This Thursday through Saturday is all about Austin's own David Garza. These show picks were a clear no brainer for me, as I am a long time David (pronounced like Dah-Veed) Garza fan. This week offers something different even for me. I'll get to that in a second, but let me begin by talking about Thursday's show.In what is a make up date from last Tuesday, Garza will be performing at The Continental Club located at 1315 South Congress. He was supposed to co-headline with Alejandro Escovedo last week but Garza had to cancel due to him fighting a cold. While I pretty was bummed I certainly understood with this ugly weather we're having in Austin right now. Thursday he'll be performing with Strange Darling and Chrysta Bell. Arrive around 10:00pm to catch the whole show. The Continental always has good acts booked from different walks of life. It's one of those venues that's a right of passage for people living or even visiting Austin. It's intimate and there's not really a bad spot in the house. Sometimes it just gets too crowded for such a small place.
For those who are unfamiliar with David Garza or haven't seen hm live, you need to get with the program already. Seriously, where have you been? Now I was fortunate enough to have seen Garza many a times, my first time being when I was in high school at the now defunct Steamboat (RIP) on 6th. I may or may not have been old enough to get in, but I'm glad I did. It was around the time his This Euphoria album was out, which is still my favorite of his to date. He is a complete talent with the ability to croon with his singer-songwriter skills but also rock when he wants to. Believe me when I tell you he thinks and sees things differently than the rest of us.
I admit, I always thought he was going to "make it" and reach a higher level than he has. Sure he has received tons of critical acclaim, and deservedly so, but something just never came together. I expected to see him on national magazine covers and MTV appearances. Again, remember this was the era when MTV played videos. I also remember around that same time This Euphoria came out, Best Buy had this music commercial campaign called "The Next Big Thing". One of those commercials featured David Garza and had a sound bite of his song "Kinder". After seeing that, I thought I'd never see him at the small clubs again. It's a shame he never got to that level and more people didn't get to hear David Garza, but perhaps he didn't want that for himself. I'd love to chat about that with him one day.
Twang Twang Shock-A-Boom (love the '90s haircuts!)
Here is the different part I referred to in my intro paragraph above. Way back when, Garza had an acoustic band that consisted of himself, Jeff Hayley and Chris Searles. From what I have read online, they started playing around UT and eventually played their way in gigs at The Cactus Cafe. They had an album called Me So Twangy, which is still available for download online today. Check the links at the bottom of this post.
Well for two dates this weekend, Friday and Saturday, Twang Twang Shock-A-Boom will be reuniting at The Cactus Cafe for two shows. Apparently Jeff Hayley isn't joining them, but Garza and Searles will be twangin' away. The music is very acoustic jam band, but not in the annoying hippie sense. The lyrics are humorous and Garza's voice is of course amazing. Those who get to witness Twang Twang Shock-A-Boom will be witnessing Austin history.
For more details about everything I mentioned, check out the following links:
David Garza on MySpace
Cactus Cafe
Twang Twang Shock-A-Boom on MySpace
Download link for Twang Twang Shock-A-Boom songs
Twang Twang Shock-A-Boom article from Austin Chronicle
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