But I'll Never be Tired of You - Nicole Reynolds at CotHS

There was dinner and beer and camraderie to spare at the soft reopening of the Church of the Holy Spoke, current incarnation of Lubbock, Texas' underground music scene. Shmoo, Mark, and Michael Beardface had scrubbed the house top to bottom, while Red, our booking manager, cooked up a pot of spicy vegetable spaghetti, resurrecting our policy of providing a hot meal for traveling artists.

Sophie Butler, our opening act, got to the house about 8:00, too nervous for dinner but excited to help the Spoke (as she calls us) out in a pinch. She hid in the back for a while, rehearsing with churchmember Michael-Beardface until it was time for the show to start.

Our audience began to drift in around 8:30, mostly the old crowd who never missed our shows last year, with a few new and welcome faces. We had about 25 people all told that night, and there was no spaghetti left.

Shmoo, co-founder of CotHS, house manager, and Keeper of the Flame, welcomed our friends and family back to the Church of the Holy Spoke that night with a tremble to his voice. There was applause and whooping as we introduced Sophie and started the show. Sophie has a fun collection in her song bag, including a bitter number about a former boss that always leaves the audience rolling with laughter. We wish her luck on her return to Britain and hope she keeps writing and playing.

More and more people trickled in during Sophie's set, and the intermission was twenty minutes of laughter filling the house and spilling out onto the porch. And then the night's main act started.

Mournful and dirty, sweet and bitter, Nicole Reynolds held our crowded living room captive that Sunday night. Even the cats approved. Starla did her best to join the show, jumping up on Nicole's seat to dance back and forth along the bench. Falafal, Pope Gooseberry III, stepped out before the audience after Nicole's second song to issue a papal degree, screaming at the top of his feline lungs about just how awesome she is.

Nicole has songs about earthworm sex. Thus she shall always be a friend of the Church of the Holy Spoke. "Hermaphrodite sex is amazing..." Her lyrics are thoughtful and poetic, her voice clear and demanding of one's attention, aching over the difficulties of non-mainstream sexuality, calling up the loneliness of the road, laughing over dirty but subtle jokes.

We are very glad we were able to provide Nicole with a stage here in Lubbock, and couldn't have asked for a better show to spread the word that CotHS has risen from the grave. We hope she comes through West Texas again soon. J&B Coffee jams her CD's on the speakers anytime our people among the baristas are working.

Thanks to Nicole and Wood, Sophie, Mark, Michael-Beardface, Shmoo, Ashley for pictures, and everyone who came to the Church that night.

For more information on events at CotHS, please contact Red at:
churchoftheholyspoke@gmail.com

What you missed:

Grand Re-opening This Saturday!

The Church is really back, look out!

We've got a show on Sunday, featuring Sophie of Skooners open-mic fame.
And Nicole Reynolds, making her way on a cross country winter tour. We think she's crazy but we're gonna cook sweet potatoes for her anyways.
She has music on myspace at myspace.com/nicolereynoldsmusic

Squid Christ Abandons Humanity, Part One

And lo, the Squid did abandon the Earth when the time of prophecy did arrive and the gathering of Cosmic Squids was known across the depths of Space. And darkness did descend upon the Earth as the Squid left, for his direction must be kept secret, and a mighty cloud of ink was ejected from the Squid's holy ink sac upon the atmosphere of the earth, blocking out the Sun and the stars and the Moon.

But no harm was meant by the Squid in his parting, for the cycles of history do come upon us again and again as time turns upon the cosmic Wheel and Ages that were become that which is the present, and in the past the mighty cloud of ink from the Squid's holy ink sac dissipated in a matter of days, frightening dinosaurs and then giant penguins and then the fuzzy bipedal apes of humanity's ancient past.

But humanity had progressed much in the eons since the last gathering of Cosmic Squid, and in the pursuit of technology the immortal demon Lord Petros had infested the hearts of men who sought profit and power. And so, when the Squid did eject the mighty cloud of ink from his holy ink sac, the air was thick with the smoke and haze and stink of the Industrial Machine which drinks the black blood of the Earth as a vampire does steal the blood of frightened children. And this smoke and haze did hold the mighty ink cloud in place, preventing its dispensation, the darkness did not clear.

And humanity cried out to our lord the Squid Christ, "Why hast though forsaken us?" But the Squid was across the Universe at the gathering of Cosmic Squid, joyous in the company of nubile young Cosmic Squid females. Lord Petros laughed at the cries of humanity. And humanity did despair.

From the Book of Prophecies, I - The End of Time

The Book of Prophecies
The Bycicorn Speaks
verses 23-32

It's coming whether you're ready or not, full of zombies and machines - bu they are fat American zombies that drive gigantic SUVs one block to the EZ Mart for a bucket of soda and they will crush the unwary bicyclist!
But there is hope.
Other forces work against us. Many of the sleepers struggle to waken from the nightmare but Consumerism is a mighty Demon that conspires to steer the spiritual seeker away from Truth- FANCY WATER BOTTLES WILL NOT SAVE THE PLANET!!! Time wasted signing Facebook petitions are moments lost forever, precious moments that could have been spent in the open air, making art, or vandalizing big box stores!
What time does the sun set today? Over what tree will the Moon rise this night? Have you any idea?
This is the End of Time! This is the End of Time! This is the End of Time!

(soon to be translated into video form)

Beware the Squid

Listen not! To the heretic worshippers of the Squid! The Squid that abandoned humanity, abandoned us to darkness and despair. Lord Cyclos alone has given us hope, given us the Wheel and the way of the holy Spoke!

Lightning and Freezing Rain is Plains Weather

The Church living room has been taken over by Caravan paraphernalia.

Peak, Michael, Shmoo, and Red have made sporadic appearances at The Motherland to assist with setup for the Caravan's two day Halloween festival. Former CotHS resident A. Pants will be spinning fire like a mad man all weekend. He's also been working hard with Kurtis, DC, Michael, and Yugovich the Elder himself to get the venue ready for the show.

The rain drove us all inside at the end of the work party this evening, and the forecast is predicting some cold nastiness for the next couple of days. Hopefully it will be nice Friday and Saturday night.

We have an ad at Lubbockonline here, a Myspace here, and a Facebook here.

Once the Church has gotten past this show, we will be tackling some other projects in the work, which really means we will be drinking gasoline flavored margaritas on Tuesdays at Jalisco's Mexican Restaurant on Ave Q. There is talk of actually doing the Solstice Pageant this year, before we get drunk, and we need to figure out the annual Thanksgiving Leftovers Potluck. Also, the Sparkle of the Wolf project refuses to die.

In the name of Lord Cyclos, we blame the booze, and sometimes the drugs.