The band never hit it big outside of Texas despite its genuine potential, and the Press article is an interesting look into the sometimes-peculiar phenomenon of regional popularity. It's also got a fairly detailed description of early '80s Texas punk demographics, if you into that kind of thing, as well as a few amusing anecdotes from back in The Good Old Days of the Houston music scene, such as this little anecdote about ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons:

"He said, 'I think I'm on the guest list,'" Srere remembers. "I said, 'And your name?'
"'Well, my name's Billy Gibbons.'
"'Really? Oh yes, yes, you're on here.'
"I asked him, 'What brings you to the Judy's?' He told me his pigs liked the Judy's."

There are three, basically equally likely possibilities here: 1) It's a typo, 2) "Pigs" is a slang term in this context, or 3) Billy used to raise very hip pigs.

Perhaps the most appealing thing about The Judy's is their ability to be both obscure and pop in just the right measure, a blend so rarely achieved with such success. Check out this short documentary about the band for some great old performance clips, and an adorable explanation of the group's origins by a young, "aw, shucks" David Bean (lead singer and keyboardist).

The Judy's Come Back [Houston Press]
The Judy's [Wasted Talent Records]
The Judy's [MySpace]

"Objects Of Affection," Kate's continuing look at the weird world of kids knocking together tribute videos to hit songs out of the weirdest pop cultural detritus, covered everything from cuddly puppiesto cuddly serial killers, but no installment drew as much attention as the one devoted to British actress Helen Mirren, which found Kate interviewed by the Times Of London.

Here she interrogates her fellow members of the "Radiohead Generation," thereby keeping us from having to leave the house to talk to teenagers with dumb hair.

Remeber when we forced her to visit the "Virtual Video Music Awards"? And she didn't quit!

The old boss actually made her watch that stupid Rolling Stone reality show, which has to be considered some kinda workplace harassment.

Of course there were all the times she pitched in as guest editor when Maura or I were falling down drunk otherwise occupied.

Here's where we say somethin' corny about never being able to replace her. (Especially because of how lazy we both are when it comes to things like going through intern applications. Uh, we'll be in touch soon, promise.) But don't fret! Kate may be filing reports from a newly established Idolator European office provided she doesn't fall in with some Spanish music blog and abandon us entirely. Or, you know, get out of the game before she turns into the Michael Corleone of Hannah Montana news items. Just kidding! We'd never let her escape our dungeon leave.

^* Don't you dare judge me.

I don't know why embedding is disabled, but here it is.

That's Ray Wylie Hubbard, Jerry Jeff Walker, and various other members of the Lost Gonzo Band, a group of Texas-based musicians of the peculiar "hippie redneck" variety in the 1970s. I actually don't know a ton about these guys (except for Jerry Jeff), but I do know that their particular brand of crass-and-folksy yet witty-and-intelligent swagger represents all that is right with (good) Texas music and the state in general. My taste is by and large fairly typical for a person of my age and circumstance, but this specialized genre is a vital—if hidden—element of my musical personality. Get enough "Texas pride beer" in me and I might just sing you a verse or two of "Mr. Bojangles."

The only other thing you might possibly need to know about me: "I like drive-in picture shows, kissin' long, and lovin' slow."

I just hope they stop asking me to guest-edit before I run out of clips from The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.

Well, if Idolator were the movie version of The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Maura would be Mona Stangley, the fiery madam with a heart of gold; Jess would be some combination of Jewel, the plucky housekeeper/co-runner of the brothel, and Sheriff Ed Earl Dodd, the dogged protector of the house; and I would be a cheerful whore/chorus girl. Or maybe I'm Deputy Fred, the bumbling subordinate? In any case, my point is that around here there's "just lots of good will, and maybe one small thrill...but there's nothing dirty goin' on!"

When I'm not forcing people to watch Dolly Parton content, I like forcing them instead to watch Planet Earth. Seriously, have you seen this shit? And when I'm not doing either of those things I'm sort of at a loss, though I occasionally dabble in school work at a major university in New York City (not Columbia). As for music, you probably know more about it than I do, except when it comes to Jimmy Buffett.

Shark Week is upon us, which means countless people nationwide are becoming increasingly apprehensive about their upcoming beach vacations. And who can blame them? If given the opportunity, sharks will not think twice about robbing you of a limb. But then again, according to Shark Week, every year about four people are killed by sharks, while approximately 40 million sharks are killed by people, which brings us to this week's topic: Save the sharks! Despite its various puzzling eccentricities, the tribute-video community is nothing if not open-minded, making room for even the most fearsome predators in the animal kingdom. This week we've got something for the sharks-of-a-certain-age and their teenage offspring, too.

Video 1 (Embed disabled on this one. Sorry!)

Song: "I'll Stand by You" by The Pretenders
Concept: Sharks as sensitive souls in need of a friend.
This song is about friendship, loyalty, and emotional turmoil—presumably the top three things a shark will never feel. As far as we know, the only real emotion a shark can feel, according to Jaws, is cold hard revenge. So it is incongruous, to say the least, to view sharks in the context of Chrissie Hynde's sappy power ballad about devotion. Judging from some of those awful images, sharks really could use some sympathy, and there's a fair amount of footage—especially the shot of hammerheads under the sunlight—that looks pretty majestic when combined with the music. This clip has a good mix of horrifying PETA-style atrocity footage and less gruesome stuff, and it's all edited together skillfully, but ultimately it cannot fully rise above its own unintentional humor. Hey, Mr. Shark? "Don't be ashamed to cry."
Best music-to-image sync-up moment: One minute in, when the chorus breaks in as two people nobly release a struggling shark from a net.
Silliest music-to-image sync-up moment: I hate to call it silly, because this really is a serious and sad topic, but any time the song mentions crying it's pretty amusing to consider sharks' inability to produce tears.

Song: "It Ends Tonight" by The All-American Rejects
Concept: Sharks as angry teens in a tumultuous relationship with mankind.
What I like most about this video is its attitude. The sharks look pissed and the text slides are presumptuous, snotty, and grammatically flawed ("Sharks are the worlds most magnificent creatures," "To bad we're killing them off"). This attitude would be increased tenfold by some dramatically edited video clips, but unfortunately we get only stills, which we all know by now is a disadvantage in the tribute-video world. This song is about as ridiculous as "I'll Stand by You" for a shark-themed video, but also about as surprisingly appropriate at times. After all, sharks really can't "explain [themselves] at all," which is maybe why they have to go and bite us while we're trying to boogie board. They think that "maybe it's best [we] leave [them] alone." It makes sense! Another video with only the best intentions, but this one falls short a bit in form.
Best music-to-image sync-up moment: 2:50. The video makes an abrupt shift toward raising awareness of cruelty to sharks, the music peaks, and for a moment there is only Tyson Ritter's voice and a piano as pictures of dead and injured sharks flash. It's surprisingly effective.
Silliest music-to-image sync-up moment: At the very beginning, the lyrics, "Your subtleties, they strangle me." It's funny to think about a shark picking up on subtleties of any kind of relationship.

Verdict: Despite two very noble contenders this week, there's only enough room in the waters of this peaceful island town for one video. The "I'll Stand by You" clip is more graphic, but also weirder and more skillfully-assembled, making it the winner of this week's match-up.