I Miss Joe Strummer

In the summer of 1982, I met the Clash in Austin, TX. It was a brief hello facilitated by some French rockabilly cats who had befriended Paul Simonon. The band was in town to shoot the video for Rock The Casbah and play two crazed shows at the City Coliseum and handing out beer to a bunch of kids at the hotel's pool was perfectly cool by them.

Surprisingly, in hindsight, hanging with a famous punk band seemed a simple matter of course, nothing to even write home about. We weren't jaded culture junkies, we were interested. No autographs requested, no photos snapped. Meeting idols today is so different. TV and gossip rags don't make you more familiar with celebs they sadly differentiate you from them. Punk in theory was never about that. I've often thought about those shows at the Coliseum and how fucking violent it was, fighting and screaming "fuck the casbah" in the sweltering heat but I've never reflected much on the Clash sharing a poolside beer with me at the Crest Inn. That was just so normal for Austin in 1982. Things were cool. The Clash were cool.
Time flies, airplanes crash.

Note: Right behind the marquee in the distance is the Crest Inn Hotel. At the time it was the tallest building in Austin next to the State Capitol and the UT Tower. It's now a place people go to watch bats fly off into the evening sky.

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Watch Willie Nelson, Jesse Ventura & Alex Jones Live 10PM EST

In Austin, The Backyard is closing today and that's a sad reminder that as predicted the former Hill Country gem has turned into just another fucking city. To celebrate the shuttering, Willie Nelson is playing a show there this evening you can watch live on the interweb. While Willie strumming is alway a good time, special guests from beyond the fringe, Jesse Ventura and Alex Jones should make this one of the few times you'll feel safer watching from a distance, online from an unspecified location.

At 10PM EST grab a beer and Click. The gentle sounds of "high as a kite" country twang laced with bold faced conspiracy talk will lull you off to never-never-land like a handful of ryphnol in your favorite desert topping. Set two alarms.

And if you miss the live stream click yourself over into Alex Jones' world anyway. Though logging-in from a Kinko's or Public Library might be advisable.

Worst Week Ever?

The Dow Jones Industrial Average had its most volatile day ever Friday, oscillating more than 1,000 points before ending up 128 points down, capping the worst week in the Dow's 112-year history. The index lost 18.2 percent of its value between the opening bell Monday and closing bell Friday. Amid the panic, some very somber discussions are being held and all the papers lead with some kind of reaction to the bad news.

After the panic attack of reading about this subsided I turned to the sports page only be greeted by the nerve wracking proposition of todays Red River Shootout. The shootout is the greatest rivalry in sports and actually a college football game played the second weekend in October between Texas and Oklahoma. Texas is my team but ever since that maniac Bob Stoops' rolled into Norman I've been jumpier that a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs. Oklahoma has won 6 of the last 8 in part cuz Stoops is craftier than Mac Brown and now Oklahoma has Sam Bradford a magical Cherokee Indian at quarterback. Criminy!

They've been playing this game for over 100 years and because of the fanatical following of both schools and States, the game is played every year at a "neutral site" halfway between Austin and Norman. The roving bands of crazed supporters were too much for either little college town to handle so the game is held at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, during the State Fair of Texas. The designated "home" team alternates from year to year, and ticket sales for the game are split 50–50 between the two schools, with the stadium divided along the 50 yard line. It's wild scene man cuz these people are crazed about beating each other and then there are carnival rides. This is not some Florida powder puff bullshit. The two programs have a combined 11 national championships since 1950 and this year a national title could again be on the line so expect total mayhem.

On the lighter my dad took me to the Texxas Jam in 1978 at the Cotton Bowl. And while perhaps not a highlight in the annals of responsible parenthood the video shot there of Aerosmith and the fairgrounds in '78 allows a brief respite from the worrys. Stop worrying, Texas Fight.

AND WE HAVE A WINNER

And Then There Where Two

Long time VICE funhouse and Texas favorite, the Longbranch Inn has a sister it seems. With the rise of the Scoot Inn our brothers down south, Stockbauer and Kumbala, have unleashed a two-headed monster known as The East Inns of Austin. Anybody nervously curious? SXSW!

Check the local buzz this is already generating.