Archive for the 'Music' Category
Mastodon appearing at Houston’s Cactus Music
Closed Published by mikemcguff October 25th, 2011 on mikemcguff.com blogMetal band Mastodon is making an appearance at Houston’s Cactus Music this Thursday:
At Cactus Music/Record Ranch Vinyl Room
Thursday, Oct. 27th, 2011 from 4:30 – 6PM
Store Address: 2110 Portsmouth - Houston, TX 77098 713-526-9272
There is no performance scheduled. Fans who purchase Mastodon’s The Hunter on CD or any title on vinyl from Reprise Records will receive a wristband that will guarantee a place in line to meet the band. All are welcome, but fans presenting wristbands will receive priority placement in line.
The Belle Brigade performance at Cactus Records
Closed Published by mikemcguff October 17th, 2011 on mikemcguff.com blog
Warner Bros. Records tipped me off its band The Belle Brigade will be doing a 5-6 song acoustic performance and in-store signing at Cactus Records in Houston this weekend.
Saturday, October 22
3:00pm – 3:45pm
Cactus Records
2110 Portsmouth
Houston, TX 77098
713-526-9272
http://www.cactusmusictx.com/#
That night the band plays with Grouplove and White Arrows at:
Fitzgeralds
Room: Downstairs
2706 White Oak Drive
Houston, TX 77007-2792
Metallica and Lou Reed team up for Lulu project
Closed Published by mikemcguff August 29th, 2011 on mikemcguff.com blogI never saw this coming. Dave Mustaine of Megadeth (former Metallica guitarist) has also alluded to the fact that he and Megadeth bassist Dave Ellefson would like to team up with Metallica’s James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich for an album.
In what is sure to be one of the most talked-about alliances of the year, New York king of avant-rock Lou Reed has teamed up with best-selling hard rock band Metallica to record a brand-new album, entitled Lulu, which will be released by Warner Bros. Records on November 1st, 2011. The album was co-produced by Reed, Metallica, Hal Willner who has produced albums for Reed, Marianne Faithfull, and Laurie Anderson, among others and Greg Fidelman. Fidelman also mixed the record.
The idea for these two giants of modern music to work together was born after the 25th anniversary Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame concerts in New York City in October 2009. Metallica -singer/guitarist James Hetfield, drummer Lars Ulrich, guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Rob Trujillo - played with Reed on Velvet Underground classics “Sweet Jane” and “White Light/White Heat.” “We knew from then that we were made for each other,” Reed says.
After that triumphant performance, Reed suggested they all make a record together. At first they planned to record an album of Reed’s older material, what Ulrich describes as “some of Lou’s lost jewels - songs that he felt he’d like to give a second spin, and we could do whatever it is we do to some of those songs.” That idea “hung in the air for a couple of months.” Then, a week or two before that session was to begin, “Lou called up and said, ‘Listen, I have this other idea.’”
That idea was to record a series of songs Reed had written for American avant-garde theater director Robert Wilson and German theater group the Berliner Ensemble’s production of the Lulu Plays, which premiered in Aprilat theTheatre am Schiffbauerdamm in Berlin, founded by Bertolt Brecht. The songs are inspired by German expressionist Frank Wedekind’s early 20th century plays Earth Spirit and Pandora’s Box, and were a rewrite of Edgar Allan Poe’s, The Raven, which emerged as a graphic novel on Fantagraphics Press.
VIDEO: Flash mob hitting Houston’s west side Thursday night
Closed Published by mikemcguff June 29th, 2011 on mikemcguff.com blog
Turns out the Country Playhouse has more than 100 volunteers from the community participating in this ‘impromptu’ event to promote Hairspray, which just so happens to be the next production at the Country Playhouse.
I’m told the flash mob will perform three times. Twice Thursday night: 7pm at Memorial City Mall (near the skating rink) and 8pm at City Center (on the green, in the front of Yardhouse and Ruggles). The third time will be on stage at the Country Playhouse before the production of Hairspray on July 15th.
SXSW getting too big for Austin? Move it to Houston!
Closed Published by mikemcguff April 23rd, 2011 on mikemcguff.com blog
My Friday evening tweet on the possibility of SXSW moving out of Austin got a huge reaction. Naturally myself and other pro-Houston folks said, “Move that sucker here!”
The contrarian in me says SXSW is all about Austin. The annual festival celebrates Austin’s live music heritage as well as its tech scene. How could it move? But then being a native Houstonian, I quickly forget about all that jazz and want it here (at least Houston does benefit with some artists stopping by here before or after SXSW performances)!
But before Houstonians get ready to party and buy expensive wrist bands, hold your horses. San Antonio is trying to get the SXSW festival reports The Austin Businesses Journal:
Concerns about Austin’s ability to accommodate South by Southwest have expanded beyond crowd control and crime.
The city is worried it may not have enough rooms for the throng that converges each year for the 10-day music, film and interactive festival.
San Antonio City Councilman John Clamp said he has a solution. Clamp said SXSW organizers should consider moving their event, which attracts international attention, to the Alamo City.
KENS 5 in San Antonio reports the 10 day music, film and interactive conference brings in about 200,000 people every year and generates lots of buzz. Houston can handle 200,000 people. Look how well we handled the Super Bowl and Final Four.
So let’s get moving! Houston has already been shuttle snubbed by NASA - here’s hoping we can get some good news. Will this help?
Rick Ross and Meek Mill in Houston Saturday
Closed Published by mikemcguff April 15th, 2011 on mikemcguff.com blog
Warner Bros. Records emailed me that Maybach Music Group Boss Rick Ross and his Philly Protégé Meek Mill will be in Houston signing autographs and promoting their album Self Made.
WHEN: SATURDAY April 16th @ 3pm
WHERE: Music Depot, Greenspoint Mall, 12300 North Freeway, Houston, TX 77060
Self Made will hit stores 5/24.
Artists currently signed to Maybach Music Group include the rappers Wale, Pill and Meek Mill, who are all part of the Warner Bros. Records roster.
Former Korn guitarist Brian ‘Head’ Welch in Houston
Closed Published by mikemcguff April 3rd, 2011 on mikemcguff.com blog
If I would have posted this last Friday, you would have thought it was an April Fool’s Day joke! But it is actually very real.
Saturday I spotted Korn co-founder and former guitarist Brian ‘Head’ Welch in Houston. More precisely at a place I would not expect to see him, Baybrook Mall in Friendswood, TX
Turns out Head is playing Calvary Chapel Houston church in Friendswood tonight. The show starts tonight at 7pm. It’s called the Over My Head Concert Tour with openers Decyfer Down, The Letter Black and The Wedding. Tickets are $15 in advance or $20 at the door.
For more information Call Calvary Chapel Houston at 281-648-5800 or click here.
Head left Korn in 2005 after becoming a Christian. He is now a Christian musician and still playing hard music. He even wrote a book about it. I heard Korn bassist Fieldy also became a Christian (he is still in Korn) and asked Head about this. He confirmed it was true and said that several of the band members’ wives have also been saved.
Lady GaGa parody from Baylor College of Medicine students hit on YouTube
Closed Published by mikemcguff March 2nd, 2011 on mikemcguff.com blogWho knew we had Lady GaGa wannabes in the Texas Medical Center at the Baylor College of Medicine! Some BCM students took GaGa’s Bad Romance song and made fun of graduate student frustrations. This video has more than two million views on YouTube now. Here is more:
Mary Wiese, Ph.D., a postdoc with Baylor’s Huffington Center on Aging, impersonates GaGa and is accompanied by backup dancers dressed in safety gear fashioned from biohazard bags. The performers sing and dance their way through the research lab, a Baylor lecture hall and even the DeBakey Museum.
Their lyrics make references to unlabeled test tubes, ruined specimens, unpleasant smells and messy lab books – common experiences shared by grad students all over the world, according to the comments posted on the YouTube video site.
Stephanie Nemir, who graduated from Rice University last year with a Ph.D. in bioengineering and is now pursuing a medical degree from Baylor, does the actual singing. Though she never appears on screen, Nemir recorded both the lead and background vocals in the apartment of David Shim, the Baylor M.D./Ph.D. student who directed the video. READ THE REST
Ozzy Osbourne TV in Houston, Dallas and San Antonio
Closed Published by mikemcguff February 3rd, 2011 on mikemcguff.com blogEverywhere that Ozzy Osbourne plays, a video crew for OzTV follows and produces some pretty high quality behind the scenes segments for YouTube on that city’s Scream Tour show.
Above is the Houston video (NSFW). Check out Dallas and San Antonio. Check out my Ozzy Houston show review.
Ozzy Osbourne and Slash at Houston’s Toyota Center
Closed Published by mikemcguff January 19th, 2011 on mikemcguff.com blogQuick note about the Ozzy Osbourne and Slash show at the Toyota Center in Houston Tuesday night (1/18/2011).
Great show. This is my fourth attempt to see Mr. Osbourne in concert. The first two were foiled due to weather. The third, because Ozzy broke his leg or something. Fourth was the lucky charm.
You always hear mixed reviews on Ozzy’s voice, but lately reports say it is stronger. My thought, it sounded pretty good. The only issue is it took a few songs to get all the audio levels right…at least where our seats were.
For a guy in his early 60s, Ozzy sure is high energy. If you wanted to remain clean, don’t sit in the first 15 rows. Ozzy likes to pull out a hose with foam and spray the audience (a trademark in his act). Don’t worry, he sprays himself too.
Osbourne’s backing band is awesome. Gus G is the new guitarist (replacing Zakk Wylde). Gus likes to shred and pose above a fan to bring out his maximum rock star looks in the big stage video screen. Rounding out the rhythm section are bassist Blasko and drummer Tommy Clufetos (both played with Rob Zombie previously). Lots of energy with these three too.
Ozzy pulled out songs from his new album, solo classics and Black Sabbath tunes. There was also an extended guitar solo/band jam which worked well.
Slash performs with Alter Bridge singer Myles Kennedy and backing band. Slash is Slash, enough said. Slash is supposedly off the sauce and you can tell. He seems slimmer and full of more energy than I have witnessed live in a few years. The band preforms Guns N’ Roses, Slash’s Snakepit, Velvet Revolver and new solo album songs.
Kennedy is a good singer. He nails the Guns N’ Roses tunes with his own style while not totally replicating Axl Rose. He has more trouble pulling off Scott Weiland Velvet Revolver songs. Our seat mates agreed that what Kennedy is lacking is stage presence. He might be able to sing, but he isn’t too interesting on stage (especially considering who he is covering).
Does Kennedy feel his job is to support Slash and not upstage him? Maybe. But Slash is now a legend and he has played with two great front men and clearly held his own then. Enough already though…the original Guns N’ Roses lineup must reunite. Just from watching the latest rock news, I think things are lining up for this to happen (Duff plays a few songs with Axl in London, Slash is nicer to Axl in the press). But the classic GNR lineup has an appetite for destruction so don’t hope too much!
