Jul 10 10
Live From SugarHill Studios – Episode 20
Photo by Everett Taasevigen.
Scott H. Biram
Nobunny
Nobunny
Bluesman Scott H. Biram and art punkers NoBunny are the musical guests. Community representative and Audience of One is Craig Hlavaty of the Houston Press. SugarHill’s Gina Miller is joined by Guest Host Matthew Wettergreen of Caroline Collective, Do713.com.
After his departure from Harvard Business School, Craig Hlavaty now spends his days tirelessly defending the merits of Lady Gaga and Slayer. The love child of Oliver Stone and Lester Bangs, Craig makes a living as the assistant music editor of the Houston Press, or does it make a living as him?
Scott H. Biram, a self proclaimed ‘Dirty Old One Man Band’ successfully, and sometimes violently, lashes together blues, hillbilly and country precariously to raucous punk and godless metal. Biram ain’t no candy-ass singer/songwriter either, sweetly strumming songs about girls with big eyes and dusty highways. HELL NO!!! His singing, yodeling, growling, leering and brash preachin’ and hollerin’ is accompanied by sloppy riffs and licks from his 1959 Gibson guitar and pounding backbeat brought forth by his amplified left foot. The remainder of this one-man band consists of an unwieldy combination of beat-up amplifiers and old microphones strung together by a tangled mess of guitar cables.Years of non-stop touring have honed his assault to a fine edge; his wide-eyed throw downs in the First Church of Ultimate Fanaticism routinely lead giddy followers to a fiery baptism.Scott H. Biram won’t die. On May 11th, 2003, one month after being hit head-on by an 18-wheeler at 75 MPH, he took the stage at The Continental Club in Austin, TX in a wheel chair – I.V. still dangling from his arm. With 2 broken legs, a broken foot, a broken arm and 1 foot less of his lower intestine, Biram unleashed his trademark musical wrath.
Entertaining atypical audiences fits squarely into Nobunny’s career plan. “I originally wanted to be a rabbit Elvis impersonator, then wanted to be a children’s performer,” he explains. “I still might do both, though I kind of am both. We can play to any crowd, young or old, PG or R.” Which explains why one finds playful props like foam novelty ears and dolls at his merch table as well as lines in his lyrics like, “This little piggy wants to get an erection.” Though he now lives in Oakland on the rare occasions when he’s off tour, the mysterious self-dubbed “half-man, half-jackalope” grew up in Chicago’s Ravenswood.
The Happen-Ins
Craig Kinsey
The Happen-Ins and Craig Kinsey (Sideshow Tramps) are the musical guests. Gina Miller invites Zenfilm’s W. Ross Wells to share the co-hosting duties. Community guest and ‘audience of one’ is Amber Roussel, co-founder of a creative consulting group called Ah-Ha! Creative that serves clients in the areas of arts, travel, hospitality, non-profit and technology including producing events for kirtsy.com. She is also one-half of the local Team Houston in the national Ford Fiesta Movement contest.
Comprised of former members of the Dedringers, Austins The Happen-Ins features Sean Faires and John Michael Schoepf with Lomita frontman Ricky Ray Jackson and joined later by Harlem Spiritual Orchestra Drummer, Falcon Valdez –its no surprise that they offer up a sound that blurs the lines between classic taste and youthful filth. Brimming with infectious melodies, bacon greased guitars and sweaty hip shaking swagger, the live shows helps them brandish their own culture and spirit seeped in rhythm & blues and rock n roll.
Born a full turn from the white picket fences of America, Craig Kinsey was raised on Southern lore from a family of moon shiners. His teenage years were spent train hopping, walking, and driving across the country in search of the old days Guthrie, Kerouac, and John Lee Hooker. This seeking out the marrow of life led him into the great silence of a monastery and out again into musics center stage. His album, The Burdener starts off with a circus a raucous, grinding New Orleans sound, then blending tunes which weave a tapestry of barroom piano, brass, strings and gypsy frontier styled swing. Craig is also frontman for the wildly popular Sideshow Tramps.
Roky Moon and BOLT! and the Covington-Richmond band are the musical guests. Community guest and ‘audience of one’ is Vernon Caldera, founder of KeepHoustonRich.com, a Website that promotes the city’s attributes by assuming the role of a Houston-centric video channel.
The hour-long program features sets by both bands recorded live in SugarHill’s 69-year-old Studio A as well as interviews with award winning record producer Dan Workman and his co-host Gina R. Miller.
Roky Moon and BOLT! are a rock n roll/glam rock band. Winners of the 2009 Houston Press Music Award for Best New Act the band has opened for national acts such as Sugar and Gold and Dax Riggs. In late 2009 Roky Moon and BOLT! were featured in the play “Life is Happy and Sad” which focused on the early life and works of Daniel Johnston. Roky Moon and BOLT! are recording their first full length record and completing a live rock opera that will debut in 2011 by Catastrophic Theater at DiverseWorks! Studio.
Melanie Covington is half of the soul duo, Covington – Richmond Band. She is a session vocalist from Saint Louis, MO, who at the age of 4, was asked to sit in with the Temptations. Her small frame duplicated dance steps, face gestures and sang loud enough to be felt & heard during a charity performance. Active in church and musical functions, she became the drum section leader in high school. Her all female band Kymistry was selected to tour with Roy Ayers and she’s opened for The Braxtons, Back Street Boys, Glenn Jones and Johnnie Taylor. Ms. Covington performs 3 nights a week at The Skybar in Houston. She is currently featured as the lead singer for the show Get Out! Of the Closet! and can be heard on various television campaigns.
Apr 10 10
Live From SugarHill Studios – Episode 17
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Autumn Owls
Autumn Owls
Motion Turns It On
Prog-math rockers Motion Turns It On & the Dublin-based Autumn Owls are the musical guests. Community guest and ‘audience of one’ is Ruben Dominguez, a founding member of rock group Toho Ehio and former freelance journalist for local rag Thorazine. Currently, he works as an entertainment anchor at KRIV-TV Fox 26 and was instrumental in the Fox Rocks local band segment among other music coverage. With this episode LFSH welcomes producer Gina Miller as the new co-host alongside award-winning record producer, Dan Workman.
Autumn Owls are a four-piece post rock-meets-folk band from Dublin. The band was one of the 10 selected by Hot Press to represent Ireland in the New York Tisch School of Arts 2007 Music Video Project. The song selected, went on to feature on Dave Fanning’s television program The Last Broadcast. After two EP releases, they began work with acclaimed producer Ciaran Bradshaw of Westland Studios. The band was nominated in the newcomer category “Hope for 2009 Award” in the Meteor Irish Music Awards. At the time of this filming Autumn Owls are currently recording their debut album and on tour in the U.S.
Behind every great band lies a story waiting to be told. For Houston-based Motion Turns It On, a local trio that roller coaster ride began, as stories of this nature often do, with misguided youth living in the suburbs. Manufactured living leads young ones to the kind of restlessness that occasionally sparks dormant creativity. MTIO formed in 2004 and the original members have transformed their vision into something truly cutting edge. Their stunning debut E.P. entitled Rima garnered rave reviews from Houston Calling to Amplifier Magazine. Now MTIO is a seasoned band with a new album entitled Kaledioscopic Equinox and a remarkable live performance thats been called schizophrenic, kinetic and controlled frenzy.
Mar 23 10
Live From SugarHill Studios – Episode 16
Grooveline Horns
Zach Balch
Grooveline Horns & Zach Balch are the musical guests. The program includes performances by bands and candid interviews with hosts Rosa Guerrero and award-winning record producer, Dan Workman. Community guest and ‘audience of one’ is Keaton Branch, contributor to AudioADD.net.
The Grooveline Horns are an internationally known three-man horn section including Carlos Sosa (sax), Fernando Castillo (trumpet) and Reggie Watkins (trombone). The band has won several accolades including the 2005 Latin Grammy Winner with La Mafia Best Groupera Album, Austin Chronicle Reader’s Poll Best Horn Section seven times and has played with everyone from Jason Mraz, Willie Nelson, Dave Matthews to Ozomatli and The Meters.
Zach Balch is a singer/songwriter from Levelland who admits, “If West Texas is in your blood, songwriting arrives like rows of cotton and Bible-belt Choruses”. Born on Elvis’ 50th, a graduate of Buddy Holly’s alma mater, and the grandson of a lifelong pianist and music educator, Zach’s training includes South Plains College where he studied guitar, and a short stay in the Jazz Program at the University of North Texas, where he was a vocal major.
