SXSW 2010, Day One...happy St. Pat's!

After not getting much (or any) rest Tuesday night (after the John Mayer concert, we bumped into Steve Jordan backstage, who gave me 2 signed drumsticks!), i embarked upon my journey for Austin at around 745am from Charlottesville. Meant to leave a little after 7 for my 1045am flight, but that's usually the way i roll...better late than never. A fruit cup in my backpack almost cost me enough time in the security line at Dulles, but luckily the line to board my Southwest flight was moving slowly and a little late as i rushed across concourses to get there. sat surrounded by festive Pennsylvania folks headed to Orlando, who were all decked out in some sort of St. Pats gear, so that was fun on my connecting flight. Then the flight from Orlando to Austin featured some preteen girls across the aisle from me who thought their whoopee cushion was the most hilarious invention ever! Luckily i remembered my mp3 player, so i turned it up loud and eventually fell asleep for about 2 of the 3 hour flight time to TX. Funny how with all the modern technology at kids' fingertips these days (the teenage boy next to me had an iPhone), it's the classics that still keep them entertained...i mean, really - who lets their kids play with a whoopee cushion...on an AIRPLANE! Anyway, I had learned on the previous flight of the day from the festive folks from PA that Southwest Airlines does a special thing 3 days out of the year (New Year's, 4th of July, and St. Pat's Day). One free beer for those of age during the flight! So as you can see from the picture, I took advantage of that on the flight from Orlando to Austin. I figured this is an auspicious start to a fun week, and it sure helped counteract the unnerving effects of the whoopee cushion!

Not a whole lot of music for me throughout the evening, by sxsw standards...plus i need to be brief in order to get over to a day party here in a bit. After dropping off my stuff at the hotel, I headed to the Convention Center to pick up my badge that allows me entrance (space permitting) into all the venues. Met up with a great group of like-minded radio and record label folks at the annual SXSW dinner at El Azteca. Great to catch up with folks I haven't seen in a while and SEE industry people I usually only email. But getting into town at 4pm, i guess it felt weird not really seeing any music until 9pm.

A very appropriate slow burning start to my musical experience here this year was seeing Denver artist Nathaniel Rateliff at The Ale House. He's a new signing with Rounder Records. Had kind of a Kings of Leon meets Calexico or Leonard Cohen vibe to him that I enjoyed enough to stay for his whole set. It is quite tempting and/or necessary to just move along to the next thing here with so much music going on everywhere. By the looks of the line at Stubb's to see Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings followed by Broken Bells followed by Spoon, I wasn't getting in anytime soon, so I wandered around for a while, taking in a variety of folks at around 10pm. Basia Bulat and Mariachi El Bronx played at the 2 venues inside of the Emo's building. Asteroids Galaxy Tour played across the street at the Emo's Annex. Too many hipsters to get into the Brooklyn Vegan showcase at Club De Ville, but I listened from outside to a bit of The Middle East before the venue next door opened its back door and some kind of awful metal came pouring out. And I like metal, don't get me wrong! It was tempting to head across town to see Motorhead headline at the Austin Music Hall, but I decided to take another crack at Stubb's, where after a shorter-than-anticipated wait in a very long line, I was able to catch most of Broken Bells set (good, but very mellow and lots of similar-sounding songs, 2 factors that i think may have had something to do with the tepid audience reaction, despite the large number of people in attendance). Saw the first few songs of the excellent Austin band Spoon's set, and then decided to wander some more (during my time outside Stubb's waiting to get in around 1030pm, Britt Daniel walked right by me and said hello to what I thought was a homeless guy, who turned out to be the guy who introduced the band!). he claimed to have been one of 6 people at their 1st show in Chicago years ago, and he recited a short poem before yielding the stage...you can hear the whole Stubb's lineup from last night at npr.org. They usually archive those things, I believe... Didn't have a whole lot of luck between 1230 and 2am seeing anything too earth-shattering. Full or faraway venues, or me not realizing how late it was getting (i would get to a venue to try to see the 12am band, and it was already 1am by the time i got there!). Oh well, Everybody Was In the French Resistance...Now! was very entertaining at The Galaxy Room. They're a new band featuring the singer of Art Brut and his wife, and they do "response songs" as their schtick. As in "Billie's Genes," a response to "Billie Jean." That Eddie Argos is one funny, smart showman. It was too packed upstairs to get to the Wave rooftop for one of the most buzzed-about bands this year, Surfer Blood. Listening to their album on the way down here, it's a refreshing mix of Vampire Weekend & The Shins & maybe Badfinger or something riffy and rockin'. Due to it being a bit of an open-air venue, I was able to hear the strains of their song "Swim" on the street below, as I tried to decide which way to head down 6th St in the remaining moments of the evening while i still had some semblance of energy. By the time I got to Elysium to see The Veils, I only caught the last half of the last song, but I definitely had to count my blessings, for arriving safely, finally getting in to Broken Bells and Spoon by having some patience, and reflecting on the sad loss of Alex Chilton that Brad had texted me about while I was watching Nathaniel Rateliff earlier in the evening. Big Star was supposed to do a set here on Saturday, and there's a panel discussion about them as well. Sounds like those things might still happen, now in tribute to the amazing musical legacy Alex leaves behind.

I will try to get some pics posted later today as well...i have limited internet access down here, but am glad I was able to at least post a day one progress report for you here! Cheers!

oh, and 2 of the more interesting band names of the day from Wednesday's schedule...Beans on Toast (from London) and Moneypenny (from Chicago..."wait, what?" Charlottesville Moneypenny fans say)

Steve Jordan & other Big Gigs

how awesome is tomorrow's Corner Lounge guest?? Let us count the ways...

looking very forward to seeing how Steve's touring with John Mayer is going and we'll also be discussing the new band he's in with his wife, The Verbs.

very excited about the Corner Lounge event at The Sound tomorrow with Michael Franti as well, of course...congrats to the Corner VIP winners that will be joining us! For those that aren't lucky enough to be in the audience, we hope to air it in place of the Workday Wrap Up at 6pm or so tomorrow...stay tuned!

And I heard about the following event on our sister station, WINA's morning show today...thought I'd pass along the info - sounds pretty awesome!

Audra Mae

She's a great new artist from Oklahoma, happens to be the grand-niece of Judy Garland, and she's coming to Cville for an exclusive Corner Lounge Private Performance March 24 at Virginia Arts. If you want to be one of the lucky few in the audience, just email your name and contact info to jeff@1061thecorner.com, with "Brighten the Corners" in the subject line, and you'll be entered to win! We'll announce the winners on Brighten the Corners March 23 (and we'll contact you on the 22nd so you have some time to plan ahead). Audra has an amazing EP out now, with a full-length to follow later in the year...good luck!

you down with EMP?

I remember seeing the Tom Cruise version of "War of the Worlds" a few years back, but I don't recall it being tied to any kind of national security discussion at the time (or even more recently, either).

But I had a listener suggest EMP as "cause of the day" subject matter last week, and after a bit of investigating, I'll just send you to a 2005 article that I found enlightening (so to speak) on the subject. Plus, it looks like an interesting website in general. Now this "debunking" article was written 5 years ago, so I found it distressing that an "EMP" google search linked to articles written as recently as last fall, still discussing the issue in a scary context. A quick overview of one of those reminded me of a special I caught a bit of recently on The History Channel about the scenarios by which the world could theoretically end in 2012, which of course tied in nicely with another movie that fared quite well at the box office. Now I'll admit to being a conspiracy theorist of sorts (and as a big John Cusak fan, I definitely one day plan on seeing 2012), but on this subject, I'll just leave it up to you to be paranoid...or not.

Cheers! Hope you had a chance to enjoy the "solar power" of this lovely day :)

Oscar pet peeves and remembering Sparklehorse

maybe it's a function of me living most of my life in the midwest (still not used to the eastern time zone), or perhaps because this was one of the rare years where i hadn't seen most (if not all) of this year's nominated films, but once 11:30pm rolled around and they STILL hadn't gotten to the Best Director, Actor, Actress, OR Picture winners at last night's Oscars, I had grown pretty tired of the back-slapping. Was Doogie Howser really necessary to start the show? And I would've rather heard the original song nominees perform their songs in full (or at least a live medley), esp. if it meant a shorter dance interpretation of the original score nominees. For an industry whose job it is to entertain us (a job at which they profit mightily, by the way, even though I couldn't tell you the last time I went to the theater...although i do love netflix!), how do they succeed in making this show so BORING every year? Ditch the cheezy jokes and production numbers and long-winded "star" intros that take up so much time, and just have a brisk, classy awards show. Incorporate more modern technology. We're used to movie-related things sucking us into the screen (however large or small), and it's the one awards show where that should really be to their advantage. Most of it should be pre-produced, not live. We should all (nominees and moviegoers) be able to sit back and enjoy the show, esp. with all the animation and 3-D and action flick special effects experts there are in Hollywood. The Oscars has always been a night of glamour, but a speedy Oscars broadcast might bring a little bit of class back to a Hollywood that obviously pines for its golden era, with the cabana-style setting of the theater, historical film montages, lifetime achievement awards, etc. This would also leave (a little) more time for acceptance speeches. Yes, they may most often be mundane, but they can also end up being the most memorable, poignant moments of the show. It's always so awkward when people get "played off" the stage by the music, esp. when certain folks get :30 to say their spiel, and others (Jeff Bridges) get what seems like 10 minutes! Everybody knew you were gonna win, Jeff - could you not prepare some sort of brief speech? And I still have NO desire to see Avatar, lol...all of the documentary nominees looked pretty awesome, though! Here's Alec Baldwin's post-show comments after co-hosting. Alright, I've already won the "Could You Be More Ironical?" Award for being way too long-winded with my critique of The Oscars being too long, so I'll leave it at that!

I was sad to find out today about the passing over the weekend of Mark Linkous, who made great music for the better part of the last 2 decades, mostly under the band name Sparklehorse. Do yourself a favor and check out any/all music Mark made during his, at times, troubled life. It certainly made my life better enjoying the sounds he created. So thanks for that, Mark.

PIGS and Quants and Chile

in case you've missed the last couple of episodes of The Colbert Report or The Daily Show on Comedy Central, here's a couple of things I've heard about on there that bear repeating...

if you think the U.S. economy is in tough shape, check out PIGS.

And if you thought going to business school is a good idea for a career on Wall Street, apparently being a physicist is a better one.

As we get ready to enjoy what should be beautiful weather this weekend, there's still help needed in Chile and Haiti, obviously, in the wake of the huge earthquakes. Here's some amazing information about how what happened in Chile has affected the entire planet, literally, as in tilting the axis and shortening the length of each day! I'll point you toward Oxfam for a good place to donate money if you are able.

and here's a website that consolidates humanitarian relief efforts around the world in one place.

Thanks for reading, and hopefully we'll see you at The Jefferson tonight!

Jim Waive & other treasures...

today's cause is also a musical one...go see Jim Waive & The Young Divorcees along with Shannon Worrell and Carleigh Nesbit tomorrow night at The Jefferson...3 of the rare jewels in what already is a pretty sparkly Central Virginia musical crown, in my opinion (even though Shannon recently moved to NYC)!

and while i'm at it, here's another cause for you: education. obviously, we've had our recent local budget/funding issues lately in regards to schools, but keeping CNN on in the studio, it looks like lots of folks nationwide are fighting education funding cuts today. From California to the New York (University)...here's a good recap.

That One Guy...

free show tonight at Club R2 at Rapture...this guy is something else!

Hair Metal & a Coffee Party

So for my cause of the day, I'll send you to a Guardian blog about The Coffee Party, a subject that intrigued me after hearing about it yesterday on Thom Hartmann's show (carried on our sister station 1450 AM, WVAX weekdays from noon-3pm). Not only is the Tea vs. Coffee Party subject an interesting one, but I think it's insightful to see how things are framed by media outside the U.S. (the Guardian is based in the UK).

And for my musical cause today, I'm going with hair metal. I had the chance recently to finally sit down and watch The Decline of Western Civilization, Part 2: The Metal Years. In both a funny and sad way, it took me back to the days of the late 80s when the rock scene had become a vast wasteland, until of course Nirvana came along and changed everything. I'm actually glad I grew up during this time, as frustrating as it was to come home from school every day, only to see ridiculous video after ridiculous video dominating MTV. It certainly made me appreciate all the more what grunge did in bringing "alternative music" to the mainstream, even if only for a few years. So for those too young to remember, and those not too old to be about to rock, I salute you by recommending this film...for those over 17 anyway, since it is R-rated, after all. Now that there have been 3 Decline of Western Civ movies done (one every 7-10 years), I would like to recommend the director tackle the following genres for Vol. 4 & 5: hip-hop and tween pop. Folks like Chuck D, Q-Tip, Ice-T and De La Soul would be perfect "golden age of hip-hop" counterparts to the role that Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Lemmy, Ozzy, Steven Tyler & Joe Perry played in the Metal Years film. Although for tween pop, American Idol already does a pretty good job of being a Decline of Western Civilization Vol. 4 every week via "reality TV!"

Sabres and Medals and the Peace Corps

had fun seeing Monica Wright close out her regular season UVA career in style with the UVA Women's Basketball team yesterday, against the Hokies no less. Best of luck to the Hoos in the Tournament, and of course, good luck to Monica in her WNBA career!

another tough loss for the UVA men's b'ball squad, obviously. At least the baseball and lacrosse teams are off to strong starts :) My friend Kris (among others) does a great job over at The Sabre to keep you up-to-date on all things related to Cavalier sports...

well, after a brilliant hockey game yesterday (even though the U.S. lost- what an effort!), the Winter Olympics are over. I found a great recap of the 2 weeks of highs and lows online and it's here if you care to share some post-Olympic fever.

and, i just discovered today is the anniversary of the founding of the Peace Corps.

Today in 1961, the Peace Corps was established by an executive order signed by President John F. Kennedy. Nearly 200-thousand people have joined the Peace Corps, serving in 139 countries.