Guess what... We'll be heading back to The Carousel Lounge this Saturday Night... AND... It's probably going to end up being an awesome time! You never know who's going to show up there. One night a woman who I assume is a regular there at \"the CL\" was feeling our music so much that she created her own dance to it. We called it the one-foot possum clap/stomp. Complicated, but pretty magical. Another time an urban polygamist with a bad attitude came in and sat on the front row with two of his wives. Not too friendly, but they seemed to enjoy the show.
We like playing there because it's laid back and the beer is cold and reasonably priced. They don't sell liquor, but you can bring your own... they do sell \"set-ups,\" which is the non-alcoholic part of a mixed drink.
We also have the new Possum Posse T-Shirts - hot off the presses! They're yellow with maroon lettering and I'm pretty sure all the kids are going to be wearing them pretty soon. You can take a look at the \"merch\" section of our site.
We go on at 7pm and we'll be playing with Bread and Bridge Farmers.
So last weekend we were invited back to be the \"house band\" at the 2nd annual White Trash Bash in Houston, TX. The idea of the party was to dress up in your best trashy clothes and have a good time. We found the ease at which we came up with completely appropriate attire to be somewhat bothersome, but were happy that it helped us get a gig. Most of our songs are either trashy or grossly inconsiderate, and last year we melted everyone's hearts with our rendition of \"the re-remix to ignition.\"
While there were only two band members available this year, we pretty much took the WTB to a whole new level. Here's the photo recap:
Liz and Everett Hosted us. Nice folks. Their yard was littered with kiddie pools, discarded refrigerators (which conveniently doubled as ice coolers), flamingos, and empty beer cans.
Brian brought his \"let's party\" belt, which added a touch of class to the party. It also signified that Brian thought partying was warranted. In addition, we found ourselves without beers a couple of times throughout the evening and it really came in handy.
We ditched our traditional attire and went for more of a \"back to our roots\" look. Adding to the theme was the fact that Jomo's guitar pickup quit on him and he had to purchase an add-on... only to find that it wouldn't exactly fit in the sound hole of his guitar - and had to be duct-taped to stay in place. Keeping it classy.
We finally got our new Possum Posse T-Shirts in. We used them as speaker covers and shamelessly promoted them. By the way - they're for sale. $10 at all Posse Shows. We even sold a few! Granted, we sold them to a couple of people who looked like they just felt sorry for us, but we'll take what we can get.
We left the P.A. set up overnight so we could get a little rest, and headed back to the motel. When we returned the next morning, we found this kind gentleman \"guarding our gear.\" Somehow his last beer had ended up in the bobcat's paws above his head. Nice guy. His name is Ben and he works for the government. I mean the guy on the couch, not the bobcat.
So all in all, an extremely successful gig. We were told that we would be the house band should there be a 3rd annual White Trash Bash. I'll keep you posted.
Tonight I visited an old friend who I had not seen in a while. He's my muse, of sorts. He's always got some sort of drama going on in his life and it tends to make for great songwriting material. Tonight he told about his wedding week.
He got married in Mexico and went down a few days before everybody else to get the lay of the land. Also, I gathered, to drink a lot of tequila and bid farewell to his wilder days.
He booked a room for something around $50 a night, but it was amazing! He had a view of the ocean, and access to a private beach. Everything was going well until he stumbled into his room late one night after a tequila tasting and found a small crab in his room. The crab was at the end of the bed and looked at my friend as if he had been interrupted during an important task. My friend froze and what followed was a good minute of silence, confusion, fear, posturing and uncertainty. Also drunkenness on the part of my friend. At that moment, the crab scurried under the bed. My friend, feeling comfortable in the knowledge of the common fact that crabs simply cannot climb bedsheets, went to sleep.
About that time in the story, my friend's cell phone rang. It was the Austin police. It seems he had enough unpaid parking fees that the police had booted his jeep. He bolted out the door without the common decency to finish his dang story.
Bottom line... where was this story going? I thought I had the makings of a great song. Maybe he and the crab became friends. Maybe a tidal pool came in and brought with it all of the crab's extended family - stranding my friend on the bed. Perhaps the crab found an alternate route to the top of the bed. Maybe my friend got up in the middle of the night to use the toilet and got snapped on his pinky toe. Who knows. In any case, I've got no material to go off of. I've never been so let down in my life.
Maybe sometime soon I'll find out what happened, and I'll let you know. Or maybe it's better left to the imagination. Maybe life is all about anticipation and the best stories are those that contain a little mystery. No, I think I'd rather know the end of the dad-gum story.
So I'm calling it a night. The band is playing a big show up north of Austin in Round Rock, TX. We'll be playing at a place called Junior's Ice House and Grill. http://www.juniorsgrillroundrock.com/ We go on at 6:30 and it's a free, all-ages show!
Here's a little bit of video from a recent show we had at Jovita's Mexican Restaurant in Austin, TX
Well, it finally happened. We started one of our gigs late because our backup/lead singer, Jomo, was late. I would prefer to believe that he had car trouble or injured himself, but word on the street is that he was sitting at home watching Lifetime Movie Network.
As you may know, Rascal Red, the official lead singer of the band, owns all of the intellectual property and retains all of the bands income. He occasionally buys the band dinner if he feels that they have done well. But other than that, he shows no mercy and maintains a dictator-like grip on the band.
In 2002, when the band formed, Red had all the band members sign agreements, essentially locking them into a sort of indentured servitude. He has since failed to show up for a single gig, pay the band members anything, or even call or write. Jomo was forced to step in on the lead vocals. Brian was forced to drive the van. 8th Grade was forced to quit school and sell merchandise, and Robert was forced to pick up Red's banjo and take the lead.
But at Jovita's Mexican Restaurant this last weekend, Jomes began to take on an almost Rascal Red-Like persona. After showing up late, he promptly sang two mid-90's cover songs, causing the other band members to shed some tears. Then he got into a bar fight with a newly-landed emigrant and ran out of the bar with all the tips just before the end of the last song. True, the band has never made more than $14 in tips, but that was supposed to be divided unfairly by Red.
In short, Jomo is on thin ice. We'll see how it goes this weekend. We'll be returning to the Carousel Lounge on 52nd street in Austin. Show starts at 9:00 and goes until Midnight. It's free too, so don't miss it! Find out more on our gigs page.
I can't sleep. That's the only time I think about blogging. \"You're welcome\" says my mild case of insomnia to you, the reader (don't shoot the messenger - I personally don't believe the blog is very good, and I'll be the first to admit it (primarily because I'm the only one who knows it exists (and check out how I can end the triple parenthetical sentence)))
Anyway, my point is that Rascal Red and The Possum Posse will be returning to the Carousel Lounge Thursday, the 11th of February. We had a great Christmas show there and they said we could come back.
We're getting excited, and that's why I can't sleep. That or the 3 cups of coffee I had at 4:30. Anyway, we hope to see you there Thursday!
Wow. We laid waste to the Eastland Bank Christmas Party. There were people fainting on the dance floor and women weeping for what I can only assume was joy. Overall, one of our better gigs. There was also a strange twist of fate when we found out that directly across the street, another band was playing at the same time as us. It made for the type of epic showdown you only see in the climax of a really good Vin Diesel movie. Maybe even an Arnold Schwarzenegger 80's movie. Not quite a Steven Segal movie, but close.
Essentially, the crowd had a choice. They could stay at the bank party where we were playing, or go across the street and listen to the other band, which was equipped with far superior equipment. Maybe the best way to describe their equipment situation is with another word besides \"equipped\" - but I'm not a writer.
Anyway, it was either them or us. People could have easily left the free food and beer and central heating of the bank party to go out into the sleet and blistering wind to listen to the other band in the parking lot across the street. But no! They stayed.
Bottom line, we pretty much won a battle of the bands this weekend. And that's not something we're going to forget anytime soon.
Well... we're getting ready to head to Eastland, Texas next weekend for a big Christmas Party at First Financial Bank of Eastland. If you've never been to Eastland, you're missing out on quite a bit of excitement, I'm sure. I don't know what the town is known for, but one thing is for sure... soon it will be known as the town that hosted the greatest band in the universe, possibly ever.
We've also added a 14-year-old guitar virtuoso from San Antonio to our lineup. He plays a mean telecaster and can throw back shots of Dr. Pepper like nobody's business. We've been working up some Christmas tunes, and can't wait to debut them next weekend.
We recently played at Hole in the Wall on Guadalupe. We opened for Clyde and Clem's Whiskey Business - great stuff! Those boys know how to have fun. We also added a new member to our lineup. I don't want to give too much away, but he specializes in the vibra-slap and plays a mean tambourine. In fact, that's what we call him... Tambourmean.
We played Headhunters a week or two ago and had some sound issues. I don't think the equipment was set up for the heat we planned on bringing. It wouldn't have been too bad, except that we aren't very good musicians, either... so that makes it tough. Sorry if you were there and were offended.
Anyway, we'll be playing at the Red Eyed Fly tonight at 10:00 so if you're looking to see us redeem ourselves, this is your show. We've even practiced our choreographed high-kicks and other dance moves.
So recently (Last Saturday), a friend of a friend decided to throw a \"White-Trash Bash\" in Houston. Obviously, they needed The Posse to make the evening complete. We loaded up the truck and headed over early on Saturday. The weather was pretty bad, but luckily our gear made it without getting rained on. As we were running through some practice material, however, the power went out, killing our momentum on a really rockin' song. But that's OK, we rallied.
Anyway, the guests showed up and we treated them to an eye-full of fragrant, delicious music. Basically, it was a 5-sense extravaganza, except we didn't touch anybody. As the night went on, people got more and more rowdy, which made for some interesting song requests. Of course, we obliged as best we could, and everybody left happy.
All in all, not a bad trip to Houston. Here's a short video clip of the band playing a remix of a remix. It's fairly unintelligible and fully unintelligent. Also, you might want to turn the volume down fairly low to avoid a brain aneurysm. Enjoy!
As I mentioned in the last computer blog that I typed on my typewriter and mailed to my brother, who dictated it to my nephew, who put on the \"information superhighway\", The Posse's last gig at Mesa Ranch in South Austin was a BIG hit. We had people drinking shots of tequila, singing and/or yelling along and/or at us, dancing, passing out, and even applauding once (though I'm not sure if it was for us or the three-point shot at the end of that basketball game on the tv - we're going to take credit anyway).
As a result, we were asked to return to Mesa Ranch to perform again. This is the closest thing to an encore we've ever been asked to do, so we're counting it as an encore.
This time we're going to come prepared. We're planning on testing the sound equipment beforehand, changing our strings, brushing our teeth, and even checking to make sure the lug-nuts are on tightly on the back left wheel of the El Camino. Yes sir, we're looking to have our biggest and best show yet. I bought a new undershirt and everything.
You can find us there May 9th at 10pm. For more on this, go to our gigs page. It's a great place with a cool atmosphere and good-looking waitstaff/bartenders, so if you don't make it out, I'm going to assume you hate fun and/or are sexually repressed.
So. Like I was saying... We recently started playing some gigs locally, and needless to say... we are loving it. At a recent gig at Mesa Ranch in South Austin, we began playing our \"hit\" song M'Stache only to find out that we were playing to a room full of undercover Mustache enthusiasts. We'd never seen people so excited to hear about facial-hair (other than ourselves during practice sessions).
We also went \"backstage,\" meaning in the bathroom to wait for the riff-raff to clear out of the bar so we could come out for the VIP's and sign autographs, etc. I believe, however, that some sort of swine-flu scare broke out in the bar while we were \"backstage\" (or something similar) because when we came out, nobody was left. In fact, we were actually locked in the bar and had to climb out via the bathroom window, which, by the way, had not been cleaned in quite some time.
But overall, I think it was a great gig. We tried to sell T-shirts, but apparently ours aren't \"professionally printed\" and \"cost too much\" and \"would be embarrassing to wear\" and \"are just white undershirts with sharpie writing on them.\" Some people just don't understand the music biz, as we call it in the biz.
Anyway, we WERE invited to play at a house party in Houston in June... So of course, we'll be road-tripping soon and have already gassed up the El Camino. We'll keep you posted.
So. Anyway... this week we set up a brand new site for our band. It's www.rascalred.com and it's pretty amazing, if we do say so ourselves. Actually, Rascal Red technically made us set up the site, but I think we were all on board on some level. The idea is that we can post some of our music for people to listen to, plus some footage from our band practices and performances. It's also supposed to allow us to start \"blogging.\" I'm not sure what this \"blogging\" business is all about, so I've done some reading up and figured out what makes for a good \"blog.\"
First, I'm going to go ahead and get annoyed by something. In my case, I'm sure I'm annoyed by the pressures of the media, or the wind chill factor, or both. So what's up with all the media pressure? I mean, can't the media just loosen up? And don't even get me started on the wind chill factor. It's one thing to be windy. It's completely different when the windiness starts changing apparent temperature. Am I right? Yes.
Then, I'm going to get political. How many times do I have to hear about the \"Bail-Out\" on TV? 44? 45? I'm already at 34 and I'm thinking the count is only going to go upwards. What about Barak Obama? Oh man, let me tell you about him. It's crazy what I have to say. Right guys? Eh?
Then, I'm going to talk about \"new media\" and comic books. The Watchmen is really over/under hyped right now. The blogosphere is exploding into the atmosphere with info on the Watchmen.
Anyway, that's it for the blog. Unfortunately, I'm out of time because blogging is time sensitive. Well, if you've found this blog as exhilarating as I have, let me know. Otherwise, don't.
![\"\"](\"http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_fl7mR0zaIEE/THaaDXB6ViI/AAAAAAAAAHc/gtqCRdxbdd4/s1600/Posters.gif\")
![\"\"](\"http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_fl7mR0zaIEE/THaa143JlFI/AAAAAAAAAHk/3tKAImrzpc4/s1600/27951_397401864214_719544214_4167052_276176_n.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_fl7mR0zaIEE/TGGbc8LHW5I/AAAAAAAAAEY/BgfZjfANEHw/s1600/IMG_1511.JPG\")
![\"\"](\"http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_fl7mR0zaIEE/TGGbc6AEpvI/AAAAAAAAAEg/_Zg4GeWKEDo/s1600/IMG_1526.JPG\")
![\"\"](\"http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_fl7mR0zaIEE/TGGbdJY35CI/AAAAAAAAAEo/we7fe6nKpMg/s1600/IMG_1541.JPG\")
![\"\"](\"http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_fl7mR0zaIEE/TGGbdaKV8qI/AAAAAAAAAEw/d5ARl6W4Ook/s1600/IMG_1542.JPG\")
![\"\"](\"http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_fl7mR0zaIEE/TGGbd1-71SI/AAAAAAAAAE4/gYYc7sVeL7Y/s1600/IMG_1640.JPG\")
