Top Music Events- March 15-30 Stretford
A bevy of Austin alternative bands reinterpreted customary "Hoot Night" guidelines - which usually call for tributes to the music of the famous or semi-famous - to help out one of its own with a Stretford Hoot Night at the Hole in the Wall last week. The swinging, horn-laden pop-punk combo has been a little less active on the local front since leader Carl Normal relocated to San Antonio to care for his ailing mum. As such, the night was a benefit for her medical expenses, and saw the likes of Sincola, Miss U., the Wannabes, Gomez, the Hormones, Dead End Cruisers and the Shindigs tackling their favorite Stretford tunes, leaving Normal and the rest of the band rather moved, and more than a little dumbfounded that their material proved worthy of all the attention. Stretford plays a South by Southwest show at the Hole in the Wall on Thursday. Which brings us toSXSW
Yes, this is the week that the entire music industry drags itself down to Austin, with hearts, minds, and expense accounts set on beer, barbeque, enchiladas, tequila, shmoozing and - oh yeah! - serious discussion of music biz issues and actual enjoyment of live bands. The biggest crowds will gather each night in front of the outdoor stage on Brazos St., where the headliners are Iggy Pop on Thursday, Joan Osborne on Friday and Robert Earl Keen, Jr. on Saturday. But that, of course, is just the tip of the iceberg, with hundreds of bands and dozens of clubs participating in the four-day shindig. That's way too much music to pick out highlights from, but here's one personal favorite: Giant Sand & Friends at the State Theatre on Friday, an all-night (6 hours) show that will allow the weirdly improvisational Arizona roots-rockers to stretch and shimmy to its heart's content, with the help of (potential) guests like Vic Chesnutt, Victoria Williams, Paula Jean Brown, the Friends of Dean Martinez, Peter Holsapple, Susan Cowsill, Lisa Germano, past members of Poi Dog Pondering and just about anyone else who feels like it, space onstage permitting.Alejandro Escovedo
A much-loved SXSW tradition comes to an end this week: show up at La Zona Rosa on Sunday night and for the first time in years there won't be an Alejandro Escovedo Orchestra show to savor. Instead, Escovedo is teamed up with his new labelmates (Martin Zellar, Throwing Muses and mock roots-rock supergroup Golden Smog) at the Austin Music Hall on Thursday, a bill that also features Randy Newman earlier in the evening. But don't be surprised to find Al playing somewhere in town Sunday - look for those unrevealed "special guest" slots in the SXSW schedule for pointers. Escovedo's Ryko debut, "With These Hands," is released March 19.Outlaw Shows
Even the bands and clubs who don't participate in SXSW end up being affected by it. There are plenty of venues who happily soak up the conference crush by presenting their own unrelated showcases, among them the Blue Flamingo on Red River, Quack's Upstairs on the Drag and Ego's on Congress, all of which will present a crowded cross-section of underground bands and other rockin' marginalia. Another traditional non-traditional venue is Butch Hancock's Lubbock or Leave It: the acoustic guitar-wielding bard's gallery will host shows by The Sharecroppers and Slaid Cleaves as well as Hancock, Jo Harvey Allen and Terry Allen (Thursday), Paul Metsa and a special "In Their Own Words" songwriter's show (Friday) and Stephen Doster, the Health and Happiness Show and Hancock again (Saturday), with an unspecified all-star jam scheduled for Sunday evening.The Rainravens
Is what you get when four country/roots-rock studio aces - bassist David Everson, drummer Herb Belofsky, and guitarists David Ducharme-Jones and Andy Van Dyke - team up to form a band. Their charming, chiming self-titled debut is out now on Dejadisc.Spoon
Austin's latest buzz band released its first single for supercool New York independent label Matador (home of Liz Phair, Pavement and Guided by Voices, among others) last week. "All the Negatives Have Been Destroyed," available on both CD and 7" vinyl, is a precursor to the trio's first full-lenth, "Telephono," which comes out next month. Spoon, Guided by Voices and Liz Phair all play SXSW on Friday, along with Catpower, Silkworm and Chavez. Now if they only had a bassist: the band is currently employing producer (and former Reiver) John Croslin as its third wheel while they seek a replacement for departed member Andy Maguire.The Motards
Meanwhile, psychobilly kings the Motards have very quietly struck an independent record deal of its own, with eMpTy. The Seattle label recently released the 'tards' first CD, "xrock kids," an 18-track compendium of full-throttle garage grease co-produced by guitar god (and former Big Boys/Poison 13/Jack O'Fire kingpin) Tim Kerr."Pretty Vacant"
This film by San Antonio director Jim Mendiola, an honorable mention pick in the SXSW Film Festival's shorts competition, is a scrappy, humorous excursion into the twin subcultures of Chicana life and punk rock style. While the main character wanders around San Antonio avoiding her family's upcoming trip to Mexico - which she just doesn't have time for, what with her band and her record store job and her fanzine and her friends and ex-lovers of both sexes - she discovers an artifact that leads her to believe the Sex Pistols were going to cover a song by conjunto master Esteban Jordan when they played the River City nearly twenty years ago. It's a witty, unique and keenly self-aware (and self-deprecating) bit of guerilla cinema.The Butthole Surfers
Austin's godfathers of the bizarre have already delayed their 13th record (and second for major label Capitol) quite a few times; now the disc, which was originally announced with the title of "Oklahoma," has been pushed to May 14 and carries the brand new monicker of "Electric Larryland." We guess that's a Hendrix reference, but you just never know. Meanwhile, Surfers guitarist Paul Leary is holed up in the studio producing the next record by California punkers Sublime.Whispers, Sighs, and Rumors
When the aforementioned Spoon serves as supplementary musicians for Los Angeles indie-screwballs Sammy during SXSW, a little bit of irony will take the stage with them - Sammy frontguy Luke Wood met Spoon when he tried - and failed - to sign the band to Geffen Records, where he works. What terrific Austin band with the same name as a local corporation can't seem to keep said company off its backs, even though it has been using the tag, without anybody getting confused about the difference between rock'n'roll and microchips, for more than a decade? Low-key Austinite and ex-Sugar/Husker Du frontman Bob Mould releases a solo album for Rykodisc at the end of April; could this lead one to expect a Mould appearance at the label's SXSW showcase? Posting on America Online, a prominent California radio programmer summed up his less-than-simpatico feelings for Denton one-hit wonders Deep Blue Something thusly: "they should be called Shallow Beige Nothing".
