You know I honestly do not know how many live concerts I’ve seen, between all my time in Austin and my NY years, but I never did see the Flatlanders live during their first legendary years. I did have the album — I don’t think I knew anyone that didn’t have that album.
But, anyway, I did finally see them-once- when they reunited a few years back. That was a great show, midwinter in Gruene Hall, a bitter cold night. Well worth the wait.
I love these guys. Individually and and as a group. Poets all three. And they play them geetars pretty well too, I reckon.
Millennia ago, back before the Interwebz, when dinosaurs roamed the earth, there was a particular classified ad in the Austin Chronicle miscellaneous section, the heading of which was I Danced on Stage with Bono! The person who had run the ad, and who had danced on stage with His Eminence, was desperately seeking photographs of this singular event in her life from anyone that might have been there. It ran for, possibly, years. I remember my cronies in the back of the Half-Price Books on Guadalupe (for the uninitiated, the store that served as the backdrop for the scene with the Kennedy assassination buff in Slacker ) reading the classifieds and joking about it.
She still hasn’t found what she’s lookin’ for, heh.
yup
Can’t she just go to another concert, like, with a camera this time?
yeah, for real.
I mean, man, I hope this chick has, like, other interests in life, ya know?
Dude. Word.
So, anyway, for most likely entirely unrelated reasons, I thought of that when Athenae sent me this.
Probably the longest running steady gig ever in Austin was Toni Price’s Tuesday Hippie Hour at the Continental. It was legendary. For 15 years, the sultry Miss Toni, along with the best band in town, did her thing, then she up and left us. Someone asked why she was moving to California:
“Because it’s got an ocean,” she told a curious fan at her final Continental show, a twinkle in her eye. “When y’all get one, I’ll come back.”
Listening to Toni on the iPod this morning, been thinking about Hippie Hour all day. Only fitting, since it is Tuesday. Thanks for the memories, darlin’. We’ll keep working on that ocean.
Consider this a prelude to my Wednesday guest post at First Draft tomorrow.
There are few people on earth I admire more than the small woman in this video. A warrior, growing frailer each year though she may be, Adrienne Rich’s poetry has been, and likely will continue to be, a powerful guiding force for generations (and those yet to come) of women, men, activists, risk takers. Rich read this poem of hers, Transparencies, at a ceremony last year where she and others were honored for being risk takers.
Risk, safety, fear, injury, and courage- of, and by, words and bodies. This is what’s on my mind. Seeya tomorrow.
My always trustworthy musical magicman Freddy gave me Rock n Roll Pony a couple of years ago, and as usual, it took me a while to get into it. As usual, he was right. Gina Villalobos grows on you. Luckily fer slowpokes like me, well for everyone, she did another album, too: Miles Away.
Well, it’s Spanish and it’s wet. As is/was T.S. Edouard, who was supposed to bring me (and Central Texas) some much-needed drenching rain, but thus far… bupkis. So enjoy Bebe. She’s hot. And so is Central Texas.
Some may be saying, “What? Another video? Whassup w/that?” To which I would answer, “I dunno.”
In actuality, Virgotext the blog, as you and I know it, has ceased production. It will be replaced soon, hopefully with something better, by the end of September if not sooner. I’ll be setting up housekeeping on my very own domain. It’s not quite the usual Gone Fishin’ and take a break, though. You know what they say about “Be careful what you ask for”? Well, it’s true. In the real world, I spent months fighting TBTB at my place of employment for some much-needed changes and I sort of won. Now I’ve got a new title, a few more bucks, I’m supervising people, and I have to work when I’m at work, and when I’m not, I be one tired virgo fer sure. So, in one sense, I am taking a bit of break. In the other, not so much.
Till the new improved Virgotext rises from the ashes, I’ll post a video or two or four here, plus I’m keeping the flame alive over at Nupac, blogging on Generation Kill. If you aren’t watching this show, what’s wrong with you? At the very least, go get the book.
Also, best for last, it seems all that crack van driving has paid off. Starting tomorrow, I’ll be posting over at First Draft on Wednesdays. I know! Can you believe it?
virgotext 