Tropical Storm Isaac is No Katrina, but NOLA in Our Thoughts

Kermit Ruffins at Tipitina’s in New Orleans, 2005 (Photo by Jeff Balke)

The last time I spent any real time in New Orleans was the spring of 2005. I was playing at a festival in Gonzales as a sideman and we were too close to NOLA to pass up a chance at visiting. Original orange is in drummer, Leesa Harrington, was with me for that gig, and we agreed to drive into the city where we got lost in the Ninth Ward before winding up at Tipitina’s where we saw a mesmerizing set from Kermit Ruffins before watching him play with the Rebirth Brass Band for the first time in 20 years. It was luck and joy all rolled into one.

A few months later, The Big Easy would again cross my radar, but this time because Hurricane Katrina was doing its damage. Images of people dying inside the Superdome and entire sections of town wiped out by flood waters thanks to rain and broken levees were painful to watch. Ruffins himself took up residency in our city for months and still considers it a second home. Our gain, I suppose.

All musicians — particularly those of us from the American south — owe a great deal to New Orleans. In many ways, it is the cradle of American music. It is particularly true for those of us who grew up just a handful of hours to the west. All of us in the band have spent time there and love it for so many reasons.

Now, with a much weaker tropical storm bearing down on the area again, I can’t help but think about one of those reasons — that killer night hanging out in Dr. John’s house and watching Rebirth keep a crowd grooving. Here’s hoping Isaac goes substantially gentler on NOLA than that bitch Katrina.

“Screw You, We’re from Texas” – Live at Dan Electro’s Guitar Bar

This is our version of the Ray Wyllie Hubbard classic. If I’m not mistaken he wrote the tune as a “screw you” to the folks in Nashville because of their elitist attitude when it comes to music and everything that is allegedly right. We changed the words a bit, added a few chords to the chorus and kind of made it our own. Isn’t that what any good Texan would do? We hope to see y’all at the next gig set for Friday, Aug. 5 at Bohemeo’s in southeast Houston. Like the kids say….”dey be serving up ‘dem fish tacos.” See ya at the gig.

“Shutting It Down,” Live at Bohemeo’s

“Dividing All We Are,” Live at Bohemeo’s

Great gig at Bohemeo’s in southeast Houston the other night. This tune is from our first CD, Another Lame Semi-Tragedy. Here was the set list if you couldn’t make it..

Hello There
Suzanna
Let It Flow
Someone Came To Help Me
Shutting It Down
Dividing All We Are
Run Towards the Warmth of the Sun
Rain on the Scarecrow
Time Is My Enemy
Father’s Day
Guess Again
My Town Is Gone

“HOUSTON TEXANS NUMBER 1″ by George and Jeff

When Houston was awarded a new football franchise after the Oilers bolted for Tennessee, I thought the team needed its own fight song. When I came up with the idea for “Houston Texans Number 1,” the name “Texans” didn’t even exist. After a little persuasion, Jeff decided to record the song with me, and once the name “Texans” was set, we laid it down in his garage in the Heights.

Our old friend Robbie Parrish played the march on the snare, we brought in two horn players from Houston band Global Village (they probably thought I was an idiot when I was humming their parts to them), I took the lead, then Jeff and I sang the other voices about 50 times to make it sound like 70,000 people were singing.

The tune was played on KILT 610 Sportsradio (Texans flagship station) a few times, and KPRC Channel 2 reporter Mary Benton did a story on us, but I couldn’t get the team to listen to it. Then one day I ran into then General Manager Charlie Casserly in the parking lot of the Randall’s grocery store. He told me where to send the song, they heard it, but in the end opted to go with country music star Clay Walker’s theme song.

With the Texans 2-0 and waiting for the Dallas Cowboys this weekend, I though now was as good a time as any to resurrect our poor old fight song. Let us know what you think.

Houston Texans Official Website

Clay Walker’s “Houston Texans Theme Song”

Gig Alert! Rudyards – Saturday, Sept. 18

We’ll be rocking it again at Rudyards, 2010 Waugh Dr. in Houston, this Saturday, Sept. 18. This time around we will be sandwiched in between Jim Beazy and Bright Men of Learning. We should hit the stage sometime around 11 p.m. Jim Beazy is shooting the show for use in a documentary he is putting together about local music, so the more the merrier on Saturday in the Montrose. Also, if you want one, you can have a FREE copy of our first CD, Another Lame Semi-Tragedy. Bring it on, Houston and support local music.

“It’s only 26 hours from Houston to New York City” – Tour 2008

We ventured to the East Coast in October, 2008 for a week long tour that took us to New York City, Asbury Park, NJ, New Hope, PA, Danbury, CT, where we literally played to no one, and finally back to Honey Grove, TX, about an hour outside of Dallas. Anyway, this video chronicles our trip up there. Have you ever been in the car for 26 hours???

KPFT Radio Interview, Pt. 3

This is the final segment of our live appearance on KPFT Radio in Houston on May 14, 2010. We played one our new songs, Let It Flow, and talked a bit about the songwriting process. RadioActive airs Fridays from 1 p.m. – 3 p.m. on KPFT 90.1 in Houston. It’s a great show that promotes local, regional and national acts who get little or no airplay on commercial radio.

Don’t forget to come check us out on Friday, Aug. 6 at Bohemeo’s, 708 Telephone Road, in southeast Houston. Great little place owned by our friends Lupe and Sid Olivarez. We will be giving away free copies of our first CD, Another Lame Semi-Tragedy.

New song preview! “Last Night of My Life”

We’ve been working on new material for a while now and hope to have some available, at least online, by the end of the year. “Last Night of My Life” is a tune about loneliness, regret and reaching for people who are gone forever. We originally recorded it as a full-out rocker in the same vein as Bruce Springsteen’s “No Surrender,” but decided, because of the sadness in the lyrics, that it just didn’t work that way.

I played the tune a few weeks ago at Bohemeo’s in Houston and this is close to the way you’ll here it when it’s finished. Enjoy my friends!

KPFT Radio Interview, Pt. 2

In part 2 of our interview on KPFT Radio in Houston, we play “Father’s Day,” a track off of our first CD, Another Lame Semi-Tragedy. Enjoy!