May
6
Vulcan Gas Company Danish Style
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The first time I heard the Copenhagen band Viva Vertigo was pretty stunning. And weird. Not weird in the bad sense but weird in the I am thirteen years old blowing my mind by listening to The Velvet Underground on my headphones weird. In the sense that this is something new, bizarre and captivating.
This record, their second, is titled “Vulcan Gas Company”. It starts out with a clanging symphony of resonating guitars and the exclamation “Finally, it’s here!” In some weird way it reminds me of the intro to the 70’s masterpiece “Maggot Brain” by Funkadelic. The eclectic, sonic party continues with guitar heavy, chunk-a-chunk songs followed by melodic ballads (of sorts) all filled with reverb-rich personality. The last song is a swirl of promises to us that “I will be here ’til the end of the night.” Sounds about right.
I received the disc in the mail from your friend and mine, Don Hyde, founder of The Vulcan. I pulled the disc out of the envelope and noticed the title. Was this a joke? (For those of you who may not know, the Vulcan was a club in downtown Austin, open from 1967 to 1970. Probably the first club that really started freaking out the establishment, paving the way for The Armadillo. But it was so much more than that.) From the first few notes coming from the stereo I realized that this was no joke at all. Not that the record is devoid of humor.
So intrigued was I by this record that I figured an interesting story must be within. Soon, the emails were flying back and forth between myself and founder of Viva Vertigo, Simon Beck. The Blunderbuss reaches out its artist musings across the sea to find that they do know about The Armadillo, The Vulcan, Jim Franklin’s (and others’) posters, and so much more.
Darina Neyret: When did you first hear about the Vulcan Gas Co.?
Simon Beck: I read about the club “The Vulcan Gas Company” on the cover of the green Velvet Underground live album “1969″. Part of the record was recorded there. I think Lou Reed said something about doing one long set “…and pull up your pincushions, or whatever you do to make life palatable here in Texas…” I always imagined a couple of cowboys getting that sentence mid-drink and spitting it out, being upset about witty Lou. Anyways, the name always popped up in my mind. And I finally got to read something about it on the net.
DN: Have you ever been to Austin, Texas?
SB: I think our drummer was there. But the rest of us haven’t.
DN: Are you aware of the poster art and poster artists involved with The Vulcan and The Armadillo? (many of whom are still here, living in Austin and also part of Blunderbuss)
SB: Yes. I saw some of the Velvet Underground ones in an underground record store, and later I saw the internet page. I read about how the club fought to survive against the establishment and how the posters were the only way they could advertise.
DN: Your record, Vulcan Gas Company opens with a track called “Vulcan Airwaves” How did you come up with that sound for it?
SB: That idea came along listening to old radio ads from the 60’s where they advertised albums on the air. They worked kind of like a movie trailer does today. With a voice-over telling the audience about the main themes of the record. Then I heard “Queens of the Stone Age” used ads on some of their “Desert Sessions” records at the end of albums. “The record you always wanted made… has now been made…” with a slowed down, Hollywood speaker voice and some snippets of music from the album. The bass player from the first album, Mick Grondahl, was raised in New York and has that rasp…
DN: I’ve read that the song “Love is a Dog From Hell” is an homage to Charles Bukowski. How did that come together? How did it get written?
SB: That song got written a while ago actually. A friend of mine came over and I had parts of the song written and he wrote what was missing. We were both big readers of Charles Bukowski and both felt exactly like that title that day. We also used the “flower, fist and wail” line from one of his poems but we changed it around a little. Bukowski has a lot of dark humour and is just funny as hell. He deserves an homage.
DN: The man who opened The Vulcan somehow discovered your CD and enjoys it (he is the one who gave it to me), what do you think about that?!
SB: We’re happy about that. We kind of used the title as a metaphor, like the club struggled to survive so do bands all over. We’re one of the them. Actually, here in Copenhagen, where we are located, we had this alternative concert hall called “Ungdomshuset” (Youthhouse) that actually got raided by the police the very day our album got released. We went to a couple of the demonstrations. Many punk and rock bands have played there, even “Green Day”. For me the name “Vulcan Gas Company” signals energy and fighting for the alternative music scene, the right to be different. So, I send a big hello and firm handshake to the guy who opened the place.
DN: So, who do you listen to?
SB: The Velvet Underground, Queens of the Stone Age, Stones, Electric Prunes, Mark Lanegan, Phil Spectors girl groups, Bowie, Iggy, Lou, Stooges, film soundtracks, obscure 60’s single bands, Abba, Roky Erickson and 13th Floor Elevators, Doors, Love, Elvis, Dylan , Clash, White Stripes, BRMC, The Raveonettes, The Tremolo Beer Gut, Baby Woodrose, Nirvana.
DN: Who are your influences?
SB: All of the above and more. A lot of beat literature, a lot of movies. These days I actually see more movies than listen to records.
DN: How did Viva Vertigo come together?
SB: It came together when my friend Sune Rose Wagner (The Raveonettes) played his 4-track demos for me in 1999. He played all the instruments and it sounded real cool. His songs were simple and really worked in that format. I got started on my own and recorded 80 songs in 2 years on a 4-track. Sune Rose Wagner then played guitar, arranged and produced the first album we did, “Viva Viva”, which was released in 2004 on Bad Afro Records. Mick Grondahl, Jeff Buckleys bass player had just moved to Copenhagen and we got him on the sessions with our present drummer; Kristoffer Sonne, who is a legendary drummer here in Denmark.
Since they were all quite busy, The Raveonettes got signed to Columbia Records, as did Kristoffer Sonne’s old band “Warwick Avenue”. I kind of took the idea from the “Queens of the Stone age” with revolving line-ups and guest’s. Kristoffer Sonne has been on all our albums (we just did the third), and on the last two records and tours Sara Lewis Sørensen plays a mean lead guitar taking over from Sune Rose Wagner. We have a Swedish bass player, Anders Wallin, who took over from Mickey Grondahl. But Sune and Mick are guest’s on our 3rd album which is not released yet, we’re looking for a label.
DN: Where is your favorite place to play or tour?
SB: We have only toured our native country, Denmark. Once we went to Latvija and once to Sweden. We would love to play outside of Denmark.
DN: What is your dream gig?
SB: To play The Vulcan Gas Company opening for The Velvet Underground.
DN: What is your philosophy of life?
SB: Write a song about it...
Nice philosophy, Mr. Beck.
I’d like to end with a story Jim Franklin told me a while ago when I was interviewing him. He told me that after The velvet Underground gig at The Vulcan 1969, he, Lou Reed and others were out at one of the all-night diners in town. Lou asked Jim why the poster he did was so morbid since they were such a happy band. Was this another joke?
Apr
22
Thread Lightly Through The Glass Darkly
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Howdy doodie,
For your viewing pleasure, I offer y’all Lisa Mills and Simon Wallace at Threadgill’s World Headquarters…
…Thanks to Doug LaRue and Glaze Studios for putting this up. Thanks to Eddie Wilson for making it happen.
Lisa Mills will be playing live Friday April 25th, 2008 at Threadgill’s new, new OLD #1.
Lisa is one of three native Mississippians playing at Kenneth Threadgill’s Joint from the 24th through the 26th. It is our Grand Opening Season nod to a few of our friends who, like Eddie Wilson himself, hail from the Hospitality State!
- Thursday, April 24th: from Columbia, Mississippi - Earl Poole Ball and the Roadhouse Scholars
- Friday April 25th: from Hattiesburg, Mississippi - Lisa Mills
- Saturday April 26th; from Biloxi, Mississippi - Ray Cashman
Also, please don’t miss our Grand Opening Season gift of 1970’s ticket prices. “May Day with Ray.” The Ray Benson Trio for TWO BUCKS! That’s right! TWO BUCKS to see the savior of Cowboy Swing in our beautiful 100 seat music room!
Other upcoming shows at the new, new OLD #1 include: Audrey Auld Mezera and Andrew Hardin, the Emily Elbert Trio, the Mark Junger Band and many, many more… Please check our web calender regularly and we will soon be an easy feed to mobile devices everywhere.
Our very own Bluegrass Brunch starts on Mother’s Day, May 11th and will continue every Sunday thereafter!
Hope to see y’all real soon!
Apr
18
Siftings
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This week, the Sifter examines the beginnings of the Jazz Age in Austin, excerpted from my forthcoming book, If You Can’t Dance, Get On And Ride: The Jazz Age in Austin.
As heady as the Austin music and arts scene is today (sexual pun intended), it has nothing on the creative explosion that occurred during the Jazz Age in Austin, a time and place that would produce movie stars, singers, musicians, composers, writers, dancers and actors known across the country and the world.
The Jazz Age commonly refers to the period from 1918-1929, the years between the end of World War I and the beginning of the Great Depression. A time when traditional values crumbled as fast as the stock market soared. “Jazz Age” takes its name from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, Tales of the Jazz Age. Jazz music enjoyed a tremendous surge in popularity, mostly among the young, for whom it expressed their way of life.
The age was characterized by individualism and a greater emphasis on the pursuit of pleasure and enjoyment in the wake of the misery, destruction and perceived hypocrisy and waste of World War I and pre-war values.
The public enthusiastically adopted the era’s many technological developments (typically seen as progress)—cars, air travel, radio, talking movies, the telephone, waffle irons—as well as new modernist trends in social behavior, the arts, and culture.
According to convention, Paul Whiteman played the world’s first jazz concert on February 12, 1917, at the Aeolian Ballroom in New York City. The Original Dixieland Jass Band’s “Livery Stable Blues” released early in 1917 was one of the earliest jazz records. That year numerous other bands made recordings featuring “jazz” in the title or band name, mostly ragtime or novelty records rather than jazz. In September 1917 W.C. Handy’s Orchestra of Memphis recorded a cover version of “Livery Stable Blues.” In February 1918, James Reese Europe’s “Hellfighters” infantry band took ragtime to Europe during World War I, and on their return recorded Dixieland standards including “The Darktown Strutter’s Ball.”
Apr
13
Melanie Bounds for Glory
Filed Under Happenings, Music | 2 Comments
I just can’t tell you how much fun it was to hear Melanie Bounds make her singing debut at Threadgill’s last Sunday. After more than 20 years of serving up chicken fried chicken steak, as well as it’s beefy brother, not to mention all those tasty vegetables, it was a hoot hearing her sensuous voice caress the melody of a Blaze Foley tune “If I Could Only Fly”. It was Merle Haggard’s Birthday Bash, Merle wasn’t there, but the band was as hot as Eddie Wilson’s sweet potato pancakes on his double burner griddle. Redd Volkaert, Marvin Dykhuis and Casper Rawls all strumming the six strings, Richard Bowden on fiddle and Floyd Domino on the keyboard.
Next time you see Mel down at Threadgill’s, be sure to ask her for her autograph.
(Photo by Winker.)
Apr
8
Love And The Art Of Living
Filed Under Poetry | Leave a Comment
My mother is a geisha, her hair is long and black
she wears it like a cloak of armor… it is her finest asset
… she has a large chair that sits in every room, of every
home we have ever had. This is her chair, this is where
she sits, judge, jury and executioner.
She is highly skilled at the art of the pleasure of men,
she is royalty, and demands respect and high praise
from all who enter her atmosphere, like small planets
whooshing by an absorbent sun.
I can smell her sleeping from the darkness under her bed
where I lay, I yearn to touch her, to be close to her, to feel
her warmth, but I am not allowed. so I wait, counting the
cinder blocks that make up the base of her sleeping chamber…
I am covered in old sheets.
I can smell her perfume, picture the red and blue of the
midnight, chinese silk caressing her skin
Morning comes and while she can’t hear me, I crawl up on
the bed to be near her beauty
My Father is a distant sadness… a fallen warrior of the
highest honor
My Mother mourns his death above my life
And so it is.
Ragged and worn, shredded and tattered , alone and
forgotten my mother waits to die
Long gone, are the opportunities to have mastered an
art form worth having…
strangely she sits alone, under her bed, that she made from
the silk… that once was the excrement of worms.
Apr
8
Digging For Armadillos
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It happened again in Freebirds down SoCo way (for those of you who are not familiar with Austin, SoCo stands for South of Congress, a district I call hipster heaven). She was a 20-ish-year-old girl, asking what flavor tortilla I wanted. She was wearing a threadbare Armadillo World Headquarters T-shirt, obviously vintage. Obviously adored for years. I complimented her on it and her eyes lit up. She said that her dad loved the Armadillo and went there as often as he could. It was his T-shirt.
Eddie Wilson, if you are reading this; yes, she filled that threadbare T-shirt very nicely indeed.
People from all walks of life, young and old get all gooey and nostalgic about the Armadillo, even if they had never set foot in the place or lie that they did. It is one of those places touched by fairy dust. A place that sums up a certain era, a certain ethos and pathos like Winterland, The Fillmore East, The Cotton Club… or Studio 54 (not that there’s anything wrong with that.) Rooms that conjure landscapes and histories vivid to anyone who has ever been there or just heard first-hand stories.
Every few weeks or so, a number of us will go Digging for Armadillos and bring back stories and tales from people who were in or around The Armadillo during its life from August 7th, 1970 to New Year’s Eve 1980. Expect the truth, expect tall tales. You can even expect circular ramblings from old farts who did too much mescaline to remember anything resembling reality (whatever that is.) Most of all, expect some pretty colorful and wonderful stories filled with love and nostalgia.
But did you know that nostalgia is a disease?
At least that’s the way it was treated until not too long ago, leaches and all. Yessir. The term was coined in 1668 by Johannes Hofer from the Greek nostos “homecoming” + algos “pain, grief, distress.” Nowadays, The American Heritage Dictionary defines it as “a bittersweet longing for things, persons, or situations of the past.” Sounds about right!
So, that is what Digging for Armadillos is all about. It’s human nature to want to look back, to delve into one’s past and especially, it seems, into the past of others.
In Austin, the bittersweet disease of nostalgia flourishes for the Armadillo World Headquarters more than anything I can think of, and, more than ever. It was a home away from home for many. It was a sanctuary, a way of life. Everyone I have ever met who lived in those times lights up and glows when they talk about the place. Some actually get misty-eyed and a hushed reverence descends upon them.
Please join us frequently, but irregularly, for offerings from another kind of down under.
Apr
7
SAMOPC
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By Randy Kirchhof, via Leea Mechling
Just in case you’re not aware of a wonderful place, here is a nicely written piece on the South Austin Museum of Popular Culture by our friend and compadre Leea Mechling. Go and visit them; it’s a delightful break from condo cranes and traffic.
In the decade that spanned the mid 1960s through the mid 1970s, Austin, Texas made its most significant impact on the popular culture of the United States and the world in general. In the mid 1960s the “psychedelic era” had its origins in Austin and spread throughout the US and the world via San Francisco and the “summer of love” movement. In the mid 1970s the “cosmic cowboy” originated in Austin and propagated throughout the US and the world’s popular cultures and continues to be influential through Austin music legends such as Willie Nelson. There had been no repository established to preserve the memorabilia or educate the public of the significant role Austin played in influencing the world’s popular culture during that time period. The South Austin Museum of Popular Culture was established in 2004 to acquire and preserve historical artifacts from that important period in Austin’s history and further to educate the public about Austin’s prominent role in the gestation of those eras of popular culture.
In that mid-1960s through the 1970s decade, Austin’s artists, musicians, writers, photographers and general populace created two distinctive life styles and art forms that were emulated the world over: psychedelic music & art and the phenomena of the cosmic cowboy. While attrition has taken its toll on many of the popular common objects depictive of that time, there remains a significant number of museum quality examples which the South Austin Museum of Popular Culture has been identifying for acquisition and preservation. Among these are musical recordings, film and video tapes, artwork in the form of posters, comic books, t-shirts, music packaging, murals, photographs, etc as well as examples of common objects utilized by the populace during that time period.
The Museums’ intimate association with the remaining living artists, musicians, writers and populace of that time will enable it to acquire valuable historical examples and expand the knowledge base with which to educate current and future generations about this most significant period in Austin’s history.
The first acquisition to the permanent collection of the Museum was the 1974 mural painted by Ken Featherston in a private home– made possible by very generous donors John McCall, Eddie Wilson and Michael Kleinman.
Soon after, in May 2004 the first formal exhibition was opened featuring that stellar, groundbreaking artist and renaissance man Jack “Jaxon” Jackson. Following that, the world-class artists who created the immense body of work for the Armadillo World Headquarters were featured in exhibits. That group includes Kerry Awn, Danny Garrett, Henry Gonzalez, Jim Franklin, Guy Juke, Micael Priest, Bill Narum and Sam Yeates.
In March 2008, coinciding with a major exhibit of Frank Kozik’s poster art, the Museum was fortunate to acquire approximately 275 pieces of art created by Kozik during the time period of 1995-1997.
While the very vibrant gig postering world of Austin is making its mark on the city, state and nation, the Museum will continue to collect, preserve and exhibit works—music posters, photographs, literature and film- to remind Austin of his cultural past and heritage.
–Leea Mechling, Executive Director
For more information, please contact the Museum.
512.440.8318
samopc@gmail.com
www.samopc.org
Apr
7
Happy new week to you. We had a bit of a lull in the action here while we dinked around behind the scenes, oiled the gears, tweaked things and prepared this place for upcoming plans, new graphics, etc. Nothing earth-shaking; it’s just that we need to make sure that it looks okay on all of the browsers out there.
We’ve got a very nice selection of offerings to put up for you this week, and a whole bunch of newly interested contributors. As such, I’ll be adding posts, new biographies to the “Who We Are” page, and, yeah, I still have to put up a “contact us” page, which I’ll do Real Soon Now.
With all of the interest we’re generating, we may soon live up to our name. Stay tuned; it’s gettin’ fun.
Apr
7
Well, I’ve heard of a ‘Protest Demonstration’, been to a few of them myself, but a ‘Compassion Demonstration’, now, that’s something new. This one, on Wednesday, April the 9th, 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. at Austin City Hall, is to draw attention to the human rights abuse going on in Tibet, or as the Chinese would say, China. Them Tibetans, with their highly cultivated and profound philosophical spiritual development, are somewhat in the way of China’s leaders’ desire of total Tibetan takeover, makeover and fakeover that everything’s simply groovy in the land of this year’s Olympic games.
The Olympic Torch touches US soil, also this Wednesday, out there in San Fransisco, so it’s the perfect day for people to gather together and compassionately wish for human rights for Tibetans, in particular, and the happiness of all living beings, in general. The Dalai Lama, Spiritual Leader of the Tibetans, in exile and otherwise, wishes for the happiness of all living beings. If you need a little help imagining what that might be like, then come on down to City Hall. Meditate, pray if you want to, hang out and sing. Did I mention there’d be music? (Austin, h e l l o) But just standing around with a bunch of compassionate people and thinking about happiness, peace, an end to suffering, for all living beings, well, it gives some of us a break from the horror of thinking how our tax dollars support corporate sanctioned high crimes and miss demeanings.
It’s a candlelight vigil, and I hear candles will be provided. I just love candlelight.
rae jean splendor
Apr
1
Tunerville ‘Toons
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The name of our weekly cartoon from the past will be “Tunerville ‘Toons.”
Toonerville was the name of a popular cafe at 5412 N. Lamar, named after
the cartoon, Toonerville Trolley, which ran in the Austin paper.
I use the word “Tunerville” because of a 1920s Austin UT student jazz
band, the “Talking Tooters from Tune-erville.” They had previously been
called the The No-Name Orchestra.
The group was trying out at the Hancock Opera House and was offering $2.50
to the person who suggested the best name for the six-piece group. The
band would be going on the big-time Interstate Vaudeville circuit within
the next few weeks” and needed a new name.
That name was selected from a large list submitted during a week-long
contest, while the band gave concerts in the Hancock Opera House. Other
names submitted included Pepper Pickers, Krazy Krums, Joy Pirates, The
Thrillers, Texas Special, Devil’s Dampers, Kill Joy Simps, and Joy Six.
Today’s Tunerville ‘Toon:
