New York Night Train

If you played music in Austin at any time during the mid-Nineties, you probably sat at a club or bar next to my pal Jonathan Toubin at least once. If not, maybe he made flyers for you at the old 6th Street Kinko's. He's lived in New York for more than seven years now, but he still runs into more old friends than I do whenever he's in town.

Jonathan and I have been friends since high school in Houston. We were in the anti-nuclear war club together. Later on, we were in a couple of bands called Cheezus and Noodle. Whether we were disrupting lunch with a die-in in front of the school cafeteria or throwing cheese slices at clubgoers, we always talked a lot about music. From Big Joe Turner to the Butthole Surfers, Jonathan knows his stuff.

That's why I'm glad to hear he started a music website called New York Night Train. He just posted a lengthy oral history-style interview with guitarist Kid Congo Powers from the Gun Club and the Cramps. It's good stuff and there's more on the way. You should go read it now so I can stop writing and go to bed.