Lomax Takes a Swipe at KTRU or "Ow! John Quit it!"

Letter to the Editor or Houston Press:

The KACC profile [KACC Mentality by John Nova Lomax] was pretty amusing. I remember growing up in the Clear Lake area and hearing a lot of weird little shows coming form that station. Glad to know that it is still puttering away.

Despite the nice profile, Lomax decides to take some needless swipes at KTRU. Why? Not because the content is bad - after all he calls the programming cutting edge. No, instead he lashes out at the “hipster kids” for not entertaining him. If you want great radio personalities, go to the holy grail that is KCOH on the AM dial but that is not what KTRU is all about – KTRU is and always has been about the music. KTRU’s pabulum [I’m using it in the positive sense of intellectual sustenance not in the negative sense that Lomax used it] comes not from DJs making cute skits but DJs playing music: music that they give a shit about. That means pouring over music and challenging themselves to open their ears. I spent many years at KTRU and for me, despite my mumbling intermissions, it was one of the best experiences of my life. Heidi Bullinga one of the station managers once told me “If you don’t play at least one shitty song in your set, you aren’t a good DJ!” That to me was always what KTRU was about – people who love music taking chances and exploring music. So why would Lomax would *not* praise this type of radio in Houston? Somebody please tell me, ‘cause I got nothin’!

TABC now tells us fuck your individual rights!

Holy Fuck - The TABC are officially Fascists!!! Do I smell a lawsuit in the making here? I can't believe I am reading this but here in this Dallas TV station report they arrested HOTEL GUESTS IN THE HOTEL'S BAR!

The kicker is this line of the report:

TABC officials said the sweep concerned saving lives, not individual rights.

I say thank god for lawyers. Bring on the motherfucking lawsuits that our tax dollars will have to pay to bring about the resignations of these puritan assholes!

As the New Town Drunks commented in my myspace blog mirror...Getting Drunk is now a political statement!

Full story can be found here: http://www.nbc5i.com/news/8169246/detail.html

Addendum:

Note that

"Texas law states that anyone who is drunk in public and poses a danger to themselves or others can be arrested regardless of whether they were inside a restaurant or bar, or on a city street....the key to the law lies in the potential danger..it is not illegal to be intoxicated in public. The gray area comes in determining the degree of risk,"

(see:http://www.nbc5i.com/news/8216112/detail.html)

TABC says There is too much fun in Texas Bars!

OK, so the TABC have always been a bunch of yahoos but the news story below pretty much takes the cake. The TABC has been raiding bars to catch drunks, making arrests, and citing people for public intoxication with the following explanation:

"The program, in a nutshell, is designed to keep the streets safer by reducing the numbers of DWI offenders"

Wow, does anyone notice a problem here? Isn't this assuming a crime before it happens? This program basically says that, in Texas, having a designated driver isn't good enough anymore. You know as dumb as that Bacardi commericial is with the guy who knives his tires before he goes to the party, I don't think anyone would say that character was irresponsible (stupid yes but irresponsible no) But TABC would totally bust him.

"Sir, you are obviously drunk."
"No officer, I (hic) am shitfaced!."
"Sir, we're taking you in you are a danger to society."
"But I specifically slashed my tires so I wouldn't drive drunk."
"Sir, being drunk is a danger to society. Lock him up boys!"

Now, when you go to a bar what the fuck are you supposed to do? "Oh I will have one Shirley Temple and be off. I have to be at church tomorrow morning like a good member of society."

Fuck! Texas is getting to be so fucking puritan that it makes me sick! Bars are a place for our vices - they are not goddamn tea parties. You go to hear loud stupid music, smoke, drink, be loud, be stupid, and have some goddamn fun! You got a problem with bars and drinking tell it to Burns, Joyce, Bukowski, and the many other writers whose work was affected by these glorious places.

As Charles Bukowski once put it...

"We are here to drink beer. We are here to kill war. We are here to laugh at the odds and live our lives so well that Death will tremble to take us."



LINK:Public intoxication stings catch 2,200 in Texas bars
By ANNE MARIE KILDAY
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle

The Obligatory SXSW Blog

Ahh South By Southwest. When the time came to file our application last year for 2006, a few band members really wanted a break from the annual event. I could understand. It’s not exactly a cheap endeavor especially if you want to not simply perform and leave but to hang out and check out other bands. On top of the expense is the fact that it’s a huge stress-O-rama that leaves everyone fatigued. Me? I still would have done it as I kind of enjoy it despite these negatives.

Yet, since the LP4 is quite egalitarian, it was pretty much decided that for this year the LP4 is taking a break from the annual insanity. It may have been for the best since, as it turned out, we were forced to take a 3 week hiatus as Larry was slammed with an insane work related project that was due this week. If we had played, we would have been pretty sloppy and unprepared. Yet, even though I know it would have been a disaster (especially given the forced hiatus), it would have made me much poorer than I already am, and it would have made me feel like I’d been put through boot camp by the end of the week, I still wish we could have gone.

Ya know it’s like when you skip a cool party, everyone is going, and you are left bored in the dorm room. Hell I’m already skipping Terrastock (which is much more expensive just because it involves airfare and actually buying tickets) which is sucky but, hell, Austin is just a three hour car ride so that just adds to the aggravation. It’s like right frikkin here!

Oh well, we at least the LP4 agreed to apply for SXSW 2007, so a one year break may be all the better. We will have a new album out by that time and I’ll actually get off my ass and actually try to save my pennies so as not to end up a pauper like previous years. In the meantime I’ll just jealously read blogs from friends who did go and had a good time or laugh as friends bitch about their travails. Have fun guys. I’ll see you in 2007.

Young Goodbunny Brown - The Movie

Behold, a shameless promo film for our show April 8th at the Proletariat with Georgria's Horse, Born Liars, and DJ Cub! Clinton and I will see you at the Oscars.

Good Bunny Brown Poster for 8 April 2006 Show

Well another ridiculous photoshoot. Rosa did a bang up job yet again and everyone had a good time. Though for this one, we actually worked about two weeks to get the above results - I shit you not. As if that wasn't silly enough, Clinton and I worked on a short movie that actually relates to this. Yes, that's right we were up until 3am this morning recording bad dialogue and filming some utterly absurd script I wrote up at work. Yes that's right two grown men playing with bunnies and stuffed animals! I think I saw two bums at the park give up the booze right then and there. You'll have to wait until I do all the post work but I'll leave you with this - what is the only band that would drag the good names of Goethe and Hawthorne through the mud? That's right baby Linus...

Thanks .belville

Shit it's back to the Lomax article again.....

Right, the Lomax article got a bunch of letters this week and with most I simply disagree but one is worth pointing out and that is Jonathan Updegrove of .belville's letter. Personally, if you want to make a career out of music, I have no issues with that at all. If you want to "make it", while I may be dismissive, it's not for me to judge. Most of Johnathan's comments are standard wide eyed, "Gee, I'll add this stuff to my How To Make It notebook. Again that's neither here nor there - whatever. But then he throws this lovely paragraph (emphasis mine):

I understand that you probably were not saying all bands in Houston are apathetic, for lack of a better word, towards the business aspect of music, but I wanted to let you know that there are some out there who are anyway. And that your article was very helpful in turning them in the right direction to "make it," so to speak.

So, if you are not taking the steps to "make it", you are pointed in the wrong direction. Wow, thanks for speaking for me you fucking tool. It's like this Nickelback Pigfucker can't get it through his head that there are other frikkin reasons for making music!

I have a 4 year old who constantly says "You wanna play?" and he then goes off on some fantasy about knights, astronauts, firefighters, or whatever. You know that's all I frikkin do; I play with my friends. Making music to me is an end in itself. It's fun and there is nothing more to it that that. It makes me happy. For god sake Johnathan, tell me why the fuck am I heading in the wrong direction? Because I never look past the next gig, practice, or recording session? Piss off.

I say you should look at Ian Varley comment in the same article about making it:

"To be honest, my overarching philosophy is that the only thing really worth focusing on is making your music better,"

Amen, Brother!


You want my test for whether you are "headed in the right direction." Ready?

1. Is it Fun?
2. Does it make you happy?
3. Is the crap you sometimes have to put up with outweighed by #1 and #2?

If you are making music you enjoy, you should answer of "Yes" to all three.

Now go make some music and fuck off!