World Racketeering Squad Blog

Well, I guess he's not ALL bad. ABBA Rules!

Link

Just got back from Bruce's place where we laid down a host of epic guitar tracks for "Needful Things", our tin-whistle song.

The main part is one I've been playing live forever, but once we started putting down tracks on top of that I was able to find some really interesting themes and melodies that I hadn't thought of before.

It makes the song slightly more melancholy at the ending, and I can totally see it being used in a teenage soap opera TV show or movie.  The girl who broke up with her boyfriend can be sitting in the park where they used to hang out, or by the window with the rain streaming down the pane, thinking about the good times past...

Producers, give us a call!

Now we've got everything recorded but the tin whistle and the organ.  The goal is to have "Needful Things" mixed and in the can soon enough to make 3-track CDs available at the Red-Eyed Fly on Sept 3 and after.

The composer of one of the funnest songs I know has died: Link

It's a sad day in pop music.

But, on a brighter note, I saw Weird Al Yankovic perform last night in Dallas and it was an amazing show! Over 2 hours of hilarity, finished off with a live version of the 11 minute epic Alba, Alber, Albor, Albuquerque.

I will never cease to be amazed at the beauty and power of people working together to create something marvelous and fun.

Here's an example of some Polish students in a dorm:

To see more flights of fancy in buildings, as well as an Improv Everywhere video from 2005, go here.

Noir 5, originally uploaded by graphicnovelist.

Turns out painter and cartoonist Harris O'Malley is a hell of a photographer, too! He's just posted several sets of photos from a recent photo shoot with Wolfpack Productions here in Austin.

Last night we had an excellent time at the opening night party for "Erotica", a new show of erotically-themed artwork at Gallery Lombardi.

I was there to support my friend Harris O'Malley, who had two beautiful paintings in the show.  We ran into a lot of old friends, including Jules aka Dr John from bluesqueezebox and Black Molly.  There was some cool video art and some live performance pieces, as well as paintings and sculpture.

Erotica is showing now through the end of the month.

Cartoonist Dean Trippe found on YouTube a pitch from the Animated Buffy the Vampire Slayer series that never got off the ground:

I have to admit this would have been an awesome thing.

Got this from Sofia Grey, the organizer of the recent Muppet Hoot we participated in:

I wanted to share with you wonderful news from the Capital Area Food Bank -- they sent me a lovely thank you letter, and said that the money we raised was enough to provide 440 meals! I was thrilled to hear it, and wanted to tell all of y'all too!

Thanks to everyone who attended and helped out for this good cause, and had a great time doing it!