"Super Happy Fun Land is Houston's venue for experimental electronic music, underground jazz, and outsider art!
Featuring:
Super Happy Theater with room for 290 folks
SHFL Art Gallery
Super Fun Patio
Featuring:
Super Happy Theater with room for 290 folks
SHFL Art Gallery
Super Fun Patio
SHFL Lending Library
A great place for fundraisers and private parties!
A great place for fundraisers and private parties!
Super Happy Fun Land is always looking for unusual performers...
We are also seeking people who are looking for a bizarre,
yet charming and laid back place to hang out and have FUN!"
I have been
coming to Super Happy Fun Land for my dose of local live music for a few years,
since I moved here in 2008 and its simply…has…not…changed. Super Happy Fun Land
hasn’t changed names, management, or locations like the various music
bar/venues here in Houston. It is and always will be…a warehouse of rare
extraordinary inexplicable imagination.
It’s best not to have any expectations. I would not even journey to this
land of abandoned warehouses and dangerous labyrinth of construction unless you
leave behind any and all assumptions of having any of your common day happy or
fun experiences here. Well…fun you
may have. But of the peculiar and confusing sort as you drive up to the giant
bulging smiling sun face on the side of the warehouse – don’t let him mislead you.
The inside is as drab and gloomy as its surrounding environment. However, sketched
about the interior you’ll find murals of fun impulsive graffiti, cartoon
drawings, and other peculiar random art done by local artists. In the dusty
dark corners of the warehouse you are likely to stumble upon archeological
findings of interesting but sometimes unusable wares, finished and unfinished
arts and crafts, abandoned stuffed animals and dolls, old timey gadgets from
the past, and even a stray black tomcat. There is so much stuff to look at and
play with to excite your nostalgia that it can be a tad bit overwhelming. Sadly
this warehouse reminds me of the Island of Misfit Toys because of its
abandonment. Not many a soul or tourist will venture to this musically playful
venue but one should. But be forewarned, Super Happy Fun Land does not cater to
the socially whimsical who fly in on a rare occasion but more to its eccentric staff,
entertainers, and regulars.
On this
night, I popped in to see New Orleans bread travelling band Quintron and Miss Pussycat and opening
act Solar Temple. Upon further
investigation, I was surprised to learn that the band Solar Temple is a father-son duo of heavy metal punk royalty! The
bassist who goes by Dad on their
official website toured with the likes of Parliament Funkadelic, Bad Brains, Al
B Sure, Cromags, and Primus and just happens to live right here in Houston. His
extremely skilled and talented child prodigy who looks to be about 10 or 11
plays guitar or rather shreds violently through cords like it’s nobody’s
business. They wore matching black worker suits and matching black guitars.
Their stage was adorned with huge chain link fashioned mic stands and Egyptian
busts and sculls so I knew this was going to be some loud heavy shit with some immaculate prophetic flare.
I think I
got there little too early at 8, even though the flier said they would start at
8 o’clock. I should have known that no band dares play to an audience of 3 if
they can hold out an hour or two for more people to stumble in. So I bought a
beer by donation from the same bartendress that has been there forever and
started to look around and make myself at home. One thing is certain; the dim-lighted
warehouse is very warm and cozy with plush donated couches strewn about. I glanced over to the merch table and noticed
the sidekick to Quintron, Miss Pussycat, speaking with random fans about their
newest edition vinyl and walked over to talk to her as well. I told her that I
am writing a blog and she was very curious and I was very shy to inform her of
my intentions. However, she did fancy my nail polish design (bright pink with
green tips that I fashioned myself that day out of inspiration for the show)
and was subsequently inspired to paint her own nails before they went on. We
giggled and bonded over brightly colored nail design while Solar Temple started
calibrating their guitars and sound checking. I was honored to have inspired
her as she was already done up in a cute bright orange and gold retro air
hostess-like uniform with a cute orange puff on top of her head. Her bright
bubbly personality kind of reminds me of a slimmer version of Pee Wee’s
sidekick and questionable love interest and admirer Miss Yvonne from Pee Wee’s
playhouse.
After our short friendly conversation I walked over to the stage
area of Super Happy Fun Land to get a good seat and glimpse of the opening act:
Solar Temple. The child prodigy on guitar was shredding adamantly on stage
ready to start the show. He was so tiny
behind the large chain-linked mic stand that looked to be straight out of a
Gwar stage setup. Dad was stage right
and tuning up his own matching black bass before the show was about to begin.
They killed time ripping through cords until it seemed about time to start the
show as their regular admirers had already sat down in anticipation. I am not
really sure when the sound check rehearsal ended and when the set began but as
soon as Dad and son started playing in unison I knew it was time. After about 2
minutes into their first song Dad starts to sing the chorus “Heeyyy Heeyyy” and
with his son in unison sang “We’re Solar Temple” and so the set began. This
metal father son band not only has great sound but also the lyrics are fun play
on words with lyrics such as “You have to have imagination to imagine a nation”
in their song Psychic Warfare. Since
this band is only comprised of 2 members: one on bass, the other on guitar, the
use of the pre-recorded drum track was apparent. However it did not take away from
their extravagant-ness and leads me to believe that most metal bands with fantastically
skilled epic drummers don’t really require the percussion. If this father son
team does add a drummer I wish it to be a child friend of the 10 year old son!
It’s really inspiring and beautiful to see a child so young interested in
composing music with his father and I would love to see more kids added. The
final song had a very slow and menacing buildup in which the child son begins a
solo ballad strumming almost pleasantly with so much patience that you wouldn’t
normally see from such a young’un. It
definitely showcased the boy’s diversity in not only can he violently rip cords
on the guitar but can also play a classical style as well. Despite being very different from the main
act, Solar Temple is an alternate experience for the common Super Happy Fun
Land-er and show-goer and their friendly persona and willingness to answer
questions and spend time with their fans and admirers of the Dad’s past bands
was refreshing to say the least. I recommend anyone who is a fan of underground
punk alternative bands from the 80s and 90s to give this band a listen and
witness a generation passed down of musical punk genius. I imagine this kid
born and bred straight out of Houston will be a legend in his own right one day
if he is not already. Keep in mind: He is not your typical Justin Beiber YouTube
internet sensation but I hope one day the child enigma will be just as big if
not more influencing.
After Solar
Temple broke down their set, Quintron and only stage hand who also acts as the
only audio mixer of the house began to set up their stage before they showcased
their World Première mystery puppet movie entitled, Mystery in Old BathBath. We are briefly entertained by YouTube world
record videos that are played on the projector backdrop before the show begins.
The one in particular the crowd loved was the largest dominos set up of 30,000
that took three days or so to accomplish. Quintron
and Miss Pussycat wanted to start the movie earlier, but the crowd was so
much more interested in seeing the end of the domino cascading spiral that had
begun to fall down. “I need closure!” one fan shouted right before the YouTube
video was to be taken down for the show they came all the way to see. Nonetheless,
this allowed for more fellow Q + MP enthusiasts to show up fashionably. After
all 30,000 dominos fell down one by one with no mistake and only one video cut
at the very end and center of the spiral, the movie was ready to begin! The
lovely, Miss Pussycat hopped on stage and instructed the audience members to
“turn off all cellphones and babies” and introduced the movie. She delightfully
couldn’t really remember what the movie was about she proclaimed which I found
adorable and even more interesting as she said it took over a year to make with
Mr. Quintron in their very own quaint little puppet studio in New Orleans. She
announced that this show at Super Happy Fun Land was their World Premiere of
this installment of Trixie and the tree-trunks puppets! The movie began and so
did an hour of excruciatingly loud banging and unharmonious music and Hitchcock
murder music when the puppets went from being wholesome fun to violent and
gruesome. “Art is for people who cannot read” stated Jay Jay which was memorably
the most quotable line of the movie. This movie gave me the creeps, honestly a weird feeling. Being an 80's baby and 90's adolescent, I grew up watching puppet shows and whacky fun adults and sing-a-longs. The gore and horror ailment to this film was lost on me . I was disappointed they did not go with a more educational satirical approach. The film was so very jarring and literal.
After we discovered the mystery of Old Bath
Bath and why the town had no running water despite its name the movie ended and
we awaited Quintron to join the stage to start their much awaited headlining
set. After ill attempts to find a proper mic stand that didn’t flop down on his
keyboard, he began to play what can be described as old New Orleans church
zydeco with keys mimicking the organ sound and Miss Pussycat adorably on make-
shift shakers that were clothed matching orange and gold shiny fabric she was
wearing. At the beginning of their set
the audience went from sitting patiently watching the movie to running up in
front to dance and get closer to the band which startled and might have puzzled
the songstress. They held true to their New Orleans native style as they
incorporated brass into their set and even Miss Pussycat banged on the symbols
every now and again with her shaker wands. Ring
the Alarm was quite notably the crowd favorite and by the middle to end of
their set Quintron went from being dry and fully clothed to shirtless and
soaking wet.
I did not stay for the end because of the alarming sounds and
screeches from beautifully curated puppet movie in the beginning gave me a
grave headache from outer space that wouldn’t stop thumping on my brain. I
really did appreciate the inclusion of the New Orleans marching band vibration
to the music and I was very pleasantly surprised by it as I did not do any
research upon going to the show. I did not want to have any biases beforehand –
a fresh slate. I am very happy that I did come out even though I debated it because
of the location and price (12$ but to be expected …hey Q + MP was on an episode
of Treme for heaven sake) but it was
well worth it because I got to learn of a new band from my favorite city in the
United States, New Orleans and witness history in the making with a child
prodigy guitar player and his Punk/Funk veteran father. Well, that’s it for this Rude Gal’s
installment of the weird local music scene. I hope this blog review encourages
and inspires you to one day journey out on a whim to Super Happy Fun Land in
the outer reaches of Houston. You never know, you might see or hear something that
no one else you know has heard before and inspire others to take the plunge and
go where not many Houstonians will dare to go.
Hey, it’s never stopped me from getting a taste of something bizarrely
different and outrageously extra-unordinary and maybe we’ll see each other
about!
Super Happy Fun Land loadin-dock 2011? for The Dirty Verbs Show
If you see me, shout ya rude gal out
<) ;)
<) ;)
