Thursday, November 25, 2010

Thanks Austin

Three years? We must be having fun then, because that time has flown by. As we approach the third anniversary of our move to Austin, on Thanksgiving weekend 2010, it seems like a good time to reflect on all of the things about our hometown that I am thankful for.

First of all, thanks Austin for sunny 80 degree days in November. It's because of days like this that I can overlook the streaks of triple-digit brain-melting Summer days. Summer can be pretty tough, but the swing months make it all worthwhile.

Thanks for weathering the economic recession as well as anyplace. Leading in job growth during the last few years is something to be proud of. Consistent strong rankings in measures of economic health are reflective of the forward, green-friendly thinking and entrepreneurial spirit that keep Austin a top destination for the aspiring young and upwardly mobile. Spend time here and you won't find it surprising that Austin ends up at the top of the Milken Institute's Best-Performing Cities index, on Forbes' most affordable cities and best cities for young professionals lists, Kiplinger's list of best cities for the next decade, etc.

Thanks for the great social atmosphere. No matter how fringe or obscure your interest might be, if there's another person in Austin who shares it, chances are there's some sort of club, meetup, or Yelp group catering to your needs. Not to mention an annual festival celebrating it. So keep your eyes open for the next meeting of the Austin Left-Handed Ventriloquist Coonhound Owners' Meetup coming to a park near you.

Thanks for making sure I'm never more than a few steps from a great, authentic, inexpensive taco. Not to mention being located in the middle of the "BBQ Triangle." Having Louie Mueller nearby makes me not mind working out in Taylor so much. And thanks for having a million excellent indie burger places and coffee joints. Who needs Starbucks (overrated, bitter, chalky coffee) and McDonalds? Head to Thunderbird, Flight Path, Epoch, Mozart's or Juan Pelota for a cuppa, or go get your beef patty on at Billy's, Black Sheep, Counter Cafe -- or if you really need it thin-style, P. Terry's, Hill-Bert's or Top Notch. Oh, and thanks for accommodating an incredibly vibrant mobile food cart scene. Shout out to Odd Duck Farm to Trailer, La Boite Cafe, Franklin Barbecue, G'Raj Mahal and Kebabilicious, 'cuz you are all too delicious.

Thanks for Independence Bootlegger Brown, (512) IPA, Live Oak HefeWeizen, Real Ale Full Moon Pale Rye Ale, and all the great places to drink these and other great local brews.

Thanks for being a nugget of blue in a sea of red.

Thanks for the green space. Maybe Austin isn't the prettiest, but those parks are something. Zilker and Barton Springs are just the tip of the iceberg. Greenbelts are everywhere you look. Go get outside.

Thanks for the music scene. Local bands with a variety of styles and talents, record stores like they used to make them, a few good radio stations, and great clubs and festivals. Just this year, Rachel and I have seen The Cribs, Adam Green, Yo La Tengo, Times New Viking (twice), Ted Leo & the Pharmacists, Screaming Females, Sally Crewe and the Sudden Moves, Vampire Weekend, Abe Vigoda, Islands, Active Child, Steel Phantoms, New Pornographers, Ben Kweller, Pixies, Pavement, Guided By Voices, Vonegutt, Those Darlins, The Mountain Goats, Girls, The Black Keys, Spoon, The Strokes, The xx, LCD Soundsystem, The Morning Benders, Yeasayer, Martin Sexton, Sonic Youth, Warpaint and Sufjan Stevens. At least that's what I can remember.

Thanks for being welcoming. Maybe it comes from being a college town where students want to stay after they graduate? Who knows? But as all of my visitors can attest to, the factor that really makes this place great is the people here. All of the aforementioned gives Austinites many reasons to smile, kick back and relax. That makes it an easy city to be yourself in. Just ask Leslie or Thong Man

Friday, November 12, 2010

A Post About the Blues on Booker White's Birthday

Higher education is the bomb. The first time I heard Booker White -- better known as "Bukka," although he didn't care for the name so I won't use it here -- was in a college classroom. Senior year, I signed up for a blues history class and unexpectedly got turned on to all sorts of cool stuff. This was just before the Internet allowed any old kid to hear Jack White mention Blind Willie McTell in an interview, go home and look him up and listen to his songs. I'd heard what probably a lot of other kids my age with a thirst for music: Your icons like Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf and maybe a little Robert Johnson. To me, though, most very old music from say the 20s or early 30s was a bit inaccessible, whether due to the scratchiness or sped-up sound of the recordings or occasionally hokey content.

But until that class, I had no idea that the rock-n-roll thing really did go back so far. We started out with some jazzier stuff (Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey), but a class or two in, our professor put on Charley Patton. My mind was blown. I had never heard anything that you could so clearly trace to rock music being made today that was so old. The powerful, driving guitar with touches of flair and soulful, emotional singing can be heard in so much music that followed. There's a certain amount of polish that the lady blues singers' records have, maybe due to the multi-piece accompaniment. Patton, though, could make the hair on your neck stand up with six strings and his vocal chords.




Born in Houston, Mississippi on November 12 -- various years have been claimed, although 1906 and 1909 appear to be the most common, Booker T. Washington White was a Patton disciple. He even claimed to have met Patton, although that fact is disputed. Whether they were buddies or not, Patton passed along some of his licks to White, along with many others. In Booker's steel guitar, you can hear that chug -- on songs like "Aberdeen, Mississippi," his slide guitar sounds almost like a freight train. There's a power in both his playing and his quivering, haunting voice that, when I first heard it, gave me an impression of a strong man who had survived some rough shit.


The subject matter of White's songs were another hint. Blues lyrics are, by their nature, usually about things like loss, pain, and regret, but songs were often built on commonly appearing phrases that didn't necessarily speak to the direct experiences of the singer. Check out the David Evans book Big Road Blues for a deep exploration of the tradition of borrowed lyrics in blues music. In the case of White's "Parchman Farm Blues," however, he sings from experience:

Judge give me life this mornin' down on
Parchman Farm
Judge give me life this mornin' down on Parchman Farm
I wouldn't hate it so bad, but I left my wife in mourn
Oh, goodbye wife, all you have done gone
Oh, goodbye wife, all you have done gone
But I hope some day, you will hear my lonesome song
Oh listen you men, I don't mean no harm
Oh listen you men, I don't mean no harm
If you wanna do good, you better stay off old Parchman Farm
We got to work in the mornin', just at dawn of day
We got to work in the mornin', just at dawn of day
Just at the settin' of the sun, that's when the work is done
I'm down on Parchman Farm, but I sho' wanna go back home
I'm down on Parchman Farm, but I sho' wanna go back home
But I hope some day I will overcome

Booker White spent time at Parchman, the Mississippi State Penitentiary. On a murder conviction, no less. Somehow -- again, consensus seems to be lacking on the details -- he managed to serve only a few years. From a music fan's perspective, that was a positive development. Allmusic.com sums it up as well as I could:

Bukka White proved a model prisoner, popular with inmates and prison guards alike and earning the nickname "Barrelhouse." It was as "Washington Barrelhouse White" that White recorded two numbers for John and Alan Lomax at Parchman Farm in 1939. After earning his release in 1940, he returned to Chicago with 12 newly minted songs to record for Lester Melrose. These became the backbone of his lifelong repertoire, and the Melrose session today is regarded as the pinnacle of Bukka White's achievements on record. Among the songs he recorded on that occasion were "Parchman Farm Blues" ..., "Good Gin Blues," "Bukka's Jitterbug Swing," "Aberdeen, Mississippi Blues," and "Fixin' to Die Blues," all timeless classics of the Delta blues. -- Uncle Dave Lewis

 

Booker White was part of that legion of great Mississippi Delta singers that were instrumental in the migration of that brand of blues music to Chicago. Forgetting about who was there even earlier, at the birth of commercial blues recording, Charley Patton was there just ahead of other Delta greats like Tommy Johnson, Robert Johnson, Big Bill Broonzy and Son House (another one-time Parchman Farm inmate). From them it was a short step to Booker White, Skip James, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, John Lee Hooker and other artists born around 1900 who went on to record in Chicago. That sound got electrified, but the attitude stayed rough and dirty. Not too different from what B.B. King (Booker's cousin it turns out), Jimi Hendrix or The Stooges or The White Stripes would eventually bring.


To me, something like Booker White singing "Parchman Farm Blues" is a reminder of all of the elements that are missing in way too much of today's music. The raw, dirty, funky thang is one part of it. The deep, dark, sometimes raunchy vocals have loads of something that a lot of what corporate America wants you to call "soul music" lacks: soul. The singing is richly emotional. Never sterile. So if your friends are into rock but don't really know much about the history and you want to impress them, play them some of the roots. I like the way this one comment on the "Aberdeen, Mississippi" video (from gageman70) puts it:

Let me know when modern music sounds like this and I'll listen to it. But as long as they keep putting out that shit the asshats at my school listen to, I ain't listening to one fuckin' song. Except the Black Keys they're pretty good.

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Fun Fun Fun Fest 2010 Bullets (11/3/10)

New festival, same format. Here's a rundown of what people are saying about the Fun Fun Fun Fest this coming weekend at Waterloo Park in Austin, TX.
  • The big news over the last few days was Devo pulling out of the festival due to Bob Mothersbaugh's ailment. Their just-announced replacement? Punk icons The Descendants. MOG Blog notes that the FFF show will mark the first performance with the full lineup in a decade. Kudos to Transmission Entertainment for coming up with replacements for the artists that have pulled out this year.
  • Austinist has been running a series of interviews and previews on the artists coming to this year's festival. The latest profile is on Mastodon. I don't know too much about the band, but learning that they've toured with Alice in Chains, Metallica, Iron Maiden and Slayer was informative.
  • Austin360's Austin Music Source is also doing some previewing. Latest is Cap'n Jazz. Interesting profile of a band returning out of the blue, which seems to be a FFF specialty. AMS also has a good breakdown of this year's lineup.
  • No tickets and no dough? Gowalla is giving away a Sunday pass. Check in at select sites on Thursday, Friday and Saturday for a chance to win. Check Austinist for details.
  • Buzzgrinder (cool name) offers up its picks for the Blue and Yellow Stages. Makes me feel a bit Swedish. Slick Rick and Pharoah Monch bookend the list.
  • Is Fun Fun Fun the best of the fests? Preston Jones for the Star-Telegram makes his case: "[M]ostly, Fun Fun Fun Fest tosses a well-calibrated mix of bubbling-under bands and indie elder statesmen in front of discerning listeners for extraordinarily compact sets (nearly all performers have a little less than 60 minutes). Consider it an antidote to the increasingly bloated and loosely focused SXSW, which celebrates its 25th anniversary next year, and a corrective to Austin City Limits Music Festival's patina of corporate greed and overreaching inclusiveness. (Seriously, the Eagles as a headliner?)."
  • Something different? How about a look at some of the less heralded folks that make these festivals possible. Johnny Sarkis is a Fun Fun Fun bar manager. Read about him at A.V. Club Austin. Who is Johnny most looking forward to this year? "Weird Al," of course. "I’ve been listening to “Weird Al” since I was 8. I know every single word to UHF. People don’t realize that, aside from Madonna, [Yankovic]’s career legacy has outlived every single person he’s ever parodied. And I’m super excited about that." Love it!
  • Here's a brief video preview from Culture Greyhound, featuring JEFF the Brotherhood, Wavves, Dominique Young Unique and The Hold Steady.
  • "Yellow Stage Circus?" Mechanical bull? Air sex? Isn't this a music festival? Wha?