Cursed With Ambition

Offbeat Music Recommendations

My brother's music post renewed my interest in the subject. My tastes are 80-90% in line with his so I don't want to repeat what he said. I suspect that many people who read this blog have at least a 50% music interest overlap. That said, in the spirit of discovering new things, I'll offer some music recommendations that might be obscure.

Billy Joe Shaver - Texas/Outlaw Country - "Live Forever" is a seriously kick-ass song. BJS is about as real as real can be. He's written songs for a bunch of more popular artists and seems to be getting popular in his own right. People who know rave about BJS, as do I.

Black Uhuru - Reggae - "Shine Eye Gal," "Sinsemilla" and "The Black Uhuru Anthem" are badass reggae songs. Michael Rose and Ducky Simpson were mainstays of the Jamaican reggae movement when it was really big. Probably a much different experience if listened to as intended - while puffing on a huge spliff. But I wouldn't really know.

Gomez: "Bring it On" and "We Haven't Turned Around" are my favorite songs. The second song was featured on one of KGSR's Broadcast CD's probably in '03. They've got a unique sound. I was surprised to find out they were British with a name like Gomez.

The Gourds: Bluegrass/Alt Country - Everybody knows about them already but I'll plug 'em anyway. "Gin and Juice" and "Magnolia" are my favorites but I like everything they do.

Morphine: Alternative - Every song on Cure For Pain rules. Never thought a saxophone could sound so cool.

Ozomatli: Latin - High energy Latin music for when you're in the mood for that.

The Roots: Hip Hop - Probably my best recent find. Quest Love (the drummer) was on NPR once, I looked into their music, really enjoyed it. "Seed" and "Universal Side" are my favorites so far.

Uncle Tupelo: Alt Country - A certain group of my friends are pretty into the Wilco/Son Volt thing. I never looked into it for some reason. But, curiousity got the best of me. After sampling all three bands, Uncle Tupelo is my favorite 2:1.

Steve Earle: Texas/Alt Country - Again, most people already know about him but I'm a fairly recent convert. "Halo 'round the Moon" is a really, really good song.

Worst Bars in Austin, TX

1. Ropers - It's enough that they play Nashville trash and stale hip-hop tunes back-to-back.  But it doesn't stop there.  When you mix in fugly heifers in Rocky Mountain jeans and rednecks wearing bad Wrangler shirts (you know, the dudes with the 36" Mickey Thompsons on their trucks) you've got a recipe for my version of hell.  Throw in the pretense held by the owners and patrons that the place is a Texas dancehall and you've got a legitimate argument for selective killing.  This bar, and the people who go there are an unfortunate parody of Texas night life.  Perhaps the worst part is that these people have no idea how much better it could be.
2. Dallas - See above.  The only redeeming point that Dallas has over Ropers is that I had fun there with Amber and Bunny when they came to town.  Amber, you have no idea how much of a sacrifice it was for me to go to this place.  See how much I love you?
3. Parmer Lane Tavern - The quintessential shitty burbs bar.  In a strip center no less (aren't they all).  No personality, no redeeming qualities.  None.  If they possessed a dart board many things would be forgiven but they don't even have that.  Possibly the most depressing bar in the world.
4. Raggedy Anne's - To begin with, what a shitty name for a bar.  Same burb bar in a strip center but at least they have dart boards.
5. Shenanigan's (formerly Crosseyed Bull) - Same as #4 except for the part about the shitty name.
6. Star Bar - Would be cool except for the fact that the neighboring restaurant, which is NOT open late, tows the vehicles of the bar patrons.  That and the fact that the waitresses charge an entire table of people who are coming and going to one unlucky dude's card and have the audacity to add a gratuity because they're worried you're not going to tip them even after you explained that the people at the table weren't going to be tipping in cash.  PLUS the fact that the bartender is a cunt.  PLUS the fact that the vast majority of people who go there are douches.  The only redeeming quality of Star Bar is that Melissa Dick used to go there a lot.  It IS the furthest from goddamned MoPac that you'll ever be in your life.

Best Bars in Austin, TX

1. Texas Showdown 2610 Guadalupe - This bar will always be my favorite, mostly for nostalgic reasons.  None of my friends agree with me, though, and I still don't know why.  I lived near this bar and spent quite a bit of time there during (one of) the pinnacles of my Austin days.  I was living with MathJames off 51st across from the UT Intramural fields.  Best memory - January 1, 1997 after the best New Year's Eve I've ever had playing foosball and hanging out with just about every single one of my favorite people.  The place is no frills and is the closest incarnation of "The Brick" from Northern Exposure that I've ever run across.  The jukebox is awesome and filled mostly with classics from the Stones, Police, Petty, Beatles, Pixies, Billy Idol, Willie and many others.  They've got darts, pool and foosball, an outdoor seating area that is totally underused and an old wood-burning stove in the middle of the bar that I remember fondly on cold nights.  The prices are low and they also have "Happy Minute" between 3 and 3:15 pm where draft beers are $.50 (limit 3).  The crowd is a mix of frat boys, burnouts, punks, hipsters (mod angst, not style).  There's almost always plenty of seating, especially if it's warm out and people sit outside.  In a word:  it's home.
2. The Dog and Duck Pub 406 W. 17th - I've probably spent more time in this bar than in all of the other bars I've ever been to put together.  In my later days in Austin, this was the place.  We had a regular Tuesday night thing there for several years.  Then it was Tuesday and every other Thursday and sometimes on the weekends.  This place is more sophisticated than Showdown or its sister bar, Crown and Anchor, but I never felt it was pretentious (a complaint I've heard from some).  The jukebox is awesome with a few more selections for those with more eclectic taste.  It's a bit cramped because of a limited seating area, but they've added outside seating to make up for that.  I take beer selection for granted, but this place has just about anything you could want.  Coolest bartenders in town, or, at least they used to be.  The crowd tends to be a little older too.  Musicians, artists and Austin-y people frequent the place as well as young professionals and sometimes the college crowd, but not often.
3. Ginny's Little Longhorn 5434 Burnet Rd. - A true honky-tonk dive bar.  The place is tiny, but with features like regular shows by Dale Watson, Chicken Shit Sunday and pickled eggs - how could you not love this place?  Favorite memory - I was dancing with this girl in the cramped confines near the back and I dipped her and she banged the shit out of her head on the pool table.  Not once, but twice.  Also at Ginny's are the oldest beer drinkers I've ever seen.  I'm pretty sure they were old enough to have seen Bob Wills' first show.
4. The Crown and Anchor 2911 San Jacinto Blvd - The quintessential UT grad student hangout.  Totally laid back with more seating outside than in.  Best place I know for burgers and beers.  One of the best things about this place is that they allow people to bring their dogs to the patio areas.
5. The Draught House (formerly the Draught Horse)  4112 Medical Parkway - Set up in one of Austin's many cool neighborhoods, they've got a nice pub atmosphere with a good beer selection in addition to their own brews.  It's a nice third option when you're burned out on your regular hangouts.
6. The Tavern 12th and Lamar - My favorite sports bar in Austin.  This place recently came under new ownership and I was happy to see that they didn't change the essential elements of the place that I liked.  In fact, I'd say they improved it by adding the patio seating outside on the second floor.  Some of the best bar food I've had too.
7. Deep Eddy Cabaret 2315 Lake Austin Blvd -  Used to be that the f'n smoke in the place was unbearable.  I mean, I'm a smoker and it was hard to take.  My eyes would water, man!  That tall hot blonde waitress who's worked there forever is going to die of lung cancer for sure.  They seem to have improved the air quality recently though.  This place is also a tiny little dive bar.  It's got a great jukebox and did I mention the hot blonde bartender?

Also worth mentioning:  Mother Egan's, Fado, Broken Spoke (for dancin' and drinkin'), Continental Club, The Carousel Lounge, Ego's, Shakespeare's, Hotel San Jose Lounge, Cedar Street, Bitter End and B-Side, Stephen F. Austin Hotel Bar, Poodle Dog Lounge, Antone's (for music, not drinking), Club DeVille, G&S Lounge, Horseshoe Lounge, Emo's, Saxon Pub, Nasty's, The Black Cat (is it still open?), Lovejoy's, The Ritz (for foosball), The Cedar Door, Stubb's (for live music), Opal Divine's, The Pier

Bars I know too little about:  Posse East, Shoal Creek Saloon, Cain and Abel's, Sholz Garten, The Oasis, Carlos 'n Charlie's, Sam's Boat (or whatever it's called now), Donn's Depot, Speakeasy, Casino El Camino, Red Fez

Bars I probably would have liked if they'd been open when I lived there:  Longbranch Inn, Mean Eyed Cat

R.I.P:  Waterloo Brewing Co., Austin Outhouse, Electric Lounge, Liberty Lunch

Bars not worth mentioning:  Cactus Cafe, Fox and Hound, Apple Bar, Gingerman, any bar on 6th, any bar that serves tapas

Bars I wouldn't go to if they paid me:  Star Bar

Winter Olympics

I really, really like the Olympics. Winter and Summer. Being a Texan, I've had no exposure to many of the winter sports like curling (shuffleboard on ice; looks like a game played a lot in Minnesota while drinking beer) and skeleton (forward-facing luge). So part of the appeal is just the novelty of the sports. The other part of it is the international competition. It's country on country. Of course, any rivalries that exist today are much tamer than in years past. For example, USA versus Russia in hockey doesn't have nearly the same appeal as it did at the height of the cold war. There really hasn't been anything to take its place either. I mean, maybe if Israel took on Palestine in an ice dancing competition...

Another thing I like are the landscapes. Snow covered mountains and cozy alpine villages are what the winter Olympics are all about. Torino is beautiful but Nagano in 1998 was my favorite. That place was magical.

I've seen a little bit of everything, or, at least whatever NBC is feeding me. I've even watched men's figure skating, which is something that I would never ever watch outside of the Olympics. Something about the grand stage that creates more tension and emotion and could possibly evoke brilliant performances that I think is appealing. I have to say though, along with men's double luge, men's figure skating has got to take the Brokeback award for winter Olympic competition. I don't think there was a straight competitor in the group. Except maybe the Russian dude. The most unfortunate name for a male figure skater I saw was Canadian Jeffrey Buttle. Damn. And he looks like a total fucking milktoast pussy to boot. Oh well, he can do a "quad" and I can't and he did win the bronze medal.

While we're on figure skating, how did they come up with the names of some of these moves? What the fuck is a lutz? Quad I get - the dude does four revolutions in the air. But "toe loop"? Uh uh.

Maria Sharapova Is My Valentine

Someone somewhere loves me and thinks I am good and has seen fit to shower me with wonderful gifts.

Ojo Rojo on Aging

Aging sucks.  Hangover recovery is harder, I've got less energy and I'm losing my hair in earnest now and there's nothing I can do about any of it.  Kind of like how as I get older my penis is growing to be enormous and now I'm a stallion in bed.  I guess I've just got to learn to take the good with the bad.

Mermaid Fever

Further proof that the Mermaids concept is ripe. And JoJo is even starring. Need I say more?

Update! Pedro Pintura continues his good work!

Sharpie Screws Consumers

Up until this semester I always used the cheap Bic BrightLiner Highlighters.  Being a 3L I decided to splurge and upgrade to a more expensive model.  Besides, I wanted to see if I could get more usage per dollar out of my equipment purchases (gotta make those student loan dollars stretch, you know).  I went with the Sharpie Accent Liquid Highlighters.  The reasons were simple:  Sharpie is a good brand, I'd always been happy with their other products, the ink well on the Accent model was clear so you could see just how much ink you had left (the Bic guessing game is stress I just don't need), I liked the styling and the weight - they are heftier than the skinny and light Bic model and instill confidence when book briefing.  Most importantly, I had calculated that I got 62.5 MWHI (medium-width highlit inches) per dollar with the Sharpie product compared to only 60.75 MWHI's per dollar with the Bic.  In my mind, the choice was simple.

However, TURNS OUT THE SANFORD/SHARPIE PEOPLE ARE JUST ANOTHER BUNCH OF CONSUMER-FLEECING CORPORATE PROFIT-MONGERING BITCHES!!!  You see, the ink well appears to run the length of the pen, but it is conspicuously blackened at the top so there is no way to tell exactly how much ink there really is.  I foolishly assumed that the ink went to the TOP of the ink well, but alas, within a day of normal usage (8.25 MWHI's per day, per color - but maybe 9.5 MWHI's with the pink one) I saw a meniscus form just below the blackened section of the ink well, which indicated that the ink had been filled just above that mark and out of view of the consumer.  They put the minimum amount of ink possible without tipping off the purchaser just how much ink was actually there.  Not only that, they constructed the tip out of some kind of super free flow space-age synthetic material for maximum ink production per highlight.  Combined, these two conditions reduced the MWHI's per pen to just under 56!  The fuckers!!

It's too late for me - when this semester ends so will my highlighter purchasing days.  So I cannot right this wrong and switch to a more reputable brand.  But I can damn well influence about one hundred 1Ls in the coming weeks during Langdell classes.  And by God I intend to.

Sharpie fucked with the wrong 3L.

Mermaids!!

Since my last update, CWA's operatives have been combing the globe for help with the Mermaids concept. One such operative made a trip to sunny Cabo San Lucas under the pretext of a honeymoon. We had to arrange the marriage and plan an entire wedding just to facilitate this trip!! But that's another story. While in Cabo he found a painter's studio with THIS!! Turns out, the artist (Pedro Pintura) had a vision, after taking some questionable mescal, of a paradiso de la tierra. This painting is a rendition of what he saw. Needless to say, Pedro and I share a common vision.

Typical Statements of Law Students at Various Stages of Their Law School Careers

1L - "I just finished reading all four cases for Civ Pro.  Twice.  I have a three-page brief for each one.  Now I've got to read for Professor Kelso's Contracts I class and later I'm going to do some research for my memo.  I know if I keep working hard and make my own outlines for all of my classes that I can grade on to the law review and be in the top ten percent of my class.  My partying days are over.  I would never date a fellow law student."

2L - "Since I'm busy researching all six of the firms who have granted me an interview for OCI and prepping with mock interviews and I'm busy writing my appellate brief for moot court and writing opening and closing statements, directs and crosses for my witnesses for mock trial, I'm only going to book brief the first half of the semester.  I didn't make Law Review so I have to shore up my resume with my superior advocacy skills.  I binge drink on the weekends and occasionally at happy hour when I'm being hazed by the first year associates at my part time job at the mid-sized firm that I clerk for.  I have no hope of getting above a B minus in tax.  Anybody got a good marital property outline?"

3L - "I can't believe I ever read for class.  The prospect of making my own outlines is as laughable as my chances of landing a federal clerkship.  I don't have a single class without at least one girl who I've slept with.  If you need me, I'll be at The Front Porch or Kenneally's.  I hear there's a 1L social function at Sherlock's on Friday.  I'm so there."