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Black Rain Online News Archives:   2001  |  2002  |  2003  |  2004  |  2005  |  2006  |  2007  |  2008  |  2009  |  2010

December 14, 2006 - Message from Tony

In postings to both his and Fastball's official sites, Tony has relayed some new info. on his and the band's upcoming musical endeavors. Tony will spend just over 2 weeks out in LA, during the end of January. Part of that time will be spent recording and writing with Cory Gash and Franz Stahl, respectively. He will also be hitting the stage with his fellow Goods bandmates for a Good's reunion show. No date set for that show yet, keep an eye out for it.

Tony also indicates that Fastball will be doing some recording in the near future. While they apparently have enough to record for a possible album, he is unsure of what will ultimately come out of the recordings. One thing is for sure, new music in any form is a good sign.

November 30, 2006 - Qgirl & the Beacon Beat

As promised the Qgirl has come through with her review of the Miles/Tony [Fastball] acoustic show, opening for Cheap Trick at NYC's Beacon Theatre. Her review is as lovely a read as she is - as usual - but she makes no bones about it, while a good and entertaining show, she prefers the raucous barrage of an electric show with Joey holding down the fort. Check the review over at Fastball The Band, and leave your comments for Lady Q over in FTB's forum.
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Linkage: Fastball The Band

Q & A with Guy Fantasy!

Well, Guy's answers are in. And they are now online for your viewing pleasure. Click here, or on the image to the left to read the exclusive Q & A you will only find here at Black Rain.

November 21, 2006 - Ch, Ch, Ch, Ch, Changes

It's official Black Rain will be going to www.blackrainonline.com. This change will occur soon, as in today/tomorrow or some combination thereof. If you check back here with the familiar address and the site is down, try the new one. If it still seems down, then chances are the site is in process of being uploaded, and should be back fairly soon. Please be patient with us during this change. Thanks. - Eric

November 20, 2006 - Things go by...

Miles and Tony's set at Beacon went great according to fans present. The guys performed a short eight song acoustic set, opening for Soul Asylum and Cheap Trick. In addition to regular Fastball favs the guys also played Tony's "Reality" and Miles' "Days Go By." Full set list can be found on Fastball The Band. Full review and photos from Qgirl to come soon. A full recording of the show is also expected. "Day's Go By" was co-written with Bruce Robinson and was previously featured on Bruce's 'Eleven Stories' album, released earlier this year. Check the Miles and Tony version over at Fastball The Band - head to the Gigs page, then click the setlist link for the show.

Also, the band's show at the The Ausländer Biergarten and Restaurant for March 2007 is now listed on the shows pages. No time currently listed for this show, but it's still quite some time off.

November 3, 2006 - Make your own Fastball DVD!

Fastball The Band is currently hosting [via the Trader's Den - torrent site] all the files so that you can burn your own DVD of the Louisville show and interview from August. For those unfamiliar with BitTorrent [Wiki] technology, you will need a small program to download the file and internet access. Simple programs like BitTorrent are good for the novice user. Personally I like Azureus. The process is similar to P2P programs, only with larger files. Click here to access the download link. This is likely a large multi-Gig file, and will take awhile to download, even on a high speed connection. Once done, keep the program and internet open so that you can seed/share the file with others.
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Linkage: Fastball The Band

November 2, 2006 - More Fastball & Stars

Fastball has added a new show at The Rockyard in Fort Worth, TX on November 25.
The Small Stars have added two upcoming Austin shows: Threadgills on November 6, and Antone's on November 9.

October 30, 2006 - Hear new Stars on MySpace

Check "Let's Hit The Town," "Love Is Grand," "Twenty Four Seven," and "Sweet Sweet Sweet" playing now at the Small Stars on MySpace.
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Linkage: Small Stars @ MySpace

October 23, 2006 - Attention: Small Stars fans!

Black Rain will be featuring an exclusive Q&A with Stars frontman Guy Fantasy. Guy has graciously agreed to answer any questions you may have about the Small Stars, their upcoming album 'Tijuana Dreams,' and more. We will be taking your questions through this Sunday, and will be sending them Guy's way on Monday. So if you got 'em send 'em on. The more the merrier. His responses will be featured here in the next couple of weeks. Send questions to my e-mail or post under the threads "Attn: Small Stars fans" at either Fastball The Band's forum, or the Small Stars' forum.

In other S.S. news, the Stars are currently shopping the new album. The sooner the band finds a home for it, the sooner we can expect to see a solid release date surface. The track listing for 'Tijuana Dreams' will be: 1. Let's Hit the Town, 2. Love is Grand, 3. 24/7, 4. Day Job, 5. Girl Trouble, 6. Sweet Sweet Sweet, 7. Carnival, 8. That's What God Made Whiskey For, 9. Bombaderos Y Pistoleros en Laredo, 10. Twenty One, 11. Tijuana Dreams. Thanks to JAS and Guy for the info.

October 20, 2006 - Festivus in NY

According to a post on Fastball The Band's message board, Fastball, along with Soul Asylum, will be opening for Cheap Trick at New York's Beacon Theatre on Thursday, November 16. The event is part of radio station 101.1 JACK FM's Festivus 2006. Brief info. is available here on the JACK FM website. Tickets are available through TicketMaster and run roughly $50 - $70 for the Balcony, $70 for the Loge, and $80 bucks for Orchestra. A bit steep to see Fastball as an opener but well worth it to catch Fastball and the Trick together. Show or doors @ 8pm, according to TM.

**UPDATE** - Fastball opens first before Soul Asylum. It will be a shorter acoustic set from Miles and Tony only.

October 16, 2006 - Hear Stars, Hear

Guy and Buddy return from mastering 'Tijuana Dreams,' which according to the Stars' official haunt "sounds insane." Don't know about the rest of you reading, but I await the new album. Their debut was a surprise treat to my ears, and made me a Star believer. But until the new album drops, enjoy studio [demo?] recordings of "24/7" and "Let's Hit The Town" - currently featured here as part of the group's EPK - nav to the audio section. New or not?; maybe they're new to you. Linkage: Small Stars Official | Small Star EPK

October 12, 2006 - Live Times

For those needing a live fix of Fastball, The Small Stars, Tony, and other Austin area music acts, like David Garza and Billy Harvey - check out JASRecordings. José continues to perfect his craft of live bootleg recording, using quality equipment and through years of experience. He's recorded nearly every Fastball, Small Stars, and Tony show in the Texas area over the last several years. He's got quite a selection, and you won't be disappointed - unless you absolutely have to have mp3s, however he might still be able to help you out if you ask. We've put up a link to subscribe to his mailing listing to the left on our main page here. Sign up and enjoy! He's currently hosting Fastball's recent show @ Antone's, and the recent Small Stars show in Alpine, TX.

Meanwhile for those who need mp3s, Fastball The Band is currently hosting Fastball's Antone's show in mp3 format. Click on the show's info. link via the Gigography page.
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Linkage: Fastball The Band

October 10, 2006 - Stars of the Theater

Added several additional shows to the Small Stars listing. The Small Stars musical returns with a four day run at Austin's Hyde Park Theater. Linkage: Small Stars Official | Hyde Park Theater

In other news, Miles and Jeff have made the run out to LA to master the Small Stars sophomore effort, 'Tijuana Dreams,' tentatively due out early 2007.

September 1, 2006 - MuMa, MuMa, Media

Alright, first I've made some updates to the past tour infos. Lots of dates, and I've still more checking to do. But in honorarium of the re-launch I've added mucho more media, including several more live cuts, a full download of the 1994 Magneto USA demo tape, exclusive to this site. Find it here. PS - Enjoy!

August 31, 2006 - And we're back!

So you've waited [some anyway] for several weeks for this, yet another redesign of the BR site. I tell ya as a web designer, I like things a certain way, and when I don't get them that way they just pick at me. I liked the previous design pretty well, except that it was big and wasn't as compact as I'd wanted. I had difficulties deciding how I wanted to do things in it. This is much more consise and to the point. I went back to what I liked about v2 from back in the day and just built from there. I've tried to make this graphically enhanced, yet still be compact performance wise. I feel good about it and I hope you will too. Bare with me as there are still several pages with lots of content - lots of compiled info from over the years - still to be finished/created throughout the different sections of the site. But they will come, promise. Anyway look around, and let me know if you encounter problems or have a better suggestion to make something perform better. And if you feel like it drop a post on the forum [still needs adapting to the site] and let us know what you think. Lastly I'd like to give a thanks to all the fans who stay interested in Fastball and this site, and who provide info. and resources along the way. Keep it up! Thanks.

August 25, 2006 - Down in Tijuana

The Small Stars second album is currently out in sunny LA in the hands of Bob Clearmountain being mixed. Bob is a reknowned mixer/producer, having worked with the likes of Bowie, the Stones, Springsteen, Bon Jovi, John Fogerty, and of course Bob produced Fastball's 'Keep Your Wig On.' The album will be titled 'Tijuana Dreams' and is tentatively set for an early 2007 release. Keep your ears open for new Small Stars coming soon. And as usual if you've got more info. pass it along.

August 23, 2006 - Kentucky A Go Go

Well, Doug must have insomnia. After just a few days he has edited and turned out the first batch of live video from the band's recent Kentucky State Fair show. As of right now, there are 3 videos covering the band's first 4 songs from the show, which was limited to 40-min. or 11 songs. The footage was shot straight on and from either side of the stage, giving a variety of vantage points. Doug has edited the two video captures into one stream and the videos go from single shot views to side by side double shot views. So check them out over at the new official site now. He promises more soon.
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Linkage: Fastball The Band

August 12, 2006 - Waterloo Thereafter

The band have come out kicking with their first show following Tony's recent medical treatments. According to fans the band rocked and hard at their recent Waterloo Park show, this partially due to Tony's keyboard being non-functional. The set leaned towards the more guitar driven songs, in particular several songs from MYMP sured up the set list, including the sometimes much requested "Altamont" and the usual favorite "She Comes 'Round" which the band typically plays in a jam form, letting it extend for several minutes. This time the band apparently threw a verse from The Doors' "LA Woman" in the middle of the jam. Photos from the show have surfaced from fan KristCaldwell and photographer Steve Hopson and recordings are being generously provided by mix-maestro TexasYesFan, in both MP3 and FLAC forms.

July 31, 2006 - Kimbrough's Life

Former Will and the Bushmen frontman, Will Kimbrough released his fourth solo album, 'Americanitis,' this past Tuesday July 25th. Kimbrough includes on this album a studio recording of "Life," a song he co-wrote with Miles, and popularized with Fastball fans on the 'Live From Jupiter Records' album and subsequent acoustic tour. While Fastball fans approve of a studio recording of the song, they will likely be disappointed by the fact that it is not a Fastball recording with Miles at the helm. Will's notes on the song from his site state: "Miles Zuniga was in that band Fastball. They had a big summer hit a few years ago, "The Way". He moved to Nashville for a while and we made this up together. I think he’s writing plays now or something. Good man. Always has good tequila around the house. Gentlemen, start your submarines. Louisiana is sinking. Recorded at Eric McConnell’s and overdubbed on at The Toy Box and Alex the Great." Kimbrough and Miles also co-wrote the song Gypsy Tain, which was played live on occassion by Miles and Tony during their 2003 acoustic tour. If anyone gets the opportunity to hear Kimbrough's recording of "Life," please give us your review and let us know what you think. Link: www.willkimbrough.com

July 23, 2006 - Band happenings

Firstly the band appear to have a new official site (www.fastballtheband.com). The site is the work of Doug, who helped create Tony's official site. A new official site is a most welcome suprise to us Fastball fans. Why the band chose to seemingly abandon the previous address fastballmusic.com, I'll not know, seeing as it's the address listed in their CD's and countless other times throughout the internet. The new site looks good, though we hope to see it progress even further, and move away from the base layout and content that have come from Tony's official site.

In other news, the band have 5 shows scheduled for the near future, a couple state fairs supporting Smashmouth, a food festival in NY, and a couple Austin shows. The band will be supported by Harmoni on bass. She takes over for Jeff who has not been with the band since sometime around the beginning of the year. She has previously played with both Fastball and Tony' band.

It's great to see some new activity in the band as a whole. Hopefully this is the start of more things to come from Fastball. With regards to this site, I'm fully aware that more needs to be added. Unfortunately I keep having other higher priority things come up at work and personally. Rest assured that I am not done by any means and more stuff will follow at some point.

June 22, 2006 - New Work?!?

A new Fastball song has just appeared on the band's MySpace page. The song is called "The Modern World" and is a slow Latin infused, acoustic ballad. It is led by Tony on lead vocals with Miles following on the harmonies. The song is simply listed as a demo, with no recording year mentioned. It looks like you can download the song from the player, but it is apparently not found by MySpace. Lyrics to come soon. (Update: Song page for "The Modern World" now online.) If you have any further info. on this song, please pass it on to fastbox@grantchestermeadows.com, or post on the board. Link: Fastball on MySpace (http://www.myspace.com/fastballtheband).

June 13, 2006 - Brief Update

Two pages of live images are now up with more on the way. Still working on trying to get the disco pages together to get them up also. As I say more should be coming soon.

Also remember, Tony's new EP is now out so pick up your copy while they last.

May 23, 2006 - Strings Attached 'White Album' show

Well the Strings Attached 'White Album' shows played out this past week. Tony was on hand to perform a rendition of "Happiness Is A Warm Gun." For those interested in hearing a performance of the song www.tonyscalzo.com has a recording of it in the radio section, thanks to fan Todd. For those interested in obtaining quality CD's of the 'White Album' performances, a 2-CD set is available for purchase here. They are taking orders now, but the page states that due to the recording quality not being up to their standards, that they will take the best versions from the two shows, remaster them and the 2-CD set will be essentially a best of from both the shows. They say the delivery will be delayed approximately 2-weeks while they remaster and re-record the CDs. The cost of the set is a bit pricey at $30 dollars a pop, but a worthy cause, with all proceeds going to benefit Court Appointed Special Advocates for Children (CASA) of Travis County.

Right is a picture of Tony from one of his performances, we'll have full versions of this and another pic from his performance up soon. Thanks to JAS for sending us the pics.

May 11, 2006 - Disco Update

Hey guys, I know the disco section has been a long time coming. I finally got all my stuff scanned and rescanned. I'm in process of getting all the scans cropped and edited. I started with two things that are lesser known the '94 Magneto demo tape and the '95 Magneto 7"single. They are the first two disco pages online. The other releases will take a bit longer but should be coming nevertheless. As far as the demo tape is concerned, mine did not have a J-card so I have no scans of the liner. I do have a rough picture of the liner given by a fan, and as soon as I find it I will add it to the page. If anyone has another copy of the demo tape with the liner and would like to provide scans, it would be greatly appreciated. The same goes for if anyone has a tape that's got the songs "Eater" and/or "Boomerang" on it.

May 10, 2006 - Fastball gets MTV News blurb; A blog from Miles

Fastball was recently featured in May 8 Mtv news bit. Mtv, apparently in a campaign to find out what is going on with popular artists from the recent past, checked up with Tony to see what is going on with Fastball. The brief article discusses the bands breakout hit, why the band might have failed to remain commercially viable, current activities, and what the future may hold. Read the article here: Mtv News.

In a blog post today on the band's official MySpace page, Miles checks in with fans stating that in between the shows this month in Ohio and one in New York in August, that the band will be busy writing and recording. He says that hopefully there will be a new album ready come 2007.

May 09, 2006 - Scalzo's EP 'Gone'

TonyScalzo.com reports that Tony's new EP titled "I'm Gone" will be released on June 1, 2006. The EP will be released to a limited quantity of 100 copies and will feature the songs "I'm Gone," "Too Much Information," "Reality," and "I Only Remember The Good." With these low quantity numbers, it's best to order your copy sooner rather than later.

April 22, 2006 - Updates

Updated the current shows, and finally added the band bio page. Please let me know (forum or e-mail) if the font color on the bio page is hard to read. It seems fine to me, but I know all screens aren't the same. And if you decide to read through the whole bio and pick up on any errors please let me know also.

I know the site updates have slowed and I apologize. I've had bigger that usual personal commitments at my work, biggest of which has been designing and coordinating the upfit of our company's new office space, and helping to coordinate for the move. A few personal things have also added to the distraction from the site, but hopefully I'll be able to get more done with it over the next couple of months.

March 14, 2006 - Show updates

Added several new shows for the Small Stars, including one in Reno. Also added additional dates for Tony and the Rite Flyers.

And thanks to JAS for lyric assistance on "I Can't Wait Until I'm Cool." Got a couple of things better, but could still use suggestions for portions of the song.

March 7, 2006 - Lyric Assistance Needed

Just put up the song page for "I Can't Wait Until I'm Cool" and yes that's the full title, the MySpace player cuts it short, but it shows the full thing in the xml file. Don't know why they can't do a scrolling title, but that's beside the point. Like I said I put the song info. page up for it, but there's a problem, there are some areas in the lyrics that are not quite as distinguishable. I've tried to process a dub of the song, but can't clarify the vocals anymore (obviously it's a demo). Anyway I'm hoping some of you astute folk might be able to offer up some better lyrical suggestions for the song. Send to My Email. Much thanks ahead of time for any help.

March 3, 2006 - [Sorta] New Fastball Songs

Miles has updated the Fastball MySpace page adding two additional songs, both demos from 1995. The first being a demo of "Lender," the second being a previously unreleased demo of a song called "I Can't Wait Until I'm Cool." "Lender," like the "Mama" demo put up yesterday are downloadable so get them while they're there. On the other hand, the "I Can't Wait" demo is only streamable. Maybe Miles will change that and let us download that one too at some point.

March 2, 2006 (again) - Fastball on MySpace

Yes, thanks to Miles, Fastball now have an official MySpace page, it's www.myspace.com/Fastballtheband. Head on over to sign up as a friend and check out a rare '95 demo of the song "Make Your Mama Proud." There is also a Fastball MySpace page setup by a fan, and while done with good intentions this is actually against the MySpace rules and regs. and MySpace has been asked to take it down.

Miles also composed the bio to go along with the new MySpace page. He concludes by saying "We've got more music coming in 2006, so stay tuned." Oh yeah!!

March 2, 2006 -- Updates from Tony and Miles

Yestday afternoon Tony posted the first message to his board in quite awhile, to relay how he is doing and briefly state the outlook for things in 2006. It reads: Hi. This is Tony just wanted to let everyone know that I am here. If you haven't figured it out yet, I am currently in limbo at my home undergoing medical treatment for hepatitis C virus. I will be doing a few "under the radar" type gigs here and there; Fastball has a few shows between now and this summer. I would like to "re-establish" contact with the forum and make myself available to any questions ya'll may have regarding the future of Fastball and any incarnations thereof. Thanks for your patience and support! I will be fine and expect to be very active once I rid my body of this vile pestilence! Firstly we're glad that he is doing well, and well enough indeed to be able to play music and get out and do some shows. Secondly, with rumours popping up about a possible new Fastball album, we are all very curious about what he means by "the future of Fastball and any incarnations thereof."

Tony posted again yesterday afternoon after Todd posted asking about the song "Secret Agent Love" and the version Tony re-recorded last year. Here's what he had to say in response: There are actually 2 existing recordings of Secret Agent Love. The first was recorded some time ago with Fastball at Adam Slesinger's NYC Studio. The second is a version I recorded with Joey and Mark D last year. I believe the Fastball version to be the superior of the two. I don't know exactly what will become of the Fastball version; I will eventually make the new version available, perhaps as part of a new 3 -song cd ep. There are also new recordings of songs like Too Much Information available with some others.

He also states that the [Fastball] version of The Who's "The Real Me" is available on the CD contained with the February 2006 issue of MOJO magazine. Check your favorite news stand or book store for that.

In a bit of Small Stars news from Miles, look for the band to continue recording their new album over the next several months. They plan for a Fall 2006 release. Miles also adds to the rumours of a possible Fastball album in the works for 2006. 2006 is shaping up to be quite a good year it seems.

February 28, 2006 - Small Stars lyric update & additional Antone's info.

I've corrected a couple errors in those new Small Stars tunes (thanx M. & JAS). Also the Antone's show on the 9th starts at 9:00pm (doors open at 8:00). Billy Harvey (MySpace) and Collin Herring (MySpace) will be opening for Fastball.

February 24, 2006 - Antone's Back On! & New songs from Miles (updated - New Small Stars)

Miles reports that Tony is feeling well enough that the band has rescheduled their Antone's date. The show has been rescheduled for Thursday, March 9th.

Miles has added two new songs onto his MySpace page today. The song "Day Job" has been around since at least 2005, as it has been played live at a couple of Fastball shows. It talks of the drag and annoyances of working a nine to five job. It is quite an infectious pop/rock number. The other song "Tijuana Dreams" is another slower ballad along the lines of "New Orleans 65," but does not have the same sort of depressive feeling (and that's no offense to "New Orleans 65"). To me the song and his singing sound a bit reminiscent of Lennon. What does all this mean? Is probable to believe that there could be a solo Zuniga cd coming sometime in the future? Or is Miles just airing out some of his musical catalog? Either way we appreciate the music and the opportunity to hear it. Thanks Miles. Info. for these songs to follow later. ** Update: Seems Miles has posted a blog entry to go along with these new songs. Apparently these are 2 recent recordings from the Small Stars. Miles says that "Tijuana Dreams" was recorded live late Tuesday night or early Wednesday morning, however you want to look at it. Funny, they, especially Day Job, don't sound live. Odd, but either way, in that case it seems as if the Stars are off to a good start with the material they are recording for their new album. These songs have also been posted on the Small Stars MySpace page, along with the previously posted studio version of their song "21." Link: Miles Zuniga on MySpace or Small Stars on MySpace

In other Small Stars news, the group is doing a stint on the west coast in April. Dates have been added to the live shows page. Who knows maybe they'll do a show in their hometown of Reno while they're out that way.

February 22, 2006 - Update from Tony

On Monday [the 20th], Tony posted this message to his MySpace page updating how his treatment is going:
Well into my second week of treatment. It's not as bad as I thought it would be! I feel like crap but it hasn't bummed me out yet! It seems like the weekly shot hits hard up to about 48 hrs after I take one. Fever and congestion, body aches, ow! I can see clearly that this is THE RIGHT THING to do. I feel satisfied that I am doing it and that I am not afraid. We wish him the continued best.

In other news, I've added a couple new Small Stars dates, and a Rite Flyers date to live shows page.

February 13, 2006 - Best wishes to Tony

On February 11th, Tony posted this message to his MySpace account:
I won't be leaving the house that much for a while. On Monday I begin treatment for Hep- C. The regiment consists of two "medicines" that will remove the deadly HCV from my system. Unfortunately, there will be accompanying side effects that may or may not render me physically drained for at least a few weeks. Though the treatment is supposed to last a full 48 weeks I am optimistic that I will adapt quickly to the medicine and be on my feet for an interesting summer. Be patient with me if I don't answer emails or the phone. It doesn't mean I'm not thinking of you! It's funny; I quit doing dope almost 20 years ago and it still came back to bite me on the ass! Don't do drugs, kids!

This is a very likely reason why the upcoming Antone's show was cancelled. Based on his description of the treatment, he is likely being treated for chronic or long-term Hepatitis C. This treatment usually lasts from 24 to 48 weeks and consists of two medicines, one to boost the body's natural defenses (against the virus), and another medicine to help prevent the virus from reproducing in the body. For more information on Hepatitis C, visit WebMD: Hepatitis C on WebMD.

While not a positive thing to deal with or talk about I commend Tony for his bravery in admitting it and taking the time to get a medicinal regiment underway that will hopefully cleanse his body and restore his health. I and all your fans and friends wish you the best and hope for a positive and timely recovery. I encourage everyone to post their wishes for Tony on either his site's forum, the official Fastball forum, the Black Rain forum, or on his MySpace page.

February 10, 2006 - Forum in Flight

Black Rain has just launched a new official forum. You can check it out and join up via the link above. For those familiar with the official Fastball site's forum, then you should be easily familiar with this one as well, as it is just a newer vBulletin forum system, but with lots more features. I invite everyone to head over and sign up if you'd like. There's even a calendar system on it which I've input all the upcoming live shows into, and will continue to try and keep it updated. If you need to visit the old forum, you can find it here: Old Black Rain Forum.

February 8, 2006 - The Dandy "Simple Life"

TINML reports on the official board that The Dandy Warhols new single "All The Money Or The Simple Life Honey" is hitting the airwaves with a video to back. As reported here back in September, the Dandy Warhols' latest album 'Odditorium Or Warlords Of Mars' (released Sept. 13) contained two songs co-written by Miles, "All The Money Or The Simple Life Honey," and the album's lead single "Smoke It." To those who've not heard the album, it is definitely worth a listen. Check them out online at www.dandywarhols.com, or Dandy Warhols @ MySpace (where you can stream "The Simple Life" single).

February 7, 2006 - Antone's Rescheduled and the Rite Flyers

The Fastball show scheduled for the 17th at Antone's has been cancelled as the band will not be able to play, due to circumstances beyond their control. They will be working to reschedule the show soon.

In other news Joey is playing with local band the Rite Flyers, which includes Spoon's Josh Zarbo. They play some real catchy poppy songs. Stream or download their songs "I'm In A Way" and "Suffer Fools Gladly" from their MySpace page. Link: The Rite Flyers on MySpace. The Rite Flyers have two shows coming up, one this Thursday (Feb. 9) at 11pm at the Parish in Austin. They also play the Hole In The Wall in Austin on March 16, during SXSW '06. Thanks for passing along the info. Joey.

Rite Flyers dates added to the live page, also added a Small Stars Cactus Records in-store performance for Feb. 10th, and updated some time changes for a few of the Stars' February shows.

February 7, 2006 - YHA Broken Up

Todd relays to us via the official message board, via the official YHA message board that Young Heart Attack have broken up. In a message posted on November 12, 2005, Steven Hall, their bass player posted a message saying that their show on Nov. 19 would be their last. Now later on in the same post one fan states that Frenchie (Chris Smith, guitar) told them that YHA was not breaking up. Another fan indicated that Steven was going to be doing stuff on his own, while Chris Hodge(vox/guitar) and Frenchie were going to be starting a new band and working on the material that Chris had written for a second YHA album. It is rumored that Joey and vocalist Jennifer Stephens might be involved with this project as well. YHA's debut album 'Mouthful of Love' was released in May 2004 on UK based XL Records. Due to problems that arose between XL and YHA, the band are no longer with XL Records. The band had apparently recorded a live album and had at least partial material recorded for a second studio album. They had been working on new material as had been reported by Joey after he rejoined the group around the beginning of October, last year. Thanks for relaying the info. Todd.

Update: While no further update regarding YHA at this point, Joey is not involved in a new project with YHA's Chris, Frenchie, and Jen.

February 3, 2006 - Music sees the light

As promised! The odd love child of the Disco and Song Listing pages from the previous site is now up. The disco pages are still missing though, I've got to get some serious re-scanning done of most of the releases. But the vast majority of the songs are there though. Can't tell you just how long it took to code all those individual song pages. I still need to type up all the Big Car song information, and I need some help from you guys. Does anyone have a good copy of the Tony song "Indicted" in mp3. I think I've got an RA copy of it somewhere, but I've also got 50+ cds of files to look through. Also I do not have a copy of the Rock Bottom Choir cd and am hoping one of you that does, could possibly send me some scans of the booklet, liner, and disc and maybe help out with some lyrics. I'm also hoping that some of you guys can help fill in some gaps. I know that the Stars have several newer tunes and Tony may have some as well. If you guys know of song names, lyrics, etc. that need to be added and would be willing to help out with some of this stuff, I'd appreciate it. Just drop me an e-mail.

In the meantime you'll find lyrics and info. for all or most Fastball, Small Stars, and Tony Scalzo songs. I've got lyrics up for the newer song of Miles' "New Orleans #65" as well. All the guitar tabs are back up on that page as well. If you run into some broken links, or notice other mix ups, let me know and I'll take care of it soon.

February 2, 2006 - SXSW sees Stars

The Small Stars have added several new dates to their calendar of shows, 3 occurring during SXSW 2006 in March, 1 toward the end of March, and 1 during the Fiesta Oyster Bake in late April. They had previously had a show scheduled for March 4th, but it has been removed from their calendar. The Small Stars have not yet been added to band listing for the upcoming SXSW (there are no signs of Fastball, Tony Scalzo, or Rock Bottom Choir in the list either), however Young Heart Attack is listed so it seems that they (I assume with Joey on drums) will be playing a show sometime during SXSW. See the live shows page for full listings. If anyone has any further info for upcoming dates for any of the guys, please drop me a line.

Meanwhile, Fastball played their first of 3 California shows last night at the famous Viper Room. They will continue Friday (3) and Saturday (4) at the Normandie Casino and Red Devil Lounge. Rock hard at the shows guys!! Hey anyone go to the show last night or going to the other shows, send in a review, setlist, photos, etc. and I'll put them up on the site. We'd all like to know how things are going with Fastball as a whole, and info. on their shows is always appreciated.

January 26, 2006 - Life with Miles

Miles has become quite the mainstream internet goer as of recent, with blogging about on his Small Stars page, and taking up residence in the ever popular MySpace realm. While MySpace isn't a new thing to the Fastball members (Tony, Miles have MySpace pages for their respective musical side projects), Miles has now taken to working on his personal music MySpace page. He recently added a music player with two demos to stream. The first demo added to his page was the 'Jupiter' favorite "Life" and the second a new tune called "New Orleans #65." "Life" is a fuller demo featuring Miles on lead and backing vocals over acoustic and electric guitars, keyboard, bass, and synth drums. While still a bit rough around the edges the song is a decent version and shows the potential of the song as a whole. The song would benefit from some quality keys/piano, real drums, and some harmony variations. While song is good as it stands, adding these elements would only help to bring a fuller tone and life to the song. "New Orleans #65" is a slower piano ballad. While we don't know exactly when this song was written, we do know that it was registered with Rykomusic publishing along with the other songs from 'KYWO.' This suggests that it was either written during that time, being recorded, or had a possibility of being recorded. The song is quite a bit stronger with regard to the sound, tone, and quality of piano being played. Overall a good slow song. Listening to it, I can imagine floating in a small boat out on the water looking up at the sky, and looking for land on the horizon. I could definitely hear some string arrangements through areas of the song to add some more texture and tone. Unfortunately you may not be able to hear the song on his MySpace page that well, as there appears to be some problem with the xml file for the player. The song doesn't appear to be properly loading, and therefore, it seems will not play most of the time. Hopefully this issue will be resolved so that everyone can this song as well. Link: Miles Zuniga on MySpace

Two side notes: (1) If you have not yet purchased a copy of the Small Stars album and are wanting to, you may want to get your order in as soon as possible. As of 1/24 the Stars only had about 40 copies left of the orginal pressing. Miles reports that when they "make another one" (album or pressing???) that they will do away with full color booklet and go with something simpler to cut down the production costs. (2) I am currently working on the discography and songlisting, and hope to have that ready to go online next week.

January 19, 2006 - Media Anyone?

That's right the media page is back. It was out shopping for wallpaper and got lost in the damn store. But it did come back with some wallpaper samples, haven't seen those in a while huh? Hey any computer/art savvy folk out there made any papers of your own. Well if you have or do, flick 'em over to us via the e-mail so that we can increase the collection. And if I can find them/go through them I've got some more audio files that can go into the collection. But if anyone else has any better quality versions of what's up, or has more to add, the please drop me a line via the e-mail above and let's talk.

January 17, 2006 - Shows

Added a couple new Small Stars dates in February. Also, remember Tony will be playing the Hole In The Wall in Austin tonight at 8:00.

January 11, 2006 - Blink! And its morphed again.

Welcome to the New Year all. As you can tell, the site has once again undergone a visual change. That other bit wasn't that welcoming, so I ousted it. Get outta here! Anyhoo, I find this to be quite a bit more snazzier. Its lack for information at the moment with only news and live dates up. And with that all the live dates are current. And I would like to have as complete a record of live shows as I can so if you notice a more recent show that I have missed and don't have listed, chime in, let me know, and I'll get it on. I'll have more up as soon as its finished, but for now the important things are here.

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