A long way across the water

Here is another great reason to brave a mid week adventure to DT Austin. Go to work tired as shit the next day because you went out and saw some great live local music, NICE! You will usually not have the obnoxious crowd, just us older lecherous bastards having a drink, enjoying the music that our lovely little hamlet has to offer.

SO, here I am again at One2One ( http://www.one2onebar.com/ ) and I am not complaining either. This guy on stage is so very awesome.

Karl Morgan ( http://www.facebook.com/scott.baumann1#!/karlfmorgan ) Karl Morgan can do that fun uptempo rockin music with his very bluesy voice and then bust out into that slow blues jam that will leave you slightly breathless. I swear to god I had a damn Steamboat flashback siting there on the stool and listening. The bar, the sound, the warm Austin night air. Dammit Gregg you have succeeded in recreating it very well sir!

Karl and his three piece is very tight and clean, yet gritty at the same time. To watch him play the guitar is every bit as impressive as he sounds. He works the guitar from tuning pegs down.I bet this man loves his guitar so much he sleeps with it! His ensemble is good enough to make the fill, provide the rhythm, yet subtle enough to let Karl shine. With a set full of originals he is worth stopping in and getting the dirty fucked up part of your day at work to wash away! I know you will recognize the sound and you will feel your soul loosen up (just a little). If you are starved for that blues/Steamboat action, then bring your old tired ass here during the week. Gregg runs a mean sound the staff at the bar is sure to please too.

A pissed off white boy and the Doc

Dirty minds gather for dirty times and do dirty things at the Dirty Dog ( http://dirtydogbar.com/ )!

Adam "ARay" and Doc Deuce handled up on a rowdy crowd one particular evening recently and it went a little something like this....

ARay ( http://www.araymusic.com ) deserves respect because he is an admitted Juggalo (as am I, but I wont admit it, HA!). What pisses me off about someone like ARay is that is is good. Really good! at what he does. The problem is that jack asses like me will invariably always compare him to that other pissed off white boy M&M (yeah I did that on purpose). On this particular night his rhymes where a little on the sloppy side and he sure as hell did not need the other MC on stage with him. Adam you can hold your own! It just felt sloppy and off pace. If he was nervous opening for this evenings headliner I can understand, but fix it.

DO NOT get me wrong, I liked him and I think there is much potential there. He performs for the crowd and really plays the part. You can feel his intensity and passion, which is fuckin awesome, and damn does this kid know how to promote himself. REALLY!!!

DOC DEUCE ( http://www.docdeuce.com/ ) "once again its the incredible, rhyme animal!"

Love Doc, I think he is one of the most intelligent rappers around. Lyrics that are smooth with a flow that is like water...never ending, unstoppable, and (like a tsunami) will ultimately push you over no matter what you do! Tonite I was saddened as Doc was not performing with the full band. BUT with the amazing DJ Crash and Swizzy (sp?) living it up behind him. It was still very fun.

He is emphatic in his delivery. He is direct with his approach to the audience and he is verbally consuming with lyrical content.

Check out either one of these two guys when you are ready for some good rap attack. Different styles, but great impact!

Laters

Hot Sauce and Moonlight Social

Have I told you about MoMo's ( http://www.momosclub.com/ )? Yes I have. Go check out the club. Albeit, this is probably the shittiest time of the year to hang out on any deck outside (unless it is 10:00 at night), it is still a gorgeous deck that allows a decent view of the stage across most of the deck.

Moonlight Social ( http://www.moonlightsocialmusic.com/#!__home ) mounted the stage at MoMo's opening for EPMB. What caught my attention was the apparent age of the band members and a female lead singer? Not a rarity here in Austin (cause we have our fare share of great female singers), but not generaly in this twenty something age group.

When the music started and I heard this voice, I thought it was the reincarnation of Natalie Merchant...and she's not even dead! It is that sweet, soulful, husky voice. You see the lead singer then you hear her voice and it definitely makes you do a double take and then stare. Musically it was cute and would make you want to hold you gf's hand. The uptempo stuff was, well, uptempo. There is definitely a chemistry onstage with the lead singer and the guitarist/ male lead vocals that makes it fun to watch. The band as a whole really seems to be having a good time. 

There is some polish that needs to be put on the live performance, but if these kids keep their heads on straight and keep that amazing voice front and center ...watch out. They may end up doing wonderful things.

Like winning contests and performing at the Hot Sauce Festival (http://www.austinchronicle.com/Market/HotSauce/)!

Keep it up, look forward to checking them out again and watch them grow up and hopefully blow up!

Laters

Buddy Quaid

I caught this set at Momo's ( http://www.momosclub.com/ ) recently. Tagged like many of the other local bands that have that same singer/songwriter sound by my daughter as "that 'Austin Sound'". It's that fun, friendly, heartfelt (I would hope so), acoustic guitar, electric guitar, kinda country, but definitely rock n roll sound.

The Buddy Quaid Band ( http://buddyquaid.com/ ) is one of those bands. It is really really good music. Not outstanding, earth shaking, make Bono show up and call you up from the minors to open for U2, but really good. It is that great music to sit back and relax, drink a beer and enjoy that warm Austin Sound. The set is completely original tunes. The plus to this is that it was some nice toe tapping music that you were able sing along with on the chorus. You felt like you knew the song and got the hook.

Performance wise this was not what I jump up and down about. They played the music and played it well, but didn't play the audience.

If you jump to his page via the link you will probably learn that you know this guy. For me what was even better is that he has a nice since of humor and proportion to his music against, say, Bob Schneider. Very good stuff.

Look around, look him up, and drink a beer.

Laters

WOW! I said it!

To the owner/proprietor of the texas music theatre in San Marcos.....FUCK YOU!!!! You won't let me in with my 5megapixel Sony Cybershot camera...but you will let the little girls in with their point n shoot cameras.

I have been in the Erwin Center and the ATT Center with that camera. So to you, mr. proud of your shit in S.M. TX, no cameras without a "press pass" self, FUCK YOU. So I will take pictures with my 8 megapixel phone and post my pictures anyway. FUCK YOU. Just be happy, proud, and big balls about your place...may T.A.B.C. pitch a tent in your ass this year and fuck with you non stop for all the little kids you let in!

I got Wormz

The Dirty Dog ( http://dirtydogbar.com/ ) has been an awesome establishment to see a myriad of different types of live music. Rap, Hip-Hop, Alternative, and Rock/Metal are all mainstays on the menu. Any given night on any given weekday night or weekend this place is living up to the Live Music Capital name. The new layout is awesome, with the stairs to the stage facing the back, making it less crowded on the side of the stage for load in/load out. The new bar in the back is on the side and offers a great view of the club and way more drinking area (Now if we could just get Ben to design a decent green room). And of course the new lighting on the stage KICKS ASS!

This particular evening was a performance by regionally known and Austin loved, Dirty Wormz. Along with several other acts opening, the Wormz have again proven to be something more than what they are and, without a doubt, bigger and greater than where they are at in the music industry. With an announcement by Smackola, the bands energetic and intense MC/Lead singer, they have been signed to another 'major' label, we can only hope that this takes them to the stratospheric heights they so deserve.

The Dirty Wormz ( http://www.facebook.com/pages/DIRTY-WORMZ/124217714674 ) so deserve the big break, the major label signing, and the promoting that comes with the notoriety that the music and being in a band brings. And of course I mean this with love as Smack and DJ Crash (and the rest of the band of course) deserve this for the unending touring and hard work.

The performance this nite was taken from the eyes of a Wormgin (Dirty Wormz virgin).

People watching at a show is great, and at a Dirty Wormz show it can be AWESOME and hilarious at the same time. My girlfriend went with me because I have a penchant for running my mouth and talking lots o shit, non stop about something I am excited about. Yes, she was a Wormgin...my two kids (Angel and Billy) - not Wormgins. In fact, they have been on stage with the Wormz and Billy has been tossed off the stage into the crowd 2x now (you gotta check out the YouTube video - Bill Bad Azz). A N Y W A Y, their performance is always bad azz. To quote mijita "Why aren't these guys playing at the ATT Center. They should be huge! OMG! Not just their music, but how they perform. OMFG! They are soooo fucking bad ass!"

The Wormz called for all Wormginz in the house to raise their hands. I quickly gave my gf a sideways glance, nodded my head for her to put her hand down. Two minutes later she understood why. The two lucky/unlucky kids that were volunteered by their friends were then jumped into the clan, officially becoming 'Worm Headz'. They weren't the center of attention, they were the center of the damn mosh pit and any pit at a Dirty Wormz show is fucking wild! I looked over after the mayhem started only to see Mariza with her eyes wide open and hand clamped over her mouth...in between laughing and shock...it went to prove that both the performance and show were over the top.

WOW! I know I have said it before, but it was nice to experience it from another point of view. Especially from someone who normally doesn't listen to metal or "your favorite rock bands rock band"!

They performed some new shit, so you can look forward to going to see them and be thoroughly entertained. Even had Hall of Fame MC Overlord bounce up onstage and he kicked it for a couple of songs.

As far as the other performers, I will follow up their performances in a short blog next.

Laters