Flanfire

East Eleventh Street in Austin is a happening place these days, what with the renovation and hopeful soon reopening of the Victory Grill, the three Eleven East buildings that together constitute an $11.4 million, 57,000 square foot office and retail project, and newly authorized eligibiity of the East 11th and East 12th Street Redevelopment Area for federal assistance to renovate and restore their commercial building facades.

One such building in need of some assistance is the happening Long Branch Inn (aka Saloon). Quite frankly, judging by the crowd that showed up for the "open mike" Monday night, the Long Branch ought to be in good shape, but there was one little problem - the power kept going out, blackening the entire room and interrupting the excellent group of musicians assembled for a night of reverie and reminiscence.

While I eventually realized that there may be little need for introductions, and in fact such formalized banter would surely be out of character, I was a little surprised that no one - let alone the singer-songwriters themselves - introduced the musicians at any time during their performances (that is, until later in the evening). The first two players - Bruce and Daniel - had the vocal mike too low to be heard past the first table or two, a problem solved just in time by a young singer named Molly, whose songs reminded me of song of Michelle Shocked's earlier stuff.

Next up was a quartet that included the King of the Texas Accordian, Ponty Bone, Mike Roberson on bass, Spencer Drummond on guitar, and Brad Brobisky on lead vocals when Ponty was not singing. [I could be wrong on some last names, but who knows?] After a rousing set that got people up and dancing, the spotlight fell on Austin native and world traveler Calvin Russell, with half of the prior band plus Kim Deschamps backing. The first song was Mandy Mercier's Outlaw Man, and the band was smoking by the time Calvin announced, "He's the President and I Don't Care." Later, the band (plagued by numerous power outages inside the bar) followed Calvin through a song called, "Big Brother," which espoused the wise saying, "I Just Don't Trust NO Politicians." The band closed out with Townes Van Zandt's "I Ain't Leavin' Your Love" and a whole lotta dancing going on. Truth be told, despite the rain and the power outages, they were just getting warmed up and it was all over.

Next up was a young black man who sings like Tim Buckley and has a lot of that intensity of feeling - and he had to play virtually in the dark and without power for half of his songs. Finally, the reason I had come - Kim's Canadian pal Andrew Walker, who got on stage with Kim and did three songs wholly acoustic (that is, without mikes or amps). On one of his songs, he brought his guitar out into the thinned-out crowd (it was after midnight by then) so that they could hear and participate with him in the song.

This was my first visit to the Long Branch - but, assuming they can get the power back on, it will not be my last. Every Monday is this open mike thing, and I believe I saw that Thursdays you can find Mark Rubin and the Ridgetop Syncopators starting at nine. The beer was cold, the place had high ceilings and lots of ceiling fans, and there were some powerful photographs on the walls. Parking was NOT a problem.

Last Saturday, the babe and I took our new friends Aaron and Jennifer Hamre down to Gruene Hall for a day in the country that included lunch and a stop at the Lone Star Music shop and another at the New Braunfels Museum of Music and Art. The band was billed as Warren Hood and Blue Light Special in the papers, but the only other Blue Lighter at the hall was bassist par excellence Mike Miksis. Apparently, one member of the band had backed out of an earlier commitment to relocate to the Austin area (and thus have broken up the band as it had been), leaving the others high and all wet.

So we disconsolate, unfortunate pilgrims were FORCED, mind you, to put up with Warren's pickup band - himself on mandolin and fiddle, Miksis on bass, some guy named Marvin on guitar, and some Canadian emigre on fiddle and guitar. OKAY, OKAY I am KIDDING!!!


Get real - Marvin Dykhuis and Darcie Deaville!!!!! As a bonus, 13-year-old mandolin player and singer Sara Jarosch was in the house, and mzny of us persuaded Warren to keep her on stage longer than perhaps she had expected. The version of Summertime that we heard with Sara singing lead was worth the entire trip all by itself, as the band started slowly, then picked up the tempo, then slowed to a tangoesque rhythm to close out the song. Later, Darcie was marvelling at her ability to space her notes and leave room for the music to breathe.

Over at the Museum, there is for the moment a display of art by Texas musicians - Joe Ely, Butch Hancock, Sara Hickman, Bob Schneider, Nathan Hamilton, and many others. THIS IS A MUST SEE!!!!! The museum, located just a few doors down (toward stage right) from Gruene Hall, is also a live music venue at times.

I was thinking a little more about that Calvin Russell song tonight about not trusting politicians, and I realized that putting our trust in men is not our job. David said it best, "Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we will remember the name of the Lord out God." The kingdom of those who follow is "not of this world," though it is our job to speak into that world - pointing people in the direction of loving, caring and speaking up for those who cannot provide for themselves. Jesus, if one reads the books right, never endorsed any of the competing political groups vying for hegemony in Roman-occupied Jerusalem. By not aligning himself with any party, the power of his truth rang even truer, stung more deeply, and provided an avenue for agreement and more importantly right action by those in earthly authority. More on this another time, but folks like Esther, Daniel, and even Joseph got their chances to demonstrate leadership in unholy kindgoms as an aftermath of torture and the threat of death.