Houston – Page 20 – The Bald Heretic – Short, bald dude with a goofy beard

Comedy Workshop Reunion

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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.

La la la la la la, live for today

Last night at the Continental Club was one of those nights where the past does not so much collide with the present, rather it pulls up along side and waves kindly and you smile and wave back with a stupid grin as recognition slowly creeps in and pries open the recesses of memory.

On the bill for the evening was Alejandro Escavedo. For all that Alejandro has accomplished I still remember him for his efforts in a band called the True Believers back in the 80’s.

Most of the fans seemed to be more recent converts but there were some from “back in the day” as the kids like to say.

Most notable were long time friends JR Delgado and Toby Blunt.

JR and Toby

JR owned and ran one of the most well known punk clubs in Houston, The Axiom. During the 80’s and early 90’s I attended many shows at this particular club. Often referred to as the “Mecca to the Houston Underground” it now enjoys a lesser notoriety as the home of Infernal Bridegroom Productions. My band, The Flying Fish Sailors, had the opportunity to play there on a few occasions. The best show was the one where we opened for The Dead Milkmen.

Toby Blunt is most well known from Mary Jane’s Fat Cat over on Washington but I met him back in the days when he played for Fab Motion. This was a band that had a lot of potential and was even the Houston Press 1989 Band of the Year. I even located this old flyer from the mid 80’s when Fab Motion and The True Believers were on the same bill at Cafe Mode.

I halfway expected to see Chuck Roast and Austin Caustic from the old Funhouse Show on KPFT show up at any given point.

It was a good evening and a great show. It’s good to see Alejandro doing so well. I got some nice pics from last night. Click here to see them.

It was the best of times, it was the blurst of times

When I got the call from Phil Archer and Channel 2 I was reluctant to be interviewed on such short notice. I was not feeling my prettiest yesterday and, believe it or not, I suffer from HUGE stage fright. I hide it well but you can see it in the beads of sweat that form on my head. I tried to duck out but he was very persistent. I was explaining to him that I didn’t feel camera ready and he asked me “Do you have any open wounds?” to which I replied “Well, no, not right now.” He said “Then we’re good to go!”

I gave him directions to the office and he and his cameraman were there in 15 minutes.

These guys are pros and they do put a person at ease when they are doing the interview so I relaxed very quickly.

As it turns out, I was able to get home in time for the broadcast so I could cringe in horror as appropriate. Turns out I looked fine and the sound bite was perfect. It could not have been a better on screen appearance….well, except for one tiny detail.

The name of the radio show is Technology Bytes, not Reality Bytes.

Yes, Technology Bytes and Reality Bites both strive to be funny.
We both were created in Houston, TX.

But from there the differences become more and more glaring.

Reality Bites was created in 1994
Technology Bytes was created in 1995

Reality Bites is a comedy about love in the ’90s
Technology Bytes is a comedy about computing with equipment from the 90’s

Reality Bites features a mediocre cast of washed up near nobodies
Technology Bytes features a … wait … this is not a difference.

For sure they have more women in the movie than we do on our show, but I bet Jennifer the Intern was never arrested for shoplifting.

Ah well, you know what they say about publicity.

Who you gonna call?

In this town I am one of the “go to” geeks. On occasion, when one of the network affiliates needs an “expert”, they turn to Houston’s Best Tech Geek for a sound bite or two.

This time it’s Phil Archer from NBC’s Channel 2 doing a story about the proposed changes with Time Warner Cable. Apparently they’re moving to Dallas and Comcast is coming here.

Phil wanted to discuss what Houston’s Internet users might expect during this transition.

It airs tonight at 5:00 pm. It should be good for a laugh.

As I always say, I have a face for radio.

We’re through being cool

All through the 80’s I was a huge live music fan and I got to see some awesome shows. GBH, Dead Kennedies, The Dicks, The Dead Boys, Siouxsie And The Banshees, Johnny Lydon w/Public Image Limited, Big Audio Dynamite, Psychedelic Furs, The Dickies, Oingo Boing….the list goes on and on.

As I mentioned before, Devo has had a profound affect and influence on me since my first exposure to them in 1978.

My first opportunity to see them perform live came in 1982 at the Cullen Auditorium.

The Cullen show was actually two shows. One at 7:00 and one at 10:00. I was at the early show. The late show was raided by the police and shut down early. I’m pretty glad I missed that one.

I’ve seen them live one time since then with bandmates Joe and Greg. I can’t recall the year. Probably early 90’s.

Imagine my delight when I learned they were touring again. I am the proud owner of two tickets for their August 19th show at Reliant Arena. Interestingly enough the Psychedelic Furs are opening up the show. This promises to be a geriatric trip down punk rock memory lane.

I just hope this doesn’t end up being a cheezy promo for Disney’s Devo 2.0.

An ebullient evening

The happy couple

Cynthia and I celebrated our anniversary over dinner and drinks at Sambuca Jazz Cafe in the heart of downtown.

I have had a few opportunities to visit Sambuca and have always been very pleased.

On this night we enjoyed our respective adult beverages of choice, gin and tonics for her and vodka martinis for me. They were mmmmmmmm tasty!

Our meals were indulgent and decadent. I enjoyed a lovely dinner of rare lamb chops with garlic mashed potatos and asparagus while Cynthia savored some lovely veal served with mixed vegetables.

We had mentioned to our abundantly attentive and wonderful waiter that we were celebrating our 13th anniversary and when desert arrived it had a personalized message written in chocolate…

Lucky 13

It was a lovely evening of delicious food combined with delightfully intoxicated reminiscences punctuated with laughter and a real sense of joy that is the result of spending so much of ones life with such a suitable and compatible partner.

A nerd’s life

This weekend while hanging out downtown at the 3700 Main St. Entertainment Megaplex (aka The Continental Club, Sig’s Lagoon, Taco A-Go-Go and The Big Top) I found myself sitting behind the counter at Sig’s Lagoon working on Tomas Escalante’s laptop.

Tomas Escalante is a stand up guy. Not only does he run Sig’s Lagoon, he is also the front man for Clouseaux who, as it just so happens, have a very nice new CD that just came out.

Poor Tomas, his laptop was crawling with some nasty trojan horses and other malware that was quite tenacious.

Friday night, out on the town and getting my geek on. This is the life.

There was a blues show next door at the Continental Club that did not interest me all that much so I was content to work on the PC and chat with the steady stream of customers coming into the shop.

On this Friday night none other than Allen Hill of the Allen Oldies Band was on site stumping for votes in the upcoming 2006 Houston Press Music Awards.

Dressed to kill in his trademark tux and tennies he was spinning oldies on vinyl and encouraging patrons to fill out a ballot and cast their vote. The Allen Oldies are nominated in the Best Cover Band category this year. It was hoot to watch.

I spent most of that evening just enjoying the groove at Sig’s and watching Allen’s antics as I repaired the laptop and got it back up and running.

If you are in the Houston area and have not checked out Sig’s Lagoon I strongly suggest you find the time and go have a look. It’s a record store/gift shop that is quite unique.