Houston – Page 30 – The Bald Heretic – Short, bald dude with a goofy beard

Musical time warp…

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On almost any given Friday you can catch Molly and the Ringwalds serving up a heaping helping of 80’s standards on the main stage of the Houston Continental Club.

In the early days of my digital photography they were one of my most photographed bands. They’re fun to watch and good sports about getting their pictures taken, especially Dekan Ringwald (the lead guitar player) who is actually a bit of a cam-whore and can sense something as small as a camera phone from over 50 yards away in a dark room and strike the right pose.

The new camera yielded some excellent results last night:

From there it was off to the Big Top to catch the Light Rock Express and their stylized brand of 70’s light rock hits.

The two best pictures from that show:

This is Mitch Pauls (aka Paul Bebee)

Looks like he’s added another “L” to the light rock lexicon…lip hair.

This is Thomas Escalante, proprietor of Sig’s Lagoon and lead singer for Clouseaux.

He came in toward the end of the evening and sang a few songs, one of which was “You Make Me Feel Like Dancing” by Leo Sayer. Thomas just doesn’t look like someone who should be able to hit those high notes, yet he did so flawlessly.

Comedy Workshop Reunion – 2006 – The evidence

Last night was day one of the three day extravabonanza that is the 2006 Comedy Workshop Reunion at the Laff Spot in Houston, TX.

As I mentioned previously, this event held special meaning for me so I was very enthusiastic about attending last night. The kick off show featured 14 comedians including:

1. Jim Holder
2. John Farneti
3. Steve Epstein
4. Ron Crick
5. Steve Moore
6. Bill Silva
7. Andy Huggins
8. Riley Barber
9. Jimmy Pineapple
10. Mike Vance
11. Ron Robertson
12. Carl Faulenberry
13. T-Sean Shannon
14. Ron Shock

Most of these guys I remember from my days at the Comedy Workshop in the early 80’s and it was a real hoot to see them again. There were moments when I was transported back in time and it actually felt like I was back in the old Workshop. Many of the routines were the same, but there was some new material. Some of the guys really don’t look all that different.

Last night was the powerhouse show. Tonight and tomorrow there will only be 3 or 5 comedian per evening with longer sets. Last night was the show to see, I’ll likely skip tonight and tomorrow.

It was particularly good to see my old friend and schoolmate T-Sean Shannon. He’s just resigned from the writing staff of Saturday Night Live to pursue his own show on Comedy Central which will be based on his books of short stories.

It’s good to see him being so successful. He’s still one of the funniest stand-ups around, IMHO.

Let me say that comics are not great material for a photo shoot. I mean, I know they were funny and when I look at the pictures I remember the funny but, more often than not, the funny does not show up in the pictures.

There’s plenty in the gallery if your interested.

Don’t forget the one’s from 20 years ago for comparison….

What a difference a lens makes

Dave Alvin last night at the Continental Club along with the Hacienda Brothers. A great show and a great opportunity to try out the Sony 1.4 50mm lens.

First up, The Hacienda Brothers.

To fully appreciate these you should click the image to see a larger version. They are scaled down to fit this page.

Also note; all of these were taken with NO flash in a club known for poor lighting.

Those guys are great and I am pleased with the results of the lens.

Next up, Dave Alvin. The main attraction and he did not disappoint.

Again, if you click any of the images you will see a larger version that gives you a better idea of how well these pictures came out.

Wednesday night Light Rock light

After the radio show last night I decided to pay a brief visit to The Big Top to see Peter King and Sir New England James Alan (1/2 of The Light Rock Express) lay down some lovely light rock. It was beautiful, man.

A few more pics here.

Call it morning driving thru the sound and in and out the valley

When I was driving in the UK several years ago I came to love the roundabouts. Once you get used to them they make a certain amount of sense. My first encounter with them was in Washington DC when I was a teenager with a pretty new driver’s license.

We have a one primary roundabout here in Houston. It’s circles the Mecom fountain down where Main and Montrose come together. It’s pretty standard as far as roundabouts go.

There’s a relatively new one on Washington & Westcott. It’s sort of ridiculous but I rarely have to drive that way.

Then there’s this travesty located in a residential area over near Gessner and I-10.

Benignus and Kingsride.

The sign is amusing.

The roundabout itself is an absolute joke. They’ve taken a very normal 4 way intersection and plopped an obstacle smack dab in the middle.

I think there is at least one more just down the road.

This is what happens when your homeowners association has one puff too many of the wacky tobacky and calls a super secret meeting to come up with new ways to irritate motorists.

Mr. Kamikaze! Mr. DNA!

Last night’s Devo concert was everything I’d hoped it would be and more.

Conn and I arrived fashionably late. When we arrived the one-hit-wonder band, When In Rome, was already on stage and playing their hit “The Promise.” We had pretty much agreed prior to our arrival that missing this band would not hurt our feeling in the least. We used the opportunity to walk the Reliant Arena and catch up with the cast of characters we both knew would be there. Many old friends littered the stadium and it was veritable “who’s who” of the alternative music scene in attendance.

I managed to meet one of the promoters of the event and before long I was the proud owner of one all-access pass. This entitled me to the entire back stage area where I was able to sit and talk with the members of the band and generally relax. Great time talking to Mark and Bob Mothersbaugh as well as Bob and Jerry Casale.

It was a fan-boy dream come true. The pass also allowed me free reign to take all the pictures I wanted after originally having to leave my camera in the car. I only wish I had a better camera. Ah well, that is something that will be remedied soon. I have been eye-balling the upcoming Nikon D80 that is set to come out next month.

The Psychadelic Furs put on a pretty incredible show and I was marvelling at how many songs they had done that I recognized.

The energy was really high but the sound reinforcement was not the best. Not bad, but could have been much better. I noted to Conn that the sound was probably tweaked in favor of Devo and that I had a feeling their show sound much better.

In some ways the audience was just as interesting as the performers. I spotted these guys in the seats directly in fron of ours.

The middle lug-nut in the hard hat thrusting his ~~tentacle~~ fist skyward is Ryan aka Squidflakes and in the foreground is Lunadude who’s real name escapes me. The normally dressed guy with the glasses just behind Ryan is Conn (aka kublaconn) who was my most excellent companion for the evening.

When it was finally time for Devo to take the stage the crowd was in a very good mood. Devo came out strong and played “just the hits”, one after another. It was a high energy show and the guys seemed to be really enjoying themselves.

The crowd was dancing in the isles. I was screaming/singing along at the top of my lungs along with everyone else. Everything sounds great, as I suspected, the sound was completely configured in favor of Devo.

It could not have been a better night. Thanks to Conn for coming along and letting me dork out and be a gushing fan-boy.

More pics in the gallery.

Comedy Workshop Reunion

I was very excited to learn that there will be a Comedy Workshop Reunion on September 14th through the 16th at the Laff Spot Comedy Cafe.

Some of my fondest memories of living in Houston, Texas surround the time in the 80’s when my best friend, Rich Davis, and I would hang out at the old Comedy Workshop. It’s gone now but it used to be where that dry cleaner is at San Felipe and Shepherd.

We would would constantly get free tickets to go see the shows there and even more free tickets to get in to the Comix Annex next door where the comedians would spend Thursday nights trying out new material.

This is the club that produced such notable names as Jeanne Garafalo, Brett Butler and Sam Kinison.

I don’t recall seeing any of them but I do recall seeing T-Sean Shannon and his brother Charlie. Both of whom I attended high school with.

Most notably, I recall watching an up and coming comedian named Bill Hicks. He was unbelievably funny. I remember going back time and time again hoping he would be there on a Thursday night trying out new material.

I was really lucky. I got to see him go from being a relatively new comedian to a superstar in a few short years.

My friend Rich recently reminded me of the time we were at a show and he was following this comedian who was a one-liner wonder. Very lame but the audience was eating it up. When Bill took the stage the crowd was not very receptive and Bill turned dark and, at one point, smashed the wall at the back of the stage with his fist so hard it drew blood.

I remember him saying “I’m bleeding for you and it’s still not enough” and he stormed off.

It was PURE Bill but disappointing because we didn’t get our fix that night.

While it’s a given that Bill won’t be at this show, I am certain the spirit of Bill will be. I expect to see Ron Shock, John Farneti, Jimmy Pineapple along with many others. I am pretty jazzed about this.

I have some pics in the gallery I took with my old film camera of a VERY young Bill Hicks at the Comix Annex as well as from the time he invited me to shoot his performance at Rockefellers when he opened for Warren Zevon.

There’s also these awesome pics of various comedians I shot at the old Comix Annex during the same time period.

Pretty vacant

Spotted Allen Hill, front man for the Allen Oldies Band and self proclaimed “King of the Oldies”, and his lovely wife Andrea at the recent Party Like A Rock Star event.

Punks

Could the latest defeat by Molly and the Ringwalds in the Best Cover Band category of the 2006 Houston Press Music Awards be spurring a change of musical strategy?

Only time will tell.