The Main Event
Packed...that is the only word I can use to describe yesterday at Dean's. Downtown has been transformed into a fan fair of activity in anticipation of the Super Bowl. I left early from my house as usual and made my way through the crappy weather to downtown. The 6 block radius around Dean's was shut down for the nightly events so I had to pay to park. They had about 4 or 5 stages hosting some quite lame cover bands, although I did hear one guy doing a Prince song which always appeases our boy Coy. We did two 1 hour sets, one at 10 and one 12. We had a nice little street crew working for us and I'm still awaiting the results of our hustlers. Carley felt as though she didn't work hard enough because she didn't sell to many CDs, eventhough she was being as "persuasive" as possible. It was a different night as far as positioning yesterday. I was on display in the window while everyone else was in their usual places. This was done in consideration for Dean's to allow more bodies to buy booze. I personally didn't enjoy it all too much. From where I sat every note I played was very loud, but Marc gave me the thumbs up on sound balance. I also didn't enjoy being so limited with my small set up...only 2 cymbals : ( Marc had some technical issues in the beginning of the first set but he made up for it one of his best solos to date....at least whatever I heard from my hampster cage sounded really nice. Our new song felt really good. We named it "4. Star Ranch"...which is a nice play on words. We got out at a relatively decent time and overall I think we picked up a few fans who will attend our Thursday night ritual. Superbowl Sunday looks like it will be spent in Crystal Beach @ Coy's pizza joint. We'll play a set before the game then I plan on watching the game at my cousin's house with my folks. If you haven't taken the time to check out the fan fair I would highly recommend it. Houston has been polished to a high sheen for this event so if you want to have a good time downtown now is the time. Safety seemed to be at a high degree throughout the evening, although I just saw alot of BSing by most of the cops. There were plenty of scrumptious sirens to be seen in the city (ooo say that a few times fast), especially our wayward yoga mistress. I look forward to catching all the old and new faces next Thursday.
Until then this is Beatty signing out
Home on the Range
What a fantastic weekend we had at Tyson's ranch. LBP headed out on Friday and arrived Friday evening at around 7. After missing the entrance a few times we got to the ranch house and started to take it all in. I didn't think it would be a "real"ranch. I thought it would be something just out in the country, but I wrong. Tyson's folks own an honest to God "John Wayne" style ranch....with cows and land and such. The weather was kind of soggy but that didn't slow us down any. After we were set up we started developing a few new ideas that Coy had. We got about 2 songs rough drafted and then the drinking began. I can't say how inebriated everyone else got, but as for myself I got tore up. As we all know, getting tore up always ends in a train wreck. There was a bon fire and nobody was injured...not seriously. After the fire we got back to the house and attempted to play some more, but it was unsuccessful. My hands had decided to stop working a long time before getting back to the house. My memory gets foggy shortly after giving up on playing so I assume that everybody else continued throwing down while I slept alone in a drunken stupor. Saturday morning began with Marc starting a 10 a.m. set behind my drums as promised. My hangover and I got up after that and ate some caramels for breakfast. Around 11 the whole band was up and we began to play. We had quite a few ideas come out of Saturday's jamming. Conrad was mystified with what he believes is our greatest groove to date. The whole song is good, but it is the change in the middle which makes it really cool. I call it the "
R. Kelly" change but you'll all need to hear it to understand what I'm talking about. Lindsey and Carley arrived around 3 and later on our new friends Mark & Airess came as well (not a play on words for those of you who were there ; ). There was some killer cooking being done throughout the day. Steaks, burgers and chicken were some of the foods on the menu. The Coup de Grace was the shrimp eatufee stuffed boneless chicken from Herberts specialty meats...it may or may not have been the best thing there. Tyson took a few of us to the haunted house that was on the property. The story boils down to a crazy guy named "Earl" killing his whole family and hanging them on a meat hook located in the house. Eventhough the house was spooky the hook in question was by no means as intimidating. It was honestly nothing more than bent
hanger. The music continued into late night Saturday. Everything ran smoothly on into our departure. I am anxious to let all of you hear the great new material that our ranch weekend spawned. Our playing as a whole, I feel, has reached a new level. Conrad's addition to the band has brought some new knowledge and direction that we otherwise would have lacked. As soon as our negotiations are done with Dean's we'll post the Super Bowl schedule here so keep your eyes fixed on the site. Next week we should be playing for some of the largest crowds ever at Dean's so the intensity will be at a new high. I look forward to seeing all of you at our next show.
Au revoir
Success once more at Dean's
I can't complain about the turn out we had last night. The word seems to be out about Dean's on Thursday night. For myself the Thursday night has become somewhat of an all day ritual. Being that I live in the Katy neck of the woods I have to head out to get a decent parking place for downtown around 4 or 5 so I've compiled a list of things to do before the gig. First I stop off at Chipotle to get my fix of burrito deliciousness. Next I go to
Houston Percussion to get some fresh sticks. Finally I get downtown and do the coffee thing till Dean's opens up. Sometimes I hit up
Mia Bella's instead of Chipotle, but other than that I maintain my strict schedule every Thursday evening. This particular Thursday the
Budweiser rep was there giving away free beer, and if you know anything about Phyve then you know he is the official volunteer spokesman for Bud. The rep gave us some little glow necklaces and a couple of invites to see Stain for some kind of pre-superbowl party thing. We had a little band meeting before we played back in the infamous "VIP" dressing room which was recently renovated. Before renovation the back dressing room of Dean's was home to some genuine peeping tommary if you catch my drift, but now there is a mirror in place of the curtain so the back room has lost its luster. We chatted about what all we hope to accomplish this coming weekend at the ranch that our boy Tyson is providing us to write at, and what all would be on the schedule. We also talked about some options on where to record our latest and greatest album to date. Within the next few months LBP will have one of the best albums in H town for everyone to hear so be prepared. This coming weekend will see the birth of a lot of great new material as mandated by the people. New ideas, new funk, and new directions will be brought to light. We want you all to be there to bare witness to what will be the best album in Houston come March. The train is steadily moving for LBP and as soon as we are done in the studio we plan on venturing out a little more than last year. Austin, Baton Rouge, Dallas, and New Orleans are all in the cards for us this coming year and hopefully we'll plant the seeds necessary to quit our day jobs and give you the jam 24/7. As the Superbowl draws closer downtown Houston will be much much busier. If you want to catch some high intensity gigs it behooves you to come out for the next few weeks @ Dean's. The metrorail is up and running so now you can wonder at its sleek splendor and sophistication...eh or you can just watch it roll by and watch your taxes roll by with it. Either way you should make it down to Thursday night because it just keeps getting better. I hope to see you all there.
Oyasuminasai (Good night)
Back in the saddle @ Dean's
Our first gig of the new year was better than expected. The rain didn't keep the kids indoors. We saw faces both new and old there to welcome us back into our niche. With the new
Metrorail doing testing on Main St. the members of LBP have had to adapt and overcome the rigors of hauling equipment. In the golden days of yore we could park infront of Dean's, unload, and then be on our merry way without popping a disc out of our back. But after our mishap after the fashion show we have come to fear the mystery of what is acceptable by the "man" on Main. Everyone in the band got a ticket that night for interfering with the testing of the Metrorail, except Marc...the only one with enough bank to afford it. I have remedied the situation by being ever more punctual than I used to be. Living in Katy, I have been accustom to leaving my house a little early to get to the gig on time. Now I make Thur nights an all day affair, one where I leave my house round 6ish and sneek around the urban ocean till it's gig time. I still have trouble finding a good space to unload my crap at 6 in the evening, and the
riddles I get from the parking signs don't help me in my quest. Honestly I feel like I'm trying to discern some kind of righteous
parable from Christ himself when I look to see if it is "OK" to park downtown. No parking between 9 and 3, Metro Parking from 3 to 7, but there is never parking between witching hours, nor can one use the gem stones of Andor before 6...ect ect. After finally being confident that my parking was inline with the will of
Kraken I headed off to the coffee joint round the corner. After that I set up my drums and the rest of the band rolled in and did the same. Marty, Conrad and myself ended up going back to coffee place where they both got Italian sodas and a chance to see the none too impressive
Paris Hilton video that I happened upon recently. We started playing round 10ish and ended late at around 2. People hung till the last little bit so we appeased them with our version of once famed now scorned Knight Rider. All in all it was a great gig to bring us back into the routine. We'll be doing it every Thur till people stop coming or the parking gods dictate otherwise. The near future looks bright for LBP. There is going to be a trip to a ranch for some serious writing and studio time is drawing very very near. We are getting better everyday due to the huge amount of support we have from all of you guys out there so let me just state for the record that our shows are only good because of you who come out...thank you for the support. Until next week I bid all you crazies a good weekend.
end transmission
We've survived another year!
What a night! Beginning at the tame hour of 3, LBP began setting up for one of the best shows of the year. After setting up Troy, Marty, and myself headed to
Chipotle to give us the fortitude to sustain large quantities of groove for the new year. Afterwards we swung by the cigar store across the way to buy some cancer sticks...Troy and I chose some
Romeo y Julieatas while Marty went for the more tightly wrapped
Dominicans. From there we headed to the
Kaveh Kanes coffee joint for some caffeine. While we were there Marty exposed Trizle to some snipits of
Phish: A live one. Lindsey, Marc's girlfriend, and her sister Carly were gracious enough to provide us with a pre-party before I gig. We were first there and as such had first dibs on the Makers Mark. The DVD of the evening was the
Up in Smoke tour from a few years back. Hor'dourves and merriment was made when everyone got there at the fashionably late hour of eight o'clock. Those with cigars journeyed up to the roof to catch the skyline and admire the view of downtown. While smoking we spoke of the special Olympic size pool on the roof and action stars of yore. Conrad was pimping the Jet Li kung fu jacket, and with the cigar he could have easily passed as
Jet Li on hiatus form his latest flick "I kick quite a few asses Part XXII". And I must say everyone there was great and well dressed for the occasion...Especially the visiting fashion scholar Brooke and our humble host Lindsey : ) The transition to Dean's was a smooth one. The band and party crew rolled in around eleven. We caught the last bit of the opener, a Beatles cover band that I honestly can't remember the name to. We were happy to see that the house was already pretty filled in with drinking patrons. The club next door to Dean's was also open for use, so we had double the capacity for packing in the peeps in comparison to last year. We started playing around 11:30 and then the madness ensued. Unbeknownst to me dancers were hired to adorn the front window of Dean's during out set...and I must say that came as a very welcomed surprise. It was already hard to maintain concentration with the projector throwing topless
Gucci fashion shows up on the wall, now I have to deal with hot sexually charged, scantily clad women doing everything in their power to get my attention while I am trying to sustain a rhythm to keep them moving....you do the math on how hard that is. Phyve, our lead singer, also played the role of pole, human bench presser, and male counter part to our lovely dancers. In addition to girls bouncing round the room the music was an added bonus. Everyone was digging it and people stayed to the last little bit of our performance...even through our "Sweet Home Alabama" contest. We stopped playing around 2 in the morn with the new year thoroughly brought in. My night, however, had a bit left to play out. After packing my stuff and meandering around outside of Dean's I was convinced by Jordan, our visiting Biologist from California, to keep the night alive and scour around for another party. On the way we ran into our main man Tyson who was in no condition to drive so I hopped in his wagon....through all the insanity we all made it to the Chateau for some early morning socializing. From there Phyve needed a ride back to his car at Marc's place so Phyve, Jordan, myself and my drumset squeezed snugly into my car to hit the beer soaked roads of Houston. After dropping off Phyve, driving back to Tyson's, dropping off Jordan, and takeing in the lingering holiday lights around the Rice/Galleria area twice, I finally found my way back onto I10 heading West to my home. Music for the ride included forgotten favorites such as I want my MTV, sporadic Tehano stations, some various smooth jazz, and
Franz Liszt's Hungarian rhapsody #2. I got home around 6 this fine new years day and must say that the previous year has been successful. I look forward to the year to come and hope you can all join us...we'll be kicking in the weekly jam/funk every Thur starting next week @ Dean's so don't be a stranger and come out. This ends today's transmission of LBP goings on...I'm out.
PS
Never, under any circumstances, believe what that damn
8 ball tells you. It only spouts lies.
