I was just this weekend chatting with one of my Texas brothers in arms from my musical touring days and we agreed that no place creates brilliant counterculture artists quite like the Lone Star State. From the Butthole Surfers to Townes Van Zandt to The Flatlanders, it’s a special place, love it or hoof it. […]
The Guilty Ones
Posted inMusic
Fanfare for the Common Man
While I am not a fan of historical hypotheticals and counterfactual guesswork, it is enticing to imagine what a different world we’d all be living in if instead of that homicidal hayseed from Missouri, Harry S. Truman, FDR’s previous sidekick Henry Wallace had been vice president when Roosevelt died. Wallace was an avid reformer in […]
Posted inArts + Scene
Music Tonight: Wednesday, Nov. 15
Singer and songwriter Dave Alvin specializes in a hybrid-genre style of distinctly California music with noirish lyrical qualities. The results are songs that create scenes, steeped in speedway country, boogie blues, surf rock and lo-fi trip tunes. He’s also a road dog with his band The Guilty Ones, who have counted Tom Waits, Bobby Rush […]
Posted inMusic
Armistice
Last Sunday we had Fall Back, when we retreated to an extra hour of darkness — and for many, sleep — on the clock to adjust to the changing season. Fall back, retreat, ceasefire, armistice … these words flow together in a certain thematic harmony as we reach the last one. Until 1954, we used […]