TEXAS TEXAS TEXAS!!!

Weinland world has been pretty quite for the past week with a mix of driving and recording. We hung out with our friends in Fort Collins during a dry spell in the tour and recorded some top forty hits soon to be released in the spring. We thawed out after the snow storm during our drive down to Texas. It took a while to thaw…about 15 hours to be exact. The drive was an all day affair mixed with subway sandwiches, radio surfing for the world series game, and bare Texas landscape. Oil Country is like a dessert dotted with nauseating cow farms and ghost towns. You do not want to stay very long and the impression I got from every gas station attendant is that they don’t want you to stay long either. At least they got the reciprocal relationship thing down. When we finally time warped to Fort Worth for the night we were smelly, slimy, tired, hungry and thirsty. Thank God Jayson and Sarah were prepared with a cold beverage and some snacks. We met them last time we were down in Fort Worth and they are great people. Genuinely generous and thoughtful. They’re like angels on the road. Much like our friends in Fort Collins and Denton They make the Road justifiable. I love them all.

Austin - Hole In The Wall

The Rolling Stones, Hendrix, Neil Young, Elvis Costello, The Band, Stevie Wonder, The Beach Boys. The hits were being spun by two vivaciously drunk, ass grabbing lesbians. They were putting on a show for all to see. They danced in front of the juke box with a fearless display of affection. It was pretty funny to see some dudes get up and try out their moves. Rejection at its finest. It set the tone for the evening at the Hole In The Wall. A college bar full of drinkers, two stages and an outside patio bigger than the inside bar. It's the Austin way. Outdoor venues, coffee shops, taco carts. Everything is outside. It’s awesome. Quite different from our rainy northwest town.
The show at the Hole In The Wall was our first show in a week. A little offsetting and strange but it did not get in the way of us shaking the ground at the Hole In The Wall. We rocked pretty loud and loose to a smallish and appreciative crowd that held their beers up to the sky after every song. After our set we got kicked out of the bar because it was closing time. They rock out late night in Austin and little was I to know that they rock out late in Fort Worth too.

Muchos Backflips at the Hole In The Wall

Fort Worth, TX The Moon

The Moon is a great venue in the TCU area of Fort Worth. Small and sweet with the best bar employees ever. Last time we played at The Moon every employee bought some article of merchandise from us. Even the door guy bought a c.d. The same people were working there on Friday night which was awesome and they even remembered who we were. We’re doing something right!!! The night started off with Pictures Of Then, a seriously serious rock band from Minneapolis. They played a polished and energetic set of songs that featured a great bass player and lead guitarist. I also learned a few business tricks from them during a post-show chat. Great people and great musicians. The second band that graced the stage was a two piece, guitar and drums, from Oklahoma called Hosty Duo. And Holy Shit! could the lead singer shred on his hybrid strat-tele. He was pulling out no-look licks and flawlessly playing a bass pedal board at the same time. The best guitar player that I have ever seen live. And he brought the banter. Hosty Duo are the total package.

We're so excited Weinland Dance Party!!!

We're so excited Weinland Vinyl!!!

Vandalized Weinland poster

Jayson wearing the vandalized Weinland poster

Coolest bartenders ever!

We finally graced the stage around midnight and rocked to friends and bartenders. And once again, we closed down the bar. Not because we exactly wanted to but after schmoozing and packing up it was closing time. Texas knows how to throw down, put beers back and party until the sunrises. We have been kicked out of every bar for staying past last call. I’m not exactly a late night guy, so staying up late night is pretty exotic. Waking up at one in the afternoon creates a mini twilight zone in my head. A fuzzy realization that I’m wasting away daylight. I’m all nocturnal now. It’s been two weeks and I’m finally falling into the rock n’ roll schedule. I’m getting use to two meals a day (I can’t believe that I just wrote that), the cheap beer IS water, and sleeping on hardwood floors. What a glamorous rock n' roll lifestyle!

Push up competition at three in the morning.

Dallas, TX

Last night at The Cavern in Dallas was something to remember and behold. The venue is seated right in the mix of a couple dozen bars and dance clubs. The street was en fuego with short skirts, drunk military men, a bus load of more drunkards dressed up like Santa Claus (it’s too warm for Christmas in Texas…I didn‘t get it) and enough cops to break up a three hundred person riot. They closed off a side street across from the venue so they could park the paddy wagon close to the action and when that paddy wagon got full there was always another one ready to take its place. The strip didn’t get uncontrollably crazy until we had to load out to the curb around two thirty in the morning. A bunch of drunk guys that weigh A LOT more than I do decided to start playing the drums and un-casing the bells. I can see why they have a lot of cops on Greenville Ave. Oh…Dallas…you uphold your image. Party hard and never give up. Puke into the gutter then head back to the bar for another shot. ‘Cause, you got this Dallas, I know it’s in you!

The Fox and The Bird playing IN the crowd at the Cavern