6th Annual Bat Fest on Congress bridge

Every year Roadway Events puts up their annual Bat Fest downtown Austin directly where the bats depart nightly from the Congress bridge. If you haven't been to the Congress bridge in the summer to see over 750,000 Mexican bats, mostly female, and their pups fly off in search for food (insects and mosquitos).  The best time to watch the bats are now (late August) when those pups join their mothers. Throughtout the rest of the summer the female bats take the trek north to south to their home under the Congress bridge but the amount of bats is minimal compared to what you could see tonight.

This year Bat Fest turns 6 years old and cnsidering the bats usually take flight around 8:00 - 8:30pm, the festival allows you to enjoy over 75 booths of artisans that sell their crafts to food vendors cooking up local food and has 2 stages of bands to showcase their music.  The festival goes until 12am midnight and is completely FREE so no excuse to not g out and see both the bats and music.

KLBJ stage kicks off their music line-up with Dara Niemi followed by Charlie Hurtin & The Hecklers (a musician I met first time at the Buddy Holly auditions in March of this year) and later on at night Vallejo and Fastball. Schedule here.

The 101X stage will showcase Alex Marley and The Raspas (apparently playing Bob Marley songs), The Black and White Years, The Solider Thread and Adema throughout the late evening and into the night.

I plan on catching Charlie Hurtin and The Hecklers, Alex Marley and The Raspas, and skip The Black and White Years to see the bats, and end up at The Solider Thread.

Buddy - The Buddy Holly Story (a shameless promotional plug) at The Georgetown Theater

(poster by Rich Simms)

My whole life revolved around theater and music even at a young age.  I strive to enrich my life and passion of theatrical work with authenticity, credibility, research, and professional quality to this day.  The values and skills I gained throughout my experience and professional life did not stop short in creating, maintaining, and providing support backstage, onstage, and in pre/post production aspects of this show - Buddy - The Buddy Holly Story..

From left to right: John Wallace (Bass), Benjamin Blaise (Buddy Holly/Guitar), & Raymond Johnson (Saxophone) in the Winter Dance Party - Clearlake concert scene.  (Picture by Elaine Funk)

Ritchie Valens played by Justin Wright (picture by Elaine Funk)

JP "The Big Bopper" Richardson played by Mitch Fairchild (picture by Elaine Funk)

What people don't realize that it goes further and beyond all that you see on stage, in the moment, and in show.  Builders, promotions, publicity, press releases, advocacy, and commitment are the true themes in any kind of theater projects and product.  We are not only putting on a show for a packed audience to see nightly but rather we are MAINTAINING a complete show package from start to finish for over a 5 month time span. This requires passion, commitment, focus, and basically having some fun while we all do it.

Benjamin Blaise as Buddy Holly (left) & Annie Violette as Maria Elena (Buddy's wife) (picture by Elaine Funk)

Nathan Campbell on guitar in Clearlake concert scene (picture by Elaine Funk)

Come see what we ALL have been crafting in Georgetown, Texas.  Live music, attention to authenticity and detail of the time era we are re-creating on stage can be seen through aspects and detail to sound design, the lighting design, from Fender & Gretsch back line , instrumentation, musical direction, stage set design, video/projections, photography, period props, and nostalgic & even the period costuming of the musicians. Pair this all with a talented cast, committed backstage crew, and a production team that carries a vision of what the music, essence, and all-things Buddy Holly should be portrayed on a historical stage like the Springer Memorial Stage.  We genuinely we have ourselves a memorable show.

Jacqui Cross (left), John Wallace (center), and Benjamin Blaise (right) (picture by Elaine Funk)

Cody Wayne Eastman as Hipockets Duncan & Benjamin Blaise as Buddy Holly (picture by Elaine Funk)

Mary Katherine Kinney in the Clearlake concert scene (picture by Elaine Funk)

Watch us have some fun on stage and take you back to how influential Buddy Holly is to rock-n-roll and how the cast of Norman Petty (Sean Denton), Vi Petty (Mary Katherine Kinney), Maria Elena Santiago (Annie Violette), Hipockets Duncan (Cody Wayne Eastman), JP "The Big Bopper" Richardson (Mitch Fairchild), Ritchie Valens (Justin Wright), , Raymond Johnson (Austin saxophonist), Jacqui Cross, and Buddy Holly (Benjamin Blaise) with The Crickets (John Wallace, Nathan Campbell, and Paul Feinstein).

For tickets go here:  The Georgetown Palace Theater website
* UPDATE - WE ARE SOLD OUT! If you ain't got your tickets by now, then I feel bad for you. 


Show runs every Friday (7:30pm), Saturday (2:00pm & 7:30pm), and Sunday (2:00pm) until June 10th.  Thursday nights begin May 31st (7:30pm) at the Georgetown Palace Theater.

P.S.  I was asked to play the role of Peggy Sue. She gets married with the drummer (Paul Feinstein) of The Crickets.  Sadly, I said yes and here is the picture to prove it.

That's me (right) and Paul Feinstein (left) (picture by Elaine Funk)

P.S.S. I am NOT married -THIS IS A SHOW PICTURE that you can see during one of the scene / set transitions.

Support local musicians & their health - HAAM benefit day!

Besides it being National Taco Day, today in Austin is HAAM Benefit Day too!

Go out and support the Health Alliance for Austin Musicians by hitting up any or all of the businesses in Austin that are donating a portion of proceeds to HAAM to continue to provide Austin musicians affordable and no-cost health benefits.  Many musicians who support and/or benefit from HAAM services are playing around town today in support for the organization, so I recommend you heading out today and buy some beer and/or food at the venues, restaurants, and stores to make your contribution.

I plan catching Quiet Company, Akina Adderly and the Vintage Playboys, Robet Ellis and Reckless Kelly in the parking lot of Waterloo Records beginning at 4:30pm this afternoon. More locals such as Toni Price, Dana Falconberry, Not in the Face, and even Opposite Day are playing too.  Check out the listing of times and venues here.

Also, Google Places is having a nice little shindig down at B.D. Riley's that includes a free drink when you show the staff your Google Places app on your smartphone or Ipad.  Be sure to download that here if you ain't got it already so you can have your first drink on their tab.

I'm gonna work this in too - $1 Lonestars at The Liberty on the East side. Drink and contribute! Support your local musicians and their health too!

The Black Angels play free on September 23rd! RSVP now!

Yesterday as I was driving myself to Georgetown, Texas to rehearsal I received an email from VICE magazine inviting me to a night of free music, free beer, and free The Black Angels!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Holy smokes! If you didn't get the email basically here are the details:

VICE and Jansport are presenting The Black Angels are Lustre Pearl beginning at 4pm (according to the email) on September 23, 2011 in Austin.  What's the deal and why are they doing this?  Well, to promote Jansport backpacks of course and the kickoff starts here in Austin, The Black Angels hometown, for their Unzipped tour.

 

RSVP here for entry and free PBR and free food.  If you miss it this time, I guess you can try to catch them on New Year's Eve when they end their last stop on tour back at Emos in Austin.

dude, just Ditch the Fest 2 / 09.17.11

I ain't going to Austin City Limits Music Festival this year..again.  I have been to every single ACL Music fest but this year, due to being a stage manager for a show in Georgetown, I do not have the time to split between the festival & work/tech week. I definitely wanted to see Stevie Wonder, too. 

Not going either? Whatever the reason I don't blame you.  Since my first ACL Music Festival in 2002, the festival grows bigger and bigger each and every year.  This is a great thing, don't get me wrong, especially for a local Austin-based entertainment booking/staging company like C3 Presents.  However, with that growth for a local music festival comes greater & bigger acts/band/performers....aaaaaaand within that comes more $$$ for C3 to bank on for purchase sales and sell-outs (I'm talking ticket sales here).  Hell, they took $150 bucks from me for purchasing 3 three-day passes at the 'early bird' price.  I got those tickets at a steal compared to what folks are selling their ACL 3-day passes for here.

According to a study commissioned by C3, ACL is expected to have $73 million dollars pumped into the local restaurants, hotels, bars, etc! You got 70,000 attendees coming to the festival that are hungry, thirsty, and don't want to walk all the way back to their car after the festival and/or wait in the long bus line. Last year the Austin Parks Foundation benefited from 2.34 million dollars in monies to have to improve the Zilker Park grounds to increase more tree coverage, an irrigation system, plant more grass, add benches, etc from C3's profit.  It takes a lot of money to get the festival going, up, and running as well as keeping those that come from afar happy.  And I don't know about you, but if I hadn't snagged those $50 three day passes a week after ACL Music Fest 2010 (a week in October right before Halloween), I don't think I could shell out almost $200 bucks cash for a pass or wristband even if I wanted to....

Last year's Ditch the Fest was too much fun that I hardly remember it.
This year there are more sponsors, free beer, and cheap prices to get in.
Ditch the Fest 2: presented by Luck The Poodle: 

Ditch the Fest 2 has now become a benefit where most of the proceeds will be donated to the Texas Red Cross for the wildfire victims from Bastrop county.  You can see as many bands as you can catch this year at 5 venues: Cheer Up Charlies, Red 7, Beauty Bar, the Scoot Inn, and Club De Ville. 

What's great about Ditch the Fest 2:

• local live music from bands that live or based out of Austin 
• local venues - a $2 per venue you can see the whole lineup or hop around with a wristband for $5 from venue to venue (except Club De Ville)
• schedule of band set times range from 2pm - 2am at each venue
• FREE SHINER BOCK from Birds Barbershop (as supplies last) - with 5 venues to choose from essentially if one is out you can go to the next..
• local art and performance art at venues during band set times
• photo booth, belly dance, screen printing, etc!
• most proceeds are going directly to an organization that will benefit all of our friends, neighbors, and family members that have experienced the recent wildfire crisis (i don't see Rick Perry giving monies out of his political presidential campaign fundraisers)
• it's all away from the festival, Zilker Park, and this party goes on until 2am and doesn't have to stop at 10:30pm.
• no wait in line (unless you spot the free beer line and that gets crunk)
• no sunscreen needed (well, maybe minimal sunscreen if you hit it hard beginning at 2pm when Ditch the Fest begins)
• no overpriced $6-$8 12 oz beers - hell, you may end up watching a band(s) around happy hour
• no need to worry about where you parked your car or if you can find parking (take your bike, yo!)
• you don't have to lug around a chair in a bag or make sure your bottled waters stay sealed
• no pat downs before you enter any of these venues
• and....no annoying frat guys waiting to catch Damien Marley (or Coldplay)
• oh, and no filthy dirty portapotties.

5 bucks for a wristband seems like the best bet AND free shiner?!

Bands I am looking forward to catching at Ditch the Fest 2 include:

• Leatherbag (Beauty Bar)
• Boy + Kite (Cheer Up Charlies)
• Obsolete Machines (Cheer Up Charlies)
• How I Quit Crack (Cheer Up Charlies)
• The Sour Notes (Cheer Up Charlies)
• East Cameron Folkcore (Red 7)
• My Education (Red 7)
• La Snacks (Red 7)
• Mr. Lewis and the Funeral Five (Red 7)
• Your Kisses Cause Crashes (Beauty Bar)
• The Baker Family (Scoot Inn)
• Bitter Birds (Scoot Inn)
• The Midwives (Scoot Inn)
• Noise Revival Orchestra (Scoot Inn)
• Sideshow Tragedy (Club De Ville)
• Not in the Face (Club De Ville)

Shapes Have Fangs, Smoke & Feathers, & The Ripe play (free) at Mohawk 08.06

This show, "Curated by: The Black Angels", at The Mohawk this Saturday night for free (with RSVP here) will include Austin's own Shapes Have Fangs, Smoke and Feathers, The Ripe.  This will be a night of free, local, southern psychedelic folk/rock from musicians you have no choice but to go check out and listen to whether you heard of them or not. (It's free so why the hell not?)

Vice Magazine and Vitamin Water have teamed up to present "Uncapped Live" at The Mohawk, with an open bar of Corona's (9pm-10pm), after making a Dallas stop & 13 other cities across the country. Other cities included in the tour were/will be Cincinnati, San Francisco, San Diego, Portland, Minneapolis, Chicago, Gainesville, Philly, New York, and more. Curators included The Thermals, The Black Lips, Against Me!, The Love Language, and The Soft Pack.

Shapes Have Fangs, signed to The Reverberation Appreciation Society (Austin Psych Fest artists), have been a local favorite of mine for 3 1/2 years now. I love their 50's throwback sound that reminds me of psychedelic surf rock. I am excited to see they are headlining this small showcase and will be thrilled to hear Smoke Like Feathers and The Ripe. Give me obscurity and droned out psychedelic sounds.

Dum Dum Girls play free (with RSVP) at Mohawk 08.12

I got a chance to catch the DUM DUM Girls play during SXSW '11 at Waterloo Records this past year. I had their show on the list of "Must See" during this years SXSW lineup only to be able to catch some of the sounds from their upcoming album, Only in Dreams, set to be released on September 27th, 2011.  I am a huge fan of their 2010 LP release, released weeks after SXSW 2010, called I Will Be which played out to be almost like a nice tribute to 60's girl groups with some punk thrown into the mix. I dig it. I jammed that album hard for at least 3 months straight. 

According to Sub Pop and an interview with Dee Dee, the groups leader, Only in Dreams is more polished and a little more pop driven. The Dum Dum Girls, excitingly, teams up with Richard Gottehrer (The Ravonettes, Go Go's and Blondie) & Sune Rose Wagner (The Ravonettes) on this new album . Having heard most of (and love) He Gets Me High EP at SXSW this past year, I think this next Dum Dum Girls album will be excellent.
....and guess what? Look who is coming to the Mohawk next week to headline for Sailor Jerry's Austin Psych Fest on August 12th? You should go just to hear and see some of their latest & new songs from the upcoming album.

Austin's own, Shapes Have Fangs (a local favorite of mine) with UFO Club and Night Beats are scheduled to play before The Dum Dum Girls take the stage. Get there early, you know the Mohawk's capacity is less than 900? Yup, it is.

Dude. It's all free too. RSVP here, if it ain't too late.