July Recession Thursday's Lineup

July 5th ClutchFest: Get tix

get your tickets!!


www. iheartuproductions. com <---buy tickets here
$12
free sparks
free kegs
free pizza
free icecream
free movie passes to riveroaks
free american apparel goodies
tickets are also sold at sound exchange
music 1pm-10pm dj 10pm-4am

Catch us at Catbird's tonight for Pride Parade- We will be selling 'City of Montrose' shirts

This Week's Music Preview - June 27 2008

The Super Happy Funland sock animals want you to go out this weekend. They figure with the SHFL benefit on Friday, the Music Makes Change benefit on Saturday, Tambersauro, the Ton Tons, Zaika, and a hella lot more you have no excuse. (Read on in the music section)

Super Happy Fun Land to host art auction at Notsuoh Friday

From the fine folks at SHFL:

" We are still in the process of getting our paperwork through the city, and it looks like it will be late summer before the bureaucracy puts all their stamps on it. Anyway, we are having another art auction this Friday at Notsuoh to help get our bills paid while we are waiting on the man. The auction will be at 314 Main on Friday at 8pm. There will be food, drinks, entertainment by superstar-auctioneer Dave Roy (founder of Southmore House), Treasure Mammal, The Annoysters, Whitman, and Muzak John, as well as tons of great art and more! So come on out on Friday night and support your neighborhood Super Happy Fun Land."

Friday the 27th
Notsuoh
314 main

Tonight's Recession Thursday!! Future Blondes, //Tense//, Voidmate, Balaclavas, & A Thousand Cranes

Wooo! Recession Thursday! Look into the flashing GIF image! You will go to Recession Thursday at Numbers! We'll even throw in 1,000 Cranes as a bonus! (More Details)

Thy clutchness overflows.

One Thousand Cranes added to tomorrow night's Recession Thursday.

Need a 'City of Montrose' shirt? Holler at us...

Just printed up a fresh new batch in just about every color and size. Come buy one at 'Recession Thursdays' at Numbers or Catbird's on the evening of Pride Parade this coming Saturday or email us otherwise...
Editors@freepresshouston.com

Why you tryin to knock us, Why you tryin' to block us?

Balaclavas, Voidmate, Future Blondes, Tense @ Numbers Thursday: Epileptics Beware!

Numbers
300 Westheimer
Doors whenev.
5 bux

George Carlin Dead

At the tender age of 71, heir to the Lenny Bruce legacy and predecessor to Bill Hicks, George Carlin has died.

Music Wrap Up - Terrastock 7 in Louisville, KY.

A brief wrap-up of the Terrastock 7 Psych festival in Louisville, KY. Awesomeness indeed! (Click to read our story in the music section)


Mono at Terrastock photo courtsey of Tracy Popp

June 21: Byrd: The Life and Tragic Death of James Byrd Jr.

This moving documentary portrays the life of James Byrd who was dragged three miles to his death in Jasper, Texas nearly ten years ago. Features interviews with Dick Gregory, Martin Luther King III, and Susan Sarandon. Sister Helen Prejean, Rev. Jew Don Boney and members of the Byrd Family make guest appearances in the documentary. Running Time 40 minutes.

Produced by filmmakers Elijah "Ricky" Jason, Micki Dickoff and Eric "Spurgen" Brown. Ricky Jason will attend the screening at Rice University and speak about the film. Local activist Dave Atwood will comment on the impact of Byrd's death on Texas.


Rice University Media Center Entrance 8, Rice University
June 21, 2008 7pm

Tonight @ Numbers Recession Thursday - 19 June 2008

This is the day where everyone gets a positive blurb but I'm going to break with that just to say "Don't stay at the Artisan hotel in Memphis!" Dirty sheets, no towels, no shower curtain, dodgy key cards, and an underground car park that stinks of urine. Total Suck-ass hotel even if it's just one night!

OK got that? Moving on...

Crappy Memphis hotel or not tonight in Houston is Recession Thursdays at Numbers - the one show each week where, of course, every band is heavy on talent but the door and booze will be light on your pocket book. Who else could bring you this but the great and powerful overlord of the Free Press himself Lord High Afra who has recently returned from the motherland.

Tonight we feature The Ton Tons, Kam, Arthur Yoria, Elaine Greer, Hueman, and Woozy Helmet. (Read More)

Thursday night will spew joy all over thy face

A Walk with Death

Nothing would better illustrate the grotesque nature of art than The Model Village of the Damned by Jake and Dinos Chapman. Mixed Media may be its genre but deliriously twisted is its calling. The scene consists of plastic toy figures in various scenes of brutal violence surrounded by shrubs with vultures on telephone poles. There are massive amounts of severed heads and even a few humanoids with multiple heads taking part in the carnage. All of this is sealed in a glass case and you have to walk around each side to fully take in its regal sense of slaughter.
Speaking of carnage, that term is the title of another striking series from the artist Damien Hirst.... (rest of story) ...

This Week's Music Preview - June 13th 2008

Have a drink in my stead for the next few weeks as I'll be going to the Terrastock Festival in Louisville, Kentucky. I'll still have the previews for you but no reviews of local shows for the next few Mondays at least from me. So here is where you come in. If you people want to send me your pictures and your short descriptions of your weekend endeavors I'll be happy to post some of your reviews on Monday during my time away. Use the e-mail below to send me your stuff by Sunday evening and, if it solid, I'll post 'em Monday morning. Don't forget to send me your name and if you didn't snap the picture at the show, I'll need some attribution. OK so get out there and snap some pictures and type up some stuff.

Now as for this week we have transatlantic Kenyan pop, Conan helps separate those worthy of sitting on Crom's mountain (the pictured Sharks and Sailors - worthy!) , Free shit at Cactus, River Oaks, and The Shady Tavern, not to mention a whole mess of other stuff. So read on and enjoy the weekend. (Link)

Shameless self-promotion - Tonight's Recession Thursday 12 June 2008

Tonight - Delta Block, Basses Loaded, The Fucking Transmissions, Satin Hooks, and Shina Rae (More)

I was a zombie for Arbitron

Get up in the morning, and reach for your Arbitron Personal Meter secured away in its recharging bin, itself connected by phone to a Arbitron processing center where everyday between 4 and 6 am the device sends coded information to the Arbitron central brain. That’s the drill and for running same I collected approximately $10 to $15 a month with a first-year bonus of $200 paid in two $100 installments. Now my first year is up and the bonuses have vanished. Fifteen dollars a month is less than fifty cents a day, and that and a smile won’t get you a cup of overpriced java at Corporate Coffee.
As an Arbitron household I wore a device shaped not unlike a 20th century pager that was supposed to be kept when not worn in its recharger in my bedroom. My phone tap was actually located in the kitchen. Another requirement of being an Arbitron paid volunteer precludes being a member of the media, but it looks like I slid by on that count.
I fit into their demographic. I am a middle age white guy who lives in a shitty apartment. My pad, by the way, is harder to find than the entrance to the Batcave so when an Arbitron rep knocked on my door unannounced I had to admire the fact that they found the place.
I told the woman when asked that yes indeed I was a member of the media. This week for instance I have four press screenings, a museum media preview not to mention occasional outbursts on the Free Press Houston blog.
“When they ask you,” she told me about the Arbitron phone interview process “tell them you’re not. Do you know how long it took me to find a single white male, renter of a shitty apartment, who listens to the radio and watches Turner Classic Movies? You’re on dude, don’t even think about backing out.”
All commercial radio stations, all broadcast television stations and many cable networks, and some of the larger websites have audio subcarriers that while inaudible to the human ear can be picked up by the Arbitron Personal Meter (heretofore called the APM). What Arbitron does is similar to Nielson Media Research, they determine to some degree of accuracy what people from different demographics are watching or listening to and sell that information to said content providers who then use the data to determine their ad and commercial value. This and other information about Arbitron was discussed in an issue of Wired magazine last year.
The pager shape of the APM is obsolete in terms of ergonomic use. A more ideal shape would be something akin to a fountain pin, or simply a clip. Because of the pager proportions the only way to carry it around without having it bulge like a boner in your pocket is to clip the device onto a belt. While it’s comfortable to carry the APM in a coat pocket that’s a bit hard in the tropical pants and light shirt humidity of Houston summers. I called my Arbitron rep, the same one I lied to regarding my media affiliation, and said wearing the APM on my belt is uncomfortable. “It digs into my side whenever I get in and out of my car. Isn’t there some kind of holder you could send me that I could use to attach the APM to my belt?” I got my requested holster in the mail a few days later. True, it was a cell phone belt holster and the APM didn’t even begin to fit into it, but I felt that at least some paperwork was being shuffled. The company has obviously spent a great deal (Houston is one of its main test markets.) of time and money with the concept and design of their tools and yet the APM looks like a relic from the disco era.
Now the first year is over, and the novelty has worn thin. The whole concept of invisible waves floating through the air and being monitored by a small device reminds me of 80s sci-fi like Videodrome. Remember in that Cronenberg film how James Woods finds that a cable network is sending subliminal signals to viewers that cause them to hallucinate. Of course that was then, and the reality now is that with digital television, cell phones and other random transmissions we are constantly surrounded by all sorts of invisible waves and signals. If more than three people on the planet give a shit about that it’s a surprise to anyone.
Arbitron, it’s been kinda real but the honeymoon is over and baby needs new shoes. There’s one less household operating in Space City but that just means that you the reader will soon take my place. Cue the scary music.
- Michael Bergeron

Live review - French Kicks, Young Mammals, & Hearts of Animals

French Kicks do well but the locals Hearts of Animals and Young Mammals (right) upstage them.

We also report on the new Washington Ave. Douche Scene. (Link)

This weeks music preview for the week of June 06

Oh shit is there a sweet garage show on Saturday - Guilty Hearts, Born Liars (right), and Welfare Mothers. Friday there's an awesome indie rock show French Kicks, Frightened Rabbit, and Young Mammals. We've got Cure, Mates, Wiggins, Westen Civilization and more. Hell it's just another week of solid touring and local shows. Now don't just sit at home; get out and stomp those feet! (link)


Born Liars Photo by Charles Larrabee

Tonight - Recession Thursday with mechanical Boy, You(Genius), Gold Sounds, Closet City, & CJ Boyd

A quick reminder tonight is recession Thursday at Numbers. I'd elaborate more but I'm ill and about all I can muster the energy to type is that The Gold Sounds kicked my henie last Saturday.

Beirut Masboot (Beirut is good)

Sorry, I have been in the mountains , not at a terrorist training camp, the last few days without an internet connection or even continuous electricity. I have since traveled to Byblos which is the oldest inhabited city in the world, spent hours playing music and dancing with family, and eaten enough hummos to dam the Mississippi River. To give you a quick snapshot of this place, as I sat downtown the other night drinking the local wine, I heard ringing out load the following in such order: Islamic Muezzin performing the adhan ( call to prayer), Greek Orthodox church bells, and track 5 off the new Radiohead album. This city is evenly dotted with machine gun toting soldiers, emo-kids, and Hezbollah. Well- the video below will show you the primal power of one hand-drum in getting a whole slew of people to dance and go nuts round here. More soon- I promise....

Live review - The McKenzies, the Gold Sounds, and Sad Like Crazy

Houston ex-pats Sad Like Crazy (right) get sassy, the McKenzies get goofy, and The Gold Sounds make me a believer. Three bands, two clubs, and the peanut gallery starring Ben Murphy. (Link)

This month in the Free Press - Jenny Westbury

She writes songs while driving her car, loves her "Uke", has this thing about bears, and writes killer songs. This month we spotlight the often quirky and always clever songwriter (and multi-media artist) Jenny Westbury. (Link)



Video still from Jenny Westbury's Myspace