Archive for the ‘austin’ Category
The Smashing Pumpkins Concert Review, Austin, TX 9/27/12
I’m the first to admit that while I’m not what you can consider a true fan of The Smashing Pumpkins, I do really like their first 2 or 3 albums quite a bit. The guys I hung out with quite a bit between 91-95 listened to these albums incessantly, so they became ingrained in my brain. I also really enjoyed the drum work of Jimmy Chamberlin. The guy was a beast of a drummer on those recordings. Too bad he wasn’t with them last night.
Last night marked the sold out opening of the Oceana Tour at Stubb’s in Austin, TX. While none of the original band is still in tact beyond Billy Corgan, they were solid. The sound of that show was pretty quiet compared to most shows I have seen there. But it was crystal clear and really just provided good background music as I was with a group of friends and we could still converse while the band was playing.
The most impressive part of the show was that they played for 2.5 hours with the first hour being their entire new album. Pretty ballsy as most bands just intersperse new songs in with their classics. The low point of the set was his cover of Bowie’s Space Oddity. It just didn’t do it for me.
It was a good time overall even not knowing or caring that much about half of the set. Unfortunately we were near the back of the venue staying close to the bar and I couldn’t get a pics. haha
Lita Ford Acoustic Concert Review, Austin, TX 9/4/12
Lita Ford is still out there rockin’. Later tonight she’s playing on the outskirts of Austin with Def Leppard and Poison. No way in hell would you catch me at that show. But today at 1PM, she played an acoustic set at Waterloo Records. I first heard about this last week and was hoping I could catch it, but wasn’t quite sure. We happen to eat lunch downtown and were about to ride by the record store. I called a friend that I knew would be there and asked if he’d take me back to work afterwards. “Yes!” I told my boss to pull over and let me out. “See you later!”
I get in and see some good friends (don’t any of us have day jobs? – hahahaha). There were 2 acoustic guitars and 2 mics set up on the stage. Lita comes out with a second guitarist and they go through 4 songs. She talks a little between songs, does a little Q&A and tells some insight about the Runaways and Joan Jett. When she introduced her guitarist, Mitch Perry, my mind started running as I knew that name. The dude played in Talas, Asia, Schenker and some other stuff that we are all familiar with.
After her set, half of the crowd left and the other half of us stayed for the autograph session. I think there were about 100 or so people there. I was near the back of the line and purchased her new CD while waiting to have something to sign. I really wish I had brought the book. Lita’s signature would have been great in it, but a more obscure guy like Mitch Perry would have been great! I love getting the obscure ones as much as the mainstream artists. When it came my turn to shake hands and get my CD signed, I was talking to Mitch about the book and he asked me to send him a link to where he could pick one up. I got to Lita and before she could say anything, I may have stammered a bit and said, “July 1988, The Boathouse, Norfolk, Virginia opening for Yngwie. I was there.” She replied with, “Holy fuck!” Not much more needed to be said. I was 18 at that show. During one song, one of her boobs came out of the corset looking thing that she was wearing. She was mid-solo and just looked down, smiled and shrugged it off and fixed it after the solo. We were all cheering. “Lita’s titty!”
She was really nice and snapped a picture with me. Her voice sounded good and she still looks like “Lita.” No Back In The Cave…that’s my jam.
I’m really glad I went. No question.
Meeting Harlan Glenn of Juggernaut 08/04/12
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I LOVE TEXAS METAL…but let’s clarify (again)…classic Texas Metal. Since moving to Austin in 2006 I’ve been fortunate enough to meet a lot of guys from a lot of those classic bands thanks in large part to Jason 
McMaster (Broken Teeth, Watchtower, Dangerous Toys etc). Jason’s still one of the hardest working guys in the business and it’s not difficult to catch one of his several bands playing around town. Last night was one of those nights as I popped into the Red Eyed Fly to see Jason’s Metallica tribute called Killa Maul which only plays the first Metallica album in its entirety. As a bonus, San Antonio’s Martyrhead was opening up. They’re a Motorhead tribute which features Bob Catlin (SA Slayer, Juggernaut) and Art Villareal (SA Slayer, Karion). Definitely some Texas metal legends. As I was talking to Jason during Martyrhead, he pointed out that the guy in front of us was Harlan Glenn of Juggernaut. Of course I asked Jason to introduce me and he kindly obliged.
After talking with him for a few minutes, I asked him if he was going to be around for the night as I wanted to run over to my apartment to get my book and Juggernaut CD for a signature. He said he was there for the night and would sign anything. I run home and return quickly and we started talking again and he signed the book and the CD. It was cool hearing stories from the old days in San Antonio with Juggernaut and his life now in Los Angeles. Quite interesting. I always liked the album he did with them (Baptism Under Fire) and their song on Metal Massacre VII, In The Blood of Virgins.
It was a nice random meeting and I love it when I am able to get the book signed by someone from the old “underground.”
All photos by David Prewitt/DaveTV (another Austin legend in his own right).
Harlan and a happy dude
Harlan signing the book and CD
Cheap Trick Concert Review, Austin, TX 7/29/12
Let’s face facts. I was never really a big Cheap Trick fan although at some point or another I owned their debut album and Dream Police. It’s not that I didn’t like them, to be honest, I think I’ve liked every song I have ever 
heard by them. But for whatever reason I just never got in to them. I believe part of that was due to my brother Robert’s lack of interest in them in 70s and I pretty much drew my musical tastes in those days from what he fed to me. However I do remember myaunts Diane and Debbie liking them but we only saw them once a year when we’d visit Pennsylvania.
I saw Cheap Trick one time before in 1999 at the Hampton Bay Days Festival but I was pretty far back in the crowd and couldn’t really grasp the energy. I also don’t remember the crowd being that excited either. When tickets went on sale for last night’s show at The Moody Theater / ACL Live, I had to get tickets for it. That venue is awesome and has been bringing in some great shows so far.
In the early 2000s, I was playing in a band called The Renegades of Sluts (this is not a typo) and we did She’s Tight and Hello/Goodnight in our set sometimes. Good fun. I’ve always loved She’s Tight and was hoping we’d get to hear it. Perusing recent setlists for Cheap Trick’s Global Warming Tour. Last night was an off night for them while on tour with Aerosmith and they played Dallas the night before.
When I can, I try to buy extra tickets to shows. Sometimes to resell for profit and sometimes just to go ahead and get them on presale when maybe a friend isn’t able to do it at the time. I bought 2 for this show and ended up asking my dear friend Molly to come with me a few weeks ago. Perfect!
We get to the show and the opener is on. I had no interest in seeing them after listening to a few tracks on Youtube earlier in the day. Not my bag at all. We hung around the lounge until they were finished. Signs were posted around the venue stating that Cheap Trick would be on at 9. We went and found our seats and were getting excited for the show. Molly wanted to hear Southern Girls but they ended up not playing it. I did get to hear She’s Tight, though.
The lights go down right at 9 am the band hits the stage opening with Clock Strikes Ten. Zander was wearing a band leader type uniform and hat for most of the show. Nielsen is dressed like he always dresses. I don’t know what Peterssen was dressed like, but it was out there. He had an Elton John thing going for sure. Unfortunately Bun E. Carlos no longer tours with the band, but Rick’s son, Daxx, has been handling the live duties for the last 2 years and did a fine job.
They played a good set and the highlights for me were certainly She’s Tight, Oh Candy, The Flame (always loved this song), I Know What I Want and Borderline. I was a bit surprised as to how many songs I recognized. The great thing about their music is that every song is right around 3 minutes long, old rock and roll style. The Beatles influence on them is overt and it’s a wonder I even like them due my my disdain for the Beatles.
Robin’s voice started a wee bit rough but got stronger and stronger as the night went on. In The Flame, he nailed the high note at the end. I was truly shocked. He still has a lot of power in his singing. While I’ve never looked at Rick as a stellar player, he’s certainly solid and entertaining. He jumps around a lot for a man who is 65. Tom Peterssen apparently invented the 12-string bass and he used a few different ones all night. Of course Rick used about a dozen different guitars and an 8-string bass for one song. The whole band was really good in general.
I did notice from our balcony set that there was a piece of paper taped to the floor in front of Zander’s mic that said “AUSTIN TEXAS”. Rick wasn’t sure where he had played last night as he stated, “Where did we play last night? Atlanta?” Funny. But I guess when you’re touring that much, things get blurry. What a wonderful problem to have, eh?
During Surrender, Rick grabbed the hand of a little kid with a mohawk and yanked him on stage. They handed him a ton of guitar picks and he was tossing them out to the crowd. He also helped to sing the song with Robin and knew all of the words. It was pretty neat thing to see.
After Surrender, they left the stage. After about 2 minutes they came back on and played 3 more songs: Dream Police, Gonna Raise Hell and Goodnight.
It was a great show and hopefully I’ll have another chance to see them again. I also wish I would have taken the opportunities to have seen them more in the 80s and 90s. Such is life.
One thing I thought was weird was that during the main part of the set, security made the people in the floor seats stay at their seats, no one was allowed at the stage at all. They were hardcore about it. If you don’t want people rushing the stage at a rock show, put up a barricade. Easy. I’ve seen them used at this venue before (Megadeth anyone?). After the encore started, everyone rushed the stage and security didn’t try to gain control again. I also noticed that the venue was barely 3/4 full, which I found a bit surprising seeing that the place only holds a few thousand folks. I guess they’re just not that popular here.
Go see them if you get a chance, you won’t be disappointed.
“AUSTIN TEXAS” on the paper in front of the mic
I will be the the flaaaaaame
beauty and the beast
The Metal Files 
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