Tijuana Dreams

Guy Fantasy
Guy Fantasy

Buddy Llamas
Buddy Llamas

I made it by the Continental Club a few Fridays back to catch The Small Stars. If you’ve read this blog for any length of time you will know they are one of my all time favorite bands.

Featuring my guitar hero, Landis Armstong (aka Richard Steele), they are a must see each and every time they come to Houston.

They were here this time in support of their new album “Tijuana Dreams.”

I’ve always contended that The Small Stars are an act best seen live, and I think that holds true. That being said, I was having a fairly lengthy and rambling conversation with Miles Zuniga (aka “Guy Fantasy”) and he was telling me of his desire to have the band be more than just a memorable stage act. He said their goal with the new album was to have the music stand on it’s own.

I ttook home a copy of “Tijuana Dreams” and I must say, it definitley stands on it’s own as a great listening experience. It’s been in my CD player for a two weeks now and I simply can’t get enough.

If you cruise by their web site there are some audio samples and their calendar. Check it out.

Click here to visit the gallery of pics from that last show.

The Harry Rags – Kinks tribute band


Chase Hamblin


Derek Dunivan

After leaving Notsuoh I headed over to the Continental Club. On the bill for the evening were Von Hindenburg, a Led Zepplin tribute band and another band called The Harry Rags, a Kinks tribute band.

I had seen Von Hindenburg before and was not overly enthused, but I was intrigued by The Harry Rags. As it turns out the two bands have some band members in common, most notably Steve Candaleri who drums for both bands and Derik Dunivan (Willie “punkdaddy” Dunican’s kid) who plays keyboard, guitar and sings for The Harry Rags and is the singer (aka Robert Plant) for Von Hindenburg.

I must say, I was rather impressed by the performance of The Harry Rags. They not only performed all the classics like “Lola” and “You Really Got Me” but they also dug deep into the Kinks repertoire and pulled out some rather obtuse songs like the one that obviously inspired the band name.

It was a great show and only at two points did I experience any distress.

The first twinge was brought on when I was discussing with a friend the fact that the members of this tribute band (with the possible exception of Steve Candelari) were not even born when these songs were written.

The second twinge was brought on when they started playing “Picture Book” and a young woman in the audience declared that they were playing that song from that cool HP commercial…

Best shot of the show is this one of Derek Dunivan:

Derek Dunivan
Click for full size!

Many more in the gallery

Orange Is In

Amy Price

—

Found my way to Notsuoh to catch Orange Is In. My friends Amy Price and Jeff Balke are members.

I thought it would be a larf to catch some pics of Jeff but, as luck would have it, he was standing in the one spot on the stage that was not well illuminated. Ah, well….such are the vagaries of concert photography.

The above photo of Amy is my favorite of the evening. Here are two of the front man, George Kovacik, that came out pretty well.

Early warning

My band, The Flying Fish Sailors, has some shows scheduled for March!

Friday, March 2nd

Fitgerald’s
Doors open at 8:00

We’re opening up for our friends, The Blaggards.
This should be a GREAT show.

Saturday, March 17th (St. Paddy’s Day!)

Bryan O’Neill’s from 8am to noon

Goose’s Acre Bistro & Irish Pub in The Woodlands from 2pm to 6pm.

We’re finishing the day with a FREE show at The Big Top that evening.

Hope to see you there!

To receive these notices via e-mail, please sign up for our mailing list!

Space madness

Obviously, this story shines the unforgiving light of truth on a very harsh reality, the reality that our understanding regarding the true nature and danger of space travel is extremely limited.

All indications are that NASA has a very strenuous and thorough psych screening and evaluation process in place for our astronauts. They just don’t let anyone at the controls of millions of tax dollars worth of sophisticated space gear.

We must assume that Lisa Nowak has returned to earth completely saturated in cosmic crazy dust, otherwise how can you explain the fact that she drove to Orlando, Florida from Houston, Texas (in an adult diaper to save time no less) to confront the perceived rival for the intergalactic affections of one Bill Oefelein equipped with a knife, pellet pistol, can of pepper spray, steel mallet and 4 feet of rubber tubing?

One thing is certainly clear. Nowak does not belong behind bars. She needs to be taken, and taken quickly, to one of our most sophisticated scientific laboratories to be studied and examined. We have an obligation to make sure she has not infected any other Earthlings with what could possibly be the most horrific space plague ever to threaten the human race!

I can see for miles and miles

Prior to turning 40, I was the only member of my family who did not wear glasses. Everyone else, mom, dad and my three brothers all had been wearing them since childhood.

It was a point of pride for me that I had not inherited this one particular genetic flaw.

After I turned 40 I began to notice that I could not see so well. At one point I remember having Cynthia read the bill to me at a restaurant because I simply could not make out the numbers. We agreed it was time to have an eye exam.

As it turns out, I have trouble with my far AND my near vision and have been prescribed corrective lenses to assist me in seeing things. Not just glasses, BIFOCALS! The official eye-wear of old people.

Fortunately corrective lens technology has advanced significantly over the years and the glasses I have don’t look all that bad. In fact, I kinda like them. And you don’t really realize how much your missing until you get your glasses. It’s much easier to read, I get fewer headaches and things are just clearer overall.

We go each year to get our eyes checked. I’ve only needed to change my prescription once since I started wearing glasses, so that’s pretty cool. Again this year there has been no change but I had an extra set of frames that I like a lot so I’m having my opthomotrist fit them with my current prescription and also adding the transition feature so I have a pair of sunglasses to wear.

QR Code Business Card