Where to begin?

Well folks, it's been a busy week in Lake Woebegone. It's actually hard to decide where to start my gushing because there were so many delights this past week, but it is always safe to start with Todd Snider. Last thursday, I went to see my favorite performer and it did not disappoint. Todd played with a full band, which I had never seen before (given some of the funny looks exchanged by the members of the band, it was unclear whether *they* and Todd had seen each other before). But it was great-- he leaned away from most of my melancholic favorites towards those songs which more readily lend themselves to a full band/honky tonk interpretation. It was still peppered with some of his absolute best though and it was fun to see such a different energy level from someone I have seen so many times. In addition to the bliss that is seeing Todd Snider live, there were two good opening bands (The Trishas, especially-- look for them on this year's lake CD and see them pictured below). The highlight of the evening for me, however, was the encore, and then the second encore. The encore was all three bands coming out on stage and singing Bob Dylan's Knocking on Heaven's Door which made me think I had died and gone to heaven. The second encore was Elvis (Todd's longtime roadie) coming out in full Elvis (the King) regalia to sing Hounddog with everyone on back-up vocals. He brought the house down.

The weekend, of course, also marked Betsy McCabe's induction into the SHOF (schaackmobile hall of fame). Her visit coincided with the Fort Worth Stock Show, one of the largest in the country, where we saw gigantic and miniature versions of many different kinds of animals (in addition to normal-sized ones, but those aren't nearly as interesting.) We got to see tons of cool stuff about how the other half lives (by "other half", I mean the legions of kids who grow up showing animals, their parents, horse breeders, cowboys, etc.) You must imagine the scene for a minute to appreciate what a cultural experience this actually was: a giant hall full of thousands of people and livestock pens with a small arena in the middle where 11 year-old girls (primarily) in western-style shirts and sparkly belts tugged on the necks of their beloved animals while making extremely serious eye contact with even more serious livestock judges who circled around looking at the flanks of these domesticated beasts. Everyone was on the edge of their seats waiting to find out who would be crowned the winner based on some mysterious criteria I still don't quite understand. Amidst the anticipation, Betsy and I are watching and chatting, until we realized we weren't really sure what we are looking at and exclaim (aloud) "Wait a minute, are these goats or are these sheep?!" Everyone else in the bleachers who was watching must have thought we were kidding or we were idiots. Unfortunately, we weren't kidding.

It was lucky for me that the stock show was going on or else I would have somehow had to figure out how to entertain Betsy in the midst of the Metroplex (or as she put it-- the world's business park capital) during a coldsnap. In addition to the stock show, we also celebrated our spirit animal (owls, sparkly owls preferably) at a pub in Arlington with friends on Friday night (us with Carol, pictured below). It was great to have her here and quite a coup for the SHOF to receive such rave reviews from its most skeptical inductee. High praise included comments like: "I slept like a baby!" and "I didn't even have to pee outside!" As a result, the SHOF is currently preparing for a deluge of potential inductees. Thanks for coming Bets!

Ode to Austin and Welcome to the World Maitland Curiosity!

Your delinquent blogger is here, reporting for duty. The last few weeks have been a mixture of excitement and challenge here at post-doc-trailer-park central. Lots of good tidings workwise, but sometimes even 75 degree sunny weather can't completely fend of a case of the winter blues. But I think I broke the spell Sunday when I went down to Austin for the day to see my friends Stacy and Kristal. Oh, Austin. If only the rest of Texas were more like you. Actually, I am not so concerned about the rest of Texas. I would be happy if just Arlington were more like you. One of the highlights of my day was going to Twin Falls-- a spot along Barton Creek just south of town surrounded on either side by cedar bluffs and hiking trails. The creek is swollen right now and more clear than any other river I've seen in the state. It was spectacularly beautiful, and those of you who know me know there is little I enjoy more than being near running water. I was accompanied by two very cool people I just met (Austin is full of friendly, interesting people), Heather and Heyd (pronounced like the word 'hide'). I got to hike a little, wade in the water, and enjoy good conversation in the sunshine. On a scale from 1 to 10, Sunday was an 11. (To illustrate my glee, here's a pic Heyd snapped with his iphone from a rock outcropping in the river-- he is a painter and does art direction for movies, which clearly explains why his iphone picture is sooooo much better than any of the ones I ever post.)
In other news, the schaackmobile hall of fame is readying itself for another inductee this weekend and we have our entire staff working overtime in preparation! Betsy McCabe-- lover of comfort and all things four star-- is going to make her maiden voyage to Texas this week for a conference. Her visit will crescendo with a night at the one and only Chez Schaackmobile (I need to remember to buy candies for her pillow-- because inductees know we might not have a monopoly on luxury, but we have no shortage of pillows!) Anyway, Betsy's much anticipated visit might be followed by an impromptu visit from the Weinberg family (Joanna, Jonathan, and their most recent addition, Maitland Curiosity). At two weeks old, if I somehow convince Joanna to stay overnight in the trailer, her daughter MC would most certainly hold the world record for youngest schaackmobile hall of famer of all time. Who wouldn't want to start their kids down a path of lifelong achievement that way? Route your road trip my way if you can guys!

Introducing the one and only (no doubt!), ...Maitland Curiosity Weinberg.

Impaired by Your Convictions

I'm happy to announce that my friends Jeff Streicher and Jesse Meik of Jude the Innocent fame (and the proprietors of Lab of Luxury Records, the recording studio that generously helped get the DWO EP off the ground) have released their long-awaited album-- Impaired by Your Convictions. Their songs blend elements of all the main subcategories of rock: acoustic, progressive, classic, folk, indie, and, of course, glam. I love the album and encourage music lovers interested in a sonically winding, unorthodox-but-classic listening experience to get a copy and see what they've cooked up (it's available on cdbaby, itunes, amazon, or you can get one directly from them through me if you want an actual CD to hold in your hands). Their sound is hard to pigeonhole, but if you took the rawness of the Violent Femmes and crossed it with the panache of The Clash, back-crossed that to the uniqueness of Okkervil River, and then inbred it by marrying it to its 2nd cousin, (insert your favorite band name here), you might have something that sounded like Jude the Innocent. Check them out! My favorite song is Suffer the Ride, if you want to hear, click below.

Happy Anniversary to Me

Today marks one year since I attached the trailer to my car and started south from Bloomington to/with my new home here in Texas-- can you believe it? So far, so good. The trailer is still standing, the schaackmobile hall of fame boasts a whopping 21 inductees (last night's visit from my friend Steve Freedberg and 16 of his students boosted the tent division number from 1 to 18, which helps), and I couldn't be happier about the minimalist lifestyle I have adopted since coming down this way. The feelings of independence, unclutteredness, simplicity, liberation, and outside-lovingness completely trump the occasional claustrophobia. The last 24 hours provided an excellent crucible for why this is a good idea-- a cold snap in Texas means I run the space heater a little higher in the trailer, a cold snap in Indiana meant the pipes burst and the garage flooded. The whole experiment has mainly left me wondering-- why didn't I do this sooner? And, will I ever stop?

Here is a recent picture of my homestead on a crisp winter morning-- isn't she a beaut?

Spooky Folk-- not just a musical genre, but a fantastic band!

Just a quick post to share my excitement about Spooky Folk, a band playing this Thursday in Dallas at a legendary venue in Deep Ellum called Trees that just reopened. Deep Ellum is a rather mythic neighborhood-- born to industrial warehouse parents, ...supplanted by an early childhood mash-up of black and jewish businesses colliding into each other like kids and coffee tables, ...fast-forward to rebellious, teenage years dominated by punk, ...eventually rising to its commercially successful zenith as a music district in the 90's,... only to crash under its own weight due to a midlife crisis of epic proportions during the now-defunct oughts. These days, the neighborhood is sowing the seeds of what will hopefully be a full-blossomed renaissance. The origin of the name Deep Ellum is somewhat steeped in mystery, but it is thought to be an elongate, fossilized twist on deep Elm, the main street running through the neighborhood, which was far (deep) from the central goings-on in downtown Dallas at the time. But this area provided an alternative epicenter for marginalized minorities like African Americans and Eastern European Jews-- both essential parts of the burgeoning economy in Dallas at the beginning of the last century, but maligned socially by the staid, classist hierarchy of the true downtown. In 1937, Deep Ellum was famously described as the one "spot in the city that needs no daylight saving time because there is no bedtime.... The only place recorded on earth where business, religion, hoodooism, gambling and stealing goes on at the same time without friction." From what I have seen so far, that description still applies.

But what about the band, man? Recently, I went up to Denton-- my favorite place in Texas-- to see Spooky Folk, whom I had seen perform previously several months ago. Do you know how awesome it is to watch a band blossom?? Much like a neighborhood's renaissance, only faster. When I saw SF in the summer, they were good, but when I saw them in Denton a few weeks ago, they were GREAT. They are an amazing combination of rambunctious and pure, eerie and familiar, inviting and unprecedented. My two favorite things about the band are their ability to generate fervor and the entanglement of the lead singer's transcendent voice (Kaleo, above right) and the gently, uncoiling, melodies and effects of the violin (played by Petra Kelly, below). They even played one song with the recent must-have instrument of so many bands, the melodica (below). It is so cool to watch/hear them fasten down certain parts of their sound, while unleashing the sails and letting other parts fly free. The most recent show I saw them play was packed, and everyone in the room knew all the words to all the songs-- I couldn't help but imagine their delight looking out into that crowd and seeing the hoedown they had incited! Their performance at Trees will undoubtedly be another rivet in the building of this band and their sound and I can't wait to hear. If for some reason you are reading this and you live near here-- come with me-- I promise it'll be a real barn burner!

photo credits: unknown, Jason Janik, Danny Fulgencio (2x), and me