Houston El Mover Say what you will about Joe King Carrasco, but he’s responsible for two enduring rock ‘n’ roll memories. The first was years ago, during the heyday of Austin punk, at Duke’s Royal Coach Inn. It was a red-hot night, both for the performer and the un-air-conditioned crowd…
She does not stick out in the dilapidated lobby of Los Angeles’ Farmer’s Daughter Motel on Fairfax, just across the street from the restaurants and product bins of the Farmer’s Market. Her famous long hair–black with road-map streaks of gray running through it–is tucked underneath a plain black baseball cap;…
Songs from the sound museum Songs from the Night Before David Sanborn Elektra Records The saxophone has a reputation for being one of the sexiest jazz instruments. This generalization has never held much sway with me; for romance, I’ll take a Chet Baker trumpet solo or a Nina Simone vocal…
The long and winding road At long last, the Right Reverend Billy C. Wirtz–over-the-top satirical singer-songwriter, one-man floor show, living lampoon of all things musical–has straightened out. Well, sort of. “I’m glad you called when you did,” the Rev says enthusiastically. “I pulled a groin muscle the other day and…
If you’re driving through downtown Terrell, you probably wouldn’t notice the small radio station between the travel agency and the clothing store on Moore avenue. The station–with its faded wood front and DJ booth facing the street (with a large window for passersby to peer in)–makes you feel like you’ve…
The face on the cover of Cafe Noir’s album The Waltz King was perfect for the eclectic classicist/jazzbo aggregation: lined and weathered, it bespoke not only many miles and countless rooms, but also wisdom; sadness too, yes, but leavened with the peace that comes from experience. From that countenance–the kind…
101 punks Pretty Ugly Mess Last Beat Records Cris Mess sings like a young, pissed-off Billy Idol (circa Generation X), but you can’t help noticing that this album sounds like it has been preserved in a time capsule for the last 20 years; the question of nostalgia arises like a…
!Don’t you step on my huaraches azules! The line that divides style and shtick can be razor-thin, and if you introduce the Elvis Dimension it can be buried completely beneath deep drifts of Velveeta. It would be a mistake, however, to lump Los Angeles artist El Vez (nee Robert Lopez)…
How do you solve a problem like this introduction? How do you catch a cloud and pin it down? 1996 was many things–a flibbertigibbet, a will o’ the wisp, a clown–but more than anything for music, it was a time of transition. With “alternative” rock still spinning off hundreds of…
If 1995 was the year of the umpteenth British Invasion (Oasis, Blur, etc.) and the domination of the true underground by the amazing cross-pollinations of dance music, 1996 wasn’t far behind in brilliance. In ’96, the feeling that pop music still has the power to stimulate, instigate, and propagate remained…
As Eric Halfvarson savors his plate of beef mole at cvila’s restaurant on Maple Avenue, the Dallas-based international opera star ponders a dilemma: Although many bookings in the classical music business occur far in advance (he’s presently working out an offer for the year 2000), his immediate concerns are no…
Electra glide in blue Small Spinning Ginny Last Beat Records There truly is nothing new under the sun anymore, and to describe a band by placing it in a handy niche is no longer tantamount to calling it unoriginal, but the only way to deal with the staggering amount of…
Sound and fury… Test for Echo Rush Anthem/Atlantic The think-rock of Rush has always been problematic. Early masterworks like 2112 (1976) succeeded even if they are lyrical Cliffs Notes for college freshmen. (2112 is based on Ayn Rand’s Anthem; 1978’s Hemispheres explores right-left brain phenomena.) At worst, Rush is a…
Looking quite the quintessential young punk rocker–bright red Docs, platinum spiked hair, dark and mangled clothing–Benji Bollox could well be mistaken for the typical misguided suburban kid, half-heartedly chasing after the mirage of a lifestyle 20 years too late. In fact, it’s a fate he narrowly avoided. Were it not…
First, a clarification: It appears that when Street Beat relayed–rather breathlessly–that popular Beatles cover band Hard Night’s Day had moved into the big time by taking off on a brief national tour, it was having its perineum tickled by new handler-agent Traci Parsons. What seemed to be club dates are…
You don’t miss your water New Year’s Eve gigs are plums for musicians and bands. Banner business nights, they usually pay quite well, and the band that lands one close to home can usually minimize road expenses while spending most of the holidays with friends and family. So when Moon…
Emmylou Harris has been a respected country artist since her first major label release, 1975’s Pieces of the Sky. Arriving right in time for the advent of country-rock and enjoying a hefty batch of advance credibility through her association with Gram Parsons, Harris has always been one of the most…
A flat natural-born good timin’ man “Every day I tell myself it’s temporary,” Gary Stewart sings at the beginning of his 1974 hit “Drinkin’ Thing,” a monument to self-delusion and dependency written by Wayne Carson, who also wrote another Stewart classic, “She’s Actin’ Single (I’m Drinking Doubles).” His other hits–“Out…
Out of the initial chaos of seemingly unrelated instrumental noodling that is slowly rising this Friday night at the State Bar, a sound is taking shape and gathering momentum. It’s the sound of a 1957 Cadillac being started in Tibet on a cold day, fed through a sequencer and slowed…
“EEEeeeeeeuuuggghhhh!” Playing opposite to type, the local music writer is utterly sincere as she twists her face into a rictus of pure disgust. The effort–which pulls the corners of her mouth down and the cartilage around her nostrils up, and for a moment makes her face look like one of…
Cult of personality Evita Cast recording/soundtrack Warner Brothers Records Whatever you may think of her personally, Madonna’s credentials in the realm of popular music are unimpeachable. She began her career as a coy teen queen singing trendy, digestible songs and parlayed early success into an entertainment empire. Along the way,…
Queso que nada? Cosa Caliente The Recliners RCM Recordings One of the hardest things to get a sense of is humor, which many people confuse with mockery, forgetting that making fun has always been territory staked out by those who can’t quite make do. Nothing has borne this out quite…
