This one is about A Boy and His Dog:

Watch for more episodes on the way!

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

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

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

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

Sweet!

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!

We'll be freshly back from the Kerrville Wine and Music Festival, so we'll be tan, strung out from lack of sleep, and probably hallucinating.  Bruce may finally show his belligerent side, if you're lucky.

In other words, the perfect recipe for World Racketeering Squad's triumphant return to the Red Eyed Fly as we close out the Summer.  We celebrated the beginning of summer in May, and now it's time for summer the season to take a hike - we want to focus on Summer Glau for a while. 

The Squad brings back songs that were on hiatus for 3 months and knocks Red River on its ass with a reprise of our rock opera single, "Omega in Love versus The Supermonsters."

All that and the first 15 audience members get a free copy of our new demo CD More Needful Things, featuring a brand new recording of "Needful Things" ... and more!

See you soon,
Reed, Isaac, and Bruce

Wednesday Sep 3
Red-Eyed Fly
715 Red River

• 8 pm - Upper Echelon
• 9 pm  - World Racketeering Squad
• 10pm - Wonderland Avenue
• 11pm - Black Bone Child
• $5 21+ / $8 18+

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!

Not only are we friends and fans of the studly but sensitive Johann, but we're also the power behind the music.  Even though Bruce Chandler rocks 24/7 to the WRS beat, he somehow found time to record and produce Johann's new album.  Bruce just can't help himself.  So much awesome requires multiple outlets.

So when you come to Care Mundi Friday, not only will you bask in the boyish grin of Johann Wagner, you'll also get to hear what Bruce sounds like playing percussion for such a fine folksinger AND purchase the triumph of musical magic that the Wagner-Chandler combo brings to the world.

See you there!

Friday Aug 22 - 8:00 PM
Cafe Mundi
1704 East 5th St

Link

Since the Squad is also celebrating the 1-year anniversity of our first performance ever (at Reed's All-the-Way Party), we're gung-ho about all things birthday, so were celebrating Sunny, revolving around the sun, and all things that happen but once a year in an all-star show Sunny's put together.

Let the Sunnyshine in on Tuesday, August 19th at Trophy's on South Congress.  Things kick off around 10PM and there's no telling when the Squad will play our accoustic set in the happy mayhem.  Update - looks like the Squad take the stage for our mini-set just after 10!

Guess you'll just have to party all night, again!

At Sunny's birthday
At Sunny's birthday
We'd like to wish you all what you would wish yourself
On  Sunny's birthday
It's  Sunny's birthday
And it's so good to have you back from off the shelf

It's a sad day in pop music.

But, on a brighter note, I saw Weird Al Yankovic perform last night in Dallas and it was an amazing show! Over 2 hours of hilarity, finished off with a live version of the 11 minute epic Alba, Alber, Albor, Albuquerque.

Here's an example of some Polish students in a dorm:

To see more flights of fancy in buildings, as well as an Improv Everywhere video from 2005, go here.

Megan Allen sang tremendously on her debut performance of our rock opera "Omega in Love Versus The Supermonsters".   We showcased some of our favorite covers, specifically "Rock Me Amadeus" and "Under My Thumb", the latter with Reed Oliver on keyboards. 

Reed also played more bass than he ever has in our set, and demonstrated that all his practice is definitely paying off.

Oh, and we had a professional photographer in to document the whole event!  We'll be sharing some of the photos when they come in.

Thanks to Jess, Irma, Sarah, Justin, and all the others who joined us last night.  We'll see you in September!

Isaac

Noir 5, originally uploaded by graphicnovelist.

Turns out painter and cartoonist Harris O'Malley is a hell of a photographer, too! He's just posted several sets of photos from a recent photo shoot with Wolfpack Productions here in Austin.

I was there to support my friend Harris O'Malley, who had two beautiful paintings in the show.  We ran into a lot of old friends, including Jules aka Dr John from bluesqueezebox and Black Molly.  There was some cool video art and some live performance pieces, as well as paintings and sculpture.

Erotica is showing now through the end of the month.

I have to admit this would have been an awesome thing.

I wanted to share with you wonderful news from the Capital Area Food Bank -- they sent me a lovely thank you letter, and said that the money we raised was enough to provide 440 meals! I was thrilled to hear it, and wanted to tell all of y'all too!

Thanks to everyone who attended and helped out for this good cause, and had a great time doing it!

See you there!

Tuesday Aug 5
    * Red-Eyed Fly ALL AGES
    * ALL AGES
    * 715 Red River
    * Austin, TX 78701
    * 10:00pm - 11:00pm $5 adults / $8 minors

In the meantime, here's a terrifying David Haselhoff video featuring KITT:

Needful Things

• 8pm Kemly
• 9pm Quarter-Life Crisis
• 10pm World Racketeering Squad
• 11pm Bright Knife

Quarter-Life Crisis are a terrific local rock/punk band . Check out their MySpace tunes, especially "Into the Night".

It's our first time playing at Red-Eyed Fly and it's going to be a great show!  Bring your friends.

Isaac

I simply adore Special Things, and truly appreciate Bedroom Demos Vol. 1, so I reckon I'll like Cruelty, too.

Come help Southpaw push his darling into the world and join the Squad Tuesday night (July 29) at the Cactus Cafe.  The show is free and starts at 8:30PM!

They're always based on a group of regular people and the movements that define their lives and vocations.  She's worked with fire fighters, gondoliers, and Elvis impersonators to name a few.

Now, she's taken on roller skaters, and the last performance of "Skate!" is this Sunday night at Playland Skate Center, 8PM.

Get tickets!

Be there or miss all the fun!

From EPIC FU.

All that aside, just gotta love the vibe from "Indianna Jones!"

And see more of the magic on Dogtoons!

I was cruising Flickr for Keith Haring art to use as chat icons, when I came across this. It's not Keith Haring, but I love it.

I also think it looks a lot like Bun-Bun from Sluggy Freelance.

Not only is it a laid-back good time, but you can catch all of Bill's majesty and antics and still make it to The Parlor on time for our show!

I tried to find a video to help convince you of Bill Davis' charms, but it seems there's an internet conspiracy to keep him down and out of sight.  Fight the Man!  See Bill Davis tonight!

Tonight the star attraction (aside from us, of course!) was the disco ball hanging from the cherry picker in the parking lot, and the enormous movie projections on the side of the building as we played.

Thanks to Comfortable Billy, to Rusty Montana, to Megan, Bernadette, Alicia, and all our friends who came out to see us play!  Some pictures were taken and they'll be posted as soon as they develop.

Next up, tomorrow's gig at The Parlor!

Isaac

This weekend my and my buddy Danny Dolinger did some recording. Here is what came of it. It's Danny's parody of Robert Earl Keen"s "The Road Goes on Forever". Enjoy!

Of course not, so the Squad has added to its mission bringing forth the occasional creation to do Koko of Yacht Rock proud.

So mix up an umbrella drink and prepare to chill to his week's smoooooth edition, "Sweet Luisa".

We have a new bass player.  His name is Reed Oliver.

I know.  I know.  You're saying, "Isn't Reed Oliver the name of the Squad's lead singer?  The platinum-topped paladin of playfullness?  The tin-whistling troubador?"

Yes, that's who Reed Oliver was.  But he has been transformed into a man on the down-low, who reaches for the heights, but does it not a little down and dirty.  Reed Oliver is ... a bass player.

Who sings, too.

See the emerging glory of this new identy, WRS as a Power Trio, at two, yes two gigs in the coming week:

First, return for a last hurrah to Solar Tuesdays.  When a star dies, it either expands like a Red Giant into the ether, or it collapses, producing black holes, white dwarfs, or maybe even neutron stars.  As the sun gods collapse from the effort of sustaining so much Rock and Roll, how will it all go down?  Come find out!  It's BYOB, free and easy, and a great stage to rock on.  Jazz surfers Rusty Montana open!

Then, join the party as WRS kicks off the birthday celebration of the Barebones Orchestra at The Parlor.  If you haven't seen BBO, you don't know the 12-member majesty of their sweet sweet jams and tawdry grooves.  Lotsa folks will be there, so come early to get a table and a slice of The Parlor's truly excellent pizza.

See you there,
Isaac, Bruce, and Reed

Here's "Bill Says":

Let us know what you think!

In pursuit of this lofty mission, we have taken it upon ourselves to ally with Sustainable Waves as they take the very gods of the heavens, Apollo, Helios, Ra, Surya deva, and Bast, and put them to work generating power for rock and roll.  Imagine the shining gods toiling to drive the turbines to power mighty light shows and dazzling amplifiers, like deities in stupendous hamster wheels.

Tonight, you will see the fruits of those labors.  That's right, World Racketeering Squad will round out a night of solar-powered magnificence started by the Sheep Thrills and Cholo Gun in a band-against-band song-off.

Bring a six-pack and enjoy the neighborhood ambiance while you rock out.  The action starts at 8PM, preceded by spinning DJs, and WRS wraps up by 10PM, followed by more spinning DJs.

The Squad is introducing new material and other surprises.  Things will happen tonight for the very first time.  Make sure you can tell everyone you were there when it started!

Solar Tuesday
4704 Cesar Chavez
Just east of Springdale across the street from Arkie's.
8PM - Sheep Thrills vs. Cholo Gun
9PM - World Racketeering Squad
10PM - DJ into the night

So I'm totally thrilled and excited.  I set a goal to dedicate myself fully to this job, do well, and get hired.  And it worked!

And since I scheduled it beforehand, I still get to go to the Kerrville Folk Festival next week.

Life is very good.

love,
reed

What made it even cooler was the combination of our home advantage at the Carousel and the marvelous folks who came out to support us.  My old neighbor and playwright extraordinaire Hank Schwemmer, a posse from my work at Apple, Ally Means, herself a snazzy performer, fans from Comfort Fest, Thomas Monclova of the Barebones Orchestra, Ms. Megan, who is not only our most loyal fan but also performed "Omega in Love" with us for the first time without having rehearsed it (mad props Megan!), and many others.

The night started mellow, as Isaac and I made our acoustic way through WRS classics and tunes we don't get to play with the full band. Isaac brought out his Devo-esque rocker "Terrible Feeling,"  and a jump to keyboards led to the premiere performance of "Dreams of Svengali."

And then the rock began.  As we powered through the set, the energy in the room started to hum, then throb, then explode into action as the crowd wildly gyrated and the band kicked it up even higher in response.  It's no exagerration if I say this was our best show ever, and the cherry on top was the encore of "Electromagnetic Pulse" requested by none other than Moy, the awesome bartender (go to the Carousel, drink heartily, tip mightily).

That was the climax, and the weary Squad eventually made our way back to WRS-HQ to unload and decompress.  But it wasn't over.  Jonny_Dub had some news.  We had just played our last show with our friend, compatriot, and bass player.  Last night, Jonny_Dub requested to be discharged from the Squad.  So here it is:

Jonny_Dub, the World Racketeering Squad hereby honorably discharges you from service.  We loved the spiritual energy you brought to the band, the deep knowledge of vocals and how to bring them to new heights, the dedication you had to perfection and innovation, the fun you brought to every rehearsal and performance, and of course the steady reliability your bass presence brought to every song. 

Goodbye Jonny.

We'll see you soon, but we'll miss you sooner.