AC/DC, Australian Pink Floyd, Black Queen Speaks & Troublemaker

It's been a long, dry spell for posts but not for excellent music!

I've been very fortunate to be entertained in the past three months by AC/DC, Australian Pink Floyd, Black Queen Speaks and Troublemaker. The latter two groups are local to the Houston area.

Black Queen Speaks (BQS) features this blog's designer, Gabe Lopez, on bass, and three other outstandingly talented performers on guitar, drums, and guitar/vocals. Mike, the vocalist, sneaks up on you: he is handsome, clean-cut, and resembles the guy who rode up to your house on a bike, bearing witness for the Mormons. Consistent with his nice guy image, Mike is the most considerate musician making heavy music - when I saw BQS at Bohemeo's in Houston (an intimate poetry, art and music venue), he passed out earplugs to everyone in the audience. But what issues from his larynx is nothing short of a clarion cry about what's happening on the street. The boy is hot . . . and his lyrics are all-adult. BQS performs all original compositions that will remind you musically of classic rock anthems . . . fused with totally up-to-date rhythms. Catch this excellent act at Rudyard's on Waugh Dr. on Thursday, January 22, or at many other venues throughout 2009!

Troublemaker features frontwoman Kat (Kathy) James, owner of Kat's Guitars in The Woodlands (contained in All Pawn, owned by Kat's hubby, on I-45 North near Sawdust). Kat and Troublemaker put on an exciting show, which I took in at the 19th Hole on Sawdust Road. The first set consisted of great covers - AC/DC, Metallica, the Black Crows, etc. The second set was Kat's trademark tribute to Janis Joplin - Janis on the Rocks. Kat plays lead and rhythm guitar like Joan Jett and sings like Janis. And that Jack Daniels growl is authentic - Jack Black is the band's official beverage. Catch this great act at clubs all over the Houston area.

AC/DC put on the most amazing show at Toyota Center I've seen since the days of Alice Cooper. It was a rock extravaganza, complete with animated, sex-soaked movie clips, a huge, inflated Whole Lotta Rosie, and Angus in his usual rare form. It's hard to believe these guys are moving into senior citizen-hood . . . they were more energetic than most of the young fans who were brought to the concert by their parents! It was my first time to attend an AC/DC concert, but Sensei Deddy Mansyur, who accompanied me, had seen them a couple of years after he arrived in the U.S., in 1979. I asked him which show was the more impressive . . . he didn't hesitate: "This is better," he said, with a gleam in his eye!

And Australian Pink Floyd brought something to the Verizon Wireless Theater that transcended the meaning of "tribute band." The group is composed of tremendously talented musicians in their own right. The Aussies have been at it for 20-plus years, and they have honed the music, vocals and theater into a fine representation of Gilmour, Waters, Wright and Mason . . . not to mention the three outstanding women backup vocalists. The morning after, I genuinely felt like I had been to a Pink Floyd concert the night before. All in all, it was all the bricks in The Wall!