Ray Wylie Hubbard
Hometown: Wimberley, TX.
http://www.raywylie.com
Ray Waylie Hubbard Concert Photos
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Antones (Austin, Texas)
also: Paula Nelson

A gray drizzle permeated the day and carried over to evening as I watched import cars skittering and dodging each other like mindless waterbugs with no sense of direction outside the club in downtown Austin. I was standing exactly where Ron Wood of the Rolling Stones stood, hailing a cab, unsuccessfully trying to avoid the press only days before.

Named after its founder, the late great Clifford Antone, the man who gave Austin the blues, Antone's has become a cultural landmark and more than a mere historical footnote in Austin's music history since it opened in 1975. Though its physical location may have changed from the old Guadalupe building, nothing else really has. Antone's attracts visitors, and musicians from around the world, hoping to catch a glimpse of the famous, or near famous, or just hoping to absorb the aura of a venue that's had such artists as Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker and B.B King grace it's stage. The seminal club in launching Stevie Ray Vaughn's career and Austin's cultural equivalent to L.A.'s Whiskey A Go Go, or New Yorks C.B.G.B.'s, Antone's enjoy's a cachet reserved for few other bars.

It was with this in mind that I went to see another 'Austin institution, Ray Wylie Hubbard, perform. I first saw Ray play back at the Armadillo World Headquarters in the 70s, and over the years have seen him play around town three or four times. We had a great chat about the old days in his dressing room before the show, telling old war stories about Kinky and Willie and laughing, both of us agreeing that you could tell an old schooler in town by how they gave directions to friends. "Go three blocks from where the Dillo used to be and turn left." Its great to reminisce about the good old days with someone else with the same experiences.

Ray's set was heavy on his classics like "Screw You We're From Texas," but he also took time to cover a lot of the material from his new disc, like "Snake Farm" and one of my favorites, "Rabbit." Hearing Ray live is just like listening to his CDs when he gets a good mix, and he sounded just great at Antone's. Opening the night on a dual headline bill, he played what must have been an hour and a half set, and, with a warm and appreciiative audience, seemed like he could play all night. He let the next generation of Hubbards, his 13-year-old son Lucas, take the stage and play guitar on the last couple of songs. That must be a real feather for Lucas: very few 13-year-old blues guitarists can add playing Antone's to their resume, and he has a great future as a musician should he choose that path.

One musician's child who has chosen that path was the other headliner, Paula Nelson, daughter of Texas music legend and red-headed stranger, Willie Nelson. I had been bumping into her all night without realizing who she was. With a tight band consisting of longtime Austin music veterans, Paula has a voice that is smooth and smokey, or sharp and bright depending on the material. I watched her cover a Billy Joe Shaver song and a couple of others like a consummate profesional. Country, blues, and rock alike, she has a voice that can cover them all, from Patsy Cline to Janis Joplin. Unfortunately I hadn't planned on covering her whole set and had to leave early to begin my long trek home. I am sure that I will get the opportunity to see a full set from her in the near future. Heading out of Antone's door into the drizzle, I joined the other waterbugs playing bumper cars on the rain slicked streets.

Thanks to the Hubbards for inviting me to the show, to Paula for letting me take a few pics of her and her band, and to the Antone's staff for putting up with my seeming endless questions.

Buckethead
Hometown: Claremont, Ca.
http://www.bucketheadland.com/
buckethead Concert Photos
Saturday, October 14, 2006
La Zona Rosa (Austin, Texas)
also: That 1 Guy

I must admit that throughout this show I kept humming "I feel like chicken tonight" quietly to myself.

According to Bucketheads own biography he was raised in a coop and thus would explain the heavily chicken influenced music and stage show. Although I had never heard any of Bucketheads solo discs I had heard him play before with the likes of Les Claypool, Bootsy Collins and a huge and esoteric variety of other artists. In fact it might be easire to list all the artists he hasn't played with or for. Of all the musicians I have seen the only one I can find to compare him to is Les Claypool, both for the wall presentation of his persona, his use of masks and costumes, and his amazing ability to do virtually anything with his instrument. He even sounds like Les when he plays the bass! It's no surprise Guitar One placed him on the list of the "Top 10 Guitar Shredders of All Time"

Wearing his traditional mask and of course, trademark bucket, Buckethead only required the assitance of That 1 Guys and his drummer Pinch Face to fill La Zona Rosa with an ambient, funky, atmospheric, raw thrashing guitar. To see Buckethead rip through so many musical genres in the same set and sometimes the same song is an amazing thing to watch and hear. And it went on, and on, and on. Song after song, metal one minute, country the next, then funk. Incredibly, Bucketheads set started at 10:30 and didn't finish until 1:30, with only a 15 minute set break.

The audience consisted mainly of Buckethead diehards, many wearing the trademark buckets themselves, and a few wearing the mask as well, although you could tell there were also a number of people experiencing Buckethead for the first time. The traditional mosh space was taken over by the "jam band camp follower" dancers in the audience, lolling and swaying back and forth. This show had the same jam band vibe that many artists enjoy and seemed to be propelled along its route by small enclaves of fans following the tour on it's journey.

Opening for Buckethead was solo artist That 1 Guy who also played as part of Buckethead's ensemble.

Playing a variety of sounds on his "Magic Pipe" as well as a saw and other devices, That 1 Guy filled the room with his funky aromatic songs about the moon being made of cheese and weasel pot pies. Truely amazing are the sounds that eminate forth from this strange and insanely designed musical instrument. Part guitar, part synthesizer, part standup bass and drum kit, this is the 21st century technological equivalent of the cumbersome cymbals-on-the-knees one man band.

This show had an open camera policy (thanks to Direct Events for the heads up on that one) so I took advantage and invited my 14 year old nephew Blake along to act as my camera assistant. It was his first concert, and he was suitably impressed, describing That 1 Guy as "Different - not what I expected" and Buckethead's performance as "Awesome." Thanks also to the two guys from Houston who drove up for the show and gave Blake their extra ticket gratis. It was really a great way for him to experience his first show. I let him go play with my D70 to see if he could get any shots and didn't see him again til the set breaks, as he squeezed his way to the front. He needs to grow another foot or so to be able to take pictures from the crowd, but he did well enough that I used a couple of his pictures in this review (the top two). Of course, Blake was sent home with a Buckethead T-shirt. I hope he keeps his ticket stub too.

Chicken anyone?...

Breaking Benjamin
Hometown: Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
http://www.shallowbay.com/
Breaking Benjamin Concert Photos
Wednesday October 11, 2006
La Zona Rosa (Austin, Texas)
also: Dropping Daylight, Evans Blue

It's hard if you're a mid-level band on the way up or down to attract much attention in a music town like Austin. A show like this would have quickly sold out in most lesser towns, but in Austin it seemed as if the audience would never fill out.

This was a great line-up too, three solid touring bands, all with core audiences in tow. My favorite of the three turned out to be the opening act, Minnesota-based Dropping Daylight, for their musical voracity and energy. They attacked the music like it was the last show they were ever going to do and it really showed. Lead guitarist Seth Davin looking like he was skipping high school to be there, this band had a blast onstage. With songwriting brother Sebastian Davin on piano and vocals, these guys set a pace that was hard to follow for the other two bands. They had a squeaky clean "pop" vibe that your mom might like, but rocked hard enough for it not to be uncool to have them on your iPod. Only about half the audience was there by the time their set was over. I missed chatting with them after their set at the merch booth and will have to try to catch up with them later. Their song "Tell Me" keeps playing over and over in my head.

A bit louder and harder, Ontario's Evan's Blue was next. Definitely a candidate for one of Clint's "Canadian Bands That Don't Suck," this 5-piece seems to have built a respectable audience here through previous appearances. A little less mainstream than Dropping Daylight, they had a harder alternative rock edge. They did a very hard cover of a Sarah McLachlan's song "Possession" that if you didn't listen carefully, would have missed. During the third song of their set, Breaking Benjamin's lead singer, Ben Burnley, joined them onstage. After their set I got to chat with them a bit, but not much as they were busy taking pictures with fans.

Breaking Benjamin, the headliner, has a fairly solid audience, and the venue had filled appreciably by the time they hit the stage. With a good amount of street buzz they seem to be a band that is going places; their last CD debuted at number 2 on the Billboard charts back in August. Vocalist Ben Burnley was backed by the strong bass playing of Mark Klepaski, and lead by Aaron Fink, both formerly of Lifer, and their show was strong, polished and professional. I was actually kind of surprised to see a few random crowd surfers in the audience; they felt out of place at this show. On disc Breaking Benjamin have always reminded me a little bit of Tool but, not so much live. Not dark enough.

Thanks to Evans Blue and Dropping Daylight for hooking me up with the photo pass for this show, and the everyone over at Direct Events and La Zona Rosa for their continued support and assistance.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Hometown: New York City, New York
http://www.yeahyeahyeahs.com
Yeah Yeah Yeahs Concert Photos
Saturday, October, 2006
Stubb's Bar B Q (Austin, Texas)
also: Imaad Wasif , Ex Models

This sold out show is definitely among my most memorable for the year. So much energy and excitement. I can understand why the Yeah Yeah Yeahs have been labled by many to be the "it" band of 2006.

Opening the show was the incredibly talented Imaad Wasif who performed solo. Wasif, also the Yeah Yeah Yeahs auxilliary tour guitarist, did an acoustic set that could, and did, stand alone in its own right. The audience seemed to agree as well, with Wasif's style darkly meandering the edge between folk and garage rock. With intricate lyrics and subtle melodys, the passion that he puts into his music is plaintive and soulful.

Austin City Limits Music Festival
Zilker Park
Austin, Texas
Friday, September 15, 2006

• Wolf Parade
  
• The Subdudes
  
• Okkervil River
  
• Guster
  
• Danielia Cotton
  
• Jimmy Dale Gimore
  
• Gomez
  
• Thievery Corporation
  
• Trish Murphy
  
• others...
  

To describe ACL Fest's roster of artists as "esoteric" would not be far from the mark. They always pick excellent musicians, quite often people you have never heard, or heard of, before, not usually big mainstream artists, with the exception of the headliners. This is not the place to see Ashley Simpson, nor are you likely to see Metallica on the bill.

In fact, there didn't appear to be any metal bands represented at all. This is NOT a "rock festival" along the lines of a Lollapalooza, but more a sampling of what could be described as Austin's own musical direction. There were plenty of punk and wave bands, alternative rock, goth, alternative country, blues and they even found room in the mornings to get religion with a selection of gospel artists and to keep the children entertained with their own "kiddie" stage. Many of the artists defy description or can't be lumped into a single genre well. The worst part, try as you might, with eight stages going it's just impossible to see them all. And if you try, like I did, at the end of the three days, you're so exhausted you need a week to recover.

Taking advantage of the musical smorgasboard, I found myself moving from stage to stage sampling two or three songs from each band, and then moving on to the next stage. Although many people do that, those who do end up tripping over the "tailgaters," the ones who bring chairs, cooler, and the family and park at one stage. I found myself racing between the stages to try to catch many of the artists and luckily only missed one or two.

With no photo pass, I was attending this show as a "civilian" and was limited to using a small point and shoot digital from beyond the photo pit. For this show I picked the Fuji F30 because of its manual controls and its high ISO of 3200, just in case I had low lighting problems to contend with. As I made my way over to the AMD stage to catch Guster, I scanned the other stages to get the basic layout of the festival stages. This was going to be a long long weekend. A total of eight stages, four mains, three smaller stages, and the kiddie stage all spread to the four corners of the park. It was going to take a lot of fast walking and mission focus to acheive my goals.

Reverend Horton Heat
Hometown: Dallas, Texas
http://www.reverendhortonheat.com/
Reverend Horton Heat Concert Photos
Friday, September 29, 2006
Stubb's Bar B Q (Austin, Texas)
also: The Horror Pops

It's been said that, along with the Cramps, Reverend Horton Heat was one of the founders of the "psychobilly" genre. Combining a wicked sense of humor, a fine country twang, and a song list that sounds like it could be found in the discount 8-track carousels at finer truck stops everywhere, Dallas-based Reverend Horton Heat has been cranking out trailer park punk in Austin since the 80s in just about every live music venue in town.

Revving up the tour bus once again, the good Reverend made his customary Austin tour stop at Stubb's Bar B Q on Friday. The Reverend's reps were kind enough to supply me with a ticket to review the show, and thanks to Stubb's standard camera policies I was able to capture a few shots for the site with my little Point 'n' Shoot Fuji.

Opening the show was a Danish band called the Horror Pops, possibly best described as the offspring of some twisted breeding experiment between death metal and rockabilly gone horribly awry. They sure had a lot of fun onstage, and it was crowded up there with their backup singers/dancers. Musically they are definitely in the punkabilly genre and bear more than a passing resemblance to the band X, only a tad more poppy and bouncy. Plus lead singer Patricia Nekroman plays this enormous standup bass, and I believe I have mentioned before that I am a sucker for anyone with big strings. They played a great set and were a well chosen opener.

The venue was packed by the time the lights dimmed for the headliner. In a bright red jacket with blue flashing, the Reverend hit the stage to a crowd more than wamed up. They couldn't have been halfway through their first song before I saw the security crew chucking the first crowd surfer out. By the time they were into "Wigglestick" the mosh pit was threatening to engulf the entire area before the stage. I hung up in front of the P.A. for as long as I could stand it, before fading towards the back for a cold frosty beverage and some breathing room.

After about five or six songs, the band took a short set break before coming back with the Reverend dressed in black and continuing the set. I lost track of the number of songs and the set list, after wandering back up front and getting sucked into the mosh pit. Pocketing the camera I pushed and shoved and bopped and bounced with the best of them, eventually emerging at the end of the show hot, sweaty and tired but no worse for the wear. What a great show. Once again I ended up seeing lots of locals from the rockabilly scene as well as Austin's old punk community. Austin's alternative culture continues to thrive and it's great to see the old schoolers from back in the day attracting such a diverse and enthusiastic crowd.