TCB
By Christopher Gray, Fri., June 3, 2005
Bullet the Blue Sky
• It's been déjà vu at Seventh and Red River the past few weeks, as Plush, once the legendary Blue Flamingo, now enlivens Monday nights with instrumental, psych, and experimental bands like the Blend and Transmography. The bar, otherwise the province of hip-hop DJs since the late Nineties, hosts Mongo Like Candy Monday and Bohemian Grove Disco June 13.
• Who needs music when you've got 40 decks and Lake Travis sunsets? The Oasis, home to such local roots acts as Asleep at the Wheel, Weary Boys, and Billy Joe Shaver, was destroyed during the early morning hours of Wednesday in a blaze local authorities believe was touched off by lightning. According to the Statesman, owner Beau Theriot promises to rebuild the Austin landmark, well into its third decade of operation, and while Noel and Liam Gallagher are headed to this year's ACL Music Festival, the real Oasis comeback remains future-bound.
• TCB and the good folks at Channel 102.3FM have teamed up for Texas Flood, our brand-new show that starts this weekend. Join TCB and Channel's Alex Hall Sundays at 9pm for an hour of Austin's finest music past, present, and future – 13th Floor Elevators to Okkervil River – and stick around for Little Steven's Underground Garage afterward.
• The SIMS Foundation is hosting a 10th-anniversary memorial for its namesake, Sims Ellison, the Pariah bassist whose 1995 suicide prompted the organization's founding, Monday at Stubb's, 8-11pm. SIMS would also like to remind local musicians that spots are still available in its health-insurance provider Health Alliance for Austin Musicians; indeed, some people who have shown up to apply have been approved on the spot. For more info on either the reception or HAAM, call SIMS at 472-1008.
• Countryman, the Willie Nelson reggae album that has spawned almost as many prospective release dates as cheap pot jokes, has cleared its last bit of red tape and will be out Aug. 2 on Lost Highway records. Appropriately for an album begun nearly a decade ago, it includes a cover of Jimmy Cliff's "Sitting in Limbo," plus songs co-written with pals Ray Price and Hank Cochran, and a duet with Maytals main man Toots Hibbert.
• Air-punching Austin rockers At All Cost had their equipment trailer (license number 78XYXG) stolen last week, losing thousands of dollars of gear. Anyone with information, please contact the band at [email protected] or 773-2501.
• Kudos to Hungry Gators frontwoman Florida Abortion, who became the Austin music scene's latest UT law graduate last week. Now feverishly studying for the bar exam, Abortion recently moved out of notorious after-hours pad the Lair, the site of enough questionable activity to potentially keep her client list full for years to come.
