Austin Sound

In case you don’t have anything happening on your Monday evening, might we make a last minute suggestion. The Continental Club will be hosting a blowout “Pumpkin Moon Party” tonight, October 20th, that will benefit Jon Dee Graham to help defray some of the medical costs from his car wreck back in July. It’s an all star bill, featuring Dale Watson, Reckless Kelly, Steve Poltz, Mojo Nixon, and James McMurtry, all for only $20 going to support an Austin icon.

We knew he wouldn’t stay down for long, but tomorrow Jon Dee Graham makes his triumphant and improbable return to the Continental Club stage following his car crash only one month ago. Though still in a great deal of pain (and debt), Graham’s retaking his Wednesday night spot at the CC will undoubtedly be a therapeutic experience, both for the singer-songwriter and his legions of fans that have followed his recovery. You can bet the place will packed tomorrow, so if you are not able to catch him at the Continental, Graham will also be taking the stage Saturday night at the Saxon Pub.

We wanted to post up this blog that JDG recently posted on his myspace. (If there is one Austin myspace blog you should subscribe to, it is Graham’s. His posts are always as poignant, hilarious, ornery, and heartfelt as his songs). So here, in Jon Dee Graham’s own words, is what to expect Wednesday night:

Returning home to Austin from a show in Dallas this past weekend, folk-rock mainstay Jon Dee Graham fell asleep at the wheel and wrecked along Interstate 35. Graham is currently at Brackinridge, where last night he had to undergo emergency surgery to remove his ruptured spleen. While he is expected to be hospitalized for several more days, a full recovery is also anticipated.

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With the National Poetry Slam in town, it seemed appropriate to have Johnny Dowd onstage at the Saxon Pub Friday night. The folk-rock underdog with a beat poet heart shoveled out tunes from his new album Cruel Words and even ripped off a vicious God-ridiculing poem with an accompanying jazz backdrop.

Since he only had an hour set, he decided to kick off with his “encore,” a gritty cover of “Johnny B. Goode.” He also hit “Poverty House” and “Ding Dong” from the latest release. The best of the new material, however, was “Drunk,” which he dedicated to “the man that me got where I am today” – himself. It was classic Dowd, and the set was filled with moments of wry and ribald humor.