Austin Lounge Lizards: News

‘TOO BIG TO FAIL’ POKES FUN AT

SKY BOXES, CONGRESSIONAL PORK, 

A HOUSE IN THE HAMPTONS

& OTHER CORPORATE EXCESS

Austin Lounge Lizards’ Latest Single Backed by New Video

Folk-rock-bluegrass-country quintet Austin Lounge Lizards (www.austinlizards.com), known for its snarky, satirical lyrics that spotlight and perforate and its awesome instrumental prowess, will release on June 23 a video single, “Too Big to Fail,” that takes on excesses of the new Gilded Age.

The video was produced and directed by award-winning filmmaker Steven Mims (www.stevenmimsfilms.com), who was also responsible for capturing for posterity in 2000 the Lizards’ 20th anniversary celebratory DVD, LIZARDS TIMES TWENTY.

“Too Big to Fail,” by Lindsey Eck, is from an album being worked on by the Lizards, whose all-boy band has been joined by two equally witty women. The group’s version of Irving Berlin’s “(I’ll See You in) C-U-B-A,” the Prohibition-era up-tempo tribute to the luxuries of the island nation from its 1991 live album, LIZARD VISION, was featured in Michael Moore’s 2007 “Sicko,” as a flotilla of ailing 9-11 workers seeks medical treatment in Cuba.

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WATCH THE QUICKTIME MOVIE

2 New — Women — Band Members Mean It’s a New Era Indeed

Austin, TX — After decades in the business of making their own unique and internationally known brand of satirical folk music, Austin Lounge Lizards are celebrating their 29th year with a special evening of music, memories and laughter. The world-altering difference is that the three original members — string-strumming, Hawaiian shirt-wearing, harmonizing Conrad Deisler (guitar), Hank Card (rhythm guitar) and Tom Pittman (banjo, Dobro) — have been joined by two string-strumming, harmonizing women: Darcie Deaville and Julieann Banks. Austin Lounge Lizards celebrates its heritage and its new lineup with two 29th anniversary shows, at 7 and 9:30 p.m. Friday, May 1, at The Cactus Cafe, 2247 Guadalupe St. on the UT campus. Cover is $18 for the 7 p.m. show, $16 for the 9:30 p.m. show; information: 512.475.6515. Experts at writing the brain-teasing, political, news-driven watch-your-anthem with sharp lyrics and then performing it with instrumental mastery: that’s the wow wherever Austin Lounge Lizards turn up, like in filmmaker-activist Michael Moore’s “Sicko,” which featured their recording of Irving Berlin’s “(I’ll See You in) C-U-B-A” from the band’s 3rd album, LIZARD VISION. Advocacy groups love the band, but keen focus also gets trained on romance, religion and current cultural icons. Two women are now in on the historically all-male act. Deaville — on fiddle, mandolin and vocals — is a singer, writer, producer, actress, musical director and coach who’s collaborated with artists including Ani di Franco, Tom Paxton and Ray Wylie Hubbard. Banks — on bass and vocals — is a 2002 inductee into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame who has led her own bands, recorded and performed her own music, and toured with other artists including Percy Sledge. In the late 1970s, Card and Deisler met while they studied at Princeton and both ended up at the University of Texas law school collaborating on songs. Pittman played banjo and steel guitar in a country-western band with Deisler, and then the three of them started playing together for fun, forming Austin Lounge Lizards in 1980. In 1983, the band won the Kerrville Bluegrass Band Contest. Austin Lounge Lizards tour internationally, and the group’s music can also be heard on specialty radio programs and Americana radio stations. With the new members fully ensconced, the band once again hits the road, with dates in May and early June across Texas, including the Kerrville Folk Festival on May 22, and then out to California. Interview times are available as well as press kits and review CDs. For more information, visit http://www.mcguckinpr.com Also see www.austinlizards.com.

Media Contact: McGuckin Entertainment PR Jill McGuckin, 512.217.9404; jill@mcguckinpr.com Heidi Labensart, 512.478.0578; heidi@mcguckinpr.com

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It's a new era for the Lizards. In the summer of 2008, Darcie Deaville replaced Korey Simeone as the fiddle/mandolin player and singer. As of January, 2009, Julieann Banks replaced Boo Resnick as the bass player and singer. There's quite a bit of hubub regarding women in the band. Some fans may be worried that the beloved humor will have changed. Not so! Women are funny too, and Julieann and Darcie have taken on singing the same songs in their own singing style, just as every man has in the past. That being said, the social differences make for for interesting topics! Keep (ahem) abreast of all the new developments right here at AustinLoungeLizards.com, and at their performances!