RIP Lawrence Heads

We lost a good one the other day. Lawrence Heads died from some heart related complications after decades of being one of the biggest live music fans in Austin.

During the original run of the Hole in the Wall he would bounce between the Hole  and the Showdown (now the Local) drinking/music circuit and that's where I met him. It was after one of my early solo shows he walked up and started asking me about my act. Direct and serious questions that were incredibly well thought out, from a guy who was obviously soaring on a head full of something. We were pals almost immediately.

Over the next few years he'd seen me play several hundred times. No joke. If I was at the Hole doing anything, Lawrence was there. The man was gold.

The Hole closed then reopened a couple of years later, Lawrence was at my first show. I was thrilled he was out, even though I'd kinda expected it. After the set he came up to me and I jokingly said "Oh man, Good to see you, I didn't think you liked my shit anymore". He looked me dead in the eye and said "Fool, I love you."

I loved him too.

7/14/17

Hickoids went to Houston for the Poor Dumb Bastards anniversary show at Fitzgerald's. You seen those words before... this show has happened more than once.



But not really. In the past it's been a big blowout with a bunch of bands and the Bastards had a lot of special stuff going on. But this year it was on the small stage downstairs and there were only three bands and we were the Headliners. Keeping it small made it really cool.


I drove solo and got there twenty minutes before PDB went on. They had a rocking set, no real surprise there. Then we went up.


I'd only had one rehearsal with the boys since they got back from Alaska. It was a little shaky, I was a little nervous. No need. We killed it.


At the end of the set during "Truck" Smitty started in on his rap while we held down the groove. We went to some pretty sweet musical places we've never even seen before that night. It felt SO good!!


The drive home was a quick as it could be, I was in bed by 5AM and at work by 10 the "next" day. So whipped when I got off I slept for 14 hours!!


Worth it.

6/10/17

The sorta-annual Howlin' Wolf show at the Continental was a couple of weeks ago. Guess what? Bigfoot Chester was on the bill! shocker...

We were headlining or dead last, however you wanna see it. It was also the motorcycle rally weekend. Loads of motorcycles buzzing all over town. Generally it means no normal Austinites will come out to a club. Only musicians... We don't get a pass.

I was dreading everything (other than getting to play) about this night. But when I got to South Congress there were barely any cars on the road.  Parking was easy and suddenly, I was feeling great about everything!

There was a decent crowd when we went up, it was thinner than earlier but that's what you get at 1AM. Our set was OK. Almost everything was too fast. We were solidly in non-groove killing territory. Sad. 

Ted Roddy got up and did "You'll Be Mine" and it was amazing. We really killed that one. The next tune was "I Didn't Know" and it was a sloppy ass mess. Sorry Ted. 

We finished up, got paid and headed home. I had a 7AM flight out in the morning I was in bed at 2:30 and up three hours later. Beat to hell the next day, but... you know...

6/1/17

Bantam"s first show!!

We were at the Hard Luck, playing outside. It was looking like it was gonna get rained out the whole week before. All of us wanted to get up and play, felt like it had been forever since we did it last. Fortunately the weather was kind so we got to make some noise. 

Our set was pretty good. Lots of miscues, missed notes and plain old fuckups but the feeling was there. That's all that matters with a first show back. Did it feel right?

We added a new tune called "Good Riddance". Two cords and seven words. Simplest song I've ever written. Also the quickest. I played both the chords and the words came out. Not a lot of thinking for that one. Sometimes you got to get out of inspirations way

5/29/17

Last day of the tour and our dear Beaumonts had left us for their own beds and happiness. We went to Bob's. In Bend.

There was actually a good crowd for our set. We played for almost two hours, with lots of time for bullshitting... I didn't have to move a bass rig because Dorothy from the Guadalupe Pirates let me use hers! She was/is too kind to this lazy idiot... 

As usual Bob got up for a couple. That dude is funny as hell. He has this continually running stream of bullshit that would either drive you crazy or make you crack up. I am firmly in the latter group. That patter kills me.

Eventually we packed up the freak, one last time and headed back to Austin. We were all pretty wrecked, but you know... Music!

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. 

5/27/17

Third night and things were picking up. We were at White Water Tavern in Little Rock with Frontier Dan and his Frontier Circus. 

By showtime there was a decent crowd. They were very attentive and very polite. Lots of golf style claps in between songs. Not a lot of fire. 

The Circus had a great set. Three guitars bass and drums, the rock and roll big band. He gave us all the hits we wanted   

We went next and we played great. We were really knocking the hell out of our set but when we ended a tune... golf clap. Very polite.  Zzzz. 

I hung out back for the first part of the Beaumonts set. Then they started "the song" and I stayed inside for the rest of their set. What else can I say... I love their brand of bullshit. I'd eat it daily, spread on toast if they sold it that way.  

Dallas tomorrow.