End of Silence

I noticed this morning on my way to drop off my daughter at daycare that many of the Capital Metro buses are displaying “United We Stand” in addition to their route numbers/names. It’s a nice sentiment, but I feel like it’s much less true than it was in the weeks following the attacks.

Five years ago, I was dropping off my son at the very same daycare. My daughter wasn’t born yet. I was flipping between different radio stations and began hearing reports of a plane hitting the World Trade Center. It was early enough that no one was sure what was going on. There was speculation that it may have been an accident. Howard Stern was still on the air here that morning. I hopped between KUT, the Stern show and KLBJ. By the time I arrived at work, it was clear that it was no accident. I still work at the same tech company. We’d already had a round of layoffs that May. Since we’d chosen to target the airline industry as one of our primary areas of potential business, the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks had a pronounced effect on our business. Another round of layoffs followed roughly a month after 9/11. I managed to avoid the axe once again that October.
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Don Caballero is doing an in-store at Waterloo Records tomorrow at 5pm and then playing Emo’s later that night. Their drummer is amazing. All you prog rock geeks should check it out. I’m not sure if I’ll make it.

I’ll take the opportunity to plug my own band’s in-store at Cheapo Discs (914 N. Lamar, I’d link their site, but the appear to have forgotten to pay their domain name registration bill) this Friday at 5pm. I’m told there’s usually free beer and it’s almost always a good time. I’m lame enough not to have ever done an in-store at Cheapo Discs, but it’s the original Whole Foods location, so the karma has to be good. I loved doing in-stores at Blondie’s when it was between 5th and 6th. If you find me (the drummer) and tell me you came because of the Metblog post, I’ll give you a free CD.

Speaking of old-time Austin things like the original Whole Foods, I just got back from the X / Rollins Band gig at Stubb’s. Good Stuff. Rollins mentioned Roky Erickson, The Dicks, Butthole Surfers, Big Boys, among others. Everyone was showing their age, but it still rocked.

What kind of week are we having when we get Rollins, X and a Scratch Acid reunion at Emo’s this coming Saturday? I recall my days as a wee impressionable lad at Bill’s Records and Tapes in early 80’s Richardson, forever remembering the Biafran bellies on the first Butthole Surfers record, the rainbow colored cover of Scratch Acid’s Just Keep Eating and the cover of most of Black Flag’s albums. Meeeemries.

Update (08.31.06 10:36 PM CDT): I just noticed that there’s an XLEnt article on Scratch Acid in today’s Statesman. The web version has links to Windows Media and Real Audio versions samples of “Cannibal”, “She Said” and “This is Bliss”.

If you’re looking for something to do tonight and don’t want to spend much cash, Alamo Drafthouse and AT&T are sponsoring a free screening of Grease tonight in Republic Square Park (between 4th & 5th and Guadalupe & San Antonio) at 7:30. The movie begins at dusk. The audio and video were remastered a few years ago for its 20th anniversary. I remember seeing it in the summer of 1978 while visiting friends in Iowa. We saw Caddyshack a few summers later. Guess which one warped me more.

Dogs, picnics, and lawn chairs are welcome. Alcoholic beverages are not permitted in the park. Concessions will be available.

The Statesman is reporting that passengers on a JetBlue flight arriving from Boston were detained at ABIA for questioning today after flight personnel found a “suspicious note” in one of the bathrooms. They thought it might be a note written in Arabic. Turns out it was Cyrillic, as in Russian or Ukranian. I’m no expert, but the two look nothing like each other to me.

Hooray for mass hysteria! I have to fly later this week. I’m *really* looking forward to that ordeal. Check with DHS or TSA before you fly. Currently, no liquids are allowed in carry-ons with a few exceptions such as medicine and breast milk. Flights from Britain are banning laptops and other gadgets. As Cory points out, it won’t be long before they handcuff us nude to our seats and tranquilize us for each flight. Hey, sounds kinda fun!

Alice In Chains has announced a fall tour with replacement frontman William DuVall. They’ll make a stop in Austin at Stubb’s on October 3rd. No word on tickets yet.

On a post of mine back in May, there was talk that Scratch Acid might do a show at Emo’s in September as a warm up for the Touch N Go 25th Anniversary shows in Chicago. Turns out they’ll play the Emo’s 14th Anniversary Show on Saturday, September 2nd with Gorch Fock opening.

As if all of this weren’t enough, in the course of trying to find out when the Alice In Chains tickets would go on sale, I discovered that Mastodon will be playing Emo’s on October 4th. Even worse, that’s the night after Alice In Chains and those are both weeknights. What’s an aging hardcore/metal guy to do? Caffeine. Lots of caffeine.