art is the new religion

Celine Dion is ________.

I forgot where I first saw this, but I actually spent the five minutes it took to watch the entire video and it really made me laugh. 

So in case you haven't already seen it, here's a video wherein Rich at FourFour proves the hypothesis that Celine Dion is f&%ing amazing:

I think Supporting Point No. 7 is my favorite.  Ah, I love me a true eccentric.

Dale Watson at Ginny's Little Longhorn

I've been really forlorn about missing my friends in San Francisco lately, and I was especially feeling it on Saturday since one of my best friends had to cancel a trip she'd planned to come visit me.  So on Sunday afternoon, I called up my friend and neighbor Elise here in Austin and asked her to go see Dale Watson with me at Ginny's Little Longhorn Saloon.  I wanted to celebrate living in Austin by doing something that was truly unique to the city.  It was a 4pm show and it's right near our neighborhood, so Elise couldn't really resist.

Austin's been pretty dead lately, especially in the area by the University of Texas campus where we live. It's between semesters and it seems everyone's gone to visit relatives outside the city.  But Ginny's was hopping to the point where the crowd was spilling out into the parking lot, and we had to hunt for parking across the street.

Ginny's is a hole in the wall joint, but it was packed from front to back for a free show by Dale Watson and for a highly anticipated round of chicken shit bingo.  Instead of catching the bingo spectacle, Elise and I staked a claim in the crowd near the bar, up by the band, eventually scoring two barstools.  Here's what the scene looked like (that's Elise waving hello at the end):

We had some Shiners and caught up, enjoying the music and watching people dance.  Dale Watson was particularly entertaining and I was delighted his band had a pedal steel player in it.  In between songs, Dale promoted the free hot dogs and chicken shit bingo and even sang a rousing song about Eduardo when he showed up with the tamales he was selling.  Yes, San Francisco, Austin has its own version of The Tamale Lady, only he's named Eduardo and he has a theme song.

I tried to shoot some footage of Dale Watson and his band but I ended up mainly documenting the dancing of one of the couples on the miniscule "dance floor".  Elise managed to get a bit of a crane shot effect by grabbing the camera and standing on her barstool, so you can see a bit of Dale toward the end:

Dale and his band play great Texas honky tonk music, and his rich voice is a classic that makes me swoon. If the dance floor at Ginny's were any bigger, I would have wanted to two-step with someone.  As it was, only Elise got asked to dance, and right after she took the silver-haired gentleman out for a spin we figured it was time to move on.

• Buy Dale Watson's new album From the Cradle to the Grave.
  

Show Review: Kathleen Edwards & Davíd Garza

Last night I went to the Continental Club to see Kathleen Edwards.  A friend of mine had been kind enough to get me on the guest list, and I was excited to see her live for the first time.  As luck would have it, my friend Davíd Garza was closing the show so I was really looking forward to the evening.  The photo of Kathleen and Davíd on the right was taken by another friend of mine, the amazing photographer Todd V. Wolfson. 

Since Kathleen's not on an official tour right now, this Austin show seemed like a one-off gig.  She started the set by herself, just her voice and an acoustic guitar, and the nearly-full venue was completely silent.  It was a great way to experience the timbre of her voice and the full force of her lyrics.  Immediately following the first song, she explained how she didn't feel rehearsed and ready, and was really hoping everyone would show up after she finished playing.  "So f@&% you guys," she said to the audience and drowned out the laughter with the start of her second song.  Her husband joined her as her only accompaniment onstage, alternating between electric and acoustic guitars.  They did indeed sound a tiny bit rusty to me, like they just couldn't agree upon exactly the same rhythm.  I thought I saw Kathleen glare at her husband and rock her guitar neck up and down now and then, as if to say follow. this. beat. please. but I was standing behind two really tall fellows so I could have just imagined it.  Aside from her forgetting how the second verse of "In State" started, the rest of the set went smoothly and it was a nice intimate show.  I'm looking forward to her new album Asking For Flowers which will be out on March 4th.

• Download "In State" and buy Kathleen Edwards' most recent album Back to Me.

Davíd kicked off the first Tuesday of a three month residency at Continental Club last night with a few songs from This Euphoria (released almost ten years ago) followed by a whole lot of jamming and dancing.  He had a full band with him including a percussionist, sax player, drummer and bassist (Chepo Pena, who I first heard when one of my college friends was obsessed with a band he was in called Sincola).  I didn't hear Davíd play many (or any?) new songs, which I thought was odd since he is always writing.  But I'd guess that each of his weekly shows for the next three months will have their own personality and diverse set lists.  I didn't get to talk to him at the gig, but he did give me a shout out from the stage toward the end of his set, welcoming me back to Austin from California (first name, last name, pointing at me, the works).  It was a little embarrassing being called out in front of the dwindling crowd, but it went along with the casual and intimate atmosphere of the show and it always feels good to hear kind words from a friend.  During his set I spied another familiar face in the room, my friend Stephanie Black who I met back when we were in college at UT but who has lived in Brooklyn for the past several years.  Turns out she was just in town for one night, so I was happy to get to hang out with her for a bit.  The set was nostalgic for me for many reasons, but in a good way.

Stephanie Black is also a great photographer.  She didn't have her "real" camera with her last night, but she shared these shots with me:

• You should buy Davíd Garza's This Euphoria because it is one of my favorite albums of all time.