He's the Nancy to my Lee, Part 2

In preparation for Mr. Mark’s departure, we decided to go on one final road trip together in search of records. Several months ago, my good friend Brittany returned from a road trip telling tales of a "the coolest record store" she had ever been to, in Llano Texas of all places. Llano is a quaint small town populated almost entirely by old women and dudes with mustaches. It houses local businesses with names like Things N’ Such, and Chicken Bones. In the middle of downtown Llano, right behind the Burger Bar, you’ll find R.A.T.S., which stands for Records and Things Strange.

R.A.T.S. resides within a brick building that’s a 116 years old, and was at one time a bar and even more recently, a slaughterhouse. The rooms seem to endlessly sprawl from doorway to doorway, revealing a different surprise around every corner. The doorways themselves are nearly 10 feet tall and saddled with 8 inch thick doors, and the ceilings are metal and rusty.

As you navigate the labyrinth of antiques and pop culture oddities, you’ll find rooms with old board games in them like Murder to Go, rooms filled with old issues of Playboy and sports memorabilia, not to mention the room with the ugly concert t-shirts (Wynonna Judd, the Cranberries, etc.) and the "Last Action Hero" standee.







The air conditioning situation leaves a lot to be desired, unless you’re standing in the turntable/VCR (an excellent pairing by the way) room which contains the store’s only A/C unit.

The store is ran by a man in his late 50’s/early 60’s who used to run a store in Arlington called Crazy Wax. After a lifetime of collecting records, he moved to Llano to retire and opted to sell off his collection piece by piece rather than online, citing "I’m a collector, not a dealer," although he will sell the occasional record individually over the phone or online.

When Mr. Mark & I walked inside, we saw the owner sitting behind his desk in the corner. After a polite greeting, we slowly entered the room directly across from the front door. The immense scope of the wall-to-wall vinyl that inhabited the room was somewhat awe-inspiring at first; four levels of shelving wrapped clear around the entire room, with two double-sided/multi-shelved rows running down the middle. Every section of the room was packed with white boxes, alphabetized and categorized, each box with about 50 records in it, most of them in sleeves and almost all of them in near perfect condition.





The owner came in and gave us a tour of the room; upfront, boxes and boxes of the big hitters (Beatles, Rolling Stones, Dylan, Beach Boys, etc.), behind them, thousands of 45’s. On the row across from them, there was Rock A-Z, & Vocal A-Z. On the backside that row was the 50’s/60’s Rock A-Z. From the left side of the room, wrapping around the walls clockwise: Folk, World Music, Soundtracks, Industrial/Dance/R & B, several more sets of Rock A-Z, Soul, Jazz, and a lone box labeled New Wave. If I had to estimate, I would guess that there’s between 25 and 40 thousand records in that room.

Over the next couple of hours I pulled down, opened, searched, and lifted dozens and dozens of boxes, finding classics like David Bowie’s "Low," The Kinks "Village Green Preservation Society," & Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazelwood’s "Nancy & Lee."




I also found the 1977 debut album by 50’s-Pop-influenced Punk Rocker Mink Deville & the 1974 record "Mirrors" by Piano-Pop extraordinare Emitt Rhodes. The Emitt Rhodes record was sealed (I should say, is still sealed). It’s traveled 34 years to get to me, and I have no plans to open it.



After over 2 hours of searching, Mr. Mark had yet to leave the 45’s section behind. I, on the other hand, wandered through the rest of the building, looking at antiques and perusing the dismal Cd selection. There was also a small VHS collection at the far end of the main room. As I stood there debating whether I should buy a copy of "Black Fist," I felt Mr. Mark tap me on the shoulder and direct my attention towards the doorway that was literally right next to me. As I stared through the doorway, my eyes opened wider & my jaw rested agape as I realized that there was in fact...AN ENTIRE SECOND ROOM!!!







The second room was about half Country and half Rock, and within I found a perfect copy of Lou Reed’s "Berlin." When it came time to check out, I took my records to the front and the owner would examine them and quote me a price: $6 a piece for everything except the Emitt Rhodes, which was $12 due to it being sealed. With all of the records I had selected in front of him, the owner kept going on about "interesting life of Emitt Rhodes" which I thought was interesting in itself.

The store only accepts cash, and since I didn’t quite have enough on me at the time, I had to walk 5 minutes down the road to an ATM. While I was at the gas station getting money, I used the pay phone (because Rats exists in a universe where cell phones do not work) to make a long distance call to my friend Heather, who collects Burl Ives records.

When I told her that he had 40 Burl Ives records, she told me to only get the ones that were in good condition. When I told her that they were all in good condition, she started naming the records that she already owned and I started texting the title into my cell phone’s notepad. In the end the notepad looked exactly like this:

"Lollypop, weamerican, verstal, wayfarhng strange, truf love, cheer gal fal, animal folk"

When I returned to Rats with my cash in hand, the owner gave me the Mink Deville record for free since I "spent a lot money on gas to get down" there. I also spent an additional $20 on Burl Ives records. When it was all said and done, Mr. Mark only walked away with a few select 45’s, but he also left with a once in a lifetime experience. Afterward, we went to the Burger Bar and enjoyed a fine lunch.



Our initial trip to Rats occurred on May 23rd, and this past Friday, June 13th, I returned with some friends for my second visit. Planning only to spend about $40, I in actuality spent about $75. Granted, I bought more records this time around, but my average cost per record went up from $6 to $9. Here’s my score:


--Lou Reed "Sally Can’t Dance" $8

--Lou Reed "Coney Island Baby" $10

--Iggy Pop "Zombie Birdhouse" $10

--David Bowie "The Rise & Fall of Ziggy Stardust" $10

--Capt. Beefheart "Doc At the Radar Station" $12

--The Shangri Las "20 Greatest Hits" $7

--Peter Ivers "S/T" $8

--Wreckless Eric $10

Memorable moments from this outing include:

--Heather finding the soundtrack to Skatetown USA, and 14 Burl Ives records.

--Sonja finding "Riot on the Sunset Strip" by the Standells, which was the Weird Wednesday movie 2 nights prior.






Rats Records is located at:

608 Public Square
Llano, Texas

Official Website:
http://crazywax.com/

Store hours:
Thurs-Sat 9-5
(call or email to comfirm)
Store (325) 247-4296
Home (325) 247-2018
crazywax2@verizon.net


--Popkoff

He's the Nancy to my Lee, Part 1

In 1998 I got a job at Showplace Lanes because working at a bowling alley was Homer Simpson’s dream job. I met a guy there who managed the alley’s Concession stand named Mark Mendoza. He asked me what kind of music I listened to and I said "you know, rock music." Then he asked me "what kind," and I didn’t know how to answer. I had never really thought about it before he asked me.

As our friendship progressed he would make mix tapes for me with bands on them that I had never heard of before like the Cocteau Twins and My Bloody Valentine. I had no frame of reference for that kind of music until he gave me those tapes, and even then, I didn’t really understand it. The more I listened to the tapes though, the more my musical taste expanded. When I tried to make mix tapes for him, I would try to find bands that he hadn’t heard of also, but I quickly realized that it was going to be difficult to do so. It seemed that no matter what I put on them, he would have already heard it. A short time after that, I begin researching and buying Cds with one purpose and one purpose only: to impress Mark Mendoza. You might even say that my initial interest in record shopping was fueled almost entirely by spite. Ten years after the fact though, my music collection is massive and I owe it all to him.

Today I said goodbye to my friend Mark, as he embarked on trip to Denver to begin a new stage of his life. Even though I’ve had well over a year to prepare for today, it still feels unreal to me. No more afternoon lunches, record store days, or walks around the neighborhood.

These days feel like the season finale of my life. There’s a feeling of change in the air as some people leave and others return, some friendships are beginning while others are ending. Whose to say what will happen when my life returns in the Fall?

The only thing I know for sure is that Austin got a little less rad today.

Much Love and Much Respect to Mr. Mark

--Popkoff

SXSW 2008: DAY SIX

Well, my first Music day of SXSW began with me hoofing it over 18 blocks from my apartment to Mother Egan’s Pub to see former dB’s front man, Chris Stamey, perform with Old Ceremony as his backing band. They had never performed before together, which provided Stamey with some interesting moments in which he basically conducted the band during the songs.



The songs were jangly Power-Pop stompers, all of which punctuated by Stamey’s airy, somewhat nasally vocals. He told the audience that his 9 year old daughter had started a band called Weird Girls, and that in between every song, they told jokes. I think his set was made up of mostly new songs, I only recognized one of them, aside from his closing cover of Chris Bell’s "I Am the Cosmos"

The Summer Sun (mp3) - Chris Stamey
I Am the Cosmos (mp3) - Chris Bell

Next I went to Emo’s Main to see the the Raveonettes, who despite sounding good on record, just aren’t interesting live. Their too-cool-for-school-detachedness is a real turn off, how can an audience be engaged by your music when you not?

Attack of the Ghostriders (mp3) - The Raveonettes

Bored, I walked over to Emo’s Jr and saw a band I had never heard of called Let’s Go To War. After some embarrassing technical difficulties before their set, the band dropped a massive Funk Bomb on the audience.



Their bass was jaw-rattling and their energy filtered through the room with every pulsating beat. A Moog, Techics, & a white dude with 2 laptops and a purple shirt that said "All I do is Smoke Weed & Sip Syrup," what more could you want?

Life We Live (mp3) - Let’s Go To War

I then stayed in Emo’s Jr, and watched theDeathset. I saw them a few years ago at Flamingo Cantina, and back then they were just 2 guys and some pre-recorded beats. Now they’re like a totally different band, axing one of the 2 guys, replacing him, and then adding a drummer and keyboardist to create a full on Noise-Pop attack.









The crowd was totally insane for this band from the word go, dancing on stage and on the floor. It was without a doubt the best audience of the day, and one of the best shows of the day.

Around the World (mp3) - TheDeathSet

I then went across the street to the Emo’s Annex to await the Wedding Present at 5:15. Before they played, I caught a set by a singer-songwriter named Sean Hayes. Not really my thing, but kind of interesting. His sound was a throwback to the Folk-Country vibe of Jonathan Edwards, but his lyrics were really odd with songs about Alabama chicken, James Brown, Voodoo, & Rattlesnakes on the dance floor.

Alabama Chicken (mp3) - Sean Hayes

Afterward, the Wedding Present played. I was really looking forward to seeing them, and I have to admit that I was a little disappointed to learn that it was literally only half the band performing, vocalist & guitarist David Gedge & a bassist. Bottom line, it’s hard to dance when there’s no beat. On the upside, he said that the Wedding Present has a new album coming out and a North American tour in September or October.

Brassneck (mp3) - Wedding Present

After a 2 hour break, I went over to Habana Calle 6 to see Laura Barnett. Miss Barnett sat in her chair with her bare feet pressed up against various peddles at the foot of the stage. In her hands, she held a Kalimba, or thumb piano, an acoustic box with little metal tabs that when plucked made a xylophone-esque tone.



With her angelic voice, she crafted sweet, bizarro Folk songs about absurd topics like Robot Ponies, all the while performing them with an earnest sincerity.



She sang a song in which she told members of the audience what they were going to be, some people were going to Bears or Crocodiles, but I’m supposed to be a star in a video game. I really enjoyed her set and bought a Cd.

Robot Ponies (mp3) - Laura Barnett

I then went over to Red-Eyed Fly, and watched a couple songs by my favorite Furniture Records Supergroup, When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth. I got to see them perform a new song (about having a seizure) and "It’s Not the Heat, It’s the Humidity" before heading over to Elysium to see Shellshag.



Let’s All Get Fades (mp3) - When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth

Shellshag is a band from Brooklyn who garnered my attention with the song "Gary’s Note" sometime last year. I thought it was a pretty safe bet to see them since they are part of a good scene and don’t really tour this way very often. I liked the duos set-up quite a bit, with their microphone stands entangled, crossbones style, with the guitarist on one side, facing the drummer on the other. Their sound was a combo of Trash Punk & Glam, high energy and fun and kinda dumb too. They did a cover of "the Promise" by When in Rome. If you were to judge a band by their fans, you would think that Shellshag were a couple of assholes, but obnoxious fans aside, I think they’re probably really nice people. They seem like one of those bands that don’t really fit into the scene they’re part of, but are kept around because they’re just good people. I don’t know, maybe that’s assuming a lot. Also, I don’t have any photos from this show, because this was the only show that someone from SXSW actually gave me shit for having a camera.

I then went to see Jeff Lewis at Club DeVille. This was my favorite show of the day. My friend Brit had been going on about Jeff Lewis since we hung out back in September, and I had just recently bought his new Cd, "12 Crass Songs," from Backspin Records a week or so prior to going to the show.
He played whipsmart Folk Rock songs about his many contradictory thoughts about Will Oldham, narrated a "documentary" about the Complete History of Communism in Russia using a book with giant coloring-book-style-drawings in it, and also did several Crass covers from his new album.





He also sold comic books at the foot of the stage. It was great.



End Result (wma) Jeff Lewis (Crass cover)

Lastly, I went to the Mohawk to see the Mae Shi, who had a lot of buzz around them, and they probably played a dozen shows during SXSW.



They were high energy, noisy, & boring. Sadly, it all seemed contrived and gimmicky. I wanted to like you Mae Shi, but when you pulled a white sheet out and held over the audience’s heads, it became pretty apparent that you were overcompensating for something.

Boys in the Attic (mp3) - The Mae Shi

--Popkoff

SXSW: IHeartComix vs. Mad Decent

Fluokids, DJ Mel, & Flosstradamus
Before I begin to talk about the IHeartComix event, I want to review some of shows I have seen.
Monday, I went to the Beauty Bar for the Fluokids and Flosstradamus event. I must admit that the Fluokids were amazing, their DJ set included electro, old school techno, and tons of zany off the wall edits. My friends and I danced our asses off, and the open bar provided by imeem.com was also a plus. Flosstradamus began their DJ set with Crystal Water's 1994 classic New York House anthem "100% Pure Love". The whole dancefloor gasped and cheered with complete joy, it was heavenly and made me so excited and nostalgic...BUT THEN Flosstradamus played ANOTHER Crystal Waters song the influential "Gypsy Woman" from 1991, the guys kept cutting up the "la-da-de" vocal part with the organ riff, it felt like like the speakers were pounding the walls with soul.



I will admit something though, the DJ set that really moved me the most though was fellow Austinite, DJ Mel. He played a set that included house, soul, funk, 80's electro, and so much more. I was completely stunned that his musical scope was so vast and GIMMICK FREE! He really represented Austin well, and if you see an event with him on the bill, GET A TICKET! He is pictured above with my friend Herme, photo by Annie Ray.

Lindstrøm
Lindstrøm played a laptop set featuring music from his forthcoming release, “Where You Go I Go Too”. I arrived late to the venue, as I entered Diskjokke finished an animated sounding preformance. Shortly after, Lindstrøm set up his gear and began playing. The DJ set was a bit confusing to the some of the audience. There was A LOT of industry types there, who were sort of scratching their heads as Lindstrøm played for over what seemed like 10 minutes before dropping his first kick drum. He was slow and deliberate, taking his time to create soundscapes that were at times serene, dreamy as they were complex and cerebral. If this show was any indication of his next record, I can only say he has firmly moved from the space disco vibe of his earlier work to a more minimalist approach to disco that is at once laidback and transcendent. Definately, an artist to watch in 2008.

IHeartComix vs. Mad Decent
This Friday is the unreal free event featuring over 40 artists playing you every possible style of dance music imaginable. From the baile funk of Diplo, the fidjit house of Switch, to the Pop Funk of Walter Meego. This is going to be an interesting event.
One of the great things about SXSW, are the free shows giving you just as much as the actual label showcases. We truly live in an amazing city! RSVP for admittance.

IHEARTCOMIX official site
Mad Decent Official Site
Annie Ray offical site

---Mr. Mark

SXSW 2008: DAY FIVE

Today was kind of lackluster; the crowd attendance dropped a day earlier than it usually does, due to the Music portion of the festival starting. I saw 4 screenings today.

First up, was Reel Shorts 3, a collection of 6 short films, mostly dramas. They were all surprisingly good, but by the end, 5 of the films were completely overshadowed by the uplifting spectacle of “Glory at Sea,” a 20 minute film that brought most of the audience to tears.

It’s a mythical take on Hurricane Katrina, in which the drowned dead are still spiritually alive at the bottom of the sea, while their surviving family members struggle to keep the spirits from being crushed by the devastation of the storm. In an effort to reconnect with their fallen family members, the survivors build a giant ship out of trash and items from their past, and launch out to sea where the journey ends in a bombastic gut retching finale. It was pretty moving.

Next up, we went to the Alamo Ritz to see “Yeast.” This film was actually quite inspiring in an unintentional way. My friend Boyd was so dissatisfied by it’s complete lack of visual look, likable characters, successful acting, and enjoyment, that he flat out told me that he’s making a movie this year to enter into the festival, because as he put it, if this shit can get in, I can get in.

For clarification purposes, the film is about 3 miserable women who are friends, but shouldn’t be, because they are all relentlessly bitchy towards each other in long repetitive, mostly improved sequences. That’s the whole movie from beginning to end, and while it may be realistic, as a viewing experience, it’s pure hell.

We then went to the Paramount to see “The Toe Tactic,” a very odd Comedy/Drama revolving around a group of people whose lives are unknowingly being directed by a group of animated dogs playing cards, all Greek Mythology-like, looking down from an omnipotent position and all.

The movie had a lot of weird casting decisions, at least as far as bit players are concerned, with Eugene Merman as a Elevator Man, John Sayles as an Apartment Manager, and David Cross & Eli Wallach as the 2 of the voices of the dogs. It was a colorful and sweet movie, but I’m not sure I would ever watch it again. It also had music by Yo La Tengo in it.

The last movie I saw of the night, and mostly likely the festival was “Nerdcore Rising,” a documentary about the growing Hip Hop subgenre, Nerdcore, that makes the logical fuse of Rap and Geek subject matter.

The movies really about the “inventor” of Nerdcore, MC Frontalot, and his band’s first nationwide tour. For being a movie about a subject I’m not too fond of, it wasn’t bad.

Okay, that’s it for movie, at least for me. I saw 23 movies in 5 days, not too shabby. It’s all music from here on out for me though.

--Popkoff

SXSW 2008: DAY FOUR

I managed to see 5 movies today. First up was a documentary about Crawford, Texas and the social & economic impact of George W. Bush’s residency, entitled “Crawford.”



There was really nothing wrong with this movie, but I didn’t really feel like it covered any new ground. I think I’m just completely burnt out on Political Documentaries.

Next up was a movie that I missed on Saturday called “Explicit Ills” which “stars” Paul Dano & Rosario Dawson, although it’s really an ensemble piece, and they’re no more in it than anybody else.

The film was Executive Produced by Jim Jarmusch and it sort of feels like one of his movies, slow paced and meandering, but never boring. It was definitely one those films that I had to think about for a while before eventually deciding that I liked it.

The story revolves around several poor people (many of whom are young first time actors) living in Philadelphia whose lives are all interconnected through their healthcare needs.

After “Explicit Ills,” I went to the Paramount for a screening of the Universal Pictures Comedy “Forgetting Sarah Marshall.” This one falls under the Judd Apatow umbrella due to the facts that it was produced by him and written by & stars “Freaks & Geeks” aluminous Jason Segel.

All I’ve got to say about this Apatow crew is that they seem unstoppable. It’s not just that they make really funny movies, as much as it is that they really good adult comedies. This was so immensely enjoyable!!

I then went back to the Ritz and watched “One Minute to Nine,” a documentary about a woman who has 5 day left with her sons before beginning her 10 year prison sentence for the murder of her insanely abusive husband.

This one was pretty gut retching, and uniquely done, in sense that it avoided traditional documentary techniques like narration and outside exposition, opting rather to focus entirely on the situation at hand and allowing to story to unfold as it happens. It has a pretty shocking twist at the end as well.

Lastly I saw yet another Round Midnight movie, this one was called “Not Your Typical Bigfoot Movie.” It was a documentary that I honestly wasn’t sure was real for most of it, but it slowly sunk in that these people were real. It’s basically about 2 aging “hillbillies” who for 24 hours a day, are consumed by finding and documenting a Bigfoot.

What it’s really about though, are their lives and their rocky friendship. It’s funny, but it’s the kind of funny you feel guilty about laughing at because the people seem so genuine. The filmmakers themselves seemed like really nice guys, and unlike some of the directors I’ve seen over the past few days, they seemed very overwhelmed and pleased with their inclusion in the festival.

This is my last day for seeing movies, if all goes well, I should end up seeing about 25 movies in 5 days. Tomorrow the music coverage begins.

--Popkoff