One of the other hats that I wear in this life is that of a radio broadcaster. Yesterday, with April Fool’s Day (today) in the offing, members of the air staff at my station received a missive from management cautioning them regarding Federal Communications Commission rules and regulations having to do with pranks or hoaxes.
Sure, there is freedom of speech (for the time being, anyway) and all that, but this legal brief pointed out that the broadcast version of yelling “Fire!” in a crowded theater is the type of thing that the Feds do not smile upon. I recall a radio station in Kansas City damn near causing a riot when it announced that tickets were on sale for a benefit concert starring Bob Seger for the Future Homeless Farmers of America.
The subject of viewers and listeners believing a statement is true just because it has been broadcast is a larger one that this space can contain. But I can vouch for the fact that the phenomenon does exist. Many years ago, when I was a brash young man wanting to shake things up, I told listeners to look up in the sky on their way to work to see the radio station’s new traffic blimp.
I described the craft in great detail, and with such massive exaggeration, that I figured no reasonable person would believe me. This was a classical radio station, so I even told listeners about the blimp’s pilot, Captain Ludwig, who was rather elderly but still the world’s foremost dirigible expert, having learned his craft during World War II, spending some time in Argentina during the late ‘40s, and then emigrating to the United States.
More calls than I expected came in, with many people frustrated that they couldn’t see the station blimp, even though they were right under the location that I was describing. I knew that the bit had legs when one of the station’s account executives walked in and said, “Why didn’t anyone tell me we have a blimp?”
Ticket Alert
Built to Spill, an alt-rock band that has rarely met a guitar solo it didn’t like, will be at the White Oak Music Hall on Saturday, September 26, and tickets are currently on sale. The band formed in Boise, Idaho, a city that doesn’t readily come to mind as a rock and roll hotbed. But you know who else was from Boise? Paul Revere and the Raiders! The Spud State tradition lives on.
Nerdy rockers Weezer are heading out on tour this fall, along with opening acts the Shins and Silversun Pickups, appearing at Toyota Center on Friday, October 16. There are more presales than you can shake a stick at, most of them in progress as of today, with the general ticket sale on Friday.
Houston’s own Blue October will play two nights in town later this year, on Friday, December 18, and Saturday, December 19, at the 713 Music Hall. The band’s tour is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the breakthrough album Foiled, the one that features a wad of, well, foil on its cover. Tickets for both shows are on sale now.
Concerts This Week
Guitarist Ally Venable will be in town for the Buddy Guy Blues Festival – along with Jimmie Vaughan, Kingfish Ingram and Gary Clark Jr. – on Saturday, August 29, but you can get a sneak preview of her act on Friday at the Dosey Doe. Tickets are going fast, so jump on this one while you can.
There is a different sort of guitar-centric concert downtown on Friday, when Alex Skolnick and Testament perform in Houston as part of the band’s “Thrash of the Titans” tour. Testament has been around for over four decades and is considered one of the original thrash metal bands, along with acts like Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax. The headbanging will take place at the House of Blues.
Three Texas-based artists will perform at the Heights Theater this week, starting with Charlie Sexton on Friday. Sexton first attracted national attention when he was a teenager with “The Beat’s So Lonely,” a chart hit in 1985. Since then, Sexton has racked up quite a resume, serving as Bob Dylan’s guitarist for several years and joining forces with Doyle Bramhall II in the ARC Angels. On Saturday, singer-songwriters Radney Foster and Kelly Willis will present “Stories and Songs.”
Jorma Kaukonen started out as an acoustic country blues player before he picked up an electric guitar and joined the Jefferson Airplane in the mid-60s, just in time for “White Rabbit” and “Somebody to Love.” He still plays in Hot Tuna with a fellow Airplane alum, bassist Jack Casady, but on Saturday, Kaukonen will perform at Main Street Crossing with fellow guitarist John Hurlbut. ‘Cause Knowledge is Power: Kaukonen provided Jefferson Airplane with its name, an abbreviated version of his dog’s moniker, Blind Lemon Jefferson Airplane.
The legendary R and B act New Edition is at Toyota Center on Saturday, with heavyweight support from Boyz II Men and Toni Braxton. ‘Cause More Knowledge is More Power: Speaking of band names, New Edition chose its handle as a way to alert fans that they were a “new edition” of the Jackson 5.
.jpg){kind=link}