News Article The Last Wish (old)

Big Band, Big Press Kit

Ladies and gentlemen, the Rolling Stones! (Yawn…)

By Brad Tyer 

Published: September 15, 1994

Two years into this job now, and I finally went to my first honest-to-God press conference, at the Hard Rock Cafe, to find that, yes, the Rolling Stones (they’re really big, maybe you’ve heard of them) will indeed perform at 7 p.m. Sunday, November 13 at the Astrodome. Tickets cost $30 and $55, which is either a sign that the Stones are being pretty darn reasonable in this season of $100-plus Eagles tickets, or a sign that the old boys have a pretty good idea of their questionable drawing power at the end of that selfsame season. Especially in Houston, where only one show is planned, as opposed to, say, the four in Giants Stadium. Bryan Adams is slated as opening act — which sounded pretty reasonable hearing it in the Hard Rock, but seems kinda crappy now — along with another as-yet-unnamed act that most assuredly won’t be ZZ Top.

If you’re wondering why Pace Concerts bothered with a press conference to announce the most commonplace facts and figures in the rock world, I can’t help you. Maybe they needed to do something with those Biggest Band in the World press kits, copied on 12 different colors of paper and comprising two photos and 78 — count ‘em, 78 — mostly single-sided sheets of Xeroxed press material. Just in case, I suppose, some of us younger critics don’t know who the Stones are.

Local Stuff… When the Big Easy Social and Pleasure Club opened on Kirby earlier this year, the advance verdict from original partner Pete Selin, who was feeling burned-out by his experience with the Bon Ton Room, was no live music. But it’s been several months now since Selin sold his interest in the Big Easy, and remaining owner Tom McClendon still has a taste for the music biz, so that’s why you’ll find the Chris Masterson-hosted Blues Jam holding court every Sunday night, and Houston saxophonist Roger Eckstine and his band holding down a schedule of Thursdays through the end of September. It’s a tight little room, with a tight little dance floor, two pool tables and a well-stocked bar, and if the local musical attractions aren’t enough to get you off the couch, perhaps the news that famed Meters bassist George Porter Jr. and his touring band the Runnin’ Pardners will be stopping in for a show on Friday the 16th. Porter played a barely heralded show at the Easy a month or so back on his way to California, and liked the room so much he’s playing it again on his way home. You missed it last time; don’t do it again.

Come Friday, folk songstress Kimberly M’Carver settles in at the newly remodeled Anderson Fair, while veteran rocker Herschel Berry takes his first turn at Toby Blunt’s Mary Jane’s tavern on Washington. The jazz is free at the Houston Jazz Festival performance at Miller Outdoor Theater, and vocalist Anita Moore, formerly with the Duke Ellington Band, is the featured performer. The Mike Gunn and Bleachbath share a heavy rock bill at Rudyard’s, and Crazykilledmingus, I End Result and Saddlebag should pack ‘em in over at Fitzgerald’s. Zwee and the Graveberries play at Big Dogz Ice House. Meanwhile, the food and groove rockers in Banana Blender Surprise play what should be their last Houston gig, at The Pig “Live” (also remodeled, I’m told, to take that annoying post out of the line of sight), before heading out on a tour that takes them up the East Coast to New York, leading into a mid-October through November stint opening up for stylistic cousin NRBQ’s Midwest tour. Also on Friday, the second Houston show from Rugrash, featuring former Sprawl vocalist/organist Matt Kelly and guitarist Joey Salinas, opening for Joint Chiefs at Emo’s.

As for Saturday, local folkie Eric Taylor plays Anderson Fair, Java Dogs are at Rudz and The Last Wish, having seduced much of the local adult market with its not-harsh take on acoustic rock, takes aim at its contemporaries with a debut at The Abyss. Jazzy saxophophonist Kermit Ruffins isn’t a local, but his label, Justice, is, and so I’ll mention his late-scheduled gig at Ovations Saturday night, even if it does compete with Billy Blues’ stellar and mostly local lineup of Sue Foley, Lavelle White, Carol Fran and Clarence Hollimon, Teddy Morgan and The Moeller Brothers. Saturday night sees the return of the road-tested Carolyn Wonderland and the Imperial Monkeys at Big Dogz. And if that’s not enough local interest for one Saturday night, you can take your pick of three local record releases. Sheila Renfro and Soul Possession celebrate the birth of a tape at Dan Electro’s Guitar Bar, Dead Squad drops a new record at Harvey’s and Feo y Loco have a CD release party for Politically Incorrect — even if it is a tired phrase the Locos have been leaning on for at least two years now — slated for the European Tavern.

If you’re still walking Sunday, Texas Johnny Brown is at Billy Blues, Joe “Guitar” Hughes takes his turn at Funday in the Park, this week in Judson Robinson Park, and the Blunt Family Jam, reportedly now minus slide wizard Frank Frombach, does its regular Sunday night thing at Mary Jane’s. Local fave and I’ll-play-anywhere-anytime trooper Jerry Jeff Walker, by the way, is scheduled at the Yucatan Liquor Stand, which sounds like it might be ugly, but everyone will tell you they had fun.

Monday night, L.A.’s master of bluesy world-beat eclecticism, David Lindley, will play with collaborator Hani Naser at McGonigel’s Mucky Duck, and even though he’s really not local, I didn’t get the news early enough to do a proper write-up, so you find out about it here. Tuesday’s got Alamo Jet Jessie Dayton teamed up with songwriter Jim Lauderdale for a duo performance, also at the Duck, and Herschel Berry’s back at The Pig. Newcomers Canvas play Emo’s, also Tuesday, and on Wednesday, extended for another month of Wednesdays, it’s vibist Harry Sheppard and band at Munchies. Oh, it’s so good to be back.

News Article The Last Wish (old)

Pop Moment

By Brad Tyer 

Published: March 2, 1995

Austinite and former Houston homeboy Jessie Dayton is still being coy about the label deal he’s reportedly on the verge (at press time) of signing, and since we’ve waited this long, I guess I’ll be coy, too, and let the ink dry before spilling the beans, but we know this much: Dayton’s already in someone’s studio putting together the pieces for a debut to consolidate the best of those incessant demos he’s always recording. In the meantime, though, Dayton has put together an interim band for a few one-off live performances. Anyone familiar with Dayton’s work with the Road Kings and the Alamo Jets might be surprised to find that his backing band on recent opening dates for Kelly Willis in San Antonio and the Blasters in Fort Worth comprised Darin Murphy (formerly of Trish and Darin) and Charlie Sanders (ex-Missiles). Sanders plays electric and upright bass, Murphy sits behind the drum kit and Dayton riffs on table steel and Telecaster. Opening for the Blasters at Fort Worth’s Caravan of Dreams, Dayton, Murphy and Sanders reportedly drew a standing ovation. Dayton either can’t or won’t say what the lineup of his post-debut touring band will look like, or whether Sanders and Murphy will be involved, only that “We were hanging out, writing songs and just fucking off, so we decided to play a few gigs. And we’re gonna do some more shows, let’s put it that way.” Nothing confirmed yet, but Dayton’s hoping to bring the trio to Houston in the near future, so keep an eye out.

It’s Nice to be Recognized… Flip through a copy of the March issue of Request music magazine at your local Stop N Go or Sam Goody record shop, and you might be surprised to find a little recommendation column called “The Request List,” which, if you read it, will recommend Houston’s own Beat Temple and the band’s Lemon and Honey cassette. “Sly Stone meets Seal with a kind of Earth Wind and Fire peace/love vibe. Beat Temple uses rich arrangements and uplifting lyrics, and the album’s liner notes call for peace in new Third World countries and the inner cities,” writes Request art director Scott Anderson. I showed the clip to Temple keyboardist Rick, since he happens to live upstairs, and he’d never heard of Request. He just stood there shaking his head, wondering how in hell some art director got his hands on Beat Temple’s tape. I finally had to tell him to leave. It just goes to show you: good press contacts can take you a long way.

South by Southwest is creeping its way around again, with the industry brouhaha scheduled for March 15-19 in Austin. Sugar’s Bob Mould has been announced as the keynote speaker for ‘95, which seems sorta appropriate, since almost all the invited acts are already signed to established labels (or from Austin; apparently the SXSW tradition of relaxing quality standards for the hometown heroes continues). Thirteen Houston acts are clutching invitations — a slight rise over last year’s eight. They are: Big Mello, “Texas” Johnny Brown and the Quality Blues Band, Conscious Man, Crimeboss, Dive, Fliponya, The Jinkies, The Last Wish, Mad Scientist, Manhole, Psyko Ward, The Suspects and Vice Grip. If you haven’t heard of some of these, don’t worry. Neither have I. They’re local rap acts, who are quickly making the hip-hop showcases at SXSW a Houston-dominated event, even if our town can’t get a reasonable cross-section of rock represented to save its life.

The horse they rode in on… When vocalist/frontman/graphic artist Mike Haaga left dead horse late last year, the rumors that the horse had fallen ran wild. Sorry. Come to find out, that rumor had as little basis in fact as the polite civilities shoveled to the press by both camps when Haaga and the band split. At the time, Haaga said he felt the band had stalled, and remaining members Allen Price, Greg Martin and Ronnie Guyote sent out a press release claiming an amicable split over artistic differences. Very polite. Now, though, dead horse has recruited singer/guitarist Scott Sevall — formerly with Austin band Force Fed — and shuffled Martin to frontman position. The band is in Deep Dot Studios with Sound Virus’ Darryl Menken, recording a six-song shopping demo, and they debuted the new lineup with a 25-minute set at the Abyss last Saturday night. Now, Price is willing to tell his side of what happened, which boils down quite simply to his claim that Haaga left the group after demanding complete musical control and being denied. But if Price still harbors a drop of residual anger toward Haaga, he’s got a small sea of it to dump on former dead horse manager Tom Bunch. “He thought Mike was the backbone behind the band. Tom won’t even return our calls anymore, and that’s sad, because to work with him we fired two real good friends of ours. And he won’t even return our calls anymore.”

dead horse is scheduled to play April 1 at the Urban Art Bar, and March 4 in College Station on a bill with Planet Shock! and Dive, though I hear that Dive has now inexplicably, regrettably, perhaps necessarily, but for some stupid reason changed its name to Osmona.

– Brad Tyer

News Article The Last Wish (old)

The Lame and the Great

Lists you’ve been waiting all year for, in no particular order

By Brad Tyer 

Published: December 22, 1994

It seems to be that time of year again, when nobody’s playing, and nobody’s touring and the music editor is trying his damnedest to squeeze out some blob of easy copy early so he can grab a few extra days over Christmas at the grandparents’ house, where he’ll futilely try to convince them that, yes, “music editor” is a real job.

It’s a time for year-end countdowns and best-ofs and other assorted journalistic cutesies. I list what I remember of the best, worst and notable of the year and offer comment so that you can read it on the toilet or at Schlotzsky’s, wherever, and nod in knowing agreement, rage in bitter dispute or fall asleep in disinterest.

Happy winter.

Top 23 CDs of 1994

Beastie Boys
Ill Communication / Grand Royal

Lisa Germano
Geek the Girl / 4AD

Pete Droge
Necktie Second / American

Alison Krauss and the Cox Family
I Know Who Holds Tomorrow / Rounder

Sir Mix-a-Lot
Chief Boot Knocka / American

Iris DeMent
My Life / Warner Brothers

Michael Petak
Pretty Little Lonely / Slash

Buddy Guy
Slippin’ In / Silvertone

Liz Phair
Whip-Smart / Matador

Hole
Live Through This / DGC

Jack Logan
Bulk / Medium Cool

Soul Coughing
Ruby Vroom / Slash

Nirvana
Unplugged in New York / DGC

Cotton Mather
Cotton is King / Elm

Vince Bell
Phoenix / Watermelon1/4

K. McCarty
Dead Dog’s Eyeball: Songs of Daniel Johnston Bar/None

Johnny Cash
American Recordings / American

Ted Hawkins
The Next Hundred Years / DGC

Guided by Voices
Bee Thousand / Matador

Moe Tucker
Dogs Under Stress / Sky Records

Maleem Mahmoud Ghania with Pharoah Sanders
The Trance of Seven Colors / Axiom

The Jesus Lizard
Down / Touch and Go

Pavement
Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain / Matador

Ten Singles Worth Cranking the Radio For…

Tom Petty
“Mary Jane’s Last Dance” –
Out-Dylans Dylan, or close enough.

The Offspring
“Self-Esteem” — Better than “Lola.”

Salt n Pepa and En Vogue
“What a Man” — Sassy, sassy and
more sassy.

Mazzy Star
“Fade Into You” — Mmmm…

Meat Puppets
“Backwater” — Guiltless Skynard.

Beastie Boys
“Sabotage” — “Saturday Night’s Alright for Fightin’” for the Lollapalooza crowd.

The Flaming Lips
“She Don’t Use Jelly” — The most beautifully unexpected thing I’ve ever heard on FM radio.

Beck
“Loser” — Freshest thing on the radio in years.

Nine Inch Nails
“Animal” — Bold and disturbing.

Thirteen Singles Not Worth
Spitting On…

Nine Inch Nails
“Animal” — Disturbing and tiresome.

Beck
“Loser” — Got old fast.

Green Day
“Basket Case” — Awfully catchy, but the words suck.

R.E.M.
“What’s the Frequency, Kenneth?” — Nothing ickier than R.E.M. slumming.

The Murmurs
“You Suck” — No, dear, I didn’t put any dust on your guitar, though I wish you’d put it in a closet.

Sheryl Crow
“Santa Monica Boulevard” — A friend says she’s pretty sure the sun can’t come up over Santa Monica Boulevard, that it runs the wrong way, and I hate the song enough to take her word for it.

The Cranberries
“Zombie” — Season’s open, and creatures who make that sound are begging for buckshot.

Henry Rollins
“Liar” — Smug, stupid and boring.

Collective Soul
“Shine” — Enemas should be practiced in private.

Gin Blossoms
“Hey Jealousy” — Didn’t I slag this last year in this space? Why am I still hearing it?

Urge Overkill
“Girl, You’ll be a Woman Soon” — Only proves that Neil Diamond is cooler than his flatterers, which isn’t much of a point.

Blind Melon
“No Rain” — Wussy crap somewhere between Supertramp and Yes, which is hell.

Anything by Candlebox
I listen to all the Toy Subs I want, right here in town.

Top 12 Local CDs

de Schmog
Kiddie Wonderland / Disclexington

Odd Squad
Fadanuf Fa Erybody / Rap-a-Lot

The Last Wish
The First of February / Royal Blue Productions

Joe LoCascio Trio
Silent Motion / Tafford

Dive
Exhibit A / Pulse Productions

dead horse
Feed Me / DHO

Dyn@mutt
A Handbook for Young Scientists/farrago

Rocky Hill
Midnight Creepers/Collectables

The Mike Gunn
Almaron/Double Naught

Scarface
The Diary/Rap-a-Lot

Manhole
Manhole/Direct Hit

Dave Catney
Reality Road/Justice

15 Concerts That Made It All Worthwhile

Nine Inch Nails at The Summit

The Rolling Stones at the Astrodome

Alison Krauss at the Fabulous Satellite Lounge

The Missiles farewell show at the Fabulous Satellite Lounge

Linus at Rudyard’s

Pharoah Sanders at Miller Outdoor Theatre

George Porter Jr. at the Big Easy

The Harry Sheppard Band at the Houston Press Music Awards

Alejandro Escovedo at McGonigel’s Mucky Duck

Storyville at the Fabulous Satellite Lounge

Stomp at the Wortham Center

Frank Sinatra at Jones Hall

Sincola and the Wannnabes at Fitzgerald’s

Ted Hawkins at the Fabulous Satellite Lounge

Keenlies at Rudyard’s

One Song That Made It All Worthwhile
Linus’ “Linus Theme,” with its repetitive sludgerock riff and choked vocal refrain — “We are not Black Sabbath” — encapsulates all that is good and true in Houston music, and still manages to be absurd in all the right ways. If this thing wasn’t born to be a vinyl 7-inch, nothing ever was. If only the band would release it.

Worst Blows to Local Musical Culture
The untimely deaths of pianist and jazz catalyst Dave Catney, and SumArts president Lanny Steele.

Best Thing to Happen to Local Musical Culture
One-time Austin honky-tonker Mary Cutrufello’s move to Houston.

Most Irrelevant Thing to Happen to Local Musical Culture
Onetime local label Sector II’s move to Austin.

Real Life Rock and Roll Top Six
1. Goat’s Head Soup blew up one night, providing fireworks for all lower Westheimer. Word quickly spread that arson was to blame, and short weeks later an owner/investor was arrested for torching his own nightclub, providing one of the dumbest pseudo mob scenarios to hit Houston’s music scene in recent memory. Booking puppet-master Pace found a new home at the Urban Art Bar, and life goes on.

2. Longtime Houston Chronicle rock critic Marty Racine quit his music-writing gig, perhaps in response to his advancing (in rock crit terms) age — a quality noted last year in this same space with the announcement of Marty’s Heights Area Lawn of the Month victory. Since then, he’s popped up writing about snake handlers and displaced country folk, and when certain rock shows come through town, the Chron pulls him out of retirement to pitch in his two-cents worth, as when he noted in a review of Crosby, Stills and Nash that “Love the One You’re With” might have been the worst piece of advice the hippies ever got. More or less gone, but not forgotten.

3. Backstage at this year’s Houston Press Music Awards, in a moment of fear that the proceedings had grown boring, I asked members of the Odd Squad, who were about to go on-stage, to, you know, liven things up a little. They did. Walked onto the stage, did their thing, sparked at least six fat joints, puffed some and tossed some into the front rows. HPD officer and public relations dreamboy Ken Weiner considerately turned his back to the proceedings, and my KLOL cohost rushed into action, fairly screaming that, ohmigod, somebody’s got to stop them. Nobody did, and a bunch of people got a free stoning at the Music Awards, which I thought was pretty great.

4. Nine Inch Nails played at The Summit with the Jim Rose Circus Sideshow and Marilyn Manson. When NIN frontman Trent Reznor finally hit the stage after a Halloween night buildup of suspense, hundreds of angsty kids dressed like Brandon Lee’s Crow rushed the flimsy barricades and flowed onto the floor. The mass-scale stage rush is a noble but dying tradition, and for a moment, it made me believe all over again.

5. Pink Floyd came to Rice Stadium for a rare appearance, giving me the opportunity to write what amounted to a personal essay about my own sick relationship with that band’s music. Little did I expect that guitarist and frontman by default David Gilmour would read the article, take personal offense and instruct his tour publicist to contact me and ask for my impressions after the show. Luckily for me, forces conspired to make the show a success, but Gilmour’s sensitivity struck me as touching. And just about what you’d expect from a man who had to employ professional lyrical assistance to write a song about his own inability to communicate.

6. Kurt Cobain capped himself with a 12-gauge, sparking a million tributes of varying quality and cementing Nirvana’s place in the mass-cult rock pantheon. MTV continues to show Nirvana’s “In Bloom” video, in which Cobain insists that he does not have a gun, while a pistol revolves in space. Every person with even a shred of humanity swallows a painful lump in his throat.

Parting Gifts
For Sector II Records — A band with a chance in hell.
For Sound Virus Records — A band, any band, that will stay.
For Justice Records — Street cred.
For Axiom/Catal HYyYk/Harvey’s — An nth chance.
For the refurbished dead horse — Staying power.
For Banana Blender Surprise — A collective haircut.

For the Houston Blues Society (and the whole city, for that matter) — A statue of Lightnin’ Hopkins in the Third Ward.

For KRQE, Rocket Radio — Something to play during the day that’s half as entertaining as Love Phones at night.

For the Houston Music Council — Something to do.
For all Houston music venues — A sense of adventure.
For all Houston bands — More places to play, and more people to listen.
For Courtney Love — Evan Dando.
For Billy Corgan — A swift kick in the ass.

For anyone with taste — A membership in the Society to Eradicate Sheryl Crow.

News Article The Last Wish (old)

Deep-Sixed at 101

KLOL to McKenzie: Donna, you ain’t no rock and roll mama!

By Brad Tyer 

Published: June 9, 1994

Afternoon drive-time radio listeners might have noticed the absence of one Donna McKenzie from the KLOL/101 FM airwaves starting a week ago Wednesday, but they probably didn’t receive the press release KLOL faxed to my desk that very same June 1. Here it is, FYI: “Pat Fant, general manager of KLOL-FM, and Donna McKenzie, KLOL afternoon drive air personality and producer of the New Texas Radio show, jointly announced today that Ms. McKenzie will no longer provide professional services on behalf of KLOL, effective immediately. Both Mr. Fant and Ms. McKenzie state that the termination of their agreement was mutual, amicable and in the best interest of both parties.” Seems clear enough, but it doesn’t go far in explaining why McKenzie, with a full 20 months remaining on her contract with KLOL, is so suddenly a non-entity on the Houston airwaves she has graced since 1986 — first as a jock at KZFX/107.5, and since early 1993 at KLOL.

According to McKenzie, who emphasizes, as per the press release, the mutual amicability of her departure, recently hired KLOL program director Andy Beaubien didn’t feel that McKenzie’s laid-back presentation carried the proper punch for KLOL’s target market. Or: “I wasn’t his idea of an 18-to-34 rock and roll mama.” Beaubien had suggested moving McKenzie to a nighttime slot — an option declined by McKenzie, whose contract apparently stipulated the coveted afternoon drive-time slot. Fant, listed on the press release as a source of further details, failed to return my calls.

So KLOL bought out McKenzie’s contract for an undisclosed sum that McKenzie will describe only as “more generous than the terms of my contract called for, and very gratifying.”

“Their decision was based on a matter of direction and a matter of style,” she says. “It’s clearly established that it’s not in relation to my performance” — which, according to McKenzie, includes recent number-one ratings in the relevant demographics. “The way in which they honored my contract and settled our agreement was a real testament to our mutual professional respect. I’m very happy with the way it was settled. In fact, I’m a little giddy. I’m gonna go to Disneyland.”

But while the newly free and presumably solvent McKenzie frolics with Mickey, decidedly un-laid-back rock and roll mama and KLOL personality Outlaw Dave Andrews has taken over the drive-time shift, and McKenzie’s Sunday night New Texas Radio program, of which McKenzie retains ownership, is off the air. In case you care about such things, the only program left on the commercial airwaves to feature local music is 107.5’s Sunday night Made in Texas — itself a McKenzie legacy. Oh well…

Independent filmmakers Robert Crow and Stephanie Granader make up Big Productions, and if you’ve yet to hear of that particular organization, you may want to find a spot in the audience at Fitzgerald’s on Friday the 10th, when camera crews will be in the house filming a set by Houston’s seven-piece The Last Wish. Bee Stung Lips and Austin’s Panic Choir are also on the bill.

Crow’s idea is a simple but good one: a weekly program on Channel 8 spotlighting up-and-coming local talent. The Last Wish segment will be the first of three segments that Crow hopes to develop into a regular series in co-production with KUHT under the name And the Beat Goes On. The idea got its start last year when Crown and company shot Global Village in a pilot for the pilot, which gained the interest and support of PBS. Crow is presently looking to nail down funding for the series, which could, with any luck at all, begin airing as early as August. Also tentatively scheduled for filming are the Poppeacocks June 17 and 30footFALL July 8, both at Fitz. Wear your clean clothes, folks.

Evolution: Mike Gunn guitarist and Charalambides co-founder Tom Carter is reportedly shedding one skin by bailing out of the Gunn on the heels of that band’s recent Almaron release, leaving the guitar-heavy Gunn six strings short. Word has it that Carter wanted to concentrate on Charalambides, which plays Harvey’s with the Dave Dove/Paul Winstanley Duo every Sunday.

Local Stuff: Upcoming Press Music Awards Best Traditional/Ethnic Music nominee (you get all the scoops here) Wyndnwyre plays the Mucky Duck on a locally slow Thursday night, and if you’re one of those idiots like me who just don’t know much about what these folks do, now’s as good a time as any to take yourself to school. For you dropouts, Spunk’s at Emo’s Thursday night, while Eardrum and David Rice do Goat’s Head Soup.

Friday night, things pick up a bit with Joint Chiefs opening the Medeski, Martin and Wood show (see Critic’s Choice) at Harvey’s, Jessie Dayton’s Alamo Jets landing at the Duck, and hippie-rockers Zwee and the Graveberries, who tell me they’ve added new members since sending me their demo, grooving at Rudyard’s. Willis and Sad Pygmy are scheduled for Laveau’s, and Vice Grip opens the Crowbar/Varga show at the Abyss. Saturday night, guit-slinging phenom Chris Masterson performs opening honors for Austin blues diva Lou Ann Barton at the Satellite, and Smile 69 starts the show for 30ought6 and Alcohol Funnycar at Harvey’s. Shake Russell and Jack Saunders do two sets at the Duck, and the Flaming Hellcats give it another vatobilly go-round at Rudz. The Healers play the Ale House, and 30footFALL, Blueprint and Underwood are slated for Fitz. Meanwhile, Bleachbath sets a heavy tone for the Killdozer/Steel Pole Bathtub gig at Toad’s, and Man or God opens for Genitorturers at the Abyss.

Sunday afternoon has the Summertime Freak Festival at the European Tavern, with Retarted Elf, Organ Grinders and Ed Hall supported by locals Taste of Garlic, the Blunt Family and Dixie Waste. Show starts at noon, so don’t stay out too late. Sunday night’s got Dethkultur BBQ at the Blue Iguana. Till Tuesday — when you can catch Skillit at Toad’s — that’s about the extent of it, locally.