Photos from the first show I ever Booked, 1989 and such

Welp, I been waiting to get these in my digital hands. I hollered at my mom earlier today and she dug in my archives (a closet in her house) and found a photo album with a lot of old photos. She didn't have time to do them all, but here's a clean ten of 'em to get us started.

The show was April 9, 1989. Laughing Hyenas (Detroit), Knifedance (Cleveland), and Lost (Erie). There's way more where this came from and I am working on a full on story about the first show and those first days and well, it's coming soon. Along with more photos. After the photos, the new flyer.

Oh yeah we added The Killerinas, Diesel Houdini, The Trashed and a semi-reunited My 3 Scum to the line up. I was trying to keep all these a surprise, but well THE INFO WAS LEAKED! And I am not tripping at all. Hope everyone stays happy and this event goes off beautifully!

Anyway, check it!


I took this photo when the band arrived for soundcheck that afternoon. This is the Laughing Hyenas, one of my favorite bands of all time. Larissa Strickland (RIP MY BEAUTIFUL GUITAR GODDESS IN THE SKY!), Kevin Strickland/Munroe, John Brannon, Jim Kimball


This is the Erie band LOST sitting outside the Continental Ballroom. Oh have I got stories related to them. I booked three tours around the US for them and we spent a lot of time in vans on the highway doing our thang. MY DUDES! Tho this line up did not last. Bob Rhodes, Brian DiPlacido, Jim Beveridge (who was later in Last Man Standing and will be playing at this show on the 25th!), Pete Stadtmueller (If I had one wish it would be for a Lost reunion at this show. But um, yeah, word is, that ain't happening. Dude who replaced Bob - FRED KRUGGER - is in Johnny James and the Absolutes tho SO THAT'S SOMETHING!)


That's me on the left there with Pete Stadtmueller of Lost. We are holding the first issue of my first fanzine Jackhammer Pogostick. It was named that stupid name because at our first "editorial meeting" when we were thinking of names, I said that and everyone said it was stupid so I got mad and demanded we call it that and we did. Yeah, good idea dude.


My mom and one of my mentors, Dan Allen. Dan was a lil older than me, and an avid record collector. He hipped me to a lot of music, took me to my first punk rock show outside of Erie (Butthole Surfers in 1987, me, Dan, Dave Martin and Frank FOE. We went in Dan's car and spun out in a blizzard behind a semi at 2 am and ended up in a snow bank. But yeah, we lived.), and used to pick me up every Saturday after I got out of work at the Oakwood Cafe to buy records at Record Country. Shit was really real back then.


Knifedance was a raging band from Cleveland that blew my mind at an early age and they fuckin' ruled.


If you were a teenager that needed to get some aggression out in 1989, Knifedance was the band to see. Also, Tom Dark was booking bands like the Misfits and Black Flag in Cleveland when he was like 14 and that is not a lie dudes.


Charlie of Knifedance


Tom Dark Stagedive!


John Brannon is the singer for Easy Action now and will be at the Anniversary show on the 25th! See the new flyer below!


And Kevin Strickland.Munroe lives in Cleveland now. I invited him via Myspace but we shall see. I'd love to have him up in the VIP section at the Beer Mug. HA!

Anyway, July 25th in Erie, PA. IT'S REALLY GOIN' DOWN!



New flyer will be posted when Ben Frazier sends it to me.

New Video! Pimpin' Pen from Austin, TX - Lil Homey!

Check out Ryno in the starring role!

I guess I am a vlogger now, fuck it.

LIL HOMIE MUSIC VIDEO from LM on Vimeo.

New Crew 54 Reality Show

Now, lemme say this, I am not trying to go all Vloggy on y'all, but yeah, people do tend to post videos and send them to me, and if they have some relevance to this site, I will post them.



I got mad a while back when someone spent a long time explaining to me why I need to get a camcorder and be a vlogger - IF I REALLY WANNA BLOW UP. As this is what's hot right now. It annoyed the shit out of me, cuz quite simply, AustinSurreal is just me, it's not a hip-hop blog, I don't sell ads (at the moment), I don't blast it out to people all day, it's just a blog that kinda covers what I do and what I like. That's all.

No disrespect to the Vlogs of the world, but I am not a vlogger. I go watch thangs at Nahright and a few other sites and they do it right.

If anything I want to write more. I had a whole buncha stuff in my head last night but then my lil Elena woke up and well, sat in my lap, and well, I just couldn't write, we went to bed. This happens kind of a lot. Maybe I should just vlog - much simpler and my kids can be involved, but please don't tell me what it is gonna take for me to blow up. Unless you really KNOW.

I leave that to the professionals. Like my folks CREW 54. The Crew 54 Reality show is always a good look. They document what is really goin' on out here in Central Texas. I mean seriously, I am 37 years old, have 2 kids and don't get out much. But when I do, the first people I see in the place are almost always Mos and G-Christ.

They are also my official security, so don't talk to me, these big dudes will hurt you, on tape.

Anyway, this vlog here (above) says that HOMEBOY SANDMAN and J-LIVE will be in Austin on Sunday July 12th???? Upstairs at Paradise? I need to find out where that is and catch this. J-Live is LEGENDARY and of course Sandman is on the come up and deservedly so. So yeah, see you Sunday???

(Also Friday at Red 7, where I will be DJing all night, no cover, cheap drinks, lots of ladies, lots of fellas with jobs, lots of nice things)

Oh yeah here's the flyer for my DJing event...



I do hope to see you there. It's really goin' down.

(UPDATE: Here's the Homeboy Sandman/J-Live/Feddi Man Flyer)

Bands I saw and liked and such...

Like, over a week ago, at The Mohawk, on a slowish Sunday night. I made the trek down to see Relgious Girls, Our Brother the Native and Shots Were Fired, only to find out Religious Girls had broken down somewhere and weren't going to make it, and then had my doubts as to whether Our Brother the Native was there or not. So I spent a lot of the night sitting on the roof. But I did venture downstairs a bit and man, honestly liked both the bands I saw. First up was Shots Were Fired...


I mean you know.


Spaced out effecty acoustic guitar duo just killing it.


On a fairly quiet Sunday.



Spent some time on the roof...


Then Our Brother the Native


Came on and it was really quite great.


Oh yeah also there was a dude laying flat on his back on the floor during the Shots Were Fired set.


And then I was going to write more but my daughter Elena woke up and is dragging me to bed. She's gonna be 4 on Sunday! OK. Good night. Great show.

A Message to Austin Rappers from Hot 93's Deuce!

He ain't lying, a lot of y'all are trippin'.

But what about the songs that really are worth it? I feel like since every commercial station floats thru the air we breathe they should all have some sort of local show or some sort of policy that requires them to play at least a small percentage of locally made music every day. But I mean, you know, I ain't no businessman. (And this ain't Canada) And yes I mean rock, jazz, whatever stations, Not just "urban."



I know how dude feels though. He gives a couple artists an inch and then a bunch of them try to take a mile. It gets real tiring. On my old show, Damage Control, we had a policy to play music from everyone who came thru the door, genuinely in response to commercial radios refusal to play local, independent music. We did that on purpose, and yeah, it drove me a little crazy.

But I'd do it again. Damn I need to get back on the damn radio. Maybe even just on the internet. But then how would the people in prison hear me? Man, I don't know. I been itching to get back on the radio though.

And honestly, there's more good stuff coming out of Central Texas right now than anyone else will ever let you know. So yeah, I'ma have to kick this into gear.

Also there's a lot of bad shit. LOL at the stick man on the CD comment. I do have to say though, it's better than the hundreds, maybe thousands of totally blank CDRs that have been handed to me over time. Now THAT is the dumbest thing ever.

Anyway, I need to do a lot of things. I'll let you know when I do. And if you happen to have a radio station that needs a community voice, I'm down. (Kinda like how the rappers Deuce is speaking of do. "YOU SHOULD BE CALLING ME!" The audacity of myself, I know. I'll get it going soon.)

Saturday July 25th in Erie, PAThe 20th Anniversary of the First Show I Ever Booked

But it's oh so much more than that. It's the celebration of a scene. A celebration of musicians and promoters and writers and photographers and all that from my home town who are still doing their thing. The Continental Ballroom is the venue where it all started for me, and I want to celebrate that fact.

I'll post more of a story soon, but here's the flyer as done by my man Ben Frazier.



And there's more to be announced FO REAL!

Print This Poster - Buy This Shirt

Found this on MISS CHIN'S BLOG.



"Ashkahn is back again. He made these beautiful FREE IRAN posters! Download to your desktop, print it up at your local print shop and circulate amongst friends or buy the T-shirt for $10 here! President Obama called a midday press conference today condemning the Iranian crackdown against demonstrators and declaring the rest of the world "appalled and outraged" by the violence going on there."

Bun B Live at Glastonbury with Dizzee Rascal + Interview with DJ SemtexSEMTEX TV EXCLUSIVE!

BUN B | LIVE FROM GLASTONBURY from DJ SEMTEX on Vimeo.

Hip Hop Official SXSW Coverage!

Hip Hop Official At SXSW, check the footage. I'm just starting to find all this stuff. They did it right!

(Yes I know I am a lil late, but I don't get to just surf much)

RIP MICHAEL JACKSONMy Week Thus FarBun B Footage of Dizzee Rascal at Glastonbury

Michael Jackson Rest In Peace.


DOWNLOAD DJ JAYCEE PRESENTS MICHAEL JACKSON - The Soulful Years

I know there's more mixes out there, send 'em on to me. DJ Ayres had posted one but the link expired, RE POST!

Also this is one of the realest songs ever.



And I mean, once again this young death has me contemplating life, and how much I treasure my family and friends...


My kids Elena and Eva seen here at Barton Springs with Johan Hugo

Anyway last week we had plenny goin' down here in the city. Freakin' heat had a lot of us stifled and stuck to our couches (believe me, I considered it). Heading tot he Mohawk on Thursday evening, the sign on the side of I-35 said it was 91 degrees at 10:00 p.m. And it didn't really let up all night.


Had to go down there and catch that 2 Live Crew show though, really just out of curiosity. XRabit & DMG$ opened. I think, as all I ever heard yelled was DMG.


They got that shit started and even did a version of "Get It Girl," which I found funny at a 2 Live Crew show. 2 Live Crew did not do "Get It Girl."


But they got the young girls dancing.








No Luke, no Mr. Mixx, but they did have this man, AUSTIN LEGEND BABY LUKE in the place with the silly string. How many of my readers remember this mans records?








You know, yeah it really went down.



Ann and Erin were in the place






Audra in the place!


With that boy Russell


James Dean, Swift and friends!



Anyway then we also went out Friday night. Three nights of going out in a weeks time, yeah, the old grey mare he ain't what he used to be. But I also wasn't the passed out on the table in the bar after this show last night...

Terry Lynn - new dancehall vocalist from Jamaica, and our boy Johan Hugo, from Radioclit/The Very Best, threw down at this special Red Stripe promotional event. Free Red Stripes all night and great mutant reggae music.


I say mutant cuz Johan is taking it in all sorts of different directions.






Yeah so it really went down. I was carrying someone like 20 minutes after this point, so I didn't get any more photos. Missed Grimy Styles too. ANYWAY MORE SOON. Holler after that USA - BRAZIL Game tomorrow. I am predicting an UPSET!

Also earlier today Bun B performed at Glastonbury in the UK (Word to the JOHN PEEL STAGE!) with Dizzee Rascal. He filmed some footage with his phone and here it is. First the intro to the show - the crowd is bananas - then the intro to Bonkers.

Anyway, obviously it went down. If anyone has footage of Bun on stage, I have got to see it!





And oh shit here's him and Semtex and Scope doing Bonkers, surely from the BBC.