How My Evening Went

I went to see Mingo Fishtrap perform on the patio at Central Market this evening. It was a really nice night - it didn't feel as absurdly hot as it has for most of the last several months - and, as a result, the show was really crowded. At one point, while I was dancing with Bree, we noticed that there was a very tall clown in the middle of the dance floor - whiteface, big colourful suspenders, large trousers - the whole bit. Well, I thought, that's a little weird. And creepy.

Suddenly, between the time the song ended and the time we got back to our table, the entire patio was filled with clowns. Dozens of clowns, and not half-assed ones either - all of them were in costume of some sort: there was a policeman clown, I recall, another dressed like a football player, a couple of hobo clowns, and the obligatory one done up as the joker. I'd guess there were three or four dozen of them altogether. They milled around the audience and then completely filled the dance floor. One of them briefly danced up against Zandra and Bree. Others formed a conga line. The dance floor became more crowded as other people got out amongst the clowns.

After ten or fifteen minutes, they vanished. I have absolutely no memory of seeing them leave - they were there, and the next minute they were gone. After the band finished the song they were playing, Roger looked out at the audience and said "I would just like to state for the record that I have no idea what just happened."

I love Austin.

This week in the Shack

This weekend marks the four-year anniversary of Katrina's destruction of the Gulf Coast and the subsequent drowning of New Orleans as the levees broke. This week's program encompasses just a small slice of the great variety of music from The Crescent City as a tribute to New Orleans' place as one of the great centers of American music.

There are scores of charities in place to help with the recovery of the Gulf Coast, but if you want to specifically help musicians, you might check out Tipitina's Foundation and The Roots of Music, the latter of which works to keep high-risk middle school children out of crime and violence through music instruction and mentoring. (As a side note, many, if not most, New Orleans public schools do not offer any sort of arts, music, or sports programs post-Katrina because of a lack of funds.)


1. Dr. John - Goin' Back to New Orleans (4:08)
2. Lil' Queenie & The Percolators - My Darlin' New Orleans (4:01)
3. Lee Dorsey - Working in the Coal Mine (2:51)
4. Allen Toussaint - On Your Way Down (3:59)
5. Galactic - Hamp's Hump (3:47)
6. Chuck D/The Dirty Dozen Brass Band - What's Going On? (4:28)
7. Jon Cleary - When U Get Back (Live) (7:32)
8. The Meters - Trick Bag (3:19)
9. Chris Kenner - Land of 1, 00 Dances (2:49)
10. Leigh Harris - Dog Days (5:49)
11. Marcia Ball - That's Enough of That Stuff (6:29)
12. James Booker - Lawdy Miss Clawdy (3:31)
13. Preservation Hall Jazz Band - His Eye Is on the Sparrow (6:11)
14. Kid Ory's Creole Jazz Band - St. James Infirmary (3:19)
15. Sidney Bechet - Careless Love (3:43)
16. The Dirty Dozen Brass Band - John The Revelator (4:39)
17. Dr. John - My Indian Red (4:47)
18. Professor Longhair - Big Chief (3:14)
19. The Neville Brothers - Brother John/Iko Iko (5:36)
20. The Wild Magnolias - Ah Anka Ting Tang Boo Shanka Boo (4:29)
21. Anders Osborne With Monk Boudreaux - Dive In The Gumbo (3:56)
22. Allen Toussaint - Yes We Can Can (4:15)
23. Eddie Bo/Inez Cheatham - Lover and a Friend (2:29)
24. Fats Domino - Be My Guest (2:01)
25. Clarence "Frogman" Henry - Standing in the Need of Love (2:36)
26. Smiley Lewis - Blue Monday (2:43)
27. Diamond Joe - Moanin' and Screamin', Parts 1 & 2 (6:22)
28. Marcia Ball - Louisiana 1927 (6:54)
29. Paul Sanchez - Foot Of Canal Street (3:48)
30. Anders Osborne With Monk Boudreaux - Meet The Boyz On The Battlefront (4:36)
31. The Neville Brothers - Hey Pocky Way (4:13)
32. Jon Cleary - C'mon Second Line (3:21)
33. Kermit Ruffins/ReBirth Brass Band - What Is New Orleans, Pt. 2 (6:25)
34. Dr. John; Lower 911 - We Gettin' There (5:11)
35. Ivan Neville/The New Orleans Social Club - Fortunate Son (5:13)
36. Irma Thomas - Chains of Love (5:07)
37. Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown - Born in Louisiana (3:51)
38. Professor Longhair - Mardi Gras in New Orleans (2:52)
39. Henry Butler - Tee-Nah-Nah (3:48)
40. The Neville Brothers - Will the Circle Be Unbroken (5:15)
41. Zachary Richard - Sunset on Louisianne Interlude : My French Blues [Madame Sosthène] (5:40)
42. Louis Armstrong - Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans? (3:48)

(NOLA 2)

Various bits...

Oh look, a blog post with something other than the radio station's weekly playlist. Here's to it being one of many.

Two local blues bands have new albums coming soon: porterdavis' hits on Sept. 1 (and they have a CD release party at the Saxon Pub this Friday), and The Asylum Street Spankers' new disc comes out on October 6.

Two of my friends, Keith "DJ Big Papa" Shapiro and Jonathan Pechon, have begun a monthly podcast about blues music geared towards blues dancers. The first episode of Confessing the Blues is up at their website, confessingtheblues.com, and is also available directly through iTunes.

Also, if you're a local and are not going to any of the numerous shows on Friday night (and you do check the calendar at the bottom of this blog to see who's playing where, right?), then you should come out to Kick Butt Blues at the Kick Butt Coffee on Airport, as I'm spinning there this Friday with DJ St. Patrick from 9pm to 1am-ish.

This week in the Shack

I saw on Facebook that today was move-in day at the dorms at Texas A&M, my alma mater. I still have an abiding love for my college days, and there's a big part of me that wishes I were going back to academe this week, as well, whether as a student or as faculty. This set goes out to everyone who is about to begin their first semester of college, especially the Fightin' Texas Aggie Class of 2013. I hope your time in school is as least as rewarding and as memorable as mine was.

The Reverend Shady Glenn '92

1. Ian Siegal - I'll Fly Away (5:09)
2. Finnegan & Wood - Death Letter (5:28)
3. Koko Taylor - Insane Asylum (4:22)
4. Robert Johnson - Sweet Home Chicago (3:04)
5. Shorty Baker And Doc Cheatam - Night Train (6:42)
6. Christine Kittrell - Sittin' Here Drinking (3:31)
7. Little Walter - Blue Midnight (3:02)
8. Guy Forsyth - Evil Man (8:30)
9. Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble - Tin Pan Alley (AKA Roughest Place in Town) (9:11)
10. Scrapomatic - Raw Head and Bloody Bones (4:30)
11. Matt Tutor, Eric Gales, Derek Trucks - Custard Pie (Revisited) (5:35)
12. North Mississippi Allstars - Mean Ol' Wind Died Down (7:31)
13. Delbert McClinton & Dick50 - Do It (2:48)
14. Buddy Guy - Too Broke to Spend the Night (5:03)
15. Little Walter - Blue Light (3:14)
16. Sonny Boy Williamson - Like Wolf (2:50)
17. Bruce Springsteen - Spirit In The Night (4:58)
18. Ian Siegal - Between The Stirrup And The Ground (5:53)
19. Seth Walker and the Differentials - Landon Davies (3:53)
20. Guy Forsyth - Hometown Boy (4:48)
21. Scrapomatic - Lotus (4:22)
22. Tom Waits - A Sweet Little Bullet from a Pretty Blue Gun (5:36)
23. Anthony David - Cold Turkey (4:38)
24. Malford Milligan - Dark Was the Night (3:00)
25. Spencer Bohren - Wade In The Water (4:33)
26. Guy Forsyth - If I Was Sick (3:42)
27. The Derek Trucks Band - Crow Jane (3:53)
28. Otis Taylor & Cassie Taylor - Sweet Black Angel (4:03)
29. Chris Thomas King - St. James Infirmary (4:38)
30. Lucky Peterson - When My Blood Runs Cold (5:14)
31. Elmore James - The Sky Is Crying (2:48)
32. Little Walter - Lights Out (2:45)
33. Walter "Shakey" Horton - Good Moanin' Blues (4:14)
34. Howlin' Wolf - The Natchez Burnin' (2:09)
35. John Lee Hooker - It Serves You Right to Suffer (5:08)
36. Bob Dylan - Meet Me in the Morning (4:20)
37. Cephas & Wiggins - Seattle Rainy Day Blues (4:12)
38. Big Twist & the Mellow Fellows - Too Much Barbeque (5:43)
39. Rory Block - Sookie Sookie (3:43)
40. Keb' Mo' - Perpetual Blues Machine (3:15)

(blues 23)

This week in the Shack

This week, we turn the spotlight on instrumental soul and funk. I hope you dig it.

1. King Curtis - Memphis Soul Stew (8:22)
2. Orgone - Sophisticated Honky (4:56)
3. Kashmere Stage Band - $$ Kash Register $$ (4:28)
4. Young-Holt Unlimited - Wack Wack (3:01)
5. Booker T. & the MG's - Green Onions (2:54)
6. The Bo-Keys - Seven and 7 (3:47)
7. The Bar-Kays - Soul Finger (2:19)
8. Funk Brothers, The - The Flick - with Earl Van Dyke (4:12)
9. Curtis Mayfield - Junkie Chase [Full Length Version][#][Instrumental] (4:17)
10. Little Beaver - Hit Me With Funky Music (3:42)
11. Steamheat - Ghetto Tool (2:29)
12. Mickey & the Soul Generation - Give Everybody Some [#] (7:02)
13. The Brothers Seven - Evil Ways (3:12)
14. War - Nappy Head (Theme from Ghetto Man) (3:19)
15. Brownout - Barretta (3:23)
16. Booker T. Jones - Hey Ya (3:52)
17. Menahan Street Band - Tired Of Fighting (3:33)
18. Roy Ayers - Pricilla's Theme (3:58)
19. Isaac Hayes - No Name Bar (6:08)
20. King Curtis - Soul Serenade (6:06)
21. Willie Hutch - Chase (2:31)
22. The Meters - Look-Ka Py Py (3:19)
23. The Bo-Keys - Deuce and a Quarter (4:27)
24. Galactic - Crazyhorse Mongoose (4:48)
25. Archie Bell & the Drells - Tighten Up (2:39)
26. The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band - Express Yourself (3:53)
27. The Bamboos - Tobago Strut (4:25)
28. Incredible Bongo Band - Bongolia (2:15)
29. Brownout - Laredo 77 (3:45)
30. El Michels Affair - El Pueblo Unido (3:37)
31. Galactic - Hamp's Hump (3:47)
32. Maceo & the Macks/The J.B.'s - Soul Power '74 (4:11)
33. Menahan Street Band - The Contender (3:51)
34. Funkadelic - Music for My Mother (5:39)
35. Ebony Rhythm Band - Ode to Billy Joe (4:51)
36. Kashmere Stage Band - Aint' No Sushine [Live][#] (4:32)
37. King Curtis - A Whiter Shade of Pale (5:38)
38. Booker T. Jones - Nan (2:07)
39. Young-Holt Unlimited - Soulful Strut (3:01)
40. UB40 - Dance with the Devil (5:43)
41. Nicole Willis & The Soul Investigators - Soul Investigators Theme (2:42)
42. African Music Machine - A Girl In France (2:29)
43. Lyle Workman - SuperWhat? (4:05)
44. The Beginning of the End - Funky Nassau, Pt. 2 (1:59)
45. The Blues Brothers - Rubber Biscuit (2:59)
46. Shirley Scott - Hip Soul (6:31)
47. Booker T. & the MG's - Jellybread (2:27)

This week in the Shack

A wide range of blues this week, from the American South to the United Kingdom and beyond. As always, I hope you dig it.

1. Cuby + Blizzards - Sugar mama (6:29)
2. Aynsley Dunbar - My Whiskey head woman (4:24)
3. Chris Thomas King - Hey Hey What Can I Do (4:09)
4. Porterdavis - Smack You Back (4:15)
5. Ray Wylie Hubbard - Live and Die Rock and Roll (4:29)
6. Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble - Cold Shot (4:01)
7. W.C. Clark - Don't Make Me Pay For His Mistakes (3:43)
8. Etta James - Don't Start Me to Talking (2:52)
9. Coy "Hot Shot" Love - Wolf Call Boogie (2:37)
10. Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee - Rock Island Line (3:18)
11. Cousin Joe - Pullman Porter (3:39)
12. Memphis Slim - Feel Like Screaming and Crying (3:34)
13. Jonny Lang - Still Wonder (3:45)
14. Gary Clark Jr. - Drifting... (3:42)
15. Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble - Lenny (7:13)
16. E.R. Shorts - Panama City Blues (5:41)
17. Albert Castiglia - Big Toe (5:31)
18. Malford Milligan Band - Time Of Dying (6:18)
19. Greg Szlapczynski - Now I Am the Blues (feat. Ian Siegal) (3:46)
20. Spencer Bohren - Wade In The Water (4:33)
21. Otis Taylor - Resurrection Blues (5:59)
22. Popa Chubby - Sweat (5:52)
23. Tom Waits - Romeo Is Bleeding (4:52)
24. Miles Davis - Freddie Freeloader (9:49)
25. Gene Harris - J & G Blues (9:35)
26. Karrin Allyson - Everybody's Cryin' Mercy (3:59)
27. Maria Muldaur - Ain't What you Used To Have (6:00)
28. Dr. John - Milneburg Joys (2:39)
29. Samuel L. Jackson - Stack-O-Lee (3:30)
30. North Mississippi Allstars - Po Black Maddie (4:32)
31. Shawn Mullins - Homeless Joe (2:42)
32. Herbie Hancock/John Mayer - Stitched Up (5:27)
33. John Hammond, Jr. - I'm Tore Down (4:10)
34. Jon Cleary - Groove Me (Live) (6:35)
35. Seth Walker - Leap Of Faith (4:22)
36. Delbert McClinton - Every Time I Roll the Dice (4:27)
37. Omar Kent Dykes & Jimmy Vaughn - Aw Shucks, Hush Your Mouth (4:01)
38. Stan Webb's Chicken Shack - Night Life (6:10)

(blues 22)

This week in the Shack

I deejayed every night for the last three nights, and didn't get time to put a show together for this week. Instead, I'm re-running my show from May 18 of this year, the playlist for which you can find here. I'll have a new show up next week.

For the locals, I'll also be deejaying in the blues room from 10:30-11:30 at the Austin Swing Syndicate's Thursday night dance this week.