1/4/19

We had a swishifyin time at the Empire Control room last Friday night.  It was free week so no one paid to get in...  but it worked!  Loads of people there for every band. I even think we got paid?! Should that be every week? 

We went up in the middle of five, inside.  Thank god it wasn’t outside. My shorts are shorter than ever and I’d be freezing my ass off. The set was pretty hot. We’d never played for that many people before and we were all pretty amped to rock them. We did. Smiling faces looking up at us the whole set. We were loving it. 

Beautiful night. 

1/2/19

It was cold and damp as hell Wednesday night. A day and a half of nonstop rain and it was in the 30s all day, I knew the Sahara would be dead. I didn’t know that all they have for heat is a few space heaters and window units set to heat instead of cool. They don’t really help much when it’s summer and they blow “cold” but I can deal with sweating... I moved to Texas for a reason.  That damp cold made it fucking miserable in there. 

Danny did his usual killing it. He was playing through an amp that was a pedal (?!) and a speaker cabinet. Pretty cool setup. Technology touches everything nowadays. 

I wore a jacket for most of our set. We played everything too fast and we were sloppy as hell. I think we wanted to get it over and get home and warm. Which we eventually did. 

Looking forward to next month when I hope there is a heatwave. Lord. 

12/22/18

We swished it up the other night in San Antonio. Joined at the Bang Bang Bar by our buddies from Bend, Dr Green Dreams and Austin’s own We Are The Asteroid.  

The drive down was nice and easy. The Holliday slump had traffic moving fast down the 35 corridor. Of course that means the crowd was guaranteed to be thin. Ehhhh.  I was still ready to kill it. 

The Green Dreams crew tore it up. Different drummer than when we played with them back when were on tour. I think he is based in Houston. Didn’t really have a chance to talk to him to find out...  but he complimented their style in a really nice way. 

We were next and had a good set. Not the best but solid. Had some folks up at the front for some of it and we rocked them all the way down the gangplank.  

I missed the asteroid.... had to head home to take care of a dog that was cooped up in the house too long!!!  Wish I’d stayed but we’ve got some shows with them coming up in Louisiana around carnival time. I’ll get to see them plenty then!

12/21/18

Hickoids were in Houston last night. 

Fitzgerald’s is closing?!!!!  Zeldas too... talk about the end of an era. I played both back when I was only a solo act. Twenty plus years ago...  first place they ever miced the stage to make my stomp extra loud.  It’s gonna be gone....

There were bands upstairs and down. I showed up when Texicali was on. The Beaumont’s were after and Dash Rip Rock after them. Hicks last. 

 I dug all the sets I saw. Ours was not so hot...  it’s how it goes. We haven’t rehearsed much with all of us in the same room over last few weeks.  

Oh well. We gave them what we could and they seemed to like it.  

Gonna miss that joint.  

12/5/18

Another late-ass post...

Bigfoot at the Sahara with Danny B, again.  

Kinda the same as the other months we’ve done this, pretty sweet “problem” to have.  Playing in a band you love, in has a sweet monthly gig at a cool club. AND a world class guitar player opens for us and likes us!!

That become reality and it’s kinda weird how you can get acclimated to it. Something absolutely amazing becomes commonplace and part of your normal life. 

I could just be a spoiled child...jury’s still out. 

11/7/18

Late late late....  no shocker there. 

Another month another first Wednesday with Danny B. 

They’d been playing for an hour or so by the time I got there. I can’t seem to make it early enough for their whole set. Pitiful me....

They were killing it of course, even though the crowd was thinner than in weeks past. Beto losing the election the night before  didn’t help attendance.  We knew that going in.  But Danny and his boys just got up and did it. Like always.  

We went up and hit the room with a few new tunes. By new I mean we haven’t played them in a few years. We’ve got a pretty huge list of tunes we’ve played over the years. Lots to pull from.  We added “Endless Sleep”, “They Can Only Fill One Grave” and “Pistol Packin Mama” this time. And the folks that made it out dug it. 

It was pretty solid all around. Just like it will be the next time. And....

10/14/18

While the last tunes were being played at the “real” ACL we had something brewing at the South Austin Museum Of Popular Culture. A Davy Jones cartoon retrospective with the proceeds going to a book of his work. 

It was pretty cool. Loads of gig posters (several shows I played) loads of comics from when he was in the army and a bunch of the normal Davy’s hilarious  bullshit. It was nice to see. 

Hickoids went up after Pony. We had a sloppy good set. But at some point I turned the bass up a little too loud and I made my cabinets vibrate off of each other throwing the head and the top cabinet to the ground, not the best but apparently nothing is fucked. I finished the set and did another after with no problems. 

Frontier Dan got up with us. As usual it was a blast with him. He is always so happy when he gets up with us.  Same for me.  

Bigfoot finished it off. We even got Cody up to wawa a solo on Whale for a little insiders treat to Jones. It was a really nice night. And I got to play for a couple of hours!