Riots! Explosions! Indecent exposure! Public (gasp!) urination!
Fireworks
illegally detonated within city limits! Sixth Street has become a
war
zone! Okay, so maybe I'm exaggerating a
little. Still, don't
look
for Internet music pioneers
Machine Screw to appear at the White
Rabbit
again anytime soon. Their gigs that were scheduled there on the 14th
and 15th
have been canceled, "naked women and all," according to the Rabbit's
Jordan
Silber, following a riot at the club on June 24, when the members
of
Crash Worship decided to crash the
Primitive Echo show
that
night. Among other things, the Crash Worship guys threw fireworks at
mounted
police. Several people ended up being arrested outside the Rabbit and
Silber
had to apologize to the police. All the above bands are represented by
the same
promoter, and all have been banned from the club.
Litzbomb didn't quite have a riot on their hands when they
played Babes
last weekend, but the thing that drummer John Bailey had in
his
hand caused them a bit of trouble. According to one of my good old
rumor
sources, Bailey didn't want to wait for a toilet, so he went out to the
alley
to answer the call of nature, only to get himself cuffed and ready to
go down
to the police station. The band tried in vain to get the cops to wait
until
after their set to haul off the perpetrator, but ended up having to
solicit the
audience for a drummer. Psycho Magnet's skinbeater filled the
bill, and
the band filled the evening with a load of Ozzy and Judas
Priest
covers. Bailey, in the end, managed to get out of the pokey in time to
make
last call.
Aqua Antics The latest trickle into the office from the Aqua Fest crew is a
listing of
bands playing this year's event, which starts on July 27. Among the
notables
are Radney Foster, Los Pinkys, Junior Brown, Dale Watson, and
(surprise)
Jason & the Scorchers...
The Return of Cornholio! Kristofer Brown, head writer on Beavis and Butt-head,
was in
town last week to record voiceovers with show creator Mike
Judge. Brown,
who is also busy on his own top-secret projects, stopped into the
office long
enough to leak the information that, yes, Cornholio will be back
and
that the boys will join an encounter group, among other segments. More
unseen
episodes are due this month, and Brown says MTV will debut new ones
every
month. Are you threatening me?
Ugly Rumors
The
Ugly Americans are heading out to L.A. soon to record
their debut
album for Giant, then returning in mid-August.
Don Gehmen
(
R.E.M.,
John Mellencamp) will be producing. Look for the album to hit
stores by the
first of the year, and in the meantime, complain to the band about
their
intention to not include "Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle."
Yes, We Have No Bananas
There are no more
mañanas for
Banana Blender
Surprise.
Their show tonight (Thursday) at the Hole in the Wall is their last, as
their
drummer prepares to head into UT, and their guitarist enters medical
school. So
it's not true what you hear about musicians being lazy derelicts, or
not
always, anyway. Actually, the Bananas figure they'll be getting
back
together periodically during breaks in academia.
Mixed Notes
Arthur Brown has returned from introducing fire to Siberia.
The
eccentric Brit-turned-Austinite made it back to America just in time
for
Independence Day. Watch out where you point that Hellfire, though,
Arthur. The
day when burning the flag can get a citizen thrown in the gulag is
getting
closer and closer...
Cowboy Mouth's Friday gig at Liberty Lunch
features
new bassist
Rob Savoy, ex-
Bluerunners... Last week,
MTV
News mentioned
U2's
Adam Claytonand
Larry
Mullen
heading to New York to work on a project with
Nanci
Griffith. If you
recall, the two non-stupidly named members of the Irish megagroup were
also
involved with Griffith's last album. 'Fraid I don't have any
information at
this time, as
Kurt Loder has
not returned my calls... Has
it been
too long since I've run a quote from the outspoken
Danny Crooks?
Well,
try these words from the Steamboat captain: "I'm for
anything
that
pisses off the city council...
except putting a titty bar on
Sixth
Street." The full story on the opening of Foxxie's Firehouse can be
found in
"Naked City"... I'm not sure what song
Ed Hall has picked, but
you can
start keeping your eyes peeled later this summer for the visual
versions of
Starfish's "Runaround" and
Sixteen Deluxe's "Idea" coming
to a
music video channel near you. Speaking of which, the Austin Music
Network is
giving away a cherry red Fender Stratocaster autographed by
Bonnie
Raitt
this month (If
Don McLeese doesn't win it, he's gonna pitch a
fit!).
Watch AM15 for more details on the contest. Also take note that AM15's
gossip/music calendar show
Check This Action, hosted by the
Chronicle's
Margaret Moser, has added a Sunday
10pm
showtime to its existing Monday 10:30pm time slot, and that the two
showings
feature different material... Well, the new history of the Alamo CD-ROM
Victory or Death says that it features
Freddy Fender, Robert
Earl
Keen, Dan Rather, and other noted Texans, but most of the time I
found
myself greeted by deadly silence, history I already knew, and some of
the
stupidest games I've yet run across on one of these things ("Daddy, can
we play
Tic-Tac-Toe with priceless Alamo relics again?")...
Chris Whitley
has an
in-store at Tower Records Friday at 5pm. Saturday from 2-4pm,
Magneto, Gals
Panic, and
Gomez will be doing short sets there in a
promotion for a
Sony New Wave compilation album, which I expect is along the line of
Rhino's
Just Can't Get Enough: New Wave Hits series. Each band will do
two
cheesy Eighties songs and two originals, with Gals Panic rumored to be
hitting
Bon Jovi. As far as
Just Can't Get Enough, on the newly
released
volumes 11-15, Austin is represented only by
Charlie Sexton's
"Beat's So
Lonely" (Sexton just announced a Backyard gig on August 12, by the
way), though
previous volumes included
D-Day and
Joe "King"
Carrasco... This
Saturday's
Horsies show (yes,
this Saturday) features the
return
of percussionist
Kristy Knight and the absence of
keyboardist
Sheri Lane's appendix. That organ was removed last week...
Justice
Records'
Jesse Dayton is moving from Houston to Austin, I hear.
Hell,
boy, if I'd knowed you wuz local, I'da given your album a better
review...
Pearl Jam really know how to maximize their piss-off potential,
don't
they? The Fourth of July weekend has come and gone and, as you know by
now,
they sure enough did
not play Austin. Believe it or not, though,
last
Thursday, three days before the aborted show, South Park Meadows owner
Abel
Theriot called to say that he heard that the band was again
considering
playing the show! It's
Eddie Vedder's world, you know. The rest
of us
just live in it. n
