I have always been a fan of the comics. I like animation like The Simpsons, Duckman, The Tick, and Dr. Katz, which are available through the TV. My favorite daily strips are Dilbert and Doonesbury. I miss Calvin & Hobbes like crazy. There is a lot of great comic art in books, including a massive issue of R. Crumb's work. I also enjoy the illustrated writings of Cleveland's most famous file clerk, Harvey Pekar, collected in several "American Splendor" volumes. I found one of Harvey's stories, "Ridin' The Dog," on the net. Here's the link:
Harvey PekarSam Hurt is an Austin cartoonist who has been published nationally. When Sam was a University of Texas student, drawing "EyeBeam" for the Daily Texan, his cartoons seeped into the real world when one of his characters, Hank The Hallucination, won the election for UT class president as a write-in candidate. Hank beat Paul Begalla, who (along with James Carville) ran Bill Clinton's successful 1992 presidential campaign. Take a peek into Sam's world...if you dare.
EyeBeamSam and I have a collaboration. I had the idea years ago, and one day at Studio Eyebeam I mentioned it to Sam. He drew a sketch of the idea and I made some comments. A couple of weeks later Sam and Chan Chandler joined me in the KUT control room for a Phil Music Fund-raiser. During that evening Sam drew another version of the idea. A few weeks later Sam called and asked if he could use the idea for his space in the Local Comix section of the XL section of the Austin American-Statesman. The finished version appears here:
Toni Price is a great female vocalist. Her long-running Tuesday Happy Hours at the Continental Club are legendary. Toni makes Tuesday evening look like Saturday night. Visit her page to learn more!
Toni Price's HomePageSlaid Cleaves' first CD was called "Life's Other Side." His new Philo CD is called "No Angel Knows." Slaid was on Phil Music on Thursday, February 27. Take a look at Slaid's HomePage.
Slaid's HomePageTexas actually shows support for musicians. My friend Casey Monahan is the Director of the Texas Music Office, which is part of the office of the Governor of Texas. Check out the TMO by activating the following link...
Texas Music Office HomePageOne of the most interesting and valuable links that you can find by visiting the TMO is the one that I have given you the following shortcut to:
Internet Guide To Texas Music
On Thursday, March 13, the South By SouthWest Music Whirlwind in Austin was in full swing. Phil Music was fairly well populated with guests, both foreign and domestic, all night long. For a look at some Pix that my daughter Sara Swenson took during the program, click the underlined link above. You'll see Dutch Broadcaster/Journalist Jan Donkers, German Broadcaster/Journalist Wolfgang Doebeling, Finnish Guitarist Lester Peabody, Dutch Singer/Songwriter Irwin Nijhoff, and New York City/Texas group Freckle. And, of course, me. Tina & The B-Side Movement, of Minneapolis, was also featured on the program, but we didn't get any good Pix of them.
Gwil Owen, who wrote a bunch of those great Toni Price songs, paid a recent visit to Austin from his Nashville base. He played a few gigs around town, then slipped out just in time to miss the SXSW vortex. After his show at Antone's Saturday night Gwil stopped by Segway City at about 4 in the morning and sang a few songs on the air. Here's a photo of Gwil at the station.
Laurie Freelove was a guest on Texas Radio on March 9. We traced the development of several of her songs from idea to fully realized studio recording. In some cases Laurie was able to recall the phrase or exact moment that set the song in motion in her mind. Laurie played each song solo acoustic, then we segwayed directly into the produced studio versions. She ended by playing a very new song that she has not yet recorded, "Oh Boy." Laurie's newest CD is called "Songs From The Nineline," which consists of live radio performances, many recorded in KUT's Liveset Studio 1-A. To visit the Laurie Freelove homepage, click the link below the picture of her playing live in the KUT control room.
Hans Theessink (pronounced Tay-sink) paid a visit to Blue Monday on March 3, 1997. Hans is originally from the Netherlands, but he now resides in Vienna, Austria. Here are two of the half dozen photographs that I took of Hans while he was playing live in the KUT control room. To see all six pix click more Hans.
Townes Van Zandt
The Cactus Cafe here in Austin hosted a tribute to Townes on Wednesday & Thursday (01/22 & 23). Here is my report, which I wrote for No Depression magazine.
The report on the KUT radio tribute has moved to a Townes Archive page. There is also a link to the TVZ BlueSky HomePage on that page. That link will take you to many more Townes sites.
I have driven Alfa Romeos for about 13 years. I had a green 74 GTV coupe for 11 years, and now I drive a red 82 Spider convertible. Austin is a great town for top down driving. In 96 I had my top down over 300 days, including several warm days during the coldest months. My Alfa mechanic is Robert Johnson. Cruise over to his web page to see an Alfa Romeo logo.
Alfa Romeo
I hooked my little eyeballcam up again recently. Here's a shot of me hard at work in the KUT control room on 03/03/97.
Calvin Russell was on Texas Radio recently (12/29/96). His new Sony CD, just called "Calvin Russell," is now available internationally. The new CD includes Townes Van Zandt's "Mr. Mudd & Mr. Gold," and Blaze Foley's "Lovin' You," as well as "Desperation," written by John Kay of Steppenwolf fame. Calvin wrote the other seven songs. Calvin's previous New Rose CDs have been re-issued by Sony with some bonus tracks included. Here are some links to Calvin Russell.
Here's a good search engine you might like to try.
LM@outer.net
