You can make your own here.
George Carlin made a joke about this years before the Colorado D-bags took notice. However, I beg to differ. I don’t care for this smell. If there were a way to eliminate the side effects, I’d get in line right away.
Now dogs on the other hand, they love farts. Another reason why I prefer cats.
My final concert story (until later this week) because I will be caught up! Next up will be Brushes with Greatness…no, Movies which is easier.
This show was a pretty cool experience. It was my first at the Scoot Inn on the east side of I-35. The people who run the Parish now manage it. Scoot Inn resembles Stubb’s outdoors on a smaller scale.
The venue worked pretty well for Dale Earnhardt Jr Jr, a band whose odd humor doesn’t matter much live. Their music and multi-media usage were what stood out for me. In the two albums I own, I had never noticed the Reggae and West African (think Vampire Weekend) in their sound. The duo is also very talented. Despite having two other stage musicians assisting, they played multiple instruments and frequently traded off with the bass player.
No luck on getting any decent photos so I went with this performance via YouTube showing how they implemented a giant white beach ball in their recent hit “Run.” I do recommend seeing them live yet I don’t think they’ll resonate with many, ergo, check out their albums It’s Corporate World and The Speed of Things.
This year’s wedding anniversary present was floor tickets to see these guys at the Moody Theater on November 1st. They were the big concert to anchor the F1 race Austin was saddled with thanks to the outgoing shit bag we call Governor Perry. How I wish Duran Duran came to play for less expensive reasons.
Nonetheless I was stoked to see them for the fourth time. This show was the 30th anniversary of when I saw them the first time amongst the hundreds of screaming teen girls. They’re currently between records, rumor has it they want Nile Rodgers to produce again, sweet, he worked on Notorious which has aged pretty well after a couple decades.
The show was a semi-special event beyond the F1 and anniversary. They limited the numbers on the floor, provided an open bar (I had three cosmos with Tito’s vodka) and had appetizers. No opener neither, just a DJ. I figured they knew they were catering to an older crowd who just wants the hits.
Despite the set list being heavily tilted to their back catalog, I was glad they did perform “All You Need is Now” and “Girl Panic!” from the last album they did with Mark Ronson (at least he didn’t make them crib Amy Winehouse’s terrible sound). I loved how Simon broke into Talking Head’s “Psychokiller” during the bridge of “Girls on Film.” Everybody expected them to do Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s “Relax” during “Wild Boys.” I was surprised they bothered to cover anything from Thank You, the tribute record most panned unfairly.
The tradeoff for sticking to the hits most people know was a more civil crowd. A shoving match is less likely to happen because somebody’s going to break a hip and the sitter charges double after 10 PM! We arrived early enough to be up close, the closest I’ve ever been at a Duran Duran show. The photos on display were taken by Somara via our digital camera (the designations imply they were). I sure hope I look as good as they do in my fifties, namely Simon and Nick.
Anyone interested in getting a better track listing of their older and newer stuff buzz me.
Had he beaten cancer and carried on, it would’ve been his 80th. Sagan wasn’t always a genial figure since it was disputed about the lawsuits he may or may not have filed against Johnny Carson, Apple, etc. He’s probably also marred for his three marriages. The Atheist Community may also consider him a coward for taking the Agnostic view; I have to agree there, Agnosticism is a cop out alongside the False Equivalence route.
However, Sagan was the first living Scientist I heard of and learned to admire. Einstein I discovered in the Seventies through an issue of Time. Like many in my generation, it was his PBS show Cosmos. The visuals were phenomenal and the facts were mind blowing. My parents had an ongoing subscription to National Geogrpahic then too, so his program was running alongside the huge stories of the Voyager probes reporting back their Jupiter findings. I think my parents would’ve reconsidered letting me watch Sagan if they knew it was a major factor in me becoming an Atheist. Hell, my mother was (probably still is) a raging opponent of Evolution.
As I grew older, Science began to take a back seat to the greater concerns teens have yet I never lost my love of Astronomy. I’m amazed how much I retained by college when I assisted my friend Helen with the inverse gravity formula. Seems odd that a three-dimensional situation is resolved by only squaring the number?
I thank Carl Sagan for being the great ambassador of Science. He helped bring a greater understanding to millions. Better than the egomaniacal hack Isaac Asimov ever could. Another legacy for Sagan is two immediate successors he has, Bill Nye the Science Guy and Neil DeGrasse-Tyson.
I wish he were alive though. We need more people like him who could articulate the facts to lay people and help us battle the morons in the American government, namely GOP Senators.
I should’ve suspected why the weather was very nice in Austin today! It was their day and I’m hoping Phoenix followed suit.
Their wedding is always pretty special to me. It was a reunion with some friends we had in common in the Midwest (DG coworker Mark Wood, the Bryants); I had visited Phoenix a couple previous times, often enjoyed the stays; and little did I know, our wedding would be next in queue.
Still working on an excuse to visit. Excuse? Well, Las Vegas is nearby yet it would be nice to see if I can swing work into this like I did in 2001. At least it’s not as long of a flight to get there than Sin City or the Silicon Valley.
Maybe Rad will grace my site with his superhero knowledge and/or reviews.
Click here to check out what I built for you all!
The other…a virtual fist bump or as it was said in the censored version of The Matrix, a flipper!
The Force Awakens…well, it’s certainly better than Attack of the Clones which made little to no sense. For JJ Abrams, this title is sophisticated. What I’m puzzled about is what was the Force doing after Return of the Jedi? Did the Ewoks poison the midichlorian well? Maybe there will be some cool Lego sets to compensate for the mediocre title.
As long as this driver isn’t a standard Austin douche who has to be ahead of me because I’m driving the speed limit and stay in their lane, I couldn’t care less. Oh, and isn’t on the phone since many here think their SUVs are portable living rooms.
Another sold-out Austin show (last October, I’m almost caught up)! I don’t recall if they ever came back through over the last four years. Maybe, but I figured it was for SXSW which is really how they came to the public’s attention 12 years ago. Hell, Somara and I would see this quartet even if they were just hanging out to test new tracks.
Obviously OK Go was here to kick off the release of Hungry Ghosts, their fourth studio album. They also had an in-store at Waterloo Records. I managed to catch the finale, scored the vinyl version so there’d be more room for their autographs. The gang still remembered me after all these years!
The show opened with a humorous montage of numerous movies/shows having the characters saying “OK” or “Go.” When they were ready to hit the stage, their introduction from Kermit started the concert. The setlist was a great mix containing Ghosts pieces and plenty of their back catalog. This nice journalist got a copy to post here. They ran into technical difficulties into the third song so I embedded an old crowd pleaser, Damian and Tim doing a scene from Les Miserables.
Somara and I arrived at the show late plus we wanted new people to enjoy the opportunity to be up close. Damian did an acoustic number in the crowd’s midsection, a nice touch for those stuck in the back. When they closed with “Here It Goes Again,” various audience members were pulled on stage, including a young man (compared to me) who knew how to play the song.
I’ve been plugging these guys for over a decade, if you haven’t seen them live, all I can say is that you probably just don’t like music. They’re an extravaganza of humor, energy and one of the savviest acts I’ve seen. Damian closed saying OK Go would return to Austin in the Spring. The new tour date recently appeared. San Antonio, Houston and Dallas, no Austin. Maybe SXSW yet the other cities are too far away. I did see Las Vegas on April 28, who’s with me?
Even in Austin, there are knuckle-dragging Ammosexuals driving around harboring a Red Dawn fetish scenario because The Hunger Games is too complicated.
Nice to see that KUT’s monopoly on the Cactus Cafe banning good touring acts isn’t absolute. I had to go to this show alone because I guess everyone thinks every song Del Amitri performs is sad or depressing. Please explain the appeal of the Smiths then?
I was pretty stoked since I don’t recall Justin visiting Austin in a couple decades. I’m probably wrong but I don’t count festivals and industry ass kissing. Oddly, Del Amitri passed through three times for Twisted, I managed to swing the first appearance at Austin Music Hall. The last pass I’m glad I missed, it was the Christmas party for 101X which today is the MTV of Austin. Yeah, that radio station sucks big time.
The show on September 30 was mostly Justin playing his acoustic guitar. He had an additional guitarist with him on a couple numbers and an electric piano for others. The set list mixed his latest third solo album with old Del Amitri faves (the YouTube session is the 1992 hit). Justin’s humor remains intact, namely when he broke a string, “I was hoping to have all these strings make it through the tour!” I guess he was playing on the stereotype of Scotts being tightwads.
Sadly he didn’t bother to stick around for autographs or meet his fan base. It’s alright, I would prefer to have more opportunities to see him live. Just next time, a more electric set. Many Del Amitri songs work better with electric guitars like “Song for Food, “Start with Me,” and “Cash and Prizes.”
Opening for Justin was Austin’s very own The Mastersons. They’ve been touring with Justin lately. As soon as they mentioned their involvement with Steve Earle, I had to buy their record. Well, they were pretty impressive and worthy of my money.
A winning combination of a favorite food with my favorite type of shoes! Should I not keep these sneakers in good shape, they’ll eventually turn into a pizza with mushrooms!
On another dreary late evening in Austin, I was drinking, hanging out at the Dog & Duck Pub with my French friend/tutor Patricia. The statewide election returns were funneling in as George “Dubious” Bush (the future worst president in history) would unseat Ann Richards as governor, the very thing this coke-sniveling, drunken deserter needed to get catapulted on to the national scene. There were a few silver linings though.
It was a bummer too. All the Dems I met kept blathering on how Richards would coast into another term because Baby Bush was a political lightweight. Seems they had amnesia over how contentious Ann’s 1990 election over the GOP was. Plus they underestimated the Republicans’ hellbent nature to foster their Restoration since they felt Clinton robbed the mediocre Daddy Bush of his god-given right to be president for another four years. I mean, the guy did win the Gulf War while he let the economy go to crap. Had they foreseen how much Baby Bush would screw the pooch by 2007, maybe just enough people could’ve wised up to end Dubious’ political career, get him into painting sooner.
The best glimmer of hope was seeing director/writer Oliver Stone leaving the bar. I grabbed the opportunity to shake his hand and tell him how I enjoyed his movies. Not a complete lie. Heaven and Earth is pretty great, I felt Natural Born Killers was ridiculing the media spectacle America makes of some murderers (Bonnie & Clyde come readily to mind, same for Joseph Smith of LDS notoriety), giving them cultish celebrity status. I’ve never seen JFK nor do I agree with his “theories.” Platoon was mostly lazy stereotypes. Years later I did see Midnight Express which he wrote.
Some of you may be respond, oh you’re just bitter because your “team” lost. A tad. However, tonight to me is yet another demonstration in a long string of futile elections showing that American democracy is rigged as it often has been since the slave-owning guys with powder wigs ran the show. Either we’ll find a way to take “the club” off the steering wheel of true democracy or a military coup will “solve” the problem of voting.
Tonight much like 20 years ago doesn’t matter. Before the weekend rolls around, count on the next batch of Republican assholes to announce their candidacy for 2016 and the DLC DINOs will circle the wagons around Billary’s centrist bullshit.
The music/concert week continues with show number two! Shortly after I came back from Las Vegas and before ACL Crapfest, my favorite Band who are also superheroes graced Austin with a great show at the Mohawk. Much has changed since they last headlines, like about nine years (when Emo’s was the Back Room). I’m sure they did a SXSW showcase or two, maybe even Fun Fun Fest. The coolest part was how Yo Gabba Gabba! and their Hub show has broadened their audience to include younger members. A move I think helped TMBG last 30-plus years.
This little ‘bat was very proud to show her fandom!
Another ‘bat came to represent with his parents.
As always, the Aquabats had an intriguing opener, a multimedia extravaganza behind them to enhance the experience and the funniest encore I’ve seen in years. MC Bat Commander fought off a dinosaur and helped out a giant chicken. They performed a solid mix of old favorites and material from their current album High Five Soup. Ricky Fitness the Drummer also serenaded a young lady with the first verse of the Outfield’s “Your Love.” Running into mutual Coleman friend Cheryl was a nice surprise too.
The personal highlight was MC Bat Commander introducing the band (Ricky Fitness, Crash McLarsen, Jimmy the Robot and Eagle Falconhawk) and he made a reference to M*A*S*H saying Eagle wasn’t Radar but the chaplain he couldn’t remember. Being the trivia buff I am, I shouted the answer, “Father Mulcahy!” To this, Bat Commander replied, “Really? Wow, you’re old!” It’s OK, he’s right and after the show we joked about the incident which he apologized over. I told him it didn’t bother me. The Aquabats always make me happy, especially when they play “Pizza Day.”
