Flanfire

While at Ming's on Guadalupe last Monday, I ran into my pal John Leon, pedal steel player for The Summer Wardrobe, and he urged me to come out to the Hole in the Wall on Friday for their next show. [The guys will also be backing Roky Erickson again in late October for three HUGE shows on the Left Coast.] Suzanna Choffel would also be on the bill, and I had not seen her in far too long. Plus the Hole has great beer choices!

But before dessert, there must be dinner -- so my first stop of the evening was Central Market to introduce my wife, my mom, and my 13-year-old (handsome) grandson to the Seth Walker Band (and some tasty victuals, too!). There's July, hanging with drummer Damien Llanes -- not pictured are Seth, bassist Lindsay Greene, and keyboardist Stefano Intelisano. Sure, it was a little hot -- but the band was hotter! So was their music. The cat in the hat is still where it's at!

Later at the Hole, I walked in to the sounds of New Jersey native (and Long Beach resident) Holly Light, who is touring with her new CD "Forgiveness Road." Holly is traveling with percussionist (and California native) Lori Valesko, but she added Austin's Sarah Glynn to play lead guitar for her this evening. Holly was de-light-ful, but wow Sarah's solo on Holly's "Give It Everything You Got" was the ZuZu's flan of this set. [Austin homer that I yam!] Holly, with her blonde hair and blue blue eyes and raucous voice and rhythm guitar, was a real lioness on stage.

Holly's Austin hostess, it turns out, was also the next up on the stage -- the girl next door, high school athlete, and bluejeans and bobbysox Suzanna Choffel. Except that once Suzanna steps on stage, by some magical powers she is transformed into SUPERDIVA (just ask her producer!). This is the woman who spent the whole evening before the show out on Lake Travis floating on the water and looking up at the meteor shower and somehow staying up long enough to catch a few rays that she says reddened her tender skin.

On stage, though, Suzanna turns into Circe (check out Brian Keane's Odysseus for details!), mesmerizing her audience while turning men's (and doubtless other) heads upside down. My vision for the evening was Suzanna surrounded by a dozen cobras, all bobbing their heads to her music as she charmed them back into their baskets. Her band for the evening included Brad Houser (New Bohemians, Critters Buggin') on bass clarinet and baritone sax, Johnny Vogelsang (Soulhat, Sheboygan) on bass and backing vocals, and Jeremy Bruch (What Made Milwaukee Famous) on drums -- and was more than capable of spreading the bossanova-influenced jazzy funk throughout the Hole.

For Suzanna, the guitar is a rhythm instrument, almost percussion, and so the bass instruments carry the melody. This night's set was almost disappointingly short -- seven songs -- but then again, just how writhed up did we need to get? Opening with "Feel Like I Won't Fall," and closing with her classic "Hey Mister," with "Rain Cloud" and four other songs in between, all including various squawks and guttural sounds from Houser's twin towers of sound, Suzanna proved yet again why she is on the way to bigger stages -- in fact, on her way to Arizona and New Mexico (where she went to college!) later this month. Her Tuesday shows at Momo's also include Laura Scarborough on vibes (very good vibes, one might add) and no telling what other concoctions of smoke and mist and shudders and rings and Merlinesque magic.

And, of course, Suzanna's sturm und drang was the perfect entree into The Summer Wardrobe, which opened with four brand-new songs being performed in public for the very first time!!!!! Jon Sanchez says he has a bunch more about ready for performance, but that we may have to wait till after the band returns from fronting Roky at the end of October to hear them. Then, perhaps, it will be off to the studio to work on the followup to my favorite recording of 2006.

Jonny and John combine to send audiences into the heavenlies with music that ranges from Pink Floyd to the most psychedelic Byrds (especially when Jon switches to his sparkly 12-string that reminisces McGuinn's finest hours), while George and Marty hold the whole thing together. The band opened with the hot off the lyric sheets "Cajun Prairie Fire" (Jon IS from Baton Rouge!) and the equally brand-new "The Desert Sadness." Next up was an amazing song, "Ocotillo Sundown," and then my very favorite of the newbies -- "One Long Time Feeling," which again evokes memories of the late great Byrd, Gene Clark.

Then it was a steady diet of songs from the debut CD -- Sparkle and Fade, Outcry in the Barrio, Blind, Ned Kelly, and more -- finishing with a flourish as Jon and John displayed the full range of their musical repertoire and left many in the audience mesmerized. Bass players Houser, Jeff Johnston and Zachary Firnhaber were all in the house just for the show. The band will be playing the Continental Club on September 27th -- and maybe we WILL get a preview of more of their new songs at that time. All I can say is that listening to The Summer Wardrobe always leaves me feeling as though I just took a swim in pristine waters and downed some Turkish delight that did NOT come from the witch's kitchen.