Houston music is a funny thing. It has great depth and talent and, at the same time, great tragedy. I think it is probably that way everywhere, but I can only speak of my home town.
Last night was the Tim McGlashen tribute/benefit at the Meridian and it was full of great performances and weirdness.
Everything said that Chris Whitley would play in between the Zealots reunion and the last Buddhacrush performance. I just did not believe it was the actual Chris Whitley whose first album was so killer.
It was. But, the guy was not in good shape. According to folks there, he had been in the hospital because he was a severe alcoholic. The guy was my height (6′) and couldn’t have weighed more than 130 pounds. He tried to play but only made it through half a song before nearly collapsing.
He could be later found backstage sipping red wine and smoking a joint. Nice.
The Zealots had a spirited performance highlighted by the David Bowie song, “Heroes.” I haven’t heard those guys in forever.
Buddhacrush was solid and got great performances from guest vocalists, esepcially Cathy Humble.
The only other odd part of the evening was the scheduling. There was a good crowd (I’m guessing a few hundred at the most), but they were there to see the reunion show and the final Buddhacrush show, so it seemed a little lot anticlimactic for bands to go on after that.
Not only was it odd, but the place emptied and my band, orange is in, who went on last played to about 25 people. They were pretty lively and we had a good show, but it would’ve made more sense if us, Norma Zenteno and Drop Trio went on early in the evening – say 6pm – and built up to the reunion and final shows.
But, hindsight and all. Overall, it was a very warm tribute and all the musicians were happy to be there. Saw a lot of old friends and a good time was definitely had by all.