The Real World Season 19 Open Casting

MTV’s HIT SERIES “THE REAL WORLD”
LOOKING FOR NEWEST ROOMMATES

Bunim/Murray to Look for New Stars in Austin, TX area.

Buffalo Billiards
201 East 6th Street
Austin, Texas 78701
http://www.buffalobilliards.com/austin/


On October 1, 2006 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Casting Directors from Bunim/Murray Productions, producers of the perennial hit MTV show “The Real World” will be holding an open casting call at Buffalo Billiards 201 East 6th St., Austin, Texas 78701. Applicants are asked to bring a recent picture of themselves (which will not be returned) and photo ID. Must be 18-24 years old.

Seven lucky people will get the opportunity of a lifetime when MTV hands over the keys to a new fantasy pad this year for the show’s 19th season. The Real World, MTV’s longest running show, is a documentary series about seven strangers who spend five months living and working together.

So what does it take to get on the show? “We look for characters from real life; people with strong personalities who are unafraid to speak their minds,” says Jonathan Murray, an Executive Producer of “The Real World.” Past seasons have been populated with cast members from all walks of life, who have shared their daily experiences openly with millions of viewers. Fans of the shows will remember alumni such as the irreverent Teck; Pedro, the HIV/AIDS educator; and Melissa, the hilarious firecracker from the “The Real World: New Orleans” cast.

The challenge will be met as the Bunim/Murray casting department screens tens of thousands of applicants during open casting calls across the country. All of the applicants have one thing in common: they want millions of television viewers to know their name… and who they are.

Everyone between the ages of 18 – 24 is encouraged to bring a recent photo and identification to the open casting call at Buffalo Billiards from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Naturscapes Exhibition - San Marcos

Three of my photos have been chosen to be a part of San Marcos, Texas' 2nd Annual Naturescapes Photography Exhibition. Last year I had three photos in as well, and I won 3rd place in the "People and Pets" category. This year I've got an entry in each of the three areas: 1. Scenery, 2. Wildlife and Plants (my "DUCK!" photo above is a contender), and 3. People and Pets.

The Naturscapes Exhibition will be on display from now until October 27, 2006 at the San Marcos Activities Center's "Walker's Gallery." Click my duck photo to go to the Activity Center's Homepage.

If you are in San Marcos this Friday, come on out for the opening reception and see if I take the big $400 best of show!

Naturescapes Awards Reception
Friday, September 29, 2006
5:00 pm – 7:30 pm
San Marcos Activity Center
501 E. Hopkins
San Marcos, Texas 78666

The competition is sponsored by the San Marcos Greenbelt Alliance and the Hill Country Photography Club.

As an added bonus, Jerry and Jim Kimmel, the former the photographer, the later the writer, will be on hand signing copies of their newly published "The San Marcos, a River Story" (Texas A&M Press) and some of the photos from the book are on display as well.

Hope to see you out there.

Rest in Peace Don Walser

I heard a few minutes ago that Don Walser passed away due to complications from diabetes...
I found a News 8 Austin confirmation.

What a musical treasure Mr. Walser was to the world. Thanks for the yodeling and keeping Western Swing in the ears of the masses.

Anyone have any Don Walser memories to share? Here's as good a place as any I suppose.

---

Here's the story:

Don Walser dies
Updated: 9/20/2006 3:30 PM
By: News 8 Austin Staff

Long-time Austin musician and yodeler extraordinaire Don Walser died Wednesday.

His manager confirmed his death to News 8 Austin. Walser died of complications from diabetes.

An accomplished singer, guitarist and songwriter, Walser spoke about how he hoped the songs from those albums would live long after him in an interview with News 8 Austin in 2002.

"If you think of me 20 years from now after I'm gone, with some of music, I'll feel good about it. But it's got to earn it like those old songs that I'm singing, you got to earn it,” Walser said.

He retired from live performances three years ago. Walser is best remembered for his series of records in the 1990s produced with Asleep at the Wheel’s Ray Benson.

Walser, who turned 72 last Thursday, was a country music icon in Austin. He had the fortune of a late-life career revival. He was a regular performer at Jovita’s, The Broken Spoke, the Continental Club. And he was also famous for bringing country music to Emo’s. He attracted a unique fan base, often opening for the Butthole Surfers.

He's also known for keeping western swing alive by performing the music of Bob Wills and Eddie Arnold.

A reviewer for Playboy magazine once referred to Walser as "the Pavarotti of the Plains."

Funeral arrangements are pending.

The next big concert...Thunderpalooza!

Thunderpalooza!

The next big Austin concert is going to be held in Kyle, Texas!

Thunderpalooza is going to be HUGE. It'll be held on November 3-4 2006 at Kyle's Thunderhill Raceway (24801 IH-35).

The Beach Boys are headlining and it'll have a lot of Austin and regional bands playing the 2 day event.

What is Thunderpalooza? 2 days of music to benefit uninsured children & breast cancer prevention in the Austin area.

Click on the poster below to visit the Thunderpalooza site.



Make plans to come to Kyle and rock out!

2006 ACL Music Fest Memories

Had a fantastic time at ACL Fest this year.
As you see by the above photo, I met Matthew McConaughey for a moment after a great set by a new-to-me artist named Mishka (myspace.com/4mishka)... good times.

OK.. day by day..

Friday: For the early day I parked at the Post Office (I wasn't supposed to... since it was still open.. but hey... I'm a customer sometimes!) and I got there before the gates opened...I took the shuttle (I think I was on the 3rd bus) which was surprisingly easy to do. I wasn't a big fan of moving the shuttle from where it was last year...I think there was much more apparent parking closer to UT... but hey.. it wasn't too bad.

I took my picture with a mascot squirrel... no clue what it represented.. but it was a mascot and I needed a photo with it...

Now... I'm a fan of the smaller stages and the "less hyped" bands. So... you won't see my taking on and on about MUSE or The Raconteurs or Ween. I didn't stay for Massive Attack or rush to see Sparklehorse...so I can't comment on those shows... I will comment on what I did see though...
Musical highlights for Friday:
- Seeing Autumn sing with Joy Davis (and learning that Joy Davis is Patrice Pike's sister) on the BMI Stage.
- Terri Hendrix playing a fantastic set on the Austin Ventures stage.
- Catching Matthew McConaughey introduce Mishka and catching his set... then meeting Matthew as well as Mix 94.7's Sandy and his girlfriend Trisha. (BMI Stage)
- I really enjoyed David Ford (click photo below for Web site) who, if I remember correctly. introduced himself as "another whiny Englishman" (AT&T Blue Room Stage)
- Wolf Parade was a pretty interesting band.

David Ford Plays the AT&T Blue Room Stage on Friday


After Nickel Creek I actually left and picked up my wife to come back for Van Morrison. It was a bit of a pain to get back... finding parking in downtown Austin was a pain... I finally pain $7 to park in the garage across from Antone's... and we got to the busses at about 8:30.... only to find out the busses stopped "delivering to ACL" at 8:00p.m. which was actually nowhere in print... we decided not to be the ones who yelled and cursed and stomped off (there were a few..more on that later) and we actually got on a bus and went...

- Van Morrison was freaking amazing. Worth every inconvenience... We actually waited longer in line to get back to the parking garage than the performance...but it was damn well worth it. My wife and I were happy campers.

Saturday:
After securing the little girl with my parents for the day...after lunch at Central Market (you need to eat here if you've not before...) the wife and I headed out to ACL. We ended up paying $10 to enter the same lot as Friday night... We got there just in time for Ian McLagan and the Bump Band (3:30ish).

Musical Highlights for Saturday:
- Ian McLagan is great. I've caught him at his free happy hour gig at Lucky Lounge before and it's a good time. This was no different... my wife said it was probably her favorite performance of the day. (Washington Mutual stage)
- TV on the Radio was great. I'd never heard of them, and probably wouldn't have picked up the CD to play it if I saw it (I'm usually not one for bands who's names have more than 2 words or are phrases or sentances.)
- To see Los Lobos at 4:30 in the afternoon was phenominal...
- South Austin Jug Band (click photo below for Web site) at the BMI Stage was really good too. I hadn't seen them live for about 2 years. Better than I remembered.


South Austin Jug Band pose for a quick photo just before playing the BMI Stage


After SAJB we headed out... I actually went to Los Lobos at Antone's on Saturday night. I dropped my wife off at home, took a shower and took my dad with me to Antone's. We parked at a lot I know people at...so it was free... but about a 8 block walk to Antone's. So... after seeing Los Lobos at ACL.. I saw them at Antones again. Amazing both times. I swear Los Lobos is probably my favorite band still producing original material.

Sunday:
The parents were leaving, so we went to lunch and when we came home my wife wasn't feeling too well... so I grabbed up my 2 1/2 year old and headed to ACL. Yeah!
Sadly, we made it there about 20 minutes after The Biscuit Brothers finished their set (they are one of my daughter's favorites) and actually they were knocking down the entire Kiddie Limits that she had so much fun at last year. My fault for not getting to the grounds until after 4:00.... Oh well.. better planning next time. The stage manager of Kiddie limits was really nice and actually played with my little girl for a little while... so she had some fun...and found a beach ball.

Musical Highlights from Sunday:
- Walking across the lawn explaining to my daughter that "That's the lady from Rockstar Supernova" on the Austin Ventures stage during Patrice Pike's set.
-Buckwheat Zydeco on the Washington Mutual stage was great. Only the second time I've seen them.
- My daughter danced for three straight Son Volt songs... AWESOME.
- White Ghost Shivers is a really interesting band... in a good way. They played the BMI Stage...
- New Monsoon was damn good as well... (BMI Stage)
- As we were leaving Ben Harper was playing the AMD Stage... As we grooved towards the bus I explained to my daughter that the man on stage was the guy she almost tripped two hours earlier... We were back in the Media area (water and snacks rock!) and Ben Harper walked through and said hello to G-Love (who was being interviewed)... well my little one decided to walk behind them to go around just as Ben was turning to walk away... I wished I'd asked for a photo.. but it was a pretty priceless memory.


Garrett "G. Love" Dutton and Ben Harper during a backstage interview


Some things I didn't like about ACL...and none of it is the organizers fault:
- Some people are asses. Most of these people are over 40 and think they have ownership of the world. They have a precious little bit of real estate that they are standing on.... and they are ready to unleash their "I'm superior to you" rant on anyone who *gasp* may want to get by. There are no assigned seats... and it's much easier to move for a moment and let someone by then tell them off.

- People who complain as a past time. Think about it.. I heard over and over "They should have done better at the busses" Allright..l I think they did as well as can be expected. If you stay until the end of a night of music and you're relying on a shuttle to take you home... you're going to wait... a LONG TIME. Get over it. Friday night was John Mayer and Van Morrison. If you wanted to see them all the way through... you saw them with about 30,000 others. Shuttles take about 40 at a time. suck it up. They did a great job at moving folks from one place to another.

- People who don't understand cell-phone ettiquite. So... there's this girl who is probably going to go to Vegas for new years but maybe not because Melissa is a flake... but she still might go... and oh.. by the way one of her friends was just going into surgery..and her parents are in San Diego but are thinking of going to Vegas for the weekend. Oh... and she told work that she needed the day off because she bought plane tickets and they wanted her to work on Friday but she said she couldn't because the tickets were unrefundable... but she was actually just going to ACL...

How do I know this? BECAUSE SHE TALKED LOUDLY ON THE PHONE the whole frigging shuttle to the fest... the whole bus knows now. dammit. Using a cell phone in an enclosed area with others is just like picking your nose in your car... IT'S NOT PRIVATE.

Hope you had a good ACL. Click the photo below to see ALL of my ACL photos





Oh…
Who is this squirrel?

Sexy Back

So.. I really don't like pop music with more synthesizers than musicians... but I really dig the new Justin Timberlake song "Sexy Back."

Maybe it's because it's probably being used in strip clubs all over the world. I seem to like strip-club songs... but I don't like going to strip clubs.

Example? OK... some great songs that have made it to the pole...

- "Closer" by Nine Inch Nails
- "Dragula" by Rob Zombie
- "Girls, Girls, Girls" by Motley Crüe
- "Take It Off" by The Donnas
- "Shook Me All Night Long" by AC/DC
- "Girls on Film" by Duran Duran
- "Little Red Corvette by Prince
- "Rock You Like A Hurricane" by Scorpions
- "Hot For Teacher" by Van Halen
- "The Beautiful People" by Marilyn Manson
- "You Can Leave Your Hat On" by Joe Cocker
- "Angry Johnny" by Poe
- "Are You Gonna Be My Girl" by Jet

By the way...I googled and browsed people's lists of strip club songs to come up with these... since I've not been to a strip club for about 5 years when I attended a buddies batchelor party. Not that I'm opposed to going, it's just a $12 6-ounce beer isn't my view of a good time... and I've never been one to "girl watch" so it's kind of always been lost on me.


Here's a list I found...

This is from a band out of Canada called The Pariahs . Pretty strong list I mean, you may not like a lot of the bands but the songs rock.

JOHNNY PARIAHS DEFINITIVE LIST OF THE TOP FIFTY STRIPPER SONGS OF ALL TIME

1 SLOW RIDE Foghat
2 IM GONNA CRAWL Led Zeppelin
3 STIR IT UP Bob Marley
4 UNDERNEATH IT ALL No Doubt
5 CALLING DR. LOVE Kiss
6 STRIPPED Rammstein
7 STRAY CAT BLUES The Rolling Stones
8 HARLEM SHUFFLE The Rolling Stones
9 HOT LEGS Rod Stewart
10 POCKET ROCKET Galore
11 SO WHATCHA WANT The Beastie Boys
12 NO DIGGITY Blackstreet
13 PASTIES AND A G-STRING Tom Waits
14 I NEED SOMEBODY The Stooges
15 ROUGH RIDER The English Beat
16 BEAUTIFUL GIRLS Van Halen
17 LOOKS THAT KILL Motley Crue
18 CHUNK (PORT DOVER) Junkhouse
19 BRICK HOUSE The Commodores
20 FIRE The Ohio Players
21 LA GRANGE ZZ Top
22 GIVE IT AWAY Red Hot Chilli Peppers
23 TELL ME SOMETHING GOOD Rufus
24 BLOOD SUGAR SEX MAGICK Red Hot Chilli Peppers
25 SEX AND CANDY Marcy Playground
26 CANT GET NEXT TO YOU Al Green
27 PEACHES The Stranglers
28 DO ME, BABY - Prince
29 QUEEN OF PAIN The Cramps
30 FEVER Peggy Lee
31 EDGE OF THE WORLD Faith No More
32 BABY GOT BACK Sir Mix-A-Lot
33 I PUT A SPELL ON YOU Screamin Jay Hawkins
34 LOUD LOVE Soundgarden
35 THE STRIPPER Burt Bacharach
36 SIN CITY AC/DC
37 MOVE OVER Janis Joplin
38 TAHITIAN MOON Porno For Pyros*
39 SWEET EMOTION Aerosmith
40 KEEP YOUR HANDS TO YOURSELF Georgia Satellites
41 GIRLS, GIRLS, GIRLS Motley Crue
42 OH CAROLINA Shaggy
43 POUR SOME SUGAR ON ME Def Leppard
44 MISSISSIPPI QUEEN Mountain
45 CHINESE SURPRIZE Latin Playboys
46 NIGHTCLUBBING Iggy Pop and David Bowie
47 FANTASTIC VOYAGE Lakeside
48 FLOWER Moby
49 SLEEPWALK Santo and Johnny
50 I FEEL LOVE Donna Summer

and pretty much the entire recorded output of Barry White.

Where were you

In rememberance
So, since this the the 5th Anniversary of September 11, 2001 I thought I'd share my story of where I was. Much like my parents generation can tell you what they were doing when Kennedy was assassinated, most of us can remember exactly where we were when those planes hit the World Trade Center.

I was starting my second day at a new job, as the Communications Specialist in Austin, Texas for a Federal Grant that did disability research. I remember being introduced to my cubicle, and trying to settle into a position that I was feeling excited and scared about taking on... and then suddenly my boss walked out of his office and casually mentioned that a plane had hit the World Trade Center. Talk about all of my insecurities about being in a new position flying out the window.

I was lucky enough to not have any loved ones or friends perish in the attacks. One of my old college roommates was away from her desk at the Pentagon when that plane hit... but nobody I knew personally was injured or killed... but America as a whole lost something that day...and I think the world lost a little bit of something as well.

I remember how everyone seemed to be together in their love for America in the immediate time following the attack. 90 percent of the cars I saw had a flag magnet or sticker or something pro-American hanging from it. I never did any of that because I always wore my support for my country in my thoughts and actions... but it was really heartwarming to see all of those pieces of support.

I remember watching slowly as the "Pro-America" items started disappearing and people just melted back into what they were before 9/11. The "death of plastic patriotism" I call it. You still see magnet ribbons that say "support our troops" and pro-and anti-Bush stickers (especially in this area) but gone is the great sweeping love of country that was so apparent 5 years ago. It's really sad. I wonder what people thought as they removed the flags from their cars, trucks, and SUVs. Was it because they were torn and tattered from wear, or that it wasn't fashionable to be patriotic anymore?

I guess we'll never know. But, please, wherever you are, please take a moment to honor those who died needlessly that day. This day isn't about politics, it's about remberance.


So... to quote Alan Jackson: "Where were you when the world stopped turning on that September day?"

Observations of life....

Mor observations of your fellow man.
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Kobe and Stoners
I had lunch at Kobe Steakhouse in San Marcos the other day. The other couple we ended up sharing a grill with was an incredibly stoned college-aged couple.

Now, these folks were very seasoned smoking vetrans and it took a little while to pick up on it.. but once I figured it out it was one of the most entertaining lunches I've had in a while...

It was like eating lunch with a combination of Napolean Dynamite and Beavis and Butthead...

- huh huh huh... do we like... get free refills on the soup?
- Man.. that rice is FRIED! huh hu hu huh...
- This place is amazing... they give you LOTS of food... huh huh...
...and the clincher... in case there was any doubt that they were stoned:
- Man.. if we went to get a pizza right now, I could only eat like one or two slices.

---------------------
Cheetos
What do they put in Cheetos that makes them so damn addicting? I opened a bag at lunch yesterday and I had to force myself to stop eating them. The cheese remnanents on my fingers was about to permanently affix itself and force my hand into a three-prong Cheeto-eating crane.

I think it's the fact that it's a cheesy carb. That's the clencher. It's breaded... but with cheese. That's genious.

---------------------
I curse the Martinez Family
We recently (6 months ago) had to get a new phone number (long story... short version is Time Warner are lazy bastards that screwed me out of my old number). Ever since then We're getting 2-3 calls a day from someone that is looking for the Martinez family who undoubtedly had our phone number.

Damn you Martinez Family!

Maybe I should start acting like I'm "José Martinez" and field these calls..which would really screw them up. I'll sign up for everything they ask about... and then when they verify my address... I'll know where the bastards who caused my dismay live...Mwhahaha!

Hmm... *light bulb*