{"id":871,"date":"2012-03-11T14:00:24","date_gmt":"2012-03-11T14:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/216.71.127.204\/wordpress\/?p=871"},"modified":"2015-10-13T18:07:57","modified_gmt":"2015-10-13T18:07:57","slug":"kpfts-birthday-bash-mucky-duck-houston-tx","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/houstonmusicreview.com\/wordpress\/2012\/03\/11\/kpfts-birthday-bash-mucky-duck-houston-tx\/","title":{"rendered":"KPFT’s Birthday Bash – Mucky Duck – Houston, TX"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n
Written by James Killen <\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Mar 11, 2012 at 02:00 PM<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\"Image\"I have had Sunday March 11th set aside for months in anticipation of what has proven to be one of the best music values of the Houston entertainment calendar year after year. I even dragged an old friend in from San Antonio, promising him a great show. When we woke up Sunday morning to some of the most extreme weather so far this year, I was hoping that I hadn\u2019t over promised. We drove down to the Mucky Duck though blinding rain and a little hail and slipped through the pub into the tent, where volunteers were using push brooms and huge squeegees to push up the tent roof to drain where it was sagging under the pooling rain. The volunteers had to keep this up through most of the morning as if bailing water from a leaky boat. Throughout the dreary picture, the soundtrack had already started with the energetic vintage blues licks of the Leo Trio.<\/p>\n

The Leo Trio is Leo Astin (guitar and vocals), Bella Adella (bass) and George Nunez (drums) and they play in the power trio style of Cream and the original Fleetwood Mac (with Peter Green). The Trio visited many classic favorites like \u201cI Just Can\u2019t Keep from Crying\u201d and \u201cIt Hurts Me Too\u201d along with several of their own original tunes. They even courageously redid Dylan\u2019s often covered \u201cAll Along the Watchtower\u201d to an Eastern European beat. The whole band kept up a high level of energy throughout the set, rocking the tent. The level of energy is especially amazing when you consider that Leo Astin is battling pancreatic cancer. Leo (originally from Great Britain) is facing this serious affliction with great courage and mentioned not a word of it during the show. He had produced a 30 minute open journal for KPFT on cancer and being proactive with it. It\u2019s still available in the KPFT archives from March 8th at 9:30AM. There will be a benefit for Leo held at Rockefeller\u2019s on March 25th from 2-7PM featuring the Leo Trio and some supportive friends. It would be a great opportunity to see this high energy blues act in great form.<\/p>\n

Patrice Pike opened her set by announcing that the sun had just come out as they were leaving Austin and that they had come to Houston on Noah\u2019s ark. Patrice has become a regular Wednesday evening performer at the Duck, delivering a quality pop\/rock performance of her well honed tunes for a \u201cpay what its worth\u201d ticket price. She was accompanied by her highly animated bass player, Glenn McGregor, who is always guaranteed to entertain. The set list included the now familiar \u201cWhat\u2019s the Trouble with You\u201d, \u201cJack Knife Girl\u201d, \u201cSwimming\u201d, \u201cRufus\u201d and \u201cChico\u201d. She has such a great voice and writes such great tunes, could anyone ask for more? Well, many of us are looking forward to the next studio disc of new songs that she must be working on. We can\u2019t wait, Patrice!<\/p>\n

Sarah Hickman, 2010\u2019s Texas State Musician, has somehow eluded me over the years that she has been performing and I have been hanging around music venues, but after this show, I\u2019m a fan. She came on stage with an acoustic guitar, accompanied only by a generous smile and a winning sense of humor. Her set list included her song \u201cShadowboxing\u201d that had been covered by Edie Brickell and \u201cI Know What it Means\u201d which was inspired by a phrase scrawled inside the door of an airport bathroom stall. She also did a rousing version of an anthem for those of us in long relationships, called \u201cAre We Ever Gonna Have Sex Again?\u201d, which ended in a very convincing vocalization of an orgasm. Sarah showed off her guitar talents on the rocking \u201cTrain Song\u201d which featured some prominent sliding bar chords, before ending the set with \u201cKayaking\u201d. Sarah Hickman will be back performing at the Duck on April 5th. Put it on your calendar if you haven\u2019t seen her yet.<\/p>\n

People say that good things come in small packages and in the case of Lisa Morales they would be correct. I haven\u2019t seen Lisa since the suspension of the Sisters Morales Band\u2019s activities and it becomes quickly apparent that she has been remaking herself and her band into her solo incarnation. Eddie Ferranti caught Michael Cornbread Traylor on the way to the stage and found out that the former Sisters\u2019 bassist would be playing lead guitar for this gig. When Eddie asked him if this meant that the band would be headed in an edgier direction, Cornbread replied, \u201cI don\u2019t know what direction we\u2019re headed in.\u201d His reply is a great expression for the creativity that Lisa and the band are generating now. Last year they put out the critically acclaimed \u201cBeautiful Mistake\u201d that featured many great session musicians in addition to Morales and Traylor. The set for the day included a number of songs from that disc including the title track and \u201cI Wanna Be in Love\u201d. The performance certainly had an edge, sometimes reminding me of old Buffalo Springfield or ZZ Top, but most often of their own unique sound. Lisa debuted not one, but two new songs in the performance titled \u201cNo Other Kiss Quite Like This\u201d and \u201cRubies in the Dust\u201d. Lisa will be one to watch in the months coming up as she seems to be just catching fire.<\/p>\n

Marley\u2019s Ghost put the volunteer soundman to work as they took over the stage having six band members with instruments ranging from the pedal steel guitar to the bagpipes. They play in the style of Irish folk music, country gospel, Texas swing, reggae, bluegrass, honky-tonk, Mardi-Gras jazz style and even a little Jerry Garcia duck-walking guitar. You could roll it all up as Americana, yet they seem to remain true to each style on it\u2019s own as opposed to mixing it up as most Americana artists do. The vocal harmonies stand out in all of their songs whether they are singing \u201cShenandoah\u201d or a truck driving song. Marley\u2019s Ghost got tied in to KPFT\u2019s birthday benefit through their local Pacifica station KPFK in Los Angeles. They were a welcome addition to the bill of talent for the day.<\/p>\n

\"Image\"The rain had slowed to an occasional drizzle by the time that Hayes Carll took the stage, accompanied by Travis Linneville on guitar. Carll seemed road weary as he announced that he hadn\u2019t been aware that Dallas was in a different time zone (Daylight Savings Time had taken effect the night before) and that they set a new land speed record in his Honda Accord in order to arrive on time. Carll opened up his characteristic honky-tonk slurring set with \u201cA Bad Liver and a Broken Heart\u201d. He reminded the crowd what a gem we have in KPFT as he gave Rick Heysquierdo credit for being the first one to play one of his songs on the radio. Carll worked his way through his witty song book, performing favorites like \u201cI Wanna Spend the Night with You\u201d and \u201cI Wonder What my Chances Are\u201d. Hayes left the stage while Travis Linneville performed a song from his latest solo album, but returned to perform Merle Haggard\u2019s \u201cRainbow Stew\u201d. He finished up his set with \u201cAll the Way From Beaumont\u201d and a version of \u201cI Ain\u2019t Never Seen Another Like You\u201d in which he sang both the man\u2019s and woman\u2019s parts. Carll makes it look deceptively easy to endure the hard touring life that he\u2019s chosen and we fans can\u2019t wait to see what he puts out next.<\/p>\n

You have to hand it to Ray Wylie Hubbard for his ability to take control of a stage and the crowd, which hit its peak during Hubbard\u2019s performance. He turned \u201cSnake Farm\u201d into a rousing sing along with almost 100per cent of the libation soaked crowd in participation. Hayes Carll was invited up to join Hubbard on their collaboration, \u201cDrunken Poet\u2019s Dream\u201d, but Carll was suffering from Honda Accord jet lag, so Ray did it on his own. He wrangled a commitment from the audience en masse, to buy his new record \u201cGrifter\u2019s Hymnal\u201d that is due out March 27th. He rolled directly into a couple of tunes that will be appearing on that disc, one of which, \u201cTrain Yard\u201d, co-written with Liz Foster of the Trishas featured some blistering slide guitar. After that came something that I never thought that I would hear again, Ray Wylie Hubbard performed \u201cRedneck Mother\u201d live.He dresses it up a little different each time he plays it, and this time \u201cT\u201d was for a Ford Truck with a little plastic statue of Hayes Carll on the dashboard. The crowd was invited to finish off the last refrain. Unfortunately, we just couldn\u2019t seem to hold it together. Ray released us from our former commitment to buy his new record, if we would spend the money on pitch pipes and metronomes. Hubbard finished off his lovingly crass performance with an encore version of James McMurtrey\u2019s \u201cChoctaw Bingo\u201d.<\/p>\n

The crowd thinned out dramatically after Ray Wylie left the stage, leaving the last die hard fans to soak up the Sideshow Tramps, which this evening consisted of Craig Kinsey, Travis Linneville and a drummer. Kinsey can generate a lot of energy on stage, pleasing the crowd with songs like \u201cTexas Girls\u201d and \u201cWhat Is It That You Want?\u201d. He even took a request for \u201cLady Vodka\u201d. Linneville was improvising lead right alongside Kinsey and the party sounded like it was starting all over again as my san Antonio friend and I dragged ourselves back to the car, with the live music yen sated once again.<\/p>\n

The single consistent theme throughout the day was how lucky we are to have a noncommercial radio station like KPFT in our fair city. I personally support it as a major source of new music and new ideas and strongly urge you all to throw some spare change their direction at pledge time and, by all means, get out to KPFT sponsored music events. They are some of the best entertainment in town.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Written by James Killen Mar 11, 2012 at 02:00 PM I have had Sunday March 11th set aside for months in anticipation of what has proven to be one of the best music values of the Houston entertainment calendar year after year. I even dragged an old friend in from San Antonio, promising him a… <\/p>\n

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