Hosted By:
Burning Nopal

When:
Friday, January 15, 2010

Where:
Josephine Theatre
339 W. Josephine St.
San Antonio
78212

Description:
BURNING NOPAL headlines this annual fundraiser for We Are Alive (www.wearealive.org).

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Hosted By:
Burning Nopal

When:
Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Where:
G.I.G. On The Strip
2803 N. St. Mary's
San Antonio
78212

Description:
3 bands play. Music begins at 8PM. BURNING NOPAL goes on at 10PM. $3 cover ($5 to bring in your own bottle of wine).

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Hosted By:
Burning Nopal

When:
Saturday, October 03, 2009

Where:
Sunken Gardens Amphitheater
Brackenridge Park
San Antonio
78212

Description:
BURNING NOPAL takes the stage at 6:00 p.m. Gay Fiesta runs from 2-10 p.m.

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Hosted By:
Burning Nopal

When:
Saturday, September 12, 2009

Where:
Candlelight Coffee House
3011 N. St. Mary's
San Antonio
78212

Description:
Our lead guitarist celebrates his 45th! BURNING NOPAL unveils new line-up. First show of 2009! Join us!

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I was an avid concert-goer in the 80's. But in the 90's, like many things in my life at that time, concerts fell by the way. However, life began anew for me, for many reasons, in the new millennium and I soon started going to concerts again. I figured I'd better start writing them down. You know how forgetful us old folks can be.

2002 -- Don Henley (Tyler, TX)
2003 -- Billy Joel & Elton John (Birmingham, AL)
2003 -- Fleetwood Mac (Shreveport, LA)
2004 -- Kansas, Foreigner & Styx (Dallas, TX)
2005 -- Journey (Dallas, TX)
January 2006 -- Bon Jovi (Dallas, TX)
January 2007 -- Styx (Houston, TX)
August 2007 -- Rush (Dallas, TX)
June 2008 -- Styx & Boston (San Antonio, TX)
July 2008 -- Cheap Trick, Heart & Journey (San Antonio, TX)
September 2008 -- The Eagles (San Antonio, TX)
October 2008 -- Neil Diamond (San Antonio, TX)
January 2009 -- Celine Dion (San Antonio, TX)
March 2009 -- Elton John & Billy Joel (San Antonio, TX)
June 2009 -- Coldplay (San Antonio, TX)
August 2009 -- Paul McCartney (Dallas, TX)

Wow! Where to begin. This is just one of those times when "you had to be there." I'm not feeling terribly verbose about this, but I'll do my best.

First, the venue. It's been reported that this was the first concert at the new Dallas Cowboys stadium. I'm not real impressed with the facility. Yes, it seats 80,000 or 100,000 when configured for a concert. Yes, there were that many people there last night. It was a zoo! Everything from getting a bottled water, to buying a T-shirt, to using the restroom, to finding your seat was a major ordeal all because of the constant crush of people. I'll take the 15,000 seat AT&T Center in San Antonio any day. The acoustics are much better there too.

My hotel was a nightmare, but let's not even go there...

No idea who the opening act was. They were good, but the acoustics were so echo-y you couldn't understand what they were saying or singing. Sir Paul and company finally took the stage at 9PM. I had a great seat on the floor: front, left section, 20th row. What can one say? It's the closest thing to going to a Beatles concert. Hard to believe McCartney is pushing 70 years of age. They opened with "Drive My Car" followed by "Jet." The set list was pretty much what you would expect with a few surprises. Included were many of Paul's signature songs from the Beatles catalog as well as his solo career; "Let It Be," "Hey Jude," "Long & Winding Road," "Back in the USSR," "Eleanor Rigby," "Band On The Run," his tribute to Linda "My Love," "Live & Let Die," "Let Me Roll It," etc. Among the surprises was a cover of the Buddy Holly classic "It's So Easy," "Blackbird" from the White Album, and Paul's tribute to George, a touching version of "Something." The tribute to John was in 2 parts. First, a song I wasn't familiar with which Paul had written post-1980. Then later "A Day In The Life/Give Peace A Chance." Sprinkled in among the classics were some "newer" songs which couldn't possibly compete, even though they were written by one of the best songwriters of the 20th Century. Encores included "Yesterday" and "Helter Skelter."

Truly a once in a lifetime experience and a memory I will cherish always.

Those of you who have heard any of the songs from my forthcoming CD "While There's Still Time" know that it's a dramatic departure in style from my last CD. This is especially true of "Plausible Denial," a free-form, fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants affair. This was the final song completed for the CD.

After a hectic 4th of July weekend recording Michael Newman's "These Hands" and Tony Castanon's "Words You Say," I was still keyed up on my music high and energy drinks when Mike & Tony left. I started fooling around at the keyboards and eventually punched "record." It only took about 3 takes and a couple overdubs and viola, a nearly 7-minute epic was born.

I was able to mix & master the track right then and gave it a title. I've always loved the phrase "plausible denial" taken from a book I once read. It basically means you may be guilty of something, but that you have a passable or reasonable excuse as to why you didn't do it. I burned a CD and was out the door.

I met up with Mike & Tony, as we had planned on going to San Antonio's Gay Pride Parade together. When I played the new track for them, Tony immediately dubbed it Transient Music. What? After the laughter at the prospect of "music for homeless people" subsided, he explained what he meant. A combination between Ambient and Trance music = Transient music! You heard it here first, folks! A new genre is born!

An edited version of "Plausible Denial" is posted on my web site, Facebook, Myspace, and ReverbNation profiles. The full-length version is available now for download and is featured on my new CD "While There's Still Time" which goes on sale September 1.

It was a full, fun evening of great music and so much more. There were two opening bands (a bit much for me). The first was an Australian outfit called something Bells. I don't remember their name. Female vocalist wasn't too great and no keyboardist (yawn). Then there was Snow Patrol from Ireland. They've had one big hit stateside so far. Very polished sound and excellent songwriting (and a keyboardist). Real good performance! I look forward to more from this band in the future.

Then about 9PM, the moment we'd all been waiting for, Coldplay took the stage. This was my first time seeing them so I wasn't sure what to expect. To say I was blown away would be a vast understatement. As someone who has been to many, many concerts I've spent the subsequent days since this one trying to figure out why it was the best one (and it was!) I could try to deconstruct it into parts (great musicianship, dazzling above average visuals, the short set on the ministage in the balcony, etc.) But the simple fact of the matter is the whole was greater than the sum of its parts. Coldplay, making their first-ever appearance in San Antonio, worked their cute little British asses off! They weren't going through the motions or phoning it in. They were completely immersed in their performance, they meant business and were really truly having the time of their lives! They honestly gave 110% and it came through loud and clear.

Coldplay has a truckload of hits and memorable album tracks from their four full-length studio releases and two EP's dating back to 2000. The set list did not disappoint. For me the high points of the show were "Yellow," "Clocks," "Fix You," and "Viva La Vida." The show was designed to overwhelm and it sure did!

At the beginning of the two-song encore (which included one of my faves "The Scientist,") vocalist/keyboardist Chris Martin told us to be sure to pick up our free CD on the way out. What a great treat! It was a live CD of nine Coldplay performances from THIS tour. Very cool!

As I said at the top, this was my first time seeing Coldplay but it certainly won't be the last.

Time.com has published an excellent, if brief, photo essay on the Gay Rights movement from 1969-2009. It's really worth having a look at. Only takes a few minutes. Some good history here.

http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1900959,00.html

http://shar.es/0lQE

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Rob Thomas wrote an excellent article for Huffington Post. It's well worth taking the time to read (just click link above). For those who don't know, Rob Thomas is a solo recording artist, the lead singer of the band Matchbox Twenty and perhaps best known as the voice on the Santana mega-hit "Smooth."

Hosted By:
Royal,Soveregin&Imperial Court of The Alamo Empire

When:
Saturday, May 30, 2009

Where:
Marriott Northwest Hotel Ballroom
3233 N.W. Loop 410
San Antonio
78213

Description:
CoronaTion X8 Weekend is here so Come celebrate this weekend as the completion of Reign X-SEVEN is here with Emperor XVII Gary Bustamante & Regent Empress XVII Olivia dePala Lord plus all the members of The Alamo Empire

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Hello Friends!

Since you clicked on this blog entry, I'm going to assume that you've already heard my new song "Believe." If not, you can click on the link at the end of this blog and it will begin playing automatically.

"Believe" is the first track finished for my upcoming new CD "While There's Still Time" due to come out by Fall 2009. As on my 2008 CD "Not From Around Here" I will be playing all the instruments. However, that's where the similarity between to two disks ends.

"Believe" is an entirely new sort of song for me. Kind of a dance track, with a retro R&B/Funk feel to it. A simple song with a simple arrangement (sometimes less is more, especially in this genre). Does this mean that "While There's Still Time" will be all about dance songs? No, not necessarily.

Though it's too early in the writing and recording process to be specific, I plan to explore numerous genres on this record including new wave, ambient and dance. My current thinking is to favor the somewhat "overproduced" sound of the early 80's. So yes, this will be a retro CD. That much is certain. Another difference between this CD and the last one is vocals. "Not From Around Here" was entirely instrumental and "While There's Still Time" will feature vocals on several tracks (real vocals, not just Vocoder).

As for "Believe" it was basically a write-as-you-go affair. While I've had the chord structure kicking around for some time, the substance and feel of the song was made up on the fly during recording. Drums were provided by the Zoom 16-track digital recorder, the organ part was provided by the Roland Super JV-1080 rack unit played on the CME UF7. The rest of the parts (bass, sequencer, vocoder) were all played on the Korg R3 Synth/Vocoder.

By the way, please don't expect a forensic analysis like this for each new track. But since this is a new sound and direction for me I did think a word of explanation was in order.

As always, I thank you for your interest and support.

Love,
~E
Listen to "Believe"

Hello Friends!

If you live in East Texas or frequently travel there like me, or just like to know what's going on, this is for you. A friend of mine is providing a valuable public service. The friend is the multi-talented and always funny and entertaining Grant Cook. The service he provides is the East Texas Entertainment Podcast. Grant is a longtime veteran of the East Texas music scene and knows what he's talking about. So check it out when you have time.

East Texas Entertainment Podcast

For five tremendous years (1982-1986) PRINCE & THE REVOLUTION had a purple reign at the top of the charts. Though Prince has had several bands before and since The Revolution, this was by far his most successful period. The albums 1999 (1982); Purple Rain (1984); Around The World In A Day (1985) and Parade (1986) made "his royal badness" a household name.

During those years keyboardist Lisa Coleman and guitarist Wendy Melvoin (forever known simply as Wendy & Lisa) were members of The Revolution. Now 25 years after their big screen debut in the movie Purple Rain, they finally come out of the closet as lesbians and partners.

Though there was some chatter at the time that they were possibly gay, I didn't give it a second thought, just writing it off as part of the super-sexual Prince schtick. The following article from OUT magazine is a real interesting read.

  http://www.out.com/detail.asp?page=1&id=25083

And people ask why I love living in the big city. Now you know.

Hosted By:
The Royal Sovereign & Imperial Court of The Alamo Empire

When:
Sunday, April 12, 2009

Where:
Pegasus
1402 N.Main
San Antonio

Description:
Now Easter would'nt be complete with out Michael R's famous Drag Queen Whip Cream Wrestling! Join us at the Pegasus starting at 5pm on Sunday and watch Drag Queens get down and "dirty" !! This year proves to be wild with a professional wrestling ring!! Can you say Ultimate Whip Cream Wrestling!!

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