The Sir Douglas Quintet - Mendocino

I love this band, this album, this song and now this Youtube clip! So lively. Doug Sahm in in fine voice and I for the first time I get to see the Medicino-ere Sir Douglas Quintet in action. It seems that they had a dedicated shaker-player which is way cooler than the dedicated jug player in The Thirteenth Floor Elevators.

Holy Crap! My Bloody Valentine!

I purchased tickets as soon as I heard that a reunited My Bloody Valentine would be coming to Austin April 21st, 2009. Even though I was cash strapped the likes of which I have not been in years, I plunked down the $43 dollars to see a bad of whom I pledged I would travel cross country to see if it came down to it.
The show was pretty awesome. I broke away from my friends who preferred to sit either on the balcony or in the outer periphery of the Austin Music Hall so I could get a good view and the full effect of the sonic bliss. I felt lonely as I looked around and saw people with their friends talking before the show and enjoying it together. After four songs I thought it better to enjoy this experience with my friends who were sitting towards the back of the building near a bar and under the AMH's balcony. However when I got there I found the quality and intensity of the sound to be sub-par. From that side the mix was rather distant sounding and lopsided with a Kevin Sheild's guitar blaring over all the rest. So back I went to the sweet spot.
I regretted by decision on musical grounds and now the 30ft. back to my original spot seems like a long distance when you have to rudely push and maneuver your way through a hundred or so people. Yet somehow I did the dance right and I was right back where I was in less than a minute. This is a long tangent but I was twentieth row center for the finale which is their now mythical "You Make Me Realize" with included 17min (according to Austin Chronical) noise blast. Much has been said about this thing that they do. Perhaps other more obscure and experimental noise and electronic musicians have attempted such sonic exploration but MBV has brought it to a more accessible level. I have heard peoples description of it in stages. Enjoyment then amusement then annoyance then sheer anger then distress then resigned fatigue then a feeling of transcendence then peace. I can more or less attest to that. While I enjoyed it in its entirety I did feel a sense of danger as I could feel my insides rumbling and the sensation of my shirt flapping in a steady wind.

It's been a while

Its been a long time between posts I know. Since Feb I have worked on two records in a production capacity, and mixed at a real studio to my manic delight. I have been digging records by Nick Lowe, M83, and Thee Oh Sees. A little festival called South By Southwest came to Austin in March. Besides that I have started my own business, Catamount Audio Visual after a couple ambitious but failed attempts at eBay store ownership and a vintage stereo horse trading operation.

He do the song about the knife???

I saw a Shooter Jennings video on Austin cable-TV where he does his rendition of Dire Straits' "Walk of Life". His rendition was surprisingly safe and not much of a departure from the original. I imagine that Shooter is a little bit too earnest for the ironic goofing on a cover song. But isn't he along with Hank III, Drive by Truckers, Mesh Hat Murderers and the like supposed to be part of a new generation carrying the country-rock outlaw torch? This video seemed more like mainstream country where an artist takes on a 80's rock gem and ads pedal steel before calling it a Nashville day.
It got me thinking though...What the hell are The Knophs and Shooter singing about in this song? He's "got a woman down in the tunnels trying to make it pay"? It sounds like Johnny is a bridge-and-tunnel pimp. Add "he do the song about the knife" and I start questioning the wholesomeness this oft used soundtrack to sports blooper montages.


Here comes johnny singing oldies, goldies
Be-bop-a-lua, baby what I say
Here comes johnny singing I gotta woman
Down in the tunnels, trying to make it pay
He got the action, he got the motion
Yeah, the boy can play
Dedication devotion
Turning all the night time into the day

He do the song about the sweet lovin woman
He do the song about the knife
He do the walk, he do the walk of life

Here comes johnny and hell tell you the story
Hand me down mu walkin shoes
Here come johnny with the power and the glory
Backbeat the talkin blues
He got the action, he got the motion
Yeah, the boy can play
Dedication devotion
Turning all the night time into the day

He do the song about the sweet lovin woman
He do the song about the knife
He do the walk, he do the walk of life

Here comes johnny singing oldies, goldies
Be-bop-a-lula, baby what I say
Here comes johnny singing I gotta woman
Down in the tunnels, trying to make it pay
He got the action, he got the motion
Yeah the boy can play
Decidation devotion
Turning all the night time into the day

And after all the violence and double talk
Theres just a song in the trouble and the strife
You do the walk, you do the walk of life