Switched On // No Mas Bodas Gets Married // Special Shit

hey yall

Its warming up out there, nightly temperatures now dipping down only as far as "bearable" and daytime conditions more along the lines of "perfect". And with that, we find our beloved fellow Austin scenesters out in full force this weekend for some very special events. The one last night was the opening party for Switched On, the new synth specialty store of Texas, located precariously near my house at 11th and Waller. I say precariously because I'm not sure the owners are ready for the level of annoyance they may experience when I go in there and play on every. single. one. of. their. synthesizers.

But the place looks incredible. There is a giant custom built video screen with their awesome logo in the front, a TV grid hooked up to a video synthesizer and oscilloscope (open for the public to dick around with last night), all your band needs such as drum heads and drum sticks, a ton of vintage keyboards, a specialty repair shop, and a well curated set of all types of synths. Its nothing short of fabulous. The opening was so well done too....bands first at the store and then later across the street at Victory Grill. It was my first time to get to see SURVIVE since their very first show, the dreadfully fated Pyramid in the back of Matt Schwaush's House Show, which we don't have to talk about here. They sounded great. Pataphysics played really well too, a ton of punk energy on Policeman especially sticks out in my mind.

Also earlier this weekend it was a great honor for Reverse X-Rays to get to be a part of the No Mas Bodas CD Release show at Cheer Up Charlie's (the old ms beas). Our set was perhaps not our best, but No Mas Bodas sounded good to me, and the wedding was fantastic. The 4 way knot was tied, shoes were thrown, gongs rang, aye-yay-yays enunciated like a room full of mad Poncho Villa's, and there was an overall quality dance party as well, not to mention What's Tappenin? a tap group that did a rather basketball halftime show performance at the end. 2 great evenings

Also, in the last couple months worth noting is the passing of The Pillow Queens, one of Austin's finest bands. They rocked extremely hard and their last show at Trailer Space was an emotional affair which I could have told you about in greater detail had I blogged about it at the time. No more misses like that, faithful readers, I pledge to thee!