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pensed out. As great a video as that was is that the visual story you all had in mind when writing the lyrics? OMAM: I think that the story behind the lyrics is quite different from the video. When we were told that a video was going to be made we all sat down and came up with an idea for how it should look, what happened next took us by surprise. A production company from Canada took our idea and spun it in a whole new direction. At first we really did not know what to think but soon we came to embrace the look and feel of the video as it fits the mentality of why we write music, so people can have their own interpretation of what the lyrics mean to them. We were really happy with the results and that same company is actually working on our new video as well. STEAM: Iceland has a history of providing some really unique and quirky storytellers such as yourself and Bjork. What is it about your homeland that fuels such imagination? OMAM: It’s funny that whenever we mention where we are from the name Bjork immediately comes to mind which is fine because we are fans of her music as well. I think the goal is to also bring light to the vibrant music scene there is back home so maybe when people mention the name Iceland our name comes up as well (laughing). I don’t know if there is an iconic sound from Iceland or not, if there is it would be probably something like reverb (laughing).
STEAM: Your lyrics are very akin to old fairytales, telling a story through your songs. As every band wants to build a connection with their fans through those lyrics one has to wonder what kind of weird interpretations of your songs fans have brought up to you. Has that ever happened, an out of this world interpretation that took the story STEAM: As far as influences do you credit that more from the in a direction you could not conceive? music you’ve heard coming from the U.K. or stateside? OMAM: I’m not sure, it seems like every time someone tells us their OMAM: I think it came from both sides because we are kind of in own version there are always similar elements and I think that’s a the middle between Europe and America. Growing up the music credit to the style to which the songs were written. Every culture has came from the area around us but as we grew up our taste extheir own boogeyman I guess, they might not look the same but panded to the states which I think is only natural nowadays. I they all share similar traits. credit that to the fact that stations in Iceland tend to mix in music STEAM: As you have proven yourselves to be quite the ones to tell a story I have to ask if anyone ever approached the band to inquire about scoring a soundtrack to either a live action or animated motion picture?
from all over the globe which is nice.
STEAM: You decided to co-produce the new album, did you feel you had to so that the band would have a say in the creative process and now that you have that experience are you looking OMAM: No one has come to us yet but we’ve all talked about the to produce the album all by yourself next time around? idea internally. I OMAM: Today I think bands need to be more involved in the think that our production of their albums and while I think we might produce the style most fits a entire album the next go around I will say we had a lot of fun with cool animated our producer this time and he really listened to and worked with movie. For now us to put out a great album. our screen time is just in regards STEAM: That being said, with six members in the band do you a to bringing out feel a producer might be beneficial considering the level of input lyrics to life in there now is? our music vide- OMAM: I think that the good thing about adding more members is os, let’s hope it that you have more creative influence but sometimes we don’t proves to be agree on things, thankfully we’ve been able to solve those disgood practice putes internally for now but I see your point that a producer might (Laughing). provide some assistance, we’ll just have to see what the future STEAM: Let’s holds. stay in that vein for a second. Your video for “Little Talks” stands out with great production quality in a time where music videos are becoming ex-
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CONTENTS SOUTH TEXAS
ENTERTAINMENT
ART
MUSIC
8 EVENT CALENDAR
9 CALENDAR
15 RIGHT AT
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22 3RD COAST FOODIE
12 ALEBRIJES FOLKART 16 THE ART OF VINYL: ED BOYD
26 CD REVIEWS
HOME: MAX STALLING
18 & 19 REGGAE ROCKERS 20 CHEAP TRICK 24 JON WOLFE
PUBLISHER RUSTY HICKS EDITOR TAMMA HICKS
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CONTRIBUTING WRITERS BUBBA JONES, SUE DONAHOE, BILL JONES, J MICHAEL DOLAN
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SLOW DANCING / J. Michael Dolan (0:39) The urgency to choose and the pressure to decide can be overwhelming and stressful. I feel the rush too. The rush to complete, the press to finish, the race to make a buck, the need to get that great idea out of my head and into my computer—before I lose it. To finally arrive at “a fait accompli,” so I can get on with the next thing. That urgency is consistent with who we all are—a bunch of crazy, creative, genius artists & independent entrepreneurs!
STEAM Magazine is proud to have J Michael Dolan as a columnist.
However, in a world of ever increasing speed, I think it’s ok to slow down too. In fact I think it’s smart to do so. You can still feel excited, still meet every deadline, still move forward with velocity, just move thru it all in “slower” motion. Think slow. Talk slow. Move slow. Act slow. Whether it’s a song, a script, a book, a conversation, a start up, or a big corp meeting, slow is ok. And ignore those who would accuse you of procrastinating, they’re not the same. Procrastination is fueled with doubt and uncertainty, which leaves you frozen in indecision. Slow is fueled with intelligence and skill, and laced with careful consideration—and leaves you open to all possibilities.
“We Are Slow Dancing In A Burning Room” —John Mayer
KILLING THE GOOD STUFF / J. Michael Dolan (0:27) My short blogs never start out short. They begin with a page or two of everything I want to say about a subject. Then after cutting, editing, trimming and trashing what I most often think is important, a tight paragraph begins to emerge that best represents an idea I want to share with you. Writers know that writing is rewriting. Musicians know that composing is re-phrasing, and CEO's know that continuous trial & error eventually produces the desired result. You just have to be willing to go through the wrenching process of letting go of that which you love for that which you think is best, or right, or for the greater good of the work. Not every great song makes it on the album, and no creative artist or trep says the process of “killing the good stuff” is easy.
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Isolation Booth By Bubba Jones Bubba has produced local and national artists and contributed his knowledge and expertise to Grammy award-winning artists, producers and engineers. In our last talk, we discussed how to better use our varied studio resources to get our project completed with the best OUR money could buy. For most of us that means limits folks, I say LIMITS! So now that we got the general idea of how to use our studio community’s assets based on need, we need to get to some specifics about how to make the difficult choices about time, money and quality. Our budget equals time + space + quality of both, over time. Confusing? It should be, until you lay it out on paper and take a step back. In doing so we see the conflicts of the beliefs we hold as individuals and in group settings. One important distinction is whether or not more time in a less equipped studio equals a better project. Another is, does a higher quality studio and engineer ultimately require less time, provide a better recording and possibly at a lower cost? These are powerful questions whose answer can vary greatly depending on the in individual or group. So, what kind of individual or group are you? Let’s narrow the discussion to two distinct ways of being. The first is an artist that if fully prepared at every level to record. This person or group has all their charts worked out, musicians are rehearsed and they have a command over their intent. This person understands the power of organized effort and is ready to work with the engineer and studio to get the desired result. For this artist, the spending two years two record the project will not affect the outcome. There will be very little time “in studio” spent on development. This artist is better suited to take advantage of a professional studios capabilities than an artist who needs time in the recording process to “make up their mind” about which direction they ultimately will go. A great example of this is The RJ Knapp & Honey Robin band (http://www.rjknapp.com/) . This blues/rock group is fronted by an eclectic guitarist/vocalist in RJ and the technical vocal mastery of Honey Robin. Their songs came in complete, the band drummed by Rick Bowen and Rob Baker on bass, were well rehearsed and the end result was clear in each person’s mind before they stepped into the studio. Most all the time went into the mix because of the time saved in tracking as a result of their professionalism and preparedness. To have spent a year developing their sound would have proved fruitless. It was all captured in the first week! In this case preparation allowed the band to move up the studio food chain and record in a large format studio that produced the sound they were looking for in a fraction of the time. The second is the artist who needs to set with their music as the process moves along. Time for change and refinement is a part of the creative process. This artist is much better suited to use a variety of spaces to reach their goal. With the production of the Furniture Girls upcoming release (www.furnituregirls.com), the process divided between 5 studios. The drums and related scratch tracks were recorded at ContactCreate Studio North, guitars at Jason Lightfoots Triskelia Studios, bass at Jim Watkins Last Drop Studios, vocals with Steve Feasley at ContactCreate Studio West and finally mixed at Michael Cozzi’s Moscozzi Music. The time frame for this production spans over a year to deal with the both the live and sequenced melding of this multi-layered project, while paying special attention to capturing the dynamic vocal performances of Stacey Meyer, whose power of delivery is equally matched by the sensitivity of her more intimate moments behind the mic. This much time in a large format studio would have been impossible and the overall time was truly needed to develop the final product. Without this time, the project would have been different.
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These two examples are extremes on the ends of the spectrum, but absolutely the best way to for each group to get “what they wanted” in the end. So, do your best to honestly assess what your needs are based on your way of getting it done. Run these options by the band members to get a sense of how they see the process unfolding. Be careful to listen closely and sum the responses with honesty and accuracy. This will have you create the most productive process and net you the most satisfying result.
JUNE CONCERT CALENDAR SAT JUNE 1ST
Austin $66 + 302
Kelly Willis & Bruce Robinson Gruene Hall New Braunfels $20
Joe Ely The Belmont Austin $25 +30
Joe Ely Sam's Burger Joint San Antonio $20 + 25 Music Benefit Zeros Hard Rock Club Corpus Cristi BoDeans The Bemont Austin $20 Adv + 25
MON JUNE 3RD Of Monsters and Men w/ Half Moon Run Stubbs Austin $35+$40 Hurt W/ Rightous Vendetta, Resz, & More Zeros Hard Rock Club Corpus Christi $12
THR JUNE 6TH Fayuca W/ Cassette Tape House of Rock Corpus Christi $10 Los Amigos Invisibles The Belmont Austin $21 + 25
FRI JUNE 7TH Juanes Pharr Event Center Pharr $50 + 70 Trust No One, Anger, Dirigirl, Haze Warden, & More Zeros Hard Rock Club Corpus Christi Peter Frampton & Robert Cray Austin City Limits
SAT JUNE 8TH Mumford & Sons Austin 360 Amphitheater Austin $75 + 642 James McMurtry W/ Lincoln Durham Gruene Hall New Braunfels $12 Porter Robinson Emo's Austin $25 + 30 Bob Schneider Whitewater Amphitheater New Braunfels $18 + 665
SUN JUNE 9TH
$12
$75
Randy Rogers Band Whitewater Amphitheater New Braunfels $18 + 739
Volton, Through Plutonian, & More Zeros Hard Rock Club Corpus Christi
Gabriel Iglesias ABC Arena Corpus Christi $29 + 67
The Dirty Heads The Belmont Austin $25
SUN JUNE 16TH
Tim McGraw ABC Arena Corpus Christi $32 + 66
Caifanes Stubbs Austin $50 + 60
SAT JUNE 22ND
She And Him Austin City Limits Austin $64 + 157
Tricky W/ Royal Canoe Stubbs Austin $20 + 22
MON JUNE 17TH
Micky & The Motorcars W/ Cody Jinks Gruene Hall New Braunfels $12
Building 429 Pharr Event Center Pharr $12 + $43
TUE JUNE 18TH
Mumford & Sons Austin 360 Amphitheater Austin $56 + 642
Pat Benatar AT&T Center San Antonio $35 + 75
THR JUNE 13TH
WED JUNE 19TH
Stoney LaRue Brewster Street Ice House Corpus Christi $13Adv + $15
Rotteness, Psychotic Regergitation, & More Zeros Hard Rock Club Corpus Christi
SAT JUNE 15TH Wheeler Brothers W/ Whiskey Shivers Gruene Hall New Braunfels
MUST SEE OPENDAILY
Sinbad ABC Selena Corpus Christi $24 + 42
Vince Neil Pharr Event Center Pharr $31.50
Fall Out Boy Stubbs Austin $35+37
Kendrick Lamar W/ Special Guests Whitewater Amphitheater New Braunfels $34 + 842
STEAMMAGAZINE.NET
THR JUNE 20TH Ian Moore and The Lossy Coils Sam's Burger Joint San Antonio $15 + 20
FRI JUNE 21ST Merle Haggard Gruene Hall New Braunfels
Mike Pinto W/ Three Legged Fox & Natural Vibrations House of Rock Corpus Christi $14 Sinbad Pharr Event Center Pharr $20 + 38 Hayes Carll, Bruce Robinson & Kelly Willis Austin City Limits Austin $74 + 408
SUN JUNE 23RD Robert Plant & Sensational Space Shifters Austin City Limits Austin $109 + 548 Nazareth McAllen Convention Center
McAllen $65
SAT JUNE 29TH
MON JUNE 24TH Pitbull & KE$HA AT&T Center San Antonio $40 + 95
Todd Rundgren Gruene Hall New Braunfels $25 Metalachi Brewster Street Ice House Corpus Christi $10
Cheap Trick The Mejestic Theater San Antonio $67 + 311
TUE JUNE 25TH Cyndi Lauper W/ Hunter Valentine Stubbs Austin $37 + 40 Abolishment of Flesh, Fields of Elysium, & More Zeros Hard Rock Club Corpus Christi Cheap Trick Austin City limits Austin $80 + 408
Vesperian Sorrow, Doom Desire, Fall, & More Zeros Hard Rock Club Corpus Christi Stoney LaRue Whitewater Amphitheater New Braunfels $13 + 461 Barry Manilow AT&T Center San Antonio $15 + 125
MON JULY 1ST
WED JUNE 26TH Grandmothers of Invention Stubbs Austin $17 + 20
Burning Slow House of Rock Corpus Christi $7
THINGS TO SEE Artist Cove Gallery Aransas Pass Cost FREE
Todd Rundgren The Belmont Austin $30 + 35
THR JUNE 27TH Granger Smith W/ Green River Ordinance Brewster Street Ice House Corpus Christi $12 Adv + $15
FRI JUNE 28TH Leon Russell Gruene Hall New Braunfels $30 Mud River, Switchblade Jesus, & More Zeros Hard Rock Club Corpus Christi
Felder Art Gallery Show Port Aransas Cost FREE Islander Art Gallery Hamlin Shopping Center Corpus Christi Cost FREE Aurora Arts Theatre Fri-Sun showings Everhart Rd Corpus Christi Cost $12-14 Port Aransas Community Theatre Fri-Sun showings State Hwy 361 Port Aransas Cost 10-30
CC Museum of Science & History; Corpus Christi
Mustang Island State Park; Port Aransas
Texas State Aquarium Corpus Christi
Art Museum of South Texas Downtown Corpus Christi
National Seashore North Padre Island
Alamo Mission San Antonio
USS Lexington; North Beach, Corpus Christi
South Texas Botanical Gardens & Nature Center Corpus Christi
JUNE JUNE EVENT EVENT CALENDAR CALENDAR
MAY 2013 Sun! Best little bar on the Madre!
Port Aransas Karaoke & Live Music!
The Back Porch Bar 132 W Cotter St, Port Aransas Live Music Friday & Saturday Nights!
House of Rock 511 Starr Street, Corpus Christi Great shows all month long!
Brewster Street Ice House 1724 N. Tancahua, Corpus Christi Throw down Thursday’s with Badlands FM!
Jamison’s Sports Pub 4528 Weber Rd, Corpus Christi Karaoke, Open Mic, & Comedy Nights!
South Texas Ice House 6601 Everhart Rd, Corpus Christi We now have live music on Fridays and Saturdays! Best burgers in town – Try one and you’ll see!
CLUBS JUNE
Docs 13309 SPID Corpus Christi Live music! Executive Surf Club 309 N. Water Street, Corpus Christi Live music and great food, what more could you ask for?! The Flats Bar 801 Tarpon St Port Aransas Not the oldes, But We’re the Coldest! Frontier Saloon 9709 Leopard Street Corpus Christi Live Texas Country Every Saturday Night! Come watch your favorite MLB teams and NASCAR on our big screens! Gully’s Saloon 3029 Laguna Shores, Corpus Christi Karaoke on Wed & Thu! Live Music Sat &
Los Cabos 9601 South Padre Island Dr. in Flour Bluff, Corpus Christi Live music every weekend! Outta Bounds Sports Lounge 1402 Rodd Field Rd, Corpus Christi Texas Music Mondays and Fridays Rockin’ Locals! Pelican Lounge 14330 SPID, Corpus Christi Karaoke & Live Music! Sam’s Burger joint 330 E Grayson San Antonio Voted the Best Live Music Venue! 7 Brothers Saloon Highway 181, Normanna TX Live music! Don’t want to drive home? Stay in our RV Park! Sharkey’s 2600 Hwy 361
MUST DO OPENDAILY
Sparrow’s Landing 4528 SPID Corpus Christi Karaoke Thursdays and Live Music Friday & Saturday Nights! Tarpon Ice House 321 N. Alister, Port Aransas Live Music, 2 bars, pool, darts, big screen TVs, WIFI, and a beer garden! Theo’s Billiards 5815 Weber Rd, Corpus Christi Free pool every day until 7 pm!! Don’t miss all the fun on Wild Wednesdays VFW Post 3837 12030 Leopard St in Northwest Corpus Christi Are you looking for a great room for your next event? Give us a call! Vick’s Place 7136 FM 666, Mathis Ice cold beer, live music on Friday and Saturday nights, and Jam
sessions on Sundays! XS Ultra Lounge 4244 SPID, Corpus Christi Come have the ultimate Summer Break Experience! Zeros Hard Rock Club 6327 McArdle Rd Corpus Christi Like us on facebook and never miss a show! Facebook.com/ zerosrockclub
THINGS TO DO
Community Park Aransas Pass Cost: Free Time: All Day Texas Folklife Festival 6/7-9 Downtown San Antonio Cost: Free Time: All Day Twilight At the Plaza 6/21 Travis Park San Antonio Cost: Free Time: 7pm
SATURDAY JUNE
Kingsville Cost: Free Time: 5:30pm Shrimporee Festival 6/14-16 Community Park Aransas Pass Cost: Free Time: All Day
SUNDAY JUNE Corpus Christi Fury vs. Lakeland Raiders 6/2 ABC Arena Corpus Christi Cost: $10-30 Time: 3:05PM
No Le Hace Fishing
THURSDAY JUNE Tourney The Bay Jammin’ CONCERT Series Every Thursday Cost: Free Time: 7:30pm
FRIDAY JUNE First Friday Artwalk 5/31 Downtown Corpus Christi Cost: Free Time: 5:30pm The Bay Jammin’ CINEMA Series Every Friday Cost: Free Time: at Dusk Ark's 3rd Annual Golf Tournament 6/14 NorthShore Country Club Corpus Christi Cost: $125 Time: 6 a.m. Shrimporee Festival 6/14-16
6/1 Kaufer-Hubert Memorial Park Riviera Cost: $50 Time: 12am Muscle Cars and Coffee 6/15 Doddridge and Staples St Corpus Christi. Cost: Free Time: 10am World Ocean Day UT Marine Science Institute Visitor Center Port Aransas 6/8 Cost: Free Time: 9am Texas Folklife Festival 6/7-9 Downtown San Antonio Cost: Free Time: All Day S TX Summer Music Fest 6/22 Mesquite Grove - TAMUK
Historic Gruene New Braunfels
Hurricane Alley Water Park Corpus Christi
The Riverwalk San Antonio
San Antonio Zoo & Aquarium San Antonio
Morgan’s Wonderland San Antonio
Barton Springs Austin
Texas Folklife Festival 6/7-9 Downtown San Antonio Cost: Free Time: All Day Shrimporee Festival 6/14-16 Community Park Aransas Pass Cost: Free Time: All Day Mommas Shave For The Brave 6/30 Historic La Villita’s Arneson River Theatre San Antonio Cost: Fundraiser Time: Noon-4PM in
TUESDAY JULY Music Video Shoot! 7/2 Sharkey’s Port Aransas Burning Slow is filming a video! & needs you Time: 1pm
Natural Bridge Caverns San Antonio Schlitterbaughn Water Park New Braunfels
STEAM Alejandro Escovedo & The Sensitive Boys
Executive Surf Club ~ CCTX
www.AlejandroEscovedo.com
Alejandro Escovedo is one of the musi-
cians being inducted to the South Texas Music Walk of Fame on June 8th. We were fortunate enough to catch up with him early on Friday after a reunion show of the 80s band True Believers (he was a founding member) at Sam’s Burger Joint in San Antonio. Alejandro will be the headlining act at Executive Surf Club for the June 8th induction party. STEAM Good morning, did you sleep in? AE Yes I did, sorry about that. STEAM No, I don’t blame you. We know Buster Jiggs opened for you and they posted on Facebook that it was quite a show and a great party, so I’m guessing you had a really good time! AE It was a good show. And they were great group to hang out with and watch. It was also Kristin’s birthday so yeah it was fun. STEAM It was just announced that you will be inducted to the South Texas Music Walk of Fame. Did you know of the South Texas Music Walk of Fame before hearing about your award?
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AE No, I did not know about it, so this came as a great surprise and I feel very honored. I’d like to thank Corpus Christi for this award and I am very excited about it. STEAM We were thrilled to learn that you are one of this year’s inductees. Rusty and I have seen you a few times, a few years ago in Seattle at Bumpershoot and then not too long ago here at Brewster Street and you put on a great show. AE Yeah, I did that show with John Prine a few months ago and it was a really good. STEAM As I said we are happy you are getting this award and then finding out you would be headlining the inductee party here at the Executive Surf Club was even better! What other awards have you received? AE I was named artist of the decade by No Depression magazine. I also received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Americana Music Association and I’ve received a few from the Austin Chronicle too. STEAM I really enjoy your music and quite often I will read the words as well because they are so heartfelt, descriptive, and story like. Do you write for other people? AE No I usually just write for myself because it’s very personal. STEAM For Street Songs of Love you played every Tuesday at the Continental Club on S Congress (ATX) for two months. The story goes on that you brought in songs every week and basically built the album in front of the audience. I noticed that you are at the Continental Club on Tuesdays for a few months, is it
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your goal to come out with another album? AE It’s begun to do that. Last Tuesday we had this amazing show and we brought out a few songs that we were working on. We’re getting into the mode where we are ready to write and ready to create an album. I can’t tell you what it’ll be, or when it’ll come out, or even if the record company will like it enough to release it, but we are getting into that mode. STEAM Well I can’t imagine a record company not wanting to put out something that you’ve done. The last album was Big Station, is it your goal to put out an album every two years? AE It seems to work out that way. STEAM You’ve recorded a couple of albums at Saint Claire studios in Lexington, Kentucky is that where you did Big Station? AE No, we recorded in Austin with Jim Eno at his studio. Jim, the drummer for Spoon, and producer Tony Visconti made this a really cool experience. This was my third album working with Tony. STEAM You are playing constantly! Your schedule has you playing what seems like nightly and last night you had a reunion show with True Believers. So basically, when do you find time to rehearse? Because with all the music you’ve put out I can’t see you jumping up on stage and remembering songs from the 80s like you’ve played them all along. AE I’m the worst at remembering things so we do get a little bit of practice in, but really I get up on stage and it just comes back. As for last night, after True Believers I got up and had a hard time remembering my stuff. STEAM I hear you are a big baseball fan and like to play as well. AE San Francisco Giants are my team. My family was a baseball family and my father taught us all to play when we were quite young. He was really hoping that we’d be
baseball players not so much musicians. However once we started into music he was very much behind us. Out of 12 kids eight of us are musicians and no baseball players. STEAM You are very good guitar player. Do you play any other instruments? AE Well I barely play guitar now and I don’t play any other instruments. That’s funny I never really have considered myself as a guitar player. It’s just an instrument that I use in writing songs and I’ve always just had so many phenomenal guitar players alongside me that I didn’t have to think about it. It’s only been recently that I’ve really gotten into guitar playing and people are seeing what I can do. STEAM The reason I asked about other instruments is because your brothers play percussion. They are more into Latin-jazz; however I know you were a punk rocker and I believe a couple of your brothers were as well. AE There are 8 musicians and most of them play Latin and Latin-jazz but my brothers Javier and Mario and I are all rockers. STEAM I can imagine that your family get-togethers are just amazing! AE Yeah they are really fun and it’s always a great time! We have just a wonderful rhythm section and it’s such a joy to play with my brother, Pedro, and niece, Sheila E., since we don’t get to do that very often. STEAM I think your punk background is something people don’t expect from you? AE Well, you know that punk rock is really a large part of what I am and my musicianship. It’s really important to me. Alejandro will be on tour with Los Lobos and Los Lonely boys this summer! Look for him on the web and Facebook at alejandroescovedo. —Tamma Hicks
A True Believer! The day is May 23rd, the place is Sam’s
Burger Joint. True Believers’ are ready and set to rock Sam’s to it’s core. Buster Jiggs from Hondo, TX warmed up the antsy crowd. It was not the most packed house on this night, but the joint was filled with passionate people who I could tell were True Believers’. Alejandro Escovedo, the frontman for True Believers’, is an extremely talented and experienced music legend. His passion and love for music is matched by very few artists. After they rocked the night away I was fortunate enough to have a chance to ask Alejandro a few questions about his career and musical journey. This is what he told me. STEAM: What inspired True Believers’ to have a reunion tour? AE: After the untimely passing of Brent
Grulke, the creative director of SXSW, the band thought about getting back together. At SXSW this year there was so much support and love in the air it just felt right to have a reunion tour. Part of the reasons things felt so perfect is because we have our original drummer, Rey Washam, touring with us. STEAM: I understand you played with a punk band in the 70’s in San Francisco, CA called The Nuns, what kind of shows did y’all play? AE: The people we played to in 1970’s San Francisco were the drag queens and strippers from around downtown. STEAM: Wow that must have been a wild scene. So True Believers’ formed in Austin, Texas in the 80’s, how did that scene differ from the west coast craziness of the seventies? AE: Austin was a pivotal part of my career, it was a very fun filled scene and allowed for a lot of progressive artistic freedom. It was essential for the growth of my music. STEAM: What does the future hold for you as a musician? AE: Once you make a serious commitment to music, it becomes a lifestyle. You have to remain active, always trying and finding new things. If the horse bucks you out of the saddle you have to climb back up on that horse and never give up. I treasure the opportunity I was lucky enough to stumble into and hear these wonderful words of wisdom from the veteran powerhouse of a musician that is Alejandro Escovedo. It was an incredible and unforgettable night. —Oran Hull
Cheryl’s By The Bay If you visit Rockport-Fulton, Cheryl's By The Bay has to be a stop during your visit! — Google Review
Seafood & Steaks Absinthe Parlor International Cuisine Craft Cocktails Vegan/Vegetarian Fare Beer & Wine Fine Desserts Outdoor Dining 112 S. Fulton Beach Rd, Fulton, TX 78382
(361) 790-9626
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ALEBRIJES FOLK ART This afternoon I am at Mi Casa Gallery in Austin Texas with Jim Luedeke, the proprietor. Mi Casa Gallery is the only location in Austin that features the Castillo family’s Mexican folkart called “Alebrijes”. One of the great things about Mi Casa and Jim specifically is that he has such a deep knowledge of all the artists and arts that are carried. As we were looking around we met Arturo and Elvis Castillo and fortunately Jim was there to interpret for us. JIM This folkart is hand carved and painted wooden figurines made of copal wood and created by the Castillo family of Oaxaca, Mexico, including works by Castillo brothers, Arturo and Elvis. Alebrijes is a craft that was developed in the 1930s. Families in this region would see spaceships and all sorts of UFOs which stimulated their imaginations, and they began carving spacemen, or what they called Marcianos (the men from Mars). Later people who were buying the artwork began asking for animals and mythological creatures like dragons and griffins. STEAM How did you get started in this? Is it a family tradition that has been 12 STEAM MAGAZINE JUNE 2013 WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/STEAMTX handed down?
ARTURO My father taught us when we were young. This was handed down from his family. Everyone in our family does this artwork; whether they do it as a business or as a hobby. Elvis and I went to school and the University. When we returned, this is what we chose to do as a business. STEAM What is the name of your business? ARTURO Alebrijes de San Martin Toxplan. STEAM With your artwork being so delicate and complex how do you get your wares here to Austin? ELVIS We disassemble and wrap each piece and then pack them carefully in
boxes. We load the trailer and drive from San Martin. It usually it takes about 22 hours and this includes a three or four hour wait at the border.
have to go through all of your works?
STEAM When you are at the border and bringing across a trailer full of art; do they go through each piece? And aren’t you afraid that they could break it?
STEAM You all have very vivid imaginations. Do you do custom orders?
ARTURO No, there are too many inspectors and each one is different. They never remember until after we’re already halfway through.
ELVIS Yes, we have done some for Jim and other customers.
ARTURO When we come across the border we go through customs and we do this three or four times a year. They usually make us empty the trailer and put everything together.
JIM Once I sent them a pair of antlers and requested they bring the deer back to life and they created a mask called Bambi’s Father. Another time, I only had one antler to send them so they developed their own mask and named it The Ram-Buck. One side is buck, the other is a ram, and dividing them is a snake. I’ve also asked them to do figurines of Guadalupe, Juan Diego, Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera.
JIM When the Castillo’s come to my store, which is two or three times a year, they have each item disassembled and wrapped. So when they get here it takes hours for them to meticulously open each piece and assemble all the items. They have to do the same thing for the customs inspectors.
Another item that Arturo and Elvis design is nativities. They are so incredible because the Castillo’s use such imagination and creativity in designing them. One of the nativities they brought in included an angel that had a beard. I had never seen an angel with a beard before that.
STEAM How long have you been doing this and where do you sell your work? ARTURO Every April we come to San Antonio for the Starving Artist Art Show and we’ve done this for about 24 years. We have been coming to Mi Casa for 17 years. We also go to the University of Maryland in Salisbury, where we do an art show for two weeks as well as teach our artcraft. About four years ago the president of the University visited us at our home and stayed with us for four days. STEAM Since you do this pretty frequently do the inspectors recognize you so you don’t
Elvis & Arturo Castillo during their recent delivery at Mi Casa Gallery & at their workshop
STEAM Where can people go to purchase your artwork? ARTURO Right now we do not have a website but we are on Facebook. Mi Casa Gallery is the only location in Texas, with the exception of San Antonio’s Starving Artist Art Show in October. JIM That reminds me, today is the first meeting between the US President and the President of Mexico. Here are all of you meeting for the first time. What a great coincidence!
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Celebrate the Newest Stars in the South Texas Music Walk of Fame!
C
2013 WaterStreet Market Music and Surf Fest
H TEXAS MU T U SI O S
Saturday, June 8th 300 N. Water Street, CC TX
New Inductees: George Strait, Alejandro Escovedo, Jeremy Jordan, Oscar Martinez, Bill Barr & the Sons of Texas, Esteban (Steve) Jordan
12:00 Noon — Ribbon Cutting Ceremony — WaterStreet Market Courtyard 1:00 p.m. — Free Concert with Oscar Martinez — Executive Surf Club 2:00 p.m. — Free Concert with Matt Hole — Executive Surf Club 3:00 p.m. — Surf and Stars Party — Surf Club Records & the Courtyard (Twist Contest, cookies, Surprise guests and Special features in Surf Club Records)
7:00 p.m. — Doors open for Award Concert at the Executive Surf Club. Headlined by Alejandro Escovedo (10 p.m.) Vallejo opens Tickets are $15 at the door, $12 advance. Call Surf Club Records (361) 882-2364 For event updates, see the South Texas Music Walk of Fame page on Facebook “Like us” and come in to claim a bookmark from the Walk and Museum!
STEAM I was looking at your schedule and you play a whole lot in Texas; in fact all over Texas, but I didn’t see anything outside of the state. Do you plan to do more touring? Say towards the East or West Coast? MS About 90% of our shows are in Texas and I am really trying to push out to some other states and areas. This weekend it’ll be a duo, me and the guitar player in North Carolina, and in June we’re doing some shows in Mexico as a whole band. So we are trying to spread our wings a little bit. STEAM I was just listening to “I Ain’t Drinking Alone”. That’s a very cool song and one you wrote right? MS Yeah, I’ve only ever covered one song, so when you listen to my records… Those are all my little children. STEAM We’re talking to you because, as you know, we’ve been doing stories on the people that have stars in the South Texas Music Walk of Fame and you received yours in 2008. You’re in good company out there on the Walk! MS Yeah, that’s pretty cool stuff! I am very honored and pleased to be out there and I have to tell you it’s very cool to be walking down the street and see your name in the sidewalk and you didn’t write it in the wet concrete! STEAM I know you’re based in Dallas but aren’t you originally from a small town here in South Texas? MS Yes, I was raised in Crystal City. It’s not too small of a town, about 5,000 people or so. STEAM Is it true that you hadn’t even picked up a guitar
until you were in graduate school? MS Yeah, I had never really studied an instrument other than playing trombone when I was in elementary I think for a little while, but I really wasn’t involved with music or anything until the late 80s or early 90s. Max at Brewster Street Ice House on 5/25/13 STEAM So did someone dare you to play guiand talking with Tamma Hicks tar one night and you said oh I love this? MS Well, I had this roommate that had a guitar and I think maybe a Beatles songbook and you know I just picked it up and it interested me a little, so I just kept going. I don’t know why it hit me so hard. You know a guitar is such a forgiving instrument; in 30 minutes you can play a G chord which means you can play one third of a lot of great songs. After a while it just became obvious that it was me and I’d been toying with poems and such so it just came pretty natural to me. I liked it so I kept with it. STEAM Which leads to your education, you have a Master’s degree in food science. What is that and what did you do? MS I do have a Master’s degree in food science which isn’t so much in the cooking side but more into the science: post-harvest fruit and vegetable processing, canning, and food manufacturing. I worked for Frito-Lay in research and development. That’s how I got to Dallas. STEAM And you gave it all up to be a country singer? MS I did. I gave it all up! STEAM Did you know when you started that you’d be country or did you migrate that way after learning guitar? In other words did you go in thinking Bruce Springsteen and come out with Alan Jackson? MS I never really set out to be COUNTRY per se, it was for sure a lot of what I was listening to at the time -more specifically what used to be called Americana or Texas Music (back when it meant something very different than what it does today). The first stuff I played on guitar was more blues twinged….Blues being fundamentally easy (E, A, D) and the root of all country music anyways. Also, I was really into the singer-songwriter stuff (Lyle Lovett, Towns Van Zandt, Guy Clark, Steve Earl, Robert Earl Keen, etc.). But then, as they say, in our failure to imitate our idols we develop our own style. STEAM How many albums to you have out? MS We have six releases and “Home To You” was our most recent. I feel it is a really good album and it did very well. We had Lloyd Maines as the producer which was just an amazing experience. STEAM How did you hook up with him? MS I’ve known Lloyd Maines for a number of years and there just isn’t anyone he hasn’t played with or produced. Since my first album came out Lloyd and I have talked about getting together for a project but our schedules just never worked out. On “Home To You” we were very lucky that it we got to work together and hopefully we’ll do another… if he lets us through
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Burning Slow
w/Do Something Krazy
Diversity Tour 2013 www.BuriningSlow.com
B urning
Slow is a five-piece Reggae/Alternative/Rock group out of Dallas, TX. BS originally started as the MATT Brodeur Band in 2011 and was featured on the 2011 Vans Warped Tour. BS has a strong alternative sound, reggae is mixed in to provide the chillest feel possible, but BS is also known to break down and open the pit. BS features lead singer and guitarist MATT Brodeur; guitarist Cody Duggan; bassist Jerrah “Ham ‘n Eggs” Jimenez; drummer Mark Sue; and percussionist Robert Denton. Matt, Cody, and Mark took a few minutes to chat with us about the band and getting out on the road. STEAM I know you guys started out in 2011 but how long have you been in this unit? MATT We’ve been together for about a year and we feel this is the last chance we have to really make a go of it. STEAM Why do you think it’s your last chance to make it happen?
MATT In the music industry you know it’s kind of rough, especially when age comes into effect. When you’re 20, 25 you should be able to make a go of it, but when you get past that 25 mark it gets harder and we feel that that’s where we’re at right now. STEAM You have a great CD. I think if you keep creating music because you love to, you’ll find success but it may not happen as fast as you’d like. You could be the next 10-year overnight success story. MATT Well, I think it really depends on who you know. Sometimes it takes people a lifetime, while some people can make it quickly but we’re working really hard. We have our social media going; there are people talking about us; and there are people going to the shows and that’s what counts nowadays. Since everyone downloads music anyways so we had better have a show that will bring people in. STEAM Have you had much success with online sales? MATT Yeah, people are buying our albums and our songs. All the money goes right back into the band as reinvestment, so every time someone downloads a tune they can think of it as giving us a push on the road. STEAM Did you have your CD done when you did the MTV awards? MATT The CD wasn’t quite done at that time; it was recorded but not mixed and mastered. That was about eight or nine
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months ago. Since then we played the Sundance Film Festival in Utah too. STEAM Did you make any good contacts at either event? CODY At Sundance we met Debbie Durkin, of Durkin Entertainment. She is interested in what we are doing. STEAM Is this your first tour? MATT As this unit, yes. However, we each have toured with other projects; most of us were on the Warped Tour together. I also had toured with Elliott Yamin from American Idol. STEAM We also interviewed Fayuca and I understand you guys work with them. MATT Yeah, every time they come to Dallas they ask for us; they seem to think we’re good fit with their style. There is kind of a clique among the reggae groups like Fayuca, The Expendables, Subrosa Union. When a band makes it into that circle you all play together at some time. STEAM How did you guys come into this genre? You were all more rock oriented and not playing a lot of reggae or at least that’s my thought about the Warped Tour. So how did you come into reggae? Did somebody slip you some Bob Marley when you weren’t looking? MATT I’m the reggae savant in the band. I’m the one who really wanted to go in this direction and everybody else enjoyed what we did on the Warped Tour; we had a song called Pawns to Disaster and fans seemed to really like that sound so we figured this is what we should be doing and switched.
Everyone likes our music and says that we have an original and interesting sound. Our drummer is still on the ropes with reggae, though. CODY He likes reggae the way we do it; he’s just not into all reggae. STEAM I think that’s because you guys aren’t just reggae, you mix in metal, rock, pop. You have a lot of different sounds going on. MATT That’s really awesome that you can hear those changes, because we’re being billed as reggae but we do all these different things with our music. STEAM How much has Pawns to Disaster changed from the Warped Tour? MATT The last song on the album is an acoustic version that we recorded on John Lennon’s Tour Bus during the Warped Tour. You’ll hear some differences including some words. STEAM Your tour starts at the end of the month. Tell us about the band going with you. MATT They are Do Something Krazy and they’re all younger guys; I think the oldest is 19. These guys have got a lot going for them and we really wanted to help them out. I feel they have a good chance of making it and they’re really good guys. Their music is much different than ours; that’s why we call this the Diversity Tour. STEAM Is the Diversity Tour basically taking you south through Texas and then back to Dallas?
Disc Go Round 7/1/2013 House of Rock 7/1/2013 Sharkey’s 7/2/2013 Revo—Alice 7/2/2013
STEAM: As mentioned before, you must have memorabilia all over the world, especially guitars, do you have any particular pieces you wanted to have in the museum but couldn’t? CT: Well I have been collecting guitars since the 60s. For example, the left handed guitar that Paul McCartney plays…that was mine! I had mentioned having it in some magazine interviews and soon enough his guys were contacting me inquiring about it. What a great Les Paul that was. I also have a guitar that Pete Townsend used to play. I think what was featured was meant to be there, as my stuff is scattered all over the world wherever those items call home is home, better there than on a museum wall I guess. STEAM: Sounds like you are a very avid collector, is there any piece of equipment out there that you still want to collect but have never been able to nail?
Cheap Trick Cheap Trick
STEAM: The first thing I want to highlight is your origin. It is one thing to say that the city you are from welcomes you back and that they love you, but it is another thing to have April 1st be official Cheap Trick Day. They also recently featured Rick Nielsen exhibit at the city museum there. Tell us about the exhibit.
CT: The exhibit was kind of a retrospect of our song writing and collectables in chronological order. Guitars too. There was a bunch of crazy stuff in that exhibit, I guess to have it properly explained you’ve had to have gone there (laughing). Let’s just say it was five-thousand square feet of Rick Nielson memorabilia. STEAM: It’s funny that if you Google Rockford, Illinois the top results just mention it as the home of Cheap Trick. Everything, what is the town really like for people who are going to come down and visit? CT: It is a lot of beauty and greatness. It is just like real life that’s all. It is not at all wonderful and amazing, and it is definitely easy to find fault with places but it is fun to be in Rockford. One of the lines that I have used for years is “If you can make it in Rockford you can make it anywhere”. It is a hard working place and for a blue collar place, it is actually a very creative place too. STEAM: You guys announced plans to open a restaurant/ museum venue in Chicago about a year ago, what was the motivation to do it in Chicago? CT: Chicago asked, let’s put it that way. We were asked to put it in this place called motor row. They had these great old buildings that were just itching for some cool spots. Our place brings the customer, live music, food, music history, you know, in addition to Blues museums and other attractions surrounding the restaurant.
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CT: Well, one thing is the Gibson Explorer. It came out in 1958 and was a complete dud and they only made 19 of them, and I have three. Nobody wanted them, it was the ugly duckling, but I am an ugly duckling. I’m the kind of guy who likes the beat up character of guitars like that. I also don’t just buy these guitars and let them sit around, I know a lot of doctors and lawyers who are guitar collectors, and they buy guitars for show, I actually play mine. STEAM: I spoke to Jay Giles, and he had a car restoration business for a while, and he said the same thing, “I hate when people get these things and they just garage them and put them on a wall, they are meant to be used”. CT: I agree with him (laughing). I use all of the guitars I buy. I love their history.
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with lips. STEAM I know that when you’re painting and you make a mistake is it quick and easy fix (you turn that brush mark into a bush or you take the color that it’s supposed to be and paint over) but you’re working with vinyl stickers. If you make a mistake is it something you can easily fix by taking off the sticker and moving it or is it something you have to live with and work around? EB It’s difficult to change things especially if they’re in the background because the sticker can’t be moved. So for example if you want trees in the background you have to put them on before you apply the next layer and so on until you reach the foreground. STEAM Do you take pictures of what you’re trying to build? Like your cityscapes. EB It’s all kind of mixed up. Sometimes I have pictures of things, other times I know what I’m looking for, and I’ve done so many palm trees I know them; however, the VW bus that you use in your magazine (I have some of your magazines in my workshop), I have incorporated some that into works I’ve been doing. So when you see the next artwork and it’s got a VW bus you’ll know where it came from. STEAM Some artist have a specific routines and superstitions they go through; do you have any? EB I don’t have so much of a superstition but definitely a routine. I learned a long time ago that if I stop in the middle of a design, I either don’t finish it or when you look at the picture you can tell that I did sections at different times. Larger pieces will take more time but generally it’s about three days to complete a picture. On day one I’ll do background, the second day will be the foreground, and the third day I’ll complete it and do touch up. Right now I’m working on a boogie board and in the background I have a beach scene with a Hummer that looks like an old Woody from the 60s. Unfortunately it’s the same “60s blue” that I’ve used for the ocean, so I will have to change the color of the Hummer. STEAM Since you don’t have a Facebook or a website where can we find your work? B Artist Cove Gallery in Aransas Pass, Felder Gallery in Port Aransas, Estelle Stair Gallery in Rockport, and occasionally I do shows in Corpus Christi at K-Space and The Arts Center of Corpus Christi.
steamtx.com
Beach on a Board (top); The Magic Store, Austin (2nd row); Putting on the Ritz, Ed Boyd & Carved Tiki’s , Butterfly Shrimp, & Fulton Mansion (3rd row); Photography By: Pamela Fulcher @ www.pamelafulcherphotography.com
MUSIC
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The Best Little Icehouse in Texas 3rd Coast Foodie Brewster’s St. Ice House 1724 N. Tancahua Corpus Christi, TX 78401 (361) 884-BREW (2739) Hours: 11am - 2am www.BresterStreet.net
W
e all love Brewster Street Ice House for their music but here at STEAM we love them for another reason as well, their award winning food and drinks. The food at Brewster’s is as good as it gets and if you haven’t tried it yet you’re missing out at one of the best menus in South Texas. You probably won’t find any live music during the lunch rush but what you will find at Brewster’s is prompt friendly service and great specials every day of the week. Their Blue Plate Special for only $6.99 is a deal with the devil. Award winning Chicken Fried Steak and your choice of two sides which include: Fried Okra, Green Beans, French Fries, Corn, Cole Slaw, Mashed Potatoes or Refried Beans. Instead of Chicken Fried Steak you can get grilled or fried Fresh Tilapia or Juicy
Chicken Breast. Their menu is full of good ol’ fashioned wholesome favorites from Texas and the rest of the dirty south. We went down to Brewster’s the other night for some dinner and drinks and had a hell of a time. They greeted us with smiles and were quick to get us our drinks, which for me is always a good way to start out any meal. I ordered one of my favorite Texas cocktails, a Mexican Martini and no one does it better than Brewster’s. It’s nice and simple just how I like it, Cointreau, their special sour mix, fresh squeezed lime, a splash of olive juice & a jalapeno stuffed olive. Served in a martini glass w/ your personal shaker. For a measly $2 more, one can upgrade to Patrón Anejo, Reposado or Silver. The ladies ordered Margaritas and loved them for they were sucked down quickly. They have a great Tequila menu including: Patrón, 1800, Don Eduardo, Cazadores, Milagro, Cabo Wabo, Espolon, Corazon, Sauza, Don Julio, Herradura, Margaritaville and Tres Generation. Each brand is available in Blanco, Reposado, & Anejo. Their beer selection is filled with the usual suspects and lucky for me they are one of the few bars in Corpus with Guiness on draught. With a full bar you can pick your poison and they’ll abide, so let’s get to the food.
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Up Coming Shows!
JUNE | JULY .................. 6/1
Graduation Party
6/7
Garage Bar & Grill 624 in Calallen
6/8
Graduation Party
7/19
Annaville VFW
7/20
Riverbend 534 Club Lagarto
7/26
6/14
Dodge City Victoria
6/15
Landry's Corpus Christi
Dodge City Victoria
7/27
Frontier Saloon Annaville
6/20 We started with the Sesame Ahi Tuna appetizer and the Crab Stuffed Jalapeños. Both were a good choice and were devoured quickly. The Ahi was seared perfectly and cut into sashimi and served with Asian coleslaw. The Jalapeños were Texas sized and stuffed tight with blue-fin crab. I’ve been to Brewster’s more than a few times and had tried all their apps. My favorite for a group of people is the Chip and Dip Tray including fresh made guacamole, salsa a warm silky smooth queso and a big warm basket of tortilla chips. Their quesadillas are pretty famous and you can’t go wrong with either chicken or beef. Try the “Wicked” hot sauce wings but make sure you have a cold beer to wash them down with. So far so good…time for the entrees. There were five of us on this quiet Wednesday night, so we all got something different and since I’m the writer and former chef/cook, I get to try every-
thing. The first dish was the Fried Avocado Salad. The avocado was stuffed with crab salad and underneath was a heaping pile of greens with tomatoes, cucumber and red onions. The salad was very delicious and fresh as it gets. The second dish was Fried Catfish with a pile of fries and coleslaw. The catfish was battered in cornmeal and golden fried to perfection. The fries are in my mind some of the best in town. Brewster’s Fish Tacos are a force to be reckoned with. Fried, grilled or blackened shrimp or Mahi with mango, pico de gallo, freshly sliced avocado and cabbage on flour or corn tortillas. The 10oz. hand cut Ribeye was absolutely grilled and seasoned to perfection. The giant onion ring covered, juicy ribeye was served with mashed potatoes and grilled veggies, both were very tasty and accompanied the steak well. I ordered the Cuban. A halfpound patty grilled perfectly and topped with pulled pork and roasted turkey,
smothered in melted swiss, a spicy chive mayo and accompanied by all the usual burger toppings. Brewster’s don’t mess around with their burgers and have a stake at best in town. The Cuban was stacked higher than the beer that accompanied it and would fill the largest of appetites. The food was pleasing to the eye and very pleasing to our bellies. Like I said the music isn’t the only reason to go to Brewster’s. The food and atmosphere is quickly becoming a legend around these parts and when I have family in town from the high north I take them to Brewster’s to show them what a real Texas icehouse is. This summer check out a Hook’s game then stumble over to Brewster’s for dinner and cold drinks and you’ll go home a very happy camper. Cheer’s Brewster’s keep up the hard work and we’ll be seeing you soon. — STEAM Magazine.
North Shore CC (Private)
6/21
Annaville VFW
6/22
Riverbend 534 Club Lagarto
6/29
Rifle Club - Jim Wells 4-H Dance w/Kelly Kenning
www.BorderlineBand.org
STEAM MAGAZINE MAY 2013 WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/STEAMTX 23
Corpus’ Newest Watering Hole!
Live Music Fri. & Sat. Nights
Happy Hour
Mon-Fri 3pm-7pm
Karaoke
Thursday, Friday & Saturday
10 Giant TV’s &
Video Game Room
Fresh Food All Under $10
Check Us Out On Facebook For Daily Specials
www.Facebook.com/SparrowsLanding
SUN-WED 11am - 10pm | THU-SAT 11am - 2am
10210 SPID CC, TX | (361) 657-0091
TheSparrowsLanding.com
South Texas Ice House June 22
www.JonWolfe Country.com
STEAM So tell me is the story true that
you were a commodities broker for British Petroleum and you quit to be a country star? JW This story kind of got a little out there. Basically, I graduated college in 2001 and was hired by British Petroleum and put on their fast track for brokers. I moved to Chicago and started working my way up. All the while my mind was on country music, so after about two-years I left BP and moved to Austin and started really pushing my music career. I’ve been doing this for about ten-years and I’m very happy with it. STEAM Listening to your songs we can really hear your country influences (George Strait, Garth Brooks, Merle Haggard, Alan Jackson), but do you have influences from other genres? JW Well, I listen to rock a little and some pop, but my heart is and always has been in country music. STEAM When did you sign with Warner Music Nashville? And what changes were made to your 2010 album “It All Happened in a Honky Tonk” to make it a deluxe edition?
24 STEAM MAGAZINE MAY 2013 WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/STEAMTX
JW I signed to them in August 2012 and we’ve been working real close ever since. WMN released “It All Happened in a Honky Tonk” as a deluxe edition the first of this year with addition of 3 songs… I’ll take My Chances, Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You, & That’s Not Very Texas of You.
France for the Equiblues Festival. This is a rodeo and Festival that we will be headlining. It’ s a small event for the area but we expect 4, 000 to 5, 000 people.
STEAM I see that you do a lot of touring in Texas and in the southern Mid-West. Are you planning to expand to the East or West Coasts soon?
JW We’ve done four videos now. “That Girl in Texas” was the first; second was “I Don’t Dance”; third was”It All Happened in a Honky Tonk”; and the fourth was “The Only Time You Call”. You know I used to be really bad about the whole camera thing and if it hadn’t been for my manager, I wouldn’t get in front of the camera at all. I give him a lot of credit because he was always videoing us while we were on the road, so our YouTube channel has just grown. So when it came to shooting music videos I just kind of fell into the acting and I wasn’t too uncomfortable in front of those cameras. I feel that I’m getting better at acting and I really do enjoy it.
JW Of course we really want to spread out to the other areas and the coasts. I’m working with WMN towards our national release and a tour to support it. Right now we really enjoy performing for our fans and touring throughout Texas and the southern Mid-West. One thing I really want to make sure people know is that we love coming to Corpus Christi. It is such a great city and the fans there are really behind my music. And I’m not just saying this. Corpus Christi and South Texas have just really become a big part of my career and my fan base. I would like to see everybody come out to the show, say hello, and have a good time! STEAM I also saw in your schedule that you will be in France in August! Where are you playing and have you played in Europe before? JW Yeah, this is our first time to play in Europe and we’ re really looking forward to it. Our first gig is in Switzerland at a private party, which we love doing. And then we head to St. Agreve
STEAM Your videos are now on GAC and CMT and are great productions. How did you like the acting side of your music?
STEAM You were recently at T. Floore Country Store in Helotes TX and recorded your show. How did you choose that location and is this a new album we should be looking for? JW Floore’s is a legendary venue in the San Antonio area and it was an honor to start playing there. It holds a lot of history: it’s where Willie Nelson used to hold his festivals, Robert Earle Keen plays there, and Waylon Jennings used to play there on Sundays. Over the past couple of years we have developed this good relationship with
Small Businesses
Entrepenuers Floore’s , so with those reasons we felt it was just the perfect venue to do this recording. It’s really just one of those places that when you get the chance to do it, you do. We have really wanted to record a live version of “It All Happened in a Honky Tonk” for the last two and half years because you have this studio record called “It All Happened in a Honky Tonk” and it kind of missed something. We felt we really needed a version that included that live, honky-tonk crowd feeling. And that’s what we got at Floore’s. STEAM On May 19th you held your 2nd annual fundraiser for HHH (Healthcare for the Homeless Houston). This is such a great organization and cause. First, how did you get involved with them? And how much did you raise this year?
JW Essentially a lot of the folks that I have looked up to and trusted over the years are involved with Healthcare for the Homeless Houston and that’s how I got interested in it. When the HHH people explained what they were doing I thought it was a really great charity and cause. A lot of people that are homeless need to address their physical and mental issues before they can get jobs or even find a place to live and often our society doesn’t think from that standpoint. So the goal of HHH is to get people the help they need so that they can get off the streets.
Often just giving a person the knowledge that you are there can give them the hope and the motivation to move forward and to think of tomorrow in a new perspective Last year was our first fundraiser and we raised $10,000 at Blanco’s Bar & Grill. This year’s goal was to bring in $20,000 so we held it at the Firehouse Saloon, which is a larger venue, and although we don’t have the official numbers yet, the director of HHH has told me that we easily doubled last year’s amount! I just believe in taking one step at a time and this year’s goal was $20,000. I would love to see us still having annual fundraisers and in three years bring in $100,000. We were very excited at how the event turned out and really believe in this cause.
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STEAM And finally, can you tell me who is in your band (and what do they play)?
JW You know like a lot of country fingers you end up going through a lot of people after the eight or nine years. I’ve gone through quite a few but in the last 2 ½, three years I’ve been lucky enough to have these great players with me. They are: Patrick Longmire on bass guitar, Will Mack on lead guitar, and Mike Ferrara on drums. We’ re pretty small unit but when we have bigger shows we bring in piece players, like steel guitar and keyboards. —Tamma Hicks
STEAM MAGAZINE MAY 2013 WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/STEAMTX 25
Fiddleworms – See The Light The ambitious new album See The Light, from Alabama quintet Fiddleworms is a cavalcade of styles with literally a parade of guest musicians including the University of North Alabama marching Band. The eleven original tracks are interspersed with snippets of radio sound effects and spoken word segments that flow from jazzy blues to stomping country rock fusion all centered around the lazy everyman vocals Russell Medford. The level of production and instrumental performance is top notch as it weaves in the elements of classic Muscle Shoals R&B from the 70’s reminiscent of Little Feat and NRBQ, with layers of superb guitar picking, hot horn jabs, retro keyboards and a rockin’ rhythm section. The album is lacking a single to hang its hat on as the band chooses rather to present this album as one continuous piece of music forming a neo progressive jam band opera, full of opaque twists and turns. Medford sings about the struggles of love one moment then laments the struggles of the working man the next. The Fidldeworms have certainly created a unique musical landscape with See The Light, hard to know if audiences will ever clearly understand the depth of this southern gothic passion play. *** http://www.fiddleworms.com/live/index.php
BY Rick J Bowen ~~ twitter.com/RickJBowen; www.nodepression.com/ profile/RickJBowen; www.facebook.com/stacyjonesband; ww.stacyjonesband.com
GETTUNG THERE oN Super Star Records The cure for the “Bieber fever,” is here! Well almost. The debut album Getting There, from fourteen year old guitar sensation Quinn Sullivan may not cause quite the stir as “the Bieber,” but it does give us all hope for the future of the electric guitar. Sullivan, who was recently anointed as the next big thing by Buddy Guy, wisely chose to showcase his guitar and vocal skills over a range of pop, rock, blues and country tunes as to not become too pigeonholed in one genre at this early age. Impeccably produced by Tom Hambridge the album has just enough cuteness and clique to be playful and believable, because no one would have bought songs about heartache and trouble from a teenager. Rather Sullivan is appropriately singing about his love for his guitar and dreaming of being a star. The title track has the signature screamin’ Stratocaster sound of Sullivan’s mentor as he details his adventures to date over a Chicago style blues burner. The Nashville ballad “World in Change,” features some tasty lead work alongside the lyrical optimism of youth. The funky “Mr. Gloom,” has some fine swagger but Sullivan’s references to iconic blues images feels like he a trying just a little too hard to be cool. The Saturday morning fun of “Rock Hard,” is pure bubble gun fun, and the rollicking instrumental “Cyclone,” shows off just enough of Sullivan’s gun slinger skills. The retro bopper “Like Your Love,” pays tribute to The Beatles, while the comical “11 Things I Won’t Forget,” lifts heavily from Skynard to tell the whimsical tale of this young man’s quick rise to fame. The albums end on a high note with a bonus live cut of Sullivan deftly taking on the Derrick and the Dominos classic “Got To Get Better in a Little While,” singing with a more mature confident voice and ripping through the Clapton leads with fire. Quinn Sullivan is certainly on the right track for success if he keeps his 26 STEAM MAGAZINE JUNE 2013 WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/STEAMTX focus with all the hype swirling around him and his guitar.
Cheap Trick Cheap Trick
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STEAM: The one thing that always amazes me about Cheap Trick is that your first few albums were immensely popular overseas in Japan, but not as popular in the States. What was that like being an American band and having more popularity in overseas? CT: Well, you know, we lived in Rockford, Illinois, picture that. It was nuts. We were the only music people from around there. I always felt that music was an international thing, so I always liked feeling like I was in London or Japan. I always dreamt that my music could be played in foreign countries. I never was upset that we weren’t as popular in the States. I was just overwhelmed and happy that we could go to these places and play. STEAM: As far as touring goes, I think Cheap Trick is always thought of as a huge arena rock band, you guys are always playing to enormous crowd. Do you miss playing smaller venues? Do you play as many small shows as you used to? CT: We play every size place we can. I just played for 200 people in Washington DC, it wasn’t the full band, but I think Cheap Trick is kind of unique in a way that we can play any type of venue. We can play in a huge dome, an outdoor festival, and a blues club. We just play. STEAM: Do you prefer the smaller shows or the bigger shows? CT: I prefer any show, we just want to make the crowd happy, and I think we do a good job of that most times. Sure we have been booed off stage before but that happens to everyone. I like having a different audience every night. STEAM: You recently toured with Aerosmith, which I’m sure was awesome, but setting that aside, who are your favorite groups to tour with? Who have you not toured with but wish you could? CT: The best tours we have ever had….hmm…it is always a rolling circus. Probably the best tour we ever did was when we toured a flip-flop headline stretch with AC/DC, we toured all over the place with those guys. That was the most fun band to tour with. We also opened for Queen which was awesome, they just called us up and said they liked us and there you go. We never toured with The Rolling Stones, which would have been awesome. STEAM: Last Question, what does the future hold for Cheap trick? CT: Well, the future holds whatever it would hold, whatever happens next happens next. Tonight were working in Las Vegas, last summer we toured with Aerosmith. How do you explain any of this stuff, you know? Who knew we were going to end up being this big?
CONTINUED the door! We recorded at Cedar Creek Studio in Austin. It’s a really great studio with a great vive and great history. We released this under Blind Nello Records of which you are speaking to the CEO and head bottle washer. STEAM Up until this album you only recorded and performed your own songs, so how did you pick Bob Schneider’s song? MS Well my wife, Heather Stalling, occasionally plays for Texas Bluegrass Massacre which is one of Bob’s bands and that’s how I got interested in his writing. I had heard of Bob but I wasn’t well versed in his material and then I heard that song while we were working on “Home To You” and I thought that it just fit so well. I talked to Bob and he let us use it. STEAM I saw that Heather is on “Home To You”. MS Heather took time off from her own project to sing and play the fiddle on a number of the tracks. She sang on the title track “Home To You” as backup vocals but it came off almost as a duet. It’s very nice and we’re pretty proud about it.
STEAM Do you and Blacktop Gypsy tour together? MS No, not really. It’s typical that her project goes one direction I go the other, however we try to meet up on Sundays. STEAM What venues do you play in Corpus Christi? MS We’ve been pretty exclusive to the Executive Surf Club and have played a couple of times at Brewster Street Ice House. We are trying to get down that way little more often than we have been. You’ll have to keep up with the website to see when we’ll be back. STEAM What are your favorite venues? MS You know my tastes run pretty broad-spectrum for venues. There is a joint up in Denton called Dan’s Silverleaf and we really enjoy playing there, so we do it is much as we can. Of course there’s the Executive Surf Club in Corpus Christi and am not just saying that. We really enjoy playing there and we have great fans that come out to see us! I also like playing Bass Performance Hall in Ft Worth which is a big ornate joint.
Artist Cove Gallery showcasing
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featured artists JASON J PHOTO REALISM
ED BOYD V I N Y L AR T
2000; One of the Ways, 2002, Sell-Out, 2006; Live From The Granada CD/DVD 2009. Max does not currently have any shows listed for South Texas, so keep your eyes on his website to STEAM Where can we get your albums? find out when he’ll be back! MS You mean besides going online to our website, iTunes, www.maxstalling.com Amazon.com, and Hastings? Surf Club Records carry all of Blacktop Gypsy / July 12 @ The my albums and Blacktop Gypsy. You know I’m the world’s Back Porch Port A worst when it comes to self-promotion, so if it’s in my bio STEAM What project is she involved with? chances are it’s true. MS She is with Blacktop Gypsy, which are Max Stalling Albums: “Home To You” released 2010, Topaz signed to Winding Roads. WWW.STEAMMAGAZINE.NET JUNE 2013 STEAM MAGAZINE 27 City, 2008; Comfort In the Curves, 1997; Wide Afternoon,
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Presents The Diversity Tour w/Burning Slow & Special Guests Do Something Krazy Fri June 28 Sat June 29 Mon July 1 Mon July 1 Tue July 2 Tue July 2 Wed July 3 Thu July 4 Fri July 5 Sat July 6 Sat July 6
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