Q:What do you get when you combine 4 parts evil genius, 1 part Delta Blues, 1 part Irish Folk, 1 part Zydeco, 1 part Johnny Cash, 1 part Leon Redbone, and 1 part Sabado Gigante Internacional in a rusty bucket all topped off with a wicked sense of humor and a bit of self-deprecation?

A:You get Rube Waddell and bucket load of musical madness and pure entertainment!

Cap’n Feedback, Reverend Wupass, Mahatma Boom Boom, and Max A. Million are the 4 musical geniuses whom serve as the base to this delightful musical concoction.  Their style is best described as a rich array of earthy folk styles with whacky lyrics based on bizarre topics (Spongiform Encephalopathy). 

I can’t help but think Rube Waddell’s music is some of the best damn “beer and a shot” music I’ve ever heard.  While listening I can think of nothing better that I would like to do than get stinkin’ drunk, puke on my shoes, and start all over.   Unfortunately, I am no longer physically capable of performing such feats (at least frequently).  The suffering that follows endures longer than any pleasure received from afore mentioned acts (if you’d like to help me overcome this affliction, please send cash). 

I’m sure as soon as I’m able, I’ll crank this eclectic collection at my next party.  It will fit in well with any party mix on my iPod.  I’m sure it will go great with some Jimmy Buffet, a couple Van Morrison tunes and a couple of crazy techno tunes (to get the chicas to dance).

Frankly, not everyone is going to appreciate Rube Waddell.  They are to music what Monty Python is comedy; only the brightest and the best will get it.  That’s why I refer to them as evil geniuses.  They are base yet sophisticated.  They appeal to the lowest common denominator in an Encyclopaedia Brittanica sort of way.

Listen to their music at CD Baby.]]> The Music http://www.bigbeefandbeer.com/blog/index.php?itemid=29 Mon, 16 Oct 2006 21:43:51 -0400 http://www.bigbeefandbeer.com/blog/index.php?itemid=28 The Villebillies is the newest and freshest sound to come our way in a long time. The 10 member band with five vocalists and five musicians leads us into a world we haven’t quite experienced before. If you like bluegrass, rock, rhythm & blues or rap, keep on reading, because you’ll certainly be interested in this group.

The Villebillies is a taste of each one of those genres. They incorporate their rap with their singing talents into a harmonic tone. Their music styles change from song to song, which is why you cannot take your ear away. You’ll be intrigued.

It is so nice to hear a band who’s not trying to be the next Nirvana or N’SYNC. To be honest, I was a little taken aback with the rap at first. But it was not your ordinary rap. And it is not the kind of rap you hear in some rock songs and then they start screaming and cursing. It’s not like that at all. I truly fell in love with it. It was the cherry on top. The music was the ice cream; delicious and sweet, but different than any ice cream I’ve tasted. And the singing was the whipped cream and chocolate syrup; they were in accord and pleasant.

I was impressed with this band, not just because it was nice to hear something different, but also because the music was good. They had music on their new CD that accommodated my taste. Rock is my weakness and they nailed it right on the head.

The last song, “Greatest Moment,” is a rock song. They poured their souls into this song. I love hearing about obstacles overcome, because I empathize with them. “Greatest Moment” is my favorite song on the CD.

A lot of the other songs are about drinking too much. Those songs are just fun. I enjoyed listening to them. You’ll enjoy listening to them, too.

Read our exclusive interview. 

Visit their official site.

Visit their MySpace page.

With a combination of rap, rhythm and blues, bluegrass and rock, this eclectic group got together.

“We feed off each other and perfect it,” said Demi “Reverend D. Ipcus” Demaree, vocalist.

The guys in the band know each other from elementary school and high school, including Demaree, Dustin “Tuckmonster” Tucker (vocals), Derek“Child” Monyhan, (vocals), David “2B” Mouser (vocals), Dylan “Jimmy Shivers” O’Daniel (vocals), Tim “Tip E Toe” Bernauer (drums/percussion), Justin “JuJu BadCredit” Reid (electric guitar), Adam “Powder” Goff (acoustic guitar), William “BJ” Young (keyboard) and Ron Ping (bass).

Demaree said they started hanging out and making music together. It became their passion and decided to make a living out of it.

Their debut album is out on shelves right now with Rhythm and Booze/Universal Motown Records.

What’s with the booze? I can tell, you’re probably wondering. I asked that very question to Demaree. He laughed. He told me, when they started playing together, they all were 21 and 22 years old. A lot of their songs were about bourbon, being done with a certain thing or being with a girl for seven years, he said.

“We just started drinking a lot,” Demaree said. He calls it whiskey-soaked rock.

But then, once they started getting noticed about their music, they wanted their own label. That’s how Rhythm and Booze Productions got named, he said.

He said as they continued to make music together, their songs got more serious. Like, their last song on the CD, titled “Greatest Moment.”

Demaree said after all the songs they wrote over the years, they could only choose 12 songs or less and that made it difficult for the band to decide which ones to use.

“We had hundreds of songs to choose from,” he said. “We thought the Villebillies were a taste of what we started and a taste of where we’re going. We didn’t want to freak out the world.”

Singing and rapping about drinking in the early years, and then moving on to their more serious side shows the world how diverse the Villebillies really are.

Demaree told me that if I asked any band member who their influences in music were, I would get different answers from artists like Michael Jackson to Tool to TuPac. That is why they use so many different genres of music. They like them all, he said.

But how do 10 guys agree on what to play with so many different musical influences?

“Everybody gives their two cents,” Demaree said. “We don’t argue about anything. I thought everybody worked like that.”

Read our review of their debut album. 

The New York Dolls are back with less drag and a lot of kitsch.  Just like in the Blues Brothers, they decided to get the band back together (although they’re probably not on a mission from God) after an impromptu concert at which they were received with great enthusiasm.  At least one original band member was dead before the concert, and one died shortly after.

This new CD is true to that spirit.  Lot’s of fun mostly.  “Dance Like a Monkey” is a bouncy ‘80s pop/punk style dance tune that will have you dancing like a monkey while you’re chuckling at the kooky lyrics that poke fun at Intelligent Design and Creationists.  If it could get some airplay outside of alternative rock stations, it would be a surefire top 40 hit.

The album is filled with many songs as silly as “Dance Like a Monkey,” but few as catchy.  I know this is a weird analogy, but all I could think of while listening is the tunes sound like John Cougar Mellencamp meets The Dead Milkmen.  This NYD CD is filled with solid rock standards and punk rock lyrics.

There are a couple of slow tunes I could do without.  They are nostalgic and pine for lost loves or friends.  I’m just guessing, but I’m sure NYD is recognized more for kitsch and fun than nostalgia and sadness.  Aesthetically though, the slow tunes are pleasing, but just don’t fit with the campy pop mode.

If you were a fan of NYD before the Buster Poindexter days, pick up the whole album, have some fun, or reminisce.  Otherwise, download the fun tunes, and throw them in your alternative party mix and shotgun a beer.  Either way, you won’t be disappointed.

She has a sort of sweetness to her words and her music. Her voice resonates through the pain in her lyrics. Although you will be willing to dance, you cannot help but hear a sense of sadness in her voice.

Kline subtly accomplishes combining the music and her lyrics together. She is a powerful vocalist and she has a story to tell. When listening to any of her songs, whether on her Web site, www.kimklinemusic.com or her myspace.com account, remember to listen closely; maybe you will relate to her stories.

I woke up one morning with a song of hers stuck in my head from her recently released four song demo. It was the first song, “Inside,” I think. Or it could have been “Sick Reality,” “Karma” or “Gotta Let It Go.” The songs on her demo sound similar. The music has a good beat, do not get me wrong, but they sound like any other pop-rocker princess. I think I’ve heard her song before; at least that is what I first thought.

The lyrics and her voice are what stand out. She is bold enough to tell the world her stories about heartbreak in  romantic relationships and being the other woman.

But you will get addicted, like I have.

Kline is talented. She pours her heart out. And she wants all of us to listen.

I slowed down to get a better look.  In the drivers seat of a soccer mom minivan was a woman typing on her laptop while driving.  She had the screen propped against the steering wheel and the keyboard on her lap. 

It looked as if she was keeping the wheel straight with her left leg so she could keep both hands on the keyboard; right on the home row keys.  Traffic was stop and go.  She was keeping pace.  Somehow (perhaps she is an excellent typist), she managed to keep her eyes on the road.

I was enraged.  This had to be the stupidest thing I had seen anyone do under these circumstances.  She put me and my 3.5 year old daughter in danger.  

Thoughts danced in my head. Could I get in front of her and slam on the brakes.  The thought of the driver's side air bag exploding the laptop into her face pleased me immensely.  I pictured her doctor pulling the 'esc' key out of her cheek with tweezers.  If only my daughter hadn't been in the car with me, that may have come to pass. 

After about 10 minutes and one mile, she truned into a gas station.  The laptop never left her lap as she turned into the drive.  The noise in my head subsided, and my daughters gentle voice filled my ears. I'm glad I did not over react to such supreme idiocy. 

The people who bring you those artery clogging breakfast pastries have confirmed that a serving of alcohol a day keeps the heart doctor away - especially for men.  Danish researchers have confirmed in study of 50,000 people over 5 years that men who drink daily are 41% less likely to have heart disease...

If you don't believe me check out the Reuter's article. 

Funny, drinking only once a week was less beneficial with only a 7% reduction in heart disease.  The results for women were not as dramatic.  Females who drank daily did not fare any better than those that only drank once a week; how unfortuante.

The article doesn't say why alcohol helps reduce heart disease.  I suspect though, that drinking daily is like meditation.  It takes a little effort to relax daily.  Any good doctor or psychologist will tell you it is very important to both your physical and mental health to take 15 minutes or so daily and deliberately relax.  Sidling up to the bar, ordering and drinking a frosty mugful takes about 15 minutes.  What a wonderful way to relax.  What a wonderful way to take care of your heart. It's much better than a lowfat diet - yech!

It was an emotional evening.

At many times I found myself close to tears.  When Paris came back, I almost lost it.  She's a sweetheart and has a great future.

How can you not like Elliot? He lookslike Curious George.  He was a good little monkey, but just not talented enough.  It was nice they honored his mother with the Proud Moment Award.

The Burt Bacharach tribute was very moving as well.  It's amazing that one man could write so many songs.  It's even more amazing that one man could write so many beautiful songs. 

Did you know Dionne Warwick was still alive?  If you're in her psychic friends network you did!  If her face was lifted any higher, she could just "kiss the sky."  She still has a beautiful voice.  Choked me up a little.

So Taylor wins, and I kept my emotions in check.  They pan to David Hasselhoff crying and I lose it too.  If a real man, former lifeguard, and driver of a talking car can ball in front of millions, I can cry lying in the fetal position alone in the dark.

The dream of Big Beef and Beer began while Swank lived in Alaska. After making a few steaks and some chicken wings, on separate occasions, Swank, in a discussion with Reggie, decided that the both of them could start a restaurant. This restaurant as you might imagine was named Big Beef and Beer. Now I know it is a reach from being able to make a couple of meals to a running a restaurant. But never fear, Greg and Tim arriving on the scene, having worked as cooks in restaurants ranging from fast food, to short order, to true cuisine making this reach less of a reach and more of a reality. They brought the smarts to the dream. The food the two could cook was of unsurpassing…well…very good. Therefore…Tim’s Big Beef and Beer.

The dream developed in this manner: All servings would be family size, with large helpings of just about everything. The menu would include steaks that, beside being delicious, would be the size of roasts. Roast pork served one day would be made into barbequed pork sandwiches for lunch the next day (nearly heaven). Salsa would be made fresh everyday. The menu would contain a staple of good solid fair mixed with those experiments that the cooking staff would come up with daily. The environment would be all wood with wide-open ceilings and beams; a tractor would hang from the ceiling and would be started every Wednesday night. Waiver’s supplied. Of course, it would be an old John Deere tractor.

The dream extended… Reggie was into music so it was decided that music must be a part of the product. Music would be OK in the restaurant, but would be best just as background music. So a facility had to be added to the Big Beef and Beer dream. The facility became named Greg’s Techno Barn. It was going to be a real barn with plenty of dancing space. The band would play in the hayloft or in a stage at the back of the barn between the two haylofts. Over the stage would hang a huge Jumbotron. (Now you know why we continuously talk about Jumbotrons.) There would be Techno night, local band night, and just great music night. Bands like Free Beer, Cowboy Mouth, and ClabberGirl will play regularly. Monday night football would be displayed on the jumbotron and when football season was over, Monday night would be country night, but we won’t show. The Cider Nationals would finally find a site that could be legally trashed.

This is the dream.

When the Internet became popular and Reggie became an expert at it and websites, the foursome realized they had, short of winning the lottery, a chance to fulfill their dream. This site is the first step in that dream. We are trying to bring honest information to an honest public. We currently make very little money and have found that, we really like doing the website. We still have our dream but believe in providing you with the best information and entertainment that we can offer.  Our pledge to you is to keep honest and never put money ahead of serving our readers. Please support us in this effort by merely visiting this site often and providing much feedback. We appreciate all feedback, negative or positive. 

We are not a Dot.com business we are a movement. We stand for honesty, straightforwardness and dreams, and cannot wait to bring you great food and awesome music.

The techno barn will rock at its foundations…

To develop a website in order to finance, through advertising, the development of the Big Beef and Beer Restaurant and the adjacent Techno Barn.

Promise to our readers:

To provide information, in the best and most professional manner possible, with candor to an inquisitive public. Our pledge is to be honest and never put money ahead of serving our readers. We are not a .com business, we are a movement. We stand for honesty, straightforwardness and dreams, and cannot wait to bring you great food and awesome music.

The techno barn will rock at its foundations…