Brandon Higgins: Kicked In The Nuts

Higgins

Brandon Higgins slammed his wedding ring down on the Winedale Tavern bar and declared his marriage had reached an impenetrable impasse. “If you don’t leave with me now, then we’re finished,” he demanded, glaring at his wife of nearly six months through dead, drunken eyes.

Alysen, skinny, tattooed, pierced and pretty, returned her husband’s gaze with a satisfied grin. “I think you need to get back to the motel and go to sleep,” she told Brandon. “I’m not quite ready to leave yet.”

Once again, I was caught in the middle of a domestic dispute. Continue reading

Posted in: Profiles at 7:08 pm Wed, Nov 29, 2006.

Return to Big Ugly

Gradually, the myth of my start in comedy music has ripened into an epic tale. In a time of great upheaval, I overcame my natural modesty and strode forth, guitar in hand, to smite the formidable audience and affirm my pop culture relevance.

That’s the act, anyway, and I describe those events to host Fugly J. Wetzel in the latest edition of the Big Ugly Podcast. The dodgy digital anomalies of Skype occasionally play hell on the audio quality, but Wetzel’s incisive interview style and my self-effacing charm bring a redemptive sheen to the enterprise. Continue reading

Posted in: Interviews at 10:17 pm Mon, Nov 20, 2006.

Please don’t hurt the emcee

Retro hippie-trippy rock duo The Bandmates have invited me to emcee their marathon CD release party, from 4 p.m. to 1 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 12 at Lakewood Bar & Grill in Dallas, and I’ve cautiously accepted.

Expect chaos and open revolt as I attempt to stage-manage 16 guest bands and solo acts who’ve been told to limit their sets to 15 to 20 minutes each. The Bandmates will headline at 9 p.m., performing tracks from their new CD, The Buddha And The Alien. Continue reading

Posted in: Gigs at 3:28 pm Fri, Nov 10, 2006.

The exploited artist gets paid

BMI is an American performing rights organization that represents more than 300,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers. And a lot of indie music artists are asking BMI, Where’s my money?

After three years of significant exposure (for an unknown indie artist) on terrestrial, satellite and Internet radio, I’ve finally received my first royalty check from BMI. This initial payment for $10.25 covers the first quarter of 2006, for unspecified Internet radio play.

But what the music business gives with the left hand, it takes with the right. Continue reading

Posted in: Hot Topics at 6:07 pm Tue, Nov 7, 2006.