Record Store Day!Happy Birthday Richard Henry!Collie Budz & Grimy Styles LIVE!THIS WEEKEND IN HOUSTON AND AUSTIN REALNESS!

Holiday weekends can be exhausting, what with all the family obligations and such. Travelling from house to house cuz the older members of your family want nothing to do with each other, but really want to see your kids... Soooooooo you do what you need to do. And honestly, I don't mind. But this past weekend was a holiday weekend built explicity for ME.

Saturday = Record Store Day

and

Sunday = 420

What a weekend for Daddy. Anyway, where to begin?

Saturday I packed up the girls with the full intention of hitting some record stores in honor of record store day and then seeing Grimy Styles at Reggae Fest and then seeing Prince Paul at Richard Henry's birthday party. Part of that worked out.


We started the day at Backspin Records, Austin's second newest record emporium (newest being Spot's Trailer Records). Backspin is kicking some major ass. Sadly we went pretty early and missed the free beer and Superstar DJ crew. But whatever.


Eva and Elena had a great time.


Lena found that Fox and the Hound Picture Disc she's been digging for for AGES!

Then we headed off to my old place of employment, Music Mania, where we were once again too early cuz DJ Grip and Young Spinna and Lil A had a whole event planeed there for later that day.


Elena loved the cookies, seen here admiring the owner of the store...


Bernard!


Here's DJ Grip, I caught him as he was loading in. He told Eva she had to be in the pic so he could "Get on the blogspot." I think someone should GIVE me and Grip a radio show. Cuz we are both underground soldiers.


As is Young Spinna who had on the truest shirt of the day. I need a 2x asap my lil bro.

Then we went and met up with Sun Jue and her son Ziggy and headed towards Zilker Park/Auditorium Shores for Reggaefest. Why Austin has no real parking lots in that area is beyond me. The Manhattan of the South (which is what I call Austin) needs to work a little harder and faster to contain all these people. This is Texas, parking everywhere else in this state is mad plentiful yo.

Anyway, we were headed to Reggaefest but we stopped off at this fountain so the kids could play.

Grimy Styles was going on at 4:30 p.m. so we headed over there at about 4:20 ish (uh huh) and heard them starting up as we walked across the street. We got to the gate and the line was LITERALLY 6,000 people deep. I am not kidding. With three small children and the only band I wanted to see already on stage, we decided to say forget it and go to Waterloo.

(UPDATE - THE STATESMAN IS TALM BOUT IT REAL)

With a quick stop into Whole Foods cuz the man Davey D was having lunch so we swang thru and said hello.

At Waterloo I had to wrestle past the legions of Panic at the Disco fans who were there for the autograph session (they were 30 mins late) and I thought back to the day when my dad took me to Texas Tapes and Records (age 10) for a Twisted Sister/Ratt autograph session and well, I pondered the similarites and realized that there were many, only the line at Texas Tapes and Records was more manly and rough and tumble, even if it was mostly 10 year olds, like this one was as well.

Anyway I bought this:



And it's made me laugh more in the past 24 hours than just about anything in the past year. John Darnielle of the Mountain Goats on BLACK SABBATH'S MASTER OF REALITY! If any record deserves a book written about it, it's this.

John Darnielle is one of the greatest American songwriters of our generation and his brain and soul should be regarded as national treasures. That's all I'm gonna say. Go get the book. Oh yeah, one more thing...

I didn't post a track list for the podcast cuz I personally feel as though the beauty of radio is that you don't know what is coming next (for the most part). So I didn't. But I screwed up so much in the studio, that I didn't announce that I played "Heretic Pride," the title track from the Mountain Goats latest opus, and well, whatever, here it is.

Radioclit - Secousse
Rootz Underground - Victims of the System
Dam - 2 Mali Huriye
Bavu Blakes & Terel Shahid - Go Blaze
Josh Martinez & Devin the Dude - Storm Comin'
Mountain Goats - Heretic Pride
PPT - American Weirdo
Selda - Yaz Gazeteci Yaz
E-40, B-Legit, Laroo - Showin' Out
El Remolon - Cumbia Bichera
Dokkebi Q - Hardcore Cherry Bonbon
Grimy Styles, Chalie Boy, Bavu Blakes - Still Standin' Intro
Hezeleo - So Sensitive
Ganxsta Nip, K-Rino - The Takeover
Question, Gucci Mane - That Boy Bad
Kidz in the Hall, Bun B, Talib Kweli - Work to Do
Sonidero Nacional, DJ Blass - Sonidero Compay

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Then later that night Melissa and I went to Mohawk for Richard Henry's birthday party, with Crew 54 and Prince Paul. DJ P Nyce from Baltimore was spinning for most of the time we were there and he really only played east and wets coast hits from 1993-1995 so we pretty much bounced after a couple beers.

No offense, but I just wasn't needing a hip hop history lesson on that particular night.

Then Sunday night I headed back out to Mohawk to check out Collie Budz, Grimy Styles, Zeale 32 and Phranchyze. Show was pretty much off the chain.

Zeale and Phranchyze have some serious energy and lyrics for days.


My boy Krisna worked the beats.


Richard Henry was still celebrating his birthday.


Gary Clark Jr. and Friends. Dude is amazing as well. I need to get more on this site up on him man cuz he's a serious shining star in this Austin city town.


Noam Sayin'?

Anyway the crowd was pretty thick and of course, Grimy Styles killed it! (Word to Deborah Sengupta Stith and the Austin American Statesman for putting Matt from Grimy Styles on the front page Sunday!)


Anyway, they killed it.


Matt


Martin


Chris


And I never get any good shots of Jacob, aka Dr. Dubbist, but um, I think I did here.



Collie Budz hit the stage, and honestly, I haven't been listening to much dancehall in the past few years. Not a huge fan, I lean more towards dub and roots, but his show was really good. He has a strong voice and real energy. I was a lil surprised.









Anyway, I cut out like 1:30 a.m. and headed home after taking a leak and this photo. Many messages are contained in this photo...


WHAT A WEEKEND! But for me, this coming weekend promises to be even better. See, I am a lil obsessed with this Dutch drummer named Han Bennink so I'm gonna check him out on Saturday in Austin at the Victory Grill and on Sunday in Houston at Diverseworks with Peter Brotzmann. Two improvisers who wreck fucking shop real talk noam talm bout?

Anyway, I wrote about Han on HoustonSoReal before and posted some pics I took of the Instant Composers Pool when they played Diverseworks a couple years back. I'll have a full report and photos next week. For now check out some of this YouTube footage and get familiar with what you just might see should you heed my advice and come out to one or both of the shows.

Like I said, I'm pretty obssessed. Han Bennink is my favorite musician. No lie.


Peter Brotzmann & Han Bennink (2006) - I bet they are even better now! Ha.


Solo at North Sea Jazz Festival


Solo live in Jimma, Ethiopia


Terrie Ex and Han Bennink Duo


"Solo"


The Ex in Ethipoia 2004


Misha Mengelberg & Han Bennink Duo - Improvisation


Here he plays blocks of cheese. Ah the Dutch!


Part Twee


Here he proves that he is an unparalleled master of rhythm. PEEP THE CLOGS! Ah the Dutch.


ICP Orchestra - 'Criss Cross' (Monk)

Anyway get on his level, I will see you there.

Peter Brötzmann / Han Bennink Duo

Legendary free music duo in a rare Texas appearance.

When:
Saturday Apr 26, 2008
at 8:00 PM

Where::

Victory Grill
1104 E. 11th St.
Austin, Texas 78702

$15 Advance tickets available now @ End of An Ear and Waterloo Records.
$18 @ door

(512) 462-6008 for ticket info
--------------------------------------
When: Sunday, April 27, 2008
8 pm

Where: DiverseWorks (map)
1117 E. Freeway, Houston, Texas 77002

Tickets: $13 general admission / $10 for students; everyone under 18 gets in for free

Peter Brotzmann (Germany) - saxophones, clarinets
Han Bennink (Holland) - drums, percussion

Deborah Sengupta Stith Interviews GrimyStyles

THE FIRST AUSTINSURREAL PODCAST IS HERE!(Download do not stream)And Please leave comments

IT'S here.

Quite a rocky start, but straight jams throughout for 76 minutes of realness. We just plugged in and went for it so theres some technical difficulties but by next week we will be pros.

DOWNLOAD AND LISTEN PLEASE DO NOT STREAM THE FIRST AUSTINSURREAL.COM PODCAST!

In the first break I put on the wrong pair of headphones and couldn't hear anything and totally fucked it up but it goes up from there.

Also I'm not going to post the playlist. You don't know what yer gonna get when you listen to live radio and I want this to be as much like that as possible.

Weekly at least. Thanks to Rapid Ric!

P.S. Please leave comments on this. I want to know how long it takes you to download. Also I'ma get the RSS Feed thang thang and submit it to itunes, Zune and all that so it should get easier and easier as time goes on. But for now I would REALLY like your comments on how you like the show, what you want to hear, how does the end product sound to you, did it take too long to DL? Should I make it a higher bitrate (or whatever one calls such things)? What shall I do to make this thing something you will want to hear every week? Cuz I'm just not sure. But seriously, your feedback would be much appreciated. 37 of y'all downloaded this since I went to bed last night, please lemme know what you think!

Music You Need To HearShows You Need To SeeMo' Family Time

I'm goin for it. I'm going to be the best blogger ever. I'm really going for it.

Mr. Blogger Supreme - The Reality Game Show - Coming Soon (Word to Byata).

Anyway, this is a record you need. Came out today and I jammed it 12 times already.


PPT outta Dallas, DENGLISH. Seriously, it's a truly unique body of hip hop work.

And of course.

Bavu Blakes - Extra Plair - This is what I'm jammin'.

You can hear more of what I'm jammin' early Thursday morning and every week from here on out as tomorrow starts the recording of my weekly podcast. Finna put it down again. I miss the radio.

Anyway this weekend marks the first weekend we have in Austin to just sit back and chill, so what are we gonna do? Pack it full of shit to do, yes of course.

Cuz on Saturday -

"Grimy Styles at 4:30 p.m at The Austin Reggae Fest! It's Goin' Down Saturday Afternoon Y'all!"

Then Saturday night come celebrate RIchard Henry's Birthday with PRINCE PAUL and MORE! (Word to Crew 54)



Then Sunday I kind of want to see that Round Rock Express, but I'm not sure. Cuz it's 4/20, a big, big holiday, and that night ---


Collie Budz & Grimy Styles at MOHAWK!!! (Word to Dave Stelfox)

Then don't forget May 8th - Austin, TX - The Scoot Inn and May 9th - Houston, TX at Warehouse Live - AustinSurreal & The Houston Palestine Film Fest PRESENT LIVE IN CONCERT

DAM!



With Special Guest Mohammed from PR (Palestinian Rappaz)




Jackie Salloum, Director of Slingshot Hip Hop, Mohammed, Dam & Chamillionaire at Sundance!

More info, official press release, and flyers coming this week.

Hosted by this dude.



Anyway, more family pics. This past weekend we went to the wedding of one of Melissa's cousins in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. I'ma tell you right now, that's a pretty little village. The air felt like it's supposed to feel. Light and pretty, not all hefty and painful as it can be in the city.

Anyway, we lucked out and the wedding just happened to fall on the same weekend as the 20th Annual Ozark UFO Conference. So of course DJ Eva and I had to check it out.



It really went down. I don't know how many people were actually in attendance but it was a lot. And from the looks of the license plates in the parking lots (No I'm not a government agent) people came from all over the country. Honestly, from what I saw it was mostly people quite a bit older than me. Old schoolers in the UFO Game, as they say.

I learned I have a lot to learn. DJ Eva was quite intrigued by the whole thing, as since she was even younger, aliens have always been a favorite topic of hers. I managed to type a couple things she said into my sidekick throughout the event. The best of which were:

"I think this whole ufo thing is a lie. I think they were just trying to get people to have dinner with them or something."

and later...

"I think this whole ufo thing is just about eating food and talking about aliens."

Yeah but they had a trade show / vendors area. With cool stuff like this.





We didn't stay for the talks, I had a 5 year old with me, and we had a wedding to attend midday. But I may try to go next year and get the full experience. Eureka Springs is a city worth returning to for sure, and like I said, I have a lot to learn if I someday want to live on Mars. And I just might.

Anyways, like I said, I was with DJ Eva, so we took off after about an hour and climbed this thing. (No comments on the photoshop skills or lack thereof please)



Then we went to the wedding. Crazy thing is, I didn't know where it was going to be held, but on the way into town I saw this sign for the "Thorncrown Chapel." I immediately thought to myself, "Thorncrown? That's heavy?" Plus the sign just pointed to what looked like a long road into the woody mountains. So I was just like "Oh man, we are IN the Bible Belt now man." Thorncrown? It just conjured up bad thoughts to me. But then I was informed that the wedding was there and we drove up and MAN ALIVE it's definitely the most beautiful chapel I've ever been in, and the entire atmosphere surrounding it is just magical. I can only imagine what it's like when everything is in bloom. Yep, it's glass. (And yes I slacked on photos inside during the wedding cuz they had enough photographers in there and I didn't want to get in the way. Plus i was just soaking it all up.




Know'm sayin'?




It's a sight to behold.

And the kids loved it too.




Next time we are staying here though...


More soon.

One of the many reasons Houston is So Real

Might bring a tear to your eyes, but do not sleep on this...



Try to keep it together. What a feeling.

DAM! Palestinian Hip Hop in Austin and Houston!May 8 & 9

Hey y'all,

Sorry for the mass email but I need to reach out to ALL of you with the quickness. I have a huge and very special event coming to Austin and Houston May 8th and 9th and I REALLY NEED YOUR HELP GETTING THE WORD OUT! I wouldn't stress if I were just doing a normal rap show, but this is some crazy shit.

I, in association with Hadeel Assali and the good folks at the Palestinian Film Festival, am bringing the PALESTINIAN HIP HOP GROUP - DAM - for their first shows ever in Texas. I know they were at Sundance for the premier of SLINGSHOT HIP HOP - an incredible film about hip-hop in Palestine (and much more!) - but I don't know if they performed. I know M1 of dead prez and Chamillionaire met up with them, and I also know that they are amazing, outspoken, radical and extremely important.

Anyway, if you can't think of an angle for a story about these dudes coming to your town for the first time, holler at me, lets brainstorm, but I need FEATURES! And you know I normally don't get pushy with my events, but everyone who is receiving this is a friend of mine in the media or in music and I need y'all to help get the word out (flights from Palestine to Texas AIN'T CHEAP!). We are taking a huge risk with this one.

Anyway here's the details:

Thursday May 8th - Austin, TX
Venue - The Scoot Inn (aka the new Liberty Lunch fuck what a hater say)
Doors at 7 p.m.
Show at 8 p.m. - 11 p.m. outside stage
DAM from PALESTINE, Southbound from Austin, TX, DJ Rhythm and MORE TBA!
11 p.m. - 2 a.m. - After Party Meet and Greet with DAM - DJ Rapid Ric and DJ Rhythm on the tables.

Friday May 9th - Houston, TX - In Association with the Palestinian Film Festival
Venue - Warehouse Live Studio
Doors at 10:30 p.m. Show at 11:00 p.m. (There's an event earlier in the night)
DAM from PALESTINE, DJ Rhythm and special surprise guests TBA

Then they head off to San Francisco, New York and Toronto - BUT TEXAS GETS THEM FIRST!

Seriously, this event means a lot to me. I wouldn't do it if it didn't. I REALLY need your help in the press, we need radio interviews if possible in advance on the phone. I need you to forward this email to people you may think be interested in this. I need to build a buzz cuz time is running out and well, I can't bring all these cats from Palestine to an empty house!

Any artists who could lend their time to maybe host, or possibly mention this show in some sort of interview would be very much appreciated as well. I personally feel as though it's very important that the kids in the streets over here start to learn about the kids in the streets in places like Palestine. I'm on a mission here to widen the scope of some of these young hip hoppers. And that is real.

Here's some info and links on the group, plus a photo you can use.

Website:
http://www.dampalestine.com

Facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2390787321

Myspace page:
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=25392149

The song that put them on the map:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqbDiN2uYcQ&mode=related&search=

PEACE and THANKS IN ADVANCE!

ALSO BE SURE AND SEE THE FILM SLINGSHOT HIP HOP! I MAY SHOW IT AGAIN BEFORE THE SHOW IN AUSTIN AND IT IS PLAYING AT THE PALESTINIAN FILM FEST IN HOUSTON!

It's Our Anniversary

Alright it's the 19th anniversary of the first show I ever put on and promoted. April 9th, 1989, me, my boy Mike and my boy Rich brought Laughing Hyenas, Knifedance and Lost to the Continental Ballroom in Erie, Pennsylvania. I was 17 years old and caught the fever right then. I'll try to write the full story later, or maybe I'll wait till the 20th anniversary next year.

If any of my old school friends from Erie are reading this and have copies of the flyers please send me the jpgs. All my stuff is in storage.

Anyway, it's a big day.

R.I.P. Larissa Strickland

R.I.P. Scott Eakin

R.I.P. Danny Perry

The Calm After The Storm

Bavu Blakes called me today to tell me that he was removing my blogs from his bookmark list and just giving up on me altogether.

I don't know what it is. Maybe it's the fact that I have a real job now and can't stare blankly at my screen till something comes to me anymore. Maybe it's cuz I have a real job and live on the far north side of Austin, so going out isn't really all that appealing anymore, therefore kind of killing my inspiration. Maybe it's because said job provides me with a steady income so I don't have to hustle up gigs out of the country anymore.

Maybe it's because gas prices are so high that the overseas promoters don't want to take a risk on the type of acts I book because the plane tickets are more than double what they were last year.

Maybe it's because the computer is in the bedroom/office of my mother in laws house and I rarely get a minute in here alone when I do happen to be home. Maybe it's because we go and look at houses everyday and Austin is an overpriced, over populated mess of homes that are too small to even stand up straight in for almost $300,000 on the fucking east side. Maybe the festival floored me a little bit and all I want to do right now for the moment is sit quietly and read things.

Maybe I'm just making excuses. Not sure. Probably just excuses, cuz as a wise man once said (Joe Scavone, to me anyway) "Writing is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration." That stuck with me pretty hard, but I still don't write enough.

One thing that I truly need to write about though is the new Bavu Blakes EP - Extra Plair. Self-released and available exclusively at bahvoo.com for 8.99 including shipping.
Two songs (smiley faces, lead us not) available free 08issogreat.com (though you should still buy the thang), this lil 5 song banger features production mostly from S-1 who from what I can gather, should have quite a year. Also Picnic is killing it as well.

I stupidly sat down to write this, and left the CD at work (of all places of course!) and can't find much info online, but seriously, he goes hard as hell on this one. Real life lyrics from a down south intellectual who's not afraid to balance the city and the country with the oceans and the Heaven's. Seriously. "Lead Us Not" is like a call to God to save us all from the foibles of life. It's not your typicall "Hi I'm a gangsta rapper and this is my ode to Jesus," song. It's a heartfelt ode to what we really need to be focused on in life.

"Smiley Faces" features Pikahsso of PPT (spitting that Denglish you may or may not know about) and kind of follows a similar path in that it's more of an observation than some preaching or whatever. You'll get the preaching references when you hear this brilliant piece of work. Anyway, dude has a lot to say and he can rap. Been telling y'all this for a long time now.

"Smiley Faces" makes me think about some of the more pestering rappers in Austin. Not the cool ones, the incessant pesterers. There's a few out here. Soul suckers but fuck it.

Anyway, one thing that has been enhancing my soul rather than sucking it dry, I mean two things, or three, or however many, is my family. In the weeks leading up to SXSW I really didn't get to see a lot of them, now we are making up for lost time, camping and trying to see EVERYONE. Here's a few shots from my last few weeks.


Here's the obligatory shot of Eva, Elena and their cousins Layla and Jude in their Easter outfits. This was a couple weeks before Easter, my wife took a series of shots in hopes of making an Easter Card I guess, but then the idea got scrapped.

Easter weekend we actaully went camping at Pedernales Falls State Park, just about a 45 minute drive west of Austin off of 290. I should get my travel writer on and really go into detail, but not tonight.


Suffice it to say it's pretty amazing there and I should have taken more photos. Beautiful river, and we hiked for miles. With two kids. I don't suggest this for everyone, but we had a great time.




These deer were neva scared of us. Came right up to the campe site.

I also heard coyotes, owls and a bunch of other critters as I lay awake at night.


I'd really prefer tolive in one of these full time somewhere far away than to spend almost $300k on some 1200 sq. foot shithole in Austin, but whatever. I'm just being salty. I can't be a suburb dweller, so this house hunt thang ain't easy in Austin. City proper is out of fucking hand. Just so you know, don't move here.


My pretty, pretty ELENA!


She get it from her mama.


Eva would not swim with me.


It was like 62 degrees in that water but I didn't really care. I need more swimming in my life (as evidenced by my gut).




Of course, this was the headlining event of the weekend.

Then on Easter we headed to San Antonio for Easter at my dads with my Sister and her kids.

Seen here. My lil brother Chance, Niece Sara, Nephew Jacob, Eva, Niece Katy, Elena

THEN My mom came to visit this past weekend with Roger (told you we have been making up for lost family time!) and we went to New Braunfuls and stayed in a cute lil cabin just a couple blocks off the river and right downtown. We ate German food, watched the kids dance to polkas at the Freisenhaus (also the Chicken Dance), drank a lot, hiked, um, ate alot of food, and just kind of relaxed in the sleepy lil German town.


Such a beautiful place.




And of course I got in the cold ass water again. How's the saying go? Lead a monkey to water?


Eva reading the People Magazine, disgusted by the display of ignorance in Hollywood.


This is either my mother or my sister. I think it's my sister.


Roger.


This is what kids look like after a day on the river. We need more days on the river.

And this is lil nephew Jude, the newest addition to the clan.


And yesterday lil Layla turned TWO!


So yeah man. I have been kind of avoiding the clubs and planning my plan of attack for the summer. Which should provide for lots of good shit for this blog. But I don't know how much international travel as President Bush and his Oil Baron buddies have us all in, how you say... a quandary. I guess that's as good a word as any for it. We are currently in a quandary.

And I'm tired of it. Music shit coming soon, I SWEAR!