... Damn.


Pat's set was great, almost all of the tunes were different than the night before. Stylistically similar but different "numbers". Mmmmm, Professionals!


Our set was short but rockin. They have a noise cutoff at 11 and we went on a little after 10. A decent amount of time, but with all of the bullshitting we do... During the first song I pulled a Davy Jones by stepping on my cords and unplugging my tuner... twice... Sigh.



We did Glorious Heroin and Half Breed/Eighteen with Frontier Dan. What a charming son of a bitch. We ended our set with Donkey Lady at lightning speed. It was more than a little unhinged.

11/8/14

Back before this show was booked I'd heard all abut the eventual demise of the Triple Crown, San Marcos' finest place to play. It was falling victim to the same kind of property development that's been happening up here in Austin, clear out the old crap and build the new/fancy and rich folks will buy it up as fast as they can.

So it was a bittersweet drive when I headed down for the show. After (literally) hundreds of late, sweaty nights the last time I would play there would be with the Hickoids and we were opening for the Beaumonts.

Since the Dog and Duck closed on Halloween (and with this last show looming) I'd been bummed out about all the change in central Texas. I was getting all sentimental and missing cherry picked parts of my past. I even Tweeted about the show with the hashtag #anothergreatbarcloses.

I pulled in to the parking lot and loaded my gear then headed outside to talk with the fellas. At some point I said something about our last night here and I was told...

"Oh no, it's staying open. The guy that owns it decided not to build condos."

I was thrilled! The Crown was staying! And I had just posted the stupidest tweet possible in that situation...

It probably wont be the last time.

5/23/13

It's day one of the latest Hickoids mini-tour, four days with the Beaumonts. It's a themed tour, I don't really know what the theme is, but I know it has something to do with goats or sheep... We are starting off close to home and will end things up in Marfa on Sunday (we are told the livestock will be there, in force).

I know I've said it before, but I love spending the night in my bed on the first day of a tour... It's rock and roll, old man style!

We were in San Marcos at a former massage parlor know as the Tokyo Spa. They call it the Triple Crown now. Hickoids were first, we had a good set. Smitty's playing a lot of guitar at the top of the set. Energy wise we seem to start things off a little more subdued than usual, but we still bring the rock by the end of the set.

We did the Brontosaurs and that always makes me happy.

Beaumonts were on next. I didn't see them (work the next morning) but, I heard the top of the first song as I headed to my truck. Lame, I know, but I'll see PLENTY of them this weekend.

Ft Worth tomorrow!

6/1/12

Looks like I'm back from the dead.

Hickoids at the Triple Crown in San Marcos with Chief Fuzzer and The Jocks. Two SM bands that always deliver. Since my last time playing there they have made some serious improvements to the stage. It was still crowded as fuck once six Hickoids were up there (even with the new bass rigs slim profile, so sheik!) but me and the girls would fit fine. Speaking of which...

Breakdown

First off it was a treat getting out to play. After a week of sick I needed to be loud. I feel like I played (and sang) like crap, but I got to play and sing and I haven't done that in a week. Not even in the house. Another step towards my normal.

No drinking for me (yet). So no report on the boozin, sorry. I'll be back to normal soon enough.

I'm still learning the TC rig. I'm getting all kinds of cool sounds out of it and it's SPL capabilities are very nice. I'm sure I'll do a real "review" of it soon, but currently my favorite part is having a 12" driver punching me in the chest. It feels really nice.

7/22/11

Double trifecta day two. The Gay Sportscasters played The Triple Crown in San Marcos last night. We were sans dancers and even though I thought people wouldn't dig it (I figure most folks come to watch the "mammarian force field") they did. We actually played like a real band instead of some guys who know some songs and play on occasion.

The Reaction was on the bill with Attic Ted (one of Wade's old bands) and the Jocks. When the 'casters were playing "Get Down Tonight" (yes, we do some really awful tunes) an old fried was dancing ala John Travolta right in front of me. I completely lost it and stopped playing for a few bars. It's a little different than Smitty's usual screwing with me, he just sticks that smelly ass mic in my face (or something similar). Seeing "The Travolta" took me by complete surprise.

Breakdown

Got two drink tickets and bought one extra beer for $2.50. Not bad or great.

On the first song Smitty's mic didn't work so while the sound guy was swapping it out Smitty jumped on mine. Nasty!