Free Press Houston Blog (Home)

Behold The Block Party Schedule

2009-11-10T12:04:00.000-08:00

Click on the links below and behold the schedules for this weekend's Block Party.

Block Party Schedule Saturday 14 November

Block Party Schedule Sunday 15 November

(extra special love to Steven Burnett and Craig Hlavaty.)

Video Interview: An Albatross

2009-11-10T09:09:00.001-08:00

FVH interviews An Albatross from Free Video Houston on Vimeo.

Shonen Knife - three women and a hell of a lot of rock!!!

2009-11-10T07:30:00.000-08:00

Missed out on Shonen Knife on Sunday night? Well, yeah, you suck then but we didn't. Read the review in the music section! (link)

Interview: The Eastern Sea

2009-11-09T09:48:00.000-08:00

by Omar Afra

Alas, the dangers of being an indie-folk-button-plaid-acoustish-band are many. But the Eastern Sea has one ace in their hole that differentiate them from the legions of other beard-clad bands that compete with them in this new yet popular genre. The Eastern Sea has dynamic. Dynamic is a rare quality many new bands lack as they are unable to musically build a narrative, create rising and falling action, and crescendo into something greater than the individual parts the musicians play. This is what makes good songs great and the Eastern Sea has exemplified this on their soon to be released self-titled EP. The total band is comprised of about 10 people yet a handful of them makeup the core. This core took the time to answer a few questions about white people getting decapitated, songwriting, Puma stores, and Cardi’s 2000.

Tell us about writing and recording the new EP. Was it one of those seamless, easy processes or a challenging ordeal?

Zach: Well, it was seamless in comparison to making our last EP. But at the same time, it took a lot out of us. We started recording in July of 2008 and are just now putting it out, so it definitely took longer. Drum wise it simplified because I got to do all the drums at once, unlike the last EP where we recorded snare, bass drum, high hats, and cymbals all separately. Also, a lot of the bass guitar and drums were recorded once and then re-recorded after everything else was laid down. We went through a lot to get the perfect sounds. But even considering all of these factors, it was still more seamless than the first EP.

With 9 potential members in the band, is the recording process difficult?

Jess: Yes it is difficult. Luckily we haven’t had to deal with that yet, as you’ll find out when you get EPII

'The Snow' is a stellar tune. Where did that come from?

Matt: The Snow was written about 3 and a half years ago and it was originally just a really washed out acoustic guitar tune that I had played a few times at some shows at coffeeshops. I wrote it, originally, as another one of my bitter attempts at summing up a very unusual friendship I had, this time with a girl named Caitlin.

When I wrote the song, I had known her for about one or two years since she had first came to the university I was attending, St. Edward’s in Austin, and at the time she was dealing with a pretty harsh break up with her long time boyfriend. She was completely convinced, as most people are when they are going through an emotionally wrenching time in their lives, that she was going out of her mind and that it was her mental instability that was causing the majority of her problems. I was a confidant for her in a lot of ways, but over time, I began to resent my position as her friend and begin to see our relationship as painful because of my inability to help the situation or even convince her that the kind of care I was willing to provide her was beneficial.

So I wrote that song to tell her that she was wrong about a lot of things. And in the process I realized I was wrong as well. We continued being close friends all through college and began seeing each other romantically the last semester we were both at St. Edward’s. Now we are in love, she moved to Berlin and I’m going to stay with her for Christmas. Haha. It’s strange; no one really knows the end of the story to the Snow. For me, it’s a pretty happy song because none of it was necessary. For others, it just ends with you’re not dead. Our full length record that we are writing right now, in a way, follows up on the snow (not necessarily musically) and develops a lot of the complex things about the continuation of that story for me.

So your Myspace says you are an Austin band yet many of ya'll hail from Houston. Please tell us something disparaging about Austin and something wonderful about Houston.

Jess: Austin is a playground for people who don’t wish to grow up.

Houston makes you feel 10 years older (and wiser).

Matt: Austin is home to many hipsters and trustfundafarians.

Houston is home to their parents.

Zach: Austin is without the Eastern Sea on November 14th.

Houston has the Eastern Sea for the weekend.

Tomas: Austin Colt McCoy sucks ass.

Houston , The Puma store at the Sharpstown Mall has a sweet selection.

Kevin: Austin, whalebones

Houston. Whalebones

Your EP Release is scheduled the evening of Nov. 14th following the Block Party at Numbers alongside Dead Prez. Are you a little afraid they might decapitate one of you crackers?

Kevin: Yes.

Some of the new tunes have the potentiality to be expressed live with a larger cast of musicians. Can we expect the lineup to expand or simplify?
Zach : This lineup for the show at numbers will be the first show to feature 8+ people in the band, including string players and plenty of other new instruments. Who knows if it will expand or simplify. I think we’re just happy knowing we can do it with everyone or revert back to the four of us and still be proud of the product we’re putting out there.

Fill in the blanks: Houston is the music capital of the universe because of______?

Cardis 2000.
The Eastern Sea will be releasing the EP in Houston at Numbers following the Westheimer Block Party on November 14th alongside the unlikely coupling of Dead Prez and Japanther .

Interview: Pat Greer

2009-11-06T09:27:00.000-08:00

Interview by Joel Hughes

A conversation with Pat Greer, co-founder of Central City Co-op, Houston’s original organic Co-op, as well as co-host of the 90.1 KPFT show , Eco-Ology which is dedicated to local hero's at the forefront of environmental action, ecology in and for our community, social justice, health, and spirit. She is also an owner and C.E.O. of Yaya’s RAW Rah and Pat Greer’s Kitchen located on the North end of Montrose. Her kitchen makes dehydrated cookies and crackers, kombucha, pizzas, salads, party geez, pies, and many more dinner entrees and desserts, all of which are gluten free, raw, vegan, use organic ingredients, and utilize as much produce as possible from local, organic/sustainable farmers.

Where does the benefit lie in eating raw/living foods?

Living enzymes: foods heated above 118 degrees have enzymes destroyed. Enzymes are necessary to digest food. Thoroughly chewing foods and ingesting living enzymes allows a body to have more fun, i.e. it doe not have to work to digest food. It can take the energy provided and play, go for a run/walk/swim, laugh, dance, WHATEVER!
Taste: pizza, burritos, lasagna, pecan pie, cookies, krackers and yes Virginia, You can have Your cake and eat it too.

Carbon footprint: no ovens are used, at Our kitchen, we do not use air conditioning or heat, we recycle, we compost our leftover green matter, we think loving thoughts while we prepare food

What inspired you to share raw food with your community?

A health challenge eventually took me to a raw food diet. My daughter and I started Central City Co-op after I started a raw food diet and when I made krackers and kookies for myself, I had a few extras and started selling them at the co-op. People started asking for them and here we are.
Can you explain your philosophy on the necessity to cook food with a positive attitude?

Have you ever walked into a restaurant and it did not feel right? You went ahead and ate there anyway and when you left, you did not feel right? Maybe the sous chef was having problems with a supplier or another employee got a ticket on the way to work which made the person late to work which got the person in trouble. When a person can thinking loving/positive thoughts while touching your food, the food is infused with those thoughts, or energy if you will.

Many movies like Food, Inc., Super Size Me, and Fast Food Nation have been examining the food industry in America. Do you think society is becoming more disconnected with the food chain than we were fifty years ago?

Yes and no. The movies you mentioned, farmers markets, the purported green movement ask people to examine their choices on many levels. Some folks examine and make changes; some folks dig in (pun intended) and have another order of fries.

When you envision a more sustainable Houston, what simple improvements do you see us making as a community?

Eating seasonally and closer to home

Knowing where food comes from

Making meals at home and eating with family and friends

Getting outside more

Supporting businesses and government that support a sustainable AND thriving approach to community

More hugs and smiles and community involvement.

Houston is a city that does not inherently cater to earth conscious people. On a day to day basis what measure to you take live sustainably?

I deeply appreciate being here, adore and love my children, grandchildren, friends, and community. I compost chronically and recycle religiously, watch my trips/mileage, eat locally, organic, work on saying thank you to every situation, don’t mow the yard until I have to, volunteer at KPFT, 90.1 Houston, have faith, trust, and pixie dust.

What are your spiritual notions on the connection between food and the soul?

Ready? I don’t think we have free will. I think we make choices/create based on history. Two lobes of the brain dictate creation and whether it be scientific or crazy inventive/imaginative. Soul implies more than a connection to All, Soul is All. Soul replenishes with nourishment beyond what we put in our mouths, it craves connection, craves loving, craves community. What does Soul have to do with creation?

Close Your eyes, remember a time when You thoroughly enjoyed a meal. Where were You? What did You have to eat? Who were You with?

What does your diet consist of?

Hugs, family, friends, and LOTS of leafy greens, seasonal fruit, squash, carrots, avocadoes, onions, garlic, jalapenos, Texas pecans, sunflower seeds, hemp nuts/seeds, cilantro, a few other nuts, and seeds, lots of herbs. AND, my balance, HC loves to make beans, all different kinds of beans and bean soups, so beans play a part in my weekly diet. AND, my incredible granddaughter, Cassandra who is 13 years old, aspires to be a pastry chef and have a bakery someday. So, whenever she makes ANYTHING, I eat it with great joy and thankfulness.

What are your favorite local restaurants?

Brasil and Mango’s on Westheimer, Baby Barnaby’s and Latina Café on Fairview, Tafia, and Madras on Kirby.

Do you have any suggestions for literature that has inspired you to live the way you do?

A Light in the Attic, Shel Silverstein

Manís Search for Meaning, Victor Frankl

Let Your Life Speak, Parker J, Palmer

The Return of the Prodigal Son, Henri Nouwen

Behaving as if the God in all Life Matters, Machelle Small Wright

LOTS of recipe books

What do you feed your pets?

Raw liver and HC buys dry food from the big retailers. Balance

When is the last time you ate bacon?

Intentionally, about 12 years ago, unintentionally, 2 years ago when it was in some soup that I was given.

Do you miss bacon?

nope

Pat Greer’s raw vegan kitchen is located at 412 W Clay St in the Montrose are of Houston. Her radio show, Eco-Ology is broadcast every Wednesday from 6-7 AM on KPFT Houston, 90.1 FM, and the Central City Co-op is located on Wednesday at 2115 Taft Street and on Sunday at Discovery Green.

FVH at the polls - Battle rages against ABC staff!

2009-11-05T08:58:00.000-08:00

FVH at the polls - Battle rages against ABC staff! from Free Video Houston on Vimeo.

FVH goes to Mary's to find out what happened to their mural.

2009-10-28T08:50:00.000-07:00

FVH goes to Mary's to find out what happened to their mural. from Free Video Houston on Vimeo.

Peter Brown Video Interview

2009-10-26T08:51:00.001-07:00

FVH _Peter Brown Interview from Free Video Houston on Vimeo.

Happy Birthday Mills McCoin

2009-10-25T14:13:00.000-07:00

Staff writer and Sports Desk editor Mills McCoin celebrates his birthday today and we will get it clutch for him at Mango's tonight. Mills is a dirty, dirty man and a shame to his family, race, country, or frankly anything he associates himself with. Either way, we loves the shit out of some McCoin.

Interview : Emily Driskill

2009-10-25T14:10:00.001-07:00

Photographer of Dudes tells us shit from shinola

By Mills-McCoin

The various weaknesses of the male gender are the subject of drama, comedy and satire. We are victims of our appetite for libation, sensation and appreciation; and we fancy ourselves to be a special breed, worthy of praise and archive. Basically, we think we’re some pretty cool motherfuckers... and Emily Driskill is doing nothing to curb our collective ego.
If you’re unfamiliar with local photographer Emily Driskill, she’s a fetching red-haired gal that can be found slingin’ drinks at Rudyard’s Pub or behind the counter at the Camera Co/op on Durham Drive. What she does at those establishments is a cover, and certainly not the subject of my interview.
Ms. Driskill travels around armed to the teeth with photography equipment and deeply adorable dimples that charm any man into posing for a quick pic. Whether she’s on the road with some strange rock band or simply skipping around the Montrose; Emily Driskill is almost guaranteed to have a camera in hand and a mission in mind. Thus, I sought out Emily for an interview and a discussion about her recently self-published book, brilliantly titled, Dudes.
What was it like, the process of publishing your book by yourself?

I found out about this website called Blurb.com through another photographer friend of mine who had made his portfolio through there. You download the software and it has all the page templates and everything. And you make a book and upload it to the site. You buy the copies at cost and you can also sell them for profit and get a check at the end of the month. So I thought that was easy.
I originally wanted to do it because I saw Rosa Guerrero‘s “Ditch Water” magazine. It’s just a xerox zine of local photography that she’s been doing at punk shows for years and years and years. I think I saw it at Sound Exchange. And I wanted to do something cool like that; but I like my photography so much that I decided to do it in a better quality format. I wanted to present it in the same respect that I give it.
My readers really love sports, so what’s a sporting event that you’d like to go back in time to photograph?

Which Olympics was the one where they had all of those hostages in the hotel...

I believe it was the 1972 Olympics in Munich.

Munich! That’s it. I want to go back and shoot Munich.
Why dudes? Or why Dudes?

I just love dudes. I feel a lot more comfortable around guys. It branches off from having a great relationship with my dad and my brother and just being able to be honest and not give a fuck. I don’t have to care about my hair when I’m around those people. I can laugh so hard that I fart, you know. And they just think it’s funny. They think it’s hilarious.
Yeah, it’s funny.
Please don’t put that in there.

Who are the local icons that always make for a good photograph?

My brother and my dad are kind of a given. There’s two pages in the book where my brother and my dad had both had surgeries, very major surgeries. My dad had open heart surgery, that was the reason why I moved back from New York. And then my little brother had something similar done. They both had their chests cut open. Same sort of surgery but different circumstances. There’s a page where my dad is laying in his hospital bed totally doped up on some awesome awesome pain meds I’m sure. But he’s smiling really big- and this was on a Polaroid. I was standing on the foot of his bed and he was just smiling the biggest smile that a person who’s just had open heart surgery could muster. Then on the other page is picture of my brother two days after his surgery. And he’s just in agonizing pain.
Soooo my dad and my brother. I will never stop talking about them.
What’s the best local band to shoot?

I took some good pictures of The Jon Benet... in Baytown of all places. It was a venue that used to be a florist shop and that show- my little brother’s band was playing a show also-
What was it called?
It was a wall covered in mirrors; I don’t know what it was called- it used to be a florist...
What’s next for Emily Driskill? Is it another book?

Yeah. I mean I could always make a second one. I thought about doing a Nude Dude book. But see, people know that I put out a dude book and some of them think there’s all these homoerotic connotations to it; but in reality there’s nothing really sexy about these pics. Except for *the conversation was interrupted by a text message*... OOoohh crap.
That’s obviously going in there too.
Somebody asked me if I wanted to make a babe book.
A babe book?

Yeah, girls. Because it’s the dude book, “and why don’t you follow it up with a girl book?” But uhh I don’t like females.

I’ll do the Babe book.

Óscar Romero Award Ceremony at Rothko

2009-10-23T14:02:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, October 25, the Rothko Chapel will recognize and celebrate the extraordinary accomplishments of the 2009 Óscar Romero Award winner, Dr. Murhabazi Namegabe of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Dr. Namegabe, who has devoted his life’s work to the dangerous and noble mission of rescuing and rehabilitating children conscripted into rebel armed forces, is traveling from the Congo to Houston to accept the award.
The ceremony will begin at 3 p.m. at the Rothko Chapel, 3900 Yupon Street. The featured speaker at the ceremony will be Paul Salopek, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, who will share insights gleaned from years of reporting from the Democratic Republic of Congo for the Chicago Tribune. The Honorable Donald B. Easum, former ambassador to Nigeria, will also make remarks.
Please mark your calendar for this tribute to two heroes—Óscar Romero, who was assassinated in 1980 for his human rights advocacy, and Dr. Namegabe, who risks his life daily in order to better the lives of his country’s young people.
--Rothko Chapel press release

Buy Gold! : Radical Chic Revisited

2009-10-21T11:02:00.000-07:00

by Harbeer Sandhu
Photos by Sanam Tavassoli

In the shadow of the Galleria--literally just a stone’s throw across the West Loop from Dillard’s--a wealthy Palestinian family hosted a fundraiser last Saturday night for The Progressive Coalition--a “ticket” of three progressive candidates for Houston City Council. They are Don Cook (At-large candidate, Position 1), Deborah Shafto (At-large candidate, Position 4) and Alfred Molison (write-in candidate in District C). The keynote speaker was former Georgia Congresswoman and 2008 Green Party presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney.

Alfred Molison, Cynthia McKinney, Deb Shafto, Don Cook

Outside, luxury SUVs mingled with beat up sedans sporting too many bumper stickers and hatchbacks bursting with folding chairs. Inside, opera and classical music played on the stereo while grey beards and pony tails hovered about a spread of chicken kebabs, hummus, pine nut cheese, and assorted pastries. About 35 people attended and they all dressed like either businesspeople or substitute teachers.

After about 30 minutes of schmoozing and hobnobbing (during which the hummus disappeared but the chicken remained largely untouched) the gracious host introduced the first candidate, Alfred Molison.

Molison gave a quick speech emphasizing his support of human rights for all. He told an anecdote about a campus group called the Alliance of Concerned Students for a Unified Left (ACSUL). They liked to wear kaffiyat, he said, at which point McKinney proudly held her own kaffiyeh aloft, until suddenly, one day, the kaffiyat disappeared. The end. That story concluded, he made some vague statements about the Israeli government’s short-sighted inhumanity and introduced the next candidate.

The lights dimmed and the bass line to “Shaft” kicked up as Deborah Shafto took the stage. She made a string of general pronouncements supporting peace, drug law reform, and support for jobs creation and a living wage. She supports saving money with universal healthcare and spending it on public transportation improvements. She believes that “people are waking up” and that “change is inevitable.”

Right then Don Cook’s cell phone blasted out his Slim Thug ringtone. It was the Obama administration calling with a cease-and-desist order for Deb’s use of their trademark.

That resolved, Don took the stage. The main focus of Don’s campaign seems to be the issuance of resolutions, like the failed Houston City Council resolution condemning the Iraq war in February 2003. He wants to “change the way that Houston interacts with the world and the way the world interacts with Houston.” He wants to make Gaza City (or was it Bezerkely?) the sister-city to Houston.

Then Cynthia McKinney took the stage. She brought the audience up to speed with her travels since her arrest by Israel last summer: she has been hanging with Desert Rose in South Africa and Céciiiiiile Duuuufloooooot in Paris. Sounds rough.

She made some nebulous allegations regarding Israel’s successful efforts in rendering the US antiwar movement useless, then some more conspiratorial allegations that Sarkozy’s and Obama’s election wins were “intelligence operations.” She supported these allegations with irrefutable proof in the form of statements that went, “I’m sure most of you know this, or if you don’t you should...”

Then she took questions. The firs questioner asked her to elaborate on her conspiracy claims regarding the demise of the antiwar movement. The second asked, “What is the head of the snake?” And the third question was from a man who asked what citizens can do to fight back against usurious banks during this financial meltdown.

“Should we withdraw all our money from banks to prompt a run on the banks?” he asked. “Just take it out and, I don’t know, stash it in our mattresses?”

“Buy gold,” McKinney answered. “Buy gold and find out what China is doing and do what they do. I think they’re abandoning the dollar. They’re buying precious metals.”

Your humble reporter raised his hand to challenge this ignorant debasement of the Green Party’s four pillars (ecological wisdom, social justice, grassroots democracy, and nonviolence) but a kind lady in the back of the room beat him to it.

“Gold might be a good investment if you’re interested in material wealth,” the wise lady said, “but as Deb Shafto said earlier, our true wealth is our community. You can’t eat gold. Gold won’t keep you company. We have to invest in our communities, and that’s why we need our people on City Council.”

Support Alfred Molison (write-in candidate in District C), Deborah Shafto (At-large candidate, Position 4) and Don Cook (At-large candidate, Position 1) for Houston City Council on Tuesday, November 3. They have chicken.

FVH Interviews Mayoral Candidate Annise Parker

2009-10-21T08:25:00.000-07:00

FVH Interviews Mayoral Candidate Annise Parker from Free Video Houston on Vimeo.

Westheimer Block Party Lineup

2009-10-12T13:21:00.000-07:00

Westheimer Block Party returns this Fall with a now- 2 day celebranza of arts and music. The festival will be November 14th and 15th and will host more than 250+ bands along with national headliners like Dead Prez and Japanther. Below is a 'sampling' of the massive lineup for this epic weekend. We recommend doubling your B6 intake and wearing fresh socks. Spread thine word.

Dead Prez
Japanther
TSU Jazz Ensembles
The Gold Sounds
Chase Hamblin
Golden Cities
Hollywood Black
Fly Nice
Guerilla Foco Clan
Bright Men of Learning
Something Fierce
Female Demand
Smoky Mountain
Alkari
Juzcoz
Journey Agents
Together. We are instruments
O'Doyle Rules
Football etc.
Elaine Greer
Room 101
I Am Mesmer
Mechanical Boy
Forests
Defend the Ghetto
The Bamaz
Chocolate Crucifix
Co-Pilot
Corners
Idegenous
Springfield Riots
MuhammadAli
Ghost Mountain
Fight Pretty
Forests
Fucking Thief
Balaclavas
Ringo Deathstarr
Buxton
The Niyat
The Swervys
Flow Factory
Fired for Walking
The Manichean
Algebra
The Energy
Rusted Shut
10th Grade Cutie
Linus Pauling Quartet
CeePlus Bad Knives
T.H.E.M.
Hero
A.T.W.
The State vs. Judd Nelson
Future Blondes
Free Radical
Margot
Legendary Kotix
Uzoy
Female Demand
Fat Tony
Joe B. and Rebel Crew
Caddywhompus
Dustin Wes
Rad
The Cocker Spaniels
Tony Bananas
Delicious Milk
Love Field
The Watermarks
Dead Roses
Cavernous
Young Mammals
DISSENT
Battle Rifle
Black Congress
Roky Moon & BOLT
Woozy Helmet
V Zilla
The Goods
Ghost Town Electric
Pistoleras
Check Other
Satin Hooks
SCO
Tyagaraja
D Rose
The Eastern Sea
Shina Rae
Giant Princess
ListenListen
PLF
American Sharks
Wild Moccassins
Ben Wesley
Whorehound
Robert Ellis
Hell City Kings
Perseph One
Marry Me
Robert Ellis
Grandfather Child
Lisa's Sons
Plump
Free Radicals
Woozy Helmet
Marzi
Jennifer Grassman
Peekaboo Theory
Come See My Dead Person
Chin Xao Ti Won
12:00 Consume These Engines
Horse
Phillip Foshee
Mermaids of Judaism
Roky Moon and Bolt
Ghormeh Sabzi
Springfield Riots
Ghost Mountain
Flowers to Hide
Listen Listen
Holy Fiction
Alpaca
sIngs
Holy Hand Grenades
Guns of Detroit
Eddie Terrell
Woozyhelmet
Giant Battle Monster
Blaggard
Searching For Signal
Exterminating Angels
Organ Failure
Poopy Lungstuffing
Gamma Ringo
Behind Buildings
The Handshake
Bows and Arrows
Delta Block
Rusted Shut
Components of the Modern Age
Jody Seabody and the Whirls
The Cadences

Block Party Line-up to be announced in next few days

2009-10-09T10:52:00.001-07:00

Interview: Warren Hatfield

2009-10-09T08:37:00.000-07:00

By Omar Afra

The name alone ‘Warren Hatfield’ just reeks of metal. Come one, it’s one stinkin’ vowel away from ‘Hetfield’. But the Golden Axe founder and Valiant Thorr Guitarist is as humble and approachable as a hometown hero should be. Having toured the globe and slayed legions of metalheads with divine shredding, Hatfield still manages to keep an authentic charm.
How do the Golden Axe tunes come about? Do you write together in a jam context or does the archangel Gabriel bring you the tab written in lamb's blood?

Well sometimes I write the stuff post satanic ritual while still in a trance like state due to the lasting touch of the dark one, but most of the time James and I just get together and try to rock each other’s faces off. Gabriel has helped on a few, but uses email these days instead of the ancient ways. He's quite hip to the times. I also get compelled to write riffs in the middle of the night. Something wakes me up and puts the music in me and I gotta get it out.
What was the song that you heard as a child that motivated you to learn to shred?

My father took me to see the Ramones when I was all of 5 or 6, so that really put the goodness into me. He also used to play guitar, mostly surf tunes and watching him pick all crazy really took hold of me. The first time I new I had to play shreddishly though was when I heard Metallica. That shit blew my mind like a visit to an evangelical church. Frickin' awesomeness poured from the speakers like sweet nectar of some forbidden delicious fruit. It changed my wee brain forever.

Tell me some other guitar-slingers in Houston you fear?

The Mighty Orq Jimmy Raycraft and the dude that used to play for jug 'o' lightning. Oh, and James Love, my band mate. And I don't exactly fear them, cause they are all exceptional gentlemen. Watching any one of them play is inspiring and instructive. I just fear their amazing grasp on the guitar. Each one of those guys blows my damn mind every time I witness their skills.

Tell us your #1 all time fave Thorr story.

Well, that would be a recent event that just happened over this last June. We were taking a break in the south of France, Hossegor to be exact, and we had a chance to play on this day that celebrates musicians of all kinds. It is like a holiday for musicians, and you can legally set up your gear and play wherever you want. We rented a flatbed truck set it up as a stage and just drove around playing for everybody we could. We would stop and jam a bit then move to another location. We started to amass this amazing crowd of people who would follow us everywhere we went just like the pied piper. By the end of it we had been jamming for like two hours solid and had a posse of about 70 cars and people on bikes and on foot and on skateboards following us for several miles until we ended up on the beach for one last full gig. It was ridiculous and something that I will never forget. A most excellent time. Oh, also the entire tours with Motorhead. Those guys are the fucking tits.
Friedman VS Hammet. Winner is?

It used to be Hammet all the way, but then Friedman took the cookie. I still love Hammet, and steal ideas from him constantly, but I enjoy Friedman as a player a lot more. Both are F-ing radbad.
Most important thing one must do before picking up an instrument?

Be interested and dedicated. I see people get guitars or whatever and try to play and then just get bored or say it's too hard and stop. When I first started I couldn't put the damn thing down and I sucked harder than a black hole, but I didn't care about being awesome. It was just mystifying to hold the guitar and hear it make all these weird sounds. I used to practice or play any chance I could, sometimes for like 6 to 7 hours at a time. I wouldn't even realize the time had gone by and I would get hollered at by my folks for making racket and not doing homework and chores. I still get that way from time to time. I did put a lot of grueling practice in. The more you put in, the more it gives back.

Fill in the blanks: Houston is the center of the musical universe because_____?

It's a weird, apathetic, wacky place. We don't have the competition that other major cities have, but we still have a huge amount of talented radical people, who love to write awesome music and play. If you live in a place where it's almost built in, people start to get stagnant and boring. You have to fight to be different and good here, and I think people usually come up with the best stuff when they're getting the crap kicked out of them by their environment. I wish more people would support the Houston music scene, cause it is a diverse and exciting scene, with everything from bluegrass to black metal. We really do have it made here and people should be proud of that. There are great places to play and rehearse at and like anything else, if we put our hearts and soul into making it awesome it will be. Live long and prosper. Warren.

Golden Axe plays the Westheimer Block Party November 15th

If 'He Fails'...

2009-10-08T15:34:00.001-07:00

By M. Martin

It is perhaps time to ask what, exactly, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, et. al. are really hoping for when they advocate the failure of Barack Obama's presidency--particularly when their anti-advocacy has managed to gin up the most virulent right-wing paranoia and hysteria this country has seen since The Sixties. In less than six months, this country has gone from the transformative uplift of seeing our first African-American President take the oath of office to seeing that president virtually stalked by gun-toting vigilantes--and seeing the reform agenda that swept him into office stalled out and seemingly failed already.
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Mills-McCoin: In Search of... Nashville's Redemption Song

2009-10-07T16:38:00.001-07:00

Honky Tonks, cigarette smoke, pork BBQ, bourbon vs. whiskey, the Grand Ole Opry, country music... The staples of a culture I once called my own- The Dirty South.
Two cohorts (Taylor Lee & Attorney Storey) and I are in Music City, USA; Nashvegas;- Nashville, Tennessee. She's a home away from home for me, so the behavior in store is not good.
You'll find the rest of the story on the Sportsdesk.

Pimp This Bum: It's not what you think

2009-10-06T19:12:00.000-07:00

How a local website has changed the face of the fight against homelessness

By Andrea Afra

"I'm back in the fight. I'm tired of laying down. I'm tired of giving up. This life, it's worth fighting for. It's worth fighting for."

After starting an internet marketing company, Ascendgence, Kevin and Sean Dolan, a father and son team, decided to prove their effectiveness by creating a campaign to show that they could successfully drive attention to wherever they targeted. Their new project: PimpThisBum.com. They knew the name would induce visions of bum fights or worse, and either piss people off or make them laugh, but either way, it would stay in their minds.

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Organizing Lessons from Allen Parkway Village

2009-10-04T18:35:00.000-07:00

by Timothy O’Brien

Houston hero Lenwood Johnson has been organizing residents of Freedmen’s Town in 4th Ward for over 30 years, fighting demolition and gentrification of the city’s oldest Black neighborhood. He reminds everyone of the price paid by the founders to make a home for their people in perpetuity: The bricks that pave many of the historic streets in Freedmen’s Town were hand made over a century ago by formerly enslaved Africans.
Houston hero Lenwood Johnson has been organizing residents of Freedmen’s Town in 4th Ward for over 30 years, fighting demolition and gentrification of the city’s oldest Black neighborhood. He reminds everyone of the price paid by the founders to make a home for their people in perpetuity: The bricks that pave many of the historic streets in Freedmen’s Town were hand made over a century ago by formerly enslaved Africans.
When Lenwood E. Johnson, the son of Texas sharecroppers, moved into Houston’s Allen Parkway Village project housing, the Freedmen’s Town section of the city had yet to be designated historic and the village had yet to be saved. By the end of the 1990s, the village was preserved and Johnson had proved to be something of an unlikely hero here in Houston’s 4th Ward, historically one of the poorest sections of the city – but always ripe for redevelopment because of its proximity to the downtown.

Opened as San Felipe Courts in 1944, the 1,000-unit Allen Parkway Village (APV), whose namesake is the parkway named for Houston founders John and Augustus Allen, was the crown jewel of the Housing Authority of the City of Houston (HACH) and the largest one in the South.

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Mills-McCoin & Ron Blonde: In Search of Levon Helm

2009-10-03T09:20:00.000-07:00

The First Day of ACL Fest 2009 was a success: Sights of John Paul Jones, Karen O and master instrumentalist Calvin Turner; free booze and food; perfect weather; familiar Austin faces.

This Second Day bothers not with the music and the industry, but instead entrenches itself in a search for the drummer from The Band, Levon Helm. Ron's desire to shake hands with this old American monument to rock'n'roll strengthen as the weather conditions continue to worsen. The rain is fueling his passion to touch hands Levon. I'm inspired by gusto, so I follow suit.

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Open letter to the 'mayor' of Montrose-

2009-10-02T12:32:00.000-07:00

Open letter to the 'mayor' of Montrose-

You are an absentee landlord. Just as Nero fiddled while Rome burned, such is the Chris Hutto. Hovering above us from his ivory tower at Catbird's, Hutto imbibes Old Speckled Hen as his constituents can barely afford a PBR. You have abandoned us Hutto. You promised us change. All we have gotten was more of the same nepotism, cronisyism, fascism,communism,transcendentalism,sacerdotalism, and psychopannychism
that has plagued our fair community for ages.

Where is the canal system you promised?
What of the yuppie immigration into the Montrose?
What of the solemn promise you made to rid our city of invading HPD officers?

It seems it was nothing more than empty rhetoric. So while you feed on the fat of your host, The Montrose crumbles beneath you.

So, it is time for regime change. A time for renewal. A time to clear the landscape of the despots that bleed us dry. I will run against you this February and, Allah willing, bring the much needed C H A N G E and H O P E and G O O D S T U F F the Montrose so craves.

Your days are numbered Hutto. You meet the same fate dictators have all met. Prepare to enter the dustibin of history.

This message brought to you by the Omar Afra for Mayor of Montrose Council.

3rd Annual Second Chance Conference via Connect the Dots

2009-10-02T11:26:00.001-07:00

Fuck ACL: The Krayolas FREE SHOW at Cactus

2009-10-02T11:00:00.000-07:00

5:30 sharp, people.

Free refreshments from St. Arnold's

We LOVE Cactus.

The Moon exhibit at MFA

2009-09-28T15:03:00.000-07:00

A series of films inspired by or related to the Moon will unroll over the next several weeks at the MFAH in conjunction with the museum’s exhibit The Moon: Houston, Tranquility Base Here, The Eagle Has Landed. (continued)