Screw you, I’m an outlaw, too

One thing that was obvious to me as I watched Ray Wylie Hubbard grind out his driving, bluesy anthems on a recent Saturday at Bill’s Records, is how these outlaw country artists really live the genre.

Bandana-wrapped, bristly, beery (or recovering from a life of beeriness), Ray Wylie and his junior outlaw pal, Guthrie Kennard, would rock day and night, even if KHYI 95.3 FM didn’t sponsor their shows, or fans didn’t pack the house to listen. Continue reading

Posted in: Gigs at 3:51 pm Tue, Jan 26, 2010.

Think good ol’ boy meets Moldy Peaches

I get a nice plug from Around Town reporter Lyndsay Knecht Milne at nbcdfw.com:

SNARKY FOLK: Sirius XM pseudo-celeb Ken Turetzky plays the anti-folk version of acoustic comedy. Think good ol’ boy meets the Moldy Peaches, and you’ll have an idea of what to expect. Hear his set pettered with four-letter words at Half Price Books on Northwest Highway, 7PM.

Now, who the heck are the Moldy Peaches? Continue reading

Posted in: Gigs at 1:57 pm Thu, Jan 7, 2010.

It’s just like being held hostage

I’m well aware these open mic sessions can drag on, as with a holiday party where you don’t know anyone and you spend the last hour plotting how to sneak out the front door like a burglar.

In fact, I recall one particular evening at the DFW Songwriters Open Mic when, about three hours into a two-hour event, a large fellow in a hoodie stepped up to the microphone, said, “My name is Lamar and this first song is called I Miss You,” and for the next 30 minutes entertained us a capella with a quavering falsetto that never quite found a melody.

I felt like a hostage. Continue reading

Posted in: Gigs at 5:04 pm Wed, Jan 6, 2010.

Bizarro Phil drops acid, sees Jesus

While the rest of the country collapsed into a financial puddle during 2009, Big Phil’s Love Parade host Big Phil enjoyed a fine annual return.

He cranked out his raw, politics-and-porn Sunday night podcast on a consistent basis, held on to his thankless white-collar job, banned soy from his diet and trimmed down, dyed his bald head orange, and survived a spectacular Oklahoma City Christmas Eve blizzard.

Predictably, Big Phil’s alter ego followed an alternate track. In his first annual greeting to listeners, Bizarro Phil revealed that he partied in 2010 by “having sex without protection” with his “kinky girlfriend.” Further, he announced, “I will drop acid. I am smoking a bong, smoking pot.”

Finally, a clearly addled Bizarro Phil said (coining a phrase), “I am trying to put a show snovel of blow in my nose.”

And then he saw Jesus. Continue reading

Posted in: Podcast Roundup at 1:49 am Wed, Jan 6, 2010.

You nailed the essence of me

If there’s anything I enjoy more than self-promotion, it’s promoting podcasters who devote substantial portions of their programs to talking about me.

I struck the jackpot with Michael Angel, host of Michael Angel’s Cosmic Grab Bag and benevolent overlord to a modest cohort of Halo Heads, which is the name he gives to the people who download his podcast.

All it took was a few careless lines of criticism in the old Podcast Roundup, and Michael gushed buckets about my own perceived talent as a media provocateur. Takes an unchecked ego to know one! Continue reading

Posted in: Podcast Roundup at 11:52 pm Sat, Jan 2, 2010.