ACL 2010 Bullets (9/15/10)

ESPN's TrueHoop NBA blog is one of the best sports blogs out there and truly one of the best of ESPN's many products. One great TrueHoop feature is a daily rundown of good basketball stories in the form of a bullet-point list. We can't keep up with that sort of schedule, but for the next few weeks we'll try to do an occasional compendium of good ACL related content we find.

• Good news for those of you students who don't have tickets to the sold out festival. ACL is holding a Special Student Day Sale on Friday: "The 2010 Austin City Limits Music Festival has been completely sold out for months, but this FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 17th we will be holding a special Student Day Sale. Three-Day Passes will be available for $145 for students presenting a valid High School or University-issued ID. There is a TWO ticket per person limit and sales are CASH ONLY." The sale takes place at the HEB Plus on 2508 Riverside Drive during store hours (6 AM to 1 AM). Make sure you read up on the details before heading over.
• If you aren't a student, LastFM is also giving away tickets via its Fly Away To The Austin City Limits Festival To See Two Door Cinema Club contest: "Energizer and Last.fm Discover have teemed up to send one lucky winner and a guest to the Austin City Limits Festival to see Summer Sessions alums Two Door Cinema Club perform alongside headliners Muse, Phish, The Eagles and The Strokes. Enter this flyaway contest now, before entries close on September 24, 2010."
• Austin360's Austin Music Source blog interviewed KGSR DJ/News 8 music man Andy Langer about his thoughts on their "buzzmeter." The buzzmeter basically uses the ACL schedule tracker feature and ranks bands by the number of people that are planning to see them. Right now Muse sits on top, slightly ahead of The Strokes. Langer opines on which bands will draw the biggest crowds, what acts he thinks will surprise or disappoint, and possible breakout acts. He also offered this keen observation about Phish's prospect for a big crowd: "The problem with Phish is the reason you book Phish for a festival is Phish fans will come from around the world to see Phish because it’s a destination and you sell tickets because of that. The problem with Phish at ACL is you’ve got a festival that was already sold out before they announced Phish was playing, which means for people who have already bought tickets you’re putting Phish upon them when only a percentage of that crowd will be interested in Phish. Phish makes perfect sense as a festival headliner for a festival that is having trouble selling tickets or will need a push. It makes very little sense at ACL, the way ACL sells out in advance." Happen to agree with him about the Vampire Weekend show at Stubb's.
• Not too different a conclusion, but perhaps a slightly more hopeful delivery, on Phish's ACL gig from Mr. Miner's Phish Thoughts: "Playing overlapping sets with The Strokes, the hipsters may evacuate the Phish stage in favor of New York’s neo-garage rockers. When the lights drop for Phish, the scene may not be so unfamiliar, as Phish fans are sure to flood the festival grounds on Friday night. Given a large stage and two hours, a lot can happen in Austin if Phish wants to go that route. But perhaps more of a payday than an intent to make any statement at all, the band may fill their time with palatable music and move onto their own 3-night bash to kick off fall for real"
• Culturemap isn’t letting its disappointment with the main headliner curb the enthusiasm for this year’s lineup. Check out In defense of Austin City Limits: 10 cool undercard bands that make up for The Eagles.
• While giving much more time to Fun Fun Fun, Austinist has been keeping up with ACL lately. Recent posts include short band profiles include Bostich + Fussible and Black Lips and an interview with Girls.
  
• A couple of bloggers make lists of the ten best fall music festivals. ACL is on both.