Hey kids - we've got a show coming up on May 1st at AvantGarden in Houston. Check it:



We'll be playing with Austin-based jazzers Condiment Sandwich. Woot! 

¶ posted by Ian Varley at 1:10 PM -

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  Thanks to all our old friends that came to The Fairmount and new friends that we met there. Gravity Feed grooves and Shuttle makes some big, fat, awesome noise.

 

¶ posted by Patrick at 12:39 PM -

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  Denizens of the greater Dallas / Ft. Worth area with an interest in spaceship jazz: join us at The Fairmount on Friday, Feb. 27. Shuttle and Gravity Feed will play as well. Hope to see you there!

 

¶ posted by Ian Varley at 3:53 PM -

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  Hey everyone, recently I opened a music school in the Woodlands, Texas called Pro Music Instruction with Rusty Cooley and Larry Asher. All of us have been teaching in the Spring/Woodlands/Conroe area for over a decade.

We are in need of a couple reliable, experienced (full time or part time) instructors. Our room rent is very affordable.

Contact us at info@pmiwoodlands.com.

If you or your kids want to learn to play music, the school offers lessons for all ages and abilities:

Guitar (shred, rock, classical)
Drums (metal, rock, jazz, funk)
Piano (beginner)
Electric & upright bass (rock, jazz)

Thanks,
Nuje 

¶ posted by nuje at 9:54 AM -

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  Although Facebook has its shortcomings, you can now keep up with Drop Trio and listen to our music via our Facebook group. 

¶ posted by Patrick at 9:13 AM -

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  Happy New Year!

We have an upcoming show at our favorite Houston venue:

Friday, January 30
Avant Garden (411 Westheimer)

More details to come. 

¶ posted by nuje at 3:54 PM -

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  Recently, we spent the day at Sugarhill Studios tracking songs for a new album. We're hopeful for a 2008 release.































 

¶ posted by nuje at 9:22 AM -

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  Wow, 2 months with no blog posts? Sorry about that. Been a bit of a crazy spring for all three of us. More to come soon, we promise.

Anyway, to keep your ears filled with spaceships, here's a little something to tide you over. Magnatune now offers embeddable streaming audio players so you can listen to both Big Dipper and Cezanne in their entirety. Nifty, no? You can see 'em below, and you can even embed these in your own blogs / myspace / facebook / etc. pages. Magnatune FTW!





Ok, that's all for now. But more will follow, we promise. 

¶ posted by Ian Varley at 5:04 PM -

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  Undoubtedly, one of the most watched actors in the Drop Trio household gave some us some Twitter love. I, for one of three, would dearly love to play some poker with young Mr. Wheaton.

That is, of course, if YOU bank roll me. 

¶ posted by Patrick at 10:02 PM -

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  We'll be playing a show this coming Saturday evening (2/23) at The Tasting Room, a cool little wine bar in the Uptown Galleria area. We play at 9pm. Come on by! 

¶ posted by Ian Varley at 11:57 AM -

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  The Elephant Room (Austin) 1-23-08
Luna (San Antonio) 1-24-08

These shows have been canceled due to a family emergency.

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Cezanne (Houston) 1-25-08
Revolution (Bryan) 1-26-08

Are still scheduled.

We apologize,
Drop Trio 

¶ posted by nuje at 12:09 PM -

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  This weekend Patrick and I ran the Houston Marathon. This was Patrick's 4th and my 1st.

If you have the means, I highly suggest doing it. The training and the satisfaction of accomplishing such a difficult goal is fairly awesome. Also, I have to say that running a marathon is a great way to see a city at a pace that lets you appreciate where you are. You pass through all sorts of neighborhoods that normally have very little in common. But on this day people of all ages, race, class, etc. line the roads in order to encourage the runners on. Many people bring sliced fruit, drinks, power bars, Kleenex, and other items needed during a long run and pass them out as you run by. Most cheer you on by name (your bib not only has a number but also your first name) and give you a high five as you pass. This was incredible to me. Complete strangers wishing everyone well. Plus, the people working the marathon (who are mostly volunteers) are the best staff ever hired to do anything. I couldn't get over how nice everyone treated each other. This really made me proud of my city. Way to go H-town.

Ian (always being the team player) stayed behind and had a marathon of his own.

...You can't make me take off my shirt! 

¶ posted by nuje at 11:54 AM -

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  Holy rad - check out this video of dancing japanese robots, set to Drop Trio music:



(Thanks to Roy in Albuquerque for the tip!)

Happy new year. Many more robots to come in 2008! 

¶ posted by Ian Varley at 8:15 AM -

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  Hope you are all having an appropriately jolly midwinter holiday season.

Quick reminder about some shows we've got coming up in January:



Hope to see you Texas folks there! 

¶ posted by Ian Varley at 6:53 PM -

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  Ian was featured in an article about a new instrument called the Thummer - read more here. Neither confirming nor denying that you might see it in action during the winter Texas tour ... 

¶ posted by Ian Varley at 11:31 PM -

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  Hope everyone out there in Spaceship Jazz land is having a good December. We're going "below the radar" for a few weeks, but we'll be back to touring starting in mid January, with a few dates in Texas.

Peace on earth, good will to noise-making robots. 

¶ posted by Ian Varley at 12:35 AM -

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  We've got 4 dates planned in TX for January:



Hope to see you there! 

¶ posted by Ian Varley at 1:31 AM -

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  Just posted a new set of photos on Flickr. This one is a great bunch of B&W shots by our friend Jeff Balke from an aftershow we played after the Houston Press Music Awards in 2005. Fantastic shots.





BTW, if you're into the music blog thing, Jeff just started one called Broken Record. He's a great writer and it'll probably be a killer blog - all about the changes that are going on in the music industry these days. Give it a read, eh? Cuz Jeff Rocks. 

¶ posted by Ian Varley at 10:57 PM -

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  We're playing a show this Saturday night (10/27) at Dan Electro's Guitar Bar (1031 E. 24th St.). We'll be opening for ON THE ONE, a San Diego funk band featuring members of Karl Denson's Tiny Universe.



Show probably starts around 9:00 pm, and from what I hear, there will be another opener - Akina Adderly & The Vintage Playboys.

This is going to be a Halloween party, so come in costume if you want (they're giving out at $100 prize for the best costume). See you there! 

¶ posted by Ian Varley at 12:32 PM -

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  Thanks to all the folks who came out to see us on the Fall tour in the Northeast & Midwest. We had a blast, and we'll post more details & photos soon. 

¶ posted by Ian Varley at 2:35 PM -

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  Day one started early - particularly for Ian. We've started the tour with lots of driving. We are to play our first show in DC - more than a day of driving from Texas.

Our goal was to make it to Knoxville. Despite a flat tire, lots of trucks, and getting on the road very early, we made it. 

¶ posted by Patrick at 11:37 PM -

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  Here's the final lineup for our fall 2007 tour in the northeast:

Sep 27, 2007 - The Red & The Black
Washington, DC - (1212 H Street, NE)
9:30 pm, 21+, $8
With Basshound

Sep 29, 2007 - Lion's Den
New York, NY - (214 Sullivan St.)
8:30 pm, 18+, $10

Oct 1, 2007 - Skidmore College
Saratoga Springs, NY - (815 N. Broadway)
12pm (noon), Free, At Filene Music building

Oct 2, 2007 - Shadow Lounge
Pittsburgh, PA - (5972 Baum Blvd.)
10 pm, $3/$5, 18+
Featured act @ Human Nature

Oct 3, 2007 - Wilbert's
Cleveland, OH - (812 Huron Rd. E)
8:30 pm

Oct 5, 2007 - Wise Fool's Pub
Chicago, IL - (2270 N. Lincoln Ave)
9pm

Oct 6, 2007 - Mr. Robert's
Madison, WI - (2116 Atwood Ave)
9pm

Find out all the details on our Showdates page.

Hope to see y'all at the shows. 

¶ posted by Ian Varley at 6:16 PM -

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  Posted a few new (old) shots on our Flickr page today.



Especially amazing set of shots from the 2005 Houston Press Music Awards by Bryan Anderson. Definitely check out Bryan's work if you're ever looking for a photographer in Houston. 

¶ posted by Ian Varley at 6:30 PM -

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  Any of you kind folks who will be in Austin for the ACL Festival, take note: Drop Trio will be playing an ACL after-party at Club 115 on Sunday, 9/16, opening up for Particle. We play 9pm to 11pm. Hope to see you there.

 

¶ posted by Ian Varley at 11:16 AM -

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  Thanks to all of you, we took home the "Best Jazz" honors in the Houston Press Music Awards again this year. Both of those ("best" and "jazz") are fairly relative terms, especially in a city as diverse and huge as Houston, but there you have it - the readers have spoken. Thanks all!

Now, do yourself a favor and get over to Cezanne. There are world-class jazz musicians playing there every weekend who put us to shame. Go! Now! 

¶ posted by Ian Varley at 5:38 PM -

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  Thanks to everyone who came out to the Red Cat last night for our Houston Press Music Awards showcase. The room was packed and everybody seemed to have a good time. Thanks for coming!

 

¶ posted by Ian Varley at 8:27 AM -

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  Friday night, we'll be playing at Fitzgerald's for the first time, opening for O2'L (the duo of Jane Mangini, keyboardist with the Trans Siberian Orchestra, and Al Pitrelli, former Megadeath guitarist). They're a pretty amazing duo, and we're psyched to be opening for 'em. Show is all ages, starts at 8pm, and cover is $10.

On Sunday, we'll be playing as part of the Houston Press Music Awards Showcase. We'll be at the Red Cat Jazz Cafe at 8pm sharp. Check out the full lineup here. Wristbands are $10 ... not bad for 50 bands, eh?



And hey ... give us a vote, won't you? 

¶ posted by Ian Varley at 3:44 PM -

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  We just found out our time slot for the ever-popular Houston Press Music Awards. We'll be playing at the Red Cat Jazz Cafe (our first time there) at 8pm on Sunday the 29th of July. The Press Awards are always a huge party featuring the best music in Houston, so come on by and hang with us.

 

¶ posted by Ian Varley at 10:55 AM -

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  Recently, I got a chance to talk with Allen Stafford, the creator of the technology podcast "The Gentleman's Lull". This week's episode is a podcast of our conversation. We talked about technology, programming, Linux on the desktop ... oh, and Drop Trio, which is his bumper music for the show. Enjoy. 

¶ posted by Ian Varley at 9:44 PM -

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  Voting is open in the Houston Press Music Awards. 

¶ posted by Ian Varley at 11:27 AM -

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