Y’all Have a Good Night: Better Than The Van

“The worst experiences are earlier on,” Todd Hansen said. “I was in my early twenties, Fayetteville, AR. We played a really good club that’s not even there anymore. Somebody asked if we needed a place to stay and we said yes. He was living with his parents in a doublewide trailer a half hour away from the club. His dad had a machine shop where he did plastic injection molding. It was just cement floor in a big metal shed that was as big as this patio. That was it. ‘Y’all have a good night. Cement floor, enjoy!’”

A decade and 500 miles later finds Hansen sipping Fireman’s lager at UT hangout Spiderhouse Café, no longer burning asphalt in a ragged 1988 Chevy Conversion van (stripes on the side, no AC) van as a drummer for various rock bands. In the “Live Music Capital of the World,” where Austinites trip over musicians, Hansen’s drums sticks are still. Now, he’s parked behind a computer monitor, banging out the kinks of his website, BetterthantheVan.com, an online community that hooks up touring musicians with people offering free places to stay.

For the complete story, go here.

Thrice more with feeling

Both nights were hot as balls. Heat—especially at extreme temperatures—does crazy things. It can melt plastic, cause shiny sticky faces to suck down cold cans of Tecate and Lone Star beers, and it might even alter the physical properties of sound waves. Alright, the last point isn’t accurate. Temperature has no effect on the propagation of sound waves whatsoever. However, the humidity that pressed down like a warm wet rag felt like it was thick enough to slow down waves emanating from the stage. Even poppier songs like Cherry Bomb sounded limp and faint like they too were suffering from heat exhaustion.

(Click on Cherry Bomb for the full review on theDeli.com).