Space and the City
Posts tagged The Wiggins
CABIN FEVER FIGHTING SUPERTHREAD
Sep 16th

Last Update: 7:50 AM THURSDAY So. The storm is over, and perhaps you’ve even made some progress on getting things back together. Maybe you’ve even got power (lucky ducks)! But you can’t shelter in place forever, at some point you’re going to need to get out of the door and onto the floor (EVERYBODY DO THE DINO-SAUR!). So, for the next few days (cause, frankly, we don’t have power and so it’s not going to be easy for us to post) we’re going to leave this thread on top of the heap with updates on openings, closings and cancellations so you can figure out where to go and what to do when you just gotta get out. If you want your place of business on this list, or you have more current information than we do, send us an email at adifferentryan at gmail dot com or leave a note in the comments. Normal is starting to sound super awesome. SHAKA!
UPDATED NOTE ON CURFEW: Note that the city of Houston has a curfew from Midnight to 6am all week, and while it may sound benign (especially with the police chief being quoted as saying its ok if people are out past it for something as simple as a ‘late dinner’), we were told that the police showed up at the Tavern Sunday night, handed out tickets, and gave everyone there a sobriety test.
Coffee Shops:
Antidote: Open with generator power
Daily Grind: Open with limited menu (though they ran out of coffee early Monday)
Catalina: Open with Wi-Fi
Agora: Open until 9pm all week
Brasil: Alleged to even have Wi-Fi working
Empire Cafe: Open
Onion Creek: Open
Petrol Station Open (cash only)
Bars:
Rudyards: Open with generator power; Lonestars now $4.
Poison Girl: Open with generator power; cash only; Lonestar only beer
Big Star: A small hole in the roof, isn’t enough to shut down Brad Moore’s new joint, which opened up only Thursday. On 19th between Shepherd and TC Jester. Most likely cash only. Opens at 7.
Shiloh: Open with full power
Catbirds: Who gives a shit
Boondocks: Open, Cash Only. Lonestar only Beer.
DUTCHMAN: DANGER – CLOSED.
Dark Horse: Open
Shows and Events Still Happening:
Wednesday
Jana Hunter and Lesser Gonzalez Alvarez@ Petrol Station (relocated from DiverseWorks; Wicked Poseur no longer playing)
Thursday
Silver Jews @ Walters (moved from Orange Show; Tickets will be Honored; Early – 7pm)
The Queers @ Walters (after the Silver Jews)
Friday
The New Year, Weather, Transona Five @ Rudyards
Paul Baribeau, Good Luck, and O Pioneers!!! @ 7397 Ashcroft (House Party)
Canceled Shows and Events:
Tuesday
Redman @ Warehouse Live
Thursday
These Are Powers @ Rudyards
Saturday
The Wiggins, Hearts of Animals at Benjamin Wesley @ Artstorm (rescheduled for Saturday the 27th)
REVIEW: BALACLAVAS – INFERNO
Aug 6th
The second circle of hell is reserved for the souls of those who, when in the flesh, could not tamp down their desire for the flesh of others. The lusty. Those who hid away the love all hearts are meant to experience for the quick kill; the fleeting romance; the adultery; the cheat. In this place, and in all the circles of hell, the condemned are punished not by having their acts held before their faces to eternally bemoan or suffer endless Groundhog Days where they are the victims of the same heart-crimes they committed. Rather, they are exposed to metaphoric punishments, exacting their toll in much the same way the consequences of their own actions haunted them while they were still living. In the kingdom of men, the lusty drift aimlessly, guided without sea chart and only the dumb zeal of their organs as helmsman. They can never find the arms of another to call home forever, and so come and go with the wind and the tides looking eagerly for land through their telescope. But for whatever cruel and secret missive written by a Commodore they do not understand and cannot mutiny away, they never drop anchor. So too, in the second circle, do they find their souls angrily blown about by a violent storm. Never finding stability or foundation or peace anymore than they could find a spouse with which to carry out Genesis 1:28.
We think alot about the second circle when we listen to Inferno.
It’s a seductive record, one that catches you looking from across the gallery and is warmed by the attention. It doesn’t run or shout so much as it slinks and coos its way not into your heart, but into your sweating back with its seething scarlet nails. There’s nothing wholesome about it. Though you enjoy it instinctively, you can’t help but feel like it’s a little dirty. It has the sound of the darkness in a strange room where a familiar activity is about to take place – noises echoing and disturbing without a visual reference, like unfamiliar beltbuckles falling unseen onto unfamiliar floors.
The songwriting template that Balaclavas established in their first release has been honed, sharpened and intensified. Though they were already crafting some of the most unclassifiable and incomparable music in town, in this release we find them to be submariners at even greater depths. The bass is massive and formless, pendulating back and forth with such heavy subsonics that it sounds as if it should be bumping out of the trunk of a chopped 300M instead of cornering you in a dark parking garage of indie disquiet. It’s the amorphous wrapper around what is still the most distinctive rock sound in the 713, 281 or 832 for that matter. The drums keep a sort of a time but are far more accentual than backbeat. The guitar is often punctuation to the vocals, a cranky and craggy friend that alone carries the sins of the melodies along in a cave lit by only a single candle. The vocals are the ghost of a fallen man, but one who knows it could have been much worse.
Even when these four relatively simple instruments momentarily lock into a groove together, such as in the refrain for “Ashes,” the effect is a complex bouquet and more generally a reminder that, for most of the time, you simply can’t believe these individual elements are happening in the same song at the same time and working so brilliantly together. Balaclavas, we would imagine, are easy for some to dismiss as just too weird for their taste. We can’t really begrudge anyone who doesn’t connect with what they’re doing, because, frankly, we’ve never heard anything like it either. But it has most certainly sauntered up to the right sucker at the bar, because we’re taking it home with us tonight, even though we shouldn’t. We hope when we die, it’ll be playing in the second circle. Highly Recommended.
Inferno actually came out late last year on CD and has been selectively available in the finer record stores around town ever since. What it’s getting here is the full Phonograpic Arts treatment, including a re-mastering and a release on Vinyl. Phonographic Arts is the outfit that put out Jordan Graber’s beautiful (and scene packed) full color photozine “I’m In A Tight Spot”, as well as the “Gulewave” zine, whose introduction includes the advice “hey buddy why don’t you print your blog so it has a pulse.” In our own defense, we did actually create a printed version of all our stories from 2007 in sefer Torah format (you know, the scrolls), but due to the expense of the gold in its handles and its 300+ lb weight, we weren’t able to sell to many of them. We think Sound Exchange is using their copy as a doorstop. Get the decidedly more manageably sized Inferno at Balaclavas release show Thursday night, August 7th, at Walter’s on Washington, where they’re part of the opening talent pool (alongside The Wiggins) for Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti.
ATTN THIS WEEKEND: YOU ARE LIKE A PRELUDE TO GUANAJUATO
Jun 20th

YUSS. Man. Last night was like Friday. Jenny Westbury, Black Snakes + Kangaroos, Arthur Yoria, Woozyhelmet… plus the bands at those shows we didn’t even see!How could this weekend possible get any better? Oh, we know, maybe it’s the countdown to going to Mexico for a week to hang out, walk the streets, and drink Buzz Aldrins with our Minka. Yes, that would be about the only way to top it. Sorry ’bout the boast post, let’s get to what comes first!
FRIDAY
The Wiggins @ Discovery Green
Ever since we saw the plans for Discovery Green, the whips as coaches new park in Downtown, we’ve been thinking “hmm. What band would be on the top of our list to see play the outdoor stage there?” Well, it turns out, we didn’t have to decide, because the kind and loading dock-having folks down at the Fresh Arts Coalition are having a little schebang in the park this evening, and they’ve called on Diverse Works to pick some entertainment of their own – the always out of place and therefore always right where he belongs one man rock-it-to-ya band known as The Wiggins. DOOGIE! Totally Free. Totally Starts at Seven. Totally hope we understand the combination of community groups that put this together. Party. PS – It’s cheel if you miss this show cause The Wiggins are playing at their own 7″ release party Monday at the Mink.
Arthur Yoria and Tody Castillo @ Avante Garden
So. Arthur Yoria started his set last night (just him, a drum machine and Stanley Kibrik’s delay pedal) with “Lipstick Smiles” which morphed right into “I Wanna Be Sedated” and finally into a feedback drone noise exercise then suddenly BAM. Done. Crazy. He told us that he and Tody (whose new recordings, we are told by a source of authority are kinda crazy good – and have you been checking our Yoria’s weekly MP3 releases too? Daaaamn 28s – where were we, oh yeah, what are they gonna do) are gonna keep it ‘loose’ and just have a good time about it. Noice.
Also
Lisa’s Sons, BLACKIE + DJ sets from Jacob Calle, Bucky, Damon Allen @ Boondocks
They will be giving away iheartcomix cds, and it’s a free show. Tuff.
Ladyheat, The Tontons, Piano Vines, Earnie Banks @ The Mink
The Red Dons, The Estranged, Something Fierce, Teenage Kicks @ Rudyards
SATURDAY
Saturday Secret Show @ The Shady Tavern
You know, last weekend we were at the SSS, as we often are, with a relatively small and stable group of people (if you ever want to see Lennie Briscoe, Sew What or Elaine Greer in person, this is your best bet to do so). One of our compatriots, whose fuzzy hat and white shoes shall remain nameless, commented that the one thing people really don’t seem to understand about the SSS is the brilliant opportunity to “get totally wasted in the daytime.” This is true. Were the bands and the grill not enough, The Shady Tavern does setups, and so if the day drink is your thing, take a bottle and a few bucks and its kind of a cheap and awesome mini-festival afternoon. We don’t have any hints on this week’s lineup yet, but hopefully Mr Secret will lay down one or two in the comments.
Glass Candy, Farah, TFT(?) @ MFAH
RETURN of the Starbucks Mixed Media Series at the Museum of Fine Arts, this time featuring the artist who we own more vinyl of than we would probably otherwise admit, Glass Candy. Seriously, where did all these 7″ and 12″s come from?! The really odd thing is, that they are so much better on stage than on record too (actually, their last release was a big step in the right direction). We think it’s the crowd – that whole energy cornball thing. Whatevz. We’re just stoked that no local bands with a bad word in their name are on the bill. (PS – Bad Knives, PRKL8TR and Juan the Terrible on the decks wuut).
ALSO
Hardhats and Hotties Party @ Spacetaker
Not really a music thing (although DJ Sun and the Soular Grooves team will be on hand), but it is a semi-fund raiser for Spacetaker’s Artist Resource Center, which is a cool thing.
Keiji Haino (acoustic set) @ The Menil Collection
Free. 7:30pm
Faun Fables, The Invincible Czars, The Judas Bear @ The Mink
True Colors Tour featuring Cyndi Lauper, The B-52s, Joan Jett and The Blackhearts, Wanda Sykes and Carson Kressley @ Cynthia Woods Mitchell
SUNDAY
Tom Waits @ Jones Hall
WHO? Tickets for this will be available for $10 from people outside who were not admitted due to dressing up like a mule.
also
Real Live Tigers, Redbear, Sabra Laval, Cory Derden @ Notsuoh
Boston, Styx, Night Ranger, Alan Parsons and Rick Derringer @ The Woodlands
ATTN THIS WEEKEND: YOU ARE LIKE THE OPPOSITE OF THE CRYING GAME
Jun 5th

(UPDATED: Frightened Rabbit cancels, Hearts of Animals now on bill. See Below.) Why? Because we’re going to have a non-gender confusing interaction with a hairstylist? NO, BECAUSE WE AINT CRYING NO MORE BECAUSE THE SCATTED PAGES ARE BACK! CAN SOMEONE PLEASE FIND US A VIDEO OF SHAQ DOING SOME SORT OF RIDICULOUS DANCE, CAUSE ITS HOW WE FEEL RIGHT NOW?
THANK YOU.
Yep, you heard it right the Good People we all know as the Scattered Pages are back from their previously announced hiatus and are taking the stage this Friday night! YUSSS. So let’s get to that and ALL the weekend’s action. STOKED.
FRIDAY
Scattered Pages, Literary Greats @ The Continental Club
HOUSTON LABELS READY TO FLOOD YOUR COLLECTION WITH MANY NEW ACES RECORDINGS
May 29th
Man OH Woman! The fine folks behind three of Houston’s most extreme party call me record labels have been busier than a Clintonian mathematician lately, putting together a slate of forthcoming releases that dazzles the mind and empties the wallet. Who said you can’t buy happiness? Let’s get to listing.
Team Science Records, which still floats so far above the radar we have trouble keeping up with their steady-streamin lazy river of releases (singles club please), is kicking the summer of with a vinyl release of friends of Houston Matt and Kim’s To/From EP. Though the songs were available on cd before, this is the first time they’ll be getting the 10” treatment, with a hand-screened cover to boot. They’re also putting out the next full length by Wolverine state punks The Swellers. But have our boys (who also do the whole I Heart You Productions thing too) forgotten our local champions? Hardly.
Team Science was smart enough to pick up the option to do the first Teenage Kicks 7”, who’ve been making quite the hay with their live shows and the strength of their first Grey Ghost release. Though we’ve mentioned this before, TS is still planning on putting out a double seven inch from Golden Axe, which makes us cry tears of pure metal joy. And this is a fun one, also on the horizon is a CD from Lisa’s Sons, the pop electronica project that divided the hands_up board rather sharply into PRO/CON camps around the time of the Westheimer Block Party. We’re kinda in the Pro side. This band is alleged to have members of By The End of Tonight in it too, which might be a joke or might be the reason they haven’t put out a new record in the past month.
Dull Knife, hot on the tail of the so- fresh- its- in- the- counter- rack- at- Sound Exchange RTFO Bandwagon New Jack 7” is alleged to be putting together a split 12” from Indian Jewelry and the Future Blonds (both of whom have already put out records in the past month or so – dang dudes, take some time off and read the paper or something). People in the know also count in their trivia cards that DK will be putting out a Wiggins 7” before too long too. Note to bands in Houston wanting to get a Dull Knife release: Don’t use real drums.
Mia Kat Empire (hey look, they ditched the cat from their logo – one down, billions to go) has a brand new EP coming out by Christ punks Hollywood Black, along with one for Framework (which happens to be the solo side-project of Hollywood Black member Ben Ellis). Then later on we can expect a split from ambient kids Wood and Felt and Convair.
All of these records will most likely be available for sale from their respective label’s website, or at quality local record stores like Sound Exchange, Cactus, Soundwaves and Sig’s Lagoon. Party.
PS – You thought we were behind on our reviews before?! YIKES
