This Friday, we’re playing at Rudyards with two well-known Austin acts, The Gary and Arthur Yoria. Both have Houston ties so it should be a great show. We’re especially excited about playing with our pals in The Gary who are promoting their well-received new CD, Logan. You may remember the guitarist Trey Pool who played in the venerable Houston bands Celindine and Sad Like Crazy. Here’s some review snippets of the new record:

"What The Gary’s first full-length album is is an undisputedly tight, exuberant chunk of rock. Check back in a year and Logan is likely to be in a lot of ‘best-of’ lists, CD collections, and mp3 players." – Austin Sound

"The Gary’s still-untitled debut full-length, due in November on the same label, deserves to be one of the most anticipated of the year. Intelligent, honest, unpretentious, stirring, grassroots indie rock like this doesn’t come along as often as PR reps would like to have us think." – Ink 19

“The first half-dozen songs are fantastic; the last four don’t slouch either, especially "False Sunrise." It’s a bit of that tried-and-true Dischord formula: Loud, primitive music can be enlightened as well." – Austin Chronicle

And here’s the record, which you can stream straight from this page.

Well, did you listen? Good. Now, here are the details:

Show is on April 30 at Rudyard’s

10:30 pm Arthur Yoria
11:30 pm The Gary
12:30 am BMOL

I somehow missed adding a note about our show last Saturday with Miles Kurosky, but if you didn’t make it, you missed a really great show from the former Beulah frontman. He was generous with his time, talking with fans, before, during and after the show. I urge you to get his new record and his old ones, too.

Now for this week’s Saturday show at Rudz, we’re are stoked as hell to be playing with two Austin-by-way-of-Houston bands: Tody Castillo and The Sour Notes. Both bands offer some seriously hummable and sophisticated pop music, so if that’s your bag, you won’t want to miss it.

We opened last Saturday’s show, but we’re going to headline this one. So here’s what to expect:

10:30 pm Tody Castillo
11:30 pm The Sour Notes
12:30 pm Bright Men of Learning

Not at all sure what the cover is. Prolly $6.

Please note: Ben Murphy, one of our guitar players, also plays with Tody Castillo. He’ll be pulling double duty. Get there early and stay late to cheer on his ever-tasteful heroics.

On Thursday, February 25, we’re stoked to be playing a show with one of my pals from law school, Erin Rodgers, and her band, Kennedy Bakery. Also on the bill is Christian Staehely, who I’d never heard of, but who turns out to be kind of interesting: he’s a Princeton graduate who was also a 39th-round draft pick in the 2008 MLB draft. Now he plays minor-league ball for the Seattle Mariners. The above link to is for his Myspace, so you should check out his tunes. Fair warning: one of them is a dead ringer for Weezer’s “Say It Ain’t So.”

Details:

2/25 | Rudyard’s Pub | 10 PM | $5 cover | 21+

 
Final note: I’ve updated our show listing. We’ve got two shows at Rudz in March, including an exciting opening gig with the dude from Beulah.

Hey!

We’re playing on Friday. With Fired for Walking. And Mr. Gnome. Show is at Rudyard’s Pub (map). We’re the first band, and we go on around 10 pm.

And later that night, we hear there’s potential for snow.

There’s nothing quite like the tradition of leaving the house all bundled up to see the Bright Men of Learning, and then the next morning…snow covers the earth like a warm blanket of rock ‘n’ roll goodness. You tip toe downstairs, reach deep in your stocking, and grab two asprin before sitting down in a soft chair to remember the previous night’s catchy-as-hell musics.

Yep. We’re playing twice this coming weekend.

Saturday, November 7th, we’re opening a set at Rudz for two bands that generally rock a lot harder than we do—Ghost Town Electric and 500 Megatons of Boogie. To match their intensity, we’re planning to play a set with a bit more giddy up than you’re probably used to seeing from us, so definitely come out for less kind and gentle BMOL.

Cover is $5 and the show starts at 10:30. We’re the first band, so don’t dawdle.

Ah, but what if that’s too late? Then check us out at Big Star Bar the next day. One of Jman’s friends is having a party there and inviting all her friends to hang out. She also invited us to be the entertainment. This being a public place, you’re invited, too. At this second show, we’re planning to give listeners a preview of our upcoming record. We’ll probably play all but one or two of the 14 songs we’ve recorded. Because we’re the only band we might actually play a couple of sets. And our pal ADR is going to be spinning records, too.

Thankfully, the Sunday show should start in the early evening. Doors open at 4 pm, and admission is free.

FInally, I should note that if you miss us this weekend, you can catch us at the Westheimer Block Party on Sunday, November 15. We’re scheduled to play the 5:50 pm slot at Helios upstairs.

Thanks to c:\ for the design expertise.

We’ve got a small feature in this week’s Houston Press promoting our show at Rudyard’s this Friday night. It should hit the stands Wednesday, but you can read it right now online.

We’re pretty excited to be playing with our pals in Fired for Walking. It’s their CD release party, and they’re excited as hell.

Here are the details:

FRIDAY, September 26
Rudyard’s (1020 Waugh)
$5.00
Mr. Castillo (d.j.) – 9 p.m. and all night
Novox – 10 pm
Bright Men of Learning – 11 pm
Fired for Walking – 12 pm

This Sunday we’re proud and pretty damned excited to be playing the Rudz Bike Bonanza. What exactly is it? Well, it’s a benefit show for a local non-profit bike shop and some recently injured riders trying to pay for their medical bills. There’s a lot going on:

• bike swap meet
• cycling side events
• beer provided by Real Ale and New Belgium
• bands starting at 7:30, including Bright Men of Learning, Bring Back the Guns, and Spain Colored Orange.

All this can be yours for a $5 suggested donation.

Where: Rudyards British Pub (rudyards.com)

Time: 5 – 12 pm. Bands start at 7:30.

As in past years, Houston scene legends de Schmog are returning for a one-off Rudyard’s show during the holiday. Our bass player, Johnathan Sage was/is the only bass player de Schmog ever had. And, as I’ve said before, de Schmog was easily my favorite local band when I was in high school. So this show is pretty special whenever it happens.

This year, though, it’s even better because BMOL are finally getting to play. The last few years, I’ve always been out of town when this show goes down. For once, I’m staying put, so the Bright Men are opening up for de Schmog and Jug O’ Lightning Saturday, December 30. Diane, the chanteuse who shared vocal duties with Killian Sweeney, is not coming down this year. But, Brandon, the original guitarist IS playing. And Mari Pool, from Sad Like Crazy is going to sing the nice girl-y parts. Should be amazing.

Over at the Nonalignment Pact group blog, Killian writes about the wisdom of having a reunion show at all, deciding that the reasons for not reuniting aren’t very persuasive compared with the fun of getting together once a year and playing music. I tend to agree. Reunions do not have to suck, and de Schmog’s annual reunion shows are reportedly awesome. And this year, BMOL is playing, so we’re hoping you can make it out. Here’s the lineup.

• BMOL 10:30
• de Schmog 11:30
• Jug O’ Lightning 12:30

Finally, take a peek at this poster Killian made for the show. Click on it to see it blowed up real big.