World Racketeering Squad Blog

As the blondest member of WRS, I hereby endorse the candidate who knows how to handle a crisis, keep things together, and will never be accused of being a wuss:

A great friend of mine with whom I collaborated on the terrific unproduced screenplay Liberty Valiant, Scott Bate, has taken his love of movies to the interweb with a series of great rants on his favorite flicks.

This one is about A Boy and His Dog:

Watch for more episodes on the way!

Tina Fey shows who she's supporting for the election.

David Foster Wallace hanged himself on Sunday.  The NPR commentator today said it really well, so I'll let him handle that part.

I love his writing, and for many years touted Infinite Jest as my favorite novel.  Me, a man who hates naming favorites had no problem with that one.

Several weeks ago, I finished a tune that had been haunting me for months.  The experience was cathartic, but I didn't have the energy then to work out the chords with Isaac and record it, though he was more than willing.

Tonight, we release "Ravi Taught Me" to the world.  It's the most personal song I've ever written, and it's about another man who took his own life.

Yours,
Reed

In a past life I was an independent filmmaker.  No, really.  And I've been putting together the live videos of the Squad for months, but this is the first opportunity I've had to do a quick and dirty video for an artist I respect as much as Isaac and Bruce, the inimitable Luna Tart!

The video is low-key, but the lyrics are NSFW. :)

And then we went ahead and shot a bonus video just for giggles:

I was really bummed to here about the passing of Jerry Reed yesterday. He was one of my favorite guitar players.

After hearing the work I did on J Wagner's new album, I was stoked and honored that at this year's Kerrville Wine & Music Festival Alexa Woodward asked me to engineer & produce her next album.

Alexa lives in New York and is an urban banjoist songwriter. Check her out HERE and HERE. You won't be disappointed.

Forget world peace, ending hunger, and christmas cheer - I want one of THESE!

Sweet!

Yes, it's time again for the Kerrville Wine and Music Festival, affectionately known as Little Folk, to relax, play and listen to music all night, and engage in hippy hijinks.

Little Folk will always be special for the Squad, because it's where we first performed our songs someplace other than Reed's living room and the positive reactions and love we encountered gave us the boost we needed to start playing open mics around Austin. 

A year flew by so quickly, and the Squad moves with the times, so join us for a drink and tune at Quiet Valley Ranch (hydration is vital!) and we'll see you September 3rd at the Red Eyed Fly for our Summer and CD Combo-Release Fiesta!

Until then, enjoy this clip of the old Gene Autry science fiction movie serial, The Phantom Empire!  I watched these as a kid and loved them.  Yay YouTube!

I got word yesterday from Mitch, our excellent and talented photographer, that our photographs from the August Red-Eyed Fly gig are ready and in the mail to WRS HQ in beautiful northeast Austin.  You can rest assured, we'll be posting those here, there and everywhere when they arrive.

We're also in the process of creating our new CD which we'll be distributing at shows, including our newest recording, "Needful Things", aka "the tin whistle song"!

Stay tuned for news on how to get CDs as well as t-shirts and stickers!