15 July 2000

Reading:  The Dancing Wu Li Masters by Gary Zukav

Project:  8MoreMiles.com

Just call this a Reckless Kelly day.

Callie and I spent much of the day working on our new collaboration, 8moremiles.com, our fan page for Reckless Kelly.  We set up the frames and mapped out the layout and did some initial graphics -- all of the stuff that takes forever, but needs to be give a lot of thought.  The base page is up and running now, but with no content yet.   That's the easy part in comparison.

Then it was off to the show.  I've never been to Fitzgerald's a place that largely features very young, alternative-metal bands these days but which, in the past, has seen Joe Ely and Stevie Ray Vaughn grace the stage.  I liked the funky place, especially in comparison to the Satellite.  Callie and I took in the show from the upstairs balcony, which wasn't as crowded as the floor.

The band was REVVED.  The Mucky Duck shows are incredible because of the access to the band and the civility of the crowd.  But sometimes those shows can make one forget that this isn't just an excellent band, they're an excellent ROCK band.   Tonight, they turned up the volume and blasted.  Sure, they play alt-country, but tonight's show was alt-country with David Abeyta blasting metal licks and Jay Nazz beating the hell out of the drums and everyone else jamming, rock style.

It's been a long time since I've heard them crank it up like that in a bar setting.   Despite my complaining about the Satellite, this band thrives in a setting like the Satellite or Fitzgerald's, where it can feed of the "Hat crowd" (i.e. Aggie types who apparently think they need their cowboy hats inside to keep that bright Texas sun ... err, those bright lights from the stage, off of them) and the bimbo crowd (the half naked chicks who bounce around in front of the band and never manage to attract Willy's attention), not to mention my personal favorite last night, #86.  #86 is this fellow in a Reckless Kelly t-shirt with the number 86 on the back  who decided to get drunk off his ass to the point he could barely walk, to whistle throughout the show, and finally to go down right by the stage to dance with the Hat crowd and the bimbo crowd.  Actually, dance is not quite the right term -- he actually swayed and bounced and nearly hit people with the beer bottle he was waving wildly.  I suspect #86 won't feel very good on Sunday.