Flanfire

Two Dads Who Rock!

Nathan Hamilton's Six Black Birds
Once upon a time Nathan Hamilton was winning folksinger awards at Kerrville (back in his Tuscola days). But deep down lay the soul of a rocker, as his band No Deal would prove over and over again (check out live at Floore's Country Store). With the release of "Six Black Birds," fans finally have the rock and roll record they have dreamed of. Thanks also to Whip In's Dipak Topiwala, executive producer extraordinaire, and to Sarah Bork Hamilton for her great eye.

Much as one likes his bluecountry "Texas Sapphires," and not forgetting his punkrock daze, Billy Brent Malkus is first of all an ABSOLUTE MUTHA of a rock'n'roll guitar player. Chepo Pena (who played with fellow Sapphire Rebecca Lucille Cannon in Sincola and also with David Garza) handles the bass, and Adam Tyner (Rockland Eagles) is on drums. Producers Darwin Smith and Erik Wofford add their magical touches, but the real extra energy here is provided by five-time rocker dad Matthew Mollica on the Hammond B3, farfiza and piano. You just gotta see these guys LIVE to get the full treatment!

Musically, this record R - O - C - K - S! But lyrically, Hamilton may have reached deeper into his own soul than ever before. Texas Music Magazine once said that, "Hamilton specializes in lyrics that expose the raw emotions and feelings of characters and the situations people find themselves in."

Here, though, the raw emotions and feelings are his own -- and nowhere are the rough edges more sharply drawn than in the album's final (and only acoustic) cut, "Hanging On" -- "I fixed the hinge, stopped the squeak that kept me from a dead man's sleep, I kicked my shoe across the room to watch it fly and startle you, I saw a smile that you tried to hide, And the tension broke for just awhile."

Indeed, this entire collection of songs is largely about the rocky road of love that leaves us scared and broken and fearful and yet hopeful that somehow we can go on together despite all the terrible stuff we have said and even done -- that the faithfulness counts for something, that it can still be "you and me still hanging on." It's also about learning first why and then how we must love even our enemies else we can let our hatred consume everything we do love. [Remember, though, the artist's license to mix the real with that made up to get his point across, and do not read too much into things, puh-leeze!]

"The Cut," for example, is a dirge that speaks of loss, first of temper, then of hope, then of love -- and it all begins because "I don't mean to be so angry, Truth be told I am just scared, Lashing out at anybody, That has the bad luck of being there." But there is also cleansing -- "And the envy in me, I have lain open the cut, Sucked the poison with my mouth, Turned my head with both eyes shut,,,," Musically, the darkness here is amplified by Mollica's mournful B3 (and which reminds of me his work with Black Water Gospel).

Indeed, Hamilton's admits in "Sooner or Later" we all hit the wall -- a song with a James McMurtry feel until the angry power of Malkus's guitar blows you into the next county. Similarly, in "Teeth," Hamilton insists that, "Even the sweetest of saints show their teeth sometimes" when confronted with those who "wll cram your nose with cocaine and pack your head with lifes .... cover you with roses and fill your cup with wine," but "while they're offering you riches, they'll be stealing your ass blind." But does this "explanation" really work at home?

The anger really soars in "Burn," which begins with a call to torch today's corrupted and perverse society because it's "time to show them we don't care and set it all aflame." And yet later he turns to a more personal matter, a desire to give a bruised love a new chance: "Come on, grab the match with me, Strike it once and we will see, A burning light for you and me, That leaves us fertile ground."

Things get even more tenuous in "Now Again," which starts off almost prayerfully, "Can't you see I'm offering More than a lover, more than a friend, You don't have to be afraid to let somebody in." But as the song progresses, the confession is that, "Memories are luxuries imprisoned in my mind, The sweet sad scent of your sacred skin is all you left behind," and the guitar gets a lot rougher.

Nathan strives against those who will "trade flesh for gold to pay for their sin" in "Enough," reminding them (and himself) that "God sees the heart of a man, but the heart is the one thing you don't understand." "Green and Gold" is a beautifully constructed lament about childhood chums, one of whom chose to "chew the fattest plum" and then "left the skin and seed here for me when you were done." But so what -- "that's how it goes, sometimes, that's how it goes." And you know it is HARD to let it go.

The title cut, "Six Black Birds," is harsh and forceful, with some serious squealing guitar that sets the tone. Yet the storyteller admits, "I am frightened, I am frayed, All I want is to escape this world's pain and hatred too." Of the song's first six black birds, three are for faith, one for truth, one for fear, and one for "you." Later, Hamilton swaps out "fear" for "hope" -- a sign that the tide is turning this fight against anger.

But the crowning achievement of this song collection is the gorgeous "Frame to Finish," one of the most beautiful love songs from anyone in quite a while, and yet one that includes a plea to "walk on and leave these broken things behind, Strewn and scattered here for someone else to find." In the beginning, "I took the hand of a stranger and I looked into her face, It was flush with fear and the slightest touch of grace."

The carpenter in Hamilton had earlier promised, "From frame to finish I'll see you through, From the tempest and the torrent rain I'll shelter you," to the "stranger" whose face at first meeting was "flush with fear and the slightest touch of grace." But the bargain was that "You might just find that I'd reach to touch your pain, On the chance that you might reach for me and do the same."

Finally taking hold of the anger and contempt for the fallen world around him, Hamilton remembers his true self and the promise that love and truth (and faith and hope) will be his guide from now on: "I've never been the kind of man whose worth was in his wealth, I have always taken comfort somewhere else, That don't mean I won't provide a special place for you, Made with my two hands and built on love and truth.... " And with that said, you know the man about whom Hamilton is writing these songs will no longer be just "Holding On."

Matt the Electrician Gets "One Thing Right"

These guys sing together on Sundays at Opal Divine's, but their stories are so very different. Matt the Electrician is a softer troubadour, and this record gets you singing along and dancing in your spirit. Produced by Matt (Sever), Jud Newcomb, and the polished maestro Mark Addison (who also engineered and mixed), this fifth offering by the guy who in fact for many years plied his trade by day and raised his children (helping his wife) by night when he was not playing out.

Helping out on this collection are Tom Pearson on bass, Jon Greene on drums and percussion (including bells), Seela on vocals, Sick on violin, Addison on piano, organ, and xylophone (and noise), and Newcomb on guitars, bouzouki and mandolin -- meanwhile Matt plays guiatr, banjotar, trumpetes, euphonium, and xylophone (too) -- and probably others he forgot about.

Songs include "Happy Ending," "One Thing Right," "The Kids," "My Dog," and "Last Poem for My Girl" -- and six other songs by Matt plus "Left Coast," written by Phil Weinrobe. I really like "On the Radar," which features trumpets together, "I'm not all alone, I'm not far from home heading somewhere... I am on the radar, Get me out of here."

"Change the Subject" is a comic love song, "If we can change the subject, then we can change the game," and who wants to talk politics and religion and get drunk anyway. Of course, we do have kids - and so it is great to be "swinging on the swings" even if quitting smoking will take a while. "We are plowshares," he concludes, and that is very very good. And "Money" too has some simple truths of great importance stuck in the middle of the smiles.

"Something in the Stars Translated" feels like Forties music -- on the beach or just lolling around, reminiscing that "no one else understands why you want to date the boy in the band." But how sweet it is! And Sick's violin puts on the exclamation point! "In the Waves" gets us to the ocean where our hero wants to "drown in the waves." "Freedom's not what somebody says" -- there's that little nugget again!

How wonderful, though, is "Last Poem for My Girl," which tells of two people who are "In the heart of darkness mining for the light, Building fires that will swallow the night." What peace this record brings to the weary soul. I could write more, but why not just let you listen?

Flanfire -- Bringing LIFE to Austin music.

MothFight at Beerland!

Heathens Go Up in Smoke!
















Colin Brooks, Gordy Quist, John Chipman, Seth Whitney, and Ed Jurdi;
the dapper Mark Addison joins the band for some special numbers.

Dertybird, Black Water Gospel, and Drew Smith and his big band had been smokin' the audience all night long on Saturday at Momo's Club, but things got REALLY HOT on the very first song by the Band of Heathens (playing without keyboardist Brian Keane, who is busy getting ready for a New Zealand tour with Patrice Pike and with preparations for his second Austin CD, which a smiling Jon Patillo informed me will be on the Fat Caddy label).

The band was rockin' - with Colin Brooks, Gordy Quist, and Ed Jurdi blazing away on guitars and singing their hearts out when -- all of a sudden, there was this smell of smoke ... and SNAP! CRACKLE! POP! the Momo's motherboard was history. The hard-working George DeVore was looking a little like Dr. Emmett Brown for the rest of the evening ... but it wasn't his fault.



Quickly, though, the three songwriters regrouped and got out their acoustic guitars (and Colin's resonator), guest drummer John Chipman pulled his snare out (and later a small tom he placed between his knees), and bassist Seth Whitney kept his bass plugged in but turned down ... and the guys sang through an amazing set without vocal amplication. It was getting a little chilly anyway, so no one complained when the garage doors that lead out to the rooftop patio were closed -- and the club itself showed its shipworthiness as every single word could be heard in the farthest corners of the room with all of the tenderness, pathos and occasional humor that the artists intended. Shiny-headed (like me) Mark Addison joined in to lead the band on "Will the Circle Be Unbroken" that rather completed the Kerrville-like feel of this very special evening.

The acoustic set began with the old Texas prison song, "Cane on the Brazos," and then Brooks set the tone for the evening with his ode to "Cornbread," and later silenced even the tiniest whispers with a chilling rendition of his murder ballad, "Hanging Tree." Both Quist and Jurdi seemed to pull songs out of the woodwork all evening (their big electrified band hits fell off the night's playlist in favor of songs like "Sweet Virginia" and "One More Step to the Promised Land") -- and encored (sorta) with yet another gospel song (yep, even Heathens sing gospel).

I totally missed Dertybird, but later visited with JT Holt, who played bass on three cuts on Papa Mali's new CD (and was in his band for 2 years). JT, who with his brother Ben owns The Nest studio in north Austin, noted that his grandparents and other relatives lost their homes in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, and said that playing with New Orleans legends on Papa Mali's "Do Your Thing" CD was a special grace to him. I look forward to hearing this band live.

Black Water Gospel started the evening with seven (I think I counted right) songs that they have virtually finished up recording for their forthcoming CD that will be out later this year. Matt Mollica hauled his Hammond B-3 onto the stage and contributed to the band's very emotion-tugging set that included the stunning "Conspiracy Road" plus "Big Black Cadillac," "Gold Mine," and "Fool's Gold" and added in "Take It All" and a couple of other older songs, too.

Drew Smith brought out his Vegas act complete with longtime collaborator Matt Russell on keyboards (WOW!), Ryan Bowman on bass, and Kyle Thompson on drums -- plus a horn section with Pat Hurd on trombone, David Renter on sax, and Brian Shaw on trumpet. I will have to write more later, because I was just into feeling the music and not paying real close attention until they started doing Stevie Wonder. Drew's vocals kept getting stronger the longer he was on stage (sometimes with his guitar), and other first-time hearers turned their heads toward the stage to pay closer attention (just as I was doing the same).

Rose, Bean and Songsalive!




















Datri Bean returns to Austin; Melinda Rothouse with Melissa Mullins (r).


The fun-loving mighty mite Melissa Mullins is at it again (after lots of traveling) -- hosting what is now a MONTHLY Songsalive! songwriters' showcase that is NOW located at Cafe Caffeine on West Mary Street. On Thursday night Melissa brought in songwriters from New Orleans, Seattle, and Portland (Oregon) for a musical feast that concluded with her own solo set.

Songsalive! is a nonprofit organization, founded by two Australians, that is dedicated to the nurturing, support, promotion and exposure of songwriters and composers to the world’s music markets. Their motto is 'GIVE LIFE TO SONG'. Recently the group expanded its mission to include raising awareness about global, humanitarian and social issues affecting our world -- staging concerts, events and programs that raise this much needed awareness. They also put out an annual compilation CD from songwriters who perform at their events. Now I missed Melissa's set this evening (dynamite in a small package on stage!), but had to take the time to thank her for opening the doors for so many of her fellow musicians, including serving as Chapter Coordinator for Austin Songsalive! and also hostess for the Writers Who Rock showcase now housed at Austin Java Co.'s 12th and Lamar location.

Now Melissa will be taking her new band to Flipnotics on March 5 -- and her band's own band, "MJ Baby and the Last Word" -- will also have their own set. This group is often just two old souls whom Katrina blew all the way here from New Orleans -- Melinda Rothouse (bass, vocals) and Matthew DeOrazio (guitar and vocals). Sometimes, I am told, they have a drummer, too. They're on the road a LOT (but I missed most of their set).


I will get to Raina Rose's set later, but have to tell my friends about Datri Bean (the gal with the amazing multicolored striped socks and the I Can't Believe It's Not Buttah" voice. Datri used to live in Austin, where she met her personal chef (and much more) -- the six-foot-nine Colombian bicycle mechanic who made her dinner the day she first borrowed a broom after moving in next door. But fate took the duo to not-so-sunny Seattle, where Datri blossomed as a singer-songwriter now known all over the West Coast. But Austin, it turns out, is home again -- maybe it's just a better jumping off place for tours that take her from Atlanta (Eddie's Attic in June) back and forth to the rainforest and hopefully a LOT more often here in Austin.

I can hardly wait to see Datri hook up with Suzanna Choffel and Alice Spencer to totally blow people away with their jazzy joy ... well, this is just to give you a little idea. Datri's instrument of choice is her Casio Privia keyboard (well, maybe she'd equally like a new Steinway, but they're SO hard to drag around!) -- and she has this fantastic PHRASING in her singing (sometimes she just stops and rolls her eyes and you know she has just had a funny thought go through her head that she's not ready to share with all of us yet). Songs this evening had this food theme -- mustard greens, green onions, and "eggs and ham and an early morning shot of Jim Beam." Indeed, The Seattle Post-Intelligencer (I swear that's the paper's name!) has said that Datri has a "seemingly innate ability to charm a packed house into quietude with infectious tunes about sweet tea and tamales."

Her "Texas Song" was written shortly after leaving heaven on earth (Austin - where else?), and by the way her still quite new debut CD is entitled "Slow Down Summertime" after the title track. Somehow this disc was cut here in Austin (while she was down last June for Kerrville - duh!) with Stanley Smith on clarinet (Spankers); Rob Jewett (Wayne the Train Hancock) on upright bass, Scott French on drums, and on some "particularly sassy" tracks, Terry Shimazu plays "an almost gospel" Hammond B3 organ. As an extra bonus, Kim Deschamps sits in on pedal steel on the tearjerker, "Not Enough Winter." [Okay, I am scamming her own myspace bio.] A quick glance at her calendar and you see NO SHOWS upcoming in Austin -- not even during SXSW week -- but that certainly will change, so keep an eye out. THIS GAL IS FUN (and a personal friend of Raina Rose).


A Rose by Any Other Name Would Be Raina!
With a name like Raina, you figure she must be from Oregon (where it rains every day) -- and if you did not know it already, the third song on her new (and third, including as a duo in the Gypsy Moths) -- and she's only 25 years old. I met this lovely lady at the Gospel Brunch last Sunday and again the next night at a big private gathering -- where I first heard her sing "I Like You Better," a song that told me this woman is a tower of song. The song is also the lead-off on her brand-new CD, "The Prophet, the Pandhandler, & the Moon."

Raina is human rights political ["Nursery Rhymes" is now posted on Neil Young's list of antiwar songs], but she's just as capable of a "Theoretical Love Song" about an imaginary romance -- and she's barefoot and flowers in her hair and dancing on the green grass and oh yeah, she coughs and goes on and has wardrobe malfunctions and goes hiking on the Austin greenbelt and writes strange songs about "Truth or Consequences," which is both a TV game show and a town in New Mexico .. and a mostly instrumental, the rest in Spanish song about the late Mexican painter Frida Kahlo.

I could go on and on -- but back to "I Like You Better" -- She got me on the first line -- "I like you better when you're sleeping, coz you can't make some jackass comment...." But it get's better: "Let's make love like we're making dinner, like tonight this is something we're gonna need, and I'm worried about you coz you're getting thinner, and I know we're both so hungry ...." What poetry -- and there is so much more in this song and throughout all of Raina's music. "Still in Love with the World" is another new song that "came to me in a dream" and is yet another portrait of Raina's great love for this life we are given and offered the chance to share.

The new CD officially closes with "God Bless," which is about how everyone panhandling at a freeway exit (or anywhere in Austin, for that matter) has a sign that says, "God Bless." This cut, in which Raina also asks God to send her a sign, features a fiddle solo by Austin newcomer "Pickles" Moss from "Green Mountain Grass." But there is (yes!) a hidden track 13 -- "Fiddle and Bow," a banjo and fiddle driven hoedown. "Never trust a man with a fiddle and a bow, fickle as the wind ..." Raina warns -- because he will break your heart -- and may lead a girl to "sleep with your twin brother." Hmmmmmm! And, by the way, Raina is going on the road with some of these very same Green Mountain (I am told they are from Illinois -- not Vermont!) boys after a quick trip back to the West Coast. But she too will be back in Austin by the end of February and has a show at Flip's on March 1st -- with Johann Wagner. And for the record, the GMG boys have a gig on February 24 at Stubb's with the Hot Buttered Rum String Band.

AND SPEAKING of fiddle players, I did cut out from Cafe Caffeine to grab some etouffe and Abita Amber at Shoal Creek Saloon on a night when Brian Beken was playing fiddle (and mandolin and his Gibson electric) with Rob Socia's band. Rob, who is off to Costa Rica for a major event in April, had old pals Travis Woodard (Gene Pool, FBC, and much more) on drums and Eric Smith on bass ... and Rob as usual rocked the house (which included BOTH Keller Brothers!). Rob plays every second and fourth Thursday at the saloon, home of Saints fans and Louisiana food and a really fun scene for mostly twentysomethings (and youngathearts like me). The highlight of the evening was Eric telling of his magical trip (with his dad) to Levon Helm's farm in upstate New York for the concert of his life a few months back and of reading Levon's book about The Band for the third time and probably not the last. [As one who was blessed to see them live, I know what he means!]