Isn’t it kind of great that the election is over, and that we can finally get back to not having to worry about nominating people and then electioneering for months before we finally cast a ballot for a change. OH SNAP WTF?!

YUSS! ITS TIME AGAIN! THE SAMMIES! Regular readers will recall that last year we had a fairly weak first Annual Sammy Awards, in which people wrote in who they wanted to win in each of four categories on an email. BORING. This year there are no fewer than 27 categories in which to win. PLUS, we’re getting it all started with an “open primary” where you can nominate as many (or zero) as you want in each category, a tally of which will be used in creating the final ballot. Oh reader, you are not just beautiful, but wise, and so we turn to you at this delicate tie.

BUT FEAR NOT: THERE IS A REWARD! Yess, after the primary is closed (Thanksgiving) and the final ballot votes tallied (December 17th) we are throwing a big ole awards and year end party at none other than the hottest new joint for bikers and drunk joy riders alike, Big Star Bar! Mark your calendars! December 19th is the date when we’ll reveal the winners (by day) and then live it up (by night). We promise no live bands, no loud DJs, no EMCEEZ, no awards presentations. Just good times and free stuff! WE LOVE YOU, WE GIVE YOU FREE STUFF?

Convinced? PROCEED DIRECTLY TO THE BALLOT! (remember, you can nominate as many people as you want in every category! tell your friends!)

Miss Rosa introduces the Mydolls Saturday night at Notsuoh. Photo by Yfjskjflkjsfkljskjfsfffff fffff.

Outside Big Star Bar Saturday Night. Photo by ??

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CONCLUSION: Your money is way better spent buying the new Wooz rather than gambling. Shit is aces, with that dark loud Space City Rock sound that we bet they are wary of but that we love. Saturday catch them at them Artstorm at 7pm for free. Oh and free beer too. With Wild Moccasins and the Jonx. Take a few bucks and pick up the CD. It’s certainly worth the twenty we spent, but getting to see them free and the record for far less than that? Recommended.

HOLY CRAP WE ARE BACK. TULSA, DENVER, AND LAS VEGAS IN THE REAR VIEW. DESTROY ALL ROBOTS JUMPING OUT OF PLANES INTO FIRE. PROCEED DIRECTLY TO THE MOUTH OF THE VOLCANO. SALT AND PEPPER HERE. YO DJ PUMP THIS PARTY. REAL TALK. PLEASE BELIEVE IT UNLESS YOUR GAME IS TIGHT AND YOU TRUST HER. HERE’S THE THING WE STARTED OUT FRIENDS. GET BUCK GET BUCK GET BUCK GET BUCK GET BUCK (I’M SO MOVING ON). I WISH THAT I HAD JESSE’S GIRL. WATCH MY FEET. BOUNCE DON’T STOP. SOLJA BOY. PLAY YOUR PART, SWEET JONES.

FRIDAY

• Bigfoot and the Bear, Broman, Tiziano Dominico, Steve Eck and the Midnight Still, Baby Hurricane, Cory Derden, and Airon Paul Dugas @ Stitched Tire House
• The Invincible Czars@ Rudyard’s
• Panic at the Disco, Dashboard Confessional, Plain White Ts, & The Cab @ Reliant Arena
• The Scrips, Something Fierce @ Fitz Down
• The Hood Internet, Car Stereo Wars @ Boondocks
• Forsa Pink’s Almost Famous Fashion Show Live Performances by Glasnost and The TonTons; Dj sets by SerJ + GRRRLPARTS @ The Mink

SATURDAY

• Saturday Secret Show @ Shady Tavern
• NOISE AND SMOKE @ NOTSUOH AND DEANS
• The Kitchen! W/Djs Drew and Mr. Bristle @ The Mink
• Golden Arm Trio, Two Star Symphony, Listen Listen @ Rudyards
• Woozyhelmet (CD release), The Jonx, The Wild Moccasins @ ArtStorm (Caroline Collective; 6:30PM, all ages free)
• Local Artist Showcase, featuring Studemont Project, Magnetic, Electric Attitude, Hueman, & Desmond Zavala @ House of Blues

SUNDAY

• Whiskeytown Tribute @ The Continental Club
• Madonna @ Minute Maid Park

1. The Mydolls are playing. This seminal new-wave band from our very own streets hasn’t played together since Ronald Regan was president. There will be people at this show drinking beers who weren’t even born when they threw it in the last time around. That’s epic. We cannot overstate how big a deal it is that they are playing and more than we can apologize for landing the Skyline Most Extreme Party Call Me Executive Jet on the light rail track Saturday night in an attempt to get back from Vegas in time to see them.
2. Cover is 8 dollars (nine if you pick up advance tickets at Sound Exchange). But you should take 30+. That way, you can pick up one of the hand-screened Noise and Smoke posters made by Liz Molina and Mydolls t-shirt by Anna Garza. Don’t expect either of them to be available after this show. Actually, don’t expect either of them to be available much longer after doors open.
3. The Homopolice are playing. Is there a hotter band than the Homopolice right now? ALREADY in Houston Press. ALREADY sporting exclusive tracks on Houston’s Most Hated. ALREADY wearing enough leather to make a canoe. And best we can tell, they have yet to play more than 15 minutes or so in a row.HAUTE.
4. The lineup: Brutal. A skilled matching of some of the most fun and visceral music in the city (Born Liars, Teenage Kicks) with some of the most challenging and outsider (Balaclavas).

EPIC. CRASH INTO YOU THERE.

THUNDERBOLT! HOW ARE YOU? WE MISS YOU! Yes, we’re three days into a ten day jaunt to Las Vegas to attempt to re-create the time Shawn Adolph got kicked out of the House of Blues during an impassioned Rock Star Karaoke performance of Paula Abdul’s “Straight Up.” So far, the safe money has been with the house. BUT OH LUCKY YOU! Whether you are headed to Fun Fun Fun Fest, are sticking around to create a version of your own, or just doing whatever three-piece suits your fancy, know that you have a mighty satisfying time in store. Bust it.

FRIDAY
Parts and Labor, UME, Black Congress @ Walter’s on Washington
There is so much to love about this show, and not just because more than three inside jokes are sure to arise because of it. If we weren’t wasting our savings away a nickel at a time in front of a SPACE COWS FROM PLANET MOO-LAH slot machine, we would be here.

Los Llamarada, Balaclavas and Future Blondes @ PJ’s Sports Bar
Brent of Dull Knife Records but this show together, so it’s a fairly safe bet that Los Llamarada (who hail from Mexico) are sort of the opposite of eating a Dreamsicle while falling in love to the sounds of a Juliana Hatfield record. It is alleged that a special pre-release version of the forthcoming Indian Jewelry/Future Blondes split will be available in limited qualities at this show. PJ’s is that dirty looking bar next to Cecil’s for the google-maps disinclined.

Vinyl Ranch @ Leon’s Lounge
This month’s outing is called Dollywood, and will be top-heavy on her Backwoods Barbie’s Majesty’s, both in song and in screen. And though it’s (always) free, there will be a shave-off for the Houston Chapter of Mustaches for Kids, an organization that grows mustaches to raise money for children’s charities. Seriously. Get’s started at 9pm. Remember fellahs, Vinyl Ranch was recently awarded Best Place to Meet Single Women by the Houston Press, and we’ve never seen the horror of an applebum in a set of Rocky Mountains once while in attendance. Don’t blow it.

Sensory Overload @ The Drake
Still want to live that giving spirit but with a bit more glam and a bit less Charlie Pride? Then perhaps Sensory Overload is more your thing. We gave this benefit for Make a Wish a nod in a post last week.

ALSO:

• Cynics, Ugly Beats, Guitars @ Rudyards
• Pepi Ginsberg, Airon Paul Dugas @ The Mink
• Groupo Fantasma @ The Continental Club

SATURDAY
Saturday Secret Show One Year Anniversary @ The Shady Tavern
Hard to believe it was only a year ago that this idea got kicked off, and that there has been a show pretty much every week since. This week, things get started a little earlier than usual (1pm) and will run a little later (7pm), but as always the beer will be cold, the setups will be cheap and the admission will be free. There’s even been a partial lineup hint: The McKenzies, Judas Bear, Darwins Finches, Awake, Welfare Mothers, Nosaprise, and others. Party.

ALSO:

• Minus The Bear, Annuals and 27 @ House of Blues
• Patt Todd & the Rank Outsiders, Hickoids, Born Liars @ Rudyard’s
• Jad Fair @ The Mink

SUNDAY
Agent Orange @ The Meridian
REAL TALK: It’s Up to You and Me from the When You Least Expect It EP is possibly our favorite pop-punk jam of all time. Total coup that they’re playing this horrifically under-the-radar show Sunday night - you’d think they’d be part of the Fun Fun Fun BACK IN THE DAY STAGE lineup instead.

ALSO:

• A Tribute to Johnny Romano, featuring Sugar Shack, Teisco Del Rey, The Neptones, Luxurious Panthers, Uncle Charlie, surf/skate art auction, & more @ The Continental Club/Sig’s Lagoon
• Iron Bridge as The Smiths and Mechanical Boy as Tears for Fears @ The Mink

B-Side “I Don’t Know Why” is a Stevie Wonder cover from 1968, while his creative output was steadily ramping up to the genius of Talking Book, Innervisions and Songs in the Key of Life. In Stevie’s hands it’s a classic Motown ballad from the height of the classic Motown suit and tie era. The Born Liars capture the bummed out soul of the composition, but bring a worn-down desperation that sounds way more hurt than Stevie’s measured delivery and slick strings.

This is the first release by Ditchwater Records, the recording arm of scene photographer/promoter/Radio DJ/institution Miss Rosa (trivia nerds take note – this is officially the second entry in the Ditchwater catalog, the first being a collection of recordings by now-defunct punks Gay Marriage, though production delays resulted in this 7” actually hitting the shelves first). Anyone who’s seen her Ditchwater photo-zine knows she has a great eye for capturing the wonderful visual grit of our scene. Sounds like she’s got a hitmaker’s ears to match. Recommended.

The Born Liars’ Don’t Tell Me I Know 7” was available for a while at Sound Exchange, though it is alleged to be sold out. You might visit the Ditchwater blog to try and get a copy, or, better yet, get one from the band itself at their show Saturday night with Patt Todd & the Rank Outsiders and Hickoids at Rudyard’s

The complete details are available on the Fun Fun Fun Festival website for those of you going (or on the fence), but if you don’t have a whole weekend to spare and want to take a stab at getting a decidedly more spread-out decidedly less highlight-filled version of the weekend, here’s a guide how (bands playing FFF are in bold):

WEDNESDAY (TONIGHT)
Colourmusic, Flowers To Hide, Giant Princess, The Quietest @ The Mink

THURSDAY
Deerhoof, Dental School, Flying @ Numbers
…And You Will Know By The Trail of Dead, Spain Colored Orange, Heist at Hand @ Warehouse Live
Bishop Allen, An Horse, Electric Owls @ Rudyard’s
Cro Mags(jam), Iron Age, Your Mistake, Roots of Exile, On My Side @ Walter’s on Washington

FRIDAY
Parts and Labor, UME, Black Congress @ Walter’s on Washington
The Cynics, Ugly Beats, Guitars @ Rudyards
Pepi Ginsberg, Airon Paul Dugas @ The Mink
Groupo Fantasma @ The Continental Club

SATURDAY
Minus The Bear, Annuals, 27 @ House of Blues

MONDAY
Chuck Ragan of Hot Water Music, Ben Nichols of Lucero, Tim Barry of Avail @ Walter’s on Washington

Did we miss anyone? Probably. But what this attempt at also-ran points out that:

1. We desperately need a credible music festival. They have three, we can’t have one?
2. If you stay in town, you’re going to miss some great stuff from both back in the day (The Dead Milkmen, ALL, Bad Brains,  Killdozer) and SO HOT RIGHT NOW (YACHT, The National, Black Heart Procession, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, St. Vincent, The Black Angels, Islands, Frightened Rabbit, Neil Hamburger, Dan Deacon, The Octopus Project, Dengue Fever, Clipse, Kool Keith, Etc).

So like, go already. OH and if you do, be sure to keep an eye out for The Skyline Network’s Celebrity Correspondent, Mr. Erik Bogle (Bring Back the Guns) he’ll be documenting all the who who and what what for us. We’ll have his full flavored report sometime next week.

Update: Turns out The National is playing here, but at a private party for Rice Students and what not.  Does being a KTRU DJ count?

To enter, send an email with your name to adifferentryan at gmail dot com. If you’re not a gambler (and, our being in Vegas at the moment, let us offer some advice: don’t gamble, guh), you can still order tickets online from the Superunison site. Don’t dally with your submission, we’ll be picking a winner later tonight. Boogers.

Update: The contest has been closed and a winner has been drawn at random.  Thanks to everyone who participated.  Tickets are still available for sale.  Act fast!