"I'm a sick man...It's out of spite that I don't want to be cured."
(FD)
My dear uncle Chuck gave me a bass. It' s a crimson Gibson Victory model he bought many years ago to play in the Mesquite, TX Shriners' dixieland swing band. It's not masonite, but he is.
We made it back from our whirlwind tour, hearts and minds reasonably intact, but I must say Airport Blvd. does not look particularly scenic these days. It was a great vacation, full of adventure and splendor, but I am glad to be home with the kitties and Dirty's Pork Chop dinners. My roommate has a new arrival on the way and the backyard is lush and overgrown.
I spent my Sunday afternoon editing 6 hours of 8mm video footage of the trip down to a cozy one hour VHS. If you care to see it, let me know and I will plan a little screening. I also will be uploading a travel diary as I gradually recollect it.
EUROTOUR ITINERARY and highlight links.
I started a temporary gig as Diana Zuniga's personal assistant this week. She's in the most filthily lucrative line of business in Austin these days besides the one her esteemed little brother is in. She's the real estate agent who owns the electric lounge building and several other prime downtown properties; I'm the office iconoclast/juggernaut copyboy. When her full-time assistant gets back from vacation, I hope to slide into a position at a certain local international music festival. I also am looking forward to a looser long-term schedule for awhile, in terms of employment, etc. Put in a good reference for me with the conference folks if you get a chance.
The Free for All Festival kind of breezed by me in my jetlagged condition,
but the highlight reports are trickling in. Sammy Sosa hit a grand slam
during Prescott Curlywolf's opening set at the Superego birthday party
Wednesday, and apparently the Meat Purveyors and Deep Sombreros shows were
also a barrel of free unbridled fun. Apparently the Silver Scooter show
was minus a few musicians but plus capacity. I caught a wickedly powerful
Pocket Fishrmen set on videocam Friday night, which will be the basis of
a new PF video. The short form film "Queen of the Gorillas" is set deep
in the heart of the amazon jungle, and features lots of skin, fur bikinis
and good-natured implied inter-species mating.
Sept. 27 - royal towers, superego, dismukes, jack black (NC)
Oct. 4 - PigGie Hat, Press Darlings, Darcie Deaville
Oct. 11 - Dexter Freebish, Blue Cartoon, Marmalade
Oct. 18th - Sexy Finger Champs, The Eggs, Season to Slave
Oct. 24 - Egozig duo - Talla Bena Pig Roast, Tallulah Louisiana
Oct. 25 - Audio Whore, Missing Ingredient, Eclectricks
November 1 - Plum, Julie-Ann Banks, Del Dragons
November 8 - God Drives a Galaxy, Blue Engine Radio, Goldwater
November 15 - Kathy Ziegler, Scarlitt, This Bike is a Pipe Bomb
November 22 - experimental aircraft, Amberjack rice, Screaming in Spanish...
November 29 - Prescott Curlywolf, Mysery Date, TBA
december 6- missing ingredient, all talk stacy, the lambs
december 13 - made from scratch, TBA...
The Neil Young hoot night was a fitting end to the weeklong madness, with Seth Tiven and Jon Sanchez battling it out ferociously for the honor of most feedback-soaked rock guitar noise artisans. The spirit of Neil was definitely apparent in Dumptruck's lengthy and loud versions of "Cortez the Killer" and "Let's Go Downtown." "Powderfinger" and "Everybody Knows This is Nowhere" were the most oft-played songs, and both Shindigs and Superego managed to lovingly mangle "After the Gold Rush." Earthpig definitely was the shining lone-star of the evening as usual, casually tossing off the authentic banjo arrangement of "For the Turnstiles" aided by the chord organ strains of Orange Mother Jeff Johnston and low-key kick of "golden" Graham Reynolds. Mike Rosenthal's steel guitarist added a haunting touch to "Sugar Mountain" and Royal Towers' "The Loner" was downright scary. "Cowgirl in the Sand," "Hey, Hey, My, My, "Cinnamon Girl," "Tonight's the Night, " "Walk On," "Tired Eyes," "Lotta Love" and others were attempted during the post 1 AM all-star jam which also included a medley of "Ohio," and the Neil Young verse from 'Sweet Home Alabama." And of course we had to try the "Needle, " before ending the night on a "Helpless" note. Members of Solid Gold 40, Cher UK, Sisterunaked, Jeff Smith and many more joined in with mouthharps and loosely interpreted lyrics. All in all, Austin fans got quite a fix of Brother Neil's richly revered material.
The night before I left for the trip, my beloved 1980 Chevy S-10 pick-up truck met its' maker in a collision in the line of duty, on my way to an Argyles gig at the lake. A teenager in her dad's Explorer ran the flashing red at 2232 and 71, and now I am back stateside mired in the insurance paperwork and waiting on the blue book settlement. I was just relieved to make it to the gig on time. I bought the 1979 Cressida Sedan back from Jon, and it's running great. It used to belong to my late brother Jack, so I am happy to have it back in the family. It's got power windows, all it needs is a rear windshield and some seat-covers. I'll sure miss that old three-on-a-tree.
The Argyles played at another ostentatious wedding reception this weekend at the Colombe D'or Hotel in Houston's historic Montrose district. It was just another routine 3-set tux gig, except for the ballroom which was imported by a Houston oil baron in the fifties from a Chateau in the South of France where a famous Contessa once entertained Rodin, Stravinsky, and The King of Italy. Last month in Austin we played a party celebrating Dell Computers becoming the number one manufacturer of PCs. They gave prizes to their star employess including new VW Beetles, a gorgeous ski boat, and pair of jet skis. I'm in the wrong line of work.
My travel partner Zig is in New Orleans playing keyboard on an album produced by Craig Ross at Daniel Lanois' Kingsway studios. Splendid is the new project by Austin expatriate guitarist (and Chili Pepper for 15 minute)s Jesse Tobias, with Dwight Yoakam bassist J.D. Foster. Look for that on Mammoth Records next year. Next month we will be visiting cajun country again for a pig roast and jam in a small delta town called Talla Bena, 15 miles from the muddy banks.
I may also try to get out to the west coast later this fall to see some double bills of dieselhed and fastball. Just like the old days.
Besides the bass, the best burthday gifts I got were two short but classic
paperbacks. If you feel restless and uninspired and need some food for
thought, I recommend that you run out and get Dostoyevsky's "Notes from
Underground" and Rilke's "Letters to a Young Poet." Neither offers any
consolation whatsoever for life's many miseries and burdens, but both contain
something much more valuable: the rich, clear perspective of life experience.
"Being an artist means: not numbering and counting, but ripening
like a tree..." (RMR)
Subject: Re: dieselhed dates
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 1998 08:05:16 EDT
From: GuyFantasia@aol.com
To: superego@io.com
Pablo- Great to hear from you. I am at an Internet cafe in London. I am very hungover after a night of celebration. We did Top of the Pops yesterday. Culture Club was on the show too and I got some pictures with Boy George. We went to a club called the Metropolitan and we saw Goldie and the Chemical Brothers and Bjork. It was wild. I will be back stateside in about 3 weeks. I'm glad you had fun in Europe. Keep in touch-MILES
Subject: Re: i demand a non-retraction
I'm waiting to expose your involvement in the Beaver Nelson Wars when
I write the Pulitzer Prize-winning piece, "Paul Minor Comes Out of the
Closet." Seriously, I'll make it up to you sometime. Glad to hear my story
went over well.
Paul Minor wrote:
"chris,
i had lunch with tony this afternoon and must tell you that he, nanette
and i really enjoyed your article on fastball today. it bums him out when
people assume he's rich, and you helped set the record straight. off the
record, i hope to get him in the studio for a guest spot on the new ego
album this weekend before he heads back out. you know i'll let you know
if it happens.
by the way, i now count three times where you mention tony and joey's
involvement with beaver nelson and neglect to include my role in that memphis
fiasco, as lead guitarist and songwriting partner to beav. that deal broke
my heart as well, but the one good thing that came of it was my continuing
friendship with all three of them. i am still very proud of the record
we made. some of the demos may resurface eventually when i put out the
next compilation.
you can read my version of the saga on my webpage:
thanks,
paul"
Subject: Re: i demand a non-retraction
no sweat chris.
sometimes you're the headline, sometimes you're a footnote.
one more nice thing scalzo said about your fastball piece:
"Man, *I* even learned some stuff about us from reading that article..."
I am attaching a photo of the Beav band in memphis.
maybe you could run it with the second paragraph of my last whiny little
letter about being three times excluded.
My roommate's new baby boy, Telesmar Sanchez, is the undisputed golden
child of the Austin music milieu.
But Claudia Scalzo is the platimum baby.
I am on the way to a meeting with Rick Melchior about selling ad space
on the new commercial Austin Music Channel. I need a day job, so wish me
luck. I also applied at the new Mars Music Superstore, which opens in November
in my neighborhood, just in time for Christmas shopping and maybe an XL
feature story.
I'll keep you posted on anything newsworthy around here.
thanks,
Paul
Subject: eurotrash '98
Bon Jour Amigos,
We made it! After a grueling series of flights and trains, we landed
at a cozy third floor nook in amsterdam, two blocks from the leidseplasse
coffeehouse scene. Zig turned out to be quite the shutterbug. focus, please.
brussels is a tourist and shopping mecca built around a urinating brass
urchin. we survived the white horse hotel (don't worry ma), and were dazzled
by the dramatic light show in the picturesque grand place.
tonight it's off to gay paree where we hope to score some french fries
from a texas music afficionado who owns the chesterfield club.
exploring new and exciting bathroom plumbing fixtures around the globe...
love,
paul & zig
From: "Paul Minor" hey folks,
just toured the vatican, st. pete's cathedral and the sistine chapel.
(we saw the fingers) now we are on the way to castel angelo and we both
can't wait to get on the subway back to daniela and francesco's for some
home cookin. the feet are kind of tired, but we still like each other.
tomorrow it's on the train to venice for a gondola ride for zig's burfday,
and then to stay with some friends in austria and eat vienna sausages.
FYI we get back late friday the 11th, and i am out of town with the argyles
until monday the 14th.
ciao.
love to all...
zig and paul
Subject: Wienerschnitzel
ahhhh,
the fresh austrian air is filling our lungs. vienna was great, but rainy.
we saw the church, the castle, the art, and ate some decent hot dogs, yadda-yadda-yadda.
really though, it was spectacular and so was venice. feeding the pigeons
in san marcos square was particularly romantic. our hotels were both winners
in the coziness category.
i had the best pork chops ever at a great pension restaurant on a mountainside
overlooking graz tonight. now we are at zig's friend georg's university
architectural studio listening to techno beats and surfing the net.
now it's a couple of restful days of recuperation with some extremely
gracious families before heading home.
see ya'll soon.
Z & P
To: jackanddminor@juno.com
volks,
we are laying over in munich for several hours, awaiting the departure
of our overnight sleeper train to dusseldorf to catch our flight home.
earlier we went to the deutschland technical museum and were kicked off
the computer by a fascist internet cafe supervisor before we were able
to get a message out. then we happened upon an oktoberfest concert in the
plaza and wandered around aimlessly before finding this cafe. we are both
ready to get back to our domiciles and the comforts of home (user-friendly
plumbing, etc).
later on we will raise a last bier stein at the hoffbr€uhaus in
celebration of a fantastic trip and a friendship that has managed to survive
this intense and wondrous journey...
we will update you all with the highlights and anecdotes once we have
some much needed decompression time . i«ve got gigs this weekend
and kathy is in the studio sunday and the hole in the wall monday. thanks
for keeping in touch, your messages were nice reminders of home.
we«ll talk to you soon. ciao, auf wiedersehn, and adieu...
love,
the kids
From: Paul Minor Announcing the debut of "Teles Walker Sanchez"
7 lbs and some change, 21" tall. Male. Libra. No scars or goldtteeth.
I auditioned for the new Austin Music and Arts Channel this weekend.
Give me a recommended to Rick Melchior and Co. if you get a chance.
I am looking for a new full-time job. Forward my resume to someone if
you feel like it:
here is a thumbnail summary of my skills and experience that you should
feel free to forward to anyone who might need me:
OFFICE SKILLS:
Microsoft Word, Excel, Pagemaker, HTML, Filemaker, Photoshop, and more...
Proofreading and Editing, Graphic Design, Alpha Filing, Xeroxing, Faxing,
E-mailing, Bulk Mail Posting, Data Entry, Courier Services...
PUBLICITY/MARKETING:
Booked and promoted the Hole in the Wall Free For All live new music
showcase for over 4 years. Released 4 independent albums on my own label.
A music-biz insider in Austin for 15 years.
Directed videos for Spoon, Fastball, Superego, Deep Sombreros, &
Pocket Fishrmen, and have made appearances on all local radio stations
and music tv shows. I have published numerous webpages including:
MISCELLANEOUS:
Live and studio sound engineering, audio and video editing, music criticism,
gardening/landscaping, and 3 long years of institutional security.
From: Paul Minor Nickel $ Dime Productions
'94 MARSHALL JCM-900 100 Watt 2x12" Tube Combo Amp w/Channel Switching,
Reverb, 2 master volumes, footswitch, 10 ft. power cable, new tubes, power
transformer and heavy-duty road case w/casters and stickers. All Good Condition.
$649, See photo:
6 X 6.5 ft. White Aluminum Camper Shell
Sanyo Car Stereo with 3-inch Pioneer Speakers. $39.
Call 512-474-2987 or reply to
Date: Fri, 16 Oct 1998 10:27:22 -0500
From: "Chris Riemenschneider"
Reply-To: criemenschneider@statesman.com
Organization: Austin American-Statesman
To: superego@io.com
Date: Fri, 16 Oct 1998 10:27:22 -0500
To: "Chris Riemenschneider"
Organization: Austin American-Statesman
From: superego@io.com
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1998 14:05:43 +0200
From: info@pointnet.be (Pointnet Infodesk)
To: superego@io.com, jackanddminor@juno.com, mowood5@hotmail.com,
guyfantasia@aol.com, langer@auschron.com, invest@bga.com, nanette7@earthlink.net,
kzieg65961@aol.com, jeff@pobox.com, superego@io.com
To: kzieg65961@aol.com
Cc: jackanddminor@juno.com, mowood5@hotmail.com, guyfantasia@aol.com
Subject: rome-ing around
Date: Wed, 02 Sep 1998 07:43:36 PDT
Date: Sun, 06 Sep 1998 12:14:36 PDT
From: "Paul Minor"
To: jackanddminor@juno.com, mowood5@aol.com, guyfantasia@aol.com,
superego@io.com, kzieg65961@aol.com, nanette7@earthlink.net
Cc: kzieg65961@aol.com, ffcorp@email.msn.com
Subject: munchen out
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1998 10:20:08 PDT
Reply-To: superego@io.com
Organization: Nickel $ Dime Records
To: superego@io.com
100% fit. 9/29/98 2:40 AM.
Reply-To: superego@io.com
Organization: Nickel $ Dime Records
To: superego@io.com
ONLINE GARAGE SALE:
Comes with free irony.
fits 1970s Chevy S-10 pickups. $179.
superego@io.com
