Flanfire

Amber Voiland is a fixture at the Hole in the Wall, and on Christmas Eve, her band Love Buckit will be putting on quite a show (one I will miss to visit my daughter in south Texas). So on Tuesday night, when I learned she would be doing a short solo set at Trophy's, I braved the elements (this is one of many bars that have seceded from the city of Austin to escape the smoking ban) - and waited - and waited - and waited - until 1:30 in the morning, an hour after her set was scheduled to begin. Meanwhile, the lively huffing and puffing crowd was treated to the union songs (and love songs, too) of Jason Weems and Bill Davis (joined by Sick, the fiddler whose other gig is the Asylum Street Spankers). Davis' most memorable song was "Waxahachie," a paeon to celebrate the cancellation of the superconducting supercollider project. Sick, for the record, is promoting his January Monday shows at Flipnotics under the name the Sick Science Project - five weeks of pure craziness that will feature pals from the Spankers, White Ghost Shivers. Jazz Pharaohs, etc.

Amber's bandmates were in the house but not on stage, and so it was just Amber and her Korg. The Colorado native claims Portishead as one of her chief influences, and her final song, which she says she may call "Cereal" was clearly in that mode. My recommendation - catch Amber at the Hole - or perhaps sometime next spring at the much earlier in the evening Writers Who Rock songwriter showcase at El Mercado, where I had spent part of the evening.

Melissa Mullins, co-host and performer in her own right, had invited me after reading this blogspot - courtesy of one Rachel Lynn (whose music is growing on me). So I get there (late) and run into some of my own extended family who turn out to be her good friends. Melissa's set was solo electric guitar, and you could just sense her wanting to kick in with a full band. But I liked the energy. Next up was Vanessa Peters, a Dallas native who has been living in Italy and comes back to Texas once in a while to record. She has a band called Ice Cream on Mondays, and so you already know she is quite pretty and elegant and intellectualish. Songs from her forthcoming CD included "Easy," "Amelia" - a song about Amelia Earhart in part, and "Such Good Actors." Living in Italy is very nice, but here in Austin Vanessa would become a better guitar player - but then again, it is rural Tuscany!

Next up was my pal Sara Shansky, whom I know and like for her work with Steven Pile. Now this woman can play the guitar! Well, she IS from Boston by way of San Fran and Portland. And did I mention she is a lefty? Sara released her third CD earlier this year - titled "Inertia" - but the truth is that she is anything but an inert object. Truth be told, there is much more to Sara than she showed in the short set that comes out when she really gets warmed up and starts attacking her vocals the way she attacks her guitar. I think several of her six songs were new ones - which bodes well for her fans.... I also met Sara's friend Adam Kaye, a web designer (www.drwebstein.com) who donates a portion of his fees to the client's charity of choice.

I slipped away from El Mercado at the start of Melissa Greener's set to catch a little of Clifford up at the Hole - and especially to hear a little from Kullen Fuchs, who just got off tour with Ian Moore. The brassman (trumpet and a whole host of related instruments) brought out what I would describe as a bamboo xylophone/marimba instrument that made some sweet sounds. But I only got there in time for two songs - and a good visit. Next it was down to Ego's to catch the last set of the calendar year by the amazing Mother Truckers, who are finishing up recording a very hot CD at Ray Benson's Bixmeaux studios.

If you have not heard this California duo (with rhythm section plus Kim Deschamps when he is available), you are missing perhaps the next breakout band to emerge from Austin. Drummer Pete Langhans also hails from California; I first met him at Jovita's playing with Aaron Hamre - I hear he whacked hide for Carolyn Wonderland Thursday night, and last week he backed Wendy Colonna.

Teal Collins-Zee reminds one of the young Emmy Lou Harris and the funky Bonnie Bramlett rolled into one vocal dynamo -- and she plays a mean ukulele. Josh is a true gunslinger with more licks on his guitar than my cat has when he bathes himself. To celebrate the season, the band played - in addition to its regular set - Blue Christmas and It's Christmastime, Pretty Baby - which Teal smoked! while Pete was tossing drumsticks in the air and not missing a beat. It would be a very good idea to catch this band as often as you can while they are still playing weekly in Austin - because one suspects they will be doing some MAJOR touring soon.

SAME SPOT, earlier night - caught a set at Ego's by People Skills which featured bassist Tony Velasco electrocuting himself (hood and all) to the band's "numbers" song. Yup - the soon to be first-time father had hooked up electrodes to shall we say some vital areas and as the song got hotter, so did he. Just remember that killing even a criminal is no laughing matter ... Tony and guitarist Russell Beach shared most of the lyrics, but lead guitar player Freddie Cruz took the vocal lead once during the set and was excellent. The honorable Grady B. Humble keeps the time for this fantastic four - which on stage reminds one of an older and hopefully wiser (R U kidding?) version of The Steps (see review from a week ago of their Antone's gig) - except that these older dudes may have more energy than the high school quartet. People Skills will be back at Ego's twice in January (9 and 23).