Notes From the Editor

By Richard Skanse

(Nov/Dec 2011/Vol. 4 – Issue 6)

LSM Nov/Dec 2011 Illustration by Mike Judge & Chris Song

LSM Nov/Dec 2011
Illustration by Mike Judge & Chris Song

According to the ancient Mayan calendar — or at least Hollywood and all the doomsday prognosticators featured on the late-night radio program Coast to Coast A.M. — 2012 is the year this long-running series called Life As We Know It is supposed to finally get yanked off the air in spectacular special-effects-laden fashion.

Now, I’m not saying I’m buying that, but just in case this really is our proverbial two-minute warning … maybe it’s high time to stop procrastinating and second guessing our dreams, and just start chucking Hail Marys like there’s no tomorrow. It’s half-past carpe diem time, people, so stop saying “someday,” and book that trip to Paris, France, or Branson, Mo., now. Finish (or at least start) that damn novel, paint your masterpiece, and get cracking on that ultra-ambitious concept album you’ve always secretly longed to unleash on the world. Turn off the Food Network and open your own boutique cupcake food trailer. Kick your fear of rejection in the nuts, and tell the love of your life to give you a chance, already. Ask for that raise, dance like nobody’s watching, and splurge for the best bottle of wine and the most decadent desert on the menu. And, if the really wild and crazy idea strikes you, go ahead and proudly slap Beavis and Butt-head on the cover of LoneStarMusic Magazine.

So, how’s your end-of-the-world bucket list coming along?

In all honesty, as I told Mike Judge when I sat down to interview him for this issue’s cover story, I was always more of a King of the Hill (and Office Space, Idiocracy, and, most recently, Extract) fan than a Beavis and Butt-head aficionado. But I’ve really started to warm up to the two little bungholes, especially since their return to MTV this fall marked a golden opportunity for us to really push the envelope and have a lot of fun. Let’s just say that scoring them for a cover had us all running around as excitedly delirious as Beavis riding a Cornholio-inducing sugar high. And as it turns out, Beavis and Butt-head — just like the King of the Hill gang and Judge himself — actually live right here in the Lone Star State, reportedly in some town called Highland, which may or may not be a suburb of Arlen. But just to cover our bases, we asked ZZ Top’s Billy F Gibbons — aka the official Texas State Musician of 2012 — to be on our cover, too, and even asked Beavis and Butt-head themselves to interview him. Tying it all together is the fact that Judge, though best known as an animator and film director, also happens to be an accomplished musician himself; pre-Beavis and Butt-head, he played bass for Texas blues hounds like Doyle Bramhall and Anson Funderburg, and he still gets called to the stage for a song or two whenever Austin’s Dale Watson or the Derailers decide to drag him into the spotlight.

Judge told us he’s also a fan of Stoney LaRue, who we feature in this issue in a profile by writer Kathleen O’Keefe. Elsewhere, Chris Mosser has a candid chat with Jason Boland, and Lynne Margolis profiles Austin painter Bill Stidham, who tells the story behind his “Sacred Heart” portrait series celebrating a veritable who’s who of American music icons, including Texans Willie Nelson, Townes Van Zandt, Joe Ely and Stevie Ray Vaughan. We’ve also got reviews of new albums by the likes of Miranda Lambert, Adam Hood, Ryan Adams and Drew Kennedy, and — in honor of what would have been the late Americana music forerunner’s 65th birthday on Nov. 5 — Eric Hisaw contributes a very cosmic-American edition of “Mr. Record Man” exploring the entire Gram Parsons catalog. And in our columns department, songwriter Susan Gibson writes about life after “Wide Open Spaces,” Rita Ballou wraps up a year’s worth of “Rawhide and Velvet” with a snarky bow, and Terri Hendrix and Al Barlow help us usher in the holiday season by sharing memorable Christmas stories.

On that note, from all of us here in the LoneStarMusic family, I wish all of y’all a happy Thanksgiving, a merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year. See you in 2012.