Damn, it’s hot. But what can we do about it, aside from cranking the air conditioner and adding to the already crushing burden on Texas’ rickety power grid? According to an article in Scientific American, eating spicy food will cool you right down.
Yale professor Barry Green explains, “Spicy foods excite the receptors in the skin that normally respond to heat. Therefore, the pattern of activity from pain and warm nerve fibers triggers both the sensations and the physical reactions of heat, including vasodilation, sweating, and flushing.” I don’t know if I totally buy that line of reasoning, but any excuse to eat a taco with jalapeños is fine by me.
Chicago and the Beach Boys played stadiums together in 1975 (the “Beachago” tour), and the partnership has been reinstituted this summer. Well, sort of. Instead of the Beach Boys, we get Brian Wilson, the architect of the band’s sound and the writer / producer of its greatest songs. It all has to do with the beef between Beach Boy Mike Love (one of the most universally disliked men in rock and roll) and the rest of the band. It’s a long story.
As an added treat, Al Jardine (a member of the original Beach Boys and lead singer on “Help Me Rhonda”) will be along for the ride, joined by Blondie Chaplin, a longtime Beach Boys associate and band member, the guy who sang the sublime vocal on what was the Beach Boys’ last great record, “Sail On, Sailor.” This embarrassment of musical riches arrives at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion on Saturday. If you plan to attend the show, it will help to be familiar with the challenges Brian Wilson has faced during his life. He is fragile and needs our support.
The Texas Blues Guitar Summit will convene at the Heights Theater on Friday, when Anson Funderburgh, Mike Morgan, and Shawn Pittman will engage in a bit of simultaneous plank spanking. Some might quibble as to exactly who should participate such a “summit,” but don’t think like that. Just enjoy some of the best picking in the state. By the way, did you know that “Beavis and Butt-Head” / Office Space / “King of the Hill” auteur Mike Judge occupied the bass chair in Funderburgh’s band in 1989 and 1990? “I tell you what, he was a hell of a player!” Hank Hill was heard to say. And as a bonus, the Mighty Orq opens the show.
The Texas Turbines play Saturday night at Dan Electro’s. John Griffin (guitar, vocals), Jim Ferguson (guitar, vocals), Dr. Billy Cohn (bass, vocals), and Chris Simon (drums) have been crafting a singular sound – one largely informed by Texas influences – for several years now. Performing original music (“majestic songs of heartbreak”) ranging from hardcore country to cranking boogie, these guys can do it all.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2022.
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