10-10b: Solomon Burke House of Blues 1994 - Jagjit Singh : Saanwara Krishna Bhajans - Donizetti Lucrezia Borgia : Sutherland / Horne / Bonynge 1977 - Eddie Cantor ! - Boswell Sisters !!

2009 – Stephen Gately (Irish pop singer, songwriter, actor, dancer & author, Boyzone)
2010 – Solomon Burke (American R&B, soul & gospel singer & songwriter & archbishop of the United House of Prayer For All People)
2010 – Dame Joan Sutherland (Australian dramatic coloratura soprano)
2011 – Jagjit Singh [ਜਗਜੀਤ ਸਿੰਘ, جگجیت سنگھ] (Indian Ghazal, Bhajan, Gurbani & playback singer, composer, tambura player & keyboardist)
2011 – Sean Morrison (American punk rock multi-instrumentalist, singer & songwriter)

R.I.P.

~ Sean Morrison (1972-2011) ~

Our hearts go out to your many loved ones.

The Austin music scene lost a very talented musician this October 10th. Sean Morrison was one of those guys who could play in your rock band if you needed a really good guitar player. Or a really good bass player. Or a really good singer, or drummer. Or keyboardist, or even fiddler. But he was known mostly for being able to shred on the electric guitar. If you want to know how well, you can go to the MySpace page for Crapulence (a real word, meaning "sickness from overindulgence" - the band seem to have picked it up from Montgomery Burns' use of it in a Simpsons episode) and hear for yourself. That's also Sean you'll hear on lead vocals. And on bass, and drums, in certain songs. It seems that all three members of Crapulence play The Electric Bass on one song or another.

At the time of his passing, Sean was also playing guitar with Obnosticon. During the 90s, he was the bass player for Myra Manes. Other bands he played in since the 80s include the Mello Cats, Tabitha, the Rear Admirals, and Assnipple, in which one of his bandmates was Crapulence (most-times) bass player and electronics operant Jason Christian, himself an alumnus of the legendary Squat Thrust. (See the film Rock Opera for a closer look at them, Fuckemos, Butthole Surfers, Pocket FishRmen, Ed Hall, and several of the other infamous bands that occupied Austin's underground rock scene in the 80s and 90s.)

Sean Morrison was a family man and loved children. His day job consisted of teaching English as a second language to third graders at a local public elementary school. He led a very active lifestyle and loved the outdoors. He inspired those with whom he worked musically. He will be missed.

So... how about a whole lot of utterly amazing singing to help lift the spirits? With the soulful tones of Solomon Burke, Connee Boswell, Jagjit Singh, and Dame Joan Sutherland in your supplemental reading, you can't go wrong. And if you're more in the mood for comedy, the man who converted Sammy Davis, Jr. into a Jew, Mr. Eddie Cantor, is waiting for you there as well...

Austin Beefcake - Godz of Rock Edition

This one's for all of you out there who've been clamouring for pics of my boyfriends, after my recent post about them. Just take a deep breath and cool your jets, people. There's plenty of this hot Central Texas rock-hard man-love to go around for everybody...

A Little (Semi)Autobiographical (Re)Creative Writing for Your Extreme (Dis)Pleasure

And so there we all were. And the bands were playing, and just about everybody who'd been anybody was there, except for a lot of the people who you were glad weren't there to spoil the fun. And the place looked a lot like the real Cavity had looked, I think (not that I can really remember, because the place itself had been so memorably unmemorable), except that Staryn had gussied it up and made the place look great, had put up all kinds of photos from back in the day of some of the greats, and the near-greats, and the not-so-greats, and people you weren't sure who the fuck they were. Jimmy Bradshaw was in a lot of them. He was one of the greats, he was one of the few who couldn't make it that night, and he was one of the boys I'd always loved. He was such a mensch, such a funny guy, such a hot dude, and still was. Jimmy was married now, to this real hot redhead named Sara, I think. It's the same girl Nathan dated for a while way back in the day, the girl he wrote "Red Snapper" about.

And the real conversation piece in all the artwork was this big 3-by-5-foot backlit transparency of one particular photo that was hung up high on a wall near the door where everybody could see it. It was a photo of the thankfully late GG Allin from the time he played the Cavity, down among the crowd with his hands behind him, almost looking like he was handcuffed (the police did drag him away eventually, like they did most times he played anywhere), but he was really taking a poop in his own hands so he could christen the audience with it, just because he was GG Allin and that was the sort of thing GG Allin did. And there on the far left in that photo was Grant Dorian, maybe 22 years old at the time, yelling joyfully with his fist in the air, you couldn't miss him if you tried. Heck, the kid on the far right in the photo couldn't miss him. Grant was there that night, of course. He was still drumming in bands, although the Rockbusters didn't play those anniversary shows, I think because Dicko couldn't make it down from New York.

I was in such a genial and carefree mood, I was telling everybody I'd ever had the hots for how much I'd always loved them, how much I'd always wanted to jump their bones, and giving 'em all big hugs. And I was talking to Dave Hermann, who was another one of the greats of course, heck the Cavity had been his club, and Dave still looked like Zappa and he probably will forever, and I was telling Dave how much I'd always loved Staryn.

"You know he likes girls, right?"

"Yeah."

Of course I knew that. I didn't care. Staryn was such a beautiful guy. Tall and rugged, though, like most of the guys I'd always had crushes on. You'd never say Jimmy or Brent was a beauty, exactly. They were all tall and handsome, but Staryn was an angel, and he had such a sweet way about him. Everybody loved Staryn.

"I dunno, man," I continued. "Say you and Staryn were shipwrecked on a desert island, just the two of you. You'd spend a few days sending up flares and cracking open coconuts, and then Staryn would start looking at you out of the corner of his eye and saying to himself, 'Hm, Dave.' And that would be it."

Dave laughed. The band started playing a new song.

"And he'd make you his little bitch, which would be pretty easy, because he's bigger and stronger than you. And you wouldn't be all that happy about it at first, but then one day, after you'd both long given up on being rescued, he'd be in the middle of plowing you and you'd look up at him and that face and think 'Hm, Staryn... I guess I could o' done worse...' and then he'd sense the tender feelings washing over you and start plowing you even harder."

Dave laughed hard. We both laughed hard.

The bands kept playing. It was getting towards the end of the night. I wandered around the place, went up to the stage to get a closer look at what the bass player was doing. I ended up back at the table where Dave was selling the t-shirts he'd made especially for the shows. On the back of them it said "20 YEARS LET'S BE FRIENDS." Dave had his own silk-screen shop, he did some fine work. T-shirts, stickers, you name it. And then Staryn came up and starting talking to us. And everybody was having a good time. And finally I gave Staryn a big hug, and he hugged me back, and I told him to stay beautiful. And he smiled.

And the band kept playing...

Just Checking In: AUSTIN LIVEBLOG = 2011-09-22

As you can see, everybody's having a great time here in the Live Music Capitol of the Local Group of Galaxies. Snapped this one with my iPhone and uploaded it on the go. Well, sorry... love to talk about it more, but I'm being whisked away to yet another show, and then a party, and another show, and then two band practices, and another party, and then 3 more shows, and a show. Then everybody will be headed by to the practice space to practice some more before the big show tonight, followed by the big after-show party, which will be a whirlwind of activity! Then it's back to the practice space to unload all the shit, and then everybody usually practices some more, because, you know, you're already at the practice space anyway. Then one more show, and we're done. Make sure we GET PAID. Then back to the practice space to unload all the shit again, and then you sit down (not for very long, maybe about 20 minutes - okay, sometimes it's more like 30) and you make a new set list together, as a band. Everything has to be very democrat. Then it's just one more quick run-through of the new set list, before doing just that one last little 3-song open mic at the local hipster coffee house. Then everybody goes home and goes to bed... hehehehehe... just as soon as that one last party is over. Then ya get up and ya do it again the next day. It's not a bad life, really. The worst part about it is all those hours of down-time when you're just waiting for somebody else to get their shit together... thank God I brought my iPod !