Old Man
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Henry Rollins’ “Animal Underground” Premieres
Henry Rollins new show premiered Monday on National Geographic. The former Black Flag and Rollins Band frontman is a well known traveler, writer, speaker, and media personality. Making a show about animals and mankind’s connection to them makes sense to me, as I have read a few of his journals turned books where he is constantly observing and trying to learn the meaning of things and why people do what they do.
New Video: Delay “Stand Me”
New video from indie rock outfit DELAY, who will be on tour most of the summer.
Shiner Summer Songwriter Series set to start at Howard’s in Shiner Texas
Bill Pekar presents The Shiner Summer Songwriter Series
We love Shiner. Not just the beer, but the town too. Our unofficial home for the podcast was started there, and being the nomads we are, we often take the time from the loud noisy clubs that blare music, to sit and hang out. Our favorite bar to frequent, is a place called Howard’s, which isn’t a bar at all, but a convenience store… with a beer garden in the back.
Howard's
When store owner Howard Gloor decided to open his store, he wanted to make a place where people could come to his store, and not necessarily feel like they have to leave . ” I knew I wanted to run a convienince store business, and I was like ‘ well what can I do what’s different than the standard convenience store business?’ and I thought well everyone in Shiner likes to drink beer and there’s a lot of comraderie and there’s a lot of socializing in this town.” said Howard. So he obtained an on premise beer license to create the kind of place where you don’t just grab beer and leave, but the type of place you don’t want to leave because you have beer.
Browse With A Brew!
The idea is different for a gas station, and often met with scratched heads. ”Most places don’t do that, a lot of people come in and comment, ‘you can’t do that can you?’ 99% of places aren’t like that.” Howard explained, ” I just wanted a place where people could feel like they could come in and didn’t have to leave right away. And it worked.”
Your Friendly Howard's Staff
It worked so well actually, that over the years Howard’s expanded his chilled out and relaxed atmosphere to include a beer garden behind it. The beer garden itself has expanded the past year to accommodate the larger number of regular patrons, passing travelers and tourists who arrive to experience a little bit of the Shiner hospitality that the town is famous for.
Howard's Backyard Beer Garden
Over time, and by a group of singers who happened to be passing through playing songs in the back, Howard’s slowly got introduced to live music once word of mouth spread about the great vibe and friendly patrons. ”That was not part of the original plan. Things kind of evolved. I wanted to have an extension of a place where people could congregate, visit and enjoy being with each other. The whole music scene started happening in a lot of places not just my place. But in a lot of places. Places you wouldn’t even think of started having music. It just kind of blossomed. It used to be the dance hall scene, when you wanted to hear music, you went to a dance hall, and dance halls have kind of died down, they’re going away and the smaller venues that are less costly to operate, a little more intimate and a little more fun to be in that’s what these places have become. I didn’t intend for there to be music when I built it, but things happen.” He said.
One of the more popular sitting areas in Howard's
Enter the Shiner Summer Songwriter Series, which is starting it’s 2nd year at Howard’s. Presented by Bill Pekar and friends. Bill, Howard and Damon Williams from Farm To Market Entertainment have banded together to bring a laid back Summer on Sunday afternoons. “This last March (2011) I came to Howard and asked him if we could do this Sunday thing 4-8 you know where it was over at 8 people could go home, and Howard said ‘yeah let’s try it’ and last year was our first go around. and it was great.” said Bill Pekar from Bill Pekar and The Rainey Brothers. A lot of the success had to do with the relaxed atmosphere on Sunday afternoons. ”On Sundays we have more of a listening crowd where people come to enjoy.” But even though Howard’s is gaining popularity as a music hot spot, it still surprises some acts. ”Doug Moreland walked through the front door and said ‘I’m playing at a gas station?’ It wasn’t till he walked to the back and saw the beer garden and said ‘Bill Pekar you got me again’.”
Patrons enjoying the expanded Beer Garden Section
The Second Year for the Shiner Summer Songwriter Series will run from June 3rd to August 8th and will feature acts from great singer songwriters like Tommy Elskes, Walt Wilkins , Adam Carroll. Ryan Turner, Dana Cooper, Aaron Einhouse, Jason Allen and a couple of “secret surprises” in July. “We’re excited about doing it,” Bill said, ”Im getting calls instead of people calling me.”
As an added bonus, the series will also feature opening acts from new upcoming unknown songwriters. “Lavaca county has a lot of musicians, and a lot of new kids, and this year instead of me and my assorted friends opening up we’re going to have a lot of these younger kids open up.” Bill mentioned. ”
Admission to the series is free. The standard message for the series is to really just let people come in, have a good time and soak up the music. ”It’s a real festive type of atmosphere.” Howard said, ”Everything is evolving, come see the happy people in Shiner.”
For more information visit: http://www.billpekar.com/
PICTURES BY DAMIEN GONZALEZ
Jack “Choke” Kelly from Slapshot issues apology video to New York
Making the rounds today in assorted feeds, and boards, is this video featuring an exlcusive interview with Jack Kelly from Slapshot. A little inside, but here ya go…
DC Main Character To Be Reintroduced As A Gay Character. Progressive Politics Or Ploy To Raise Sales?
The DC Comics Stable
Bleeding Cool is reporting that DC comics Co Publisher Dan DiDio has told attendees at the Kapow Comic Convention in London that DC would be “reintroducing” one of their most identifiable (but as yet unnamed) characters to become one of their “most prominent gay characters” Senior Vice President Bob Wayne compared the company’s policy on gay characters to that of President Obama’s recent shift saying that DC’s position “has evolved”. Although it is unclear how and when this will happen, speculation has also appeared online that the character may be rebooted or rewritten when he/she is “reintroduced (A common tactic DC comics uses).
So where does that leave the readers? Recognizing that comic books have a wide range of appeal to everyone, and that politics are a hot topic which should never be discussed at the dinner table in Thanksgiving, we begin the tightrope walk that is my rant.
I also recognize that people don’t agree with me, and that’s cool. When people read this article or the first few sentences enough to know that I am not really rooting for this change, I may be labeled as something that I am not. Of course this will only happen to people who don’t read the whole article because people don’t want to take time to read, only to make up their mind very fast and quite frankly, if you aren’t with them, you’re against them… But let me just say, that I believe in love… no matter who it’s with. If you can con someone into loving your ugly mug, go for it. I wish you well. It’s the best feeling in the world, and quite frankly it should be the reason we do things in life… Now, back to my comic books…
#1 If it ain’t broke don’t fix it- Look, I’m a purist. This is obvious. I complain when they get Iron Man’s costume wrong, or they make Asgardian costumes look like something from X3. I don’t like it when people take something that was already great, and try to mess with it. I mean… I’m not the only one here. If we change a character, we are changing who this icon is. This isn’t some B level character like Captain Karate, we’re dealing with one of the big guns. When you do this DC comics, ESPECIALLY IF YOU REBOOT, you are negating everything you did to build the character in the first place. Can you imagine what would happen if Peter Parker and Mary Jane didn’t get together? Well guess what, it happened in BRAND NEW DAY and it sucked ass. To this day, I can’t get into Spider-Man anymore because they crafted a story in which the wedding of Parker and Watson just didn’t come to fruition making 20 something years a lie. That didn’t set well with fans. Sometime last year, Marvel killed off Peter Parker in their Ultimate Spider-Man title and replaced him with Miles Morales, a minority character, again losing fans, I don’t like Miles. Not because he is a minority (like me mind you) but because he isn’t the Spider-Man I know. I refuse to believe that you would take someone like Superman, and totally negate the love Lois and Clark shared. But then again DC maybe you would because….
#2 DC comics loves to do this for the money- So back in the 1992, DC did something crazy. In a media blitz that made headlines around the world, they killed Superman. Wowza. Can you believe that? Yeah, nobody cared about him, he was just too powerful, Americans grew up since that time, and Superman was kind of no big deal other than being the 1st real superhero. After record sales and swimming in pools of money, they brought him back to life, thus plummeting Action Comics into a horrible decline which it has never really recovered. Marvel also did similar things, from killing off Captain America to having Obama appear in a Spider-man comic around inauguration time. I understand that comic characters are intellectual property of DC and they can do what they want, but I doubt that was what Bob Kane had in mind when he made Batman. I like to think that the reason Batman can’t get a steady girl is he is a messed up dude who lost his parents and is spending his life getting justice, not because of what twitter speculators think.
#3 Reboots and re-introductions never work-
PROOF:
A) New Coke- 1985… You may not remember this because studies show that “nerd culture” is actually just 20 year old good looking hipsters, but let me tell you about this disaster called NEW COKE. This happened when Coke decided to change it’s formula forever. Guess what… it sucked and they brought the old one back. You ever wonder why the coke you drink is called Coca Cola Classic? BAM
B) The Star Wars Trilogy (Special Editions)- Lucas says you will NEVER be able to see the old trilogy again. We will be forever forced to watch crappy musical numbers performed in Jabba’s Palace.
C) ANY reboot that Tim Burton touches- seriously
#4 Being Yourself makes for a better activist than anything else- I sometimes feel for my fellow humans who are fighting a struggle they feel they need to fight. But I’m going to let you in on a little secret I’ve already mentioned in this article. I am a minority. I hardly bring it up only when I am trying to make a point. And while I am a minority, I have never tried to play the race card. I never applied for minority scholarships or aid, I have never said “I didn’t get the job because I am not white” I watched 10 minutes of a George Lopez comedy show and turned it off because he couldn’t be funny without trying to talk down on other races and use stereotypes of my heritage to make a joke. This in no way means that I am ashamed to be Mexican. I come from a rich cultural heritage and it shows . I have simply tried to build my band, podcast, and work ethic based on what I do as much as who I am.
I’m all for equality. I believe EVERYONE has a right to vote, marry (and especially divorce) in their manner of choice, and live the way they want. I think you SHOULD be able to enjoy all the freedoms in life that is available to everyone. I think that in this chase we should embrace our failures and letdowns as much as our wins (in this society we forget about the struggle of what we do to be successful)
I do think people are born the way they are born for a reason. To love, live, create because that is the way the universe has done it. For that matter, I do not think that DC should reboot a character, changing their origin (basically how they are “born” just to go with hot politics)
Which leads me to the last part of my rant…
A Hero is a hero no matter what- To me, reading comics as a kid was always inspiring. It taught me that one person could make a difference, and that if you walk the path of good, you can really do extraordinary things. It taught me never to judge someone on things they could not control, and it also taught me that even villains think they are the good guys. A person is a person. I don’t need to know Animal Man’s sexual preference to know that he has a cool power, and Green Lantern can do whatever he wants as long as he keeps that ring charged. I just fail to understand why we make such a big deal about things.
I think that the politics of today are stupid. I think that the activists and extremists are going about this all wrong. I think that there will never be equality if we keep looking at our race, sexual orientation, age, nationality and religion of choice. These are limits we place on ourselves, we segregate ourselves and get mad when people don’t see eye to eye with us. For that reason alone, I don’t think we will ever live in the world we want to because even though we want people to respect our own opinions, we are not willing to meet theirs.
Suck on that DC
B/CS Loud!Fest Bryan’s Annual Independent Music Fest Begins Tonight
Loud!Fest
Tonight, OMBG is heading to Bryan/College Station for their annual Loud!Fest shenanigans. The founders of Loud!Fest started it because they were tired of local bands getting kicked around by other supposed “local” festivals, so they decided to start their own using their own ethics as musicians who share stages and often work together anyway.
We LOVE this concept. This is something that just about every regional group of bands tries, but doesn’t seem to pan out or stay true long term, but for Loud!Fest, entering it’s 5th year with much anticipation from both fans and bands, it looks like something that isn’t slowing down anytime soon.
We are happy to attend and bring back vids and pics, and hopefully some interviews… but why wait on us? You should go if you are in the area. Why? It’s only 5 bucks for a wristband for both nights. That’s more than 20 bands spanning 2 venues in 2 days.
Here’s the lineup:
FRIDAY, MAY 18TH @ REVOLUTION CAFE & BAR
8:45p – Girl Band/K&K ENT (indoors)
9:30p – See Rock City (outdoors)
10:15p – Stout City Luchadores (indoors)
10:45p – Only Beast (outdoors)
11:30p – Modern Convenience (indoors)
12:15a – Skyacre Spyplane (outdoors)
1:00a – The Ex-Optimists (indoors)
SATURDAY, MAY 19TH @ REVOLUTION & STAGECENTER
6:30p – ASS (Revolution)
7:00p – Sea Of Wolves (Stagecenter)
7:30p – Mike The Engineer (Revolution)
8:00p – Rubela Muti (Stagecenter)
8:30p – Strike Threagles (Revolution)
9:00p – Labs (Stagecenter)
9:30p – The Stand Alones (Revolution)
10:00p – Modok (Stagecenter)
10:30p – Come And Take It (Revolution)
11:00p – Chelsea Hotel (Stagecenter)
11:30p – Lee Bucker & The River Bends (Revolution)
12:00a – Venomous Maximus (Stagecenter)
12:30a – Cavegirl (Revolution)
1:00a – Alkari (Stagecenter)
1:30a – The Hangouts (Revolution)
For more info: http://www.bcsloudfest.com
Nations Afire release new video for “I Am An Army”
Nations Afire have released a new video for their track “I am an army” which is off their upcoming debut “The Ghosts We Will Become” which will be out later this year.
The band features members of Ignite, Rise Against, and Death By Stereo.
Website: http://www.nationsafire.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NationsAfireOfficial
Twitter (Entire link please): http://www.twitter.com/nationsafire
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/NationsAfire
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/nationsafire
LastFM: http://www.last.fm/music/Nations+Afire
SoundCloud: http://soundcloud.com/nations-afire
PureVolume: http://www.purevolume.com/nationsafire
