Flanfire

The future of Austin rock and roll music was on display at the Old Alligator Grill on Thursday night (June 24), as the kids from the Natural Ear Rock 'n Roll Summer Camp (session A) put their wares on display after spending three long weeks in rehearsal. Among the bands, which featured kids as young as nine and not much older than 15, was an all-girl group, Chatterbox, average age nine and a half, Loose Cannons, and Wild Things (check out their MP3 on the website - http://natural.home.texas.net/

The Alligator was packed to the rafters with musicians, their families and friends, and regular customers who were all treated to two hours plus of rock and roll classics, flashy guitars and on-stage pyrotechnics, and a whole lotta shakin' enthusiasm. Jason Crow (son of Alvin Crow) had worked with a bunch of kids who called their band Don Videau (or something like that) - featuring an 11-year-old lead singer named Sam, a bassist named Ellis, and a drummer named Josh - plus a hot (bandana wearing) lead guitarist named Pat, whom Crow said was just beginning to learn the instrument a year ago. This band wailed through Back in the USSR, This Could Be the Last Time, and more with a lot of gusto and some solid licks.

Another favorite was an even younger bunch (nine and 10 year olds) who called their band Rain Set. These guys ran through Send Me Dead Flowers and Willie and the Hand Jive (a very rousing rendition featuring Peter on drums and Michael - who came all the way from the Virgin Islands - on lead - including slide - guitar. The lead singer, whose name I lost due to wet ink, directed us through the hand jive motions and had a great young voice and stage presence out the ying-yang. These kids really rocked - and made you believe in their work as musicians.

Next up was Oxymoron - average age 13 and a half - a group directed by Will Indian. Their 12-year-old drummer, a kid named Chuck, is already a star who pushed the rest of the band with his energy and rhythm and speed. Drum solo time here! Finally, my pal Aaron Hamre's charges, 12-year-old average age, dubbing themselves as Snakebite (a great name, saith Natural Ear Director Mike Murphy). With even more energy and showmanship than their predecessors, Willie on lead guitar, Quentin and John on vocals, Ben on bass, and Diego on drums smoked us through Foxy Lady, Sunshine of My Love, and Been a Long Time - three great classics of the genre if there ever were any. Quentin threw his hair around, Ben stuck the bass between his legs and kept time perfectly, and Willie moved his axe into just about every position possible with great gusto and flair.

From the audience's cheering and clapping and whistling, it was certain that nearly everyone got more than their money's worth - as did the players. Best of all, lest anyone think the music here is dying, I can speak with authority that it is alive and well and growing with a brand-new generation of rockers with attitude and style and skill (all improving a lot in three weeks of camp). The second session starts in July, and there will be another recital at the end of that session. Check out the website for time and date of that performance, and get your buns over there. Your whole body will be smiling by the time the gig is over.

The night before, I had planned a trip to the Cactus, but my daughter called and wanted companionship as she took our grandson (her son, age 1) to Blues on the Green - which last night featured the Imperial Golden Crown Harmonizers -- all of them. Shelley King (the newbie) on vocals, Carolyn Wonderland, Scrappy Jud Newcomb (just back from the Resentments' world tour), Gurf Morlix (just about ready to fly north for the summer), Nick Connelly, Paul Bhudda Mills, Miss Sarah Brown (who sat in tonight with the all-girl glam band Sis DeVille at Antone's for Any Baby Can), and the incomparable Malcolm Papa Mali Welbourne, who founded the group a number of years back. The Harmonizers play, of course, at Maria's Taco X-Press every Sunday when it isn't raining to raise money for local charities - they even take nothing for themselves from the sales of their premiere CD. This is their labor of love, their tithe as it were - their gift back to a community that has given them all strong support to allow them to be themselves and develop their art and craft in the live music capital of the world. At Blues on the Green, there were more DOGS in the audience than the number of people for whom the Harmonizers play every Sunday, plus thousands of music loving people of all ages on what was a warm and beautiful night in Austin (no rain). Blues on the Green is also sort of a warmup for September's Austin City Limits Music Festival - on the same grounds, and with accompanying booths for food and stuff. Lots of people were playing in the sand, and lots were just lolling around with kids, dogs, or both grooving to the sounds of what might just be the very best band ever assembled in our town.

IN passing, I want to extol the virtues of commitment and to praise the story in last week's (June 18) Austin Chronicle about Pop Stars: Dads Who Rock ... and the Women Who Support Them, which tells quite a story about the underpinnings of the Austin music scene and one of the chief reasons why we are so blessed. In Austin it is not an embarrassment but a blessing to be a father (or mother) and husband (or wife or partner) and also a musician of the first order. Just ask Papa Mali about his wife and kids and the importance he has learned to place on his roles off stage as well as on. Ask any number of these players - or just watch them carry their little ones around with them through the city and out into the countryside. It is sort of like frontier living, except that this frontier is an often hostile economic and social order rather than a natural wilderness. Just a few days back Kim and Karen Deschamps celebrated thirty years of wedded bliss - and another couple I know spoke of a very different attitude they encountered in Los Angeles toward the idea of commitment that ran them out of that town in a heartbeat. Here in Austin's underbelly we are creating a society in which strong couples encourage each other in their own pursuits and make outstanding lives together -- and part of the fruit of all of this love is some of our greatest music and art that demonstrates the overcoming power of wholly invested lovers.