Waking up in Waco
It's Monday morning and I'm waking up in Waco, Texas. Since I last checked in, we have traveled through three major Texas cities. But I should rewind. I think I left off in Frisco, TX. Our next show would be a Saturday night in Houston.
On our way to Houston, we stopped at KAOS radio in Austin for a SXSW radio appearance. We were on a tight schedule, so it would be quick and dirty. Here is a little taste of our radio show.
After Austin, we would be meeting up with Felipe in Houston. Felipe Galvan is a Texas music icon. He is my friend. I didn't know him before this tour. Felipe was just a guy who decided to book us on a Saturday night at Fitzgerald's. At first I only knew him as the club-booking agent. He told me he liked what we were doing and he was going to match us up with a local ska band that would fill the club on a Saturday night. Houston is a brand new market for the Rodeo and this sounded almost too good to be true. I would find out later that the Ska band he mentioned was Los Skanarles and Felipe was the front man.
And ska doesn't even start to describe Los Skanarles. They are one of the best live bands I have ever seen. Their music bristles with energetic dance-hall rhythms, rockabilly, Latin soul and even a little swing and zydeco, all played with a punk-rock attitude. And man do they have some serious fans! We got the bro hook up on this show. Our first visit to the 4th largest city in the US would be a blow out. Hell yeah! Here is a press shot of Felipe and his band.
When we got to Fitzgerald's Saturday night Felipe was waiting for us at the club.
Fitzgerald's is an amazing venue. I'm not sure what the capacity is, but it's bigger than most of the venues we play in Seattle. There are two floors and two stages. The bigger stage is upstairs. The night we played there was a hip-hop show happening downstairs. We were upstairs on the main stage with Los Skanarles.
We ate dinner with Los Skanarles in the green room at Fitzgerald's (the boys from the band brought us tacos from their favorite Tex Mex joint). When it was time for us to play, Felipe caped me.
And I did the same for him.
Before the night was over, our whole band was on stage raising hell and playing percussion with Los Skanarles.
Here is a photo of me and Felipe hanging out after the show.
We hung out and had a good time that night. I can't remember when things ended, but at some point there was a conversation about Felipe jumping in the van with us and going to our next show. I wasn't sure if this was drunken talk or if he was serious. We dialed him up the next morning, and he was ready to go. Crazy. Let's hit San Antonio!
We picked Felipe up at his house at 9AM. He had gotten home at 7AM. 2 hours sleep! That sounds about right. We were all hungry, so Felipe took us to his favorite spot for breakfast tacos. Felipe ordered a beer with his breakfast. What can I say. Felipe was setting a whole new standard for the Rodeo. This is the spot where we ate.
I crashed hard in the back of the van after breakfast. We were heading to San Antonio for an afternoon BBQ show. My friend Sid was hosting a day show since we needed to be in Austin that evening. Last time we did this, the BBQ was a gathering of hip young artist types enjoying good food and drink and watching music. This time it would be a little different. This time we would be playing a show at the local kite festival.
We rocked the shit outta the kite festival. It was crazy. At one point it was so out of control that tiny children were crawling all over the stage. Right before we launched into "I'm gonna knock you out" two kids crawled on top of my monitor". I reached out to the sound guy and asked for "a little less child in my monitor". A worried mom emerged from the crowd and quickly snatched her kids from the stage. Truly a rock n' roll milestone for the Rodeo.
My friend Sid hooked us up with some cash, beer, and tacos before we had to leave. This guy is a class act. We talked about returning and doing a proper club show next time around. That'd be cool, but we'll have to make some choices. I'd hate to miss the 2011 kite festival. No telling what will happen next year.
Filipe pointed us to a real deal Texas icehouse on the way outta town and we had some more beers.
Our show in Austin was intended to be at Headhunters. A few weeks ago, the booking agent started waffling on the date, and then he stopped returning my calls. Felipe's friend Roxanne suggested we play at Ginny's Little Longhorn instead. Roxanne works at Ginny's and said we might be able to just drop in and play. We headed out to Austin in search of a spontaneous set. We found it.
When we got to Ginny's the place was packed and country music legend Dale Watson was playing. In between songs he was announcing winners of the "chicken shit bingo" game. Here's the way it works. They have a real chicken sitting in a small chicken coup in the middle of the bar. There are numbers on the floor of the coup and the patrons throw food to the chicken to encourage it to shit. If the chicken shits on the number you purchase, you win cold hard cash. Hell, I would have given up my slot at Headhunters just to witness this. Things worked out alright.
Dale Watson ripped through an amazing set of his own country classics and I started to seriously doubt there was any chance we could muscle in on this scene and play music. Felipe told me not to worry. He would handle it.
Felipe disappeared into the crowd and re-emerged a few minutes later with good news. He had talked to the next band (Rick Broussard's Two Hoots and a Holler) and they were gonna let us play a short set during their break. Not only were they gonna let us play, but we could use all of their gear. Goddamn, the Texas hospitality never ends!
We ripped in to a smoking set of our favorite Rodeo tunes and the crowd loved it. We had couples dancing, SXSW scenesters clapping, and camera's flashing during our short power set. Another highlight for me on this tour.
After our set, we said our goodbyes to Felipe and Roxanne and hit the road. We needed to make some time toward Fayetteville. We went a couple of hours up the road and crashed in Waco. And guess what, we actually got a full night of sleep. Weird.
Back on the road now and heading to the next show. I'll give you more soon.
Brent
On our way to Houston, we stopped at KAOS radio in Austin for a SXSW radio appearance. We were on a tight schedule, so it would be quick and dirty. Here is a little taste of our radio show.
After Austin, we would be meeting up with Felipe in Houston. Felipe Galvan is a Texas music icon. He is my friend. I didn't know him before this tour. Felipe was just a guy who decided to book us on a Saturday night at Fitzgerald's. At first I only knew him as the club-booking agent. He told me he liked what we were doing and he was going to match us up with a local ska band that would fill the club on a Saturday night. Houston is a brand new market for the Rodeo and this sounded almost too good to be true. I would find out later that the Ska band he mentioned was Los Skanarles and Felipe was the front man.
And ska doesn't even start to describe Los Skanarles. They are one of the best live bands I have ever seen. Their music bristles with energetic dance-hall rhythms, rockabilly, Latin soul and even a little swing and zydeco, all played with a punk-rock attitude. And man do they have some serious fans! We got the bro hook up on this show. Our first visit to the 4th largest city in the US would be a blow out. Hell yeah! Here is a press shot of Felipe and his band.
When we got to Fitzgerald's Saturday night Felipe was waiting for us at the club.
Fitzgerald's is an amazing venue. I'm not sure what the capacity is, but it's bigger than most of the venues we play in Seattle. There are two floors and two stages. The bigger stage is upstairs. The night we played there was a hip-hop show happening downstairs. We were upstairs on the main stage with Los Skanarles.
We ate dinner with Los Skanarles in the green room at Fitzgerald's (the boys from the band brought us tacos from their favorite Tex Mex joint). When it was time for us to play, Felipe caped me.
And I did the same for him.
Before the night was over, our whole band was on stage raising hell and playing percussion with Los Skanarles.
Here is a photo of me and Felipe hanging out after the show.
We hung out and had a good time that night. I can't remember when things ended, but at some point there was a conversation about Felipe jumping in the van with us and going to our next show. I wasn't sure if this was drunken talk or if he was serious. We dialed him up the next morning, and he was ready to go. Crazy. Let's hit San Antonio!
We picked Felipe up at his house at 9AM. He had gotten home at 7AM. 2 hours sleep! That sounds about right. We were all hungry, so Felipe took us to his favorite spot for breakfast tacos. Felipe ordered a beer with his breakfast. What can I say. Felipe was setting a whole new standard for the Rodeo. This is the spot where we ate.
I crashed hard in the back of the van after breakfast. We were heading to San Antonio for an afternoon BBQ show. My friend Sid was hosting a day show since we needed to be in Austin that evening. Last time we did this, the BBQ was a gathering of hip young artist types enjoying good food and drink and watching music. This time it would be a little different. This time we would be playing a show at the local kite festival.
We rocked the shit outta the kite festival. It was crazy. At one point it was so out of control that tiny children were crawling all over the stage. Right before we launched into "I'm gonna knock you out" two kids crawled on top of my monitor". I reached out to the sound guy and asked for "a little less child in my monitor". A worried mom emerged from the crowd and quickly snatched her kids from the stage. Truly a rock n' roll milestone for the Rodeo.
My friend Sid hooked us up with some cash, beer, and tacos before we had to leave. This guy is a class act. We talked about returning and doing a proper club show next time around. That'd be cool, but we'll have to make some choices. I'd hate to miss the 2011 kite festival. No telling what will happen next year.
Filipe pointed us to a real deal Texas icehouse on the way outta town and we had some more beers.
Our show in Austin was intended to be at Headhunters. A few weeks ago, the booking agent started waffling on the date, and then he stopped returning my calls. Felipe's friend Roxanne suggested we play at Ginny's Little Longhorn instead. Roxanne works at Ginny's and said we might be able to just drop in and play. We headed out to Austin in search of a spontaneous set. We found it.
When we got to Ginny's the place was packed and country music legend Dale Watson was playing. In between songs he was announcing winners of the "chicken shit bingo" game. Here's the way it works. They have a real chicken sitting in a small chicken coup in the middle of the bar. There are numbers on the floor of the coup and the patrons throw food to the chicken to encourage it to shit. If the chicken shits on the number you purchase, you win cold hard cash. Hell, I would have given up my slot at Headhunters just to witness this. Things worked out alright.
Dale Watson ripped through an amazing set of his own country classics and I started to seriously doubt there was any chance we could muscle in on this scene and play music. Felipe told me not to worry. He would handle it.
Felipe disappeared into the crowd and re-emerged a few minutes later with good news. He had talked to the next band (Rick Broussard's Two Hoots and a Holler) and they were gonna let us play a short set during their break. Not only were they gonna let us play, but we could use all of their gear. Goddamn, the Texas hospitality never ends!
We ripped in to a smoking set of our favorite Rodeo tunes and the crowd loved it. We had couples dancing, SXSW scenesters clapping, and camera's flashing during our short power set. Another highlight for me on this tour.
After our set, we said our goodbyes to Felipe and Roxanne and hit the road. We needed to make some time toward Fayetteville. We went a couple of hours up the road and crashed in Waco. And guess what, we actually got a full night of sleep. Weird.
Back on the road now and heading to the next show. I'll give you more soon.
Brent
posted by Brent Amaker and the Rodeo at
11:01 AM
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