Before we get to talking about Houston concerts, both those upcoming and those happening this week, a few words about Rush, who began a tour a few days ago in Los Angeles.\u00a0 \u00a0The band\u2019s drummer, Neil Peart, died not long after Rush\u2019s 40th anniversary tour in 2015, and at that point it seemed like the band would never tour again.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But after taking some time to process their circumstances and engage in a bit of soul searching, surviving members Geddy Lee (vocals, bass) and Alex Lifeson (guitar) decided to take the show on the road one last time.\u00a0 The tour\u2019s only Texas stop is in Fort Worth later this month, with Houston once again being hosed.\u00a0 But that\u2019s another topic for another time.<\/p>\n
Despite selling over 40 million albums worldwide, Rush has, for much of the band\u2019s career, been considered a bit of a joke.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Slapping Rush with the \u201cnerd rock\u201d label, critics have rarely been kind, put off by the band\u2019s highly technical musical style and complex (well, difficult to play, in any case) time signatures.\u00a0 Aside from criticism based on Rush\u2019s proggy musical bent, insults were directed at the the ensemble for its lyrics, which often dealt with subjects like philosophy (particularly that of author Ayn Rand) and sci-fi \/ fantasy.<\/p>\n
And then there is Geddy Lee\u2019s voice, which has been described by detractors as resembling \u201ca cat being chased out the door with a blowtorch\u201d or \u201ca guinea pig with an amphetamine habit.\u201d\u00a0 Not to mention the fact that Rush\u2019s fan base is almost exclusively male, causing Lee to tell the crowd during a stop on the band\u2019s last tour, \u201cI\u2019m glad to see that, after all these years, many of you have actually convinced women to come to the show with you.\u201d<\/p>\n
And therein lies the reason that I have no beef with Rush. \u00a0\u00a0Lee and Lifeson are well aware of the things that have been said about them.\u00a0 And they think it\u2019s all rather funny.\u00a0 To that end, a short film<\/a> in which Rush pokes fun at itself was shown prior to the tour opener, and it is reasonable to assume that this practice will continue.\u00a0 Yeah, they\u2019re nerds, but they are also playing mofos and the kind of guys who can laugh at themselves, most definitely in on the joke.<\/p>\n Ticket Alert<\/p>\n Houston\u2019s own Carolyn Wonderland (I know she lives in Austin now, but she will always be ours) will perform at the Big Top<\/a> on Friday, September 4.\u00a0 Tickets are on sale now, and the show may well sell out, so get a move on if you\u2019re interested.\u00a0 And why wouldn\u2019t you be?\u00a0 An evening with Wonderland always includes powerful vocals, badass guitar playing and big fun.<\/p>\n As it has turned out, the untimely passing of leader Raul Malo late last year did not mean that it was the end of the road for the Mavericks.\u00a0 The remaining band members have regrouped as \u201cThe Mavericks and Friends,\u201d with different vocalists invited to be part of different concerts.\u00a0 You can see who shows up on Friday, September 18, at the House of Blues<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Bryson Tiller\u2019s music exists in that amorphous area between hip-hop and R and B.\u00a0 In an interview with Paper, Tiller explained, \u201cThere are some things I can say rapping that I can\u2019t say singing.\u201d Fair enough.\u00a0 Tiller\u2019s \u201cNeo Trapsoul\u201d tour rolls into the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion<\/a> on Thursday, October 15, with Majid Jordan, Ty Dolla $ign and Austin Millz opening.<\/p>\n It\u2019s pretty impressive when your band goes from busking outside other performers\u2019 gigs to headlining in a matter of just a few years, and that\u2019s exactly what happened in the case of Grateful Shred.\u00a0 When Dead and Company, a latter-day version of the Grateful Dead, were performing at the Hollywood Bowl in 2017, a group of musicians decided to perform some Dead covers in the vendor area (\u201cShakedown Street\u201d) adjacent to the venue.\u00a0 As can be seen in the video \u201cBusted at the Bowl,\u201d<\/a> police insisted that they cease and desist.\u00a0 And thus was born the legend of Grateful Shred.\u00a0 These days, the guys perform inside and on real stages.\u00a0 And the cops probably won\u2019t stop the show at the Heights Theater<\/a> on Sunday, November 8, at the Heights Theater unless things get really rowdy.<\/p>\n My dad would use the phrase \u201ccomes by it honestly\u201d to describe an individual who exhibits a talent possessed by one of their parents.\u00a0 This is certainly the case with the North Mississippi Allstars, a band led by Luther and Cody Dickinson, the scions of producer Jim Dickinson, who played piano on the Stones track \u201cWild Horses.\u201d\u00a0 The brothers Dickinson will play the Heights Theater<\/a> on Thursday, November 19.\u00a0 \u2018Cause Knowledge is Power:\u00a0 Jim Dickinson ended up playing on \u201cWild Horses\u201d because Ian Stewart, who was supposed to be at the piano, refused, based on the fact that the song contained minor chords.<\/p>\n Concerts This Week<\/p>\n Texas guitarist Ian Moore will celebrate the first-ever vinyl release of his 1995 album Modernday Folklore with a show at the Heights Theater<\/a> on Thursday.\u00a0 The music on the record is certainly accessible, particularly the hit song \u201cMuddy Jesus.\u201d\u00a0 But what\u2019s up with that cover, which features a bronze statue of a woman in a dress and high heels, bending over and sticking her head inside a large rock.\u00a0 And did we mention that she is surrounded by sheep?<\/p>\n It\u2019s a night of Texas music on Saturday at the Mucky Duck.\u00a0 First, San Antonio\u2019s Two Tons of Steel<\/a> will play an early show paying tribute to Lubbock\u2019s Buddy Holly.\u00a0 Then it\u2019s Houston favorite Mike Stinson<\/a> on stage for a late show, performing selections from his voluminous catalog of tremendous songs.\u00a0 Can\u2019t go wrong either way.<\/p>\n Why do they call him Buckethead?\u00a0 Because he performs with a cardboard Kentucky Fried Chicken bucket on the head, along with a white mask.\u00a0 Why KFC?\u00a0 I suppose that\u2019s because Mr. Head claims to have been raised in a chicken coop.\u00a0 And because he seems to be flying on 11 herbs and spices. But wouldn\u2019t that mean that he is, in essence, promoting the consumption of his spirit animals?\u00a0 You can ask Buckethead all of these questions when he performs on Sunday at the House of Blues<\/a>.<\/p>\n When \u201cnew wave\u201d was the thing in the late \u201870s, music included in the category was all over the place, and refreshingly so.\u00a0 Everything from Talking Heads to the Cars to Devo.\u00a0 One of the most substantial and enduring new wave artists is Joe Jackson, who first saw chart success with the vaguely punk-ish \u201cIs She Really Going Out with Him?\u201d\u00a0 But there was melodicism lurking beneath that veneer, as exhibited on Jackson\u2019s next big hit, the jazzy \u201cStepping Out.\u201d\u00a0 Over the years, Jackson has created an impressive catalog, with recordings ranging in style from swing to classical.\u00a0 Check him out on Tuesday at the Heights Theater<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Before we get to talking about Houston concerts, both those upcoming and those happening this week, a few…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":331875,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[10647,26743,85609,26754,22883,118659,575,18159,118660,71280,118661,226,56,58,57,25156,118662,118663,30532,118664,4281,36835,278,118665,118666,75452,10650,118667,118668,59424],"class_list":["post-331874","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-alex-lifeson","tag-bryson-tiller","tag-buckethead","tag-buddy-holly","tag-carolyn-wonderland","tag-cody-dickinson","tag-concerts","tag-devo","tag-geddy-lee","tag-grateful-dead","tag-grateful-shred","tag-homepage","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news","tag-ian-moore","tag-ian-stewart","tag-jim-dickinson","tag-joe-jackson","tag-luther-dickinson","tag-mavericks","tag-mike-stinson","tag-music","tag-north-mississippi-allstars","tag-raul-malo","tag-rolling-stones","tag-rush","tag-talking-heads","tag-the-cars","tag-two-tons-of-steel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=331874"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331874\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/331875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=331874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=331874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=331874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}