gRacKle News 2006
west texas near death hell ride
so buttercup and mike ryan headed west in december, and we found snow, cosmic sepratists, and gourmet food everywhere. erik drove the van into the ditch, staring at the snow, and it took every ounce of collective strength to push it back out. that, rebecca's driving skills, and a for sale sign under the back tires. we saw mike ryan prove his stregth, his celtic might pushing that van and singing fearlessly all alone to the west texas night and its inhabitants. we joined him for rousing sets. just look at the enormous set list for the starlight theatre show. we took the stage and played and played and played, a true free for all, changing instruments, changing band members. we had quite a group in tow, or towing us along. massie took the helm as mini tour boss, showing his west texas acumen, his sobriety and his ability to nail a joke's punch line. vickie kept us moving, and taught us the benefits of fritos and red wine. saleta and oliver gomez met us for fine steaks and chili, and flash flood gulley explorations. lexa rios was the documentarian, taking loads of fine fotos. mike was too drunk to figure out how to turn on his camera. odie set the hotel room on fire and almost killed joe. jamie looked good in his sweater. kevin casey and richard and leah joined us to say goodnight and we sung happy birthday to him in alpine. sadly dear richard hoffman fell ill to food poisoning and missed the show. we are all awaiting your speedy recovery.
we send our love to the diamond people of west texas, glittering in the mountains, full of cosmic stuff.
# Comment(s), 21 Dec 06
box office hit
dear cuppites,
we would like to thank you all for making our blue theater show in austin so much fun for us (and hopefully for everyone who attended).
despite a few "malfunctions", the box worked perfectly, although there may have been some momentary giddyness upon it's opening. kudos to our friend and collaborator/designer michele monseau for a great installation.
and the sing-a-longs were way cool. thank you all for chiming in on "underground" and "hello goodbye". our austin street team of charlie, vickie, oliver and kevin also did bang up jobs with the props, promos and lighting/video, and thus have a lot to do with the night's high fun factor/success rate
we have some more recording to do before we leave for west texas next weekend. make sure and email us at buttercult.com if you'd like to join our caravan.
and thanks again for making our saturday night in austin one to remember.
love,
the cup
# Comment(s), 3 Dec 06
listen up, buttercups
we'll be performing live on the air at austin's KUT 90.5 FM studio 1A friday morning on the venerable show, eklektikos, with it's more than ecelectic host john aielee. we begin broadcasting at 10:15 AM or so, so gulp down some coffee with a few sudafed, grab your blankey, or your steering wheel, and listen in for some word and song. mostly song. although you never know; the host and i may starting prattling on about the late beethoven string quartets again and that could last the whole hour. i promise to be succinct.
if you're not in austin you can catch the show at www.kut.org.
see you soon,
joe and le cup
1 Comment(s), 30 Nov 06
Wanna Caravan?
Buttercup is renting a van for the epuipment and team members to bring their special kind of aural/visual love to Terlingua and Alpine, Texas. If any Cuppers are interested in joining us on a beautiful roadtrip, please leave a comment or e-mail me at kazunorikun at gmail dot com.
Cup
Out!xoxodie.
1 Comment(s), 28 Nov 06
christmas grackle
we are playing a two nite stand at the red room in san antonio, christmas night and the following night. join us for collective song, wild improvisation and tons of left overs. tickets will be available thru front gate tickets, specific info to come. please keep checking back for details.
the newest recordings that we've been capturing in our new hi-tech studio we hope to have available the night of this show. they will serve in part as our christmas offering to you our dear friends. again, details to come.
love,
the cup
# Comment(s), 26 Nov 06
december grackle and home recording tips
we've been putting our (talking) heads together to plan a december grackle show; hopefully a two-night stand at a really nice intimate place. as details emerge, you will be the first to know, dear gracklites. it will be a show full of our favorite holiday things: food, wine, friends, and songs, beautiful sing-songy songs.
and we've also started recording album no. 3, tenatively titled "grackle vs. mothra" at our home studio, tenatively titled "the nest". and as per every recording, we've had our share of technical difficulties and gaffes, but we're getting some great performances and will soon be able to share some new songs with you. many you've already heard at our shows, but some are brand new to us and they will hopefully be our christmas gifts to you (pssst-meaning, we'll post them up online somewhere for you to check out next month).
thank you all so much for your support and kind words. we work hard at what we do but when we see you smile, it makes it all worth it.
love,
the cup
# Comment(s), 21 Nov 06
ButterHeads/TalkingCup Live Recording
Michael Thomas from Music for Listeners has posted a recording of 5 songs from Buttercup's Talking Heads show at the Limelight.
Michael says: "I made it all by myself......sorry I couldn't get the whole thing. I wasn't thinking about recording it, ("work" essentially), until I missed Big Soy's great set of Violent Femmes favorites. :( Then I said, "Why am I not recording this?" I went home...couldn't find my power adapter...then after about 5 minutes of searching I said..."It's either I left it at the Limelight...or I cannot record the set due to lack of power.". It ended up that I did leave it at the club and I had power as you were gearing up to play. Unfortunately after getting set up to record...I had to make space on some discs I had by listening to each track to make sure I could delete it. This took about 7 minutes...the time it took to play the first couple of songs. So...I missed those two and another in the middle and the very end of the set....sorry.....I'm glad I got what I did get though. It's fun to listen to even though the mics were having issues....."
It definitely has some powerful moments. Thank you Michael! Check it out here.
# Comment(s), 13 Nov 06
a thank you for thursday
Dear gracklites,
Thank so much for making this Thursday's grackle mundy such a great success. We measure success in terms of happiness points and this show went off the scale. From your willingness to play with Erik in his self-imposed exile, to your beautiful voices helping to fill the room with music, you all were wonderful and we are a very lucky band to have such sweet, giving listeners. You give us our wherewithal to keep going and trying are hardest to make each show a special moment. Without you, our lives would be far less rich.
Thank you all for coming and sharing the night with us. We hope to see you all again soon. Until then, keep humming and we will be there before you know it.
love,
the cup
2 Comment(s), 20 Oct 06
Buttercup in Amplifier
Buttercup's latest recording, Hot Love, was chosen as Amplifier Magazine's Album of the Week.
There is also an in depth interview, perhaps a bit too in depth, with Erik Sanden in the magazine. Terry Sawyer caught up with Erik to "get the scoop on their rising following, a chance encounter with Ray Davies and to regretfully decline the marriage proposals he's been sneaking into coded on-stage banter."
You can view the text of the entire interview online @ Amplifier. You can also listen to the entire Buttercup record, courtesy of Amplifier.
# Comment(s), 28 Sep 06
Talking Heads
I've spent the past two weeks singing Talking Heads songs to myself in the shower. I've watched Stop Making Sense twice today, and I've been practicing bulging my eyes without blinking.
In the course of this journey I've discovered these things about David Byrne and the Talking Heads:
1) They like to play the same thing over and over. They like to do this, and not change, ever.
2) When in doubt they play nothing at all.
3) When they do play a lot (bongos and synthesizers and backups for instance), they still don't come out sounding like a jam band, even though at times they really are a jam band.
There are more things I've learned from David Byrne and the Talking Heads:
1) Men like pastries, women like custards.
2) Singing is a trick to get people to listen to music longer than they would ordinarily.
3) People will remember you better if you always wear the same outfit.
I've learned a lot about performance from this project: something I've known, but always have to relearn every few months. That the performance as a whole should tell a story, just like a great record album. A diagonal narrative, a dionysian masterplot. And that singing is acting thru music. On and on, we're acting thru music.
-- Erik
# Comment(s), 27 Sep 06
the stubb's barbecue preparatory school for the musical art
there are two stages at stubb's bbq in austin. the small, indoor stage boasts many, many local and regional acts of all styles who perform to audiences whose numbers vary wildly depending on the time of appearance, the day of the week, and the overall popularity of those listed on the bill. this stage amounts to the primary wing of the stubb's barbecue preparatory. here, bands can improve their skills as musicians, learn to create a rapport with the sound engineers, investigate the use of alcohol and drugs on their stage presence (or lack thereof), and use these chances to perform as opportunities to gain new fans and ditch those hanger's-on who insist that the lead singer is in love with them. but then, when the band has finally paid their dues, and the lawyers have been paid their handsome sums, something magical happens....
the band returns to stubb's, but this time, they have graduated to the big stage.
this stage is situated outdoors, behind the smaller, indoor venue and is shrouded in a white, pointy umbrella that glows with the rays of intellibeams and laserlights. this wider, taller stage looks out upon a vast stretch of ungainly, uneven asphalt, that once doused with beer and mixed drinks, those lucky enough to attend your performance will have to maneuver in their fashionable footwear; many suffering twisted ankles in the process. but this is the hallowed secondary wing of the stubb's barbecue preparatory school for the musical art. and it is here, to which those few fledgling bands, who maintain their wherewithall and blood alcohol content, arrive; to rub elbows with the flaming lips, the starlight mints, the hives, or the vines; to steal from their coolers and use their newly minted backstage passes, attached to their mutlicoloured lanyards, to gain access to the most remote portions of the venue, perhaps even one of the other band's tour buses, to dine on frozen shrimp, or imbibe in huge gulps from their prechilled vodka machine.
yes, "it's a long way to the top if you want to rock and roll", a young aussie once sang, before he choked on his own vomit, but it is to these heights that those enrolled at the stubb's barbecue perparatory shool for the musical arts, hope to ascend. perhaps, even one day, to taste the sweet nectar of their own vomit as their lives flash before their eyes, just one more stage to mount, before death takes them on that last sweet leg of their farewell tour.
1 Comment(s), 19 Aug 06
some grackle ideas
hello sweethearts from san antonio. oh how we ache to sing with you. buttercup is feeling a grackle heartache, missing this event. we've been sniffing about looking for the right locale. do you have any suggestions? the wiggle room is sort of hiatus for a few months, so we're casting our gaze about.
we're also searching for a theme, a concept for the next grackle that could bring us all together. something we can all get behind and will change our conceptions of music forever. ok, even if it doesn't annihilate our sense of musical reason, we'd like it to be at least mildly interesting.
we've been poking around with a long overdue rock opera, an office based, music in the work place idea. but this idea may take a while, so in the mean time, we are open to suggestions. please write to us! let's pull a grackle together.
2 Comment(s), 8 Aug 06
and now a week off?
dear you,
buttercup has completed another duo of shows in austin this week. wednesday found us closing for junior brown with our friends girl in a coma (who sounded fantastic as usual) at the storied antone's. kudos to their sound engineer james who did an incredible job mixing us on the fly and making our stage mix super comfy. it was a very pleasant experience, which we hoped we passed on to those in attendance.
and friday we played the cactus cafe with the moonlight towers, who were also great and did an excellent ELO cover to match our kinks cover that evening. we love that room, along with griff, sound engineer kates, and his excellent staff and look forward to returning soon. so much great music has touched the walls of both these venues and we feel humbled to have been given the opportunity to perform at each one.
and as always, thanks to everyone who came out to watch and listen to us ooh and aah our way through. without you, we would not exist.
love,buttercup
# Comment(s), 30 Jul 06
mini tour completed
now we have completed 7 shows in 11 days. this was our "mini-tour." four of these were in Austin, so we found ourselves driving the i-35 corridor again and again. we've come to hate certain road signs (the redundant "suzuki of new braunfuls suzuki") and to cringe at some other particularly nasty ones ("cummins onan"). fyi - there is a giant troll on the side of 35 south, with blood streaming from his gaping mouth.
but luckily our brief stays in austin have been wonderful. playing new clubs, meeting new friends, and having interesting radio shows. we would like to thank all the austinites who have been coming in increasing numbers to support us. we feel that austin is once again buzzing with music lovers, and this can only mean greater magic just around the corner.
well, we're tired, but unbowed. immobile but not broken. happy to have all these musical memories with us, still seemingly hanging in the air.
very truly yours,
the cup
# Comment(s), 19 Jul 06
let the mini-tour begin
hello friends,
we're playing a slew of shows this week of july 4th starting with an early thursday evening at the 'hear music' starbucks on crockett st. on the beautiful (although some NBA team owners consider it stinky) san antonio riverwalk. we start at 8 pm and, as jamie observed during our radio performance/interview at ksym last week, starbucks serves stimulants rather than the usual depressants found at our usual venues. come and get the jitters with us.
next, it's austin and the longbranch inn off east 11th st. on friday with our trad-folk homies the white ghost shivers. word has it, if you bring a receipt from waterloo records proving you purchased one of our recordings (or one by ray davies), you get in for free. that's right. absolutely no charge. that's more disposable income to make the night even more fun fun fun.
and then it's back home to limelight on saturday where we will drag back with us from austin two of our favourite bands (well, one's a band, one's a guy), king tears and billy harvey, both exceptional writers and performers. it will be a show full of great melodies, harmonies, syncopations and liquid depressants.
so we hope to see you soon. we are gearing up for further forays out into the edges of...er, texas (it's so friggin big). if there's anyone in houston or dallas, or lubbock or alpine, that would like to have us perform, stay at their homes, clean their bathrooms, and change their oil, let us know.
with love,
the cup
# Comment(s), 4 Jul 06
Song of the Day
Our song, Hot Love was chosen by National Public Radio as the song of day on Wednesday. This means that folks all over the country got to hear Jamie hit that ridiculous high note, and hear me fuck up the last chorus, laughing at Odie acting like a chimp in the studio. -- Erik
Check out the write up by David Brown:
Even apart from the story behind the music, the songs on Hot Love -- and the title track in particular -- stand on their own as eccentric pop gems. With a '60s-style AM-radio beat and Sanden's airy delivery, the track conjures an alternate universe where Ray Davies and David Byrne collaborate on jangly pop songs with unexpected twists in the shade of the Alamo.
1 Comment(s), 19 Jun 06
"fiercely proud" of san antonio
odie delivered a few comments in today's article in the San Antonio Current, where it seems like he compares our fair city to a bowl of poo-poo. We'd like to note that in context, he meant that 2005 was a horrible year for San Antonio music scene, but that San Antonio is lovely as always. just FYI.
1 Comment(s), 26 May 06
come one, come all... ages in austin, too
another reminder, our cd release at the parish june 3 in austin is also an all ages event. all ages are welcome, recommended.
# Comment(s), 19 May 06
come one, come all... ages
just a reminder to everyone that our cd release show at the beethoven mannerchor may 28 is an all ages event. don't miss your chance to rub generational elbows that sunday. it should be a lot of fun and hyperbubble and not the government are two of our favourite bands. see you soon everyone, of any age....
# Comment(s), 17 May 06
'vacation's all we ever wanted'
as i write, erik is enjoying mother's day with his fambly in new england, jamie is in puerto rico enjoying mother's day under some beautiful waterfall with lexa and her family, leaving odie and myself here to hold down the butterfort until later this week when we (sans jamie) travel to austin thursday to record a spot for some tv thing that will air for 24 hours. afterwards, we will try and catch our friends the summer waredrobe while we're there at ego's (you should come if you're near), meanwhile our cds are being restamped due to some egregious error at the cd plant. but fear not, they should arrive in time for all your thirsty earbuds later this month.
also, our spot on 'true music', a show airing on mark cuban's HDNet network that we taped during SXSW is on their schedule, so if you have access to such modern wonders as high definition tv, please tune in to see us wax erratically about performance art, sling our bells for a whimsical version of 'spelling bee' and listen to me butcher the bridge to 'hot love', which erik saves with his excellent onstage banter about 'pro-noia". bless you, erik....
see you all soon under the stars at the beethoven mannerchor...
joe
# Comment(s), 14 May 06
razzamatazz
thanks to everyone who attended our "butt pack" show this last monday. all of us on stage had a blast and we hope everyone in the audience appreciated our bizarre sense of humor. and thank you to everyone who was convinced joe was drunk the entire time. he said he owes it all years of "method acting".
and cheers to girl in a coma who wowed everyone with their electric set full of great playing and great songs. they are one of our favorite bands and we are happy and thankful for having had them perform with us that night.
we have a few more weeks to go until the release party show, but stay tuned for more news, rants, random gas leak discoveries, and other mysteries to be revealed.....
# Comment(s), 9 May 06
Grackle Randomized
Grackle Mundy as an event is now going random. We tried for the last year to stick to the second Monday of each month, but because of our hectic schedules found this task impossible. We've decided to put Grackle on brief pause. So Grackle Mundy will continue, but an unsystematic intervals. We know that Grackle will become more fluid, more cutting edge, more joyful in its new arrangement. Please brace yourself for the best.
1 Comment(s), 4 May 06
Go to Hogwild Records
If you want a copy of Sick Yellow Flower, you will need to go to Hogwild Records on 1824 N. Main in San Antonio, TX 78212. Their phone number: (210) 733-5354. Unfortunately, Buttercup is totally out of copies of this first CD, and it is no longer available at our shows or on our website. We are in negotiations to repress the recording.
# Comment(s), 23 Apr 06
New Color T-shirts
We have an assortment of brand new men's and lady's color Buttercup t-shirts. They are super cool. Our personal favorite is the women's light blue t-shirt, which looks strikingly like the Adolescent's first album. Check them out at the Buttercup store.
# Comment(s), 7 Apr 06
Sick Yellow Flower Down to the Dregs
We are pleased to announce that we have twelve copies of Sick Yellow Flower left for sale. This includes Erik's personal copy that he's letting go after burning it to his computer. We have sold down to just a handful, so if you haven't bought a copy yet now is the time to act! Visit the Buttercup store to purchase Sick Yellow Flower today.
# Comment(s), 7 Apr 06
Early Bird Breakfast
Buttercup is playing at 7:30 AM on KGSR radio in Austin on Tuesday April 4. You can get a live feed if you want to hear it via the internet at the KGSR website. We'll be broadcasting from the mammoth Whole Foods in Austin on 6th and Lamar, so if you are an early bird, please come out and get a delicious free breakfast. It's so early for poor Buttercup, that I'm sure we'll all be puking up our delicious breakfast. Hope some of you join us!
# Comment(s), 4 Apr 06
One Hour Live Set
Hey, there is a really good live recording of a one hour set that we did in the KUT studios in March 2006. Check it out by going to KUT Live Set and click on Buttercup. It's a full hour of music and interviews, extremely well recorded by Larry Monroe and company. Check it out!
Love,
Buttercup# Comment(s), 3 Apr 06
gas leak
joe's house is spewing hot gaseous love. watch out!
2 Comment(s), 31 Mar 06
Lucky 13
We're adding another song to Hot Love, making it a 13 song album. It's the song "We're Easy" which we had written off originally, but upon further consideration seems to most embody a certain campy side of Buttercup. The album is mixed, mastered, and ready to print.
# Comment(s), 31 Mar 06
Dial-a-Song Is Working
Buttercup apologizes for Dial-a-Song going down for a few days earlier in the week. The local telephone company somehow deadened the line at the source. They sent a man to fix it this morning and all is up and back to normal. So we continue by the grace of the ancient tape machine that shakes and groans with each phone call.
# Comment(s), 30 Mar 06
What you say?
We've added a new function to both buttercult.com and gracklemundy.com. Now you can easily add comments to news items. Let Buttercup know what you think! Just click on the word comment and type in what you have to say. It gets posted automatically.
# Comment(s), 4 Mar 06
Hot Love Release
We have settled on dates for Austin and San Antonio releases of our new album, "Hot Love". It looks like May 28 in San Antone, and June 2 in Austin. The songs are now mixed and molded into beautiful shape. Producer Mark Rubinstein has really done some fantastic work and we are pleased as punch. In the meantime call us for super crappy lo-fi phone feeds (see below and below that).
Oh I imagine that it will be quite hot by the time this record comes out, so our summer concept for the album turned out to be either prescient or a self-fulfilling prophesy or inevitable. So many of the songs on the album are summer songs (Hot Love, Egypt, We're Easy, Anti-Antarctica) that it will hopefully be a soundtrack for your solstice. Well, the release is now well within sight!
# Comment(s), 28 Feb 06
"Hot Love", State of the Recording
We've named our upcoming record, Hot Love. It will be a 12 song CD released in May 2006. The hard part is over and half of the songs are mixed. The cover art is being designed by Oliver Gomez, and all eyes agree that it is beautiful and somewhat shocking. For now you can hear the tunes via the phone...see Dial-a-Song.
2 Comment(s), 26 Feb 06
We’re NOT from Austin
The San Antonio Express News ran an article on Friday, Jan 27 2006 about music in restaurants that featured a nice big photo of Joe Reyes but mistakenly cited Buttercup’s hometown as Austin. Just to set the record straight: Buttercup is from San Antonio.
1 Comment(s), 24 Feb 06
Dial-a-Song: Hot Love Preview
On Monday, January 23 Buttercup will place the first of 12 songs from their upcoming album on Dial-a-Song (738-2253). Each Monday will feature a new song, and the song will stay on the machine for one week. Simply put, you will call a phone number, get an answering machine and hear a song, all for free (Except for any tolls that may apply). And those tolls are always free if you call from work!
The phone number to call is simple: 210.PET.ABLE or 210-738-2253. We will go through all 12 songs from the album + 2 tracks that can only be heard on Dial-a-Song. So call us each week for the next fourteen weeks! More info.
# Comment(s), 23 Feb 06
Video: Unlevel
We shot our video for the song "Unlevel" on January, 20th 2006 at Beethoven's Mannechor. The video was centered around a chess theme, and many of our friends were in the crowd either as opponents or as onlookers. We also had three experts from the San Antonio Chess Club* on board, to keep it real. Buttercup wants to thank all of you who cleared out time to help us with this video. We began shooting at 8am and ended at 9pm sharp...a full day of filming to get three minutes of material! The video was directed by Charlie Wan and Jacqueline Tieu. Chris Sauter was the art director. Cory Ryan will be doing post-production. Thank you Gordon for giving us free rein* of the Mannechor and thank you Martin, Ernie, Selby, and Al for helping us with the chess. One day soon the video will be posted on our website for your viewing pleasure.
* see Selby's comment
1 Comment(s), 4 Feb 06
Thanks for checking in,
the Cup