Nerd Update

So for all the gear nerds. Here's an update. I was gonna keep it a secret but I've been playing this guitar for about 70 hours straight. I'm tired but I can't put this gutiar down. Especially since I am running it througha new pedal.

I picked up this Gibson es 355. I used to have one just like this. It was a 1973 and it was what I used to record the second Hacienda record. I was short on dough, and to be honest the guitar sucked live. So I sold it. It was wired stereo so it was a chore to cable it up for one amp and still use both pickups. It bothered the shit out of me so much that I sold it first chance I got.

What did you know, but I got seller's remorse. I thought about getting another one all the time. It was taking over my life. I even lost one on ebay that went for about 4 grand. Ouch!! When I found this one I had to have it. Its actually availible to play mono and stereo. Its awesome, and it sounds great. I'm still gonna be using the black Les paul, but this one's gonna see some playing time, fo sho!

I've been running it through a new pedal I recieved from a nice guy out of England. He runs a effects company called Hudson Electronics. I put in an order for a "Gospel Bomb". Its a treble booster based on a vintage rangemaster. I wasnt familiar with any of this stuff, so I figured it would be worth a shot. I was happy with the analogman fuzzes and was looking at replacing the ibanez tube screamer. This pedal might replace several pedals I have. Its a great sound. It actually sounds like my amp is rattling. Its awesome. Its not a fuzz, or an overdrive, and somehow, its better. Fuzzes can be extreme, and overdrives can sound a little fake sounding. This thing sounds like my amp is cranked to perfection. The only problem is, I want to leave it on all the time.

Check these pedals out. There are a couple of U.S. dealers, but I think they are still new.

Summertime Blues

So I've been on vacation. That sounds kind of dumb, considering I don't really do anything anyway. I feel dumb even typing that. I've had the chance to hit South Padre, which is in surprisingly good shape, and I've been visiting friends listening to new music. Went tubing on the river. A must in Texas. Got a new phone so hopefully I'll have some better video clips, and I got a new guitar thats coming out on the road next week. I wont say what it is, but I'll give you a hint. I said I would get one of these again soon. Finally got a hair cut. Your welcome mom. Been watching Louis CK's new show on FX called "Louie" and its amazingly funny.

One of my new musical discoveries is this girl Courtney Jaye. She is a pop singer who had a couple of radio hits. Most of it is not my musical taste however I stumbled onto a cd while cleaning out my suitcase. When we were playing with Floating Action at the Earl in Atlanta, She joined Seth and the band for a tune called "Sunlight". Seth gave me her record and I forgot all about it. He produced her last record in the Seth Kauffman style and it sounds very cool. I was driving in the valley listening to the new BRMC record and heard a voice in the background. I looked up the notes and it said Courtney Jaye sang on it. I raced to find that cd and put it on and I'm glad I did. The style of this record is very interesting.

Everything Seth does is cool, and this record is no exception. Heres a video for a tune. The record is called "The Exotic Sounds of Courtney Jaye" Listen to a tune on her myspace called "Maru Maru". Its great.





Went to see the Doctor. Why do they give you paper gowns at the Dr.'s office? Its humiliating. I think you can tell exactly how I feel by this picture my bro took. I've been given the clean bill of health to get on the road and thats what I intend to do. Check out these dates and say hey if you get the chance.






Upcoming HACIENDA dates:

Thu 08/12/10 Forth Worth, TX 8.0 Restaurant & Bar

Fri 08/13/10 Denton, TX Boiler Room

Sun 08/15/10 Columbia, MO Blue Note w/Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears

Mon 08/16/10 Louisville, KY Zanzabar w/Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears

Tue 08/17/10 Toledo, OH Frankie's w/Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears

Thu 08/19/10 Pittsburgh, PA Rex Theater w/Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears

Fri 08/20/10 Hoboken, NJ Maxwell's w/ Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears

Sat 08/21/10 New York, NY Mercury Lounge

Tue 08/24/10 Charleston, SC Pourhouse w/ Joe Lewis & The Honeybears

Wed 08/25/10 Birmingham, AL Bottletree w/ Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears

Thu 08/26/10 Hattiesburg, MS, Thirsty Hippo w/Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears

Fri 08/27/10 New Orleans, LA, One Eyed Jacks

Sat 08/28/10 Austin, TX, Red River on the Rocks @ Mohawk

Tue 09/07/10 Louisville, KY, Skull Alley w/ Girl in a Coma

Wed 09/08/10 Columbus, OH, Rumba Café w/ Girl in a Coma

Thu 09/09/10 Detroit, MI, Magic Stick w/ Girl in a Coma

Fri 09/10/10 Lansing, MI, The Loft at Harem Urban Lounge w/ Girl in a Coma

Sat 09/11/10 Indianapolis, IN, Radio Radio w/ Girl in a Coma

Sun 09/12/10 Chicago, IL, Beat Kitchen w/ Girl in a Coma

Mon 09/13/10 Madison, WI, High Noon w/ Girl in a Coma

Tues 09/14/10 Minneapolis, MN, Triple Rock w/ Girl in a Coma

Wed 09/15/10 Fargo, ND, The Aquarium w/ Girl in a Coma

Thu 09/16/10 Cedar Falls, IA, University of Northern Iowa w/ Girl in a Coma

Fri 09/17/10 Lawrence, KS, The Bottleneck

Thu 09/23/10 Laredo, TX Old No. 22 w/ Jeff the Brotherhood

Fri 09/24/10 Marfa, TX, El Cosmico Gathering

Sat 09/25/10 San Antonio, TX, Lone Star Beer Bash at the Brewery

Tues 10/19/10 New York, NY, Terminal 5 w/ My Morning Jacket

Keep San Antonio Lame

So I'm from Laredo, my parents are from Laredo, my grandparents are from Mexico, Elian Gonzalez is from Cuba, but Hacienda is from San Antonio and always will be. I love Austin, I love south Texas, I love America. But, no doubt about it, Hacienda is from San Antonio.

A lot of bands will move to Austin and change their facebook status. I dont get it. We cut our teeth in Austin but that didnt change the fact that the band was created in San Antonio. Bands changing zip codes shouldnt matter. A band is only born once, and where there born is on their musical birth certificate. Remember that. Its not about where you live but where your from. All that being said, unless supermodel, Marissa Miller, starts returning my calls, I aint moving to hollywood or anything.

In Austin, they have a popular endearing campaign with the slogan of Keep Austin Weird. Its easy to get behind. Austin is weird, but thats what makes it never boring. Its a great place to live. Laredo is violent, unfortunatley and thats what people like to talk about. I only hope that I'll live to see peace south of Texas. Someone in San Antonio started a campaign to Keep San Antonio Lame. I know it was in an attemp to own what people were saying about the city, but you know what? It works.

Hacienda played a not so secret free show at The Limelight in San Antonio. People in San Antonio don't complain about why its lame. If I want something weird, I'll head North to Austin. If I want something fancy, I'll take a trip to New York or something. And if I want a safe, fun, cheap, friendly place to live, where the food tastes like it was made by God, then I'll stay in San Antonio.

We hadn't been able to play in our backyard for over a year because of scheduling bullshit, but this show was great. A treat for us. Its was great! There was line outside. The stage was dressed with colorful props and the guitar was loud as all hell. The audience was dancing and there was even a free lone star or two. Gone were the notions of, "Austin's where you gotta go for a show", or "Where do all the cool people hang?" Fuck all that! If San Antonio is lame, and these pictures can show how lame of a time we had then please "KEEP SAN ANTONIO LAME!"

Thanks to the Hawks for playing with us, and thanks to Sarah Maspero for taking these photos. Best time ever dudes.

Trade Deadline

So I grew up in the 80's and I have been a giant major league baseball fan up until the end of the 2007 season. I actually fell out of favor with the league in 2005 but was awaiting retirement for one of my favorite players to leave the game for good. Steriods, spoiled athletes, corprate greed, rotten ownership and management, ridicolous prices for games and concessions...I'm losing you, better get back on topic here. O.K., what I was getting at was, when I was a fan I thoroughly enjoyed the trade deadline. July 31st, every year, teams in the hunt would trade for players that were essentially all stars on teams in last place.

If you read the hoarders post from last time, then you will remember that I am not into collecting guitars. I'm into playing them, and only playing the ones that matter. So I'm noticing some guitars sitting on the bench too long, and I do need a proper back up, so I'm doing just that.

TRADE UPDATE: A couple of telecasters are up for grabs as well as a les paul with 3 humbuckers that is too much for me to handle. I'm also gonna get a small amp to add to the mix, in case some clubs complain about my volume.

To all who read this and play. Dont let guitars die in the closet or under the bed in a case. Play a few that really matter and trade what your not using for something you will. That loyal guitar, you know, your old buddy will thank you for it.

On that note, just as a point of reference:

Best mlb trade ever - Aging middle releiver Larry Anderson from Houston to Boston in exchange for top prospect Jeff Bagwell. Bagwell happpens to be my favorite player of all time and the reason I always wanted a beard.

Best guitar trade ever - rare cherry red 60's fender 1000 pedal steel that I suck at playing - That black Gibson les paul that I play every friggin day.

I really do suck at playing pedal steel. As far as I'm concerned you have to be a god damn witch to play that thing.

The Cure for Boredom

So Im super friggin bored these days, cause there aint a whole bunch of work right now. In fact the doctor says I'm supposed to take a break. I'm using this break to clean up my place and I'm supposed to trade a couple of guitars, we'll see how that goes. A couple of super-top-secret-side projects in the works. Nothing serious, just for fun. I'll give you a hint, pedal steel guitar. I'm not saying anything else.

So in this downtime what can I possibly do to occupy my time. Read a book, learn a new language, get a head start on christmas shopping, work on my truck, dust under the television set? No of course not. I have become addicted to this show called "The Closer". Its on TNT and its about a lady cop from Atlanta who moves to L.A. and interrogates people. I'm not sure what caught my attention, but on the last run I bought all five seasons on dvd and just saw the season premiere on Monday. Its more or less taken over my life. I have an addictive personality so this happens to me all the time. I dont know why it happens, it just does. Something similar happened about 10 years ago with a little program on NBC called "Wings". Ever heard of it? I know that Kyra Sedgwick is like 40 something but man, I think shes super hot. 40 year olds are hot now. It happened!



Hacienda is doing a super fun free show at limelight in San Antonio on Wednesday July 21st. If your in the area, we'll make it worth your while. Thats a guarantee. After party at my apt. I'm gonna try and convince the dudes to play some stripped down tunes at a cook out before doors in the afternoon. Its a long shot.
Anyway, there are a bunch of dates for Hacienda coming up. There will be some new dates announced. I'm probably not supposed to announce this, but once again, I am super friggin bored so here goes. We'll be joining our good friend Patrick Hallahan opening for his band My Morning Jacket in New York October 19th. Hopefully we can convince him to do some double drums on our set, or at the very least some percussion nick nacks that Patrick and Jaime get all jazzed about. You heard it hear first. Dont tell anyone yet, or else I get in trouble.

Official announcementnt and tour dates coming in the next week or so. As well as a new song recorded in Detroit July 3rd, with some tour footage to follow, perhaps? I think so. I'm usually last in line to find out these things.

Cheap guitars are expensive

So when I first started playing guitar, I had a cheap yamaha acoustic that my parents bought me. I still have it it. It sits in what used to be my room, in my parents house in laredo. Its missing a tuning peg, so in order to tune it I have to use needle nose pliers. The point is, when you are learning to play, it doesnt really matter. If you want to be good, dont quit and you'll get there. I didnt even ask for a guitar. My parents just thought I could use a hobby. thank god they did. I guess this will have to be my fathers day/ mothers day post.

Anyway, I was working at the mall as a kid and I saved up forever to buy my first electric. I wanted to be a real guitar player, so I did the research and decided, if I spent a ton of money on a real nice guitar, then I wouldnt quit, because I spent so much dough on it. I got a Gibson sg for about $1200 bucks. I got it solely based on this picture. I think the black one is amazing looking. Mine was just o.k. I was still dogshit, but I was locked in to getting better.

Once I started doing this seriously, I tried every guitar, fenders, epis, ricks, gibsons, tiescos, a kent, even some no name stuff. Something I learned from Dan Auerbach was that guitars are about as good as you make em. You see that sg I had was good, but I sucked. I also had a les paul that I got for about 1500 bones and it sucked. You really need to work with a guitar to make it great. If it doesnt conform to what you want to do, then get rid of it, your just wasting your time.




Dan likes "cheap" guitars. You know, Harmonys, Kays, and Supros. Of course the vintage market has gotten a hold of these and now they fetch huge prices. Dan was ahead of the curve on these and has a bunch of old harmonys, that along with Dan Johnson, his guitar tech are making great pro instruments. Try and find an old body, get someone who knows what they're doing and you to will have your own one of a kind gem. This is Dan's supro and an Ibanez lawsuit.

I'm lazy so I buy stuff and if it doesnt work for me I sell it. All this being said, Some guitars that are stupid expensive, and worth every penny. I'm way into this 64 black trini lopez. I'm looking for one if anyone knows where to find one.

If you buy an expensive guitar, you must play this shit out of it. If your afraid of scratches then your not really a player. I got to use this 64 epi casino. they sell for about Elevendy billion dollars and sound awesome. We borrowed one for recording, so I ended up buying a 68 casino later that year.


Good luck finding your own signature axe.

p.s. if you are at t in the park or the oxygen festival, you will see dan Johnson playing bass for the Black Keys. Knock em dead D.J.!

Black Joe Lewis almost killed me!

So alright, alright, maybe he didn't almost kill me, but it was on this tour that I nearly died. It wasnt from serious injury, disease, or an accident. No! It was the food I've been eating for 3 weeks.

You see on the road, it seems nearly impossible to eat right. I'm trying, and if anyone has any suggestions, I'm all ears. I refuse to do any of the artery clogging trinity that is McDonalds, Wendy's and Burger King. Instead, I have only been eating chick-fil-a and chipotle for a month. Its not exactly healthy, but I figured it to be the easiest alternative. Wouldn't you know, the day I get home, I get some real sleep for the first time. The next day I hit the grocery store and make a legit meal, and sure enough my insides are ripped to shreds. It seems that your body gets trained to eat shit for so long, that it reacts negativly to things like broccoli, celery, carrots, lean meats , and fancy cheeses. I'm working on a recovery program that consists of soups and salads. The situation is critical. I will keep you updated.


On a side note, if your ever in Indiana, you might want to expirience the KFC buffet. Thats right KFC has a muthafuckin buffet! The only thing that can quench the thirst that come from the KFC buffet is the KFC megajug. Its about 80 ounces of the soda of your choosing. Its about the size of a mop bucket and has a friggin handle. Abe and video director frank Weysos could not resist and expirienced it in all its glory. They're still sluggish. I was at the chick-fil-a accross the street, I swear!

So back to the tour. Black Joe Lewis is from Austin and so are his honeybears. We've known these guys for a couple of years, and they are a great group of people. They like to have fun on and off stage and thats important for me. The horn section is shit hot, and I think Hacienda is gonna have to steal them at some point. they were really amazing. Their guitarist Zach Ernst is a music junkie who is always giving me great records. He knows guitarists, and is a great dude to talk shop with. He only uses the tiniest amps, a fender pro junior, and an eastwood
airline stratone copy. great sound. I feel a little guilty sometimes cause my stage volume is loud as shit, and they keep theirs pretty even. Great dudes, great tour.

I had a birthday on this one, and normally that doesnt matter, but it was on my birthday that I found out A. we have a twitter page, and B. someone reads it. As we walked onstage in Chicago, someone shouted happy birthday before the first tune. I was speechless. I thought"How do they know?" "Is my dad in the audience?" rene informed me he tweeted it. I thought that was a nice gesture, and thanks for the birthday wishes.

I dont have a ton of pics from this tour, but Frank Weysos is putting together tour footage from Indianapolis, Chicago, and Columbus. I'll post it hear when its all wrapped up.