a few quick thangs...

1) have actually heard surprising thangs on the radio that didn't suck in the last week: matisyahu's "king without a crown" on the edge (do we have sublime to thank for this?) and dylan's "masters of war" (which sounds surprisingly / sadly relevant 40+ yrs down the road) on ktcu.

2) spent six hours sunday night in the me-thinks' freezing-ass practice pad out in haltom city, jammin' stooges toons with "joebesser": me-thinks figurehead (are ya happy now, will?) ray liberio on voxxx, matt hembree (goodwin / underground railroad and now ph7, too) on bass, and jon teague (yeti / the great tyrant, a band which i've heard described as "a vampire backed by two monks") on drums. a dream project of mine (named for the stooge that _nobody_ loved), and some fun shee-ot that'll prolly be gig-worthy in a couple more months -- we just need to find a podium for ray and a tenor sax player who digs coltrane, sonny rollins, and the stooges...know one? now if i can just get jam-meister lee to play some zappa at the wreck room on wednesday night, my life will be complete, at least musically-wise.

3) saw a rare acoustic performance by those musical rueffer brothers, reggie 'n' chad (most often heard at pearl's in the stockyards playing the old, good kinda honky-tonk country with chad's band, the insiders, but sharing an illustrious history in local indie-rawk circles dating back over a decade that includes mildred, spot, and the hochimen, whose debut totenlieder is all-time top 10 material at mi casa, and whose sophomore disc tierra del gato is due for release any time now) at the fwac acoustic monday thingy. nobody, but _nobody_, is penning toons as knotty, challenging, and literate as reggie is, and he performs 'em with a quirky, focused intensity that puts me in mind of peter hammill, the most intense solo performer i ever witnessed. besides classics ("my lame ass," "little dead limb," "god is a flower") and new 'uns (my fave: "agree to disagree") from the hochimen canon , we got "horse's head" from spot daze and a heartbreakingly beautiful country ballad called "crumbling heart," as well as a nice vocal turn in the classic style from chad (backed by his bro's sweetly sangin' fiddle and harmony voxxx -- when you hear reggie play 'n' sing this stuff, it's easy to understand why marquee country artists like ray price and charlie pride have employed him so consistently over the yrs). unfortunately, we had to cut out early (schoolnight etc.), but here's hoping these guys do more than the customary two-per-annum hochimen gigs this yr. (also heard from chad that our mutual amigo capt. frank logan, the cat that used to work door at the aardvark who was just called up by the army reserve, is going to afghanistan, which is prolly better than if he was going to iraq right now. take care of yrself, sir. and congrats to ex-daddy's soul donut gtrist jim kisselberg on the birth yesterday of his dtr, ellen alexandra kisselberg.)

4) my sweetie's heading up to seattle tomorrow, where her mom's ailing. sparky, i wish i'd gotten to meet you, but thanks so much for adopting my sweetie and for raising her and her sisters up to take on the world. ya done real good! much, much love and respect.