Friday Night in Houston

I'm upstairs in my apartment, fooling around on this computer, drinking a Lone Star and thinking about all the things I need to gather up and get done before I leave for Marfa Monday evening.
Jug O' Lightnin' is playing downstairs. They have always been one of my favorite bands to listen to and still sound great. Unfortunately the sound is now tainted in my head since I became aware that Aaron (the singer/guiarist/songwriter is suing the owner of the Houston Studios building (whom I know well) for some type of accident he suffered on the premises. I mean, come on. Now I can't help but think that if he fell off the stage downstairs he might sure Pete. Not really, but that's because he knows us, I bet. I think lawsuits over true accidents are pretty much BS and should be avoided by self-respecting citizens. This is my opinion only. Anyway, I'm not enjoying the band like I used to and that sucks.
The Medicine Show is up next- one of Houston's best bands, for sure. Didn't used to be, in my opinion, but they're pretty much smokin' these days.
I'm reading Melissa Joulwan's Roller Derby book about her RD career with the Texas Rollergirls and TXRD (in their flat-track BGGW days). Great book- balanced about the notorious "split" that I vicariously winessed through The El Orbits' having played benefits for the early derby in Austin and my friendship with Clownsnack of TXRD and Randall Stockton of Beerland. There were a whole lot of other acquaintances as well involved, but I can't recall many names after all this time. Hydra Hellcat- now with txrg flat track, she was cool. I pretty much completely exited the scene when the deal went down; there was really dark energy (still is some) and I really didn't want to get in the middle. Thank God for the formation of Space City Rollergirls (transformed into Houston Roller Derby after a mild leadership overthrow in early 2005)- if it weren't for HRD I would still be out of Roller Derby and that would suck.
There's actually a decent article about the South Side Rollergirls from Pearland in a local Houston paper (can't remember the name). These girls are lead by self-proclaimed rival to HRD Brenda (last name begins with and H- can't remember) who also puts on the Roller Derby Boot Camp. Some feathers were ruffled early on between some HRD girls and this chick, I think over using HRD's name to promote Roller Derby Boot Camp (something like "Get ready for Houston Roller Derby tryouts at Roller Derby Boot camp!"). Anyway, what's happened since then, as I understand it is that this girl Brenda has been a bitch at times and is generally somewhat rude. I have no idea if that's true, but the end result is that the South Side girls (some of which tried out for HRD this season) are attempting to form a banked-track league, possibly in affiliation with TXRD out of Austin (Lord knows they need someone locally to bout against!). $30,000 in funds to raise, according to the article. I think the track itself is a cool $20,000. Now that you have a track, where do you do it? My vote is Pasadena Convention Center- great venue and seating. Hell, they're calling themselves South Side and Friendswood is near Pasadena. Anyway, obviously I'll be having nothing to do with this league, but will be watching from a distance and I'll salute and cheer them if they can actually pull the banked track deal off. You can visit them on myspace through a couple of pages or log on to the official website at www.southsiderollergirls.com . What the hell- the more the merrier! Plus, HRD girls are hotter, so no worries around here.- David