Jeff's Corner

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

2010-03-18T08:41:00.000-07:00

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

2010-03-15T13:15:00.000-07:00

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

2010-03-11T12:45:00.000-08:00

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?

2010-03-09T13:51:00.000-08:00

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

2010-03-08T14:57:00.000-08:00

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

2010-03-05T12:50:00.000-08:00

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...

2010-03-04T16:45:00.001-08:00

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...

2010-03-03T13:04:00.001-08:00

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

Hair Metal & a Coffee Party

2010-03-02T11:45:00.000-08:00

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

2010-03-01T12:55:00.000-08:00

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.

health care & the man in black

2010-02-26T11:58:00.000-08:00

well, since i was remiss in blogging yesterday, here's a recap of yesterday's cause, amongst our nation's lawmakers anyway...the health care debate.

and today, fans of Johnny Cash are being urged to wear black in honor of what would have been his 78th birthday today. there's a great new album out, American VI: Ain't No Grave, that is heart-wrenchingly beautiful to listen to, esp. in light of all the health care issues being bandied about.

have a great weekend!

jeff (and spock)

give blood!

2010-02-24T12:17:00.000-08:00

As part of their Drive for Life week-long event, Volvo of Charlottesville is hosting Virginia Blood Services today from 2:30pm-5pm for a blood drive. Virginia Blood Services is well under their blood donation goal for February due to our on-going snowy weather. They are up to 1000 units down and need everyone’s help.

All their blood stays here to help people in our local community and your one pint could save up to 3 lives!

Thanks!

And musically speaking, in case you missed St. Vincent last night at The Jefferson, here she is covering The Beatles. She recalled playing to a crowd of about 6 (half of which were employees) at the Tea Bazaar the last time she played here a few years ago. There were considerably more people there last night, with great sound and lighting that definitely enhanced the show. You can tell she puts a lot of thought and creativity into the whole experience for her fans.

another day, another cause

2010-02-23T11:43:00.001-08:00

I hope my "cause of the day" doesn't imply that caring about said cause should only last for one day, but rather that there is a TON of great work being done here in our community, and worldwide for that matter, in pursuit of productive ideas, rather than those confounding and/or frustrating ones that seem to be in the news all the time. I know a lot of people (including me) seem to be frustrated these days, whether it's with politics, the economy, or even how to relate to each other in this digital age. And of course, frustration is not unique to this decade. For some the frustration goes back multiple decades, for others centuries. I always try to keep things in perspective, which hopefully prevents getting too emotionally high or too low. But I hate the part of "perspective" that discourages action because you see what a long, hard road understanding and/or justice can truly be. The curse of being a history major, perhaps? But I figure there's already enough negativity out there (for which this here blogosphere certainly serves a semi-useful purpose), so why not try to add something to the positive side of the equation? Maybe one day the positivity will outweigh the negativity...cue the Matisyahu "One Day" chorus :) I'll admit to a love/hate relationship with the blogosphere in general...it's so easy (and sometimes theraputic) to be snarky...perhaps that's just human nature (or just me) to veer towards the negative and/or easy solution. So with that in mind, bear with me while I try to stay positive.

As I mentioned yesterday, I had a great time judging the Charlottesville's Got Talent contest (which was a benefit for Charlottesville Health Access) at The Haven this past Saturday. It was a great turnout, and among me and the other 2 judges at the table, we gave singer/songwriter Gina Sobel the highest score. The salsa dancing team of Angela Oh Park and the Rodrigo Y Gabriela-like guitar wizardry of Wade Glazer tied for a close 2nd, and kudos to Matt Knisley for nailing every lyric of Bob Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues" without a stumble! Breeze Keys did a great job covering Colbie Caillat's "Bubbly," and NBC 29's own Kasey Hott not only was reporting on the event, but did an impressive job on the classic "At Last." I hope they post the story on their website at some point, since I missed it on TV later that night! And bonus points go to Point Judith for giving a shout out to The Corner at the end of their unique rendition of Tim Armstrong's "Into Action." Oh, and if there had been a "biggest cheer of the night" award, that would've gone to Helen Sneed, who proved with her comedy routine that laughter is timeless, and a sense of humor is important at any age. I was glad to be a part of such a great event for a great cause! Thanks to all the performers and all those behind the scenes that put so much work into the event...

More causes, musical and otherwise, tomorrow! Cheers!

new year, more blogging!

2010-02-22T12:14:00.000-08:00

So I'm gonna try to keep this thing more up-to-date and actually join the 21st century, now that we're 10 years in. Better late than never...?

I was thinking I could start a Cause of the Day feature that might have you checking back more frequently than you would otherwise to hear my long-winded ramblings.

First off, I had the pleasure of being a celebrity judge for the Charlottesville's Got Talent event Saturday that was a benefit for The Haven at 1st & Market in Charlottesville. So many talented acts! It was a lot of fun, and I'll have more on that tomorrow.

As for today's cause...a certain beverage company is doing what I think is a pretty cool contest right now and I came across this group that seems to be as good a candidate as any for the substantial prize money at stake. Check 'em out.

Musically speaking, I think I'll make this a bonus Cause of the Day entry since it's been so long since I posted last. There's a song I can't get out my head lately and the band was recently on Letterman to perform a "broadcast TV network" friendly version of "Little Lion Man." Here's Mumford & Sons.
Once upon a time, they asked bands on Ed Sullivan's stage like The Doors and The Stones to edit out words like "higher" and "let's spend the night together." Now it's, "boys, can you change that f-bomb you repeat like 20 times in the chorus to 'messed up,' please?" We'll be playing the radio edit version as our New Song of the Day to start the Workday Wrap Up at 6pm tonight, and I have a feeling you'll hear it on Brighten the Corners tomorrow too.

And in honor of one of my all-time favorite sports heroes Julius "Dr. J" Erving's 60th birthday today, check out this video and photo tribute....

cheers!

Bonnaroo Blog '09- 6th entry

2009-06-18T10:25:00.000-07:00

tried to finish this up last night, but got too wrapped up in the UVA College World Series baseball game...what a heartbreaker! Ah well, they had a great, historic season nonetheless...

thinking back yesterday, I figured out my Top 10 highlights of Bonnaroo '09 that I actually witnessed (as opposed to all the cool things I heard about later and missed)

in no particular order...

--being sidestage for Phish and Bruce Springsteen

--Springsteen doing "Santa Claus is Coming to Town"

--Elvis Costello being joined by Jenny Lewis & band for "What's So Funny 'Bout Peace Love & Understanding"

--Snoop Dogg bringing out Erykah Badu for a cover of Slick Rick's "Lodi Dodi"

--artists including David Byrne (with bicycle), Wilco (the whole band) & Jenny Lewis walking right past me in the radio compound backstage area

--being sidestage for Band of Horses and introducing myself to Chicago radio legends Norm & Marty

--sitting in on a hilarious press conference with Tift Merritt, Alejandro Escovedo, Elvis Perkins, and Triumph the Insult Comic Dog

--the entire Africa Calling lineup on Friday at The Other Tent

--having fun being live on-air Sunday afternoon playing freshly recorded backstage songs

--seeing awesome stuff (The Features & Ted Leo just to name 2) up close either in the Troo Music Lounge (thanks to Elizabeth for capturing the Sons of Bill footage while I was on the air!) or Sonic Stage

more later...

Bonnaroo Blog '09-5th entry

2009-06-16T10:56:00.000-07:00

In the Corner Element, driving back to VA, Monday morning, going back through the memory banks for Friday wanderings/ramblings...(see my Bonnaroo videos here, by the way)

Tift Merritt started off the day in the lightly attended and very muddy This Tent. Nice to hear her rocking out a bit with the full band after her recent solo acoustic show at Music Resource Center in Charlottesville.

saw a few Gomez songs from the bleachers at the Which Stage. cool cover of Zeppelin's "Bron-Yr-Aur Stomp"...they seemed to gear their setlist to their early set time, which meant slower, more meandering jammy stuff...maybe that was just the part of the show we saw.

wandered up to the "Africa Calling"-themed The Other Tent for Toubab Krewe, who added a touch of surf guitar to their eclectic, West African instrumental mix.

caught a little of Kaki King's set at This Tent. Quite a few more folks had gathered over there by this time, which was good to see for one of the best, most unique guitar players around today. And Bonnaroo is certainly a case in point - there are plenty of noodley guitar dudes; the world can certainly use more women who can absolutey shred too, right?

Over to the first-ever artist curated stage with Dirty Projectors playing to a very large crowd at That Tent. You can see why David Byrne loves them so much, and apparently he made a guest appearance later in their set, which we missed after tiring of too much of the lead singer's voice and not enough of his excellent female vocalist bandmates. Definitely a promising band, though, as heard on Brighten The Corners...still waiting to hear the full length release.

back over to The Other Tent for Vieux Farka Toure, who was excellent. When the term Afropop is used, it usually means lilting, light guitar lines, but Vieux definitely upped the rock/funk quotient for sure, as an appreciative crowd danced the afternoon away.

Walking back over to That Tent for St. Vincent, the Silent Disco was jumping with chants of "celebrate good times, come on!" It's always one of the most popular tents at Bonnaroo - the DJ plays a mix that only the folks in the tent with headphones on can hear (there's no outside speaker system), while passersby look on in puzzled amusement...probably should've given this a try this year, and also never got around to taking swings in the backstage batting cage, dang. St. Vincent was good though, proving that even with such a beautiful, pure voice, she can also rock when she wants to.

Grace Potter & The Nocturnals tied the previous day's rainstorm into larger biblical themes by encouraging her crowd to "let it rain" on an epic closing number at This Tent. Grace's new bandmates (she's added a new bass player and 2 guitarists since the UVA Springfest show where she opened for Sara Bareilles earlier this year) sounded great.

It was unfortunately hard to avoid Animal Collective's Which Stage set on the way to our first visit to the largest What Stage for Galactic. I swear we heard NO applause after one of Animal Collective's songs. And believe me, it was a HUGE crowd watching them. And then I thought about how this kind of response is so rare from a usually very appreciative Bonnaroo audience. I felt kind of bad for them because, like the All Points West festival last year in NJ, they were stuck in the hot mid-afternoon sun. Maybe it was just too hot for people to clap (overall, the crowds did seem slightly more subdued this year). Seemed like their style of music and light show would've been better served during a late night spot. But then I remembered their drummer's name is Panda Bear, so I no longer felt so bad for them. Oof. And what's up with (what's the French word for hot?) Phoenix only getting 45 minutes at 1130pm? I'm just noticing that in the schedule here on the drive back home...No wonder we missed them. That's one of my favorite things about Bonnaroo - the set times are usually long enough that you have time to get to a variety of things, and if you want to stay and enjoy one artist, you feel like you've gotten their typical full show, and maybe even their best show, thanks to the surroundings, and not a shortened, "festival set." Heard from a couple folks that Phoenix was good, although I wasn't very impressed by the 3 songs they did on SNL a while back. Let's see next year at this time between Phoenix and Animal Collective who turns into Arcade Fire and who turns into Clap Your Hands Say Yeah.

ok, gotta get some sleep on the ride home...will write more later, promise!

oh, and i'm including the following notes for myself in case I forget to mention in future posts...

Brett Dennen was good Sunday afternoon

My theory of "camping breeds hardy festival goers," which makes Bonnaroo better than the rest

would've liked to have seen some of the Comedy Tent stuff, but tickets were required and you had to be in line 20 minutes before the performance, so it seemed like too many hoops to go though with so much great music going on.

Bonnaroo Blog '09-4th entry

2009-06-14T23:27:00.001-07:00

well, back in the tent closing in on 130am, trying to put yet another stellar Bonnaroo in perspective....

Phish ended about an hour ago, and Elizabeth and I miraculously ended up on the upper sidestage to witness our 1st full Phish concert! As stated in a previous entry, we only caught the first couple songs on Friday night...and if there's one Phish show to catch, I'd imagine it'd be this one - Springsteen guest stars for 3 songs in the middle, a Velvet Underground "Rock and Roll" cover, and oh yeah, there were 75,000 fans going bonkers the whole time...quite a site to witness from any perspective, let along high atop the side of the stage. Oh right, and the setting wasn't any old basketball arena or shed, it was at Bonnaroo! Ok, truth be told, we did ditch out for a bathroom break and a massive slice of pizza around the time they played what's probably my favorite Phish song, "Character Zero," but even that was lucky as we heard the "true" sound mix for most of the song and not the muted, you're-standing-behind-the-speakers mix from sidestage. We were way overdue for dinner as no food was provided backstage, we had to fend for ourselves and time got away from us! And we knew, Phish being Phish, we were gonna be in for an epic night...

Earlier highlights today included-

the fun I had broadcasting from noon-3pm eastern from the radio compound and playing back some of this year's backstage performances from the likes of Alejandro Escovedo, Ani DiFranco, Wilco, The Features, Zee Avi and Andrew Bird (just to name a few). Thanks to Elizabeth and Starr Hill's Mark for joining me on-air, to Brad & Melissa for taking over from 3-4pm, and to Bob back at the studio in VA for getting us on the air from TN!

Elizabeth captured some great video for the Corner Crew of Sons of Bill and Cage the Elephant's raucous (sorry, i know i keep using it, but i love that word!) early day sets. I was on the air and Brad & Melissa's late-morning escort to the off-site showers took longer than expected..."disc jockeys" and "roughing it" aren't phrases that go together very well...lol

Ted Leo was awesome solo at the Sonic Stage. Played a new song and even did a cover of Nick Lowe's "So It Goes!"

Dear & The Headlights delivered a strong set of heartfelt, indie-soul at the Troo Music Lounge. I knew little or nothing about them before I saw 'em...

Strolled over to see Merle Haggard just in time to catch "If You Got the Money, Honey I Got The Time." Classic.

thanks to our Music Allies pal Nick, we got into the pit for about half of Snoop Dogg's set...getting to see him at all was pretty sweet after missing out on a chance to see him during my Missouri days, let alone from that close-up! Sometimes it's not about being backstage at Bonnaroo, it's about tagging along with the right folks at the right time backstage.

also thanks to Nick, caught the last couple of Band of Horses songs from sidestage as well...amazing backdrop with the sun setting off in the distance (for their song "The Funeral" especially). It was around this time I finally introduced myself to a couple of radio legends, Marty and Norm from WXRT in Chicago.

Here's a good summary of tonight, and the festival in general (via yahoo via Associated Press) with most of the highlights put much more succinctly than I could and without my bias...but then that's what makes blogs fun, now doesn't it?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090615/ap_on_en_mu/us_music_bonnaroo_wrap

ok, time for bed...730am will be here way too soon! don't really want to leave that early, but allowing for traffic and stops along the way, we'll definitely need some good rest before heading back to work on Tuesday! fuller updates on previous days will appear soon...check back!

Bonnaroo Blog '09-3rd entry

2009-06-14T08:45:00.001-07:00

ok, another quick update here before going on the air again...what a night!

In the Top 10 of things I never thought I'd see in my life but have in the last month

Leonard Cohen at Radio City Music Hall, NYC

"Burning Down the House" performed by a band including David Byrne at Charlottesville Pavillion

Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band performing "Santa Claus is Coming To Town" at Bonnaroo!

it was a request, complete with a life-size Santa sign...3 hours worth of Bruce was hard to top for the best of day 3...

Jenny Lewis (and her band) backing Elvis Costello on "What's So Funny 'Bout Peace, Love & Understanding" was pretty awesome (he came out during her set too)

Triumph the Insult Comic Dog (he's here for The Tonight Show and the Comedy Tent) joined in a mostly hilarious, slightly awkward mid-afternoon press conference with Tift Merritt, Alejandro Escovedo, and Elvis Perkins

Rodrigo Y Gabriela are mind-blowingly fast guitar players

1am crowds for Nine Inch Nails, Ben Harper & Relentless 7 and MGMT were massive...there's no sleeping at Bonnaroo (well, until 3 or 4am anyway)!

and it's been nice to have 2 dry days in a row, although it's still a muddy, muggy mass of humanity here in Tennessee!

ok, more later...check out the pics page too! thanks for listening and reading and looking!

Bonnaroo Blog '09-2nd entry

2009-06-13T09:20:00.000-07:00

2009! Another summer...sound of the funky drummer! OK, so Public Enemy modified the first line of "Fight the Power" last night, but all day I kept thinking about how this year's lineup could very well have been awesome in 1989 as well....Beastie Boys, NIN, Springsteen, David Byrne, Phish, Al Green & Public Enemy! Pretty impressive that all the above are still sounding great so many years later...

bopped around quite a bit for day 2...I'll write more later when we get back, but you can judge from the photos how busy we were trekking from stage to stage. Going with the strategy this year of seeing a little bit by a lot of folks, and definite highlights happened at The Other Tent, with Toubab Krewe, Vieux Farka Toure, Amadou & Mariam, and Femi Kuti & The Positive Force keeping people moving day and night.

Bonnaroo Blog '09-1st entry

2009-06-12T08:16:00.000-07:00

Well, here we are again, coming to you from backstage at a very rain-soaked, muddy Bonnaroo! Easily more rain than the other 3 Bonnaroos I've been to combined last night, including a brief tornado warning. We thought we made it through the worst during my half of the drive down, where the road was barely visible for a bit. But the skies opened up again as we assembled the tent in the guest camping area (around 9pm), and we luckily ended up hearing about the tornado warning while we were in the media area, so we waited it out on one of the tour buses provided for those in the media close to the Radio Bonnaroo compound.

Was hoping we could have made it in time to see White Rabbits at 645, or Murs at 715, but no such luck once we got a little bit later start than intended and factoring in a couple stops for lunch and dinner. And with another batch of storms that blew through an hour or so after the initial Tornado Warning (we saw these coming thanks to the Weather Channel on the tour bus), we ended up deciding to stay (sort of) dry and pace ourselves and spent the late evening catching up with some pals from other official Bonnaroo radio stations around the country and record label folks and such. And once the rain let up (a bit), it was back to the tent for a few hours of shut-eye before broadcasting from the radio compound in the morning.

So, no, we didn't see Chairlift or Passion Pit, and it sounded like Delta Spirit ended up playing a few hours later than scheduled after arriving late. And it sure sounded like some kind of techno beat started around 2am fairly close to our campsite, which was interesting since the official schedule had the music ending by 2am on this 1st night. I jokingly speculated we were probably missing a surprise set by the Beastie Boys with Nine Inch Nails, but alas haven't heard anyone buzzing about such a surprise in the radio compound this morning. I have definitely changed from the flip-flops to the rain boots for the rest of the weekend, though, as more storms are predicted for today...

Today's lineup is pretty crazy. There's so much good stuff going on at all times, I'm not sure I'll be able to see a full set from anyone. Instead I'm going with the strategy of seeing as much as I can (mud and weather conditions permitting, of course). Let's see...David Byrne's curated stage (the 1st artist-chosen lineup in 'Roo history) begins at noon, with Katzenjammer, followed by Dirty Projectors, St. Vincent, Santigold and Ani DiFranco. Later in the evening on that same That Tent stage, Phoenix and Girl Talk will do their thing...Gomez and Tift Merritt should be early afternoon highlights, with Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Grizzly Bear and Santigold all playing at around the same time in the late afternoon. Then it's Al Green, TV on the Radio, Lucinda Williams and Ani all on different stages at roughly the same time in the early evening. Beastie Boys and David Byrne set times overlap on the 2 biggest stages, and then Phish is the big headliner on the What Stage from 11pm-2am. Public Enemy goes on at This Tent at 1230am, and we'll try to mud-dance from Paul Oakenfold over to Girl Talk between 215 and 4am (might have to get a nap in at some point today to make it that long!)

Listen for a few reports from me on the air this afternoon, and we're hopeful of having some interview and performance clips to play for you this weekend, live and direct from backstage at Bonnaroo '09!

p.s., just said hey to James and Sam from Charlottesville's own Sons of Bill as they wandered through the radio compound. Looking forward to seeing their noon set on Sunday at the Troo Music Lounge, one of several upgraded "side stages" that definitely add an intimate feel to what already is a great, gigantic weekend of live music here in rural Tennessee!

Cheers!

Bonnaroo Blog 7

2008-06-18T02:42:00.000-07:00

early morning Wednesday 6/18

OK, so it's taken a couple days to recover enough to even semi-coherently wrap up this blog...next time, I'll work through any Sunday downtime instead of watching VH1 Classic on the tour bus, because the trip back Monday is a lost cause - you're either sleeping or driving (hopefully not both at the same time :). And then you get home, and all you want to do is shower and sleep some more. And then Tuesday rolls around and you have all the real work you've been missing to catch up on...but let us go back to Sunday for a few moments, shall we...

The day started off with more blogging in the morning...wanted to make sure I got it done before my Corner on-air shift starting at about 11am. Almost did, and blogged the rest while I was on the air from Radio Bonnaroo. Had fun recapping the events up to that point with Tad & Elizabeth occasionally joining me on the air. During one break, I noticed Ben Gibbard from Death Cab for Cutie stroll by right outside the "window" of my studio, with baseball glove and hat and 3 other similarly clad men in tow. They just talked a while amongst themselves and never even threw a pitch or swung in the backstage batting cages! Maybe they had just come from playing catch in the artist backstage area, and the interview finished up in the radio area, who knows.

By the time the on-air stuff and the blogging were done, we had missed Serena Ryder at 1:30 in This Tent. Cool, Canadian singer who had a great covers cd that I believe came out last year. We would miss her again on the Sonic Stage at 5:15...d'oh!

There was a big crowd assembled at the Sonic Stage for Broken Social Scene, and deservedly so. They would close out the lineup at The Other Tent at 730pm that night...knew we wouldn't make it over there for that due to Plant/Krauss, so it was nice to catch them, esp. in a smaller setting.

It was on to Sherry's backstage area, affectionately known as The Boneyard, so we could get a closer glimpse of Matt Cameron from Pearl Jam, drumming with his jazz trio side project, Harrybu McGage at the back of the Sonic Stage. Mission accomplished, and we even got photos from the front too as the crowd thinned out waiting in the BSS autograph line...I felt like a stalker dork though, since I had chosen to wear one of my old school Pearl Jam shirts. Didn't expect to get so close to one of the members of the band!

Caught a bit of Robert Randolph's Revival (a bit more rock/funk than the pop/soul of the Family Band??) at That Tent. When they started into an instrumental version of Michael Jackson's "Rock With You," we moved along to Jakob Dylan & The Gold Mountain Rebels at This Tent, where we heard the strains of "Three Marlenas" as we walked up. Saying something along the lines of, "we like to play songs we know," Jakob seemed hesitant to try out his own solo stuff in favor of older Wallflowers songs, but that was fine by the crowd, including Superfan Beatle Bob standing in front of us sidestage. Orchestra Baobab was also playing at around the same time, and what a spot-on performance from these Senegalese legends. Oh, and we caught Susan Tedeschi with an acoustic guitar and a flute player on the Sonic Stage and got some good video of her covering Ray LaMontagne's "Shelter." But my tolerance for the flute is pretty minimal, so it was time to move on...

As the anticipation for Plant/Krauss builds, we rest in the media area for a while, missing Aimee Mann and Solomon Burke in the process. Another fact of Bonnaroo...despite your best intentions, there will be times when you just can't head back out into the fray. The lure of tour bus AC and free Subway sandwiches for dinner is too strong...and, as I think I mentioned in the car on the drive down, one of the nicest things about Bonnaroo is seeing colleagues from around the country and catching up on their cities and stations and lives. The AAA (that's Adult Album Alternative) radio community, even though each station has its own unique way of appealing to their city/audience, is a pretty small, cool and fun universe with a lot of like-minded, easy-going folks.

The VIP bleachers are suprisingly half full when we arrive a bit early for Alison Krauss and Robert Plant. I had seen Alison with Union Station on this same What Stage a couple of years ago. This show ended up being one of the highlights of the fest for me, with plenty of selections from their Raising Sand cd, obviously, a couple Zep covers ("Black Dog" and "Battle of Evermore"), a couple selections from their recent history (a rendition of Plant's "In the Mood" was spectacular, and the O Brother Where Art Thou? song "Down in the River to Pray" was chill-inducing). Plant seemed especially exicted to be not only at a festival like Bonnaroo ("it feels pretty good up here!"), but in a state like Tennessee, where so much of the music he had been recently discovering had come from (thanks to his backing band, led by T Bone Burnett, pointing out to him that "there's some great white American music too"). Another highlight was shown on the big screen a couple times during the set - probably the oldest person we saw at Bonnaroo, which got a rise out of the crowd, because despite her short stature and age (70s?), she was right down in the pit, smiling and clapping along. As the crowd thinned out a bit towards the end, Tad & I went down much closer to watch the encore while Elizabeth went over to the Which Stage to catch the end of Death Cab for Cutie's set. Only got a one-song encore though, and it was kind of an odd choice - some old rave-up by the Nervous Fishermen, or something. An odd note on which to end a set that featured such good singing, playing and song choices throughout (even T Bone got to do a song).

The strains of Death Cab's "I Will Possess Your Heart" wafted through the air as we made our way out of the What Stage area and onto to That Tent for Derek Trucks & Susan Tedeschi's Soul Stew Revival. Really good set from them - always amazing to hear Susan sing, and I had never seen Derek Trucks before - his plucking style of slide guitar playing without a pick is awesome to witness...not sure if they planned on playing a long set anyway or if it was due to the crowd response, but they were still playing when we got off the Ferris Wheel at around 930 (they were only scheduled til 830). Took a picture from the highest point at Bonnaroo (literally, anyway :) atop the Ferris Wheel and then caught a bit of Widespread Panic at the What Stage, after which it was back to the tent to start packing up for the long ride home...6am will come especially early tomorrow!
Oh, and we did get a call from the tour bus area that the Celtics/Lakers game was close late in the 4th so we took a quick break from cleaning up to witness the Lakers barely hang on in Game 5.

And we did actually manage to hit the road by a little after 7, with the Cracker Barrel about an hour away being our incentive for getting a move-on. Surprised any of us were able to stay awake after that several-course feast, but Tad did an excellent job driving the first half and I took the 2nd half, while Jaclyn helped split the drive with Amy from The Tide Radio in Williamsburg. She was heading the same way as us, so we figured we'd help out so she wouldn't have to drive the whole way herself.

So, another Bonnaroo in the books, and some final thoughts (or things I may have forgotten to mention) have crossed my mind the last couple days...

--that was my FIRST time seeing Pearl Jam for free...I know, I know, whoop-de-doo, but when someone like me who goes to free shows quite often, and has PAID to see a certain band (who hardly ever does free tickets) 13 times, and then finally after all these years gets to go gratis, that was pretty darn cool. So those folks who won PJ tix for VA Beach from the Corner should feel especially lucky, I guess is what I'm saying...free PJ tix are hard to come by! And I guess being in the fan club and buying tix through them to get better seats and avoid service fees has something to do with it too, for me anyway.

--the SuperJam this year was a bit odd, in that it was kind of a jam, but wasn't really that Super (Les Claypool and Gogol Bordello). I guess no matter who they got, it would be hard to top ?uestlove, Ben Harper and John Paul Jones doing Zeppelin songs last year :) But it reminded me of something I've noticed at the other 2 Bonnaroos I've gone to...I don't know if scheduling is too tight and bands have to get in and get out or what, but I was trying to think of any "spontaneous" collaborations or special guests I saw...Eddie Vedder came out with Jack Johnson for one song...Kirk Hammitt came out with My Morning Jacket for one song...there had to have been others, but it just seems like, if I was that great of a musician in that setting, I would want to SuperJam with as many people as I could! I guess it's probably understandably a pride thing, too, with each artist wanting to prove their "Bonnaroo-worthiness" on their own, without help from an "all-star." Just throwing that out there...

--I only needed my earplugs once the whole weekend (for Metallica)...such great soundsystems regardless of the size of the stage! Of course the one time I remember to bring them, I hardly need them :)

--the My Morning Jacket stories we heard the next morning after their almost-4 hour set were pretty sweet...when I'm back in Illinois this weekend withOUT pneumonia, I guess that will have to suffice for not staying through the rainstorm for that long :)

--and other regrets...i've had a few...too few to mention ;) but i will anyway :) not seeing the Raconteurs, Serena Ryder, Solomon Burke, Zappa plays Zappa, The Coup or going into the New Orleans area (wonder how much money they raised for Katrina relief with their $5 "cover charge" for the Somethin' Else tent?) But we did see Jack White backstage for a couple seconds after his Radio Bonnaroo interview/performance, and we saw Solomon Burke's velvet throne up close in the Boneyard thanks to Sherry, so again, it's all timing and pacing yourself and the yin and the yang of Bonnaroo...

--i have no idea who the headliners could be next year to top this (for me personally)...Radiohead and DMB would be solid picks, but they've both headlined here before...Tad's still rooting for the Jackson 5 reunion...maybe they'll branch out into Green Day or Coldplay territory next year...Beastie Boys have yet to play Bonnaroo, I'm pretty sure...and once Chinese Democracy comes out this year (yeah, right!) and flops, what better place than the middle of Tennessee for that G'n'R reunion tour to start! I'm just sayin'...the Phish reunion would be too big for Bonnaroo and a band like U2 or the Stones doesn't need to play a festival, because the monetary incentives could never be enough. The Led Zep thing could still happen I guess (Plant sure seemed to enjoy himself this year)...ah well, let the speculation begin!

Thanks for reading my mostly off-the-cuff ramblings this past week...hopefully it brought the equally ridiculous and sublime world of being backstage at a major music festival home in a relatable way! The Corner Crew is humbled and honored to have been part of Bonnaroo '08!

Bonnaroo Blog 6

2008-06-15T11:08:00.001-07:00

6/15 1:10pm

blogging away as I broadcast from backstage at Bonnaroo this afternoon...

so we had a big decision to make as we made our way back to the media area around 730 last night. We had been told to be there by 745 to be part of the posse sidestage (on the main stage!) for Jack Johnson...but we had also heard that only the closest associates of Pearl Jam would be allowed sidestage for their set (they clear everybody out in-between). So Tad, Elizabeth and I reasoned that, as much as we all like Jack Johnson, we didn't want to have to fend for ourselves amongst the crowd of 80,000 to try and get a good spot that late in the game for PJ. Some PJ fans had been in the pit line since 10am that day! So we took our chances and walked all the way through the What Stage crowd to get in the pit line for PJ on the far side, since the closest side to us was jam-packed full. Seemed like there was a line of some kind, but with no security keeping people from cutting and no tape or fencing organizing it, fans had to police themselves, which for the most part went suprisingly ok, although Elizabeth and I started getting nervous towards the very end of Jack's set when more fans figured out the "line to the pit" process that they institute for the What Stage. We ended up bailing out of the line and enjoying the show from the lawn. Our side had plenty of space, esp. once all the people in the line were ushered into the pit. Tad took his chances and texted us "I'm in" a little after 10pm. Sounds like it was rough getting there, but he ended up with a spot just a few feet away from the stage for his first PJ experience. Turns out the Jack Johnson sidestage crew (including Jaclyn) were allowed into the PJ pit first, but Jaclyn bailed when it got too cozy after they let all the pit people in. Clearing everybody out between sets I guess is a good idea...there are 2 sections of the pit separated by an empty aisle between them, and then the mass of the crowd is behind a barrier behind that. Only problem is, when there is no defined line or security to enforce it, plus when that line effectively blocks the most direct line to the portajohns on that side, folks tend to get restless, so anxious and restless would be the words i'd use to describe my mood during Jack Johnson's set. And of course, Jack's music is about the most easy-going, catchy, mellow sound around, which only served to increase my own personal UNease at the pit situation. Ironic, eh? Plus, this being Elizabeth's first PJ show too (it's my 14th), I didn't want her to have to worry more about her claustrophobia than the music onstage. And the camera work and screens beside the stage were excellent, so we all got tons of great pics from various vantage points. Corner Teamwork! And knowing that I'll have fan club (1st few rows) seats for the PJ show in DC next Sunday helped make the decision much easier...apparently this new system was instituted last year - 2 years ago, those kids who had been there at 10am would have been in the front all day, and we would've had to do that too, which is exactly the opposite of the whole point of Bonnaroo. You should WANT to experience tons of different flavors of music & activities and people and not stay hunkered down in one place for hours. Ah, well, the ying and the yang of the festival circuit, I suppose...

The highlight of Jack Johnson's set was Eddie Vedder coming out and singing "Constellations" with him. He also made a nice dedication of "Bubble Toes" to his wife, who was sidestage, and he tinkered with an authentic Jimi Hendrix wah-wah pedal loaned to him by a friend just for Bonnaroo (I'm guessing it was PJ's wah-wah expert lead guitarist Mike McCready).

Pearl Jam's alloted time was 10:15-12:15, but I felt pretty confident they're immune to playing "just" 2 hour shows, and they did not dissappoint. 2 of the 1st 3 songs were B-sides, still got plenty of hits ("Alive," "Betterman," "Daughter," "Evenflow"), a spot-on Who cover ("Love Reign O'er Me") and they closed with one I'd never seen or expected them to do - "All Along the Watchtower" (Ed does it with the Million Dollar Bashers on the I'm Not There soundtrack). Rants about 80,000 changing the world, stopping the war, gas prices, and special dedications for Father's Day and a couple of friends were part of the emotional rollercoaster that the nearly 3-hour set included. Tad ran up behind us afterwards, on cloud 9 from what he said was easily one of the top 5 shows he's ever seen!

Kanye West was supposed to take the stage at 245am, so we gathered up our 3rd wind and roamed around, enjoying a bit of Sigur Ros on the way. They pulled out all the stops on their one-of-a-kind brand of epic, soaring, name-your-own-lyrics indie rock, with strings and horns included with the very soft-very loud guitar combo.

We snagged VIP bleacher spots for Kanye right around 245, but after the big screens indicated he wouldn't be starting til 315, then 330, we decided to call it a night, while Tad endured, waiting until 430 before Kanye got his wish to play at "Sunrise" at Bonnaroo...from the backstage chatter we've been hearing today, most folks were none too pleased with not only the lateness, but the lameness of his set. Sounds like we didn't miss much...

some things I may have neglected to mention in previous blogs...
--i do love the "new" Metallica bass player
--Kirk Hammitt of Metallica joined My Morning Jacket onstage for their almost-4-hour set to do "One Big Holiday"

ok, off to explore the last day of Roo 08...can't wait for Plant & Krauss! cheers!

Bonnaroo Blog 5

2008-06-15T07:30:00.001-07:00

6/15 930am

Never did I think the strains of the Rolling Stones' "Let It Bleed" album would be so unwelcome as 8am Sunday morning at Bonnaroo...some really clever fellas (who brought a bounce house to put next to their trailer) had a pretty nice PA system, and decided to finally use it (apparently they started closer to 7am, but I must've slept through that somehow). Luckily it was on the opposite side of the guest camping area, but it was certainly loud enough where we were to prevent us from getting back to sleep (and I had planned on "sleeping in" til 9am today before my on-air shift at 11!). And once that classic album (one of my all-time favs, mind you) was over, it was onto the first Police album...when I heard the strains of "Gimme Shelter" at 8am, I thought they might be listened to Radio Bonnaroo, since I knew Jaclyn took over DJ'ing at that point. But it's a much mellower, oldies-centric playlist from Jac and Marty from WXRT in Chicago this morning on 101.5. Not sure how many people actually tune in to Radio Bonnaroo in the greater Manchester/Bonnaroo area, but it's fun for the radio folks to indulge our personal favorites a bit...

So to recap yesterday, I'll try to be brief since my Metallica tangent was kinda long yesterday...plus, I didn't take very good notes throughout the day...lotsa good pics though :) Tad & Jaclyn have been taking great pictures too. Look for those all in one place (hopefully soon) on 1061thecorner.com. We tried to upload a few yesterday morning, but our website doesn't like my laptop for some reason :( Hopefully the detailed blogging is helping :) We did post the pics Music Allies have been taking, so check those out at least.

Slow getting going in the morning...but the catered lunch of sushi and tuna and rice sure hits the spot and helps energize us. By the time we headed out into the fray, it was about 1pm and we caught Matt Morris and Charlie Sexton in an intimate setting on the Sonic Stage. Matt is a childhood friend of Justin Timberlake's (I think he's the first signee to JT's new label) and his album (coming out later this year) features Patty Griffin and Edie Brickell. Even though we only caught the last couple songs, you could tell it was pretty good, soulful stuff.

Then it was onto the even more intimate Troo Music Lounge where the up-and-coming band Carney played a set that started slow, but really kicked in a couple songs in. Early Radiohead/Yardbirds/Jeff Buckley sorta vibe, and they did a smokin' version of The Beatles' "I Want You (She's So Heavy)"...looking forward to hearing what they sound like on record.

Elizabeth wanted to be up fairly close to catch part of Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings' set, while Tad and I were content to listen to part of it as we wandered toward Centeroo. Great to see such a great live band (Sharon Jones) getting such a great reaction on such a big stage (the 2nd biggest Which Stage). Great, great, great :)

Walked through the Fuse TV barn (some couches and TVs showing Sharon Jones and a painting on the wall and that's about it), and picked up complimentary Fuse battery-powered mini fans which would feel nice (for the few minutes the batteries lasted) later in the mix-of-sun-and-clouds day. The grounds definitely are showing the effects of a night of steady rain. The grass isn't too muddy (one good thing about the warmth), but the main paths for the golf carts are definitely mud pits in places. Against Me! was pretty impressive in That Tent, then Tad and I ended up in the photographer pit for the start of the Abigail Washburn & Sparrow Quartet set featuring Bela Fleck at This Tent. Such a great mix of bluegrass and classical. Ok, I'm going to start using another word besides great...difficult to avoid, though, at Bonnaroo! We'll get to see them at The Paramount in Charlottesville soon hopefully, so we met back up a little after 3 with Elizabeth at the Sonic Stage, where Mason Jennings played to one of the biggest crowds we saw in that spot all weekend. Looking forward to playing his My Corner Playlist when I get back Tuesday!

It was off to the What Stage for Ozomatli, whom Tad especially was excited to see, never having seen them before. One of the highlights of the festival for me, Tad & Elizabeth, no question! We ended up staying for the whole set and had plenty of room to move, even though we were right up close in the pit. And there is always lots of moving and crowd participation at an Ozomatli show, although we were a bit disappointed at the end they didn't do their trademark move of taking the show INTO the crowd at the end (esp. since I assured T & E it would happen :( Oh well, a good time was had by all, and then we moved over to the 2nd biggest stage for the gypsy punk stylings of Gogol Bordello, who had their crowd worked up into a similar frenzy.

We wandered over to This Tent to catch a bit of Cat Power (whom Eddie Vedder name-checked later in the evening during Pearl Jam's set) and The Avett Brothers (huge crowds for both, by the way). Seems like a lot of the This, That & The Other Tent shows this weekend are even more packed than I remember from Bonnaroos past. Maybe more people are sitting down and relaxing (and taking up more room), so it looks like it's fuller than it is, or maybe they just sold more tickets this year. I thought they decided last year to cap it at 80,000 though. Because the one year they tried 90,000 it was just too much. Maybe more people are just into the music this year, and not doing as much in the Centeroo or camping areas, dunno...not an uncomfortable-crowded vibe at all, just interesting to note differences from year to year. If anything, the crowds help to make the performances even better with their trademark Bonnaroo energy!

On our way back to the media area, we checked in with our Charlottesville pal Sherrie, who is here as an art designer/Cinema Tent organizer. She's been here a couple weeks already, and will stay about a week after the festival's done, helping with the teardown. It was really cool to see what I believe she called The Boneyard, esp. her office with AC! She was excited about some of the costumes that would be involved in the annual midnight parade through Centeroo.

After snagging some sandwiches in the media area for dinner, en route to Iron & Wine we caught a bit of Ben Folds' Which Stage set. His piano tech made an impressively quick switch of a piano string (I was trying to imagine Ben's piano teacher when he was a kid - "quit banging the keys so hard, son!" haha) and then Ben announced his final performance of the fan-favorite Dr. Dre cover he actually recorded a few years back. Elizabeth & I didn't shed any tears, and it made our decision even easier to head out to This Tent for a typical mellow but moving Iron & Wine set. Standing way in the back (conserving our walking energy at this point), I interviewed a couple guys in the crowd for their perspective on the festival.

OK, I'll try to blog about Jack Johnson and Pearl Jam and Kanye West while I'm on the air...just about to do my first Corner "Live from Bonnaroo" b'cast in a few! Cheers for now!

Bonnaroo Blog 4

2008-06-14T10:12:00.001-07:00

late Friday/early Saturday 2am

clothes are soaked, tent is not (thankfully) after a pretty steady rainstorm after Metallica's main stage set...more on that in a minute.

called in a couple of reports in to Brad this afternoon and covered most of the following during a break after the Swell Season...

Elizabeth had the quote of the day - "I've become a hippie!" She's been Bonnaroo-ized, apparently :)

had a banana for breakfast then made it just in the nick of time to join Tad live on the air for his last break from backstage at Bonnaroo during Morning on the Corner this morning.

wandering around Centeroo with Spencer from my old station in Missouri KBXR, he beat me & Elizabeth at a game of cornhole in the MLB batting cage area. we also noticed Roo-specific Pearl Jam and Metallica shirts in the merch tent. Pearl Jam's has a tree of some sort incorporated in with the Bonnaroo font, while Metallica's says, Metalliroo "Peace. Love. Horns." on it, referring to the traditional metal hand salute (index finger & pinky finger up)...funny since Spencer had just been telling us a story about horns being inappropriately thrown by their co-sponsor of a recent Death Cab for Cutie show in Missouri, the moral of which seemed to be, don't let a TV person do a radio person's job :)

while waiting for Grupo Fantasma to take the Sonic Stage (a smaller, often acoustic setting for artists who are playing other, bigger stages throughout the weekend), I ended up making $5 my name-your-own-price for a Paste magazine subscription. Not sure if print media is wise to adopt the Radiohead model,,,,

Grupo Fantasma had at least ten people on stage, a very funky mix of Latin rock. And I learned from the Roo guide that they were Prince's backup band at his recent Super Bowl halftime show performance!

Blasts of metal guitar fill the air around noontime, as Metallica's roadies can be heard from all the way across the grounds...

After enjoying a free backstage BBQ for a bit, we wandered back out into the fray, where the Drive-By Truckers were playing the 2nd biggest Which Stage. Tad notices The Corner's Operations Manager Rick Daniels and his wife sitting right near where we picked a spot to stand, so we caught up with him for a bit, while DBT's "Ronnie & Neil" (a song about Ronnie Van Zant and Neil Young not being the rivals they were sometimes made out to be) filled the air...

We had heard from Jaclyn earlier in the day that she had gotten sidestage for Vampire Weekend just with her media braclet and no special pass or anything, so we tried our luck with Jose Gonzalez. Tad & Elizabeth have media braclets, and I have a pass that says "Why?" on it that gives me priority for most shows (if the sidestage area isn't already filled up). All 3 of us ended up getting to see the show from a few feet away once a few photographers left the area right in FRONT of the stage! A very quiet but intense set delivered to a rapturous audience...and we crossed paths with Jose and his 2 bandmates later in the day and got a pic with him backstage, so that was pretty awesome too!

After phoning in a couple reports to Brad, Tegan and Sara took the stage after Jose, and they were well received, despite a few technical difficulties here and there. We were sidestage for this one, not right in front. When you're photogenic twins, photographers tend to stay a while in the pit :) After "Walking with a Ghost," we decided to move along to catch a bit of Minus the Bear, whom Tad and I agreed were kinda math rock/groovy in a good, Mute Math-sorta way....

It was onto the main What Stage area for Stephen Marley next, just in time to hear him do my fav song by him, "Hey Baby." A couple of covers of his dad's songs later (and a cool reggae version of Van Morrison's "Lonely Avenue"), and we had to refuel back in the media area...

as it's getting to be almost 4pm, Tad & I discover Rilo Kiley are doing their backstage at Bonnaroo performance and interview in one of the trailers. So as we wait to catch a glimpse of Jenny Lewis, we see Brendan Benson from the Raconteurs doing an interview with the dude from Fuse, and we interview our Warner Bros. pal David Ravikoff, who had just gotten to see Metallica the night before in front of 100 fan club members in Nashville...and good for him, because despite faithfully working some of his fav bands as part of his job (R.E.M., Raconteurs, Rilo Kiley), we know him to be a true metalhead at heart :)

So Dave wanders off, and Tad and I wander back to the perfomance area where Rilo Kiley will be exiting. Sure enough, out comes Jenny Lewis and Tad goes right up to her (just fyi, Dave didn't pull any strings or anything) and tells her we're from a radio station in VA that plays her music and could he get a picture! I was content to take photos of her walking away, so this threw me for a bit of a loop. Next thing I know, Tad's taking MY pic with Jenny Lewis! I made sure to mention we had seen her in Richmond last weekend (leaving out the minor detail that I went with Elizabeth - I would pay with evil scowls from her throughout the afternoon for that one ;), but that's about all the chit-chat we had time for, as she was wisked away.

Got to be sidestage for The Swell Season, who were excellent as always, and they did the Pixies cover they had done in Richmond recently, "Levitate Me." On the way back to the radio area, I snapped a few close-up pics from sidestage during Les Claypool's set, to pay Tad back for the Jenny Lewis encounter :) For the Which Stage, only my "Why?" pass gets sidestage access, not the media braclet. So that was pretty cool, seeing one of the world's greatest bass players from just a few feet away, esp. right during his bandmates' saw solo! Later in the evening, Tad got to check out the SuperJam, which this year they did an excellent job of keeping secret til Les Claypool came out with Gogol Bordello at about 130am...

Jaclyn at around this time, meanwhile, was shooting great pics sidestage at The Raconteurs, whom Tad, Elizabeth & I managed to miss, instead opting for resting from the day's wandering and the free sandwiches that had been delivered to the backstage radio tour buses may have had something to do with it too. Next thing we knew, it was getting close to Chris Rock time, so we mosied on out to catch a bit of Willie Nelson, Rilo Kiley and M.I.A. on the way.

In what was billed as one of the biggest, if not THE biggest crowd to witness a comedian, Chris was introduced by Lars and Kirk from Metallica. He started off very funny, and then it seemed like I had heard a lot of the jokes for the 2nd half of his set. Plus, for a crowd of 40-some thousand (at least), the laughter didn't seem all that loud at times...more like a lot of light chuckling, I guess...And there was no relation to Bonnaroo at all, really...like, why was he here, no hippie jokes, just kind of a standard Chris Rock set that he could've done at any comedy club anywhere. Weird. And he only had an hour slot, which seemed short, but I guess was about right as the anticipation grew for Metallica.

Chris returned the favor and introduced Metallica, albeit 15 minutes after their supposed 9pm start time. Tad & Elizabeth only lasted a few songs, especially when the world's lamest mosh pit (3 well-built shirtless dudes running into each other) began right near us. Somehow we timed our entrance into the What Stage area perfectly, right when they were allowing people to go into the area closest to the stage. So we ended up seeing Chris Rock and Metallica from the equivalent of maybe 20 or 30 rows back...we'll have to try that timing trick tomorrow for Pearl Jam :)

Very mixed feelings about Metallica's set...it was my first time seeing them, so I don't really have anything to compare to. But I thought their reputation for long live shows preceeded them, and made them a good fit for Bonnaroo (if, as many thought, nothing else did). And like James Hetfield said at one point, something to the effect of, you're here for great live music, and so are we, so let's do this! They seemed very appreciative to the crowd...no stinky hippies jokes or anything...and they bashed out an all-oldies set, including a few from "Kill Em All" even...The mellower moments were nice respites from the lame mosh dudes ("The Unforgiven," "Nothing Else Matters"), and luckily these guys weren't the type to try to mosh/crowd surf even when a ballad is being played. So back to the long live show thing...their alloted time was 9-11:30. So they went on 15 minutes late, and then were done by 11:20, the last 5 minutes of which they spent smiling at the crowd and throwing picks and soaking up the applause of what seemed to be a mostly-pleased crowd (from what I overheard those around me saying as we exited), despite a major technical glitch in the last song ("Seek and Destroy") where the audio went out completely for a good 30 seconds. But going back through my 20-year history as a fan of the band, I couldn't help but be disappointed. ...And Justice for All was my Metallica album...listened to it over and over as a 14- and 15-year old...listening back to it recently for the first time in a long time, I was struck by how its themes of war and justice and freedom were not only perfect for the late-80s Bush era, but even moreso for our current one. And let's face it, Kill Em All is great, but they wrote that when they were what, teenagers? And they have all these new songs you know they are just itching to play live...why not throw us a bone and show us how the new stuff holds up to the old favs? THAT's what Bonnaroo is about to me...pushing the envelope a little bit. It seems they're in this mode of reclaiming their old glory, which is fine, but claim your current glory too, ya know? Why are you still relevant? They pretty much are a genre unto themselves, which is why so many people love them, but I dunno...I guess I wish Hetfield had had more to say than he did ("let's hear you, Bonnaroo?" "are you still alive out there?" and fist pumping, "heys," which always freaks me out in a fascistic way...) Plus the whole show was a bit like watching people play Guitar Hero. A very fun game to play, I'll be the first to admit, but not so much when you have to watch other people do it. Ironic that I think they've just inked a deal for an all-Metallica version of Guitar Hero! It's like their awesome precision doesn't leave room for any kind of improv or surprise, which I guess is what the spirit of Bonnaroo comes down to for me. I thought maybe ONE new song might've been the way for Metallica to accomplish this, and I'm sure they're understandably worried about youtube footage or whatever, but still... or maybe that's the problem translating metal to the Bonnaroo experience - getting aggression out by noodle-dancing and smiling and singing along to songs about positive change is totally different from doing so by pushing and shoving. While still very sincere, metal just by nature elicts totally different emotions that, for me, works when I'm in the car by myself and I can turn the radio up to 11, but not so much when I'm surrounded by my fellow humans, most of whom are the reason I have these feelings of aggression in the first place - lol! As Chris Rock said, "don't hate the player, hate the game"...And this is NOT about the 3 lame dudes attempting to get their mosh on, it's about the feelings certain kinds of music represent...or something. I guess I'm saying, whatever happened to clapping and pogo-dancing? There was virtually none of that tonight...sad but true, indeed....

My Morning Jacket's midnight set is exactly the cure for my metal doldrums, and even after we return to the tent after getting poured on waiting to find out who the SuperJam might involve, we can still hear the strains of MMJ from the Which Stage as they go well-past the 2-hour mark with their mix of funk/country/rock/soul...yes, that's more like it, Bonnaroo :) Can't wait to see how differently Eddie Vedder handles the What Stage crowd tomorrow...

Bonnaroo Blog 3

2008-06-13T07:47:00.002-07:00

6/13 950am

How am I so awake this early? Actually woke up at around 3am and again briefly at 6am before finally really waking up at about 720am...the tent area gets a little warm when you keep the door zipped up all night! Ah, my first camping experience...I realize being in the guest camping area just steps away from the media/Radio Bonnaroo area isn't exactly roughing it, but by my standards, this is about as close as I'll get. Got to sleep fairly easily last night around 1am...called it a night early (by Bonnaroo standards) in order to be ready for a busy day today...

By the time we got our accomodations and tent situated last night, we had missed MGMT, Newton Faulkner, What Made Milwaukee Famous and Nicole Atkins, but were able to catch Battles and The Sword around 10pm or so. Big crowds for both and the energy is palpable just walking around, let alone as you get closer to one of the music tents. Vampire Weekend seemed to really feed off the energy and played a very spirited set, including some new songs. A lot better interaction with the crowd too than when I saw them in Austin at SXSW..."the punks and the hippies and the frat boys and girls can all get along" and "we're pretty much a jam band...but with short songs" were my favorite quotes from the VW lead singer...

Wandered over to Lez Zeppelin (the female Zep tribute band) and heard accomplished versions of "What is and What Should Never Be" and "The Ocean," but we didn't have enough energy to hang around for a Robert Plant guest appearance that wasn't likely to happen anyway (he's here with Alison Krauss Sunday).

You could definitely still hear the strains for both VW and LZ as we arrived back at the campsite, but it was a dull enough din of noise to get a good night's sleep to before our big Friday the 13th, featuring Drive-By Truckers, Jose Gonzalez, The Swell Season, The Raconteurs, Willie Nelson, and of course the mighty Chris Rock, Metallica and My Morning Jacket!

Will try to call in a report or 2 this afternoon if I can get a cell phone signal out of here...Jaclyn will talk to you from the Radio Bonnaroo studios tomorrow at noon and I'll be on at noon on Sunday! Cheers!

Bonnaroo Blog 2

2008-06-13T07:47:00.001-07:00

7pm eastern Thursday

....and we're BACK!!

after a 4-hour driving stint through a couple of midwestern monsoons, i'm back in the backseat...i think my fellow travelers were getting tired of my "radio scan" technique...lots of live Pearl Jam off Tad's iPod - had to wait til Jaclyn fell asleep otherwise that wouldn't have lasted too long...found a decent 80s station in Knoxville that went from Def Leppard to The Cars to Sheila E to Ratt...not bad! Then I couldn't pass up my childhood favs Kiss "Rock'n'Roll All Night"...and there was some Carter Family in there too (we are in Tennessee now after all). Not sure when the time change kicks in, but we're within a couple of hours now...should be able to tune in Radio Bonnaroo soon! They take over the area light rock station for the weekend and air Bonnaroo-related music and information for the crowd as they arrive at the festival and for the folks in the campsites. Jaclyn is excited about her Sunday morning shift on Radio Bonnaroo from 8 to 10am. If I'm awake at that ridiculous hour (after staying up til about 3am to see the start of Kanye West's set the night before), I might help out. In my other 2 trips to Bonnaroo, I have broadcasted back to my host station, but never to the campers of Bonnaroo.

oh, and it's been Spandau Ballet "True" and Guns'n'Roses "Sweet Child O' Mine" since Jaclyn took over, by the way...ok, she did find a really cool Etta James song on an oldies station and we rocked some Jackson 5 off Tad's iPod. Tad and Jaclyn's dance moves in the front seat are totally worth veering off onto the shoulder from time to time :) The singing...not so much.

more later after we land on Planet Bonnaroo!!

Bonnaroo Blog 1

2008-06-13T07:44:00.000-07:00

6/12 1230pm

and a blog from the road...

departing C-ville at around 11am, we stopped at Kline's in Staunton for some much-needed lunch. ok, so it might take us a while to get there...but the lure of BBQ and milkshakes was too strong...

Jaclyn just took over driving the Corner Element for Tad...she went with the radio for a while and now it's Flight of the Conchords off Tad's iPod after they were nice enough to let me choose the first things we listened to - (since I didn't go last year). I went with the new My Morning Jacket followed by Vampire Weekend. Ah, the nuances of roadtripping with 3 DJs in the car :)

As an Outback Subaru just passed us, they held up a sign saying "Boob-A-Roo...Show us yours" - Tad resisted the urge to lift up his shirt...

More later as events warrant...

South By Southwest 08 Day Four recap

2008-03-18T18:00:00.000-07:00

what sxsw means...1700 bands, 12,000 wristbands, 12,500 badges, and $90 million for the local economy, according to the paper's front page today. this year for me, it meant missing Lou Reed twice, seeing J Mascis thrice, coming down with a wicked cold halfway through, and not getting any sleep 2 nights this week. And of course, catching up with industry friends and old friends and smiling all the way through the leg pain and sleepiness. Saturday was definitely anti-climactic compared to all the great stuff I had seen earlier in the week, but it was still great.

typing this in Chicago during my layover between flights back to VA...730am couldn't come soon enough (I just wanna sleep on the plane - can we board yet?) as it got to the point in the evening last night where it didn't make sense to try and get an hour or 2 of sleep and then hope that a cab picked me up or that i would hear my alarm, so I rode with Jeff back to his place, threw my stuff together while the cabbie kept the meter running, and it was off to the airport around 4am...a nice litte $45 cab ride, plus tip (Emo's closes at 2am, but being the sound guy and it being sxsw, Jeff has to stay an extra hour-plus to get the stage ready for the next day. Plus, the club next door was still thumping until almost 3 anyway, but we wanted to let things die down a bit outside before trying to catch a cab, which we did at 330. Finally got a pic of Jeff at the soundboard too, with that "is-sxsw-over-yet?" look on his face...classic.

Best Fwends was the final band I saw this year, and they were a pretty silly duo who sort of rapped/screamed/sang over pre-programmed beats. Sort of like Sesame Street meets The Whitest Kids U Know...at least it was a fairly easy teardown for Jeff, which is partly why I stuck around and waited for him. I never did figure out where to catch the late-night South 1st street bus...Gave up on the bus system (I even called the number, but the automated operator couldn't understand me), and decided to try to meet up with Pete, Lindsey & Drea at the VIce party which went until the wee hours. Didn't want to go in without knowing if they were already there or not, and we couldn't make connections (still not sure if they went or not), so I went back Emo's way since I had forgotten to try Jeff's favorite pizza in a truck right across the street, Stoney's mobile pizza. I wasn't even that hungry (we had gotten more BBQ for dinner at Ironworks), but it was pretty good, esp. for that time of night. The singer and the drummer from The Donnas walked by (they had played Emo's main room before X tonight), and I totally would have gone up to them and asked for a picture and told them how awesome they were last week in DC opening for The Hives if I hadn't had a slice of pizza in my hand. I know, excuses, excuses...I was just thinking how I didn't really want that Best Fwends pic to be the last picture I took from the fest, The Donnas one would've been nice, but as I looked down at my right arm adorned with various venue "over 21" bracelets, I noticed my Emo's stamp said "envy." So I figured that was a pretty good last picture, although I also remembered to take one of my 1st SXSW badge. There were still some things I couldn't get into, but overall, it was very nice thing to have all week.

OK, so I'm kinda going at this final day of sxsw backwards....

It started with my intention to see one of my favorite new bands, The Heavy (a Curtis Mayfield-esque singer + a funky grunge backup band) at 1pm, but was still updating my blog and pics & vids and kinda waiting on a ride with jeff and his friends to avoid the one-hour bus process, so we weren't ready to motivate til about 3pm.

Jeff & friends went to the FxFU (hey, this a family blog :) fest which featured some old friends of theirs. FxFU is one of many non-sxsw sanctioned events that have sprouted up in response to the increasingly more "mainstream" nature of sxsw. In its 10th year, FxFU just celebrates loud weirdness in general, and of course sticking it to the establishment fest. I intended to make it over there at some point, but the Harp Garden Party turned out to be really cool and was running a bit late, so by the time we were ready to leave, it was also time for dinner.

As you can tell from the lineup picture, some pretty big names were involved...all free and right around the corner from FxFU in the very big backyard of the French Legation Museum, on 8th St. just east of the highway. $1 PBRs and eventually I got a free ice cream drumstick outta the deal...another warm March day in Austin - very nice in the shade, but it definitely got windy and chilly at sundown...

another J Mascis sighting...a short solo set with plenty of blistering solos on his distortion-fueled acoustic. I think the last song had a 10-minute guitar solo at least, but it was nice that the typical J Mascis/Dinosaur Jr. volume issues were non-existent - it was just the right volume, even a bit quiet, which definitely fit the setting - lots of folding chairs under a big tent and lots of folks sitting on the grass near the stage.

Thurston Moore was up next, and despite some technical problems to start the set, the Sonic Youth frontman seemed in good spirits with his cracking backup band, including SY's Steve Shelley on drums. Most if not all the songs came from Thurston's excellent solo album from last year.

Stuck around for a bit of She & Him (which Thurston referred to as Him & Her during his set)...M Ward and Zooey Deschanel. It was nice and kinda sleepy, but Zooey was clearly pretty nervous or else is just not gifted with a very strong voice fit for a live band with that much volume. You gotta give her credit for trying at least, and she could've definitely picked a worse collaborative partner than M Ward.

After the free ice cream, it was off to Ironworks for some more bbq. Thankfully, the long line moved quickly, and to break up the 12-block walk up Red River to get to Waterloo Park in time to see The Breeders at 840pm, I stopped off at 6th St. for an ATM break, some souvenir shopping and a quick stop in for a pic with my pals hanging out at Casino el Camino.

Breeders were good...some of the new material isn't exactly "main stage at a big free festival" type music, in that the songs seemed to be slow & short and not exactly catchy, but I look forward to hearing their subtleties on the cd. "Cannonball" came about halfway through, and no surprise, got the biggest response. But "Happiness is a Warm Gun" and others from the 1st Breeders record reminded me of how great of a debut that really was, and even the Amps stuff came off pretty well...not sure they touched much from the last Breeders record, which was probably a good thing. My Missouri friend Wes & I agreed that the Deal sisters totally need to do an all-country covers record, as they closed the main set with what i believe is a cover that makes it onto the new cd.

lots of wandering Sat. night...couldn't get in to Jim James playing solo in a church because the line even for badges was too long. Although listening back to the new stuff they played via the npr.org webcast, I'm not sure I'm as excited as I once was about the new MMJ cd. Ok, I'm still excited and I'm sure it'll sound better on the cd, but I'm definitely glad I chose the Alejandro Escovedo show. Just when I thought Jim's voice couldn't go any higher, turns out there's a couple more octaves in there...

Ok, have to do some on-air SXSW commenting & actual playing of music, so I'll add a few more tidbits later...thanks for reading!!

South By Southwest 08 Day Three recap

2008-03-15T10:42:00.000-07:00

got a pretty late start on day 3...my plan to motivate on 2 hours sleep got nixed when i didn't hear my alarm and woke up at about 11am, which was when i orignially intended to be downtown. Once i was able to use the internet again, i was too busy checking up on email + plotting out the next 2 day's day parties and nighttime showcases (I lost my day party list somehow the other day)...

So I'm ready for the bus at 3pm...it arrives at 330. By the time I get to Stubb's, Vampire Weekend has just gone on for the Spin day party. I figured since I was running late, I'd have to wait in a massive line, but it was no problem getting in...probably because entrance was invite only, which discouraged those who didn't have a pass from even trying, unlike the FREE free stuff. $5 for another excellent BBQ sandwich and then I realize there are free mixed drinks...uh oh. Kinda glad I didn't get here earlier, based on how I felt after just a couple hours there...actually the free drinks stopped at 5, just as Perry Farrell introduced X...but that's also about when some industry and Missouri friends showed up, so it was all good. Why did I not take a picture of Perry? I was trying to get my Missouri friends into the party, and the way they introduced him, it sounded like he might play a set, so I thought I had time to get closer to the stage. Anyway, VW were good, but the singer's crack about getting a "Jurassic Park vibe from this place" in regards to what's probably the best non-theatre live venue in the live music capital of the world fell on deaf ears..."ah, you're all too young," he said. No, it was just not funny. There's a funny track called "Banter" on the Flight of the Conchords cd, and it's just the 2 guys talking between songs in a live setting. As silly as it sounds, that in-between song stuff can really add (or detract) from the live experience...one of the reasons I'm a big Pearl Jam fan, actually. Eddie Vedder has done his research about the venue or town or whatever they're playing, and it just makes the live experience relatable and unique for the audience. Sheesh, Vampire Weekend, work on that a bit, wouldya? And of course, a good 30-40% of the crowd left before the legendary X took the stage (they were the real deal before VW was even born), and it was my 1st time seeing them, and it was awesome! Original lineup intact, and I was able to get pretty close too!

Having met up with a couple Missouri pals at Stubb's for X, we decided a dinner plan was in order after trying unsuccessfully to get into the Levi's/Fader party. We all had wristbands, but there was another line that wasn't moving that we got sick of waiting in, plus the owner of the main clubs in Columbia emerged from the Fader party and was ready for dinner too, so we went across town and met up with some more old friends and caught up over mexican food at Guero's. By the time we got a table and ate, I had basically missed all the stuff at 8pm and 9pm, so it was onto Club De Ville to check in with the White Rabbits boys before they played their midnight set. Seems like they're riding high these days, having been signed by the guy who signed Radiohead and touring with The Walkmen and Spoon this spring. Knowing I'll see them in Norfolk soon, I decided to wander because there about 10 things I wanted to at least check out for a bit before last call at 2am...

Onto Red Eyed Fly for Land of Talk, a band I know very little about - I wrote them down on my schedule based on a little blurb I read - and they were pretty solid. Tried to wander over to MGMT at Stubb's, but even my badge wouldn't get me in because it was filled to capacity....hmmm. Didn't expect that one. Have a feeling lots of Sia and N.E.R.D. fans were in attendance waiting for them to play later at that same venue.

Wandering back up the street in anticipation of a long line for Be Your Own Pet at 11pm, there really wasn't one and I caught a bit of the band before, Tall Firs. There was a young kid in front of me in line they weren't going to let in because of her age, but her mom who was with her pointed out she was in a SXSW band, and she promised them her child wouldn't leave her side, and they got in. Not sure what band she was in...maybe Tiny Masters of Today or there's one other "kiddie" band that's making sorta punk rock waves these days whose name escapes me at the moment...anyway....pretty cool mom & kid. I wish I had been in a SXSW-accepted band and got to see J Mascis and Thurston Moore when I was 12!

Realizing there would be no problem returning later for the end of Be Your Own Pet and the start of J Mascis (who was followed by Thurston Moore, whose Ecstatic Peace label was doing the showcase that night), I walked all the way over to Pangaea, a club I hadn't been to before, to see Nicole Atkins. On the way, I had to stop for some NCAA basketball action (and to rest my legs...so much walking! plus, I can feel a cold coming on...ugh), as a restaurant had a couple of giant flat screens showing the Big 10 and Big 12 tournaments simultaneously, and both games were close with less than a minute left. As I watched through the window, sure enough, Minnesota threw the ball in the length of the court with a little more than 1 second left, and the guy hit the shot, so they upset Indiana! Ah, March Madness, I love thee...

So Nicole Atkins was pretty excellent...swanky venue with lots of couches, which seemed cool, but unfortunately meant an element of what I took to be their "regular" crowd jabbering loudly right up close to the stage. And I stood behind a photographer who had literally the brightest flash on his camera you've ever seen, and to make matters worse, kept snapping photos constantly through the set...Normally, they snap a few during the 1st couple songs and then move on, but this dude was clearly obsessed with Nicole, but it was pretty cool to get up that close in that kind of intimate setting.

Back towards 6th st. after trying to get a pic thru the fence of White Rabbits as they were setting up, but it didn't turn out. Went back to get my elusive J Mascis pic as he got ready for his midnight set. Then wandered over to Red Eyed Fly for one of my favorite new discoveries of the last year or so, Cloud Cult, not very hopeful of getting in because it's a small place and there had been a line earlier. Turns out it was no problem and I'm glad I went...strings, 4-part harmonies, and a painter on stage with the band...plus, they're very environmentally conscious with their cd packaging and touring and the area they live in Minnesota. So check em out, ok?

HEALTH was running late at Flamingo Cantina, and I didn't make it through the end of their 1st song. I kept seeing their name on cool showcases/day parties, so I thought I'd give it a shot, but it wasn't really my kinda thing, for that point in the evening anyway. They were very, um, enthusiastic though.

Heard the last minute of "Summertime Blues" from Blue Cheer emanating from the Emo's Annex, a tent across the street from the main Emo's. Too packed to get in, but you could still see and hear fairly clearly. A guy standing next to me said he'd seen em back in 1968 and we agreed it wasn't like you couldn't hear them from where we were standing...and I think I convinced him to check out Cloud Cult after he asked me what I'd seen that was cool.

By the time I made it back up to Club De Ville, I heard the last half of the last White Rabbits song, and then got to talk to my old Streetside Records co-worker Greg a little bit after. White Denim, one of Austin's most buzzed about new bands, was up next and were really good. One of my fav new bands I didn't even know about when I came down here...

Met up with Amy & Ed from Williamsburg, VA and they came through with some Zicam for my cold. Kind of odd sticking a Q-tip up your nose in the middle of the street at 1am, but hey, I didn't bring any Airborne with me!

They wanted to see N.E.R.D. at Stubb's, while I really wanted to see another one of my longtime favs I've never seen live, Joseph Arthur, so we agreed to meet up later for a possible afterparty Pete knew about. Joseph was pretty amazing, just one guy and an acoustic guitar with occassional female backup vocals. And I got there in time to see "Honey and the Moon" and "In the Sun," 2 of my favorites by him, the latter of which was covered by Michael Stipe and Coldplay for Hurricane Katrina charity relief a couple years back.

Afterparty never materialized, which was probably for the best, as I stopped into a convenience store that was thankfully open late for some Halls and OJ. As I waited for a cab outside the PureVolume afterparty that I couldn't get into, Bushwick Bill of Geto Boys fame comes strolling down the street, posse in tow, with whoever was leading the posse announcing who exactly we were in the presence of...pretty good afterparty entrance.

Cabbed it back home (can't take anymore walking), and now, I'm already getting a late start for another day of adventure that will include seeing the Breeders at the Mess With Texas 2 festival at Waterloo Park at 840pm! Will hopefully see a couple day parties beforehand, and I'm gonna try to see a Jim James (from My Morning Jacket) solo set in a church at 10pm!

quick update

2008-03-14T11:24:00.000-07:00

heya!

had some internet issues last night upon arriving back at home base (at 4am)...so just a quick recap of yesterday before i head out for more adventures today!

didn't oversleep, just didn't sleep leading up to Lou Reed's talk yesterday morning, so i cut my losses and got a 2 1/2 hour nap in before heading back downtown in the afternoon...read a recap of what i missed here Sad I missed the Levi's/Fader thing, but the line for that the past 2 days has been unbelievably long, and it's hard to determine what time which act is playing, so even if you are on "the list" (which i think i am having rsvp'd through email), there's no guarantee of getting in and you're not sure what you're gonna see when you get in. And every time I walked by, there was something lame (not even live music) blaring from the tent, so whatever...

instead i went to the Twangfest day party at Jovita's (sorta close to where i'm staying) and saw a Missouri friend who's working with the St. Louis band Gentleman Auction House with the Emergency Umbrella record label. Check em out, esp. if you dig Bright Eyes and Arcade Fire...

got to be on DirecTV's coverage of sxsw for a few minutes in the crowd at Sia's set at the convention center...yay for glowsticks!

skipped a couple free dinner offers to attend the Body of War showcase at Stubb's, featuring Serj from System of a Down, Ben Harper, Mason Jennings, Kimya Dawson, Brett Dennen, Billy Bragg and more. Bought an advance copy of the 2-disc soundtrack...it comes out tuesday...very interesting movie/music project. Was hoping for an Eddie Vedder surprise appearance, but that didn't come to pass. Check out the documentary, also called Body of War, which won some awards here at the film fest this week. Never thought I would see a crowd pogo-dancing to "This Land is Your Land," but if Tom Morello tells you to do something, you'd better do it! Ended up running into Ben Harper randomly outside a club around 3am and got a picture that actually worked this time!

and speaking of photographic redemption...well, sort of. 2 things. 1) i figured out slow shutter speed works better for nightime concert action shots...duh! so yesterday's pics turned out a little better. and 2) i totally got into a day party that a guy in front of me appeared to want to get into, but didn't...and that guy happened to be Moby! The 3 girls in front of me in line were all giddy when they realized who it was, so i took a pic of them with Moby, and didn't wanna bother the poor guy for another one. We were surrounded by lots of folks, so i thought it might lead to picture with Moby day...oh well. Sometimes it's better to have the story than the photograph (?)...

Had some sweet BBQ at Stubb's btw as the Body of War thing got started...had free briscuit earlier in the day after revelling in my "I got in but Moby didn't" day party glow...

Saw UK Mercury Prize nominees Working for a Nuclear Free City later in the evening...

actually skipped the Whigs/Yo La Tengo/My Morning Jacket thing at Austin Music Hall (way across town) in favor of Alejandro Escovedo (there were rumors of a Lou Reed guest spot here that didn't come to pass either...doh!), Carbon/Silicon, and Syd Straw, 3 artists I figured it was a rare opportunity to see, as opposed to artists I deeply love but have seen a few times and will most likely see again....the My Morning Jacket show I believe was carried by NPR, like the REM show was the night before...check the archives there...i know i will!

The night ended with Via Audio at Habana Calle's annex...one of my fav cds of last year, and they really were excellent and fun live...went to the outside stage for a bit to catch the groovy/arty/noise duo No Age, and when I got back inside, the boys from Spoon were among the 30 or so folks checking out Via Audio! Jim from Spoon (who produces their records) also produced Via Audio's...Spoon had played a free show at 8pm at the outdoor ampitheatre, which I wanted to make, but the Body of War thing took precedence...

So after wandering downtown for a bit helping friends get closer to their home base...we came across Ben Harper...I think he might've been trying to get into the Playboy party (we certainly were!) that went until the wee hours at a huge warehouse downtown. Alas, we were not VIP enough (not sure if Ben was), so I cabbed it home with Jeff, who had had an unusually long day as soundman (even by sxsw standards). I ended up oversleeping this morning, but I'm gonna try to make Vampire Weekend and X at the Stubb's/Spin day party in a couple hours!

Not as many big names to look forwar to today, but still plenty of good stuff...I'll try to post my pics and vids soon!

Cheers!

South By Southwest 08 Day Two recap

2008-03-13T04:04:00.001-07:00

OK, so I'm new to this whole laptop business and I decided at the last minute to not bring it along today as I ventured from South Austin to downtown (via the fab mass transit system - just $1 for an all-day pass!)...I had enough fun carrying my bag o' schwag around all day (couldn't bear to miss out on free dayparty stuff by actually using my all-day bus pass and dropping the bag full of magazines, cds an attendee directory and other promotional items back at home base)...

By the time I caught the right bus going the right direction, I got downtown to the convention center around 1130am. By the time I had 4 or 5 different people tell me the proper procedure/place to pick up my badge, I was starting to get a little impatient. But then I thought about how many thousands of people descend on Austin for SXSW (not only radio and record company folk, but all kinds of media outlets obviously and each musician + their respective road crew gets their own badges or wristbands too). A little after noon I'm looking for a combination of great music + free food day party. Lots of them have great music (some more conveniently located than others), and most have free beverages of some kind. But the food seems to be more and more elusive each year. Most every party makes you RSVP by email beforehand otherwise, no food (and sometimes you can't even get in to check out the music - even though it's free - if you're not "on the list"). A good portion of SXSW is definitely about marketing, and I seem to be noticing more product placement this year (maybe that's just cuz I got the free bag o' schwag for the 1st time with my conference badge). Like young marketeers trying to give you free gum at various street corners and then taking your picture with your smiling face enjoying the gum. I did not fall for that, but I did encounter a certain "guitar hero" of mine shortly after I took the picture of the streetcorner band you'll see in my sxsw photos...J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr. now has a very distinctive long mane of gray hair, and he wears unique glasses, and he was by himself kinda aimlessly wandering down 6th St. (the main downtown drag). As I passed him, he seemed to be at a stopping point, so I did something I don't usually do...went up to him and introduced myself! Told him I'd seen him do a solo set a couple years ago at SXSW right after Curt from the Meat Puppets...forgot to tell him I saw the Dinosaur Jr reunion in Missouri as well...and then I asked if I could take a picture with him. He said sure and as I walked away, I realized my camera hadn't taken the photo after all...so now no one's going to believe my J Mascis story! Guess that's what I get for getting too close to one of my idols...I should have at least told him how his music has gotten me through some tough times, and I'm not even sure I thanked him at the end of the very awkward conversation! He was basically exactly how you'd think he'd be...I asked when he was playing at SXSW (I had only seen his name once on the schedule) and he said "pretty much every day." Turns out he's playing drums with another band (Witch, I think)...and I totally should have asked what he was most looking forward to seeing - he must still have some yearning for new music otherwise why would he even bother with the industry craziness of SXSW?? Or I at least could have told him he's a guitar god for this (or any other) age. OK, so I blew that one...but I took a picture with a scary bear later in the day to make up for it :)

So back to the dayparties...started with the Red Eye distribution party at the Mohawk. As the raucous sound of Nico Vega got louder as I approached, I was hoping they would do at least one more song once I got in since I knew I was getting there at the tail end of their set due to my kinda late badge pickup. And yes, they did do one more, and I got a couple good pics out of it. So the day was off to a good start...and overall the whole day was very awesome (except the J Mascis thing). There was another stage inside the Mohawk where The Bleedin Bleedins started right as Nico Vega ended. Very majestic, U2-sounding stuff from an apparently half-Irish, half-Bostonite band (as they intro'd themselves). I had seen their name along with cool lineups at other events this week, and wanted to check out at least a few songs, and I'm glad I did. So I'm with you Pub Crawlers in spirit then, lads & lassies!

OK, I'm taking too long here..gotta get to the biggies...Van Morrison and R.E.M.! I got into both, fairly easily 1) because I had a badge, the long line for Van moved swiftly while the badgeless were in an even longer line and I doubt many of them got in and 2) because I got to Stubb's (where R.E.M. was playing) 2 acts before they went on, so at 10pm I endured Papercranes (I hadn't heard of them either but turns out River and Joaquin Phoenix's sister can really sing! Not sure about a lot of her generic/bad lyrics though...but it's one of those voices that can still pull it off, and she's certainly a mesmerizing presence - thankfully, since her band didn't have much of one). They claimed Gainsville, FL as home, even though Michael Stipe would claim them for Athens, GA later during R.E.M.'s set. The Athens, GA band Dead Confederate was after Papercranes and before R.E.M. and they were a mix of Nirvana song structures done in a My Morning Jacket style. Pretty powerful stuff, and I thought it was a gutsy choice on R.E.M.'s part. I've played them a time or 2 on Brighten the Corners, so I knew a little about them, and the crowd overall seemed pretty favorable to them (compared with the smattering of applause Papercranes got). Both openers enlisted nice strategic use of a sidestage smoke machine as well...bonus points?? The new R.E.M. stuff must not be Automatic for the People quiet, I told myself during DC's uber loud/soft set. And sure enough, R.E.M. did several new songs, saving "Supernatural Superserious" til the encore. "Fall on Me," "Drive" and "Man on the Moon" were really the few "hits" performed on this beautiful, crisp night in Texas. A song they hadn't done in 2 years, "The Great Beyond," was received really well, as was "Imitation of Life." They did 3 politcal songs in a row (a new one, which Heath Ledger apparently loved that Stipe dedicated to him, then "Final Straw" and "Bad Day," which combined with the political commentary from their outspoken frontman seemed to kind of take the wind out of the sails of the crowd a bit. Not because of the subject matter so much as the tempo of the 1st 2 of the 3, maybe. But the new songs are virtually all very rockin' and short, too - Stipe even made mention of how many new songs they have that are 2:30 or under ("so if you don't like them, go get a beer or take a bathroom break") And he also made mention of how NPR is carrying the show on their website - check it out here I guess they carried it live too...had I known, I would've given you blog-readers a heads-up, trust me! I think we'll have an R.E.M. radio special coming soon as well, leading up to the release of Accelerate April 1st. Stay tuned...I had to laugh earlier in the day when I saw the posters up all over Stubb's for the new R.E.M. release..."brilliant and unrelenting," it said. Wow, methinks these dudes need to loosen up a little...that's the Bill Berry factor that's been so hard for them to replace I think. Not only the fact that he's the one that would apparently insist on catchy choruses whenever they would start to get too "arty" (how many "hooks" can you hum off the last 3 R.E.M. albums...), but it was also the fun factor...Bill always seemed to have, if not a smile, some kind of dumbfounded expression on his face that reminded you these were just 4 regular dudes from Georgia who happened to make great music together. Now Stipe seems like the normal, kinda having fun one! Scott McCaughey of the Minus 5 is still part of the live R.E.M. band, and he tried to bop around a bit, and Peter Buck certainly did a few good scissor kicks, but Mike Mills seemed to be having tech problems or not having a very good time and granted, SXSW crowds tend to be a little tough so as a band that energy needs to be brought forth - you can't rely on the crowd to help you get into it. Partly because it's a lot of jaded industry types in the crowd, but also because if you're not an entertaining band, there's 1500+ other ones who folks will be glad to give a chance right around the corner...So overall, I give R.E.M.'s new songs very high marks (and high marks for playing so many of them, especially on a webcast show), but the setlist pacing was a little odd (I'm sure the webcast + the fact that we were in Texas had a lot to do with the political comments/songs). It just further added to the odd new band chemistry when Mills, Stipe and Buck gave the bow at the end of the encore, not including their 2 "extra" guys...maybe it's an ego thing...they don't want even a semi-flashy drummer to steal the spotlight away from the original 3 members. And McCaughey is at his best when he adds subtle keyboard flourishes rather than feedback-laden guitar parts (does "Fall on Me" really need 2 guitars?). Hey, it's my blog...listen to the webcast for yourself! Oh, and I noticed a lot of this stuff cuz I was up in about the 5th row on Mike's side, thanks in large part to getting there a couple hours early! So yes, it was very sweet to see such an amazing band at such a small (3,000) amazing place...I just wanted to give you a few of the dynamics I noticed from that vantage point that you may or may not be able to pick up on the webcast. Oh, and all the dudes on stage with hair have gray or really graying hair...maybe I was distracted by that and I don't know what I'm talking about!

And speaking of "take your greatest hits show and shove it," how about Van Morrison?! Great, great show at La Zona Rosa, which I don't think even holds 1,000 people. He is still in such great voice, and man, I forgot how well he can play the saxophone! He also played a mini-guitar (not a ukele or mandolin, just a small acoustic). But you could feel the crowd kind of looking around at each other when he let EACH member of his 9-member band (10, including Van) take a solo on the first song! It was pretty much one or 2 solos per song after that, thankfully, although it was a crackin' band for sure. No "Moondance" or "Into the Mystic" or "Brown Eyed Girl" or "Domino" or countless other favorites that would've blown the roof off the place...just kind of a steady simmer, leading up to a very boisterous finale of the song from one of his recent albums about drinking wine behind the store (I'm blanking on the title). And he lived up to his curmudgeonly reputation, berating someone for using their "moh-bile" phone during the show...joking (?) about how he was glad they were well into the set, since he had things to do that night out on the town. And like R.E.M., lo†s from a new cd that'll be out April 1st. Pretty awesome first Van Morrison show, all in all.

Oh, and I forgot to mention my camera battery was about to go out right before R.E.M. went on, otherwise I would've taken more pics/video. And when I found out the show was being webcast, I figured that would sound better anyway than my camera sound.

Other day party highlights - Shearwater and Liam Finn were excellent...how much does the Shout Out Louds singer look like Jason Schwartzman?? Played some sweet Family Guy pinball...got to say hey to my Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin pals from Missouri and caught a couple of their day party songs on the way to Van the Man (W side of Congress Ave). Saw a couple good Jesca Hoop songs after Van. Raveonettes were good, but it is kind of formulaic i suppose...saw Ira from Yo La Tengo after the Why? set at Emo's, but after my J Mascis debacle, I didn't want to botch that one too, even though I'd just interviewed him a couple months ago in the Corner Lounge. I'll be seeing Yo La hopefully before My Morning Jacket late tonight...gotta go now and catch Lou Reed's keynote address in a couple hours! It seems like I just got home (I did as of 4am after a fair bit of walking to make up for all the luck i've had getting here and being here)....whew!

South By Southwest 08 Day One recap

2008-03-12T07:51:00.000-07:00

Howdy from Tejas!

Seemed like it took forever to get here, but once downtown, it wasn't long before I felt right back at home (away from home)!

Flight left Dulles on time at 6pm (thanks Tad for the ride!), but my connecting flight in Chicago was delayed by about a half hour, so I didn't get to Austin til 11pm local time. A $25 cab ride later and I was outside Emo's, laptop and luggage in hand, and Liam Finn walks right by me as I'm trying to contact my friend Jeff with whom I'll be staying (he works at Emo's). I tell Liam he "rocks" as he walks by again, and he responds with a "cheers, mate!" He seemed surprised someone actually recognized him (he's Neil's son)...wish I could've come up with a better line (like, "say hi to Ed for me" - he's opening for Eddie Vedder's solo tour next month). Looking forward to seeing Liam live later in the week...

Turns out I'm at the wrong door to meet up with Jeff, and once I go into the Emo's Jr. side, I see him right away setting up The Blakes on stage...I knew Emo's had some cool bands playing (all for free) tonight, but I couldn't remember exactly who, so I was pleasantly surprised as they were one of the bands I was looking most forward to seeing. They were very good, energetic and rockin'...I can see why Iggy Pop is a big fan. Oh, and while they took their time setting up, I zipped over to the Emo's main room, where Portugal The Man was playing their somewhat generic brand of indie rock to a fairly large crowd. So that was technically the 1st band I saw tonight if you're keeping score at home...

Got a ride with Jeff's roommate Toni and her friend Dawn back to their side of town..on the way stopping off to say hey to more Austin/Missouri pals living/staying nearby. I've stayed with Pete & Lindsey my past couple of times down here, but Lindsey's recently moved so they don't have as much room to put people up this year...but Jeff & Toni came through for me and after meaning to post this about 6 hours ago, I fell asleep at the keyboard, so I'll stop for now in order to catch a bus that will take me to the conference center, but stay tuned all week...

videos are here - http://www.youtube.com/Swebgem
pics are here -http://picasaweb.google.com/jeffscorner/SouthBySouthwest08.

R.E.M. and Van Morrison are tonight!

sxsw video montage!

2007-03-28T13:35:00.000-07:00

morning man extraordinaire Tad did a nice job piecing together my digital camera video footage of sxsw...if i had know it was going to turn out this well, i would've taken more...i'll be ready next year...enjoy!

pics posted!

2007-03-21T23:21:00.000-07:00

check out my groovy sxsw pics here --

http://picasaweb.google.com/jeffscorner/SouthBySouthwest2007

i took some cool videos too on my camera (much less blurry, and the sound's actually not too bad either)...still trying to figure out how to format them so I can post those as well! (probably on Corner website)

night time is the right time...

2007-03-21T21:23:00.000-07:00

well, Saturday ended up becoming a half day of rest, as we were all pretty wiped out from the 3 previous late nights...and when I tried to decide what I would go to even if I was up & at 'em and couldn't, that made up my mind to just relax a little and enjoy some pizza and NCAA b'ball with Pete & Lindsay & Drea. Definitely wanted to catch Jandek at the Central Pres. Church at 7pm - it was one of the official SXSW venues. Scads of scruffy rockers were filling in the pews when I got there, and I noticed there was an empty row up close off to the right. He got a bit of a late start, but sure enough, the enigmatic, prolific, and indier-than-just-about-everyone else there Jandek emerged and proceeded to play about 3 songs over the first 40 minutes of his set. I thought it would be great if he only did one and then walked off quietly (esp. when that first one was about 20 minutes long), but he kept playing, for about an hour total. 6 songs in all, I believe I counted. No words at all to the crowd. Normally long, drony songs with off-key singing aren't my bag, but a guy from Columbia, MO helped produce a movie called Jandek on Corwood that I saw a couple years ago, and that piqued my interest - otherwise I would have probably never heard of him. Go to allmusic.com for the full story, but let's just say he puts out very similar sounding albums once a year (sometimes more often), doesn't do interviews, and only recently (about 30 years into his record-making "career") started playing out live. But in these days of interwebs, a story like Jandek's tends to spread. I'm still not sure if it's an elaborate hoax, as some people believe (I think this about Pitchfork media's reviews sometimes - they can't possibly believe so-and-so's album deserves an 8.3! they're just seeing how many people will fall for it!). But I will admit I was rivited to my pew, if not for the quality of the music (which grew on me - or should i say hypnotized me? - a bit over 60 minutes), then to at least see what would happen next, because I had no idea. The most rock'n'roll moment of sxsw for me, I suppose - what the heck is rock'n'roll anymore? Isn't is supposed to stir things up, or at least scare you a little bit? Is it still rock'n'roll if it doesn't? Or is it something else? Not to say that something else is necessarily bad, it's just maybe not rock'n'roll...OK, this is why I should've done this blog 2 days ago. Too much post-fest re-hashing after the fact...sorry bout that.

Anywho, some of my other Missouri friends were at the F by F You fest going on in south Austin, where bands who didn't get into SXSW (and some who did, but wanted to fight the man anyway) played and that certainly sounded more rock'n'roll in the scary sense I was just describing according to the reports I heard later.

Buzzcocks were playing Emo's main room at 8pm, but Jandek going longer than I thought he would kept me from getting a good place in line, which was already down the block by the time I got there. Would've liked to have seen Charles "Express Yourself" Wright at Antone's, but the venue was on the wrong side of 6th St. compared to what I wanted to see later in the evening. Caught a bit of The Budos Band (and Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings right after) from the street to suit my funk needs, however (they played a packed tent that was luckily outdoors, so you could easily see and hear through the fence). Pink Nasty was still playing as I wandered over to Elysium. She's an Austin fixture now - her looks and career kinda compare to Feist. She can do multiple genres well (primarily folkish-country in Pink's case), and sounded great live. Wanted to move along to see how the line at Stubb's was going before the heavy-hitting lineup of Paolo Nutini/Kings of Leon/Spoon/Iggy & the Stooges. Got in fairly easily, as it wasn't yet 9, and I was able to have my 1st Stubb's BBQ of SXSW (how did i wait til Saturday?) while I waited for Paolo to take the stage. He was about what I expected, although the cover of "Rehab" was a nice surprise. Halfway through, I made the executive decision, having seen KofL, Spoon & Iggy (w/ and w/out the Stooges) all within the past couple of years, that it was time to explore new frontiers. Glad I did (made it back within earshot to hear the last notes of KofL's set, same for Spoon, and by the time I wandered back that direction for Iggy, he was already done, although I eventually saw some fantastic pics taken by someone who was in the front row...more on that later). Ventured up to the 18th floor of the Hilton Garden, where Johnette Napolitano from Concrete Blonde was playing basically a very big hotel bar setting. She was great, although when she dedicated a song to her 20-year-old dog that has just passed a few days earlier, I had to move it along for fear of becoming too verklempt to continue (it was only 10:30ish at this point). It was at this point in the evening when I SHOULD have gone to see Golden Dogs, based on a song a friend from Colorado had put on a mix cd for me that I had just gotten in the mail right before I left for TX. Although I got fairly organized on my flight down as to what I wanted to see, I did neglect the final once-over on the "friend recommendation list." So I ended up not being able to get into Detroit Cobras (long line), and the only other things I wanted to see weren't starting til midnight, so I stood in the street, pondering how many cool things I had missed during the week (most of which I didn't even know I was missing), and also thinking of all the cool people and things I had seen, which of course made it all worth it. The Whigs got a late start at the Blender Bar, so I was able to catch another song or 2 by Daniel Johnston playing right before them. Daniel's an Austin legend of sorts, who used Kurt Cobain's fandom among other things to have a few brief moments of MTV fame in the early 90s (and like Jandek, a recent documentary film subject). The crowd was really into it, although with Daniel you're always hoping it's for the right reasons and that they're not just coming to see the freak show. Although at midnight on Saturday of SXSW, everyone in Austin is pretty much a freak, so I guess it all worked out fine. Caught a bit of Amon Tobin doing his DJ thing at the beautiful Parish venue, where I had not been in my previous 2 visits to Austin. Had a speaker right in the middle of the crowd for what his intro said was "7.1 surround sound"... not sure about that, but there were cool visuals too. Apparently his new album (I learned later) is made up almost entirely of whatever you call the sound effects they make especially for use in movies, kinda like that human choir they had on the Oscars this year. Met up with Pete & co. as +/- (the excellent band plus-minus, who happens to be playing C-ville Monday) was finishing, and it was onto Emo's for him to see Turbonegro (I was hoping to make it in later), and it was onto Girl Talk at Elysium for me & Linds & Drea. Turned out to be a pretty righteous party that Pittsburgh DJ known as Girl Talk throws. He made like Danger Mouse and put out a cd with all kinds of uncleared samples last year, and it became all the rage, so at a certain point, with so many people having the cd, I guess no one thought it would be worth the trouble to sue him. He was more punk rock than the usual DJ stuck behind the turntables, as he crowd surfed, jumped around while taking off his hoodie and shirt, and invited a good portion of the crowd up on stage with him about halfway through (I was probably one of the few old enough in the crowd to realize the irony of Iggy playing right down the street at the same time this kid was using the same flooding-the-stage-with-the-crowd technique that Iggy's used for years. Ah well, it was still fun...). Couldn't get in to Turbonegro, and even as people filed out (which usually leads to those waiting in line getting in), they were claiming they were "closed" (it was after 1:40am, so they couldn't serve any more beer). This, even though the band didn't really even start til almost 1:30am, I learned later, talking to a girl from Britain (Brighton, no less, just like Gomez) who was, like me, in line waiting to meet a friend who was inside (she was the great Iggy photographer i referred to earlier). Turned out her friend was a huge Turbonegro fan, and she emerged at what must've been 2:15 or 2:30, with some guy from Austin who had gotten his badge for SXSW for volunteering the first 2 days of the fest. We all stood around talking on the street for almost an hour, as I turned down a ride from Jeff, the Emo's sound guy who had gotten me my wristband. Pete ends up calling me to say he stumbled out the opposite exit and is already halfway back to Lindsey's. My flight was to depart at 730am, so I ended up at Kirby Lane Cafe (can't believe I almost forgot to go there!), and enjoyed a lovely 4am b'fast with 3 people I had just met, who were all hilarious and cool. The very entertaining waitress and the cool tunes on the jukebox added to the good vibes, and as 5am approached, it was time to head to the airport, and sure enough my new pals were willing to give me a ride, as I had neglected to call a cab the previous evening. Chalk it up to southern hospitality I guess, and on my drive back from DC to C-Ville, I happened to see the "Wok and Roll Buffet" and although I didn't eat there, I couldn't resist a picture. My flight back was intentionally early so that I could see Boris Yeltsin (again) and The Cinematics with Dreaming Isabelle at Starr Hill. The rock star-wannabe's adventures never cease....See ya again next year, Austin! THANKS FOR READING!

the goal is soul (or bands on the run)...

2007-03-17T13:56:00.000-07:00

(photos are: a restaurant in Austin, not C-Ville! Go Hoos in the Big Dance! Amy Winehouse, The Pierces, and The Good, The Bad & The Queen)

day got off to a surprisingly early start, as i updated the blog, and got a little more into it than i thought i was going to at first, so i missed one of the 2 breakfast things i wanted to get to. by noon, i ended up getting my first free burrito of the fest and a nice watermelon juice concoction that helped with the recovery from the previous night. catfish haven was the first band of the day for me, and i was glad to see this fine chicago band had added an extra guitar player and two very entertaining backup singers (synchronized dance moves!) from the last time i saw them in columbia, mo. spent the afternoon wandering from day party to day party and managed to catch a bunch of great stuff in intimate settings...Pipettes and Marnie Stern at the Pitchfork party - not really down with the "ironic" soul stylings of the Pipettes (British white girls trying to make like the Supremes - also with sychro dance moves - but to my ears anyway they had what Randy from American Idol might call "pitch issues.") Marnie on the other hand was one of those SXSW moments where you see something you had no idea even existed (not being a reader of Pitchfork, really) but that is impressive, esp. in a live environment. Her backing band was contained in her iPod that she wore on her hip, and she proceeded to sing (and wail on guitar) along with it. Apes and Androids were a NYC band that employed kerchiefs, cheezy makeup, headbands, and inflatable aliens to aid their Darkness-meets-Clap Your Hands Say Yeah influenced compositions. Caught the last couple of excellent Snowden songs at the WOXY party, then over to the "little radio" party for a bit of VietNam. Then, Black Lips at the insound party (where i had seen A&A earlier). Repeated attempts to check on "pass" availability for the Spin party at Stubb's where Kings of Leon were playing (and apparently Fratellis were joined by Pete Townshend during their set!) were fruitless. Last year, and 3 years ago when I attended SXSW also, the "pass" for the Spin party was just a matter of walking by Stubb's early enough in the day (some day parties are totally free, others are RSVP beforehand through a website or email), and believe me, I was there earlier than most yesterday. Oh well, will try to see Kings & Fratellis tonight at their "proper" showcases. Back over to the WOXY party for Little Ones from LA - very energetic power pop maybe influenced a little by Modest Mouse. Another good SXSW surprise. Mainly early in the afternoon I was killing time to see one of my favs, Amy Millan from the band Stars, do a solo set (she has her own cracking band) at the Little Radio party. She didn't disappoint, and even informed the crowd that this was her fav SXSW she had been to so far out of her past 6 or 7 visits (also a sometimes member of Broken Social Scene). She even did a countryish cover version of Death Cab's "I Will Follow You into the Dark"...I was too shy to talk to the band after the set, but I managed to run into Amy later in the evening while fellow Canadians The Dears were playing, and I actually gave her my business card and told her if she ever comes to C-Ville, she's more than welcome in the Corner Lounge! Pretty rare even for a cheezy radio DJ to meet the artist who did your co-fav album of the previous year! Rest of afternoon was killing time before the Iggy & the Stooges in-store at Waterloo...managed to catch a bit of Imperial Teen (old pals of Pixies'/Breeders'/Amps' Kim Deal...got a couple compliments on my vintage "Tammy & the Amps" shirt I happened to be wearing this particular day), but Midnight Movies (who I had heard good things about) were taking too long to set up, so across town I ventured, ending up seeing Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly. (who had the unenviable slot pre-Iggy at Waterloo) For crowd control purposes (and believe me there was a crowd! and a tv crew, and police and fire marshals...), Waterloo had to kick out all the "customers" and then allow in all the Iggy fans. As a credit to them, they were very organized about it, and it's about the only way they could do it, but it was a bummer that i got there five minutes after the line was "allowed" to form (430pm) and ended up down the street, around the corner and up the alley. I understand why they didn't do line tickets or anything, but capacity of the store was only a little over 200. Luckily, Iggy being Iggy, he had the door behind the stage opened during the 5-song set, and not only could the crowd assembled OUTside (including me) hear better, but Iggy himself jumped around on the sidewalk for a minute or 2. Shoulda put the camera in movie mode for that, but I kept hitting the off button instead of the shutter button. That's why I'm in radio & not photojournalism, I guess...Met up with my Foundry Field Recordings friends from Missouri (great band, by the way :), and we surveyed the Austin landscape from their 7th floor spot in a downtown parking garage. Onto the purevolume party (where oddly no beverages or food seemed to be available, free or otherwise), where I caught a bit of Eisley. I think they've been around for 4 or 5 years now, but they still looked really young. Pretty talented family, though. walked ALL the way to the convention center (home base for those badge-holders attending the daytime panel discussions and trade shows) and since it's a building that happens to take up a couple blocks of its own, had to walk ALL the way around it to figure out where Brandi Carlile was playing. she was excellent, although she seemed a bit peeved to be cut off before they could do one last song. was expecting a fairly rocking band from her, based on the new single "The Story," but there was no drummer, and she had a cello player in addition to the twin brothers she normally has backing her up. so it was more of an acoustic affair, although she still belted out The Story. after another Naked Cowboy sighting downtown (didn't get the camera ready fast enough), spotted Matt Pinfield (ex-MTV VJ and longtime alternative radio guru) co-hosting the DirecTV SXSW coverage. They've got an obnoxiously brightly lit sound-proof studio right in the center of things on 6th st. throughout the festival. They've also got their own mini-venue in the convention center as well, which is partly what took me song long to get to the Brandi Carlile show, since I had to walk around it. Got a tip from a Missouri friend that the Chicago band Sybris was good at their recent show in Columbia, so I caught their last couple of tunes, which were very good, before heading over to the Amy Winehouse night-time showcase at one of the bigger Austin venues, La Zona Rosa, where the BBC was having a shindig. She had to cancel her Waterloo in-store, and there was speculation that she wouldn't show (i guess she has that reputation for cancelled shows in England), but she seemed very confident and comfortable on stage with a great backup band too. Couldn't understand a word she was saying between songs, though - very thick British accent...turned out the "special guest" following Amy was Razorlight (who I like, but i'll admit i was disappointed it wasn't a bigger name, since Pete Townshend was in town and all...he had joined his wife on stage at the same venue the night before apparently, hyping their "in the attic" website that features cool, stripped down performances at their house). Oh well, that's why I probably shouldn't read the papers the next day to see what i missed...On the long walk back to the main 6th. St. drag, got to catch The Pierces, who oozed confidence, sexiness, and serious musical chops on the rooftop of Maggie Mae's. Might be one of their stumbling blocks to success so far, actually (they've been kinda "lost in the shuffle" record label and genre-wise over the last couple of albums). Sounds kind of silly to say, but they might be TOO attractive. I mean, what girl wants to take their boyfriend/significant other to a show to watch them drooling the whole time? But, I guess guys take their girls to Howie Day and Pete Yorn and (insert your fav hunk here) shows, so we'll see what happens with their new cd. Wanted to catch a bit of Headlights, a Champaign, IL band that was playing the Polyvinyl Records showcase, and their first 2 songs alone gave me the energy to get through the next 2 hours (it was past midnight at this point). Peaches and Faint shows on 6th St. were too packed for me to get into unfortunately (I was surprised to see indie heartthrob Har Mar Superstar at the front of the badge line for the latter and not the former - even HE couldn't get in) and even Sloan playing the Dirty Dog was pretty packed, but luckily I could see a little from the street thanks to the venue's big screen behind the stage. The Good The Bad & the Queen (members of Verve, Clash, Blur) were solid but my interest waned not being very familiar with the record, so it was over to see who the surprise guest was at the Arts & Crafts showcase down the street (turned out to be The Dears), which is where I ended up running into Amy Millan, so I'll chalk that up as one of my best decisions of the fest! Back down to the Polyvinyl showcase to see my Boris Yeltsin pals play their night-time showcase (certainly one of the hallmarks of their young career, esp. being the "headliner"). Talking to a couple guys in line waiting for the GB&Q show, one of whom was from Austin and another from Ohio, it was interesting that they both had heard the "buzz" about the Boris Yeltsin boys...word spreads fast about good music these days, which is exciting, but makes for packed crowds virtually everwhere at something like SXSW. 8 of us packed into a sedan and headed about 20 minutes south of downtown to crash after a lot of standing and walking and listening and just plain fun at sxsw 07! staying in, eating pizza and watching NCCA bball won out for the first part of today, but it's a big night at Stubb's tonight, with Paolo Nutini, Kings of Leon, Spoon, and the Stooges all playing right in a row, and even if the line's too long (i have seen all of those but Paolo before, so i think i'll live), there are plenty of other good options that i'll try to report on before i head out on my 730am flight back to DC!

day 2...

2007-03-16T08:14:00.001-07:00

ok, a much shorter post today because I've gotta get going to a couple breakfast/brunch events (up and at em after less than 4 hours sleep!)...yesterday, there was not nearly the selection of free food and beverages at day shows I've become used to my last 2 trips to Austin this time around...plus my timing seemed to be off so I kept getting to places during set changes. I know, boo hoo, but I still got to see lots of cool stuff.
The guy from Super Furry Animals (Griff Rhys?) did a set with a female co-lead vocalist. Even though there first song was mostly in Welsh, the crowd got surprisingly into for that early in the day. off to Stubb's where the Melvins were to play later, and the 3 other bands on the bill were similarly loud and sludgy. We caught Pelican, but with the lack of free food/beverages, the search had to continue elsewhere...tried to get in to a party where entry was allowed only if you had RSVPd, and even though there was only a smattering of folks there because of this fact, we still couldn't sweet talk our way in. But I took a photo of Loney, Dear through the fence that actually turned out well, and not surprisingly, they sounded good. cab across town to Waterloo Records (one of the best record stores in the country), where each day of SXSW they have 4 or 5 in-store performances, and Sparklehorse did their sweet brand of melancholy at 2pm. Followed by Lily Allen at 3pm, and I coulda sworn I kept seeing Lily, but I realized it was just various fans resembling her fashion sense trying to get closer to the stage once Sparklehorse was done. Onto Huts for an "Alan Freed burger" - couldn't resist - and an update on the days' NCAA action. Meet up with more Missouri pals as we watch our friends (and excellent Polyvinyl band) Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin. I happen to be wearing their t-shirt, and I get several comments/questions about it throughout the day. They've got great new songs and have changed up the arrangements on some of the old ones too. I saw Philip from the band en route to my Huts burger before their set and we try to coordinate a Corner Lounge visit for Sunday, when they'll be at Starr Hill in Charlottesville! Not sure if it'll work out schedule-wise, but stay tuned! Also ended up catching Daniel Johnston (nice version of "Come Together" and "Devil Town") and Andrew Bird later in the afternoon, and a session with El-P at an event sponsored by The Current, a cool radio station based in Minneapolis.
Nice Mexican dinner with some record label and AAA radio peeps...that's one of the many great things about this format is the comraderie among your peers in the industry. Lots of music geeks, basically, and pretty personable ones at that!

The evening's shows were a little underwhelming, with Rocky Votolato and Menomena among the Barsuk label artists playing their showcase at the not-nearly-packed-enough for how long they're making people wait in line to get in Buffalo Billiards venue. Thought my highlight going into the evening was going to be Bloc Party, but after wandering around to see other things while they got a later than announced start (including Malajube, who seemed to have a pretty excited crowd and made up a goofy song about Texas on the spot in response), I figured I would end up watching from behind the stage (could hear ok, but not see anything on the street behind the venue). Well, I'm glad I tried a little later, because the badge and wristband lines started moving fairly smoothly, and I got in to see most of the 2nd half of the set. I did leave early because, absent an intense light show with frequent use of the strobes, I was expecting a more raucous stage show from them I guess. Crowd seemed to really dig it, and you can tell they want to be an "arena" type band with the frequent urging of the crowd to clap along by the drummer and the singer. Not sure if there are any "arena" type songs on the new record, though, which could be a problem...still a great band though, and I'm grateful I got to actually see a bit of it, rather than having to picture what it looked like in my mind :) More ping-pong and i-Tunes DJing (by my pals, who were trying - and succeeding -- to impress the "VA DJ").
Will report more before I get back to VA hopefully, and maybe later today I can figure out how to get the pics I've been taking on this here blog thingy. Cheers!

SXSW day 1 recap

2007-03-15T09:39:00.000-07:00

ok, i made it! having finally decided to take another trek to Austin only a few weeks ago, most of the flights were already booked up. but i managed to find a 4:10pm Southwest flight out of Dulles in DC that would send me to Chicago, then to Austin, to arrive around 10:15 for the craziness that is SXSW. well, of course, i had to get in on the free online NCAA pools and run around town for a few errands i could've done days ago (except the cleaning of the cat litter - that kinda had to be done last-minute for the benefit of my OUTSTANDING cat sitters, Brad & Melissa - thanks again btw!). long story short, i go to sleep Tuesday night intending to leave town BY 12:30 at the latest! actual C-ville departure time - almost 1:30! make pretty good time though (Dulles is one of the first exits once you hit 66), then i make the mistake of "economy parking." granted, this will save me several $ a day in parking fees, but time is of the essence, and THEN i proceed to get the SLOWEST shuttle driver ever, so I'm pretty much giving up on making my flight in time as 4:00 closes in and I haven't even gotten through security yet...Security thankfully starts a couple of new lines just as I get ready to enter, and after putting my shoes back on and keys back in my pockets, I realize I have NO IDEA where the Southwest terminal is. Just got off at that shuttle stop because the automated info over the shuttle speakers said Southwest was among those airlines on stop #1. Signage in Dulles sucks, so I ask very friendly help desk ladies, also informing them I've probably already missed my flight. Finally make it to the right area ("concourse B") at which point there are STILL NO SIGNS indicating where, among the umpteen airlines in the B area, Southwest might be. Finally see my flight on the departures board (all the other boards I had checked up to this point had NO SW flights on them), and realize B50 is all the way at the END of the rather large concourse. Mind you, it's 4:10 at this point. I do see a plane and a line of people still getting on that plane as I approach the desk, where the SW employee informs me, yes that's my flight (even though the sign above says "Tampa" which I must admit freaked me out for a split second). Final destination, I guess. Like that Wilco song, "Via Chicago," eh? So, apparently there was some bad weather where the plane had previously departed from, so they got a late start, which led to them leaving the gate in DC late, which saved my perpetually late self. No other travel snafus, and after a $23 cab ride from the airport to the convention center ($18 + tip), i pick up my wristband (I'm a roadie for the band O, Beast if anyone asks, and yes, i paid for it) and now i have to figure out which of my missouri friends (a few of whom live here now and the rest who are staying with friends of friends, etc.) is going to put me up for the night.

With my bag on my shoulder and after walking a couple blocks, I hit the main drag, 6th St., and it all comes flooding back to me...I've been here twice before, including last year, where among the highlights were seeing Gang of Four on a hotel rooftop at midnight, and Wolfmother from a few feet away in a warehouse on the outskirts of town. Tonight will be pretty uneventful show-wise, by SXSW standards anyway. My friend Jeff from Missouri who now lives in Austin and does sound for Emo's, one of the primary venues in town, was going to try to pull some strings in case I wasn't able to pick up my wristband, so I could still get into Emo's. Well, I have the wristband, and I give one of the security guys my spiel, but he's not having it, and I have to wait in a fairly long line (there's even a line for the "all-access" badge holders to get in to see The Mountain Goats) just like all the other wristbanders who DON'T know the sound guy. Just as I start to give up hope that I'll get in, the line starts moving, and I do manage to see several Mountain Goats songs and meet up with my Missouri pals Lindsay and Pete. Mountain Goats close their set with a rousing cover of Thin Lizzy's "The Boys are Back in Town" with help from the women of Pony Up, and we wander over to the Emo's Lounge to say hey to Jeff, who is busy setting up for the excellent Kinski. Wanted to see Calla and Blonde Redhead tonight, but time and line constraints see our journey continue over to the Red Eyed Fly, where Les Savy Fav is playing at 1am. Yes, SXSW is all about decisions...you pretty much can't go wrong whichever direction you choose, but deciding WHICH direction can be difficult for the thought of what you might MISS. Red Eyed Fly is only letting people in one door, so we go in the other door which takes you to the bar, where if you stand in the hallway to the bathroom, you can see and hear the stage pretty clearly, although they are pretty hardcore about telling me to not stand there after I got a picture...so, the night ends with a couple games of ping pong and the brilliant idea to stop at Whataburger at about 3am, and turns out Lindsay has extra room at her place (where Pete is also staying), so that's where we crash for the night. SXSW 2007 is off to an auspicious start...gotta go now and check out the free day parties, including Sparklehorse playing an in-store at Waterloo Records! Great night at Stubb's tonight, too with Aqualung, Rodrigo Y Gabriela, The Dears and Bloc Party, and then Lindsay's new fav, Menomena at 1am! Will try to post more later, but I'm not promising anything...stay tuned!

Brighten the Corners!

2007-02-27T19:09:00.000-08:00

I have mixed feelings about Pavement, despite naming my new show after one of their albums (probably their worst at that)...like most Pavement albums for me, about half of it I could take or leave, but there are a few gems too...Pavement would always come through with those 1, 2, 3 or 4 songs that would STICK with you...

was Pavement just a symbol of the ironic 90s, the Seinfeld of indie rock? does it hold up well or was it just a relic of its time? in a post-911 environment, i just find those Seinfeld repeats aren't as funny as they were at the time...i dunno, not that we can't be ironic or cynical or sarcastic anymore, I think it's just a little more difficult to do so without coming off as a jerk rather than an intelligent hipster or whatever. Hope is the new Irony???

I think Pavement has worn well, actually - few bands have matched their flurry of creative output over such a short span of time, and I do miss them, something I can't say about many other bands that are no longer around.

Top 60 of 06 (and other ramblings...)

2006-12-26T13:26:00.000-08:00

You know, a top 60 might seem like a lot, but when you listen to literally hundreds of things throughout the year, and then pilfer selections from several other best-of lists at the end of the year (which I did surprisingly little of this year, I'm proud to say), it's kinda hard to narrow it down to that few. Or maybe there was just a lot of great music that came out this year....

First, the Honorable Mentions...definitely worth mentioning...
(I'm linking to allmusic because it's an invaluable resource to make me sound like an even bigger music geek on the air...and the reviews are usually right on + you can even listen to song clips!)
Band of Horses
Yo La Tengo
Paul Simon
Johnny Cash
Tom Petty
Peaches
Loose Fur (Tweedy & Koche from Wilco + Jim O'Rourke)
Michael Franti & Spearhead
Calexico
The Hold Steady
Catfish Haven
Sparklehorse
TV on the Radio (for being possibly the weirdest major label album ever)
Tom Brosseau
Editors (05 UK release finally out in States in 06)
Sonic Youth
Emily Haines
Drive By Truckers
Ben Harper
Jerry Lee Lewis
James Hunter
Ray LaMontagne
Raconteurs
Snow Patrol
Girl Talk - Night Ripper (for sheer non-clearance of samples gall)
Jake Ziah (guess they've heard of Springsteen and Uncle Tupelo in Norway)
Headlights
Greg Laswell
Snakes on a Plane soundtrack
Rogue's Gallery - Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs, & Chanteys (Pirates of the Carribean was #1 at the box office for 2006, after all)
Viva Voce
Tom Waits
Bob Dylan
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Grant Lee Phillips -1980s cover cd
The O.C. Mix 6 - Covering Our Tracks

Who Will Be the Next in Line? (just barely missing the top 10 cut...at any given time this year, any one of these coulda been my solid #11 pick)
Cat Power
Ben Kweller
Brazilian Girls
Teddybears
Tapes'n'Tapes
Serena-Maneesh (saw them at SXSW this year, so I'm counting it towards 2006)
Arctic Monkeys
Flaming Lips (half of it was great enough to overcompensate for lame other half)
The Strokes (see above Lips comment)
Neil Young
Howe Gelb
Built to Spill
Twilight Singers (plus the Stitch In Time EP is good too and features Mark Lanegan & Joseph Arthur more prominently)
Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man - soundtrack

(so that makes 50 so far....no particular order to the above except the honorable mention/close calls distinction)

and now...the Top 10 Albums of 2006 (that didn't feature me)

10. Pearl Jam - Pearl Jam (despite lame cover art and my indifference toward the middle third, there were at least 5 bona fide classics to add to the repertoire, plus they're the only band with the guts to take My Morning Jacket out as their opening! act...and it was nice to see them getting all kinds of mainstream media coverage about their "comeback," even though real fans know they haven't gone anywhere, really - except a new label, which I'm sure played a part in them wanting to "promote" themselves more than they had in a while...see how easily the media is manipulated?)

9. Eef Barzelay - Bitter Honey (missed my chance to meet Snow Patrol at SXSW because I had to catch Eef...little did I know, he'd come to Mojo's in Columbia, MO later in the year and be excellent in that much less hectic setting as well...he's the frontman for the equally excellent Clem Snide)

8. Tenacious D - The Pick of Destiny (heard the soundtrack before I saw the movie, so I probably cut the movie a little more slack than I would've without hearing the music first...in other words, the tunes - and Dave Grohl as Satan - are definitely the best part...acting/script - uh, no...)

7. M. Ward - Post-War (I'm glad I gave this another listen after I shrugged it off the first time...there really are actual songs on here, not just guitar interludes and hushed vocals!)

6. Thom Yorke - The Eraser (who needs a band when the beat just goes...)

5. Wolfmother - Wolfmother (saw these guys from a few feet away at about 2am at SXSW and I was picking up the pieces of my mind scattered about the country for the rest of the year...hence, my arrival in Virginia!)

4. Regina Spektor - Begin to Hope (while Wolfmother blew my mind, Regina went straight for the heart and tore that into tiny pieces as well with beautiful quirkiness)

3. Gnarls Barkley - St. Elsewhere (November re-issue had a bonus DVD and the "Crazy" video in flipbook form as cool bonuses...I will take this over whatever flavor-of-the-week unlistenable tripe Pitchfork suggests any day...sure, Crazy was everywhere and the Violent Femmes cover is pretty basic, but it's a paranoid, soulful, technocratic masterpiece that is perfect for the times in which we live...and I found it inspiring as well, which is a pretty cool, rare feeling to get from music)

and for #1, we have a tie:

Jenny Lewis & the Watson Twins - Rabbit Fur Coat
(Rilo Kiley frontwoman puts a little twang into her (gasp!) pop tunes...with Rilo Kiley, something about her songwriting style makes me cringe more often than not, but on this cd I felt that devastating combo of sad & sweet was not so forced, I guess)

and Amy Millan - Honey from the Tombs
(co-lead singer of the excellent Canadian band Stars had some old solo songs laying around that she thought still had resonance, so she put 'em out...to an inexplicable lack of fanfare...a couple rock, most are folk/countryish ballads, and between her voice and her lyrics, I am "a better person for having listened" to it (to quote Death Cab's Chris Walla's quote about Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin)...which leads to the next set of categories...

best re-issue --
Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin - Broom (Spfld, Mo's finest finally get the record deal mid-Mo has hoped for them for the last 2 years...yay Polyvinyl! Sweet move putting bonus tracks on the LP too!)

best album title --
Peaches for "Impeach My Bush" (just barely over such awesome competition as Loose Fur's "Born Again in the USA," Michael Franti & Spearhead's "Yell Fire!" and of course, Yo La Tengo's "I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass")

favorite EP --
The Features (must be noted for posterity that one of the reasons Nada Surf ended up doing that "ok, now you're really going to burn in hell" version of "all you need is love" for a credit card company - and I love Nada Surf, mind you - is that the Features turned it down. Universal therefore dropped them, and they put out this stellar EP on their own)

favorite archival release --
PJ Harvey - BBC Sessions (take that, Sufjan and Bright Eyes!)

Best live album --
My Morning Jacket - Okonokos
distant 2nd - Foo Fighters

Best charity single (maybe ever? as far as quality of song choice and performance anyway) --
U2/Green Day - The Saints are Coming

there sure were some great new bands this year that sounded eerily reminiscent of my glory years (Band of Horses = Flaming Lips/My Morning Jacket/Modest Mouse; Serena-Maneesh = Velvet Underground/Sonic Youth/My Bloody Valentine; Black Angels = Doors/VU/Black Mountain; Silversun Pickups = Nirvana/Pixies/Smashing Pumpkins and Tapes'n'Tapes = Modest Mouse/Pixies/Pavement)...and I like all of these new bands, but it was just surprising I guess that they all mixed their influences together so well and so blatantly... then I realized...pretty much every band can be summed up in 3 bands (or less) - maybe that's the key to rock'n'roll: the good bands take at least 3...just a theory...that's what blogs are for, right?

isn't it great to hear bands like Death Cab for Cutie and Decemberists on the radio (and see them on the Colbert Report) fairly frequently now? and even Bright Eyes, Shins, Spoon, etc. have made some commercial radio inroads in the last couple years...i'm excited by the new platforms all kinds of bands have to get their music out there (whether it's myspace, youtube, or even movies, tv shows, commercials, or yes, blogs), but then again, ALL KINDS of bands have these same platforms. So it's going to take time to sift through even more riff-raff to get to the good stuff, but hopefully that also means there will be more good stuff, too! it seems we're going back to the pre-Nirvana system a little bit, where the underground is allowed to grow a while before the mainstream comes calling. plus, i think "indie label" artists are realizing if they just scale down their rock star dreams a bit, they can make a decent living doing things on their terms. and kinda like being a radio dj, that's preferrable to "getting a real job." i just hope with our increasingly short (and fickle) attention spans, we don't stifle the underground, because the mainstream will eventually suffer as a result as well.

and finally,
Best Performance by a real DJ as a fake DJ --
me! Foundry Field Recordings allowed me to realize my life's goal (I'm a simple man)...to be immortalized in the credits of a nationally distributed cd...not simply mentioned in the "thank yous" (although that's always awesome too), but credited on the prompts/miscues Emergency Umbrella cd, which ended up getting ADA distribution in the fall, so I was able to go into Plan 9 here in Charlottesville, and plunk down my hard-earned $ for a copy! Which I promptly gave to Jaclyn, who is already a big fan of SSLYBY...hmmm, I sense a trend here, people! A new movement..."Missouri" is the new Omaha! Why the hell did I move again? Anyway, other great regional releases I really enjoyed that everyone should know about include...
Doxies - In Search Of...
Ellie Come Home - Primary Sources, and
Shirelle C. Limes & the Lemons
and I must give big ups, mad props and (insert your favorite hippity-hop catchphrase here) to my CoMo brethren and sistren, who did a fantastic job on a regional "scene" compilation, a Bob Dylan tribute cd and my Blue Note send-off Hootenanny, showing that comraderie can and does still exist in the world of rock'n'roll circa 2006. More rock and less talk in 07, I promise, people...thanks for reading (and listening)!

Hello!

2006-11-28T15:38:00.000-08:00

We're still kicking around ideas for songs and specialty shows and show features on Charlottesville's new radio station, 106.1 The Corner! Thanks for listening, your feedback is always welcome, and stay tuned for further updates and ramblings here on my blog!