Bukowski

You know, I finished reading Ham on Rye by Charles Bukowski a few weeks ago, which is a really funny book that I have the feeling is semi-autobiographical. Its a coming of age story about a kid who is preparing for a life of living on skid row, drinking heavily, and fighting a lot. This description sounds depressing, and the book is kind of depressing but very funny at the same time. Bukowski is a fine writer. Then, I rented the movie Barfly, which is a movie that came out in 1982 and stars Mickey Rourke, Faye Dunaway, and Frank Stallone (less famous brother of Sylvester). Charles Bukowski wrote the screen play, and it is basically his same character 30 years later once he has achieved skid row alcoholism. This movie is definitely more depressing then funny. But, there is a lot of drinking andf fighting, which is interesting. Regardless, I don't recommend Barfly as much as I recommend Ham on Rye.

On the PLUMP note, we are really working on some new material--3 songs are in the boiling pot right now and we are having a good time working them up. Last night's practice was mighty fun indeed.

Time to Spread the Music

Allright Allright Allright

We are going to play a fun game titled, "Spread that Plump music". Here are the ground rules. We have in our hands cd's containing the 7/31/04 live show PLUMP performed at the Watermelon Festival. If you would like a cd, please email me with your address and contact info, and we will send ya the cd. Here is the catch: if we send you the cd, you have to make 5 copies of the show and give it to people who you think would like it. And if you are computer-literate, make it available for download on your computer. VERY IMPORTANT--as we are looking to spread our music far and wide. Wow, this is definitely a fun game. So, send me an email at dougpayne74@hotmail.com if interested.

Austin Rocks

Well, the whole band had a smashing good time in Austin over the weekend. I have to say that we had by far our best Asutin show ever--both in terms of performance and crowd--so we are totally stoked. Lots of fun was had by all. Headhunters on Red River was a tight squeeze, but we got in there. It was good to hang with our buddies in Mikado, and they sure sounded fine as well. We had a surprise opening band (of the heavy metal variety)--as such there were 3 bands on the bill, and each nband had to play an abbreviated set. We only had time for about 6 times but I am fairly certain we made them count--although in hinsdight the cover songs were flying. Here is the set list:

SAT SEP 18, Headhunter's, Austin, TX
Sophisticated Frothy>Sweet Leaf, Scarlet Begonias, Aslan, Oso Nova, Varmint Poontang, Memphis Soul Stew

I was able to check out Olospo at the Vibe on Friday night of ACL weekend--they had a great crowd and rocked the joint which was cool. At the fest on Saturday, I definitely enjoyed The Wailers and Trey Anastasio the most. I had to leave early so I missed Trey's second set so we could get our stuff into the venue and get set up at Headhunters. Sunday morning I got to get a Don Juan taco at Juan in a Million and shake hands with good old Juan. I missed the ACL on Sunday since Jason and I had to jet back, but Andrew and Al have related to me that Mofro kicked ass, as did North Mississippi All-Stars and Medeski Martin and Wood.

We will not be playing any shows over the next two weekends. The reasons are as follows: Andrew, one of our diligent students, has a bunch of tests and papers this weekend and then next weekend I will be in Denver for the Great American Beer Festival. Sadly, my application as Official Beer Tester/Taster was denied. However, I do plan to sample every beer I can find. Wish me luck.

Here is how October is looking:

10/8 Last Concert Cafe, Houston, TX (with Mikado opening)
10/9 Revolution, Bryan, TX
10/15 Red Blood Club, Dallas, TX (opening for Peach truck Republic)
10/16 San Antonio, TX (TBD)
10/22 Brian Oneill's, Houston, TX

The Engine Room

Well, we played our first show ever at the Engine Room last night, opening for John Butler Trio. Apparently they have a number one album in Australia right now. I would be prone to believe it, since they had a huge tour bus, and about 4 roadies that did all of their soundchecking and such for them. Pretty darn cool. They appeared to be nice guys--they sounded a lot like a toned down acoustic DMB type of band. I was actually surprised at the turnout for Houston on a Wednesday night. Pretty good. Our set was pretty good, but it was definitely cut short. We played two songs less than we had planned, but dad gummit we just ran out of time. My favorite two songs of the show were ENMR and Varmint Poontang. The Tang is really bringing the heat right now. Hear is the setlist:

WED SEP 15, The Engine Room, Houston, TX
Electric Netwerk Machine of Rage, Aslan, Oso Nova, Day Tripper, Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Varmint Poontang

We got the cd's from the printer for this weekend, so please look out for us at ACL as we will be handing them out to whoever looks like they would enjoy a nice dose of PLUMP. I will be at the Vibe on Frida night as well checking out OLOSPO.

Here are the songs for the live cd:

1. Oso nova
2. Aslan
3. Varmint Poontang
4. Voyage of the Dawn Treader
5. Memphis Soul Stew

Cool beans

This week

PLUMP will be making its first show ever at the Engine Room this WED night (9-15). We are opening for the John Butler Trio, which is making a run through Texas before ACL. SO, please come check out the show. We will be starting early, and we will start promptly at 9 pm. The Engine Room is located at 1515 Pease in beautiful downtown Houston, TX.

Also, this Saturday (9-18) we will be playing with our buddies Mikado at Headhunters in Austin (on Red River across from Stubbs BBQ). We will start about 10 pm, so get ready to dance.

We actually are making 300 copies of our 7-31 show from Last Concert Cafe (The Watermelon Festival), which we will be passing around at the ACL to promote the show this weekend, so keep an eye out for us.

Festival Express

Let me tell you: myself and Al and Mikey F. went to go see Festival Express this last Sunday. This is a documentary about the week-long tour of Canada by train in 1970 that was undertaken by such luminaries as Janice Joplin, The Band, The Grateful Dead, Buddy Guy, The Flying Burrito Brothers, Bonnie and Delaney, etc. etc. etc. All the artists travelled together by train to each town, and there was no sleeping: only music and the opportunities for more music. The bands played and played, and there are some really good scenes. Possibly my favorite includes Rick Danko, Janice Joplin, Jerry Garcia, and Bob Weir drunk as hell and playing a ragged acoustic version of "Ain't No More Cane". Totally awesome. The best footage (in my opinion) is of The Band and of Janice. I definitely want to check this movie out again.

This weekend, please check out 3 buddies of ours that are playing shows in Denton (THU), Houston (FRI) LAST CONCERT CAFE, and Austin (SAT)--Drop Trio, BAGG, and Gnappy. Should be some mighty fine music.

Here is what I was able to piece together from a week ago Saturday:

SAT AUG 28, LAST CONCERT CAFE, HOUSTON, TX (with Sugar Free Allstars)
Soundcheck Jam, Varmint Poontang, Last Concert, New Waverly, Last Mile, Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Word Gets Around*, Buddy Boo**, Don't Fear the Reaper***, Dub>Heights, Sophisticated Frothy>What's the Buzz Reprise>Sweet Leaf
*With Little Stewie on vocal turntable
**with Chris from Sugar Free
***With Chris and Rob from Sugar Free

I think the best part of the show was our 10 minute jam that encompassed our soundcheck. This was really cool, and I hope that more of our shows will have more extemporaneous jamming. A jazz odyssey, if you will.

Last Saturday

So, to continue from the last post. We drove back after the gig, went to bed at 5 am, and then spent Saturday doing whatever we wanted--which included hanging with the Sugar Free Allstars. There was a high-stakes foosball match at my house. There was a lot of finger pointing, and the losers cried bitterly. It rained all day, but luckily stopped raining about 7 pm, so we knew we could play the show outside. Actually the rain cooled off everything, evn though I still sweated like a pig the whole show. We forced Chris Wiser from Sugar Free to join us on stage for most of the show. There was a reprise of Don't Fear the Reaper which was cool. Although, I had called before the weekend that since we were playing this song both nights, it was clear that one night the song would rock and the other it would be "oh, not so good". We rocked DFTR in Bryan, but in Houston DFTR was not so good. It was still fun though.

Dammit all, but I left the set list at home, but I willl update it soon enough. For the weekend stereo listing--we took two cars up to Bryan. In my car, on the way to Bryan, Jason and I listened to: 1) a copy of 55 Houston musicians each taking a one minute solo for 55 minutes. This was Jason's choice. It was cool, then weird, the cool, then depressing, then angering, then cool again. 2) Then we listened to My Favorite Things by John Coltrane--my choice. On the way back Al and I listened to a Phish presents show in from Denver in fall 1997 (Al's choice), which was very good.

Upcoming shows include our first gig ever at the Engine Room on Sep 15 opening for John Butler Trio. We will also be playign a post-ACL show in Austin with our buddies in Mikado. That will be SAT SEP 18 at Headhunters. Cool Beans.

Clang Clang Clang went the cowbell

Wow,

we had a mighty fine time last weekend. First, we made it up to Bryan to play another illustrious gig at Revolution. We love that place. What cool people. My one request: please please please have peanut butter and banana sandwiches next time. I have a fever--and there is only one prescription.

Our good buddies Sugar Free AllStars were with us, and it was nice to hang with Chris and Rob again. They funked out the place real nice for about an hour and a half. Then we took the stage, and were very pleased to see the whole crowd up and dancing with us. I think we jammed and funked that place out. But you know, we aren't happy go lucky all the time. We have a VERY serious side to the band that comes out occasionally, especially when the is an especially serious issue or cause that some one in PLUMP is backing. So, we quieted it down, and prepared the crowd for a new, serious side to PLUMP. We communicated our feelings (with the help of Sugar Free of course) with our interpretation of DON'T FEAR THE REAPER by the immortal Blue Oyster Cult. NEVER BEFORE HAVE GUITAR AND COWBELL BEEN PLAYED TOGETHER IN PERFECT HARMONY. It was a symphony of cowbell. Rob did a very provocative move that can only be described as the "over-the-head" cowbell technique. It was very crazy. Let me tell you, there is nothing like dipping into the classic rock catalogue from the 1970's if you want to whip a crowd into a frenzy. I laughed and laughed. This song is very strange. I actually think it is in favor of suicide. It gives a positive light to suicide that I never thought of before. Such as 40,000 people do it everyday, or, we can be like Romeo and Juliet, and other things like that. Wow. Here is the setlist from Friday night:

FRI AUG 27, REVOLUTION, BRYAN, TX
Day Tripper, Timequake, Dub>Heights, Everybody Wanna Get Rich (Right Away), Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Word Gets Around, Sophisticated Frothy>What's the Buzz (Reprise)>Sweet Leaf, Don't Fear the Reaper*, Can You Do Without?, Varmint Poontang, Oso Nova, Aslan, Harmonica Jam, Electric Netwerk Machine (of Rage?)
E. Buddy Boo, Memphis Soul Stew
E2. Scarlet Begonias

Stay tuned for the Saturday update