Like Joining the Circus, But Less of a Commitment

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Guess what... We'll be heading back to The Carousel Lounge this Saturday Night... AND... It's probably going to end up being an awesome time! You never know who's going to show up there. One night a woman who I assume is a regular there at "the CL" was feeling our music so much that she created her own dance to it. We called it the one-foot possum clap/stomp. Complicated, but pretty magical. Another time an urban polygamist with a bad attitude came in and sat on the front row with two of his wives. Not too friendly, but they seemed to enjoy the show.

We like playing there because it's laid back and the beer is cold and reasonably priced. They don't sell liquor, but you can bring your own... they do sell "set-ups," which is the non-alcoholic part of a mixed drink.

We also have the new Possum Posse T-Shirts - hot off the presses! They're yellow with maroon lettering and I'm pretty sure all the kids are going to be wearing them pretty soon. You can take a look at the "merch" section of our site.














We go on at 7pm and we'll be playing with Bread and Bridge Farmers.

Hope to see you there!

Bringing Trashy Back

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

So last weekend we were invited back to be the "house band" at the 2nd annual White Trash Bash in Houston, TX. The idea of the party was to dress up in your best trashy clothes and have a good time. We found the ease at which we came up with completely appropriate attire to be somewhat bothersome, but were happy that it helped us get a gig. Most of our songs are either trashy or grossly inconsiderate, and last year we melted everyone's hearts with our rendition of "the re-remix to ignition."

While there were only two band members available this year, we pretty much took the WTB to a whole new level. Here's the photo recap:





















Liz and Everett Hosted us. Nice folks. Their yard was littered with kiddie pools, discarded refrigerators (which conveniently doubled as ice coolers), flamingos, and empty beer cans.


















Brian brought his "let's party" belt, which added a touch of class to the party. It also signified that Brian thought partying was warranted. In addition, we found ourselves without beers a couple of times throughout the evening and it really came in handy.


















We ditched our traditional attire and went for more of a "back to our roots" look. Adding to the theme was the fact that Jomo's guitar pickup quit on him and he had to purchase an add-on... only to find that it wouldn't exactly fit in the sound hole of his guitar - and had to be duct-taped to stay in place. Keeping it classy.























We finally got our new Possum Posse T-Shirts in. We used them as speaker covers and shamelessly promoted them. By the way - they're for sale. $10 at all Posse Shows. We even sold a few! Granted, we sold them to a couple of people who looked like they just felt sorry for us, but we'll take what we can get.


















We left the P.A. set up overnight so we could get a little rest, and headed back to the motel. When we returned the next morning, we found this kind gentleman "guarding our gear." Somehow his last beer had ended up in the bobcat's paws above his head. Nice guy. His name is Ben and he works for the government. I mean the guy on the couch, not the bobcat.

So all in all, an extremely successful gig. We were told that we would be the house band should there be a 3rd annual White Trash Bash. I'll keep you posted.

Inspiration

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Tonight I visited an old friend who I had not seen in a while. He's my muse, of sorts. He's always got some sort of drama going on in his life and it tends to make for great songwriting material. Tonight he told about his wedding week.

He got married in Mexico and went down a few days before everybody else to get the lay of the land. Also, I gathered, to drink a lot of tequila and bid farewell to his wilder days.

He booked a room for something around $50 a night, but it was amazing! He had a view of the ocean, and access to a private beach. Everything was going well until he stumbled into his room late one night after a tequila tasting and found a small crab in his room. The crab was at the end of the bed and looked at my friend as if he had been interrupted during an important task. My friend froze and what followed was a good minute of silence, confusion, fear, posturing and uncertainty. Also drunkenness on the part of my friend. At that moment, the crab scurried under the bed. My friend, feeling comfortable in the knowledge of the common fact that crabs simply cannot climb bedsheets, went to sleep.

About that time in the story, my friend's cell phone rang. It was the Austin police. It seems he had enough unpaid parking fees that the police had booted his jeep. He bolted out the door without the common decency to finish his dang story.

Bottom line... where was this story going? I thought I had the makings of a great song. Maybe he and the crab became friends. Maybe a tidal pool came in and brought with it all of the crab's extended family - stranding my friend on the bed. Perhaps the crab found an alternate route to the top of the bed. Maybe my friend got up in the middle of the night to use the toilet and got snapped on his pinky toe. Who knows. In any case, I've got no material to go off of. I've never been so let down in my life.

Maybe sometime soon I'll find out what happened, and I'll let you know. Or maybe it's better left to the imagination. Maybe life is all about anticipation and the best stories are those that contain a little mystery. No, I think I'd rather know the end of the dad-gum story.

So I'm calling it a night. The band is playing a big show up north of Austin in Round Rock, TX. We'll be playing at a place called Junior's Ice House and Grill. http://www.juniorsgrillroundrock.com/ We go on at 6:30 and it's a free, all-ages show!

Here's a little bit of video from a recent show we had at Jovita's Mexican Restaurant in Austin, TX

Always Late

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Well, it finally happened. We started one of our gigs late because our backup/lead singer, Jomo, was late. I would prefer to believe that he had car trouble or injured himself, but word on the street is that he was sitting at home watching Lifetime Movie Network.

As you may know, Rascal Red, the official lead singer of the band, owns all of the intellectual property and retains all of the bands income. He occasionally buys the band dinner if he feels that they have done well. But other than that, he shows no mercy and maintains a dictator-like grip on the band.

In 2002, when the band formed, Red had all the band members sign agreements, essentially locking them into a sort of indentured servitude. He has since failed to show up for a single gig, pay the band members anything, or even call or write. Jomo was forced to step in on the lead vocals. Brian was forced to drive the van. 8th Grade was forced to quit school and sell merchandise, and Robert was forced to pick up Red's banjo and take the lead.

But at Jovita's Mexican Restaurant this last weekend, Jomes began to take on an almost Rascal Red-Like persona. After showing up late, he promptly sang two mid-90's cover songs, causing the other band members to shed some tears. Then he got into a bar fight with a newly-landed emigrant and ran out of the bar with all the tips just before the end of the last song. True, the band has never made more than $14 in tips, but that was supposed to be divided unfairly by Red.

In short, Jomo is on thin ice. We'll see how it goes this weekend. We'll be returning to the Carousel Lounge on 52nd street in Austin. Show starts at 9:00 and goes until Midnight. It's free too, so don't miss it! Find out more on our gigs page.

Maybe we'll see you there.

Back on the Carousel

Sunday, February 7, 2010

I can't sleep. That's the only time I think about blogging. "You're welcome" says my mild case of insomnia to you, the reader (don't shoot the messenger - I personally don't believe the blog is very good, and I'll be the first to admit it (primarily because I'm the only one who knows it exists (and check out how I can end the triple parenthetical sentence)))

Anyway, my point is that Rascal Red and The Possum Posse will be returning to the Carousel Lounge Thursday, the 11th of February. We had a great Christmas show there and they said we could come back.

We're getting excited, and that's why I can't sleep. That or the 3 cups of coffee I had at 4:30. Anyway, we hope to see you there Thursday!