Photos by Jason Wolter

The Tontons

Buxton, the Tontons
Discovery Green
May 24, 2012

I was pretty proud of myself Thursday night: I managed to kill three birds with one stone. I'd never seen local darlings Buxton or the Tontons live before, and I'd never been to a concert at Discovery Green, either. Thanks to UH-Downtown's Thursday Concerts series at the park, I was able to scratch all three at once off of the lengthy to-do list that I've been etching into my steering wheel at red lights.

Conveniently, it couldn't have been a more gorgeous evening for free live music outdoors. There was a strong, persistent breeze howling through downtown that seemed to threaten thunderstorms, but the fast-moving clouds overhead didn't do anything but provide some picturesque matting behind the skyscrapers.

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Photos by Julian Bajsel

Stryper
House of Blues
May 18, 2012

A dedicated legion of Stryper fans cheered on Friday night to bang their heads to the band's greatest hits along with a few excellent covers.

Stryper came out in full yellow-and-black attire while lead singer and guitarist Michael Sweet crooned a version of "Battle Hymn of the Republic." Now, I must admit that I think it takes guts for any rock or pop band to even touch a hymn. Stryper has a lot of guts, which is what makes them one of the boldest Christian metal bands of all time.

The band's boldness about their faith seeped through their high-energy set with songs such as "Loud N' Clear," "The Rock That Makes Me Roll" and "More Than a Man."

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Photos by Marco Torres

Drake
Toyota Center
May 17, 2012

6:57 p.m.: Well, the plan was to be at Toyota Center by now to see opening act 2 Chainz, who has basically become the human form of an Internet meme. However, the school where I teach is having our athletic banquet tonight and I'm still here.

So instead of being at the show, I'm inside of a cafeteria with several other coaches handing out awards. When you train to become a correctional officer at a prison, one of the things they do is lock you in this box of a room and then set off a gas bomb inside, that way if you're ever on duty when something crazy happens and they have to gas everyone, you don't freak out.

This is like that, a little. Middle school boys FUCKING LOVE cologne. Cool Water and Curve x1000.

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Photos by Jason Wolter

Styx

Styx, REO Speedwagon
Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
May 12, 2012

When dinosaurs roamed the earth, Saturday night in America was a pretty awesome place to party.

Considering how many times both Styx and REO Speedwagon must have been through Houston, this weekend's stop on their tandem "Midwest Rock N' Roll Express" tour couldn't help but feel haunted by the ghosts of Arrowfests past. Both bands are hard-rock groups that scored their biggest success with disgustingly maudlin radio-friendly power ballads, and both stubbornly refuse to acknowledge themselves as relics from another era.

Well into their second or even third generation of fans, why should they? The way the three kids in Styx shirts behind me, who couldn't have been older than ten or 11, were playing air drums during REO Speedwagon's set, both bands' appeal could be as strong as it ever was.

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Photos by Cory Garcia

DJ Spooky and the Telos Ensemble on stage, his iPad app on the big screen behind him

The most surprising thing, and maybe the most amazing, about the 2012 edition of the Future Music Summit didn't take place during a presentation or during the concert. It took place during the afterparty at Herzstein Plaza just a little before midnight.

During the day, during presentations and meals, attendees of the festival heard plenty of discussion about music, technology and how humans interact with both. When it was time for the concert portion of the Summit, those attendees were not the only ones in the audience; locals from the Round Top area had stopped by the concert as well.

The locals, used to the more traditional classical performances that take place at the Round Top Festival Institute, seemed at first perplexed by the cyborg orchestra, the augmented violin and the DJ curator. In a concert hall in the present built for music of the past, they got a glimpse of the future.

The locals loved it.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

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photos by Marco Torres

René Pérez Joglar, also known as Residente of Calle 13.

Calle 13
House of Blues
May 10, 2012

Repeat after me: "Ka-yeay, Tress-say." Okay, then, now that we can all pronounce their name, I can begin to tell you how this trio of siblings from Puerto Rico turned a bouncy party song (Atrévete-te-te) into an anthem that helped evolve the group into a revolutionary voice for Latinos across the Americas.

Although that may sound grandiose, this Grammy Award-winning group continues to remain modest and real by gracefully balancing the fun with the forceful. Last night at the House of Blues, Calle 13 gave their fans an inspired taste of what opening act Outernational calls "speaking the truth and causing some trouble."

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Photos by Jody Perry

Jane's Addiction
Bayou Music Center
May 9, 2012

Perry Farrell is a twisted freak. Of course that's intended as a compliment.

Farrell has become one of rock's most successful misfits of the past 25 years, combining an astute business sense with a sincere interest in the any number of alternative subcultures that fuel Jane's sound. The man knows how to sell records, concert tickets and most of all himself.

So of course he would imagine himself as a ringmaster, pulling the puppet strings and making all the clowns dance on cue. That's the theme of Jane's new album The Great Escape Artist, Farrell's love letter to L.A. that's more enthusiastic than Joe Ely's but about as noirish. It's a surprisingly solid Jane's album, better than good but less than great, and I found myself wishing they had played a little more of it Wednesday.

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Photos by Barry Sigman

Soul Fruit, from Tucson, Arizona

Springboard South Music Festival
Citycentre
May 6, 2012

An interesting experiment unfolded this weekend at CityCentre. The Springboard South music festival was the brainchild of Barry Coffing, a music and film industry vet who's the director for the Houston chapter of the National Association of Recording Industry Professionals (NARIP).

The idea was to create a platform for independent artists to perform and network with industry pros lined up to counsel them individually on everything from artist development to music licensing, something akin to the original intent behind South by Southwest.

More than half of the 45 bands and musicians invited were locals, and Sunday's participants (the event ran for three days) seemed altogether satisfied with the proceedings. Springboard South had a wealth of talent on display, and the mentorship and advice from folks occupying the suit-and-tie end of the music business seemed to be a nice step toward filling a niche in a town from which too many artists move away to become "real" pros.

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Photos by Marco Torres

Paul Wall, baby.

Chamillionaire, Paul Wall, Z-Ro
Warehouse Live
May 5, 2012

If you've been staying up nights worrying that Houston's rap legacy will be lost on the city's current crop of teens and young adults, go ahead and sleep soundly tonight. The crowd for Friday night's concert featuring local all-stars Chamillionaire, Z-Ro and Paul Wall was as young as any I've seen in the past year.

As I was waiting in line to get inside, in fact, a pretty blond girl in front of me that looked to be all of 16 years old was busted for her fake ID. Evidently, H-Town rap still goes hard in high-school parking lots.

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Photos by Marc Brubaker

Florence and the Machine, Blood Orange
Bayou Music Center
May 2, 2012

If you skipped Florence and the Machine's show at Bayou Music Center on Wednesday, you might be out of luck. The English indie-poppers aren't likely to be playing the theater again anytime soon.

Judging by the sold-out crowd's enthusiastic response to the band's electrifying performance, Flo and the bros seem destined to be playing amphitheaters instead on the group's next trek through the U.S.

The drinks started flowing and the cameras started flashing almost as soon as the venue's doors opened Wednesday night as an army of young ladies wearing their cutest dresses filed in, boyfriends in tow. Clearly, this was a concert many had been looking forward to for some time -- at least since Florence + the Machine released their latest album, Ceremonials, last October. Given the rate at which pocket Canons were snapping away before the music even began, full play-by-play coverage of the show could probably be found live on Facebook.

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