The Listener – Silent
I almost never turn on my TV anymore. I watch TV shows streamed over the Internet. It’s like having a DVR without needing a DVR. Mostly I watch on Hulu, but sometimes on SyFy (recent rebranding of SciFi) or CBS or Boxee.
I’ve been watching The Listener recently. Like most shows, the new episodes show up in my queue the day after they aired and I can watch them whenever I like. Recently 5 episodes showed up all at once.
It didn’t take much research to find out that NBC had cancelled it in the US. It a fairly tired premise, so I’m not too surprised, but I’ll likely watch out the half season at my leisure.
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Houston Press Music Awards Showcase 2009
Once again the Houston Press Music Awards Showcase is bringing the best live music value for your buck to a summer Sunday afternoon in downtown Houston. $10 for 5 hours of music from a variety of ~50 bands.
What’s up with all the capital letters and spaces? I talking to you, B L A C K I E (how do you google that?), dUNETX, D.R.U.M., i N D I G I N I S, and MELOVINE.
Okay, my off-my-lawn moment is over. Time for me to complain about the Houston Press’ inability to make print a grid when they plan a festival style review. I’ve been complaining about that since I was young! (well, i only could find the post from two years ago, but i’ve had that complaint for much longer!)
So, I got off my duff and made it for them again. You can grab it from this google doc. Some special care has been take for distance between venues because I’m still hobbling on a bad ankle with a cane. (Ideas for improvements welcome.)
Random Notes:
The Blaggards have a Google Map of all their concerts.
The Paul Beebe showcase is 6 – 9 at Hard Rock Cafe. Beetle plays every Thursday happy hour at the Continental Club if you want some near-end-week Beatles covers. Katey Stucky is a great singer. I caught her last year at the Showcase.
RÖCBAR – (you really should pronounce it rook-bar for being over pretentious) has the curse word showcase capped with a 70s influences rock fusion band (Spain Colored Orange).
Red Cat Jazz Café – they usually have the lighter fare. It’s a nice place to catch a casual show, but very poorly laid out for people coming in and out constantly, which they will be on Sunday. Me with a cane means I will totally avoid it.
Martell’s – A new name to me, on the north end of Main Street. With the Tontons and the Blaggards ending things up, it’s sure to be a crowded spot. Both are great shows.
ISIS – Located in a spot that continues to fail for restaurants and bars on Main @ Prairie. Ryan Scroggins is an offshoot of the Skarnales clan and I enjoy their Mexi-ska-country groove. They surprised the locals out at Big Al’s crawfish boil in Trinity and put on a great show.
Flying Saucer – Last year it was a crazy end of the evening scene in there, will see if D.R.U.M. gets the place as cranked up. Sean Reefer is just one of THE best Country musicians writing country music (instead of Arena Pop with a Hat). He’s usually on the German Country Charts (which are sizable – those whacky Germans). Bonus: Texas pints are on sale on Sundays.
House of Blues – There’s been a lot of mutual stroking since this mammoth moved to town. I have yet to make it to this venue and have heard 5 bad things for each good one. The inability to keep hydrated without a financial backer is the main complaint I hear. Hopefully this weekend will give me a chance to change those second hand impressions. Nick Gaitan’s wonderful melange of music, Umbrella Man will be playing there. They close this place with Los Skarnales and Sideshow Tramps! This will be the place to be. Both of these bands put on extremely high energy shows, and when they’re only given 45 minutes … beware!
Now time to go read about the bands I don’t know to see who I’ll try to introduce myself to this year.
The Houston Press does a lot of work and puts on a great show. All my complaints are really minor (well, there have been years where some venues were unlistenable – that’s a major problem – but not recently).
Another complaint I have is: what does it cost to get a beer in this place?!
Some places have $2 Lone Star or $3 (uhg) Bud Light. But some venues (hey, speaking of that, what happened to The Venue?) have only liquor drinks, $6.50 crap beer, and $5 8 oz. Coke. One of the deals of “We’re gonna bring you a crowd on Sunday of new people who aren’t familiar with your place” should be you have to have one cheap beer available for the patrons, and if you sell out of $3 MGD by 5:45, you have to sell some of your precious Dos Equis, et. al for cheap. Houston Press, force it!
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G-phone
I still don’t have a cell phone, but I do have a new number. Google voice. You should be able to leave a message below. This crazy technology world!
MyLife FAIL
If you’re going to run an ad on Facebook (see screenshot to the right …) you should maybe finish high school, or in lieu of that hire someone who can spell. ”See who searched for your [sic] instantly with mylife!
So, whoever you are, MyLife (I didn’t click through to find out), consider this your gratis copy edit for the day. I would take payment from you in the form of getting off my Facebook page.
And by-the-way, “who searched for you”? Is this junior high school? If someone was searching for me with the intent of contacting me, they already did. If someone searched for me for any other reason, it’s just another data-point for how bad Reality Television is these days. (When you have to resort to googling Bill, you have sunk fairly low.)
And apparently the person who’s been searching for you? Skinny, blond, hangs outside the door smoking next to a trash can. You really want to know who it is!
Cent Aware
I guess it’s been off my numismatic radar, but a few days ago I ended up with two shiny pennies with new reverse sides (the obverse side is the same it’s been since 1909). Using as an excuse the 200th anniversary of Lincoln’s birth, they have create four new images to put on the reverse. Look for them in a pocket near you.
This all leads me to wonder how much longer the penny will endure.
