Island Moon September 1, 2010PA 8

By Ronnie Narmour

ronnienarmour@gmail.com

Three Chords and the Truth

Sweet September is finally here...somebody tell that to the weatherman. But I guess it’s supposed to be hotter than the hinges of the gates of hell on Labor Day. Trudg-ing through the last two weeks in this relentless heat has been trying, to say the least, but at least we have great live music to look forward to when that pesky sun does decide to set. So, as we bid adieu to another season, rest assure that the live music scene will also shift gears and persevere, but only if you keep on supporting it. I got stuff to tell you about...let’s roll.

Wing Ding

This doesn’t exactly have anything to do with music, but it is an event that’s a lot of fun every Labor Day at the Gaff and Lug Nutz Car Care next door. It’s the an-nual Wing Ding chicken wing cook-off on Sunday, Sep-tember 5th at 2:00 pm. Every year, Port Aransas locals compete for the best chicken wing recipe on the island. Teams will assemble in full regalia for bragging rights to this time honored classic. This is brought to you by the same folks who bring you the Belt Sander Races, Speak Like a Pirate Day and The Pirates Ball (Sept. 18). Also, look for their annual Gaff Reggae Festival in Octo-ber. The Wind Ding’s proceeds go to benefit the Helping Hands Food Pantry of Port A. Admission is $5 per adult, $3 per 12 years and younger or 3 non perishable food items per person. The entry fee for cooking teams is $10 per wing type. Their will be cash prizes for best wings. See Kip Shannon at the Gaff for details. Live music to be announced.

Dust Devils/Butch Morgan w/ Ken Gaines/Oso Texas

In a blaze of glory and packing a young hot shot gui-tar slinger, the mighty Dust Devils (Marble Falls, TX ) blew back into the Back Porch with a vengeance on the 21st. This is a great act made better by the presence of S.A.’s hottest prodigy, Will Owen Gage, on left-handed electric guitar. The last time we saw Gage in town, he was playing drums with the Swindles. This 22 year old kid is a multi-instrumental genius type and one of the more sought after guns for hire around. He really add-ed a hot dimension to the Devil’s already scalding show But, the Dust Devils weren’t the only game in town on that Saturday night. Butch Morgan (San Antonio, TX) also blew in for his gig at the Tarpon Ice House and also brought a hot shot singer-songwriter with him in the way of Ken Gaines (Houston, TX). It was super nice sitting out front at the Ice House chillin’ with these two guys. And over at Hook’s the same night, Oso Texas, was also

The GaffBeer ● Pizza ● Belt Sander Races (361) 749-5970

Live Music TonightWednesday, Sept. 1The Ataris, Gasoline Heat, Don’t Panic, Witness by Proxy @ Brewster Street

Thursday, Sept. 2Davin James @ Back Porch Emily @ Hook’s Bar-B-Q Ryan Beaver @ Executive Surf Club Charlie Robison, Rob Baird @ Brewster Street

Friday, Sept. 3rdSisters Morales @ Back Porch Sound Channel @ Tarpon Ice House Russell McGilvray & Friends @ Hooks Bar-B-Q Devil Driver @ Concrete Street Tylers Deception, Witness by Proxy @ House of Rock Scarlet @ Executive Surf Club The Spazmatics @ Brewster Street

Saturday, Sept. 4thLarry Joe Taylor @ Back Porch The Ones @ Tarpon Ice House Russell McGilvray and Friends @ Hooks Bar-B-Q Blue October @ Concrete Street Disturbed, Avenged, Sevenfold @ Concrete Street Scott H. Biram, Cosmic Freight Train @ House of Rock Cruise Control @ Executive Surf Club Sing Along Piano Bar @ Brewster Street

Sunday, Sept. 5thJackson Sheppard @ Hooks Bar-B-Q Benefit for Daniel Bennett @ House of Rock Scarecrow People @ Executive Surf Club Free Cheeseburgers in Paradise @ Back Porch Sunday Afternoon Jam @ Tarpon Ice House

Monday, Sept. 6thJackson Sheppard @ Hooks Bar-B-Q

Tuesday, Sept. 7thRev. Fred Open Mic @ House of Rock

Wednesday, Sept. 8thThe Original Wailers, The Movement, Sun Salutation

@ Brewster Street

Thursday, Sept. 9thBlue October @ Concrete Street

Jackson Shepard @ Tarpon Ice House Johnson Grass, 40 lb. Dog, Ty Dietz

@ House of Rock Rodney Parker & Fifty Peso Reward

@ Executive Surf Club Brandon Rhyder, Sean McConnell @ Brewster Street

Friday, Sept. 10thIndianola Railroad @ Back Porch

Acoustic Breeze @ Tarpon Ice House Gonzo Freak Show (8 Bands) @ House of Rock

Monster Taco @ Hooks Bar-B-Q Gonzo Freak Show (8 bands) @ House of Rock

Hildas Lamas Band @ Executive Surf Club Scarecrow People @ Brewster Street

Saturday, Sept. 11th Texas Blues Runners @ Neptune’s Lounge

Michael Shane Borden @ Back Porch Burlesque Show, Golden

Meanies, Flamin’ Hellcats @ House of Rock Richard Lockhart

@ Hooks Bar-B-Q Flashback

@ Executive Surf Club Disturburbed,

Avenged Sevenfold @ Concrete Street

Another Level @ Brewster Street

Sunday, Sept. 12thThe Edgar Winters Band,

Texas Blues Runners @ Concrete Street Jackson Shepard @ Tarpon Ice House

Monday, Sept. 13th Band of Brothers Tour (6 Bands) @ House of Rock

Tuesday, Sept. 14th Rev. Fred Open Mic @ House of Rock

Wednesday, Sept. 15th 1999: A Tribute to Prince @ Brewster Street

playing. These guys are like listening to smooth tequi-la on a sweet summer night. Nice harmonies and some good original material that’s laid back. But I can only do so much “laid back” and kept gravitating back to the Dust Devils show...those guys had it going on. They’ll be back at the Porch for their annual Coastal Bender in mid-October.

Ray T & the City Crew

So, I ping ponged around these thee shows all night and then predictably ended up at the Flat’s for my weekly dose of Ray T and the City Crew (Aransas Pass, TX). This scene is always good for fodder, if not a few laughs, especially when you can pop over to Shorty’s next door, just to see if island bad boy, J.W. George, is in or out of jail and can coherently play the next set or not. It’s an infectious drama. The scene at the Flat’s is straight out of From Dusk to Dawn with a big den of local vampires swarm-ing and a small contin-gency of tourists look-ing nervous. I know if I keep going there long enough, Selma Hayek will eventually appear and dance for us with her big snake. Ray T and the City Crew are real deal bad boys that make J.W. George look like Lind-say Lohan. I know they play covers but its good stuff from other bad boys that I listen to all the time anyway (Steve Earle, Ray Wylie, Johnny Cash, etc). Ray T’s shows are always stompin’ and when he sings, Screw You, We’re From Texas, he means it. And, when it’s late on Friday night, the Flat’s is our Tabasco Bar, and Ray T and the City Crew are our Tito and Taran-tula...they make the tran-sition happen.

Bottlehead/Transistersdale/Darryl Lee Rush

When the next weekend finally rolled around, I popped over to Hook’s to be sure and catch Dave “Bottlehead” Miller (Rockport, TX) on the August 26th. He had Ken Barnett (percussion) and Richard Segura (lead guitar) on board for this performance. Bottlehead Miller is one of those guys that has soul written all over him. A veter-an of the North Texas blues scene, particularly Ft. Worth, he knows his stuff. His voice is as ragged as ten miles of bad road but it works well for him. He may be play-ing Sympathy for the Devil but he owns it when he does. And, even with three dialysis treatments a week and being run over by a car recently (twice) by his ex-girl-friend, can’t keep this guy down. I never miss a chance to see Bottlehead perform. On Friday night I saw Tran-sisterdale (San Antonio, TX) at the Tarpon Ice House. Their primal country vibe had a cool upbeat that kept the place movin’ and groovin’ on street side all night. They came back through on Sunday and sat in at the open jam. I guess they’re digging on Port A. On Saturday, the 28th, I ran over to the Back Porch to catch Darryl Lee Rush (Dallas, TX) and caught his full second set. He’s a good bar band that’s trying to put an original slant to a round wheel. I’m a little tired of the formula but it seems to be working pretty good for Kevin Fowler. Rush is talented and does put on a strong show but it wasn’t over the top.

DO NOT MISS LIST:

Scott H. Biram

Psychobilly Scott H. Biram (Austin, TX) will play the House of Rock on September 9th. Biram is one of the few shows I saw in the past year that I still can’t get out of my head. Scott H. Biram is the guy who had a head on collision with semi-truck and some how lived and still made his gig at the Continental Club with an I.V. hang-ing out of his arm. Biram is a one man whirling dervish who’s fighting off his demons as we speak. His show is wild. He has a whole electronic enhanced setup for his acoustic guitars that seems to work with his coun-try punk meets heavy metal...but in a gospel sort of way.

321 N

Alist

er Tarpon Ice House Port Aransas(361) 749-BEER (2337)

Sept. 4Sept. 5

Sept. 9 & 12 Sept. 10

The OnesSound Channel

Jackson ShepardAcoustic Breeze

hooksbar bq & Grill

722 TARPON(361)749.FOOD

This ain’t no novelty act. It’s the real deal. If you never see another solo act for the rest of your life, this would be the one show to stop on. Not for the timid but definitely a DO NOT MISS show that will stay with you a long time.

Edgar Winters/ Texas Blues Runners

From Beaumont to Beverly Hill, The Edgar Winter Band (Los Angeles, CA) will play the Concrete Street Amphitheater on Sunday, Septem-ber 12th. The Texas Blues Runners will open the show. Also, the Blues Runners will be playing the Saturday night (Sept. 11th) before at Neptune’s Lounge in Port A. The Blues Runners consist of Mike O’Neil (Austin, TX) on smoking guitar, Charlie Rouzer (Port Aransas, TX) on Hammond organ and keys, Steven Crane (Wichita Falls, TX)

on bass and Jessie Andrade (Wich-ita Falls, TX). Crane and Rou-zer had played to-gether in the Austin band Baby some years back and enlisted Andrade and O’Neil in November of 2008 to form the Texas Blues Runners. They also opened for Pat Travers in Corpus last May and will open for Taj Mahal in Bedford on Septem-

ber 5th.

Tobacco Road put Ed-gar Winter on the map. His earlier bands, The Edgar Winter Group and Edgar Winter and White Trash, were made up of musicians from around their home-town of Beaumont/Port Arthur...as were also his brother, Johnny Win-ter’s, sidemen in the ear-ly 70’s. There are still many folks around who

personally remember the early days around the Gold-en Triangle with the famous albino Winter brothers. De-scribed as a child prodigy and multi-instrumentalist, Edgar Winter’s big success was with his number one hit, Frankenstein, in 1973, where he pioneered the use of the synthesizer as a lead instrument. During perfor-mances, Winter showed his virtuosity performing on the keyboards, synthesizer, saxophone, and drums, all with-

in the confines of the single song on stage. His discog-raphy boasts 21 re-corded albums with 23 soundtrack re-cordings.

Another interest-ing fact about Ed-gar Winter is that he is a Scientolo-gist. According to Wikipedia, Win-ter, “has appeared in at least seven is-sues of the Church of Scientology mag-azine Celebrity be-tween 1995 and 2005, which list the Scientology courses

that he has completed. Winter also produced, arranged, and performed on the album Mission Earth (1986). This album’s words and music were written by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. Hubbard is said to have left detailed instruc-tions and audio tapes for the mu-sicians and pro-ducers to follow when making the album. Edgar de-scribed Mission Earth as “both a return to rock’s primal roots and yet highly exper-imental.” Winter had glowing words for Hubbard when he wrote, “Ron’s technical insight of the recording pro-cess was outstand-ing.” Winter also described Hub-bard’s delineation of counter-rhythm in rock as something “which was nothing short of phenomenal, particularly in-asmuch as it had then been entirely unexplored and only later heard in the African-based rhythms of Paul Simon’s work, some five years after Ron’s analysis.”

And that’s the truth!

Ladies Nite Every Wed. Happy Hour All Day Sun.

Dave Bottlehead Miller played Hook’s Aug. 26th.

Butch Morgan and Ken Gaines played at the Tarpon Ice House Aug. 21st.

Scott H. Biram to Play House of Rock on Sept. 9th.

BACK PORCHThursday Sept. 16

BAR TRICKS NIGHT! Brush up on your “Minute To

Win It” style tricks! $$$ Cash Prizes $$$

Dust Devil’s played Back Porch on Aug. 21st.

Oso Texas played Hook’s on Aug. 21st.

Ray T and the City Crew played the Flats on Aug. 27th.

Edgar Winter to play Concrete Street on Sept. 12th.

WING DING Chicken Wing Cook Off. The Fowlest Party in Town. Sat. Sept. 5 at 2pm