Get on The Ark

I'm not used to being the writer everyone is waiting on to put the paper to bed, but that's what I was early this morning when I was spitting out my account of the Austin Music Awards for today's Chron daily. It was definitely a Maalox moment. And I totally missed the Plimsouls.

The awards show itself was pretty good. I never get tired of hearing Roky Erickson sing "You're Gonna Miss Me." It was nice to see Jon Dee Graham bring his son Willie onstage to sing. Watching amazingly tasteful L.A. session guitarist Jerry Cole play with 3 Balls of Fire was also a treat. Unlike today's televised awards shows, they actually give out a ton of awards, too. While the awards blocks break up the music most everyone is there to see, things move along at a reasonable enough clip. Besides, that's sort of the point of an awards show.

Earlier in the evening, I caught a day show by The Ark from Malmo, Sweden. They were kind of like a cross between the Darkness and Hedwig and the Angry Inch - only you could really shake your ass to them. Even if they're working in 30-year-old idioms, the Ark's abundance of energy and personality kept the whole thing poppin' fresh.