From Boston to Austin

SXSW 2012: Bruce Springsteen Announced as Keynote

2011-12-01T19:14:00.001-06:00

The title of the post pretty much says it all. SXSW 2012 has its Boss. The SXSW official press release reminds folks:

In the tradition of legendary artists delivering the main event at SXSW, Springsteen joins notable keynote alumni including Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Lucinda Williams, Robert Plant, Pete Townshend, Smokey Robinson and Neil Young. Join us in March for a memorable keynote with Bruce Springsteen. The Bruce Springsteen keynote will be open to Music and Platinum registrants and registered showcasing artists.

Here's Bruce and E playing one of my favorites, Rosalita (R.I.P. Big Man):

Yaktoberfest 2012: Still Far Off But Already on Our Minds

2011-11-28T17:55:00.001-06:00

We're only a month past Yaktoberfest 2011, but we don't think it's too early to start thinking of 2012. 2011 was a big success compared to 2009. We intend to keep the momentum moving upward and are starting to think of ways to up the ante. More brewers (and beers) and higher donations are obvious goals, but I'm confident we'll come up with a few fun twists as well.

Speaking of 2011, the Grand Yak, Steve, posted a picture of his trip out to Crowe's Nest Farm to deliver half of our collections. Hope he doesn't mind us reposting it here.

Dave (left) of Crowe's Nest Farm collecting proceeds from Steve (right)

As for 2012, Steve's also started up a Yaktoberfest 2012 Facebook page. We're starting to experiment with a few new recipes too, like a version of the much-lauded AHS Double Chocolate Stout, which we cooked up on Sunday.

AHS Double Chocolate Stout

Specialty malts: Crystal 40L, chocolate malt, black roasted barley, Black Patent

Featured hops: Galena
Other additives: malto dextrin, Belgian cocoa

O.G. = 1.056
F.G. = 1.012
Approximately 5.8% ABV
Approximately 187 Cal / 12 oz

Primary fermentation is well along and starting to wane. This thing is a deep, dark brown. It basically looks like something made from chocolate. AHS says it is a bit like the Young's Double Chocolate Stout, which is excellent (they usually have it on tap at the Draught House Pub). The many comments are very positive. I'm excited to taste it, but it apparently will benefit from a month or so of bottle aging, which I'm willing to give it. If it's a winner, you'll likely find out because it will probably be at Yaktoberfest 2012.

Black Friday, Weird Austin Style: Austin Holiday Shopping Guide

2011-11-25T17:38:00.001-06:00

Thanksgiving has passed and Black Friday is upon us. Not sure what makes it "black," but I do know one thing: There's nothing I can think of that would make me go within 200 yards of any shopping mall, outlet center or big box store today. Not even a discounted television set that will still be on sale tomorrow.

Then again, it isn't really my style to shop at the big box stores anyway. The vibrant independent retail scene here in Austin makes that easy to do. So go ahead and keep your Black Friday, and keep your Best Buy, Wal-Mart and Target. I'm gonna go shop at the places below. If you don't like it, well, watch some Steely Dan. That's about all the "Black Friday" I can stand this weekend.

Austin Independent Shopping - General Help

Austin is loaded with great small shops. If you want to wing it, just head to South Congress Ave., 2nd Street, or some of the smaller enclaves like North Loop, the UT campus area or spots on South 1st St. If you'd rather do some research first, take a look below. We're focusing on smaller places that are locally owned (sorry Half Price Books and Cheapo Discs). Since there are too many good stores and products for us to list, let's start off with a few good sites and posts that provide some good, general Austin shopping help.

- FromBostonToAustin's prior posts:

Previously Owned But Still Wanted: Where to buy some good used stuff.
Vintage Austin: Focusing on the North Loop area and nearby.
"Old Austin" Feel: Focusing on the area around 29th and Guadalupe.

- From around the web

IBuyAustin.com: Home of the Austin Independent Business Alliance.
Keep Austin Weird: Did you know -- Austin's popular slogan goes back to an early local effort to support independent retailers.
Do512: Blog post from Austin scenesters on indie retailers here in town.

Books

Book People: One of my favorite indie bookstores in the world. Excellent selection -- not too big, not too small -- and lots of recommendations. Also good for greeting cards, magazines, cool little gifts.
Recycled Reads: Small selection of books and even smaller selection of CDs and LPs, but prices are cheap and money goes to the Austin Public Library. Good stop on a lazy day to go hunting for a lucky find.
South Congress Books: Cool, fairly new place with used books and lots of first and other special editions.

CDs/LPs

Antone's Records: A small place near UT with some history. Focus is on blues, R&B, etc., but there's a bit of everything.
End of an Ear: Another small shop but lots of vinyl, used and new. Fun place to stop in at on Record Store Day.
Waterloo Records: Austin's most popular music store. Great selection of new and used CDs and LPs, plus DVDs, lots of t-shirts and other doodads. Also sells tickets to lots of shows around town for less of a fee than you'd pay on-line.

Clothes

Allens Boots: Not just a big selection of brand-name cowboy boots, but also some cool shirts and hats, plus killer belt buckles.
Hatbox: Deeply stocked hat store with a helpful staff. Just took my father there and he walked away with a nice Kangol flat cap (as did I).
Lovely Austin Boutique: Trendy duds for the ladies, near lots of other cool boutiques on South Congress.
Parts + Labour: Great t-shirts, accessories, tchotchkes and the like. Also on South Congress.
Service Menswear: Another of the aforementioned boutiques on South Congress, specializing in (yes) menswear.

Edibles/Drinkables

If you're local, here are a few ideas. Some of these will ship pretty well too.

Antonelli's Cheese Shop: Austin's best cheese shop has a selection of the finest cheeses and cured meats from throughout the land. Big beer bottles too. Huzzah!
Austin Cake Ball: Little balls of cake in a variety of delicious (and beautiful) flavors. Great to bring along to a party.
The Austin Wine Merchant: My favorite wine shop, right downtown, specializing in wines from Burgundy but stocking a great selection of bottles from everywhere in a smallish space. You can find almost any spirit here too, from sotol to white port.
Big Top Candy Shop: From Abba Zaba to Zagnut, this spot has you covered. Put together a cool, vintage candy basket for a sweet-toothed friend.
Chameleon Cold-Brew: Local maker of smooth, cold-brewed bottled coffee ships all over.
If you're looking for a hands-on experience and you're not too squeamish, both Dai Due and Kocurek Family Charcuterie offer classes on processing meat and using every last bit.
Tears of Joy: Hot sauces galore, including some of their own, which are really good. The tequila lime hot sauce is a fave.

Furniture/Home/Garden

Aviary: Small furniture and decor boutique that doubles as a wine bar/lounge as well. I've bought bags, wallets and place mats there in the past.
The Khazana: Cool home furnishings with an Indian/Middle Eastern/North African bent. Also has a warehouse that has occasional sales with some great deals. Beautiful textiles available as well as some traditional Indian clothing.
Miguel's Imports: Ceramics, mainly from south of the border, with lots of planters from small to huge.

Games/Toys

Game Over Videogames: Nerd? Like Nintendo's "Duck Hunt" but don't know where to pick up a new lazer gun? Is your lucky number 2600? I think you get the point.
Terra Toys: Not too many independent toy stores left. This is a good one. Not a huge selection, but the stuff they have is groovy. My go-to place for kids' gifts.
Toy Joy: An even smaller joint, but a good alternative to Terra.

Miscellaneous Gifts

Tesoros Trading Company: Mexican- and Latin-inspired gifts, with Day of the Dead, Frida Kahlo and lucha libre well represented.
Uncommon Objects: Antique thingamabobs of every variety. Seriously, go in and you can spend an hour just looking around and laughing.
Wanderland: Cute little gift shop not too far from the UT campus with a lot of items made from recycled material.

Other Gift Ideas

Austin Homebrew Supply: Excellent shop for the homebrewer can hook up the beginner who wants to make his/her own beer, wine, soda or even cheese.
Hill Country Weavers: If you know anyone who knits or crochets, this place is yarn heaven.
Salt Lick BBQ: Send the gift a meateater will never forget. Brisket, sausage, ribs, or for the less adventurous, a tasty, mustard-based BBQ sauce.
Yoga Yoga: One of the biggest yoga studios in the area and our favorite. Know a yogi? Give someone a gift card or send him/her to a workshop.

Thanks Austin - 2011: Live Music Props

2011-11-24T11:20:00.001-06:00

We've been blogging our Austin experiences now for about four years, but some of our traditions are new. Last year around this time we posted a "Thanks Austin" blog post about how lucky we felt to have found a place like this to call our home. This year, we thought we'd make it an annual Thanksgiving tradition.

One thing we're definitely grateful to Austin for is that the city truly lives up to its nickname of "Live Music Capital of the World." Coming off a week in which we saw The Jayhawks for the first time and a week before we go see Wilco play at the new Moody Theater that the Austin City Limits television show folks built, it seems like a perfect time to shine a light on the great variety of live music experiences available here in Austin.

Our first ACL Music Festival was back in 2005 -- two years before we moved here. Throw in ACL 2006 and 2007, on top of every show we've been to here since moving here at the end of that year, and the number of different acts we've caught live in this town is astonishing. Acts starting with every letter of the alphabet, right on up to Z-Trip, and even !!!. Several we've seen multiple times -- when we see Wilco next week, that will be the fifth time we've seen them here in Austin. We've seen The Walkmen five times as well, but those two are still behind local heroes Spoon, who we've caught on half a dozen different occasions, most recently at the Fun Fun Fun Fest just a couple of weeks ago.

Thanks, Austin, for the great music venues. We've been to a pretty wide range of places to catch a show here: Stubbs, Emo's, The Mohawk, Parish, La Zona Rosa, Antone's, Austin Music Hall, Threadgill's, The Backyard, East Side Drive-In, Paramount Theater, Moody Theater, Long Center, plus Zilker Park, Auditorium Shores, Waterloo Park, French Legation, Caesar Chavez Ave. (for Art City Austin), Lustre Pearl (Dickies party at SXSW). Thanks to them all and any place else we've left off.

So we came up with a complete list, at least as far as we can remember, of every artist that Austin has given us the opportunity to see perform. Some of these were opening acts, some headliners, and some were just festival sets, but we've seen them all. If we've caught them multiple times, it's noted in parentheses. The list is long and diverse: iconic acts and no-names, bands that we saw on a reunion tour and bands that have since broken up, plenty of local acts and a few from exotic places. As long as we live here, we're pretty confident this list will continue to grow and grow.

!!!
… And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead
Abe Vigoda (2)
Active Child
Antibalas
Arcade Fire
Arctic Monkeys
Erykah Badu
The B-52s
Devendra Banhart & the Grogs
Beau Soleil
Beck
Big Boi
Andrew Bird (2)
Bishop Allen
Björk
The Black Keys (2)
The Black and White Years
Blitzen Trapper
Bloc Party (2)
Blonde Redhead
Blues Traveler
Broken Social Scene
Budos Band
Henry Butler
David Byrne
Cali Zack
Camper van Beethoven
Car Stereo (Wars)
Neko Case (2)
Cat Power
Centro-Matic
Manu Chao
Gary Clark, Jr.
Cold War Kids
Coldplay
Common
Cracker
Sally Crewe and the Sudden Moves
The Cribs
Crowded House
Cymbals Eat Guitars
Deadmau5
Death
Death Cab for Cutie
Del the Funkee Homosapien (2)
Dengue Fever
The Depreciation Guild
The Dirty Dozen Brass Band
The Dodos
The Donkeys
Daniel Francis Doyle
Kurt Easley
Fitz & the Tantrums
Flaming Lips
Franz Ferdinand
Liam Finn
Four Tet
The Fratellis
Fuck Buttons
Ghostland Observatory
Gipsy Kings
Girls
Gnarls Barkley
Adam Green
Cee Lo Green
Grizzly Bear
Grupo Fantasma
Guided By Voices
Buddy Guy
Ben Harper
The Head and the Heart
Heartless Bastards
Here We Go Magic
Jolie Holland
Iron & Wine
Islands (3)
Wanda Jackson
The Jayhawks
Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings
The Joy Formidable
Kaiser Chiefs (2)
Keane
Kings of Leon
The Knux
Ben Kweller (2)
Joe Lally
LCD Soundsystem
Ted Leo & the Pharmacists (3)
Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears (3)
Lykke Li
The Little Ones
G. Love & Special Sauce
Lyle Lovett and his Big Band
Lucero
Magnolia Electric Company
Aimee Mann
Damian Marley
Stephen Marley
Massive Attack
Mates of State
Matisyahu
Medeski Martin & Wood
M.I.A.
Mission of Burma
The Mohahans (2)
The Morning Benders
Van Morrison
Bob Mould
The Mountain Goats
My Bloody Valentine
The National (2)
Willie Nelson
New Pornographers (2)
No Age
Peter Bjorn & John
New Pornographers
Oasis
Conor Oberst & the Mystic Valley Band
Ogre You Asshole
Oh No Oh My
Okkervil River
One Wolf
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
Pavement
Josh T. Pearson
Tom Petty
Phoenix
Phranchyze
Pixies
The Pogues
Public Enemy
Quasi
The Raconteurs (3)
Bruce Robison
Rockwell Knuckles
Raphael Saddiq
Bob Schneider
School of Seven Bells
Screaming Females
Martin Sexton (2)
The Shins
Shonen Knife
Silversun Pickups
Sonic Youth
Omar Souleyman
Regina Spektor
Spoon (6)
Steel Phantoms
Sufjan Stevens
The Strokes
Thao with the Get Down Stay Down
Telegraph Canyon
The Thermals (2)
Thievery Corporation (2)
Those Darlins
Times New Viking (3)
Tinariwen
tUnE-yArDs
The Ugly Beats
Ume
Vampire Weekend (2)
Vivan Girls
The Walkmen (5)
M. Ward (3)
Warpaint
Wavves
What Made Milwaukee Famous (2)
White Lies
Wilco (4)
Lucinda Williams
Wolf Parade (2)
Stevie Wonder
Wye Oak
The xx (2)
Yeasayer (2)
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Yo La Tengo
Z-Trip

Fun Fun Fun 2011 Wrap: Ted Leo is my (and many other persons') new hero

2011-11-17T16:43:00.001-06:00

Fun Fun Fun 2011 was, well, fun fun fun. We were there for portions of all three days, then high-tailed it out of town for a much needed vacation out on the West Coast. So -- apologies for the delay -- here's our wrap-up from the 2011 Fun Fun Fun Fest, in my opinion the best festival in terms of the musical experience that Austin has to offer: Excellent and diverse line-up, few breaks, good sound with little bleeding between stages and a chance to get up close without a struggle and to hear the bands rather than having to listen to chit-chat. (Yeah, ACL fanboys, I'm talking about the big group of stoner, half-assed fans that inevitably plop down next to you right at the start of a set you want to see and carry on a series of very loud conversations about important things like mustaches and Cheetos.)

2011 MVD: The Most Valuable Danzig Award

This years nominees for MVD are Glenn Danzig, Ted Leo and Flavor Flav.

Glenn Danzig

Glenn Danzig's 2011 MVD campaign goes something like this: Come to town, whine, act wimpy in the face of a little sniffle, pout, threaten festival organizer for shits and giggles over things that no other act complained about, piss off your fans, whine a bit more, flip bird to town and fest organizers, leave, get upstaged by a hard-working, veteran, real punk-rocker from his home state.

Ted Leo

Ted plays shows. Lots of them. He probably rides in a van with his band and a few others. He sets up his own gear and takes it down at the end of his show. I've seen Ted play about a half dozen times. He always brings it. Even when he's sick. Like he was at Fun Fun Fun this year. Like Glenn Danzig purported to be. How did Ted respond? Playing on Sunday, after the Danzig debacle, Ted came out coughing and sounding pretty horse. Most of Ted's songs demand that he sing with high intensity. Ted apologized for not sounding his best, then let loose and shouted his songs the best he could, coughing between tracks. Then he did a little something for the Danzig fans. Taking a swig of Jameson's and donning a special wig for the occasion, Ted & co. ripped through a mini-set of Misfits tunes. Crowd went wild. Band nailed it. Ted gained many new fans.

Flavor Flav

He's cold lampin' anyhow.

And the MVD goes to ... do we even need to say?

Other Highlights

Ted did put in a great performance, but he was only one of over a dozen acts we caught over the three days. Not a single one we saw was disappointing. That said, there were a few undeniable highlights.

Public Enemy pissing on the concept of a "musical prime" and bringing it as strongly as they did twenty years ago. For me, it also meant crossing a big name off my concert "bucket list." Loved watching kids in front of my bouncing up and down who weren't even born when my friends and I wore out Yo! Bum Rush the Show in high school. I was smiling the whole time, but Chuck turned it up a notch when he broke out a verse from "Timebomb."
Tinariwen coming out on a hot, windy and dusty day in their desert attire and looking totally unfazed as they funked out hard and won over lots of attendees who were unfamiliar with them beforehand.
tUnE-yArDs' excellent performance of "Bizness," maybe the song of the year.

We were happy to see Okkervil River and The Thermals again, both of whom sounded great, and Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears didn't show poorly for the hometowners. Just an excellent weekend of music. Look out for Fun Fun Fun Fest 2012, because if the trajectory holds, it should be, um, fun.

FBtA's Fun Fun Fun Photos: [Day 1][Day 2 ]

Fun Fun Fun Fest 2011 Day 2 Photos: Joe Lally, Tinariwen, tUnE-yArDs

2011-11-06T15:40:00.002-06:00

No time for a long post -- off to go see Ted Leo on day three of the 2011 Fun Fun Fun fest. Meanwhile, here are a few pix of day two. Tinariwen was incredibly tight and got people going. tUnE-yArDs kept the dance party rolling. Spoon (not pictured) played a powerful set of hits. Great day. Pix feature Joe Lally, Tinariwen and tUnE-yArDs, plus a few shots from around the fest.

Fun Fun Fun Fest 2011 Day 1 Photos: Omar Souleyman, Heartless Bastards, Thermals, Black Joe Lewis, Okkervil River, Four Tet, Public Enemy

2011-11-05T13:21:00.000-05:00

Day one of the 2011 Fun Fun Fun Fest was a blast. Weather was nice and cool. New home on Auditorium Shores was unfortunately as dusty as the infamous 2005 ACL "dustbowl," but otherwise the location was spread out and roomy with no bleeding of sound between stages. Food vendors this year are excellent -- big shout outs to the Austin Daily Press for making a mean meatball sandwich and my man Beef over at Handshakes for making the pancake shake dream come alive.

Music-wise, the day was a big success too. Omar Souleyman got the crowd clapping early. The Thermals were 100% energy. Black Joe Lewis and The Honeybears made Austin proud and the made the crowd git funky. Okkervil River sounded powerful. Public Enemy brought the noise as strongly as they did back in 1988.

Hope to give a full rundown when I have time, but I'm off for day two. In the meantime, enjoy the day one pictures:

Fun Fun Fun Fest 2011: Can't Make It? Tune it to Pitchfork's Webcast

2011-11-03T17:53:00.000-05:00

Fun Fun Fun Fest starts tomorrow! Although tickets are still on sale, chances are you've already decided if you're going or not. If the answer is "not," you might want to check out Pitchfork's webcast of the festival. According to the announcement on the website, "This is the first time in its six year history that the festival has been livestreamed. All four stages will be available for viewing right here on Pitchfork." While the announcement's subtitle does list a handful of the artists playing, it sounds like they might be showing the whole fest. Best consult the schedule for set times -- festival runs Friday, November 4 through Sunday, November 6. In case you're wondering who Pitchfork singled out, that would be Spoon, Lykke Li, M83, Girls, Odd Future, Hot Snakes, Major Lazer, Public Enemy, tUnE-yArDs, Slayer, Flying Lotus.

We'll be there all three days, camera in tow, so check back for updates and photos.

Fun Fun Fun 2008 Wrap

Fun Fun Fun 2009 Wrap

Yaktoberfest 2011 Wrap: 10 Beers + Fundraising Success = Great Party

2011-10-24T18:52:00.000-05:00

Perfect weather was the first clue that Yaktoberfest 2011, which took place on a dead end street near Hancock Drive in Austin last Saturday, was going to be a good success. Two years ago when we held the first edition, we ran into unlikely bad weather. This time though, the skies were mostly blue and the air warm but not too hot. The party was underway on schedule at 2:00, and by 2:15 all of the homebrewer contributors had set up shop. Steve, the Grand Yak, had four different beers, and with my three, plus three more from other brewers, we managed to hit double digits:

Steve the Grand Yak offered up one of his signature beers, the Barton Creek Greebelt Pale Ale, along with an Irish Red Ale and two more unusual offerings: a Whiskey Barrel Porter (fermented with whiskey barrel chips and spiked with a touch of whiskey) and a Ginger Lemongrass Ale. The porter was a great sipper, although you had to be careful not to drink too much, especially if you planned on tasting a lot of different brews.
Sammy, with help from Steve and the absent Nick, produced a replica of Russian River Brewing's "Pliny the Elder" American Double IPA. Seriously hoppy, the IPA lovers tended to pick this one as their favorite of the day.
Steve No. 2 was a late addition and brought a replica of a Deschutes Pale Ale.
Brandon, another brewer who chose a replica this year, made his version of local brewery Rogness' Double IPA, high in hops (and alcohol).
Finally, my three beers were a Texas Red Ale, the return of the Baltic Porter (which appeared at Yaktoberfest 2009), and a last-minute Kölsch, which I was worried would be under-carbonated but turned out to be fine, and because it was about the lightest thing on the menu, the people who like lighter beers were big fans.

We also offered up two things that made our table a popular one: four cheeses selected by Shawn at Antonelli's Cheese Shop in Hyde Park, and my mate (and good sport) Fabian, who brought a sprinkle of real Oktoberfest with him by donning his lederhosen. Many people commented on how delicious the cheeses were. And Fabian, a veteran of many Bavarian Oktoberfests, made everything feel a bit more authentic.

Ready for bier

Our grub wasn't the only draw though, and neither was the beer. A couple of young whippersnappers from the neighborhood put together a pretty solid magic show, which entertained kids of all ages, especially Steve (in the hat).

One of these things just doesn't belong ...

We also managed to raise over $1,000 for our two charities, Heifer International and Crowe's Nest Farm. Everyone associated with the event was excited, and every guest looked like they had lots of fun. Beer does that. So two days later, we've already picked a date for Yaktoberfest 2012: October 13. Mark it down!

Here's the full slide show from the day.

Natas or Rodney?

2011-10-21T17:59:00.002-05:00

Let's say it's the late '80s and you have to pick just one: Rodney Mullen or Natas Kaupas. How do you decide?

Just askin' ...

Yaktoberfest 2011 Update: Kölsch bottled just in time; party this Saturday!

2011-10-20T18:59:00.000-05:00

Yaktoberfest -- the little fundraising party my brewing colleagues and I are throwing -- is this Saturday. Per my last report, I decided at the last second to brew a lighter beer, which turned out to be a Kölsch (more of a Springtime beer with roots in the Cologne area of Germany). I figured if I started about 16 days prior to the party, I could get the beer into bottles with enough time to allow it to carbonate. Tuesday was my deadline, but on Monday I still didn't have enough empty bottles. Sheesh! Thankfully, co-host Steve, who kegs his beer, had some empty Topo Chico bottles and dropped them off early Tuesday night. A few hours later, everything was bottled.

The Yaktoberfest glasses that Steve ordered have arrived. The small tasting glasses look pretty sweet I think.

Saturday we go live. Wish us luck, and may we fund many, many yaks.

Fun Fun Fun Fest 2011: Schedule Out, Conflicts Identified (and Aftershows Too!)

2011-10-20T18:10:00.002-05:00

The schedule for the 2011 Fun Fun Fun Fest has been released. Austin's "other" big festival introduces a couple of new features this year. First, the festival runs three days rather than two. Second, due to the temporary closure of former home Waterloo Park, this year's festival moves downtown to the larger confines of Auditorium Shores. Fun Fun Fun takes place November 4 through November 6. Tickets are still on sale: $55/day or $135 for all three. Find the full three-day lineup HERE.

Fun Fun Fun has also announced that this year's festival days will extend into "Fun Fun Fun Nites" -- a series of shows at clubs around Austin. Good news: If you have a three-day wristband, you can get in for free! There are some pretty good shows in here, although the names aren't necessarily the biggies. Great nites await at the Parish, Mohawk, Continental Club, Club DeVille, Red 7 and others. So be prepared to rock-n-roll all day and night. That's how we do things here in the Live Music Capital.

As for the actual festival, the conflicts really aren't that bad, thanks to the festival organizers generally grouping similar types of acts on the same stage. If you have a broad taste in music though, you might find yourself choosing between Passion Pit and Public Enemy on Friday night (as someone who purchased the first PE album on cassette back in 1987 but still has never seen the group live, you know where I'll be). Or maybe it's Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears vs. Thee Oh Sees that's giving you heartburn. Or Lykke Li vs. Neon Indian, M83 vs. Rakim, or Diplo vs. The Black Lips vs Veggie Hot Dog Eating Contest. Point is, despite their best efforts, you'll still probably end up having to pick and choose a little bit. On the bright side, that just means the lineup is really good.

Below is the full Fun Fun Fun schedule, thanks to indierockreviews.com.

Friday
Orange stage:
Passion Pit 8:30-9:45
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah 7:25-8:25
Okkervil River 6:30-7:20
Black Joe Lewis 5:35-6:25
The Thermals 4:45-5:30
Heartless Bastards 3:55-4:40
Ocote Soul Sound 3:05-3:50
Cloud Nothings 2:20-3:00
Jim Ward (Sparta/ATDI) 1:40-2:15
Canon Blue 1:05-1:35
TV Torso 12:30-1:00

Black stage:
Danzig Legacy 8:15-9:45
Murder City Devils 7:20-8:10
Russian Circles 6:30-7:15
Thee Oh Sees 5:45-6:25
Ty Segall 5:00-5:40
D Generation 4:10-4:55
Bane 3:25-4:05
From Ashes Rise 2:45-3:20
Doomriders 2:05-2:40
Mindspiders 1:30-2:00
Total Control 12:55-1:25
Defeater 12:20-12:50

Blue stage:
Public Enemy 8:30-9:45
Four Tet 7:35-8:25
Spank Rock 6:45-7:30
Big Freedia 6:05-6:45
Franki Chan 5:30-6:05
Picture Plane 5:00-5:30
YACHT 4:15-5:00
Omar Souleyman 3:30-4:10
Black Milk 2:45-3:25
Autobody 2:00-2:40
Car Stereo Wars 1:15-1:55
Fat Tony 12:40-1:10
DJ iPod Ammo 12:20-12:40

Yellow stage:
Reggie Watts 7:15-8:00
Brett Gelman 6:55-7:15
Matt Bearden 6:35-6:55
Upright Citizens Brigade 5:00-6:30
FFF Dating Game 4:10-4:55
Altercation Comedy Hr 3:05-4:05
Anarchy Championship Wrestling 2:20-3:00
Adira Amiran 1:45-2:20
Jake Flores 1:25-1:40
Best Fwends 12:50-1:20
Maggie May 12:30-12:45

Saturday
Orange stage:
Spoon 8:30-9:45
Lykke Li 7:25-8:25
Girls 6:30-7:20
M83 5:35-6:25
Ra Ra Riot 4:45-5:30
Tune-Yards 4:00-4:40
The Joy Formidable 3:15-3:55
Tinarewin 2:30-3:10
Joe Lally (Fugazi) -1:55-2:25
Future Islands 1:20-1:50
Keep Shelly In Athens 12:45-1:15
Manejo Beto 12:10-12:40

Black stage:
The Damned 8:45-9:45
Hot Snakes 7:50-8:40
Cave In 6:55-7:40
Negative Approach 6:05-6:50
Paint It Black 5:20-6:00
Youth Brigade 4:35-5:15
Dead Horse 3:50-4:30
Trash Talk 3:15-3:45
World Inferno Friendship Society 2:30-3:10
Deathgrips 1:55-2:25
Touche Amore 1:20-1:50
Shapes Have Fangs 12:45-1:15
Thieves 12:15-12:40

Blue stage:
Major Lazer 8:45-9:45
Neon Indian 7:50-8:40
Childish Gambino 7:00-7:45
Rakim 6:10-6:55
Cold Cave 5:20-6:05
Dan Deacon 4:30-5:15
Wugazi 3:45-4:25
Cecil Otter 3:20-3:40
Brandt Brauer Fricke 2:40-3:15
T-bird and the Breaks 2:05-2:35
Purity Ring 1:30-2:00
Blackie 1:05-1:25
tba dj 12:30-1

Yellow stage:
Wham City sketch comedy 6:15-8:15
Neal Brennan 5:45-6:10
Johnny Pemberton 5:20-5:40
Turquoise Jeep 4:45-5:15
Donald Glover 4:10-4:40
Air Sex Contest 3:30-4:05
Anarchy Championship Wrestling 2:40-3:25
Captured By Robots 1:50-2:35
Louis Katz 1:25-1:45
Ali Wong 1:05-1:20
Cameron Buchholtz 12:45-1:05
Michael Priest 12:30-12:45

Sunday
Orange stage:
Slayer 8:15-9:45
Brian Posehn 7:40-8:10
Hum 6:45-7:35
Architecture in Helsinki 5:50-6:40
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists 5:00-5:45
Budos Band 4:10-4:55
Mates of State 3:20-4:05
We Were Promised Jetpacks 2:30-4:15
Asobi Seksu 1:55-2:25
Le Butcherettes 1:20-1:50
Lemuria 12:45-1:15
Crooks 12:15-12:40

Black stage:
Blonde Redhead 8:45-9:45
Black Lips 7:50-8:40
Boris 7:00-7:45
Cannibal Corpse 6:10-6:55
Kid Dynamite 5:20-6:05
Eyehategod 4:30-5:15
Zero Boys 3:40-4:25
No Bunny 2:55-3:35
Ceremony 2:20-2:50
Davilla 666 1:40-2:15
OBN III 1:05-1:35
Schmillion 12:30-1:00

Blue stage:
Odd Future 8:45-9:45
Diplo 7:50-8:40
Flying Lotus 6:55-7:45
Del the Funky Homosapien 6:00-6:50
BATHS 5:10-5:55
Austra 4:20-5:05
MNDR 3:35-4:15
Grimes 3-3:30
G-Side 2:25-2:55
Bird Peterson 1:40-2:20
Speak 1:05-1:35
Soul Khan 12:30-1

Yellow stage:
Henry Rollins 7:00-8:00
Master Pancake’s Video Jukebox 6:15-6:55
Veggie Hotdog Eating Contest 5:25-6:10
Brody Stevens 5:00-5:20
K-Strauss (Yo Yo Extravaganza) 4:35-5:00
Doug Mellard 4:15-4:35
Page and Stephen’s FFF Wedding 3:35-4:10
Anarchy Championship Wrestling 2:50-3:30
New Movement Sketch Comedy 2:15-2:50
Chris Trew 2:00-2:25
Nick Flanagan 1:40-2:00
Rap Battle Royale 1:05-1:40
What the Hell: Magic Stunt Show 12:45-1:05
Cody Hustak 12:30-12:45

OFFICIAL FFF NITES SCHEDULE 2011

THURSDAY 11/3
Mohawk (IN)
Underground Railroad to Candyland 12:45-?
Ghost Knife 11:45-12:30
TBA 11-11:30
(OUT)
Ty Segall 10:15-11
The Coathangers 9:15-10
The Young 8:30-9
Doors 7:30

Red 7
Toxic Holocaust 12:45-1:30
Hull 11:45-1230
The Fucking Wrath 10:45-11:30
Pushmen 10-10:30
Doors 9:30

Beauty Bar
Check Yo Ponytail Presents:
Franki Chan 12:30-2
Devlin and Darko of Spank Rock 11:30-12:30
Rusty Lazer 10:30-11:30
Doors 9:30

ND
Sleepercar (Jim Ward of Sparta/At the Drive In) 12:30-
Jesse Malin (of D Generation) 11:30-12:15
Cowboy and Indian 10:35-11:15
Lights Go Out 9:50-10:20
Doors 9

Learning Secrets & Transmission Presents:
Empire Automotive
Passion Pit DJ Set 12:30-End
Learning Secrets 11:30-12:30
Special Guest 10:45-11:30
Learning Secrets 10:15-10:45
Doors 9:30

FRIDAY 11/4
FYF Presents:
Mohawk (IN)
Big Freedia 1-1:30
BBF DJ 12:30-1:00
Fat Tony 12-12:30
Brandt Brauer Fricke DJ 11:00-12:00
(OUT)
Glass Candy 11:15-12
DJ 11-11:15
Cold Cave 10:30-11
DJ 10-10:30
Doors 9:30

Brooklyn Vegan & Transmission Ent. Presents:
Red 7 (IN)
Powertrip 12-12:45
Touche Amore 11-11:45
Pianos Become Teeth 10:15-10:45
Dead End Path 9:30-9:55
Miles Away 9-9:25
(OUT)
Doomriders 12:30-1:15
Inepsy 11:30-12:15
Mammoth Grinder 10:45-11:15
Mindless 10-10:30
Doors 9:30

Club de Ville
Dead Confederate 11-12
TBA 10-10:45
TBA 9:15-9:45
Doors 8:30

Beauty Bar
TBA DJ 1-2
Andre Williams 12-1
BJL Side Project 11-11:45
DJ sets between acts
Doors 10

Beerland
Cobra Skulls 12:45-1:30
Nothington 11:45-12:30
Broken Gold 10:45-11:30
The Anchor 10-10:30
Doors 9:30

ND
Special Guests
The Parish
Thermals 12:30-1:30
Lemuria 11:40-12:10
Ume 10:55-11:25
David Liebe Hart 10:10-10:40
Doors 9:30

Empire Automotive
Kool Keith 12:45-End
Death Grips 11:50-12:30
Blackie 11:25-11:45
Trash Talk 10:50-1120
TBA 10:05-10:35
Doors 9:30

SATURDAY 11/5
Mohawk (IN)
TBA 1:15-2
TBA 12:20-1
Pat Jordache 11:25-12:05
ANR 10:30-11:10
(OUT)
Felice Brothers 11:10-12:00
Gill Landry (Old Crowe Medicine Show) 10:15-10:55
Old Man Markley 9:30-10
Doors 9

Red 7 (IN)
Deafhaven 12-12:30
Eagle Claw 10:45-11:15
Watching the Moon 9:45-10:15
(OUT)
Russian Circles 1:15-2
Tera Melos 12:30-1
Boris 11:15-12:05
Ancient Vvisdom 10:15-10:45
Doors 9

Club de Ville
Budos Band 11-12
Hardproof Afrobeat 10:00-10:45
Doors 9

Beauty Bar
Industry & Artist DJ Sets 10-3
Doors 9

ND
DJ Thibault 1:30-3
Future Rock 12-1:30
DJ Thibault 11:15-12
American Royalty 10:15-11
Doors 10

The Parish
Mates of State 12:30-1:30
Generationals 11:40-12:10
Yellow Ostrich 10:55-11:25
Front Bottoms 10:10-10:40
Doors 9:30

Gorilla vs. Bear & Transmission Ent. Presents:
Empire Automotive
Neon Indian DJ set 1:15-3
Purity Ring 12:30-1:15
Memoryhouse 11:30-12:15
Keep Shelly in Athens 10:30-11:15
TBA DJ
Doors 9:30

SUNDAY 11/6
Mohawk (IN)
Zero Boys 12:15-1
Night Siege 11:15-12
Rituals (Ex You People) 10:30-11
Doors 9:30

Red 7
Dom 12:30-1:15
Royal Bangs 11:30-12:15
Pujol 10:45-11:15
Bearhands 10-10:30
Doors 9:30

Beauty Bar
Austra DJ Set 12:30-1:30
Dengue fever 11:30-12:30
Austra DJ set 10:30-1:30
Doors 9:30

Beerland
Thee Oh Sees 12:30-1:30
Total Control 11:30-12:10
Ch 24 10:45-11:15
David Liebe Hart (of Tim & Eric Awesome Show) 10-10:30
Doors 9:30

Empire Automotive
SYD THE KID (Odd Future) DJ set 12:30-2
G-Side 12-12:30
DJ Orion & Kid Slyce 11-12
TBA 10:30-11
DJ Set 10-10:30
Doors 9:30

Yaktoberfest 2011 Update: Kölsch fermenting nicely

2011-10-08T14:06:00.001-05:00

Thankfully, the last-minute Kölsch I brewed up Thursday is coming along nicely. It started fermenting about 20 hours after pitching the yeast. Now on day three it has started settling down a bit but still has a big kreusen (yeast foam) on top.

Yaktoberfest 2011 (and RIP Steve Jobs)

2011-10-06T21:11:00.000-05:00

About a week ago, an iPad 2 arrived in the mail (my lucky wife's business card was picked out of a bowl). Oddly I suppose, this was the very first Apple product of any kind I've ever owned. Ironic, given the passage of Apple maverick-in-chief Steve Jobs just days later. Anyhow, people all over the world are paying tribute to Jobs, so I thought I'd do so too in my own little way, by creating a post via iPad for the first time. Installed the Blogger app on the incredibly slim and light tablet and voila, good to go.

So in need of a subject matter, I thought I'd post about the other thing I was doing at the moment -- brewing beer. For the second time in three years, our friends in the area are throwing a homebrewing benefit, Yaktoberfest. In 2009, several local brewers served our finest ales and stouts on a local cul-de-sac and asked people to donate a few bucks each, which we donated to Heifer International. We bought one whole water buffalo and were proud of what we were able to put together quickly.

Last year we couldn't find a good weekend to hold Yaktoberfest, bet we vowed to try again in 2011. And lo and behold, we're back at it. Yaktoberfest 2011 is October 22, same cul-de-sac (you'll have to ask for the address, but if you're truly interested I can share it). We're aiming to have about 10 different beers available this time, but maybe someone or something unexpected will show up. We also went out and got tasting glasses and will ask people for a $10 minimum donation for glass.

I'm contributing at least 2 brews: A "Texas Red," a very, very pretty red ale, and a Baltic Porter, which was a smash in 2009 due to its heft. Today I thought I'd try to squeeze one more in, a kolsch. It will be tought -- only 16 days to go, but I think if I rack in 5 days and bottle 5 days after that, I'll be good to go. Let's hope we ferment quickly, as we usually do.

For people into beer or brewing, I tried a new type of yeast, the Wyeast Labs "punch pack." Grains are barley and wheat; hops are Crystal (1 1/2 oz. bittering; 1 1/2 oz. flavor).

Here are a few pictures I took with the iPad. The first shows the mash boiling. The second shows the Baltic Porter in secondary fermentation (look carefully in the mirror and you'll see me and the 'pad). Check back in a few weeks for a Yaktoberfest update. Oh, and here's a great article about Steve Jobs and how he really had his fingers on the pulse of American (world?) culture as much as any politician.

FBtA's Audio and Video History of the Native Tongue Collective: An Interlude About Chi-Ali

2011-10-05T19:28:00.000-05:00

Since August, From Boston to Austin has been reflecting on the somewhat enigmatic legacy of the Native Tongues hip-hop collective from the late 1980s into the '90s. We've made it through three parts. But we're not quite done.

[Part 1][Part 2][Part 3]

While we work on what will probably be the final chapter, here's a short interlude about second-wave Native Tongue Chi-Ali. As might be put by Slick Rick (ironically someone who can relate to Chi-Ali's story to a degree), "here's a little somethin' that needs to be heard." You see, Chi-Ali Griffith's story is a bad case of potential wasted. He was rapping on Native Tongue singles in his early teens and had an album out at an age most folks were still dealing with trigonometry and phys ed. After that big start though, nothing really materialized, and before long, he was in deep trouble with the law. We're talking "America's Most Wanted" trouble.

Here's a mini-doc on Chi-Ali, or prisoner no. 04A0267 at Sing Sing.

ACL 2011 Video Wrap-Up: Stevie Wonder shreds a keytar, Cee-Lo and Nakia serenade the crowd, and more

2011-09-24T13:40:00.002-05:00

Well, another year, another Austin City Limits Music Festival. This year everyone thought the date was too early, but the planners got lucky and the long run of brutally hot weather broke just in time for festival weekend. We made it down for Saturday only (after six years of three-day attendance), and put our energy into getting a good spot for Stevie Wonder's amazing closing set. That was a good move apparently, as weak sound toward the back marred the experience for some.

So until people start to speculate about whether Radiohead will be headlining in 2012, here are a few good videos I found of 2011. Most of these are courtesy of the official ACL website, with a few indie efforts tossed in. Enjoy!

Let's start with one that we actually witnessed. Stevie Wonder kills on the keytar with an intensity that would have made Jimi proud. I love that in the midst of his solo, Stevie has an ecstatic grin on his face that's just like the one he'd flash 48 years earlier during his "Fingertips" routine. This is a man who loves playing music for people. The people who he plays it for are lucky.

Here are a couple more we were there for. First, Fitz & the Tantrums trying to start a dance party. They eventually succeeded. Next, Cee-Lo invites TV-protégé Nakia on stage for signature song, "Fuck You."

The Walkmen closed out a powerful set with the soft-loud sonic boom of "In the New Year." Matt Barrick pounds the skins like nobody else.

Foster the People doing their best PBJ in front of one of the first big crowds of ACL on Friday afternoon.

One person's compilation that covers the whole weekend, giving you a small taste of the shuttles and a bikes and bigger taste of the massive crowds.

A final four-pack of performances from the ACL website.

ACL 2011: Not there? Catch the Webcast

2011-09-16T17:49:00.001-05:00

ACL is here! Day one is already halfway in the books. Chances are if you aren't already in town for the festival, you aren't coming. If you couldn't make it but dig the lineup, the folks as ACL are Webcasting the festival on the ACL Youtube channel. Choose from two different feeds -- schedules are listed on the bottom of the page. The quality is pretty good, so go check it on out. If you're quick, you'll catch a bit of Foster the People's set!

FBtA's Audio and Video History of the Native Tongue Collective - Part 3: Video Collection

2011-09-13T20:11:00.000-05:00

For Part 3 of our Native Tongues retrospective, we're taking a short break from the chronological history. Instead, here's a nice little selection of NT-related video footage, featuring lots of old television appearances and a bit of reminiscing and reflecting by the three Beastie Boys. We did arrange the list by year, starting in 1989 and going forward. Hope you enjoy.

[Part 1] [Part 2]

This clip from 1989 is a great place to start. According to the poster on Youtube, it is taken from a mini TV special (Super Channel-blue night) from 1989 about De La Soul's release of 3 Feet High and Rising. The interviews with the band and Prince Paul provide an insightful look into their approach to sampling, which was such an important ingredient of early Native Tongues music. There's also some footage of the release party in New York, including fellow Bambaataa disciple KRS-One talking about why he was digging De La.

This one's a bit strange: The Jungle Brothers being somewhat rude and aloof on a low-budget Dutch TV show during a visit by them and Quest back in 1990. They look like they might have stopped at a coffee shop for some Northern Light first. It would be fun just for the history, but the live footage happens to be very cool. This is just what a show by one of the Native Tongue groups might have been in 1990 -- not too big of a venue yet, so the crowd is small and definitely into it. The JBs might not be feeling the interview, but they still show the crowd respect and get on down come concert time. No doubt that some of the Dutch audience doesn't understand the lyrics, but that doesn't stop the crowd from gettin' it. Wish I was there!

Another old one: Grainy VHS of A Tribe Called Quest's Q-Tip and Ali Shaheed Muhammad in a 1990 interview on some cheapo show. A little history is revealed though, as Q-Tip discusses the early days.

One of the few places to find hip-hop on TV at all before 1990 was Yo! MTV Raps. By 1991, the show was airing during the week with Dr. Dre (the East Coast version) and Ed Lover and on weekends with original host, old school hip-hop granddaddy Fab Five Freddie. Here's a 1991 interview with Queen Latifah, Quest and MC Lyte, who were in the midst of a tour.

Who knew that the Native Tongues were so widely embraced in northern Europe? This time, it's Finland that's lucky, with De La Soul performing "Say No Go" and getting the crowd going. Love these videos of concert footage from the early days. They all seem so passionate and into it.

This one brings back memories. I think I saw this special the first time it aired on MTV in 1991: A hip-hop episode of the popular Unplugged series that MTV billed as Yo! MTV Raps Unplugged. LL Cool J was on, and I remember MC Lyte also. This one shows Tribe doing just fine working outside the box.

De La Soul was on the same special doing "Ring Ring Ring" from De La Soul is Dead. According to the Youtube poster, the backing band on these cuts is Pop's Cool Love, who I vaguely recall being a "hot" act in the very early '90s, when genre-mashing was very popular, but I believe they fizzled out shortly after this little peak.

Well, 1991 apparently was a kick-ass year for hip-hop on television. A few years before, you just really couldn't find live hip-hop on mainstream TV. Along with The Arsenio Hall Show, The Wayans' In Living Color was one of the few showcases for young hip-hop talent on the big channels at the time. The show featured a young Shawn Wayans spinning hip-hop and new jack R&B during the cuts to and from commercial breaks, with the Rosie Perez-choreographed Fly Girls dancing along. From time to time, episodes featured a musical guest, who'd perform a cut or two live for the studio audience, usually at the end of the show. From '91, here's Leaders of the New School busting "Teachers, Don't Teach Us Nonsense!!"

Tribe is well represented in this post. Here's "Check the Rhyme," from 1992, with Tip and co. on the Yo! MTV Raps set. Tip and Phife are on point (all the time).

One of my all-time favorite musical spots on The Arsenio Hall Show. A Tribe Called Quest and Leaders of the New School team up in 1992 to bring some serious energy to the set with a raucous rendition of "Scenario." Busta Rhymes once again looks so ready to break out that he just might jump through the TV screen. Charlie Brown meanwhile looks like he snorted a line or two right before the cameras started rolling. I love the look on Aresnio's face at 2:55.

More Quest from '92 as the Tribe do a cool live spot with The Brand New Heavies and others on a Yo! MTV Raps special. Live instruments (vibes, horn section) spice up a sweet version of "Check the Rhyme." Working with Quest helped inspire The Brand New Heavies to delve further into hip-hop, culminating with the 1992 collaboration LP Heavy Rhyme Experience, Vol. 1.

I think this might be the same special (Yo! MTV Raps Live - Spring Break 1992). Black Sheep was hitting their brief pinnacle as the remix of "The Choice is Yours" became a surprise crossover hit. Some of the dance moves made me chuckle.

Moving on to 1994. A Tribe Called Quest had their routine down by now, and it shows in this tight performance of "Oh My God!" on Late Night with Conan O'Brien. Tip and Phife's call-and-response bit sounds smooth and natural. The group was about to start its decline but it hardly shows here.

Michael Rappaport, director of Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest, emcees an event called "The Heave Sound Presents Mind Body Soul - A Concert Event To Raise Awareness For Diabetes." This took place back in January 2010 and in addition to A Tribe Called Quest reuniting for the occasion, the lineup was hot: A Tribe Called Quest + Jay Electronica + Consequence + Mos Def + Talib Kweli + Krs-One + Jeru Da Damaja + Greg Nice + Dres (Black Sheep) + Statik Selektah + Termanology + Mr. Cheeks + And Others. Phife may not look as good but still likes his beats as hard as two-day old shit, and the twosome still can bust the "uhs" and the "ahs."

The Beastie Boys discuss the Native Tongues, their roots and their legacy. Ad Rock points out that what made the Native Tongues interesting was that they really were involved in each other's projects at the time, and all three groups (Tribe, De La, JBs) had amazing, creative, now-classic albums out. It was a rare thing where the right people were in the right places at the right times for a run. We may have had other collectives in hip-hop that followed who have also become legends, like Wu Tang, but nothing was quite like Native Tongues from '89 into the early '90s, with the samples, flow and some silly poetry coming together perfectly.

[Part 1] [Part 2]

ACL 2011 Bullets (9/6/11): Another Give-Away and a Few Band Profiles

2011-09-07T21:34:00.001-05:00

Okay, we're getting seriously close folks. Haven't been over to Zilker Park, but I suspect fences are being arranged and stages are being erected. If you're going to ACL this year, you better be settling any big question marks out there, like who you're seeing when, what you're bringing, how you're planning to get around town, etc. Information helps, right? Here's our latest rundown of some news articles, blog posts and other murmurings about the upcoming festival.

Wanna go to ACL and also a guitar lover? The nice folks at ACL are giving away a pretty sweet package, and it has a tie-in to rising Austin blues-rock guitar-slinger Gary Clark Jr.: "Take home a music lovers prize package from Austin’s own Gary Clark Jr. to remind you of ACL’s 10th anniversary! Enter to win: (1) A pair of 3-Day Passes; (2) A signed Epiphone Acoustic Guitar; and (3) A meet-and-greet with guitar virtuoso Gary Clark Jr. All you have to do is add Gary Clark Jr. to your ACL Festival Custom Schedule schedule by 11:59M Sunday, September 11, 2011." Ten runners-up will receive a signed copy of his latest release, The Bright Lights EP. Gary Clark Jr. - Friday 9/16, 6:30 @ BMI Stage.
Here's one from speaker company Bowers & Wilkins that's pretty cool, especially if you're a fan of Coldplay: "On September 16, 2011, three winners, each with one guest, will be among the first to listen to Coldplay’s upcoming album Mylo Xyloto (pronounced my-lo zy-letoe) and then attend their live performance at the Austin City Limits Festival. This exclusive sneak preview will allow winners to hear the album five weeks before the album’s official release in the U.S. on October 24, 2011. ... Dying to experience this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity? Register on the Bowers & Wilkins Facebook Page for the chance to win this VIP trip for two to Austin, Texas." Coldplay - Sunday 9/18, 8:10 @ AMD Stage.
The official ACL website's Artist Discovery Series had a recent addition from Culture Map - Austin. Caitlin Ryan profiles Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.: "[W]hat you’ll find on their full length It’s a Corporate World are fantastic harmonies on “God Only Knows,” grunge guitars on “Morning Thought,” and philosophical talk on “Skeletons.” See? Surprising breadth for a “pop” band out of Detroit (who knew those two things went together). ... So if you want to have a lighthearted time and momentarily forget the woes of the world in its present state, check out the guys who were called one of the “best new bands” of 2010 from the likes of Stereogum, SPIN, Under the Radar, Real Detroit, The Metro Times and others. You’ll smile, you’ll sway, and you’ll appreciate the effort they put into making sure the crowd has a damn good time." Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. - Sunday 9/18, 1:30 @ Honda Stage.
Lots of people want to know which up-and-comping, lesser known artists are worth checking out at ACL. Going to see some of the "smaller" acts is often a good way to avoid crowds and the associated frustrations. Here's Jeff Pollack of Huffington Post with three recommendations -- Foster the People, Young the Giant, and Empire of the Sun: "Empire of the Sun is a difficult band to describe if you've never experienced them. They are an electro-pop duo from Australia who hit it big Down Under with their first single, 'Walking On A Dream' in 2008. We were a little slower to catch on Stateside, but Luke Steele and Nick Littlemore have hit the festival circuit hard this year and with a fantastic stage show, they've definitely made their mark. For a better sense of Empire's mix of catchy electronic music and theatrics, look up a few of their music videos (I would recommend 'Walking On A Dream' and 'We Are The People') and see if you're not tempted to see what these Aussies are like live." Foster the People - Friday 9/16, 5:30 @ Google+ Stage. Young the Giant - Saturday 9/17, 2:00 @ AMD Stage. Empire of the Sun - Sunday 9/18, 7:30 @ Google+ Stage.
Ryan Lester of The Austinist interviews Hamilton Leithauser of The Walkmen, a band we've seen many times and always brings it. Turns out Leithauser's worthy of consideration for honorary Austinite status: "I remember one year that I realized I’d spent something like 32 days in Austin, Texas. I couldn’t believe it because I’ve never lived there. We always end up there, and it’s really a major stop on the national tours. There’s a lot of stuff to do there for bands. We go there as much as any other much bigger city." Catch The Walkman ACL Sunday, 2:30 at the AMD stage, and make sure to spend a bit of time watching dynamo drummer Matt Barrick.
Elizabeth Seward of Gadling with some general tips: "ACL is crowded, but it's fun. But keep the crowded thing in mind. Plan accordingly. If you have anxiety and think you may need to bring your medication, I suggest you do. It's also going to be hot. HOT. Very hot. Prepare for the heat and sun in every way you know how. I saw a girl passed out cold last year from what I bet was drug or alcohol related, but the heat certainly didn't help. Don't let that be you this year. Prepare."
Finally, a couple of new videos posted to the ACLfestival Youtube channel:

Iconic Austin Film "Slacker" Gets 20-Year Salute as "Slacker 2011" Premiers Tonight

2011-08-31T18:06:00.000-05:00

Everyone knows that Austin's a music town, but it's pretty well known that ATX has a nice little film industry as well. Probably no single filmmaker/film combo epitomizes the Austin movie scene more than Richard Linklater and his celebration of the freedom in directionless teen-hood, "Slacker." Hard to believe it, but 20 years has passed since the movie came out. We watched it again recently, and it really revealed how much change the city has been through in the last two decades. Almost nothing is recognizable. The film still holds up, though, and I chuckled pretty hard again at S-T-E-V-E offering a ride in his van and the infamous tale of Madonna's pap smear.

Many people wouldn't want to "touch" a classic, but a bunch of Austin filmmakers decided to celebrate Slacker's big milestone birthday by collectively remaking the movie. "Slacker 2011," the end result, premiers tonight at the Alamo Drafthouse Ritz downtown. And why not give "Slacker" another go? Despite the physical changes to Austin's landscape, there's no doubt that the "keep Austin weird" vibes are still here in abundance. The city's bigger and slicker, and sure there are lots of young go-getters and entrepreneurs here now. But it is still a slacker town, and I don't see that changing any time soon. I read somewhere that Linklater's cool with the remake too. So don't be a snobby fanboy. Watch the trailer below, and if you're interested, go check out the flick when you can. If you want a little more info, there's a great blog, Slackerwood, that has lots of stuff, including this profile of the 24 filmmakers involved in "Slacker 2011."

12 Films Project Update: For August, an Ode to Austin's Cathedral of Junk

2011-08-30T17:17:00.004-05:00

Over the last few months, we've posted a few times about the 12 Films Project, Austinite filmmaker Christian Remde's monthly series of films. My previous posts focused on two of the recent films, each of which covered one of Austin's food gems: Odd Duck Farm to Trailer and Kocurek Family Charcuterie. This month, Remde focuses on the quirky side of Austin rather than the culinary with a short, dialogue-free look at the Cathedral of Junk. Although I've never visited (yet), the Cathedral is something of an Austin institution. Basically, in 1988 South Austinite Vince Hannemann began collecting "junk" and assembling it in the form of a loose building. Since then, he's kept going, using things he finds and receives from friendly donors. What kind of things? Remde's video, which features some great lingering shots and a few neat little effects, reveals all sorts of stuff, including a whole posse of rubber ducks. This article from Roadside America mentions "lawnmower wheels, car bumpers, kitchen utensils, ladders, cables, bottles, circuit boards, [and] bicycle parts."

Junkmeister Hannemann atop the Cathedral's "throne" (credit: roadsideamerica.com)

Watch the film a few times and you're likely to spot something new each iteration. Really though, the best way to take it all in is to visit, which I'm gonna have to do now that I've seen Remde's film. I'll probably wait until it isn't 109 degrees outside though. If you do visit, check out the film first. It's a cool little flick for one. But also, maybe you'll think of something tucked away in the garage or attic tucked away that would make a worthwhile addition to the Cathedral of Junk.

Here's the August installment of the 12 Films Project, The Cathedral of Junk.

The Cathedral of Junk from Christian Remde on Vimeo.

ACL 2011: The Best Food Vendors List (with Links)

2011-08-27T16:06:00.006-05:00

The list of food vendors for the 2011 Austin City Limits Music Festival has finally been posted on the official ACL website. Lot's of holdovers from last year, but a few new faces are coming, and a few of them are worth being excited about. Odd Duck Farm to Trailer, the excellent, South Austin locavore food trailer, is a great addition. Mandola's and Maudie's should be popular newcomers as well. Among the returnees, two were top picks of mine from last year - Aquarelle's steak frit sandwich and Olivia's fried chicken.

Olivia's fried chicken from the 2010 festival. Crispy and nicely spiced.

Below is the list, with a few things re-alphabetized, and links to as many of the vendors' websites as we could find. If you're digging around and find a promising lead, please share it with us!

Amy’s Ice Creams

Small Ice Cream Cup

Large Ice Cream Cup

Floats and Shakes

Toppings

Aquarelle Restraurant

Steak Frit Sandwich

Spicy Shrimp Po’boy

French Ham & Cheese

Parmesan Pepper French Fries

Austins Pizza

Pepperoni Pizza

Cheese Pizza

Pepperoni or Cheese Rolls

Brownie

The Best Wurst

Grilled Sausage Sandwiches served with Caramelized Onions, Hot Sauerkraut

Bratwurst Smoked Italian All Beef

Buttered Salt-Potatoes

Fresh Squeezed Best Lemonade

Lemon Lemonade

Strawberry Lemonade

Limeade

Strawberry Limeade

Bess Bistro

Crispy Artichoke Hearts

Grilled Andouille Sausage

Grilled Chicken and Mushroom Wrap

Roasted Vegetable and Black Bean Wrap

Boomerang's Pies

Guinness Steak & Potato

Southwest Chicken

Thai Veggie (vegan)

Curry Veggie (vegan)

Children of the Kettle Corn

Kettle Corn

Daily Juice

Fresh Coconut Water

The Local Chill

Lemon Lime Love

Cool Hand Cuke

Freebirds World Burrito

Chicken Burrito w/ Rice, Black Beans ,Jack Cheese, BBQ Sauce and Grilled Chicken

Steak Burrito w/ Rice, Black Beans, Jack Cheese, Mild Tomatillo Sauce and Grilled Steak

Veggie Burrito w/ Rice, Black Beans, Jack Cheese, Mild Tomatillo Sauce with Sauteed Vegetables (vegetarian)

Double Chocolate Brownie

Garrido's

Brisket and Onion Tacos w/ Morita Chile Sauce

Pork Tacos w/ Tomatillo Sauce and Jack Cheese

Fried Oyster Taco w/ Habanero Honey Aioli

Lonesome Dove Western Bistro

Wild Mushroom & Tenderloin Skewers

Truffled Mac & Cheese

Tim Love's Love Shack

Love Burger

Cheeseburger

Kick Ass Nachos

Chili Parmesan Chips

Maine Root Handcrafted Beverages

Texas Cactus Pink Lemonade

Root Beer

Mexican Cola

Ginger Brew

Mandola’s Italian Market

Lasagne

Muffaletta

Vegetariano

Cannoli

Mangia Pizza

Slice of Pizza

Fresh Fruit with Granola

Maudie’s

Beef Tenderloin Tacos

Sissy’s Chicken Tender Tacos

Maida’s Chicken Tender Avocado Wrap

Veggie Avocado Wrap

The Mighty Cone

Hot & Crunchy Chicken Cones

Hot & Crunchy Chicken/Avocado Cones

Hot & Crunchy Shrimp Cones

Hot & Crunchy Shrimp/Avocado Cones

Hot & Crunchy Avocado Cones

Venison Sausage Cone

Death by Chocolate

Odd Duck Farm to Trailer

Grilled Pork Belly Sliders

Bacon Wrapped Sweet Peppers w/ Goat Cheese

Corn Salad with Grilled Ricotta

Olivia

Fried Chicken

Fried Chicken Bucket

Potato Salad

Oyster Po’boy

P. Terry’s Burger Stand

Hamburger

Cheeseburger

Veggie Burger

Fresh Cut French Fries

pureheart

Lamb & Beef Gyros

Mediterranean Gordita (vegetarian)

Greek Salad (vegetarian)

The Salt Lick

Snowie

16 oz Snowie

All Natural Flavored Snowies

Add Cream

Beignets

Stubb’s BBQ Restaurant

Pull Pork Sandwich

Sliced Beef Sandwich

Chopped Beef Sandwich

Sausage Wrap

Sweet Leaf Tea

Original Sweet Tea Mint

Honey Green Tea

Peach Iced Tea

Raspberry Iced Tea

Citrus Green Tea

Lemon Iced Tea

Tiff’s Treats

Warm Cookies, choose one flavor: Chocolate Chip or Snickerdoodle

Brownies

Tiffwich (Ice-Cream Cookie Sandwich)

Torchy's Tacos

Green Chile Pork

Fried Avocado

Baja Shrimp

Wahoo’s Fish Taco

Blackened Fish or Charbroiled Chicken Tacos (Two Per Order)

Blackened Fish, Charbroiled Chicken, Veggie or Bean/Cheese Burritos

Chicken Nachos

Steak Taquitos

The HOPE Farmers Market

ACL 2011 Bullets (8/26/11): Ticket Giveaways, Sales, and Artist Profiles Galore

2011-08-26T17:49:00.000-05:00

We're within three weeks of ACL 2011. Time to resurrect the bullet-point rundown of what people are talking about as we approach the festival. Click away -- this should help keep your mind on music, not the fact that the forecast says it'll be 109 here tomorrow!

The Austin American Statesman is running another "scavenger hunt" and giving away passes for all three days: "The contest runs for three weeks, beginning Aug. 22 and continuing through Sept. 11. Each week, we’ll hide three hidden code words within our stories. Once you’ve got them all, email austin360contests@statesman.com with the three words and you’ll be entered. You can enter once each week, giving you three chances to win. We’ll announce the winner Sept. 12."
The Statesman also reports that lucky students will have a chance to buy coveted three-day passes or Sunday tickets, although details are still needed: "The sale will take place at the H-E-B Plus at 2508 Riverside Drive on Friday, September 2. 3-day passes will be available for $185, cash only. Sunday tickets (which are still available online) will also be available for $90 and a limited amount of aftershow tickets will also be on sale." More info is available on the official ACL website.
Did you know this year is the tenth anniversary of ACL fest? It's true. To celebrate, the folks at C3 are throwing themselves a little party, and it's free. Per the official ACL website: "[W]e’re throwing a ACL Festival Pre Party brought to you by Google Offers down at Republic Square Park in Downtown Austin on Thursday, September 8 from 6PM to 10PM .... Come out to catch local Austin artists Barton Hills Choir, Fresh Millions and Cowboy and Indian, as well as an open-air display of the best videos from the last 10 years of ACL Music Festival by Alamo Drafthouse’s Rolling Roadshow." Go to the link above to RSVP.
Apps are here! Go to the official ACL website for iPhone and Android apps: "What does it do exactly? Pretty much everything you need to whip your ACL Weekend into shape: browse the official line-up, create a custom schedule (or sync up with your existing schedule) and share it all on Facebook and Twitter. Speaking of sharing, ACL’s app also allows you set up group chat to use during the Festival with GroupMe so you can keep track of your friends!"
KVUE News takes a look back at the first ten years of the festival and how it has changed in a video with Austin Monthly editor Sarah Thurmond.
Running down some blog entries now: Austin Bloggy Limits, not surprisingly given the name, is all excited about the approaching festival. A recent post seems to be the first in a series of artist profiles, this one featuring Seattle's The Head and the Heart. The band gets a thumbs up this time: "Their music is beautiful, honest, and pastoral with multi-part harmonies, string flourishes and intimate vocals. They have passed through Austin a few times in 2011 and ACL Fest promises to be their biggest audience yet. Make sure you are at Zilker Park by 1:00pm the final day of the fest, as The Head and The Heart will be taking to the Google+ stage at 1:30pm that day."
Another site that appears to be starting a series of bios is Austin Town Hall. Nathan Lankford writes about Death From Above 1979 in the blog's first "spotlight" entry: "If it’s the heavier side of things you’re looking for at Austin City Limits Festival, this is probably going to be the best bet, for my money. If you just want to see someone put on an unrealistic display of energy, then find your way here. If you like MSTRKRFT or even Sebastien Grainger, then get here too. Whatever you do, I beg you not to riot, just sit back and enjoy the show Death From Above 1979 will be putting on at 5:30 over at the Honda Stage."
The official ACL website has been sponsoring a bunch of blogs' posts called the ACL Artist Discovery Series. In this installment, Culture Map Austin's Caitlin Ryan profiles The Antlers: "A band that debuted with a gut-wrenching concept album revolving around the death of a either a person or a relationship (different reviewers arrive at different interpretations, even after interviewing lead Peter Silberman) may not be what you'd consider a perfect fit for a sweltering, outdoor summertime festival. But if you’ve seen Brooklyn’s The Antlers perform, you already know that the live delivery of their debut album Hospice is so committed and deeply atmospheric that The Antlers onstage bring about anything but downtrodden emotion."
The prior Artist Discovery Series entry has Flavorwire's Doug Levy shining the spotlight on little-known Joseph Arthur, complete with a video interview: "Joseph Arthur is a creative dynamo. Since being discovered by Peter Gabriel in the mid-’90s, the extremely prolific singer/songwriter has delivered eight albums and ten EPs, staged gallery shows and released a book of his visual artwork, and even opened a museum. Last year, he debuted Fistful of Mercy, a side project that featured three-way collaborations with Ben Harper and Dhani Harrison, and this year brings the release of his newest album, The Graduation Ceremony."
Backstage OL is counting down the days to the festival with a "song of the day" series. Kicking off is "Machine Gun Blues" by Social Distortion, "one of the most famous punk bands to ever come out of Cali!" Check out the vid.
Consequence of Sound is putting its resources behind ACL coverage, big time. There are some basic, helpful links, plus links to CoS content on tons of ACL artists. Definitely worth checking out if you need to do some serious artist research before the festival.

Austin's Weather Forecast: Stop It Already!

2011-08-26T06:54:00.002-05:00

Is this about the most insane weather forecast you've ever seen? It's projected to be 110 degrees this weekend. Both days! But I shouldn't complain, since the East Coast likely is about to get hit by a massive hurricane. I hope it doesn't get bad up there. And here? You know things are bad when you're thinking, "I'll take 100."

FBtA's Audio and Video History of the Native Tongue Collective - Part 2: At the Top

2011-08-23T21:52:00.001-05:00

Our multi-post look back at the Native Tongues hip-hop collective resumes with the posse sitting at the brink of the '90s. Despite slight misgivings after reading William Bowers' article "Now What?" on Pitchfork and consequently feeling slightly shameful for indulging in nostalgia of this magnitude, we forge ahead.

[Part 1][Part 3]

The Core Strengthens

1990: In Part 1, we looked at the emergence and quick rise of the Native Tongues in the late 1980s. As the '90s began, the collective was sitting pretty. And the momentum continued to build for a while. To kick the decade off, the last of the three original core Tongues to release an album, A Tribe Called Quest, finally dropped their debut, Peoples Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm. True, Tribe's next two discs turned out to be more widely acclaimed. Peoples is nonetheless full of funky sample-heavy beats and intelligent, poetic raps, mostly from Q-Tip. Don't expect a dance album -- this isn't 1987 anymore. Only a few numbers are suited for the dance floor. From the jump, it was pretty apparent that Tribe's music was more suited for late-night lounging on sofas. That didn't stop the Source from falling in love with it, giving it a coveted five mic rating.

Source summary review from Summer 1990 (credit: Press Rewind If I Haven't)

Tribe's first single and video from the album was the funny-but-funky "I Left My Wallet in El Segundo." Maybe it was picked as the lead-off single because of its De La-feel? "El Segundo" would not sound out of place on 3 Feet High and Rising -- no small feat given how out there De La Soul was at the time. Really though, Quest was saving up for round two, and blew lots of people away with the mellow, thumping "Bonita Applebum," an ode to flirtation supposedly based on a round-bottomed girl from Tip and Ali's (and Mike Gee and Baby Bam's) high school. The slow pace, a sample based on a Roy Ayers vibe riff with a nice jazzy guitar on the side, for the time, "Bonita Applebum" sounded very unique. Not something to break out your new jack Kid-n-Play dance moves to, but as some might have said at the time, shit was dope. Q-Tip dominates both tracks vocally, but "Bonita" was a perfect backdrop for his smooth (like butter) delivery. It wouldn't be until Tribe's second album that Phife really came into his own and increased his contribution.

A Tribe Called Quest, Q-Tip
Get More:
A Tribe Called Quest, MTV Hive

1991-92: Speaking of De La Soul, the three plugs earned five mics as well for their second LP, 1991's De La Soul Is Dead. Unlike the consistently bright themes of debut 3 Feet High and Rising, De La Soul Is Dead saw De La making blatant efforts to distance themselves from the style and content that caused lazy journalists to label them "hippies," a tag that they were annoyed by. (On that Arsenio appearance that we posted in Part 1, De La looked put off by Arsenio's "hippies of hip-hop" intro, emphasizing the line about proclamations that they're hippies being "pure plug bull.") Despite the change-up, the Source praised the album:

The peace signs are gone, and the D.A.I.S.Y. is outta here, but the musical and lyrical talent combined with unlimited creativity and an ingenious sense of humor is still in like Flynn. As Dove proclaims on the album's first cut, 'Oodles of O's': 'Dreadlocks going out the door y'all.' Still progressing and proud of it. De La has successfully escaped being trapped in the sophomore jinx with grooves that are harder than a brick wall. It should put all the De La Hippie stuff to rest -- for good.

Get More: De La Soul, Music, More Music Videos

Prince Paul was again at the helm for De La Soul is Dead. And present again is a Prince Paul signature touch, the skit, complete with a P-Funk-style comic strip. This go, a teen finds a cassette, it ends up in the hands of bullies, they find it wack and proclaim, "De La Soul is Dead."

(credit: A Fistfull of Soundtracks -- funny article about the prevalent use of the word "crocker" to blank out specific naughty words during the skits -- go check it out if you have time)

Expansion

A couple of roles in the skit are played by guys who were part of the now expanding Native Tongue universe: The young rapper Chi Ali, who plays the teen Jeff (a character introduced on a couple of 3 Feet High-era B-Sides), and Mr. Lawnge, the DJ for the duo Black Sheep, who plays one of the thugs. Black Sheep's first few releases were pretty much confined to the hip-hop world, but in the Spring of 1991, a video for a remix of "The Choice Is Yours" ended up in heavy rotation on MTV and totally blew up. It eventually hit #1 on the Billboard hip-hop/rap chart and reached the top 60 of the Hot 100. Pretty soon, if you were on a dance floor, there was a good chance that at some point that night, the whole floor would PICK IT UP! PICK IT UP! PICK IT UP!

Black Sheep - The Choice Is Yours
Get More: Black Sheep - The Choice Is Yours

Another act that debuted in 1991 and became affiliated with Native Tongues was Leaders of the New School, who literally exploded out of the gate with mountains of energy, serious flow and synchronized mic skills reminiscent of old school crews like Cold Crush. LONS followed that tried and true formula of three MCs (the quick-tongued Dinco D, unpredictable Charlie Brown, and bombastic, excellently named and soon-to-be famous Busta Rhymes) and one DJ (Cut Monitor Milo, Busta's cousin, who also occasionally lends his toasting skills to the mix). The mix of rapping styles and tight production made A Future Without a Past, their first LP, a minor hit and a critical success. Although they debuted on the Rubáiyát compilation, most people first heard LONS when their first video dropped for "Case of the P.T.A."

Get More: Leaders of the New School, Music, More Music Videos

Of course, if that didn't make it to your speakers, the next one might have. Later in 1991, A Tribe Called Quest released The Low End Theory. The album was an instant classic. Tip was on point as expected, but as noted earlier, Phife really broke out on The Low End Theory, even taking his own track, "Buggin' Out." The DiDawg's opening "Yo!" on that track could easily be his symbolic announcement to the world that he was now at the party too. Plus the beats were innovative and jazzy (with lots of help from the great Ron Carter on bass) -- often pretty sparse, but to excellent effect. Arguably, Low End was the first great "after hours" hip-hop album. That said, a few of the tunes thump, including first single "Check the Rhyme" and later release "Scenario," a collaboration with LONS that ended with a memorable rhyme from Busta. The simple fact that Busta Rhymes -- not Q-Tip -- is given the mic last is pretty telling.

1992 was pretty quiet for Native Tongues as far as releases go. Chi Ali put out his first album, The Fabulous Chi-Ali. JBs had one song on 1991's soundtrack to the movie Livin' Large, "718 KIT," but that was it between 1989 and 1993 as they got stuck in the "not commercial enough" battle with their label over their third album. De La was working on their third album themselves. Tribe was still coming off Low End. They put out a very good (except perhaps for some un-PC lyrics, depending on your POV) remix of "Scenario" in 1992 that featured the same cast plus the late MC Hood (sad story) but was quite different from the original apart from Busta Rhymes' dragon RAWRR. Their next album didn't drop till late '93 though.

As time went on though, tension started to creep into the picture. The hip-hop scene in general seemed to be heading in a darker, more aggressive direction. And the Native Tongues began drifting apart. But that's Part 3.

[Part 1][Part 3]

Prodigal Austin Blues Guitarist Gary Clark, Jr. Breaks Out at Last

2011-08-20T18:09:00.006-05:00

Way back when, during our first months in Austin, we posted about a Gary Clark, Jr. show at Antone's we went to go see. Back then, the young blues guitar talent was coming off a big role in the film Honeydripper and seemed ready to hit the big time. It's been three years since, and Clark's continued to pay his dues and gig away.

As the cliché goes, the hard work paid off. The Austin Chronicle this week reported that Clark's new EP "Bright Lights" was very well received in a highlighted Rolling Stone review, receiving an "Editor's Pick" distinction. The review features some pretty strong words -- the sort of hype and comparisons that sometimes are hard to match down the road:

When was the last time a young blues guitarist really blew your mind? Sure, there's the Allman Brothers' Derek Trucks, who comes at the form in a jam-band context. Jack White filters the blues through garage rock and punk; the Black Keys' Dan Auerbach through those and other pop styles; Ben Harper takes more of a folky singer-songwriter tack. But a genuine 21st-century bluesman, raised on the form in all its roughneck roadhouse glory but marked by the present day? That's been as hard to find as a 21st-century clockmaker.

Another milestone for Clark -- first national television appearance -- was notched the other night on Jimmy Fallon, which sparked ?uestlove to fire off an enthusiastic Tweet.

The mo should remain for a while. Clark's first LP will be dropping soon. Also, keeping up with the acting side, Clark's in an early scene of a new Mario Van Peebles blues-fiction flick, Redemption Road. If you want to keep your eyes on him until then, here's the video trailer for "Bright Lights," plus a vid of a recent New York concert. As someone who believes blues is about what you pour into your music and not the mastery of a set of techniques, I've got my fingers crossed for Gary Clark, Jr. and his future. I hope there's a nice big hometown crowd to welcome him home at this year's ACL festival.

Fun Fun Fun Fest 2011 Playlist Added

2011-08-15T18:35:00.002-05:00

Man, the lineup for this year's Fun Fun Fun Fest is too sweet not to put up a music widget like the one we have for ACL. So we've added one over there to the right. Playlist is the same as the one on the Fun Fun Fun Fest site, so credit goes there and to Justin Nordan. Happy listening!

FBtA's Audio and Video History of the Native Tongue Collective - Part 1: High and Rising

2011-08-10T20:34:00.005-05:00

[Part 2][Part 3]

Last weekend at Austin’s fancy new downtown movie theater the Violet Crown Cinema, I caught Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest, the new documentary about the enigmatic hip-hop quartet. All four members contribute, even “… and sometimes Y” member Jarobi. The four, it turns out, have very different personalities, which caused lots of ups and downs during the group's life. Everyone is given a chance to speak about the rough spots Tribe faced over the years, including their dissolution and a later rift between MCs and lifelong friends Phife Dawg and Q-Tip that has to do with the former's health. By letting everyone speak out, you get a good sense of Phife, Tip, Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Jarobi as people as well as artists, and how their personalities shape the relationships they have with one another.

Lots of other important Tribe associates appear as well. It was cool to look back on and get present updates on some key figures like Red Alert, Large Professor and several members of the Native Tongues collective.

Ah, yes, Native Tongues. The group of influential, slightly off-center hip-hop musicians from the late '80s and early '90s that briefly looked like the next big thing before going “poof.” The flagship members, De La Soul, Jungle Brothers and Tribe, immediately struck a tone with a lot of hip-hop fans like me who were always looking for something new. Their music had the danceable, sample-heavy beats that qualified it as good, true hip-hop, but with a large dose of cleverness. When De La came out in their schlumpy duds rapping about potholes in their lawn and the D.A.I.S.Y Age, that was some new shit.

Early shot of De La Soul (source: gilmansworld)

It wasn't all costumes and silly rhymes. The raps were crafty and often deep -- the JBs in particular picked up on the Afrocentric themes that were growing in popularity in the late '80s. The music too was going in bold new directions. De La's first album, Prince Paul's brilliantly produced Three Feet High and Rising, was a celebration of the art of sampling. The Jungle Brothers went in all sorts of directions and made some great danceable hip-hop and pioneered "hip-house." Quest started blending in jazzy elements that pointed the way for many alternative hip-hop artists in the '90s.

After the core started off strong, the Native Tongues quickly expanded to include Queen Latifah and Monie Love and soon Black Sheep, Chi Ali, Beatnuts, Leaders of the New School and a few others that vary depending on who you ask like Da Bush Babees and Fu-Schnickens. The film features interviews with many of the above, and it touches on why the core Native Tongues drifted apart. In the end though, the film’s subject really is just A Tribe Called Quest, and the broader Native Tongue collective is just a brief, secondary topic.

So it left me thinking about Native Tongues. Why did the formerly close associates who seemed to have so much in common and so much potential as a posse give up on the idea? Could you foresee – and would you want to see – collaboration in the future? What is the legacy of Native Tongues? It seemed like a good time for me to go deeper. So let's dig a bit. FBtA presents its history of the Native Tongues, with a friendly dose of sight and sound, in multiple parts. We may never understand why the vibe died, but at least the collective left us with a trove of good music (and videos) to enjoy.

An Audio and Video History of the Native Tongue Collective - Part 1: High and Rising

The Formative Years (-1986): Phife Dawg and Q-Tip grow up together in the '70s and '80s in Queens, near where Run D.M.C. hailed from. Tip later goes to Murray Bergtraum High School for Business Careers with Ali Shaheed Muhammad and JBs Mike Gee and Afrika Baby Bam. High school is also where the members of De La Soul meet in the late '80s out in Long Island.

1987: The Jungle Brothers drop their first single, "Jimbrowski" b/w "Bragging and Boasting." MC Mike Gee's uncle, legendary hip-hop DJ/producer Kool DJ Red Alert, made sure it found its way onto his can't-miss weekend radio show on WRKS 98.7 FM.

1988: Very important year in Native Tongue history. The Jungle Brothers release their first full album, Straight Out the Jungle. The first single from the album, "I'll House You," is now often cited as the first "hip-house" song ever (for what that's worth).

JBs also released two singles in 1988 featuring a young MC, Q-Tip: "The Promo" and "Black is Black." The former track serves to announce Tip's arrival and, as the title implies, promote the upcoming joint from his crew, A Tribe Called Quest. Red Alert played this one a bit on his show as well, and that's how I first heard Q-Tip.

Red occasionally also used to play an obscure B-side from the "Black is Black" 12" single, "In Time," another JBs collaboration with Tip. The opening line was prophetic, and a lot faster than many people would have predicted around the time that Reagan handed off the White House to Bush I:

In time this rhyme'll be more than just a fantasy

A Black man'll be the man to claim Presidency

Is it hard to see?

So try to see as i see

In time i see a better Black reality

De La Soul started dropping singles in 1988 as well, starting with "Plug Tunin'" on Tommy Boy Records, and buzz started building immediately.

Queen Latifah, a confident, young rapper from New Jersey out of DJ Mark the 45 King's stable, released her first single, "Wrath of My Madness."

1989: Another key year as the core of the collective really emerges. De La Soul drop the classic 3 Feet High and Rising, one of the first hip-hop LPs to cross over to the college music crowd. The first time I saw them was a goofy spot on Yo! MTV Raps back in '89 promoting their video for "Me, Myself and I."

Meanwhile, the Jungle Brothers quickly eliminated consideration of a sophomore slump by following up their first LP with the great, expansive Done by the Forces of Nature. One of the singles they released in '89 was the funky, bass heavy album opener "Beyond This World."

1989 also saw the official birth of the Native Tongues as a collective. Basically, the young trio of groups met and quickly clicked. Realizing they shared similar perspectives on hip-hop, they got the idea to form a collective. Beats, Rhymes & Life has a good segment on how the idea was hatched and the Native Tongue name was quickly adopted by consensus. Wikipedia offers up explanatory quotes from two pioneering members:

"The Native Tongues came about where, basically, we had a show together in Boston. Us [De La Soul], Jungle and we linked from there. We had a natural love for the art and a natural love for each other on how we put stuff together. So we invited them [the Jungle Brothers] to a session, and when they hooked up with us, we happened to be doing 'Buddy.' It wasn't business; it wasn't for a cheque. It was just trading ideas and just seeing what you're doing. Bottom line, it was just having fun."

— Trugoy the Dove, aka Dave

"I remember Afrika (Afrika Baby Bam) called me that night, like, two in the morning. 'Yo these kids, De La Soul, you gotta meet ’em! I swear we're just alike!' I went there, met them, and it was just fuckin' love at first sight. It was disgusting. In hip hop, it praises individualism. I think that's the main achievement of the Native Tongues. It just showed people could come together."
— Q-Tip

Early Native Tongues group shot on the cover of the Jungle Brothers' "Doin' Our Own Dang" single - also available on cassette!

It seems like there should be a whole bundle of great "posse cuts" by Native Tongues. In reality, there weren't that many that featured all or most of the core. The group efforts started coming out in '89 with "Buddy" from De La's 3 Feet High ... and the Jungle Brothers' "Doin' Our Own Dang" from Done By the Forces of Nature. "Buddy" featured Jungle Brothers Mike Gee and Africa Baby Bam, Quest's Q-Tip, and Monie Love, a sister from England who too became a part of the new Native Tongues. (Tribe's Phife shows up in the video and is also in the extended mix, but didn't make the shorter album version.) "Doin Our Own Dang" saw the JBs joined by all three De La members, Tip, Latifah and Monie.

Queen Latifah and Monie Love also teamed up for Latifah's 1989 single, "Ladies First." A few other early female hip-hop figures are in the video (can you name them?).

As the '80s closed, the Native Tongues looked primed to take over the hip-hop world, or at least carve out a nice big niche. There was a ton of momentum. De La Soul and the Jungle Brothers had released what would eventually be widely viewed as classic albums. Queen Latifah was already atop many lists of the most talented women in hip-hop. A Tribe Called Quest's forthcoming album was one of the most highly anticipated upcoming releases in any genre. TV appearances grew in frequency and stature. Here's an early live appearance from De La on (yeah) Arsenio back in 1989.

But a funny thing happened on the way to the block party. For a few years into the '90s, there was still promise. The brand expanded and some great music was released. But then the Native Tongue "movement" -- if there ever really was such a thing -- started to stall. The tone of the music grew darker as the newly successful musicians matured and had their first experiences with the record industry. Contract issues bogged down some. Other groups disbanded. Latifah went to Hollywood. Relationships wilted or crumbled. And importantly, tastes changed. Out went the kente, in came the gangster clothes.

More on the Native Tongues as they moved into the '90s in Part 2.

[Part 2][Part 3]

Fun Fun Fun Fest 2011: Lineup Announced and it is LOADED! Slayer, Passion Pit, Public Enemy among stage headliners

2011-08-04T17:08:00.006-05:00

The 2011 Fun Fun Fun Festival lineup was announced this week, and from the look of it, the folks at Transmission Entertainment are gunning for ACL. The list (below) is very solid from top to bottom, with a mix of stars, legends and up-and-comers of varying levels. You have one of Slayer, one of the "Big Four" thrash metal acts. Public Enemy and Rakim -- two New York hip-hop legends who broke out around the same time in the 80s -- will be on hand to rock the mic and shake the speakers. Some hot acts like Passion Pit, Odd Future, Lykke Li, tUnE-yArDs and Neon Indian are on hand, as are a reformed Hot Snakes and amazing Tuareg groovemasters Tinariwen, who I'm really excited about (check out the video at the bottom of the post). Solid. Very.

Lots of writers are reviewing the menu and offering up their suggestions:

Brooklyn Vegan calls it "[a]nother amazing year!" and lists Slayer, Thee Oh Sees, Public Enemy, Girls, Danzig Legacy, (Danzig + Doyle von Frankenstein playing Misfits, Samhain & Danzig), Hot Snakes, Diplo, Major Lazer, Henry Rollins, Ted Leo & The Phramacists, Spank Rock, Murder City Devils, Hum, Lykke Li, Passion Pit, Four Tet, Rakim, The Damned, Austra, Purity Ring, and Flynt Flossy.
Stereogum has a good amount of overlap, citing Slayer, PE, Odd Future, tUnE-yArDs, Neon Indian, Hum, Four Tet, Lykke Li, Flying Lotus, Girls, M83, Okkervil River, Danzig Legacy, Donald Glover and Brian Posehn.
How about Pitchfork? Odd Future, Hot Snakes, Lykke Li, M83, Girls, Major Lazer, Public Enemy, tUnE-yArDs, Slayer, Flying Lotus, Neon Indian, Okkervil River, Four Tet andDanzig are deserving of mention.
Want some more lists? Check out The Spacelab, Republic of Austin, the homey-sounding My Old Kentucky Blog, mxdwn and Consequence of Sound.

You'd better get tickets soon, or you might be stuck scrounging on Craigslist and Stubhub. Three-day passes are $110 for students and $135 for the rest. Click here.

FULL LINEUP

orange stage

PASSION PIT LYKKE LI

M83 BLONDE REDHEAD GIRLS HUM

CLAP YOUR HANDS SAY YEAH OKKERVIL RIVER BLACK JOE LEWIS AND THE HONEYBEARS ARCHITECTURE IN HELSINKI CHILDISH GAMBINO TED LEO & THE PHARMACISTS HEARTLESS BASTARDS TUNE-YARDS RA RA RIOT TINARIWEN COLD CAVE RADIO DEPT WE WERE PROMISED JETPACKS MATES OF STATE THE JOY FORMIDABLE CLOUD NOTHINGS THE BOXER REBELLION ASOBI SEKSU KEEP SHELLY IN ATHENS LE BUTCHERETTES JIM WARD (SPARTA/AT THE DRIVE IN) JOE LALLY (FUGAZI) FUTURE ISLANDS T BIRD AND THE BREAKS CROOKS LEMURIA TV TORSO MANEJA BETO

white stage

SLAYER DANZIG LEGACY THE DAMNED

HOT SNAKES MURDER CITY DEVILS KID DYNAMITE

BORIS CAVE IN NEGATIVE APPROACH D GENERATION EYEHATEGOD RUSSIAN CIRCLES CAPTURED BY ROBOTS THEE OH SEES ZERO BOYS PAINT IT BLACK TRASH TALK YOUTH BRIGADE NO BUNNY BANE DAVILA 666 EARTH CRISIS GRAVEYARD DOOMRIDERS CEREMONY FROM ASHES RISE THE WORLD INFERNO/FRIENDSHIP SOCIETY DEATH GRIPS TOTAL CONTROL TOUCHE AMORE DEFEATER MIND SPIDERS OBN III SHAPES HAVE FANGS SCHMILLION THIEVES

blue stage

PUBLIC ENEMY MAJOR LAZER ODD FUTURE

DIPLO FLYING LOTUS NEON INDIAN FOUR TET RAKIM

SPANK ROCK DAN DEACON WUGAZI THE BUDOS BAND DEL THE FUNKY HOMOSAPIEN BIG FREEDIA YACHT BATHS MNDR AUSTRA DENGUE FEVER BLACK MILK DJ FRANKI CHAN OCOTE SOUL SOUND AUTO BODY BIRD PETERSON BRANDT BRAUER FRICK PICTUREPLANE CECIL OTTER (DOOMTREE) G SIDE SPEAK PURITY RING DJ CAR STEREO (WARS) B-L-A-C-K-I-E FAT TONY

yellow stage

HENRY ROLLINS REGGIE WATTS BRIAN POSEHN

UCB NATIONAL TOURING COMPANY TURQUOISE JEEP DONALD GLOVER

ALI WONG ANARCHY CHAMPIONSHIP WRESTLING NEAL BRENNAN (CO-CREATOR OF THE CHAPPELLE SHOW & HALF BAKED) BEST FWENDS BRODY STEVENS THE KENNY K STRASS STRASSER YO YO EXSTRAVAGANZA WHAM CITY COMEDY SET MATT BEARDEN LOUIS KATZ CHRIS TREW VEGGIE HOT DOG EATING CONTEST BROUGHT TO YOU BY ILOVEMIKELITT JT HABERSAAT + THE ALTERCATION PUNK COMEDY TOUR

12 Films Project Update: July's Inspiring Profile of Kocurek Family Charcuterie

2011-07-31T16:18:00.005-05:00

We recently posted about the 12 Films Project, Austin filmmaker Christian Remde's ongoing quest to hit us with one film for each month in 2011. At the time, he was working on the July film, a documentary about the local Kocurek Family Charcuterie operation. Remde delivered the July product a few days early, on the 28th.

Charcuterie is an excellent effort. The short project time surely required Remde and his team to keep things simple, but some of the shots are as pretty as one of Chef Larry's layered terrines. There's plenty of good background on the business and the scene here, but the highlight really is the subject couple, Larry and Lee Ann. The two share the ups and downs of launching their small business warmly and honestly. The stories about being faced with the reality of having to shell out four figures a month for day care just to stay at jobs that didn't provide what they were looking for were easy to relate to. And hearing about the Kocureks' decision to take the plunge and start their charcuterie business is inspiring to the viewer, just like their first travels in Spain were to them. Remde really sits back and lets Larry and Lee Ann tell the story in their words, and this turns out to be a good choice. Charcuterie got thumbs and big toes up from both Rachel and me. We're looking forward to August's flick (music vid?).

We are huge fans of the Kocurek Family Charcuterie business. We hardly go a week or two without having a simple dinner of sauteed or grilled Kocurek sausage. I hope the Kocureks continue to live the European-inspired lifestyle that they are cooking up for their family wherever they end up down the road. For selfish reasons, I hope that's here in ATX.

Meanwhile, Remde and his project continue to get sunny press. He recently reported with suitable excitement that the project got on Huffington Post. Not to mention some good local items from Austin food blogger extraordinaire Addie Broyles on Austin 360 and Paula Forbes on Eater. Surprisingly, none of these note the Burger King imagery in June film Heist-Off!

Here's July's 12 Films Project feature, Charcuterie.

Charcuterie - A Documentary from Christian Remde on Vimeo.

Fun Fun Fun Fest 2011: Slayer Added as Line-Up Grows

2011-07-29T17:40:00.003-05:00

Transmission Entertainment, the producer of Austin's Fun Fun Fun Fest, has been "leaking" bands on the Fun Fun Fun website. The latest is a "bombshell" according to The Statesman: Metal titans Slayer.

Best we can tell, the line-up so far looks like this:

Odd Future

Brian Posehn

Okkervil River

M83

Murder City Devils

tUnE-yArDs

Reggie Watts

Ra Ra Riot

Flying Lotus

Kid Dynamite

The one I'm excited about is tUnE-yArDs. NPR tapped them/her for its South By Southwest showcase in 2011, so her latest album w h o k i l l was streaming on the NPR website for a while before it was released. I was hooked after one listen, and predicted (correctly) that Pitchfork would put it in its "Best New Music" category. Merrill Garbus' musical swirl of pop, rock, electro, Afro, R&B and other elements makes for something of an Odelay for a new generation. Garbus takes plenty of risks with her music, but does it in a controlled manner and in a minimalist context that helps her pull it off beautifully. The Pitchfork review by Matthew Perpetua puts it like this: "Back in 1983 Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon wrote an essay for Art Forum that suggested that when we go to rock performances, we pay to see other people believe in themselves. A lot of what makes w h o k i l l and tUnE-yArDs' excellent live performances so compelling is the degree to which Garbus commits to her ideas and displays a total conviction in her personal, idiosyncratic, high-stakes music. This, in and of itself, is very inspiring and empowering. This unguarded, individualistic expression encourages strong identification in listeners, so don't be surprised if this record earns Garbus a very earnest and intense cult following."

We missed her sets at SXSW, so Fun Fun Fun is our second chance. Here's NPR's video of tUnE-yArDs' SXSW showcase set, featuring some of the standout tracks from like the muscular "Gangsta" and clever, Fela-tinged "Bizness."

ACL 2011: Aftershows Announced; Tickets On Sale Tomorrow (7/28/11)

2011-07-27T18:28:00.003-05:00

Title of the post pretty much says it all. Below is the menu. Click here at 10:00 AM CT Thursday, July 28 for tickets. That's tomorrow! Don't delay -- make your plans. Good shows will sell out quickly.

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 15

PRETTY LIGHTS w/ Nas and special guest Run DMT at Austin Music Hall (Ages 16+)

Old Crow Medicine Show w/ Hayes Carll at Stubb’s Waller Creek Amphitheater

Delta Spirit w/ J. Roddy Walston and the Business, Futurebirds at Emo’s Outside

North Mississippi Allstars at Antone’s

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16

Manu Chao La Ventura at Stubb’s Waller Creek Amphitheater

Skrillex w/ Chiddy Bang at La Zona Rosa (Ages 16+)

Twin Shadow and Cut Copy DJ Set w/ Theophilis London and Diamond Rings at Emo’s (Inside and Outside)

Smith Westerns and Cults at The Parish

Gary Clark Jr. at Antone’s

Lance Herbstrong at Stubb’s Indoors

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 17

Empire of the Sun w/ Mayer Hawthorne & The County at Austin Music Hall

Bright Eyes w/ Kurt Vile and the Violators at Stubb’s Waller Creek Amphitheater

Fitz and the Tantrums w/ Aloe Blacc & The Grand Scheme at La Zona Rosa

Death From Above 1979 w/ The Vaccines at Emo’s

The Head and The Heart w/ The Moondoggies at Antone’s

Wild Beasts w/ Telekinesis at The Parish

Phosphorescent w/ little hurricane at Stubb’s Indoors

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. w/ Yellow Ostrich at Lambert’s (Ages 21+)

Gospel Brunch: The Lee Boys at Stubb’s Indoors (11AM & 1PM Seatings)

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 18

Iron & Wine and Yim Yames at Stubb’s Waller Creek Amphitheater

Gospel Brunch: Tyree Morris & Heart of Worship at Stubb’s Indoors (11AM & 1PM Seatings)

Same as it Ever Was: Why Mission of Burma deserves your respect

2011-07-25T18:03:00.006-05:00

Rock musicians deal with the reality of aging in a manner of ways, with differing degrees of success. Some -- many -- just don't age well. Could be a damaged voice or slower hands or just a loss of passion. Others hang on better. Most of these, though, do so by adapting. Eric Clapton unplugged. David Byrne moved on from the twitchy post-punk of Talking Heads and now makes world-infused, mature electrified pop with his learned colleague Brian Eno.

Mission of Burma accomplished the rare feat of aging well without compromising. Last Friday night (7/22/11), MoB took its aggressive road show to The Mohawk. The band formed back in 1979, but a solid chunk of the audience looked like they hadn't been born then. Looking out over the crowd throughout the show, as the band cranked through nothing but up-tempo hard rock, it was pretty apparent that age doesn't matter. By the time they hit bassist Clint Conley's anthemic "Academy Fight Song," the fists were pumping at a rate that most bands in their twenties can't generate.

The show was no fluke. Mission of Burma had already accomplished another remarkable and rare feat in rock music: Coming back from a hiatus and making new music that holds up with their old work. After being forced to call it quits in the mid 80s due to guitarist/singer Roger Miller's worsening tinnitus, the band regrouped in the mid 2000s. Not only did they tour the old hits like plenty of bands do nowadays (Pixies? Pavement?), Mission of Burma also returned to the studio. In these cases, bands often make one or maybe two albums that sound like airbrushed versions of the original. Three solid albums in though and MoB seems to be back for real. The band played a bunch of their later songs during the show, including an electrifying "1, 2, 3, Partyy!" from 2009's The Sound The Speed The Light, and even a few numbers from their upcoming fourth comeback album, and really nothing fell flat.

How'd they do it? Who knows? It must be gratifying, though, to look out over a sea of people younger than you rocking out to what you do. It must also feel good for a band that played music that was "ahead of its time" to hang in there (or come back in the case of MoB) until your torchbearers come along and the public really starts to appreciate your body of work. So if you've wondered whether your favorite broken-up band might be just a bit too old to come back with cred, tell them to check out a Mission of Burma show. Then call Bob Mould and Grant Hart and tell them to make up!

Mission of Burma do "Max Ernst" and "Academy Fight Song" at The Mohawk

One last note: We also liked the opener, Ume. In short, think of Sonic Youth with a touch of Portishead and maybe Bjork. Ume on Spotify.

Austin Filmmaker's Ambitious Project Gets Delicious: Short Films Highlight Odd Duck, Kocurek

2011-07-20T17:41:00.018-05:00

We've noted more than once here that Rachel and I are devoted farmers' market shoppers. One stand we always stop at is the Kocurek Family Charcuterie booth. We have a few reasons. Of course, they're turning out amazing food: rillettes, terrine, pâté, bacon and sausage made from all sorts of great local delights. The products run the range from traditional to progressive. They're also classy folks who are serious about what they do but always friendly and happy to discuss their products and practices with you. Lastly, Larry and Lee Ann (and Eugene) have the same, somewhat unusual dog breed that we have: Redbone Coonhound. Great active dogs, but a bit sensitive, so we're often trading doggie anecdotes and ideas about how to deal with Ash (ours) and Brick (theirs).

Ash

Last week, after picking up a lemon basil chicken sausage at the Kocurek stand, I was at home flipping through the Chronicle, Austin's arts and culture weekly mag. It isn't unusual to find mention of the Kocureks in the food section. This time, though, they made their way into the film section, in an article about an ambitious project by local filmmaker Christian Remde. His Twelve Films Project is just like it sounds: a go at making one short film each month in 2011. One thing Remde has in common with Rachel and I is that he's enthusiastic about the Austin farm-to-table scene (and a devoted farmers' market shopper himself it turns out). That love spills over into his filmmaking: The July short is a documentary on the Kocureks; May's was about star-in-the-making chef Bryce Gilmore and his unfairly good Odd Duck Farm to Trailer.

Remde's story is pretty cool and very much in the Austin DIY spirit. Per the Chronicle, "[I]n late 2010, Remde, who has logged nearly two decades as a freelance editor, motion graphics artist, and visual effects artist, bought himself a fancy new Canon EOS 7D camera but had no specific plans for its use. When drawing up his New Year's resolutions for 2011, he promised himself he would make a short film every month in the upcoming year. And with that, the Twelve Films Project was born."

The films so far have been pretty diverse. For June, Remde completed a film for the 48 Hour Film Project. That one, called "Heist-Off," is a quirky comedy that wasn't what I'd call great cinema, but most classics weren't shot in 2 days. Is it me, or does the lead character rock it Burger King-style?

Star of "Heist Off" (l) vs. The Burger King (r)

Better for us was the May short doc on Odd Duck, easily the best food trailer I've ever eaten from. Putting together a whole film in one month -- writing, planning, shooting, editing and all of the logistics in between -- has to involve a few sacrifices. Considering that, the film does a good job of letting Bryce tell his own story and adding a few other perspectives to keep things more interesting. The multiple voices also provide weight to some of the themes by frequently sounding in close agreement. You can tell from hearing Bryce and "Farmer Kris" Olsen of Milagro Farm, the man who introduced me to the wonders of green garlic, how the collective passion for fresh, local, high quality foods and the support for start-ups and the smallest of ventures is turning Austin into a real "food city," and a unique one at at that.

Farm To Trailer: A Documentary from Christian Remde on Vimeo.

We're looking forward to seeing how the Kocurek film turns out. Someone was doing a little filming while we were at the booth last weekend, so maybe we'll even sneak our way into a shot. Good news is we won't have to wait long for the finished product. Christian Remde is halfway home to 12 now. I'm sure he'll deliver by the end of July. Until then, you can read about progress on his blog. Or tide yourself over with some of Larry's lamb cotto salami, cheek-to-cheek terrine and lemon basil chicken sausage.

ACL 2011: Listen to our New Mix

2011-07-16T18:21:00.004-05:00

As we gear up here for ACL 2011, we've put together another new Grooveshark playlist. This time, it's a track from nearly every artist playing at this year's festival. The player is up there on the top right of our homepage. You could use it to discover new artists or help decide who you're going to see at 12:30 on Saturday, Fresh Millions, The Kingston Springs, Aloe Blacc, Brady Rymer or The Antlers. Or you could just listen for pleasure.

Since we added the new, full mix to our homepage, we thought we'd move the Stevie Wonder mix to the ACL lineup announcement post from a couple of months back. If you want to get your Stevie on, click on over.

ACL 2011: Block Schedule Released. Conflicts Identified.

2011-07-12T17:31:00.008-05:00

The block schedule for this year's Austin City Limits Music Festival just came out. One of the first exercises everyone likes to engage in following the schedule's release is to see which acts play conflicting time slots. I haven't had time to fully assess yet, but (of course) Pitchfork has. Here's the initial call: "James Blake, Kurt Vile and the Violators, or Smith Westerns? Cut Copy, Cee-Lo, or Wanda Jackson? My Morning Jacket or Stevie Wonder? TV on the Radio or Chromeo? Death From Above 1979 or Elbow? Santigold or Mavis Staples? Fleet Foxes or Manu Chao?" After really digging in and listening to some of the lesser known bands, plenty of other conflicts are likely to arise, like The Soft Pack and Those Darlins last year. Check back in and we'll probably break some of those tough decisions down for you.

Click to enlarge:

Forgotten Music: My Mother's 45s from the '50s

2011-07-01T18:02:00.021-05:00

When I was just a few years old -- maybe 1974-75 -- I used to hang out in my older sister's room so we could listen to records together on her record player. I didn't have one. We were about four (me) and seven (sister) years old. We didn't have a lot of things to choose from. We had a few odd kids records, like Donnie & Marie and Roger Miller doing Disney's Robin Hood (which fortunately provided us with the background music for the great internet meme, Hampsterdance.com). There was also a handful of things that people who didn't know what to buy for kids would give us, like the Babes in Toyland movie soundtrack LP. We also had a cardboard box with about 30-40 of my mother's 45s from when she was a teenager in the late '50s and early '60s, and often we'd play those.

I didn't really know much about what we were playing back then. I remember sometimes picking a record because it had a pretty label -- one of them reminded me of a pack of Chuckles, and what did doesn't like candy? My sister and I also had a few faves, most of which were among the better known titles in the box, like the great Beach Boys disc with "I Get Around" backed with "Don't Worry Baby" and Elvis doing "All Shook Up." "Why Do Fools Fall In Love?" by Frankie Lymon was another fave. I remember happily listening to Danny & the Juniors' "At the Hop" even though the 45 was warped and occasionally skipped.

But not all of those records were songs you've heard of. We did listen to at least some of the rest too, albeit not as much, and lots of them were artists that even by the mid-70s ranged from vaguely familiar to obscure: The Crests, The Cleftones, The Skyliners, The Genies, etc. Major and minor league R&B and doo-wop. Stuff that doesn't even make it on mainstream oldies radio these days.

Not surprisingly, as we got older, we started listening to other things. I actually didn't even have a turntable and listened to my music on cassette tape -- a topic for another nostalgic post. My sister did have a turntable, so the 45s lived in her room, but I don't think either of us eve really played them. For one thing, they were pretty scuffed by then, having been kept in the box without sleeves and in the possession of a couple of meddling kids.

Eventually, my sister, like many others, abandoned vinyl as well. But late in college, I got my hands on a turntable and started buying records again, mostly for value. At some point, I took possession of the 45s, but they stayed in the box. Finally, one day, I pulled some out and recorded a mixed cassette for my mother with those crackling 45s. I only picked a few, probably just for one side of the tape. Even though the quality was poor, she smiled listening to some of the long-forgotten tunes. But the cassette soon went the way of the record, and she moved on to CDs.

Well, here we are in 2011. Thanks to the wonders of technology, there are things like Grooveshark out there that allow you to type in the name of any old song and be listening to it seconds later. For some reason, the song "Come Softly to Me" by The Fleetwoods got stuck in my head, so I 'sharked it. (You might not recognize the title, but the song is pretty familiar and has been in a few big movies over the years.) Listening to the song -- Dahm dahm, dahm do dahm, dooby do -- my mind suddenly focused in on the forgotten box of 45s. It took me a few moments to remember where the things were, but I soon remembered and pulled the box out and flipped through.

Four of the 45s (clockwise from top R): "Why Do Fools Fall In Love" - Frankie Lymon; "You Cheated" - The Shields; "This is My Love" - The Passions; "Buzz-Buzz-Buzz" - Hollywood Flames

I plugged a few more names into Grooveshark, mostly forgotten songs that I vaguely remembered listening to with my sister in her room, like "Buzz-Buzz-Buzz" by The Hollywood Flames. It's a pretty kicking early rock song, complete with honky saxes and lots of vocal harmonies. This doo-wop and formative rock-n-roll music though, so much of it is almost forgotten. There were some memorable sounds made in the 50s and early 60s, but most of what your typical retro-music fan nowadays would be hunting down from that era would be jazz or blues or maybe R&B. And let's face it, the original fan base is dwindling. Without modern technology, this stuff would be even more endangered. Sites like eBay let people hunt down just about any 45, Grooveshark and other services lets you listen to songs that have been out of print for years, and blogs let us share our discoveries. I even found a couple of blog posts extolling the virtues of a B-side of one of the 45s from my mom's box that my sister and I definitely used to listen to, "Stella Got a Fella" by The Fireflies. By hanging on just long enough into the digital and interconnected age, a good portion of the music from that era will be preserved, and hopefully the worthwhile material will continue to find new fans.

Is the music worth remembering? That's a complicated question, but I think so. To me, some of the songs sounded awful, some were obviously great, and most fell along various points in the vast space between. That's one man's taste, though, and I'd bet that others would fall in love with something I overlooked.

While I listened to a bunch of the songs on the 45s via Grooveshark, it struck me that it would be fun to put together a playlist of a bunch of the songs from the box. My mother, for one, will enjoy, but give it a whirl and you might like it too, or at least some of it. In compiling the list, I mixed in the popular tunes as well. Still, I'm certain lots of these are new to most of you unless you were born before the Korean War broke out. Some of those more obscure songs are actually great. "You Cheated" by The Shields has been stuck in my head much of today. It's a smooth little R&B number recorded and released in 1958 by a short-lived L.A. group that had no other big hits. A young Johnny "Guitar" Watson was one of the members, as was a talented songwriter/singer/pianist named Jesse Belvin. Belvin went solo shortly after, and his career showed promise. As a musician, he filled the gap between Nat King Cole, who he styled himself after, and Sam Cooke, who Belvin became a model for. Tragically, in 1960, Jesse Belvin and his wife were killed in a head-on car crash after a performance on a bill with Cooke and Jackie Wilson, among others. After hearing is story, it is easy to imagine Belvin right up there with Wilson and Cooke had he not been so unfortunate.

(Quick aside: If you're looking for an Austin tie-in somewhere in this article, here you go: The first version of "You Cheated" was also released in 1958 but was distributed more narrowly and was a lesser hit by a band called The Slades out of Austin. Blogger Joe Troiano notes: "'You Cheated' climbed the Top 100 and reached #42 just missing the Top 40, it remained on the chart for 12 weeks. The 'B' side of their hit was a tune entitled 'THE WADDLE,' it did not chart. The Slades would not have another charted hit record as many follow-up recordings sold as well as their hit. Domino Records was a small label that didn’t have the distribution of the larger labels, making it hard to get their records to DJ’s for radio rotation and to record shops for retail sales.")

Jesse Belvin (c/o lastfm)

Another cool place to find a few gems is on the B-sides, which often capture the same buttoned-up groups that sound so clean on the A-sides cutting loose a bit. "Stella" is a prime example. For 1959, the truly formative years of rock-n-roll, this song is pretty raw. The drummer locks into a hard Ringo, the guitars buzz and jangle, and the group begins and ends the song hooting and hollering and sounding like they're having a blast. No wonder these hipster garage-rock preservationists gush when they discover this long forgotten recording.

And the rest? Sure, there's also a little bit of schlock mixed in. Honestly though, most of it is pretty decent music. It would never appeal to 90+ percent of today's youth, but well-sung sweet pop songs can only be so offensive, at least to my ears.

"Why Do Fools Fall in Love?" - Frankie Lymon (Gee Records, 1956)

So here's the playlist. Spend a little time getting beyond the familiar Elvis and co. and you might find something new stuck in your head too. One last bit of good news? In that same box of 45s is also a stack of 20 or so promo 45s that one of my father's relatives at Warner Bros. sent him in 1974. So if you're lucky, there's a future post coming about "Biggest Part of Me" by Ambrosia and "You're as Right as Rain" by Nancy Wilson, et al.

Food. Glorious Food - Update 2011: Austin Farmers Markets in Full Splendor

2011-06-30T20:55:00.001-05:00

We moved from New England down to toasty Austin for a number of reasons. I wouldn't say food was on the list, but turns out Austin is a much better food city than we had anticipated. The restaurant scene isn't going to be a threat to New York, Chicago or NoCal any time soon, but there's much more to offer than the customary 'cue, Tex-Mex and chicken-fried foodstuffs. Even better is the fresh food here. I'm talking local farms, great stores and bustling farmers markets that have something fresh to sell all year round.

We go to the Austin Farmers Market Downtown nearly every Saturday morning. The market has been growing slowly since we first started going, and now, during the peak season (which we're just finishing up), there's an amazing variety of fresh goods for sale.

During the hotter part of the summer, things slow down. In August, you might see little more than okra, squash, herbs and a few odd peppers. From May to June, though, you can find an amazing assortment of vegetables: Collards, different varieties of kale, chard and every other green; squash in an assortment of shapes; fresh, juicy garlic, onions and shallots; beautiful beets, carrots, turnips and other root veggies; plus, more exotic things such as opo, pea tendrils, squash blossoms and the like.

There are tons of good vegetable vendors there. Who you prefer will depend on what you're looking for. We usually check them all out once, then go back around a second time and buy the best stuff we see. For variety, Tecolote and Johnson's Backyard Garden are two safe bets. For some good deals, Ottmer's and some of the smaller farms are worth investigating.

Good late-Spring offering at the Austin Farmer's Market Downtown (clockwise from far left): Rainbow chard, two types of summer squash, purple carrots, radicchio, tomatoes, lacinato kale, red potatoes, peaches, small green plums, cukes sprinkled about.

The farmers market has gotten serious about meat as well. One guy there sells amazing, farm-raised fowl: chicken, duck and drake, guinea hen, sometimes pigeon if he has enough to harvest a few. We're landlocked here, but there's still a very good fish purveyor who buys on the Gulf Coast early, puts his stuff on ice and high-tails it to ATX. There are multiple options for great lamb and beef. And two different vendors are offering sausage, charcuterie and condiments of astonishing quality: Kocurek Family Charcuterie and Dai Due, run by local hero chef Jesse Griffiths (lots of prior posts about Dai Due -- mmmm).

Prepared foods are not the focus of the farmer's market, but there are still a smattering of good options for breakfast, lunch or a snack. Jesse from Dai Due cranks out amazing breakfasts and lunches alongside his to-go offerings. Grandma's Hummus is the best retail hummus I've ever tasted, hands down. I haven't tried one, but I've heard reliable good buzz about Bola Pizza, especially the breakfast pizza. Coffee, crazy-good hot chocolate, ice pops, Thai, Brazilian, baked items, and vegan food are among the other quality choices. And you can't go wrong with a breakfast taco from Sam at Taocdeli, which are some of the best in town.

Sam!

As the vegetable variety wanes, fruit offerings pick up. Right now is about as good as it gets: peaches, plums, figs, berries, pears and melons are everywhere. Last week, I got some great flat, white-fleshed "donut" peaches, which I've never seen outside a good supermarket's produce department.

Local white peaches. These things are seriously delicious.

I bought way too many plums meanwhile. Some of them are pretty tart, almost like a gooseberry. Perfect for a dessert of some kind, so I whipped up a couple of small rustic tarts, one with those tart plums (and a healthy dose of sugar), the other with fresh blackberries I picked up.

Pre-cooked tarts: plum (rear) and blackberry (front)

There are lots of similar recipes out there, but I actually like this one that my stepfather shared with me, from (shhh) Martha. There's even a pretty helpful video if you want to see some of it done. This will make one large tart or two smaller ones like the ones I made.

Rustic Plum Tart

Prep Time40 minutes
Total Time2 hours 20 minutes
YieldServes 6

Ingredients

For The Crust
- 1 cup all purpose flour (spooned and leveled), plus more for work surface
- 1/4 cup fine yellow cornmeal
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
For The Filling
- 1 1/2 pounds red plums, quartered, pitted, and sliced 1/4-inch thick
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 1 large egg yolk, mixed with 1 teaspoon water (egg wash)
Directions
1. Make the crust: In a food processor, pulse flour, cornmeal, sugar, and salt several times to combine. Add butter and pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal, with a few pea-size pieces remaining. Add 2 tablespoons ice water; pulse until dough is crumbly but holds together when squeezed. (If needed, add up to 2 tablespoons more ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time.) Do not overmix.
2. Turn dough out onto a floured work surface; knead once or twice. Flatten dough into a disk; wrap it in plastic, and refrigerate at least 1 hour.
3. Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil. Flour a large (about 16 inches long) piece of parchment paper. Place dough on paper. Using your knuckles, press edges of dough so it doesn't crack during rolling. Lightly flour top of dough to prevent sticking; roll out to a 14-inch round. Transfer dough (still on parchment) to prepared baking sheet.
4. Make the filling and bake: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a large bowl, toss together plums, sugar, and flour. Mound plum mixture in center of prepared crust, leaving a 2-inch border all around. Fold border over fruit in a pleated pattern. Brush dough with egg wash.
5. Bake tart until crust is brown and filling is bubbling (see note), about 45 minutes. Transfer baking sheet to a rack; let cool 20 minutes. Slice and serve warm or at room temperature.

If you can't make it downtown on Saturday, you're not shut out. There are other options here in Austin. Heck, just on Saturday morning there's another huge market down at the Barton Creek Square Mall, plus the Sunset Valley market, which is run by the same folks who put on the downtown market. On Sundays, there's the HOPE Farmers Market, a funky little collection of food and art vendors in the hip confines of East Austin. The Triangle farmer's market, up north, means you can find fresh veggies on Wednesdays too. Want more? Lookie here. No excuses then. Unless you're growing your own, get out there and take advantage of our local produce, and even if you do grow, go check out what Larry Kocurek, Jesse Griffiths and some of the other great local food artisans are doing.

Real Movie Watchers Update: Alamo Drafthouse's Coolness makes the New York Times

2011-06-25T16:15:00.006-05:00

A few days ago, we posted about how what we take for granted about local favorite movie house the Alamo Drafthouse -- that it takes its "no cell phone" rule seriously -- got the Drafthouse mentioned in the news. Sort of like the way some bars will take the bad fake IDs that they confiscate from under-aged drinking aspirants and hang them on the wall, the Drafthouse took a bitter, recently-ejected (ex-)patron's unintentionally humorous answering machine rant and turned it into one of the theater's notorious pre-movie "don't use your f---ing phone" warning bumpers. Seems that the story is still winding its way through the media. Upon opening a copy of yesterday's New York Times, I was surprised to see a little picture plus a story on the front of the Business section:

The article doesn't just talk about the incident, which has been picked up on CNN, ABC and other mainstream sources. There's also a bit on the theater's history, a little talk of changing social standards, and even a legal breakdown. So, could the caller get pissed and successfully sue the Drafthouse for using her message without her permission? "After reviewing the video, Anthony Falzone, an intellectual property lawyer and lecturer at Stanford Law School, concurred. Even if the caller were to come forward now, she could not claim she was defamed, 'because defamation must always be based on a false statement of fact' and, 'unless they manipulated the recording,' the recording is truthful, Mr. Falzone said. Also, leaving a voice mail for a business is not considered a private communication, meaning that the caller could not claim an invasion of privacy, said Mr. Falzone, adding that this was 'yet another example that in this day and age there is a public record about everything you say publicly.'" Sounds like a long shot. In other words, don't mess with the Alamo Drafthouse.

If the drunken message-leaving lady or Ann Richards isn't convincing you, maybe this will do?

Real Movie Watchers 1 - Texters 0: Drafthouse Rules!

2011-06-10T18:33:00.005-05:00

I caught this in the news the other day, and if it was any other movie theater I may not have believed it, but given it was our favorite film and food emporium the Alamo Drafthouse, I knew the story was legit. Short version goes like this:

Drafthouse has a strict no phoning/texting rule during movies, with the penalty being ejection without refund.
All films begin with the above rule being highlighted in a short film that drives the point home.
Someone was reported thumbing away and was, indeed, ejected.
Ejected texter later called, presumably drunk, and left a rambling, laughable angry rant, claiming unfairness.
Drafthouse took audio of call and used it to produce its latest "no phoning/texting" short:

Makes news.

Love it! Not only does the Alamo Drafthouse generally offer the best movie lineup, good beer and decent food brought to your table during movie in a brilliantly inconspicuous manner, along with great special events and series like Master Pancake Theater and the Rolling Roadshow and showings of The Point with Booger from Revenge of the Nerds singing Nilsson songs in the lobby. Yup, Alamo kicks a little butt too. I'm not one for overdoing it with rules and stuff, but keeping yourself quiet (and dark) for the duration of a film shouldn't be so hard, should it?

Houston City Limits: Free Press Summer Fest 2011 Wrap-Up Bullets

2011-06-07T18:00:00.013-05:00

Well, the consensus seems to be that Free Press Summer Fest III was a success. For those who didn't suffer from brainmelt or the like, a good time was had. Here's a rundown from some attendees:

Craig Hlavaty of the Houston Press' Rocks Off blog on Weezer's ownage: "Couples were kissing under the smoke, friends hugged and cheered, guys were spilling the last of their beers, and a few people had misty eyes as the fiery display hit its grand finale. Somewhere in there, Weezer walked offstage and let Houston have its little moment of bliss after spending two days in the rain, heat, stink, dirt, and did we mention the heat? Yes, Weezer did us right."
Zach Teibloom of Festival Crashers agrees, offering several videos to back up his rating of the band on several criteria, including a 19/20 for performance for which Teibloom had this to say: "Rivers [Cuomo] proved to be the front man of the festival and was impossible to keep your eyes off of. From the moment he came out with his hoodie pulled tight over his head for 'Undone (The Sweater Song)' until his flying leaps as fireworks erupted behind him for 'Buddy Holly,' he gave us the performance every Weezer fan thought was 'Only in Dreams' at this point in their career. He was a man of the people, demanding 'agua' for us as he hosed us down, climbing into the crowd for solos, taking the stage all by himself for the start of “Island in the Sun” and making up a song about how he wished it was raining before instructing us to just say 'hip, hip.' It sure was."

Festival Crashers' vid of Weezer doing "Island in the Sun"

Sounds like most people had a good time despite the hot weekend. Caitlin Witliff of The Horn was one of them, and offers up a comprehensive rundown of the musical offerings she sampled, including Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears, who [e]ven in the daytime heat ... offered all the energy they could muster, rolling around on the stage, beating on tent poles, headbanging hard enough to lose their sunglasses, and generally brightening the already sunshiney day." Her Saturday highlight, though, was fellow Austinite Zeale: "I had seen him perform before and knew how magnetic he was, but he brought it in a big way to Free Press. It has taken me a while to understand and appreciate rap and hip-hop, but Zeale makes it easy to love. He mashes up great songs with incredible lyrics, and despite spitting them out faster than a speeding bullet, he enunciates each word so you know exactly where he's coming from. I will also always (perhaps a bit narcissistically) be won over by artists who make it a point to call me out in a crowd, and when he performed his mashup of the Black & White Years' 'Up,' called 'Feed the Lion,' I sang along and he leaned into the crowd, pointing at me and saying, 'Yeah, you know this one!'" Sounds like a cool time, and trust me, you're not alone in being sold on those who shout you out.
For Beth Rankin of Beaumont Enterprise's Cat 5 blog, the bands she didn't plan on seeing turned out to steal the weekend. Her rundown also includes a nod to Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears as well as Eastern Sea and Roky Moon & Bolt: "I’d heard more than once that Roky Moon & Bolt’s show was a must-see, but now that I’ve seen it, I’m a believer. Incredible energy, a cast of characters and a Queen/Rocky Horror-esque sound kept me entertained during lengthy songs with multiple time signature changes and epic build-ups. I genuinely hope this Houston band makes it out our way again soon because they put on a hell of a show."
More the podcast type than a blog-reader? Try this: The Pod Crash offers up a podcast and this description: "We survived Free Press Summer Fest. Two grueling 10-hour days in the 100 degree Houston sun, but we made it through everything we wanted to see. Weezer surprised us as the best show of the festival, but we run through it all, who had the best dancers, what saved us from the heat, and what made it all feel so long. This was recorded at 3 a.m. Monday morning. Please keep that in mind. Click M4A for stream to begin. Thanks for listening."
Here's a cool one: The Loop Scoop offers up two "photo essays" on the festival -- one for each day. Saturday features pix and commentary on Los Skarnales, Junior Brown, Wicked Poseur, Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, Cop Warmth, Beirut, and yes, Black Joe again. Sunday's post has Robert Ellis, Hayes Carll, The Handshake, Eastern Sea, Fresh Millions, Yeasayer, Chromeo, Neon Indian, Amplified Heat and Cut Copy in the cross hairs.
Over at 29-95 they've done a thorough job running down each day as well, with recaps of day one and day two. Joe Mathlete offers his opinion on the first day's best: "In my view, Summerfest 2011 hit its zenith during F#@&%& Up's absolutely devastating late-afternoon set, somewhere between 300-plus pound frontman Damian Abraham's surprisingly successful crowd-surfing and brutal closer 'Son the Father.' Few working bands today can match the Toronto hardcore outfit in terms of sheer visceral power, and they whipped a sweaty pit of catharsis-hungry guys and girls (surprise, Dad! Girls listen to hardcore!) into a nuclear frenzy. 'Effed Up' definitely appeared quite Canadian (read: miserably hot and sticky) in the bajillion-degree Houston heat; luckily they had the foresight to write a song called 'I Hate Summer.' Abraham introduced the song by dedicating it to 'everyone who's ever been a little overweight.' Then he bellowed like a Catholic demon as three guitars that sounded like three thousand shamed the sun."
Well, I guess not everyone beat the heat. Staying away from music reporting, KHOU news noted that 100+ people were treated for heat-related ailments, although they did add this about the extremes some folks went to avoid the warmth: "For those who weren’t watching the bands, one of the most popular spots was the misting tent. Other concertgoers took a skimpier approach to beat the heat. 'I’ve seen the most naked people of any festival here. This definitely tops it. I actually feel like I want to join them, it’s so hot,' Tayler Middleton said." Hope you all liberally applied the SPF60.
Burn Down Blog's Evan goes over much more than just the music, devoting almost as much time to "people watching" as the bands: "Of course, the greatest sight from our wonderful spot was that of a woman in a bright pink dress with a Confederate Flag tattoo on her leg. I couldn’t get a picture, but you can use your imagination. I also did spy Aang, who was apparently either music bending, earth bending, or on drugs. It was hard to get a good shot of him, because he was moving so much. I should have let out a yip-yip." That's Evan's "Aang" link, by the way.
Luke at What's That Dude Play? knows it's all about timing: " I rolled in just in time to catch a stretch of pop-punk fun from prop-rockers Peelander Z of Japan. Midway through their set on the Budweiser stage they were dressed in uni-colored spandex suits — yellow, pink, green. But there were more costumes to come. A squid and someone dressed like a tiger waltzed on stage during a rousing rendition of ‘Mad Tiger,’ an anthem primarily based around a repeated cartoonish 'Boooooiiinngggggg!' That one really got the crowd moshing, a commendable task in the unrelenting sunshine. With boundless energy and even an onstage round of the Limbo, what’s not to like?"
Well, okay, KHOU didn't entirely skip the musical part of the festival. Here's some video from the weekend:

Houston City Limits? Free Press Summer Fest III This Weekend

2011-06-02T17:37:00.003-05:00

Houston and Austin may be only a couple of hours apart by car, but in so many ways the two Texas cities are worlds apart. Houston has oil, Austin has music, right? Sure, except this coming weekend, when Houston plays host to the two-day Free Press Summer Fest, June 4 and 5 at Eleanor Tinsley Park. If you're a fan of bands that start with W-E-E, you're in luck, because both Weezer and Ween are at the top of the line-up. Overall, the line-up is pretty strong. Bands like Yeasayer, Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, the Black Angels and Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears are good bets to put on fun shows. Toward the lower part of the line-up, the artists might not be as well known (or good), but at least the names are entertaining. If Vivian Pickles and the Sweethearts Uber-Alles are as good as their name, hot damn!

Basic weekend passes start at $45. Quite a bargain next to the likes of, well, ACL.

Full Line-Up:

WEEZER • CUT COPY • WEEN
BIG BOI • BEIRUT • YEASAYER
SHARON JONES & THE DAP KINGS
CHROMEO • Z-RO • TOBACCO • BUN B
JUNIOR BROWN • THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER
BLACK JOE LEWIS & THE HONEYBEARS
JASON ISBELL & THE 400 UNIT
HAYES CARLL• 12TH PLANET • NEON INDIAN

FUCKED UP - THE MEMORIALS - KYLESA - THOSE DARLINS - AMPLIFIED HEAT - THE ROLLER - SUNDRESS - INDIAN JEWELRY - IRON AGE - FRESH MILLIONS - THE DONKEYS - LIL KEKE - GUITAR WOLF - THE BLACK ANGELS - HEALTH - ETERNAL SUMMERS - PROTOMEN - THAVIUS BECK - LOWER DENS

ESPANTAPAJAROS ¤ RIVERS ¤ ZEALE ¤ BLACK LEATHER JESUS ¤ FEATHERFACE
THE BACK POCKETS ¤ THUNDERKUNT ¤ WILD MOCCASINS ¤ FINNEGAN
GOREALAH SOUL ¤ WICKED POSEUR ¤ ART INSTITUTE LIMITED
VINCENT PRICELESS ¤ PASADENA NAPALM DIVISION ¤ CLOCKPOLE
FREE RADICALS ¤ DELICIOUS MILK ¤ CAVERNOUS ¤ SOMOSUNO
AMERICAN FANGS ¤ THE HANDSHAKE ¤ WOOZY HELMET ¤ THE GRASS SKIRTS
NICEGUYS ¤ VENEMOUS MAXIMUS ¤ LINUS PAULING QUARTET ¤ THE HATES
THA PHOUNDATION ¤ YOUNG GIRLS ¤ GLASNOST ¤ FEMALE DEMAND
ARTHUR YORIA ¤ SIMPLE SUCCESS ¤ BLACK CONGRESS ¤ BUXTON
DEFENDING THE KINGDOM ¤ EASTERN SEA ¤ LEG SWEEPER ¤ ROMULUS ATE
ART INSTITUTE ¤ DISFRUTALO ¤ B L A C K I E ¤ PERSEPH ONE ¤ YPPAH
ROKY MOON AND BOLT ¤ RATS IN HEAVEN ¤ DEAD REVOLT ¤ MUHAMMADALI
NOSAPRISE ¤ RUSTED SHUT ¤ ROBERT ELLIS ¤ COPWARMTH
ORGAN FAILURE ¤ GIANT PRINCESS ¤ POOPY LUNGSTUFFING ¤ LIMB
OMOTAI ¤ THE ANNOYSTERS ¤ LOS SKARNALES ¤ ANI DIFRANCO'S DICK
JODY SEABODY AND THE WHIRLS ¤ STATE VS JUDD NELSON
SIDESHOW TRAMPS ¤ CO-PILOT ¤ THE WATERMARKS ¤ SINGS
GIANT BATTLE MONSTER ¤ YOUNG MAMMALS ¤ FAT TONY
VIVIAN PIKKLES AND THE SWEETHEARTS UBER-ALLES
GRANDFATHER CHILD ¤ THE TON TONS ¤ EYES BURN ELECTRIC
THE MANICHEAN ¤ TAX THE WOLF ¤ THE MAHAS
BY THE END OF TONIGHT ¤ CRYING SPELL ¤ INDICATOR DOGS
THE BEETS ¤ TYAGARAJA ¤ THE BAD WOLF ¤ SPAIN COLORED ORANGE
GENERATION LANDSLIDE ¤ BRAINS FOR DINNER ¤ CHASE HAMBLIN
DAY N DAZE ¤ THE NONSENSE MUSIC BAND ¤ SERUM FANTIS
OUTER KEVIN ¤ SOMETHING FIERCE ¤ HARRY & THE POTTERS
BORN AGAIN VIRGINS ¤ CADDYWHOMPUS ¤ MARIA TAYLOR
PEJMAN ¤ MICHAEL WATTS AND THE SWISHAHOUSE CREW
BOBBY DJ ¤ CEEPLUS BAD KNIVES ¤ DAYTA ¤ DJ CZECH 1
DA MONKEYS ¤ FREDSTER ¤ FULL EFFECT MC ¤ DAMON ALLEN
KAM ¤ HENRY CHOW ¤ GRRRL PARTS ¤ JOHN THE THIRD
JUXTA ¤ MR. BRISTLE ¤ SINES ¤ SQUINCY JONES
KNOME ¤ MR. CASTILLO ¤ SURAJ K ¤ UPGREYED
WES WALZ ¤ REVERBERATION DJS ¤ JASMINE ROSE

R.I.P. Gil Scott-Heron

2011-05-31T18:48:00.004-05:00

Gil Scott-Heron died on Friday. To me, his lyrics always seemed to be speaking to my people, focusing on the big picture issues that I cared about and felt like other people should care about just as much. Here's one that I would say sums up the way I feel about music as well as anyone could put it:

Ever feel kinda of down and out and don't know just what to do?

Livin' all of days in darkness, let the sun shine through

Ever fell that somehow, somewhere you lost your way?

And if you don't get help you won't make it through the day

You could call on Lady Day!

You could call on John Coltrane!

They'll wash your troubles, your troubles away

Plastic people with plastic minds on their way to plastic homes

There's no beginning, there ain't no ending

just on and on and on and on and...

It's all because we're so afraid to say that we're alone

until our hero rides in, rides in on his saxophone

You could call on Lady Day!

You could call on John Coltrane!

They'll wash your troubles, your troubles away

"Lady Day and John Coltrane" by Gil Scott-Heron, from Pieces of a Man (1971)

The Last Remains of Real Radio (plus a guide to non-commercial radio in Austin)

2011-05-30T17:17:00.002-05:00

And if I don't see ya, in a long, long while

I'll try to find you

Left of the dial

"Left of the Dial" - The Replacements, from Tim (1985)

What's happened to the radio that I once knew? When I say "radio," I don't refer to those other things that claim to be called radio -- i.e., things delivered via satellite or internet wires. Just the kind that gets sent in radio waves. Few people bother nowadays given the other options. Even in the car, seems like most music fans have given up and switched to satellite.

So, does such a thing as good radio even exist anymore? I'll tell you: it's still there, but it's on life support. Down low in the 80s and low 90s typically, where things like college, public and cooperative radio are found. Occasionally you find a pretty good indie or renegade commercial radio station higher up. Still, almost all of my radio listening since I was about 17 has been below 93 FM. Good radio has been reduced to a few small notches on the far left of the tuner range.

It hasn't always been that way, and it shouldn't have to be. In my early radio listening days in the late 70s and early 80s, commercial stations were very genre-specific like most of today's big time stations. The difference was in the content. For whatever reasons, stations were able to mix up the songs a lot more. I'm sure a lot of it has to do with the growth in generic stations owned by giant conglomerates rather than local folks. Seems like every other station beyond that 93 spot on the dial is owned by Clear Channel. But back then, regardless of genre, if I moved my FM dial around between classic/current rock, top 40, R&B, oldies, etc. stations I could pick up in Hamden, CT, over time I'd get a pretty good mix of material. Maybe some schlock thrown in, like a little too much Rush and Genesis, but that's just an unavoidable consequence of it being the early 80s.

As I got older and more musically curious, I naturally started moving my dial further down to the left. In Hamden/New Haven, that primarily meant 88.7 WNHU. This being a decade plus before the time of MP3 trading and the like, there weren't too many ways to get exposed to new things. On NHU, I started to listen to hip-hop as it hit the Golden Age, mostly courtesy of New Haven hip-hop stalwart DJ Money Moses. I caught a little hardcore, early electronic music, and plenty of "college rock." They'd play the most obscure things that would never have a chance at airplay higher up the dial. Every hear of Uncle Bonsai or Mahatma Dogma? You're far from alone.

I soon moved on to Boston, a city with a deserved reputation as a college student mecca. The depth and quality of college radio in and around Boston is remarkable. Soon after my arrival, I was mainly flipping my tuner between a few of my favorites: 88.1 WMBR (MIT), 88.9 WERS (Emerson), 91.9 WUMB (BU), 95.3 WHRB (Harvard), and, of course, my own school's 91.5 WMFO (Tufts). As I got to know the stations better, I knew where to go for what. MBR had the best hip-hop shows, although both ERS and HRB also were good in that department. ERS was the clear winner for reggae, with all subgenres covered in the 5:00-8:00 PM slot (to this day). MFO had good local rock, thanks to Mikey Dee's On the Town. Granted, Boston probably had a better commercial radio scene than most places back then. Still, you couldn't touch the left side of the dial for quality, diversity and the all-important coolness factor.

A year into school, I started DJing at WMFO with a buddy of mine. The station was loaded with 40,000 or so LPs, and we dug right in. After a while, we settled on a funk music format for our show. That's where the beauty of that ridiculous record collection comes in handy. See, anyone can play James Brown and P-Funk over and over, but to do a weekly show with an ounce or two of originality, you need to dig a bit deeper. Thanks to the MFO music library, I was introduced to -- and shared with whoever was listening -- the likes of Faze-O, Switch, Eddie Russ and Shotgun. The more I got to know the station, to more I started listening, too. Sure, there was plenty of lameness, but there were some great DJs among the ranks: Main Man, "AK" with Stab It N' Steer, the aforementioned Mikey Dee. When we eventually moved out of Boston in 1994, one of the things I ended up missing the most was the radio scene. Sounds a bit dorky, but no lie.

If you were paying attention to the times, you could see the transformation in radio coming. In the Reagan-Bush years and frankly Clinton as well, laws continued to become more stacked in favor of larger business interests. Antitrust laws seem to have slowly been softened, or enforcement has, or both. Local has been replaced by chain. Everything is more generic. Radio too. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 has resulted in a growing concentration of ownership, which has resulted in steadily increasing homogeneity. Stations are all owned by the same few companies. Playlists often are dictated to DJs. Ugly stuff, and bad listening.

So what can you do about it? For one thing, support the remaining good radio out there. Particularly if you're lucky enough to live somewhere with a few good college or community stations or even just one, turn them on. Don't spend money on SiriusXM. Sure, the variety's great, but you can only listen to one thing at a time anyway, right? Instead, donate the money to your local station. Keep it in the community. Don't succumb to the Man!

Community Radio in and around Austin

The left-of-the-dial radio scene here in Austin isn't quite as rich with stations as it is in a city like Boston with dozens of colleges. But it isn't too bad either. The two stations that share the dial at 91.7 are my faves: KOOP and KVRX.

KOOP - 91.7 FM: KOOP is a community radio station that controls the frequency from 9:00 AM until different times from 7:00 PM till 11:00 PM, depending on the day of the week. As you might imagine of a community radio station based here in Austin, you get a pretty wide mix of sounds. None of it is mainstream, some of it is a bit weird, a good portion of it is "free form," but much of it is really good radio.

KVRX - 91.7 FM: KVRX, the station for the University of Texas, broadcasts at 91.7 the rest of the time. Content-wise, I'd call it a pretty typical college station. College students, bless them, have more time to spend focusing on things like indie rock, not to mention far superior access to the word on the street and internet. As the website says, KVRX promises none of the hits, all of the time. Because, remember: no hits is not the same thing as not good.

KUT - 90.5 FM: The other station that gets some airplay in my world is 90.5, KUT public radio. KUT broadcasts some NPR content and some local stuff. The signal is a lot stronger than the 91.7 stations, so when I head out to, say, Taylor for brisket, I'll usually end up on 90.5.

So, with that background, here's a quick rundown of some of my favorite shows on the "Big Three" of Austin non-commercial radio:

SUN 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM on KOOP: "Czech Melody Time" with Thomas Durnin. Central Texas has deep central European roots. Czech Melody Time celebrates this heritage with passion. The show -- on the air for over 15 years -- features "Texas polka, waltz and march music as represented by the music performed and recorded by various orchestras of Texas-Czech, German and Polish origin, both past and present." Not exactly what I put on when I'm sitting around in my living room, but when I jump in the car to grab a cup of coffee and a Sunday newspaper, I always smile when the oom-pah-pah comes on.
SUN 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM on KOOP: "Hip-Hop Hooray" with Miss Manners and dj t-kay. Roots, golden age, underground, etc. In other words, the GOOD hip-hop. MC Lyte to Madlib to Mobonix.
MON - FRI 8:30 AM - 11:30 AM on KUT: "Eklektikos" with John Aielli. Eklektik music. In other words, sometimes great, sometimes terrible, but usually interesting.
MON - THU 11:30 AM - 2:30 PM on KUT: "Music with Jay Trachtenberg." Solid freeform with a mellow indie pop/rock slant. Perhaps a bit too fond of Andrew Bird. "Dad Rock," some might say, but solid nonetheless.
WED 7:00 AM - 9:00 AM on KVRX: "Blues at Sunrise" with DJs Smokehouse Brown and Scotchman. These guys have a picture of Blind Lemon Jefferson on his web page. Need I say more?
FRI 7:00 AM - 9:00 AM on KVRX: "Jammy Jams" with Rebecca. Rebecca is cynical, opinionated, and frank. If she's in a shit mood, not only will she tell her audience, but she'll play 20 minutes of noise to project that darkness. And she'll know that nobody else is enjoying it, but she won't care. But it isn't all misery. This is free form music with an emphasis on the "free." Mainstream radio might champion Lady Gaga as it's lipsticked, garishly-dressed diva, but Rebecca chooses Tonetta.

SAT 9:00 AM - 10:00 PM on KOOP: Saturday is an oddball radio bonanza on KOOP, and it's genre soup. Most of the day is about as far from mainstream commercial radio as you can reasonably get while not being so off-the-wall as to kill the entertainment value. In fact, Saturday is often one of the best days to listen to KOOP ... if you have an open mind. Highlights for me are the illustratively-named "Big Band & Classic Jazz" hosted by Thomas Durnin, which leads off Saturday's line-up; The next slot, the long-running "Lounge Show" with Jay Robillard, for two hours of exotica, space music, and easy listening, and the best place in Austin to get your Eartha Kitt on; and the afternoon "Graveside Service" hosted by Messrs. Harris and Spradling, a weekly memorial to musicians on the anniversaries of their deaths.

ACL 2011: Line-up is out and it's, um, full of Wonder

2011-05-29T16:16:00.012-05:00

If you're familiar with us, you knew it wouldn't be long before we opened up the 2011 Austin City Limits Music Festival season. The line-up announcement seems like a good launching point. Headlining this year is the legendary Stevie Wonder (although he is playing on Saturday, while the traditional headliner's Sunday closing slot is being filled by the hot Arcade Fire). We, like many other hopefuls, were shut out of early bird three-day passes. We were out of town when the regular sale started, and those passes went quickly. So we decided to do what we've talked about doing the last couple of years: We bought a one-day pass (Saturday) and will focus the rest of our efforts on the pre-shows and aftershows that weekend, which are indoors and at night anyway.

So ... Stevie! I'm sure there are a few folks out there who are clueless and think of Stevie Wonder as a guy who had a few hits in the 70s, then gave us "I Just Called to Say I Love You" and "Ebony & Ivory." The rest of us enlightened folks are well aware that between say 1970 and 1976, Stevie was cranking out beautiful tunes with such consistency it would make Lennon & McCartney jealous. I was lucky to grow up with a father who was a big-time fan and learned early on to appreciate the wonder of Wonder. If you weren't so lucky, or if you're just in a celebratory, "Stevie's playing at ACL" kind of mood like we are, we've created a music widget (below) with a selection of Stevie Wonder songs from the start of his career up through the end of his best period. Not just the hits, but also some of the good album cuts. If you are one of the amateurs and have more time, I highly recommend listening to everything between 1971's Where I'm Coming From through 1976's Songs in the Key of Life. Don't blame me if you come back hooked.

If you don't have the time, then just click below and enjoy.

Oh, and here's the full line-up (pic c/o amooview.blogspot.com/):

Record Store Day: In Austin, a Religious Holiday

2011-04-16T17:26:00.021-05:00

It's the most musical time of the year!

Well, there are a lot of big music days here in Austin: ACL, SouthBy, Old Settlers, Fun Fun Fun, Willie's birthday, etc. If you're going to start calling yourself the Live Music Capital of the World, you'd better be prepared to back it up. So maybe Record Store Day isn't the biggest, but it really shows off a good side of Austin: the great indie record store scene.

For the uninitiated, Record Store Day is a celebration of great recorded music and the retail outlets that bring it to you. As told by the official website: "This is the one day that all of the independently owned record stores come together with artists to celebrate the art of music. Special vinyl and CD releases and various promotional products are made exclusively for the day and hundreds of artists in the United States and in various countries across the globe make special appearances and performances. Festivities include performances, cook-outs, body painting, meet & greets with artists, parades, djs spinning records and on and on."

The list of special releases this year was mouthwatering. Lots of oldies and new stuff as well. Some were even a little of both, like Green Day splitting a 7" with heroes Hüsker Dü with each side featuring a version of the latter's "Don't Wanna Know if You Are Lonely." The old stuff in particular looked really juicy: Re-releases by the 13th Floor Elevators, Yardbirds, Stones, Hendrix, Skip James, Roy Orbison and more, mostly on vinyl. New releases weren't too shabby either, with Panda Bear and Fleet Foxes atop many a turntable-owning indie hipster's wish list. I put some of these on my own list, along with a double vinyl 180 gram edition of Television's Live at the Old Waldorf from 1979.

A friend of mine had warned me that Waterloo Records, the king of local records stores, would be mobbed. I wasn't sure how bad it would be. Rachel and I decided to head over for some breakfast at Counter Cafe, since the food is great and it is strategically located between Waterloo and Cheapo Discs, another of Austin's many participating stores (see list at bottom).

Turned out my friend was spot on though, because after breakfast, five minutes before opening time at Waterloo there was a line of a couple hundred people waiting to get in. Seriously? It looked like a bunch of scruffy young adults at the conclusion of a pilgrimage to some great shrine. I guess music is truly a religion here.

Hoping for a better scene, we headed to Cheapo, which opened at the same time. Over there, only a dozen or so people were waiting. I figured maybe the selection would be pretty limited, but I was able to get my hands on lots of what I was looking for. I scored a couple of 7" oldies singles, a 10" Springsteen single and some live Sonic Youth as well as that Television record. The last two were pretty colors, too!

Spinning colored vinyl on Record Store Day

In addition to the vinyl take, we got some great freebies as well: A bag with odds and ends and about a dozen sampler CDs. Good stuff too - listening to Sub Pop while I type, with a Coachella sampler on deck. And we didn't even take the free Seether t-shirt! Not sure what the line at Waterloo was all about. When the line there was too big for any reasonable person to endure, Cheapo was there for us!

Our take -- purchased (top) and shwagadelic (bottom)

We were away the last couple of Record Store Days, so I had been looking forward to this one since I saw mention of it. I ended up only hitting up one of the many stores, but expectations were met nonetheless. Already looking forward to the next one.

Participating Stores in Austin

Immortal Performances

Musicmania

WEBSITE

Out of the Past Collectibles

WEBSITE

Snake Eyes Vinyl

WEBSITE

Trailer Space Records

2011 Austin Music Awards: The Bright Light Social Hour brings home a bundle

2011-03-29T18:18:00.008-05:00

One of the highlights of South by Southwest is the annual Austin Music Awards. This year (the 29th by the way - that's a lot!) the big winner was our faves the Bright Light Social Hour, who hit the trifecta. The quartet took home the big award for Band of the Year, plus Album (self-titled) and Song (the retro-rock tempo-shifting "Detroit" -- check out our SotY playlist below). Bassist/singer Jack O'Brien also took 6th place in the Musician of the Year category, won by psychedelic rock lord Roky Erickson. If only there was a Mustache of the Year award, Jack would win without question.

Other winners: Sahara Smith (female vocalist, songwriter and folk); Freshmillions (best new band); Los Lonely Boys (best rock band); Jeff Lofton (best jazz band); and Mother Falcon (best none of the above). Inducted into the hall of fame: Bubble Puppy, ... And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead, Tortilla Factory, the Wagoneers, Okkervil River and MC Overlord.

Congratulations to all 2011 Austin Music Awards winners.

Here's the aforementioned 2011 Austin Music Awards Song of the Year playlist widget. Not quite every song from the top 20, but most. Have a favorite? An opinion on who will be the next band to break out, Mother Falcon or Quiet Company? Leave a comment.

2011 Song of the Year

1. "Detroit," by the Bright Light Social Hour

2. "How Do You Do It" by Taylor Muse for Quiet Company

3. "The Real Thing," by Sahara Smith

4. "Carrie," by Speak

5. "Who's to Blame, Senorita?" by Shawn Sahm/Doug Sahm for Texas Tornados

6. "Could've Been a Country Star," by Julian Fernandez for Los Texas Wranglers

7. "Back and Forth," by the Bright Light Social Hour

8. "Austin," by Eric Johnson

9. "Telephone," by the Black Angels

10. "Beautiful Freak," by Kimberly Freeman for One-Eyed Doll

11. "Anchor," by Alejandro Escovedo/Chuck Prophet for Alejandro Escovedo

12. "Providence," by Saints of Valory

13. "Green Diamond," by Eric Tessmer

14. "Faint Green Light," by Mother Falcon

15. "Lucky," by Kat Edmondson

16. "New Morning," by Alpha Rev

17. "If I Had My Way," traditional, arranged by Patty Griffin

18. "We Pourin' Up," by Lady & the Amp

19. "Summer of Love," by Josh Zee/Teal Collins for the Mother Truckers

20. "You're To Blame," by Elizabeth McQueen

Getting Over the SXSW Hangover: A month's worth of great shows

2011-03-22T17:48:00.041-05:00

One very nice thing about Austin is that even after a blowout like South by Southwest -- a week in which nearly every living musical artist that's recorded a song in the last 30 years plays a live show here -- there's always something to look forward to. This year, April seems to be overloaded with good shows. Not only that, you won't have to follow a twitter feed to locate the secret mustard yellow Chevy El Camino parked in the secret parking lot that's handing out fliers with the secret phone number that tells you were to get the line for the show that's actually got more people on it than the capacity of the venue that you're trying to get into.

In a lot of ways, April is more of a month to celebrate live music here in Austin than March. A lot of locals I'm sure would agree. In anticipation of the month to come, we've put together a list of our Austin area concert picks for April 2011. 32 shows for 30 days. Also, over on the right side of our page, we've updated our Grooveshark player with a mix from the bands listed below. That way you can do a little investigative research before deciding whether to ante up.

There's much more than we could ever possibly list. If you're interested in other listings, I recommend checking out Austin360, Austinist, Do512 or Yelp! Events. Also, tickets for many of these shows are available at Waterloo Records (check the list here).

4/1 (Fri): Cold War Kids, Baths, Drew Holcomb & The Neighbors ][ Stubb's (outside) ][ sold out ][ doors @ 7:00

4/1 - 4/3 (Fri-Sun): 10th Annual Lonestar Round Up f. Alejandro Escovedo, Jimmie Vaughan, The Ugly Beats and others ][ Travis County Expo Center ][ no advance sales; $10 wristbands sold at gate for those without a car registered (more info)

From the official website: "It's hard to believe its been a whole decade since we started this thing, just a small gathering on an old football field of like-minded gearheads, artists and musicians who love traditionally-styled Hot Rods and Kustoms, that became an annual tradition right here in Austin, Texas. It's now a huge car show with amazing rides driven here from all over the country, and attracts visitors from all over the world. Its a killer live music festival, its some seriously talented artists, pinstripers & unique shopping, its great food and cold drinks, its folks and friends and families getting together for a special Texas-sized weekend."

4/2 (Sat): Del the Funkee Homosapien (FREE!) ][ Mohawk ][ doors @ 8:00

I have seen Del a couple of times over the last few years. Each time he put on a pretty tight show of mostly classic material. He also brings people with him from Hieroglyphics -- last time it was A-Plus from Souls of Mischief. Plus, it's free!

4/3 (Sun): Scissor Sisters ][ Stubb's (outside) ][ TIX ][ doors @ 7:00

I have never seen a show live, but from what I've seen of their performances in video, I suspect that a dance party will break out on the 800 block of Red River that night.

4/6 (Wed): The Residents ][ Mohawk ][ TIX ][ doors @7:30

If you're lucky, you'll find out who these people are. Nobody's been able to do that, though, for 39 years, making the identity of the members of the Residents the biggest mystery in rock music after Who's So Vain.

4/7 (Thu): Guster, Jukebox the Ghost ][ Stubb's ][ TIX ][ doors @ 7:00

I'm not really a Guster fan. Not that I dislike Guster -- I really barely know the group's work. From what music of theirs I've heard, they sound fine and dandy to me. Nothing planet-shattering, but then again, so little is. However, on a much more important note, the quartet formed at Rachel and my alma mater (Tufts) while we were there (a very long time ago). So go check out the biggest music sensation out of Medford/Somerville next to the Tufts Beelzebubs scoring big on "The Sing Off."

4/8 (Fri): Wire, TBA ][ Mohawk ][ TIX ][ doors @ 9:00

How often do you get a chance to see a legendary rock group that still has its shit together in a great indoor-outdoor venue with a capacity under 700?

4/9 (Sat): The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Twin Shadow ][ Emo's (outside) ][ TIX ][ doors @ 9:00

We caught Pains about a year ago at Mohawk. Apparently the rise continues as they've moved on to the slightly roomier outdoor space at Emo's. The raw rockers deserve it, and I imagine they'll fill up the space with beautiful noise. Here's the Pains of Being Pure at Heart doing "Heart in Your Heartbreak" live on Letterman a couple nights ago (3/23/11).

4/9 (Sat): Warpaint, RVT, Family Band ][ La Zona Rosa ][ TIX ][ doors @ 8:00

Warpaint opened for Sonic Youth back in October for an ACL aftershow. During that show at La Zona Rosa, they seemed ready to headline. Lots of things going on in Warpaint's music, including (Rachel notes) a moderate dose of trip-hop a la Portishead. Could bands finally have gotten over mining the 80s for inspiration?

4/10 (Sun): Maserati, My Education ][ Mohawk (indoors) ][ TIX ][ doors @ 9:00

4/10 (Sun): Bill Callahan (book reading) ][ Book People ][ 5:00

4/10 (Sun): Real Estate, TBA ][ The Parish ][ TIX ][ doors @ 8:00

From David Bevan of Pitchfork's review of Real Estate's 2009 eponymous LP (rated 8.5/10): "[W]hat sets Real Estate apart from the rest of the herd is how evergreen its beauty can be. Despite the summery song titles and the beach balling associations that might follow these guys around, this music transcends the notion of seasons. Inside the overcast tenor of 'Black Lake' and the airy upstrokes of 'Green River,' there's much more at play here than what goes on between the months of June through September. And impressionism aside, this is a band whose chemistry and technical gifts suggest there's more coming down the pipeline: more good times to be soundtracked, and more songs and records and sounds to communicate exactly that."

4/12 (Tue): The Raveonettes, Tamaryn, Hips Have Fangs (outside) ][ Emo's ][ TIX ][ doors @ 9:00

4/12 (Tue): Kings of Leon, Band of Horses ][ Frank Erwin Center ][ TIX ][ doors @ 7:00

4/13 (Wed): British Sea Power, A Classic Education ][ Mohawk ][ TIX ][ doors @ 6:30

4/14 - 4/17 (Thu-Sun): Old Settler's Music Festival f. The Avett Brothers, The Richard Thompson Electric Trio, Band of Heathens, Jake Shimabukuro, Sam Bush and many more ][ Salt Lick Pavilion (Driftwood) ][ TIX

4/14 (Thu): Gogol Bordello ][ Stubb's ][ TIX ][ doors @ 6:00

4/16 (Sat): Pete Yorn, Ben Kweller, The Wellspring ][ Stubb's ][ TIX ][ doors @ 7:00

4/19 (Tue): Yacht, TBA ][ Emo's (outside) ][ TIX ][ doors @ 9:00

4/20 (Wed): The Kills, Cold Cave, The Entrance Band ][ La Zona Rosa ][ TIX ][ doors @ 7:00

4/21 (Thu): Foals, Freelance Whales, The Naked & Famous ][ La Zona Rosa ][ TIX ][ doors @ 8:00

4/21 (Thu): Interpol, School of Seven Bells ][ Austin Music Hall ][ TIX

4/21 (Thu): Titus Andronicus, TBA ][ Emo's (outside) ][ TIX ][ doors @ 9:00

4/22 (Fri): Cut Copy, Holy Ghost! ][ Stubb's (outside) ][ TIX ][ doors @ 7:00

4/23 (Sat): Those Darlins ][ Mohawk ][ TIX ][ doors @ 8:00

These young ladies (and gentleman) played with a lot of fun and energy during their set at ACL last year. I bought the self-titled LP and quite enjoy the mix of punk and country, sweet and bawdy. The Mohawk is a great spot for Darlins show. They should feed off of the intimacy. If you want to check 'em out, there a free download available of the title track to their upcoming LP release, "Screws Get Loose."

4/27 Wed): Rooney, Skybombers, Voxhaul Broadcast ][ Emo's (outside) ][ TIX ][ doors @ 8:00

4/27 (Wed): Flogging Molly ][ Stubb's (outside) ][ TIX ][ doors @ 6:00

4/28 (Thu): Black Lips, Vivian Girls ][ Emo's (outside) ][ TIX ][ doors @ 9:00

4/29 - 5/1 (Fri-Sun): Austin Psych Fest f. Roky Erickson, The Black Angels, Atlas Sound, Crystal Stilts, Prefuse 73, No Joy, Fresh and Onlys, Growlers, many more (full lineup) ][ Seaholm Power Plant ][ TIX & more

Roky's Austin's favorite comeback kid. He's just the icing on the cake at this very cool sounding festival at one of the trendiest places in Austin these days to throw down, Seaholm. Rachel and I will be relaxing in Mexico that weekend, so if you go, send us some notes!

4/30 (Sat): The Decemberists, Other Lives ][ Stubb's (outside) ][ TIX ][ doors @ 7:00

4/30 (Sat): Grupo Fantasma ][ Paramount Theater ][ TIX ][ 8:00

4/30 (Sat): Willie Nelson's Birthday Celebration ][ The Backyard ][ TIX ][ doors @ 6:00

You probably think we end every month here in Austin with a Willie concert. I gather there was a time not that long ago when he did play pretty regularly, but he's scaled back. These days, when the Red Headed Stranger's not touring, I imagine he's mainly just chilling (and getting high). Still, count on him for a birthday party and 4th of July picnic every year. As long as there's a Willie. Here's the man performing "Me and Paul" at the old Backyard in 2008:

SXSW 2011 Bullets (3/20/11)

2011-03-20T12:51:00.016-05:00

One final set of bullets as the festival comes to a close. Only 6 months until ACL!

Shows that sound almost too good to be true -- huge stars, free drinks and food, cool location -- often are for the unlucky masses. Chuck Eddy of Rolling Stone on the reality of the exclusivity prevalent at SXSW as demonstrated by the closing party at VEVO Power Station: "But first, everybody had to get in. Or at least the so-called "lucky 2000" that actually got badges or VIP passes did; the lower caste horde left pushing outside – which around half past midnight felt like it was about to turn into a 1979 Who audience in Cincinnati – will have to watch a filmed version later. This writer actually had to be personally pulled up through the middle of the crowd by a helpful security agent and to jump over a barrier fence in the process, after circling his badge high in the air to signal his location, and he apparently wasn't alone. And days before that, it was necessary to repeatedly text a cryptic phrase to a secret number, and repeatedly receive texted rejections in return stating capacity had already been reached, then eventually get an email indicating otherwise and from there pick up a secret badge in the bar lobby of a secret hotel – hence hyping up an oddly elitist sense of exclusivity and scarcity that naïfs might foolishlessly think is the antithesis of a festival once meant to democratically showcase not-yet-rockstar talent. And once one got in and the show finally started, one found some of the most impossible sight lines of one's concert-going career, and sonics not a whole lot more useful." And what about the performances from the over-the-top lineup? "Mos Def proved the most rhythmically dexterous, Pusha T of the Clipse had the richest voice, and Jay- Z the hardest stomp, which partly explains why he got the crowd the most pumped up. Which left Kanye merely the artiest and most conceptual."
For another take on Kanye's performance, check this out from Chris Riemenschneider of the Minneapolis Star Tribune: "Everything about the fest-ending VIP party headed up by Kanye West at an abandoned Austin power plant was massive on a scale befitting Kanye, and maybe no one else. For starters, the site of the event (the Seaholm Power Plant) was massive and stunning enough visually to serve as a battle scene in the next 'Transformers' movie. The roster of guest performers -- performing under the banner of Kanye's company G.O.O.D. Music -- was also very Megatron-like, starting with Jay-Z, who showed up at the end of Kanye’s 90-minute set (almost 4 a.m.) to perform 'H.A.M.' John Legend came on in the middle for a little 'Ordinary People,' and Mos Def served as the opening act, plus a small army of B-list singers and rappers, including Pusha-T, Mr. Hudson and Big Shine. Eau Claire’s own Justin Vernon (of Bon Iver fame) also did some backup singing. Oh, and an entire marching band was brought on stage during 'All the Lights,' in case we didn’t already get the idea that Kanye is king almighty." Get the sense someone's not a big fan of the shtick?
There were other hip-hop icons that made headlines. Nate Dogg tributes seemed to be a common theme. Jeff Weiss of the L.A. Times' Pop & Hiss blog: "Though the officially advertised Nate Dogg tribute may have occurred later on Saturday night, it was clear from Snoop Dogg's Funk n' Soul Extravaganza at the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas, that the Death Row diaspora will spend the rest of its days paying homage to its prematurely deceased friend. Backed by longtime crew Tha Dogg Pound and Warren G, along with recent collaborators modern funk messiah Dam-Funk and slick soulman Mayer Hawthorne, Snoop and company largely wore matching RIP Nate Dogg shirts. But a visual reminder was unnecessary. Nate Dogg's (a.k.a. Nathanial Hale) Swisher Sweet voice was omnipresent on nearly every hit the crew performed, including 'Ain't No Fun (If the Homies Can't Have None),' 'Regulate' and 'The Next Episode.' ... Snoop performed with a focus that suggested the performance was more than just an attempt to honor Nate's legacy. Indeed, he offered up a singular vision for the future and a sign of just how much worlds have suddenly converged. A decade ago, when Snoop and Nate were selling multimillions singing about 'The Next Episode,' it was inconceivable that said episode would include the then-nascent underground rap powerhouse Stones Throw records."
Another big hip-hop event where Nate Dogg was given respect was the big Red Bull party Saturday night. De La Soul, DJ QBert and Z-Trip were on the roster, so it was bound to be a nice night. Z-Trip took care of the Nate Dogg thing, but was he really the "headliner?" Marco Torres from the Houston Press' Rocks Off blog: "The headliner Z-Trip took his turn onstage, and with the capitol building in the near distance, he began with the de facto state anthem 'Deep In the Heart of Texas.' He quickly flipped the script to display his mastery of the art of mash-ups. He took us down memory lane and paid tribute to recently deceased West Coast rapper Nate Dogg, shuffling through several of Nate's most beloved hooks and contributions to the G- Funk era. A special guest appearance from hip-hop trailblazer LL Cool J provided a crowd-pleasing twist that only an event such as SXSW can deliver. Mr. 'Ladies Love' has recently been concentrating on his movies and TV shows and has not performed musically in years, but showed everyone in attendance that he has not lost a single ounce of his legendary skills."
Pitchfork's Ryan Dombal focused on a different region of the musical spectrum on Saturday, including Man Man, Sharon van Etten and Colin Stetson, who played Club de Ville: "Stetson makes noises with his sax I've never heard before -- often while playing complicated phrases or semi-beat-box-breathing with his mouth at the same time. A big part of his appeal is originality; there is nobody playing music like Colin Stetson's at SXSW. After three days of guitars (and sometimes beats), this matters. Another part is the physical exertion that goes into every song, which you can plainly see on Stetson's face as he puffs, grimaces, and heaves through his instrument, all while eyes closed in intense concentration. This guy's sax is truly a living, breathing part of him. His act is novel, but it's hardly some freak show. He worked harder than most during his SXSW set, and the hearty reaction he got after every song justly reflected it."
Another big headline maker -- for mixed reasons -- was the Death From Above 1979 reunion gig at The Beauty Bar, where something of a tussle broke out. Jeremy D. Larson of Consequence of Sound: "Then, about a song later, people were turning and facing the street again. Mounted police were riding through the crowd outside, about eight or nine horses. Reports were coming in of someone throwing a beer can at a horse then being chased down by the police. More police showed up and reports were that people were tased and maced. From inside, we witnessed firsthand a man being repeatedly punched in the face by a police officer. This was all happening as the band played. As DFA 1979 finished 'Romantic Rights' (I believe), two or three police walked on stage, followed by a man in charge of the venue. ... Photographers scrambled to get shots of the action, while the crowd was assured that the band would continue playing. Once the alleyway looked a bit less crowded, DFA 1979 said 'enough with this, let’s play “Pull Out”,' and proceeded on with their bonkers, weapons-grade set. After that, the show proceeded without incident. As far the actual music, it was like these songs were never even on the shelf for five years. To be honest, there’s no better way to describe the show than to say that it caused a literal riot. It was exhilarating, a little terrifying, and very rock ‘n’ roll." Come on folks, rioting at a DFA 1979 show in 2011 is so 1992.
What was with the bad vibe at the close of SXSW? Was it just too crowded this year, making tension rise? Martin Cizmar of the Phoenix New Times' Up on the Sun blog: "It was only because we both left his show early and in a huff that I got to shake hands with [Odd Future "front man"] Tyler the Creator, the most interesting man in Austin this week. ... During a showcase hosted by Billboard, his group's last show of what's been a very busy festival for them, Tyler found the crowd of industry types assembled to be less than sufficiently 'hype.' So he led his group off stage after only about 15 minutes, apologizing to the excited fans up front and cursing about the barely-there gawkers in the back. 'Fuck Billboard, I don't even read that shit,' he said." Then, right after this brave show of rebelliousness, Mr. Creator caved in to The Man and instead randomly shifted blame to a convenient target, the host locale: "Tyler later backpedaled a bit on Twitter: 'Billboard Is Cool. That Show Was Stupid. Thanks To The Fans And Niggas That Was There In The Front. Wasn't Billboards Fault, FUCK THAT CLUB." Right on, take a stand bro! And doing it on Twitter just makes the whole thing seem that much more radical. Anyhow, Cizmar has some other good bits in his post, so go check it out.
One last one featuring local riser Bright Light Social Hour, who cleaned up at the Austin Music Awards. From the staff at Austin360: "The funky rockers of the Bright Light Social Hour won big, taking band of the year, album of the year ('The Bright Light Social Hour') and song of the year ('Detroit'). Also winning: Sahara Smith (female vocalist, songwriter and folk); Roky Erickson (musician of the year); Freshmillions (best new band); Los Lonely Boys (best rock band); Jeff Lofton (best jazz band); and Mother Falcon (best none of the above). Inducted into the hall of fame: Bubble Puppy, ... And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead, Tortilla Factory, the Wagoneers, Okkervil River and MC Overlord." Congrats to all the winners.
And an epilogue. Pee Wee, just because:

SXSW 2011: ETC Presents "Smashin up at SXSW (South By Southwest Day 2) - 3/18/11"

2011-03-18T23:02:00.002-05:00

Found a pretty cool video rundown of a typical day here at SXSW from Youtube channel ETC (Entertainment, Technology, Culture), featuring run-ins with various characters, including the busy Carrie Brownstein:

SXSW 2011 Bullets (3/18/11)

2011-03-18T20:46:00.013-05:00

Our daily rundown of the prime SXSW coverage out there. Mostly Music today (with an unintentionally retro feel), with a bit of commentary and a video on Interactive thrown in.

Not surprisingly, the Strokes' free set at Auditorium Shores, which drew between 10 and 25,000 depending on who you ask, is the focus of a lot of today's reviews and wrap-ups. Ryan Dombal of Pitchfork: "At this point, set list selection is a big deal with the Strokes because their arsenal isn't as stacked as it was right after Room on Fire. So it was a relief that they only grazed 2006's justly maligned First Impressions of Earth and, of the five songs from new album Angles, there were three winners ('Gratisfaction', 'Taken for a Fool', and 'Under Cover of Darkness') and two duds ('You're So Right' and 'Life Is Simple in the Moonlight'). The rest of the 80-minute set was made up of the band's towering first two LPs, and songs like 'Hard to Explain', 'I Can't Win', and the gorgeous 'Under Control'-- made even sweeter by a newly stripped-down intro-- went over as fine as ever. The idyllic weather, cool breeze, and picturesque Austin skyline behind them only added to the positive vibes."
Melissa Locker of Oregon Live: "At Stubbs Bar-B-Q, Portland band Portugal. The Man opened for Brooklyn's TV on the Radio. The group's sonically charged prog rock did not fail to impress the large crowd gathered to hear new songs from the fresh-off-hiatus TV on the Radio. The experimental group managed to create a web of stark atmospherics and not just because of the massive amount of smoke filling the room. Headliners TV on the Radio kept the audience in an uproar with their growling energetic rock songs and surprisingly good effort at churning out crowd-pleasing arena rock. Best part of the show? No green beer in sight." Locker was also at the Strokes gig and gives it a thumbs-up as well.
There's always more Pitchfork! Amy Phillips: "What I expected from Wise Blood's set: Pittsburgh sample sorcerer Chris Laufman fiddling with a laptop, maybe jumping around a little bit. What I got: Laufman dancing like the hip-hop bad boy in a vintage turn-of-the-millennium boy band, shouting his sing-songy choruses, invading the crowd, tearing his plaid flannel shirt halfway off his chest. ('I wore flannel to SXSW. It was the dumbest thing I've ever done.') Backed by a keyboard player and a drummer who actually tried to mimic the 'When the Levee Breaks' sample on 'B.I.G. E.G.O.', Laufman was free to play the unhinged wildman, a role he inhabited quite comfortably. He was also the most polite performer I've seen at SXSW yet, thanking the crowd profusely multiple times and apologizing for being cranky at the start of his set. Oh, and he had the words 'SLUT BANGER' written on his neck in what I really hope is brown marker and not, um, cigarette burns or something. Quite a surprise, this one."
Deborah Sengupta Stith of Austin360 on an old band that still can rock a party: "[T]he party heated significantly when Fishbone showed up. Frontman Angelo Moore trounced onto the stage rocking a glossed up page boy get up and an Andy Warhol wig. With surprisingly sharp sound cutting through the echo chamber that is the Austin Music Hall, the group’s characteristic tight vocal and brass harmonies were as solid 20 years later as they were in the early nineties. After a couple midtempo reggae grooves the band kicked in the thrash and speed that made them famous and Angelo tossed himself into the crowd and spent the better part of the set flopping fish-style atop a sea of hands to classics such as 'Alcoholic' and 'Hey Ma and Pa.' The nineties vibe was going so hard a mosh pit broke out in the middle of the crowd, but it is definitely not 1991. The bouncing and shoving proved upsetting to a good portion the crowd and as Fishbone exited the stage security came out and pleaded with the crowd to settle down." Apparently Wu-Tang Clan's later set didn't go so well: "Finally, at around 1 a.m. a roar went through the crowd as the Clan took the stage. Most of the Clan, that is, Method Man, Raekwon and RZA were all missing. The five remaining rappers threw down, ripping through their classic joints with a fury. Unfortunately, the sound that had been intermittently rough all night became almost unforgivably awful. The booming bass created a sludge that swallowed any intricacy in the beats. Every rhyme dropped was accented by relentless feedback squeals from the mics. It was rough going."
Speaking of sets by half-full 90s hip-hop legends, Chad Swiatecki from the same Austin360 reviewed Hieroglyphics' set: "[W]est coast indie heroes Hieroglyphics were on the bill, but in actuality you were getting members Casual and Opio and a couple supporting hangers on instead of a full-on reunion of the at one time Wu-Tang sized crew. Get past the bait and switch and all was good, though, and there was plenty of fun to be had. The two vets attacked the mic with workman-like gusto and it was obvious they’ve spent so much of their lives on stage that stirring a crowd into a frenzy is something they were pretty much born to do, even if it meant delivering only a couple verses from songs in the groups deep and lyrically rich catalog. Maybe it was too much to expect an appearance by Hiero vets like Del The Funky Homosapien or Toure to make the trip - though Del’s got a new record dropping in April, so why not? - but for what it was there were far worse ways to spend a night."
Chris Richards of the Washington Post on the increasing hip-factor of public radio: "[T]he fans didn’t come for the swag. They came to see their favorite new bands — bands that swarm SXSW every year with big dreams. One day, with any luck, these groups will be smiling for magazine covers, singing on late-night television shows and ... hearing their music streaming on NPR’s Web site? Forget the totes — NPR has a brand new bag. The Washington-based news outlet has emerged as an influential powerhouse in a splintering music industry thanks to the growing popularity of NPR Music, a Web site that has connected with music fans by premiering new albums, streaming live concerts and landing exclusive interviews."
James Montgomery of MTV on what sounded like a good set by Wiz Khalifa at Atlantic Records' party at La Zona Rosa: "He snarled through 'Taylor Gang' and 'On My Level,' dropped phrases like 'Time is money so I went and bought a Rolex' and 'We wake up drunk, go to sleep f---ed up,' and made the crowd go bananas with his hit 'Black and Yellow.' But really, perhaps his most lucid moment came toward the end of his set, when he stopped the music and spoke openly about the late Nate Dogg, calling the G-Funk legend 'one of my biggest heroes' and running through an impromptu tribute performance that featured he and the Taylor Gang singing some of Dogg's most memorable verses, including (fittingly enough) his off-the-cuff 'Hey hey hey hey/ Smoke weed every day,' from Dr. Dre's 'The Next Episode.'"
Exene Cervenka (of X) is blogging her SXSW experience for OC Weekly. She had a good night enjoying the city and finagling her way into a packed Antone's to catch Emmylou Harris and The Old 97s: "Old 97s are super exciting and their new songs were superb. Ken, the guitar player, was really sick with the flu or something, just came down with it. But oh, what a show he played! He was wearing an awesome dark cowboy shirt with long white fringe on the shoulders. I sang 'Four Leaf Clover' with them which I do every time we are all in the same city. The stamina of the audiences here is astounding. People wait in line for hours, get crammed together, etc, but it doesn't matter. I love music warriors, I respect that passion so much! And you just talk to strangers everywhere."
Paul Cashmere of Undercover: "Yoko Ono says her late husband John Lennon would have loved Twitter. Yoko was speaking today at SXSW in Austin. It was her first time ever to the Texas capital. When asked how John would like the way we communicate today and if he would use Twitter she said, 'of course he would. He would be very excited about the computer age and what we could do.'"
Blake Eskin of the New Yorker: "Why do I dwell on the deficiencies of the SXSW app? I don’t mean to be an ingrate. (My ticket to the conference was complementary because I moderated a conversation on journalism and technology, and it is unseemly to whine about any business trip that includes bright sun and barbecue.) There is an irony in a technology conference having technology shortcomings, but that wasn’t new; and I appreciate that SXSW made it easier to get a wi-fi signal at the Convention Center than it was last year. A second irony is that a conference where so many entrepreneurs and venture capitalists preach about digital utopia still needs an unwieldy printed booklet to satisfy its corporate sponsors."
TechCrunch presents "SXSW: Sights and Sounds":

SXSW 2011: The Needle Drop's "15 Bands I'll See @ SXSW"

2011-03-18T09:45:00.002-05:00

the needle drop

SXSW 2011 Bullets (3/17/11)

2011-03-17T18:21:00.022-05:00

SXSW Music is in full swing. Lots of reviews, pictures, reports, interviews, etc. floating around. Tough to keep up! Tomorrow we're heading into the thick of things ourselves, with plans to hit the Dickies/Filter party, #Offline, and/or Lawn Party. We will check back in afterward with our pictures and thoughts.

Pitchfork has a small army staffing South by Southwest. Amy Phillips, Ryan Dombal and Tom Breihan each are posting SXSW Reports daily. Today, Phillips was lucky enough to catch an impromptu performance by a bus driver and a diddley bow player: "Jack White, solo and acoustic, playing Buddy Holly's 'Not Fade Away' and the White Stripes' 'Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground' in a parking lot: A hell of a way to kick off SXSW. ... White's two-song set was friendly and laid-back, prompting smiles and sing-alongs from the crowd, which included Aziz Ansari and both members of the Kills. Afterwards, he introduced Third Man's latest signing, grizzled itinerant folkie Seasick Steve. (White told me that Steve inked his one-album Third Man deal by signing his office desk, rather than a contract.) Steve and his three-string guitar and stomp box only got one song in before a frantic parking lot attendant shut the celebration down." As far as catching White while he's in town, Phillips offers this advice: "[F]ollow the TMRRS Twitter to find out exactly where it's going to be, and get there early." Here's some video of Jack White's and Seasick Steve's sets via NPR.

More from Pitchfork: Tom Breihan's and Ryan Dombal's SXSW Reports for Wednesday. Breihan highlights Gold Panda, Curren$y, Big K.R.I.T., EMA and Vaccines; Dombal focuses on James Blake, Antlers, Yuck!, and Matthewdavid. Also, photos from the Altered Zones SXSW Party "featuring John Maus, Puro Instinct, Pictureplane, Sleep Over, Laurel Halo, Matthewdavid, and Grimes, along with eye-popping live visuals from Austin-based multimedia artists Tommyboy and VidKidz on the venue's floor-to-ceiling HD projection wall."
Speaking of NPR, it has lots of SXSW music coverage up on NPR.org. Live concerts, photos, Twitter updates, reviews, etc. Shantel Mitchell covered a performance by Smith Westerns, who apparently played NPR's daytime party last year: "Given that only a year has passed since that show, these guys are still jarringly young — and still the owners of shampoo-commercial-quality hair. But newer songs like 'Tonight' and 'Weekend' feel exceptionally sturdy, built on a foundation that conjures images of both Replacements-style rock and girl-group pop. That mix of brashness and sweetness loses nothing in translation to the live stage." The band plays a few times again this weekend. Download the concert here.
The only people covering SXSW more thoroughly than Pitchfork may be the team over at Austin360. Among other news today is a positive review of the keynote address (remember, this is a conference) given by Boomtown Rat, Band Aid and Live Aid organizer and guy with a good image all around, Bob Geldof. Not only was he witty but funny as well: "Geldof proved to be the most articulate and pointed keynote speaker ever at SXSW, tracing the work of Austin-born Alan Lomax to rock’s ‘racket of democracy.’ The standing ovation he received when he wrapped up, exactly at the hour mark, was genuine. But first came some self-deprecating humor. 'I know what you’re thinking,' he said, with his hair in a freshly shampooed moptop. '(Expletive) me, it’s Justin Bieber.'" Well, what do you think?

photo c/o Deborah Cannon, American-Statesman

Another from Austin360: SXSW wrap - Wednesday's highlights (from various contributors), including nice bit about Japan disaster relief efforts at the festival: "The Red Cross will have booths at Auditorium Shores on Friday and Saturday for fans to donate to Japan earthquake and tsunami relief efforts. Meanwhile, the Japan Nite booth at the Convention Center has collected thousands of dollars from SXSW attendees tossing bills in a basket. The booth has a live stream of Japanese TV so attendees from Japan can keep up with developments. ... SXSW publicist Elizabeth Derczo said only one or two bands from Japan won't make their SXSW appearances in the wake of the natural disasters. The annual SXSW Japan Nite will be Friday at Elysium. And as of Wednesday night, the fundraising site created last week during SXSW Interactive, www.sxsw4japan.org, has raised close to $67,000 between donations on the site and another $5,000 corporate donation. (The URL sxswcares.org also redirects to the site.)" Well done. Keep it up!
How big is this festival? HOW BIG IS THIS FESTIVAL? Consequence of Sound staffers do a good job illustrating that with a rundown of one day -- Wednesday -- at SouthBy, from the Jack White gig at noon to The Dodos at 1:15 AM. Lots in between, including a Stubb's set from MTV golden age idols Duran Duran (from Cap Blackard): "Set highlights included the long-retired 'Friends of Mine' from their first album, the new track 'Being Followed,' an outstanding performance of 'The Chauffer' featuring LeBon on what looked like an ocarina, and their encore rendition of 'Girls on Film' featuring an interlude of the Motown track 'Poppa Was A Rollin’ Stone' and solos from every performer. ... As always, the incomparable Simon LeBon, owned the stage. Whether exuding a profound sexual presence (posturing like a badass, asking the audience who their daddy was), or just being goofy (“flying” around the stage, miming creating a large orb, then shoving the orb in his mouth and growing at the front row) there is no doubt that he is the man, and everyone in the audience had been Simon LeBoned."
Brittaney Shey of Houston Press' Rocks Off blog didn't make it into Duran Duran, but is that the point anyway? "how long should one wait in line for a big name band before cutting your losses and heading on down the road? When Rocks Off saw that the line for Duran Duran at Stubb's wrapped around the block and almost to I-35, we uttered a mental 'Fuck this' and headed for smaller pastures. Which is how we found ourselves at Parish Underground, listening to a band called The Vandelles. With women on drums and bass and dudes on vox and guitar, they sounded like the Beach Boys if the Beach Boys were girls playing through 50-year-old amps. The bar wasn't event packed. It was exactly the kind of vacation-y vibe we needed after braving the thong-clad crowds."
Jeff Weiss of the L.A. Times: "Under the soft lights and smoke of the outdoor venue [Stubb's], [James Blake's] cracked falsetto swooned and soared, twisting and fluttering. It simultaneously managed to be dazzling and dull. Hearing songs such as 'The Wilhelm Scream' ... in person had a poignance and power that triumphed over the large venue and outdoor acoustics. After all, he had a guitarist and drummer with him to help shore up the paper-thin constructions. It was electronic gospel, but it lacked the evangelical fervor of the best of the genre. It was pretty and well-groomed, but more Anglican than Baptist -- veneration but no violence. Slow dance music for unreconstructed Coldplay fans."
Richard Tafoya of SoundSpike: "Yuck is an example of NPR deserving their tastemaker status. The band works from a palette that draws some reasonably dotted lines to Sonic Youth, My Bloody Valentine and even a little Foo Fighters with their ability to work in a well-manicured hook without ruining the rock sauce. But the band climbed highest when they stretched out instrumentally, allowing guitarist Max Bloom to layer, loop and weave fascinating noisescapes from his guitar rig while the rest of the group built out stormy foundations below, drawing the dotted lines out into something close to Mogwai territory."
AV Club Austin runs down some of Wednesday's showcases, including The Antlers, Asobi Seksu, Baths and Braids: "It makes sense that Braids recently wrapped up a tour with L.A. beat auteur Baths. The Montreal four-piece takes a similar approach, carving buoyant but soothing indie pop out of an even split of electronics and acoustics. The comparisons end there, however—this is a bona fide band whose debut, Native Speaker, displays a strong instrumental dynamic led by the vocal stylings of Raphaelle Standell-Preston, who can’t help but channel the playful twitter of Joanna Newsom."
Chris Miller of Red and Black on the end of a long and fruitful Wednesday of music: "As I was stumbling my way towards the bus stop I head some thudding drums over at Emo’s Annex and decided to finish off the night how I started it: hard. But what I got was Horse The Band. Don’t let anyone tell you they’re not metal, they are certainly that. But that’s not all they are… They’ve got synths layering in what sounds like a video game soundtrack right next to guttural growls, and then shredding guitars and chugging rhythms, and then they bust in to little indie pop dance sections. What?! I only saw about two songs, but I left baffled. If you like heavy stuff but want something different, check this band out. Now."
Tim Jonze of The Guardian (UK) reviews Brother: "Musically speaking, Brother may aim to emulate the Gallaghers but the tunes sound - to these ears - more like Mansun (strictly melodically speaking of course - there are no 70 minute prog operas about Dr Who, gender identity and cancer here). But then nobody at SXSW is here expecting to catch the next developments in Witch House. They're here to listen to loud'n'lumpen British rock with some anthemic shout-along bits thrown in. Within that rather limited context, it would be hard to argue that Brother had failed to deliver."
The folks at Clash Music had a busy Wednesday as well: "Emo’s threw up the first joy: Surfer Blood, Clash hot picks of 2010 and they didn’t disappoint. With so many ‘5-piece-leather-jacket-my-drummer-is-a-nutter’ style bands in attendance its easy to get numb to the sound of generic rock. Which is why when the subtle inflections that made Surfer Blood’s ‘Astro Coast’ such a strong debut came hammering through the air the name of Surfer Blood went straight into the notes. There’s something extra acerbic about their melodies and we can’t wait to hear what they do next."
Neon Tommy's Emily Wilson on highlights from the FADER Fort party: "Oh Land! :: The Danish electro-pop artist’s debut album came out on Tuesday, and with the amount of shows she’s playing and the kind of talk she’s generating at SXSW, it should do well. Appearing on stage in a flowing black dress and black Doc Martins, and with her supporting musicians dressed in a matching hue, the dark appearance seemed to, at times, contradict the glowing smile from the singer’s face. She seemed to be truly enjoying herself and also seemed genuinely surprised to hear such a positive and vocal response from the crowd. But it could hardly be helped. The audience’s attraction is easy to break down: Oh Land has incredible stage presence. Dancing, twirling, drumming and singing beautifully over music impossible not to dance to made for an powerful 30 minutes set. Check out songs like 'Son of a Gun' and 'White Nights,' if not the entire album."
Number four of 10 Things Seen & Overheard Wednesday from the staff at Billboard: "At the Moody Theatre, the mosh pit in front of Flogging Molly was so intense that one fan dislocated her shoulder."

SXSW 2011: Visitors Attend "Paul" Premiere

2011-03-16T18:20:00.004-05:00

A SXSW moment: "Paul" director Greg Mottola and cast members Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and Kristen Wiig in an audience of extraterrestrials during the film's premiere at the Paramount Theater.

photo from guardian.co.uk; found on theemmastation.tumblr.com

SXSW 2011 Video Bullets (3/15/11)

2011-03-15T18:25:00.012-05:00

Now that South by Southwest is underway, video coverage is spreading. Here's a rundown of some recent clips, from all around the festival, mostly Interactive.

KXAN Austin News runs down some of the films that will be premiered this week at SXSW. Ewan McGregor's "Beginners," which hits theaters in June, is first up. "Natural Selection" and food doc "A Matter of Taste" are also featured.

On the Interactive side of things, Metacafe explores the streets of Austin in search of answers to the question, "is e-mail dead?"

Who stole the show at Interactive? According to NewsyTech, it was Apple (specifically the iPad 2).

From Dailymotion: "Tech Expert Marc Saltzman talks about emerging technology live from the 25th Anniversary South by Southwest in Austin TX. He showcases Megamind Blu-ray from Paramount, The Boxee Box powered by Intel's Atom technology, Yoostar2's "in The Movies" game and the new Bloggie touch HD camcorder from Sony."

This is something of an odd one. This year, SXSW is featuring a few comedy-related events. So from our friends at, yes, Chevrolet, "Romany Malco talks about the future of comedy and how technology improves his sketches."

Here's a clip from the movie “Outside Industry: The Story of SXSW," which traces the evolution of SXSW’s first 25 years."

So, like, what is the deal with this South by Southwest? Thankfully, CNN's all, like, in the know and stuff.

Last but not least, breaking news from Austin. What happens when someone invades the privacy of a celebrity in a vulnerable place? Just ask Jake Gyllenhaal. Here's my favorite footage, from NMAWorldEdition.

From Boston to Austin

SXSW 2012: Bruce Springsteen Announced as Keynote

Yaktoberfest 2012: Still Far Off But Already on Our Minds

Black Friday, Weird Austin Style: Austin Holiday Shopping Guide

Thanks Austin - 2011: Live Music Props

Fun Fun Fun 2011 Wrap: Ted Leo is my (and many other persons') new hero

Fun Fun Fun Fest 2011 Day 2 Photos: Joe Lally, Tinariwen, tUnE-yArDs

Fun Fun Fun Fest 2011 Day 1 Photos: Omar Souleyman, Heartless Bastards, Thermals, Black Joe Lewis, Okkervil River, Four Tet, Public Enemy

Fun Fun Fun Fest 2011: Can't Make It? Tune it to Pitchfork's Webcast

Yaktoberfest 2011 Wrap: 10 Beers + Fundraising Success = Great Party

Natas or Rodney?

Yaktoberfest 2011 Update: Kölsch bottled just in time; party this Saturday!

Fun Fun Fun Fest 2011: Schedule Out, Conflicts Identified (and Aftershows Too!)

Yaktoberfest 2011 Update: Kölsch fermenting nicely

Yaktoberfest 2011 (and RIP Steve Jobs)

FBtA's Audio and Video History of the Native Tongue Collective: An Interlude About Chi-Ali

ACL 2011 Video Wrap-Up: Stevie Wonder shreds a keytar, Cee-Lo and Nakia serenade the crowd, and more

ACL 2011: Not there? Catch the Webcast

FBtA's Audio and Video History of the Native Tongue Collective - Part 3: Video Collection

ACL 2011 Bullets (9/6/11): Another Give-Away and a Few Band Profiles

Iconic Austin Film "Slacker" Gets 20-Year Salute as "Slacker 2011" Premiers Tonight

12 Films Project Update: For August, an Ode to Austin's Cathedral of Junk

ACL 2011: The Best Food Vendors List (with Links)

ACL 2011 Bullets (8/26/11): Ticket Giveaways, Sales, and Artist Profiles Galore

Austin's Weather Forecast: Stop It Already!

FBtA's Audio and Video History of the Native Tongue Collective - Part 2: At the Top

Prodigal Austin Blues Guitarist Gary Clark, Jr. Breaks Out at Last

Fun Fun Fun Fest 2011 Playlist Added

FBtA's Audio and Video History of the Native Tongue Collective - Part 1: High and Rising

Fun Fun Fun Fest 2011: Lineup Announced and it is LOADED! Slayer, Passion Pit, Public Enemy among stage headliners

12 Films Project Update: July's Inspiring Profile of Kocurek Family Charcuterie

Fun Fun Fun Fest 2011: Slayer Added as Line-Up Grows

ACL 2011: Aftershows Announced; Tickets On Sale Tomorrow (7/28/11)

Same as it Ever Was: Why Mission of Burma deserves your respect

Austin Filmmaker's Ambitious Project Gets Delicious: Short Films Highlight Odd Duck, Kocurek

ACL 2011: Listen to our New Mix

ACL 2011: Block Schedule Released. Conflicts Identified.

Forgotten Music: My Mother's 45s from the '50s

Food. Glorious Food - Update 2011: Austin Farmers Markets in Full Splendor

Ingredients

For The Crust

For The Filling

Directions

Real Movie Watchers Update: Alamo Drafthouse's Coolness makes the New York Times

Real Movie Watchers 1 - Texters 0: Drafthouse Rules!

Houston City Limits: Free Press Summer Fest 2011 Wrap-Up Bullets

Houston City Limits? Free Press Summer Fest III This Weekend

R.I.P. Gil Scott-Heron

The Last Remains of Real Radio (plus a guide to non-commercial radio in Austin)

ACL 2011: Line-up is out and it's, um, full of Wonder

Record Store Day: In Austin, a Religious Holiday

2011 Austin Music Awards: The Bright Light Social Hour brings home a bundle

Getting Over the SXSW Hangover: A month's worth of great shows

SXSW 2011 Bullets (3/20/11)

SXSW 2011: ETC Presents "Smashin up at SXSW (South By Southwest Day 2) - 3/18/11"

SXSW 2011 Bullets (3/18/11)

SXSW 2011: The Needle Drop's "15 Bands I'll See @ SXSW"

SXSW 2011 Bullets (3/17/11)

SXSW 2011: Visitors Attend "Paul" Premiere

SXSW 2011 Video Bullets (3/15/11)