Arts and Entertainment: July 2009 Archives

We've got a big bill tonight at the Mohawk full of bands with nada in the way of a cover charge. Hot dog!

With each passing day it becomes ever more doubtful that Rolling Stone magazine will pay anyone - let alone me - to fly around the country to tag along with and write about a mediocre rock band while they traverse house parties willy-nilly and take acid. But that's okay. It means less paying gigs, but also fewer glossy, in-depth profiles of hacks like Lenny Kravitz or accounts of visiting the needle exchange with Staind. What you'll get here is a more down to earth account of five bands en route to Denton and Dallas. Hopefully the quality of these groups will offset the lack of rock and roll excess contained in the following account.

The Second Annual Super Hero show features a smorgasbord of acclaimed local musicians: Alejandro Escovedo, James McMurtry, and Ian McLagan & The Bump Band. But the superheroes of its title may be the dedicated men and women of the multidisciplinary medical team at Austin Child Guidance Center; they provide mental health services for children and their families as well as community education.

You, the budget-conscious local music fan considering how to while away the first evening of this most patriotic of holiday weekends, could do much worse than to spend it with the four bands who will take the stage tonight at Trophy’s. We recommend getting there early to catch the promising and dreamy sounding new band St. Cloud, who were recently and unfortunately added to the ever-growing roll of musicians who’ve had instruments pilfered from their vehicles. (Here’s a list of the hot gear.)

After St. Cloud’s set erases any lingering anxiety caused by the cornucopia of national crises currently dogging the nation, Frantic Clam will offer up their inspired update on glam rock, followed by the jangling tones of Jim & the Toms. The garage-pop combo The Little Gentlemen, who recently celebrated the release of their debut album I Quit Nothing, close out the night.

Recently, during a performance by an anonymous Austin band, someone spotted Bill Callahan in the crowd, walked straight up to him and looked into his face: "Your new album," the audience member said, pausing for emphasis, "is perfect." And so it is in regards to Callahan's second release under his own name, Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle, which is so damn good it's receiving dark horse consideration for album of the year. Writing songs about the songs he wrote while sleeping, and imploring his listener, and maybe himself, to put God away, Eagle is a testament to an adult musical vision: the album is 100% free of excess, and every subtlety seems to be the product of careful consideration, or at least the spontaneous intuition of someone who's been building beautiful songs for more than a decade.

April 20th, 2005 is the date on the tape Erik Wofford pulls out from his archives. The head honcho at Cacophony Recorders is eager to start from the very beginning as we sit down on the comfortable green couches to discuss what went on in the four plus years since Will Rhodes, also seated beside us, first came into the spacious studio in East Austin. The tape in question contains "Graffiti The Night," a song done by Rhodes four years ago and one that can now finally be enjoyed by everyone. The ever-evolving local indie-rock outfit 'Til We're Blue Or Destroy has finally released their very long awaited self-titled debut and will celebrate by performing at Club de Ville on Friday.

It’s been quite a tragic ten days or so and we’re all still coming to terms with the losses we experienced both last and this week. This Sunday, Scoot Inn is hosting a memorial for Sky Sunlight Saxon, a.k.a. Richard Marsh at 6 p.m. Sky passed away last Thursday morning at St. David’s South Austin Hospital. The cause has been identified as heart and kidney failure from an undiagnosed infection of his internal organs. Sky fronted and played bass for the garage-rock outfit The Seeds; the band had a legitimate hit with “Pushin’ Too Hard” in the 60’s. The song was named as one of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame + Museum’s “500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.” Sky performed at Psych Fest 2 this past March and at Antone’s as recently as Saturday, June 20th. He was rushed to the hospital on Monday the 22nd and remained in an ICU until his passing on the 25th.

The Second Annual Super Hero show features a smorgasbord of acclaimed local musicians: Alejandro Escovedo, James McMurtry, Ian McLagan & The Bump Band, and Right Or Happy (formerly The Reivers). But the superheroes of its title may be the dedicated men and women of the multidisciplinary medical team at Austin Child Guidance Center; they provide mental health services for children and their families as well as community education.

For any Shakespeare geek residing in Central Texas, we can imagine no greater treat than to watch one of his plays performed on the “wooden O” that is The Curtain Theatre. Richard Garriott’s Elizabethan replica space is nestled on his property on the shores of Lake Austin and provided the backdrop for Austin Shakespeare’s inaugural Young Shakespeare production of The Comedy of Errors this past weekend. The all-teen cast delivered a solid performance that was pleasantly surprising in many ways.

England’s most storied and inspirational warrior king is revealed in a new, one-man adaptation of the Shakespeare history starring B. Iden Payne Award-winning actor/director and Austin Chronicle Arts Editor Robert Faires.

There's something about Moonlight Towers that begs kneejerk comparison to the OK Gos, Dexter Freebishes, and-dare we say-Ryan Adamses of this world, but there's something else, something much deeper and more subtle that turns side stage and winks in our direction, reminding us that there's a either Gram Parsons or Sugar playing on the phono back home.

Nylon Magazine supports a show by British performer Patrick Wolf at Antone's, July 1, 2009. During Patrick Wolf's show, audience members gave him clothing as birthday presents which he wore. Photos by Steve Hopson, www.stevehopson.com.

Jimmie Vaughan and the Tilt-A-Whirl Band at Blues on the Green at Waterloo Park, Austin Texas, July 1, 2009. Photos by Steve Hopson, www.stevehopson.com.

At the Carver Library and Cultural Center, Austin held its other book festival on Saturday, June 27th: The Third Annual African American Book Festival. Less well-known than that book gathering held in the Capitol each fall, it still attracted some prominent authors. One, Annette Gordon-Reed, spoke of her obsession with the story of Sally Hemings, the now famous slave and mistress of Thomas Jefferson. She described a journey that began with reading Jefferson's biography as a third grader to research on his life as a college history student and the eventual publication of two books. Jefferson scholars dismissed the relationship as just "negro news," she said. In 1997, her first book, Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: An American Controversy, examined the entire historical record. Soon after, DNA evidence confirmed the liaison. Then, using Jefferson's obsessive record keeping, the oral history, and his letters, she reconstructed the Hemings family story in, The Hemingses of Monticello, for which she received the 2008 National Book Award and 2009 Pulitzer Prize. She expressed regret at not listening more carefully as a child to her grandmother’s family stories. "Slavery was a part of my life," she said; her grandmother's mother was a slave. Gordon-Reed, now a law professor, wanted to individualize Sally, describe her family context, and allow her to be known as more than just a "slave girl." It was a short hour listening to the story behind the story.

By now you've heard about the three-night-stand Spoon has at Stubb's in July. We're excited about it too; and we're presenting night three along with KVRX (that's July 11). The (somewhat) local heroes will be playing tunes from their rich catalog as well as songs from their forthcoming full-length and new EP Got Nuffin.

The Swedish garage-pop duo Poppets are playing their first American show this evening at Club 1808.

in the war-torn country of Afghanistan, there’s a TV show much like our own inexplicably popular American Idol, where anyone can compete regardless of race, age, religion, or any other factor. And people all over the country use their cell phones to vote for their favorite performer. This remarkable film (winner of Directing and Audience Awards at this year’s Sundance Film Festival) follows four finalists as they compete to become the next Afghan Star.It's sure to inform, inspire, enlighten, and entertain you. And that’s a lot more than Simon Cowell could ever do for you.