May Post

Hello! Yes, I know, I have not posted for awhile. Still keeping very busy between working and weekends, but generally facebooking things instead of blogging. I even missed my 8th Blogiversary announcement on May 6! Shame on me for that. Let's see what's happened...

Eeyore's Birthday! Our Spring Ritual event of drums and costumes.

Live music from late April forward: plenty! Saw mandolin virtuoso Chris Thile & jazz pianist Brad Mehldau in the proper vintage theatre setting of the Paramount. Saw local sensational songstress Patty Griffin play free at Waterloo Records (without Robert Plant, her companion and musical cohort, who shows up from time to time). Saw local (via Australia) high-energy progressive acoustic favorites and friends The Greencards at Threadgill's. Went to "Jazz in Bastrop," and annual charity event featuring my favorite guitarist Eric Johnson. He played a magnificent set (whether or not it is jazz could be an all-night discussion) with his regular band of Wayne Salzmann on drums and Chris Maresh on bass. Opening for him was Rick McRae (who tours with George Strait) along with Eric Hokkanen and several others playing red-hot swing-jazz. Great stuff, and on a perfectly beautiful, balmy night, and in the country next to a lake where between sets of music and applause you literally heard the sound of crickets. The following week we saw Eric Johnson again, sitting in for a few at Van Wilks birthday concert along with Christopher Cross. That one was a blast. We love Van, he is a great guitarist and a friend. The next day it was Rick McRae (again) and Denny Freeman, free in the rotunda of the Texas History Museum. Denny did some time as Bob Dylan's touring guitar player and is now back in Austin. He is amazing. Also seen last week - our beloved Band of Heathens. It had been too long since we'd seen them.

In other news, we got rain. Glorious rain, flashing the drought a middle finger for a least a few days. These photos are from the front yard, which is occupied by a hundred snails.


Coming soon, some good news on the home front. It involves a kitty. Stay tuned.

Those boots

Remember the pairs of mysterious gold boots that were draped, tennis shoe style over the wires around town? (Things can ALWAYS get more fabulous, and you truly never know what you will see during SXSW!) I didn’t think they were an official SXSW decoration (not corporate enough) but a rogue act.

I just went to the CD release for (awesome local band) The Wheeler Brothers, which is called “Gold Boots Glitter.” I have a very strong suspicion that the boots were a tribute. Anyway, I am kind of new to The Wheeler Brothers even though they've been causing a stir in the local music scene for awhile. They are a really good band, and know we know they have a lot of style too. Here's a video from their earlier record - worth watching on its own merits just for being fun.

A pic from the in-store at Waterloo Records:

When I opened up the CD, my jaw dropped in amazement at the design of it! Flaps unfold, and unfold again, and eventually it turns into a popup! The insert slides underneath the burning guy. They don't give out prizes anymore in this town for album art, but if they did, this one should win.

I hope that there is always a need and a purpose for physical album art. Maybe the resurgence of vinyl will ensure that, for awhile anyway. I really like Gold Boots Glitter, and thin maybe I should buy some more Wheeler Brothers.


Image from Dr. Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs (1966)

Zombie Day and The End

We got downtown early enough to be able to head back to the Waterloo Records parking lot to see The Zombies, a band I have loved since I was about 12. They still have enough principal original people in the band to keep their credentials and sound solid (with Colin Blunstone, lead vocals, and Rod Argent, keyboards).

The Zombies

Some old footage:

We saw them at noon, then again at 2pm down the street at a bike shop (where KEXP of Seattle was hosting their SXSW live broadcasts). We were pretty close at the Waterloo parking lot stage, but really just inches away at the bike shop. Tickled pink.

Our friend who was with at the KEXP show drove us over to Threadgill's for the Folk Alliance party, which was certainly the most relaxed and easiest event of the week. You could go inside or out, order dinner and drinks, sit wherever you like, listen to good music, and chat with friends. I finally got to see Willie Nile (after years of recommendations) and he was good - also a blast when he came out to dance with the audience.

Willie Nile and dancer

It was Saturday afternoon and time to start winding it down for the week. We don't don't anything on Southby Sunday, even if it IS St. Paddy's Day. Dem's da rules (unwritten). We headed down to South Congress to hit the big stage at SXSJ (South by San Jose), another parking lot and just jammed full of folks. MrB was a hero and wiggled us up to the front, where we got to see Dawes for the last time. Here is a well-recorded video of one of their shows from the week.


We saw:
Caroline Brooks, Courrier, Seryn, The Preservation, Emily Reid, The Royalty, What Made Milwaukee Famous, Quiet Company, Dawes, Delta Spirit, John McCauley, Kopecky Family Band, Joe Fletcher & The Wrong Reasons, Quiet Life, The Lone Bellow, Guards, Foxygen, Michael Fracasso, Nels Andrews, Nathan Hamilton, Birds of Chicago, von Grey, Shakey Graves, Milk Carton Kids, The Dunwells, Billy Bragg, Jesca Hoop, Frightened Rabbit, Alt-J, Richard Thompson, Billy Bragg, The Relatives, The Mavericks, Emmylou Harris with Rodney Crowell, The Zombies, Trey Hawkins, Willie Nile, Sahara Smith, Heartless Bastards.

43 shows, 38 acts (a few more than once, accounting for there being more shows than acts).

A pig and a unicorn went downtown...

"Goodnight Austin Texas... wherever you are."
-- Frank Zappa, Armadillo World Headquarters, 1975
-- Jack White, Austin City Limits, 2012

A Day at the Park(ing Lot)

Friday was easily planned.
(A) Go to Waterloo Records.
(B) Stay all day.

Waterloo's SXSW day shows have outgrown the inside of their record store (which actually hosted Iggy Pop & the Stooges in 2007, INSIDE the store from a tiny stage), and have more recently been held in the parking lot. The line waiting to get in was about a block long, but we still did great and ended up on the front rail. It was at capacity all day, and you can see why from this stunning lineup:

Frightened Rabbit, Alt-J, Richard Thompson, Billy Bragg, The Relatives, The Mavericks, and Emmylou Harris/Rodney Crowell

The Mavericks featuring Raul Malo

All folks that I either already loved or was wanting to see for the first time (Alt-J being in that category). It was all great, and there were autograph opportunities after each performance, for those willing to lose their concert turf and go into the store, that is... someone not me.

Here's The Mavericks with one of their badass new songs:

The legendary Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell

My 70s Goddess - I've only seen her once before and it was from back in the cheap seats. These free 'seats' proved to be much better. A sweet day.

Hop, skip and jump around

Golden glitter cowboy boots had been wrapped around high wires in several places around town. How they got there is a mystery.

As yesterday, we started at the Paste party at the crack of noon. The first band was “von Grey,” which we knew absolutely nothing about… turns out they are a very listenable group of 4 young sisters who sing and play various acoustic instruments (very well), and for lack of a better description I would say they play contemporary pop/grass Americana with just a slight Nashville flavor. Wow - that was a genre salad. See what you think:


We left Paste (The Stages on Sixth) after von Grey and walked some blocks over to the Pandora Discovery Den, which is usually known as Antone’s nightclub (that is until it moves to the Eastside this week). They have great lineups as well, and it’s really pleasant and cool inside. Also, maybe a bit less crowded than some other places because you need to RSVP for a wristband (which is free) and they don’t have free refreshments. Anyway, it makes for a nice atmosphere. We saw Shakey Graves, an Austin-based singer/songwriter who I highly recommend - a little along the lines of John Fullbright and maybe some Ryan Bingham flavor in my opinion - lots of soul. We talked with his manager while we were waiting in line. He was a really nice guy from Canada, although his name escapes me.

Next up was the Milk Carton Kids from Los Angeles. They reminded me of Gillian Welch/Dave Rawlings (esp. Dave's guitar), Chad and Jeremy, early Simon and Garfunkel... and their stage banter was dry and funny like the Smothers Brothers. Sweet stuff.

Milk Carton Kids

We left Antone's and hiked over to the Whole Foods rooftop just in time to catch The Dunwells from Leeds UK. I really like those guys, they are good and lots of fun to watch too. Go and see them if you can. This picture looks pretty comical where the guitar player on the right in concerned.

The Dunwells

The East/West bus was uselessly slow, so we walked back to Antone's in time for Billy Bragg and Dawes (3rd time). I have wanted to see Billy Bragg for years. Checked another one off of the must-see list.

Billy Bragg

Yet another hike back west got us in to see Jesca Hoop, who has a beautiful and hypnotic vocal and guitar style. We sat cross-legged on the floor in a really terrible music venue for her, but during southby there is live music coming from every nook and cranny.

Wednesday Day Shift

It was hard to be at the bus stop, all packed for the day, at 9:30AM after not getting to bed until around 3:00 the same morning. On the bus ride ride in, there was a big thump of a noise in front of us. A motorcycle and car had collided right in front of the bus. The rider was wearing a helmet, and fortunately was able to be helped to the curb, possibly injured but alive. The driver of the car was an old man who I think was probably too old be still be operating such dangerous machinery - but tragedy was averted, as far as we could tell.

We started out at the Wednesday Paste party, they never fail to present a lineup that's very impressive in quality. The venue is a great place to see a band, there's a stage indoors and one outdoors in the back under a tent... and real working bathrooms (not a small benefit, esp. for a woman in the SXSW throngs). They also have (free while they last) t-shirts, good beer, and cold Honest Tea. Yum.

The Lone Bellow was one of our must-sees, and they blew us away. Spectacular! Three strong voices to make you tingle and swoon. Also saw Guards, Foxygen (a young band channeling some mid-sixties and sound and style), and then Dawes (again) (I will try to hold back the gushing for now).

The Lone Bellow

Foxygen

Dawes

There was time for lunch at Koriente, a hike to the bus stop and headed south for Guero's Taco Bar courtyard - something called South-by-Soupfest, a benefit for the homeless shelter. It's a nice area for hanging out, big trees, picnic tables and benches, kids (and adults) romping it up and dancing. Watched several great local and not-so-local singer/songwriters before another of our must-see bands came up - Birds of Chicago (from Chicago and Canada). Soooo wonderful, so under the radar too. LOVE. Here's the scene right after sundown.


A fine day with beautiful weather.

Tuesday rowdiness

We went to the Dyn party last year, so this year when I RSVP'd they sent a code for VIP status. That meant that in addition to the free music we got free drinks, food, and swag (lighted tambourines, sunglasses, t-shirt, backpack, and hardcover journal), plus access to the side balconies where it was a teeny tiny bit less crowded.

A great, high-energy lineup, including Kopecky Family Band, John McCauley (Deertick, Diamond Rugs, Middle Brother) Delta Spirit and Dawes.

Delta Spirit's singer Matt Vasquez has been known to do some acrobatic stuff, and I hope he always makes it back down safely. Fun to watch... but OH NOOOOOOO!

First time to see John McCauley after wanted to see him for a year or so. This was the first of FOUR Dawes shows for us during SXSW, but I believe they played 14 times so it's not like we went to all of them. ;-) SXSW shows range from about 15 minutes to maybe 45, with most being a half-hour.

This was the hardest party to do for us because MrB had to work all day after getting up at 5:00am (not me though, I took Tuesday off). Then we hustled over to the bus transit center. The ride in went smoothly but the ride home with the "Night Owl route" (running on detours due to festival traffic), not knowing exactly where to catch it and then overshooting the transit center because - hey - I didn't not know they CLOSED it... sheesh... but we were walking on blisters after 7 hours of standing for music - and the half-hour commute took 2.5 hours.

Worth it? Yes.

Our day-party kickoff

We have already started our week-long SXSW music party as of yesterday. This one took place on the rooftop of the Whole Foods HQ, where it is always windy (and they really should install some turbines). It was a really good lineup with Seryn, What Made Milwaukee Famous, headliners Quiet Company and several others. I have already started working on my sunburn (or maybe this one is a windburn)! Here is Quiet Company:


Our next event is on Tuesday. Bring it.

Party business, it's March!

Hellloooo! Yes, I'm still alive and well - better than usual, in fact. My foot is healing up and it looks like I'm going to be left with some permanent aching and swelling, but it hurts less than the cyst that was removed, so I can live with it... at least I hope so.

We have not gone out as much for live music lately (have been cocooned in the house a lot, watching DVDs and such, even during nice weather... for shame!) but will make up for it in about a week when SXSW music kicks in. I have been very busy keeping track of all the day parties and their lineups, sending RSVPs and such, and making decisions soon. Lots of bands I love and some I want to see for the first time. Really going to try and see Dawes, The Lone Bellow, Emmylou Harris with Rodney Crowell, The Zombies (yup... returned from the 60s), Billy Bragg, maybe John Hiatt, maybe Divine Fits, maybe Birds of Chicago, Richard Thompson, The Dunwells, Delta Spirit, John McCauley, Josh Ritter, Alt-J... looking for wonderfulness and hoping our feet and backs hold up.

Someday, we will be too old for this.

Autumn activities here at the Oasis

Seems like I've been away from this blog for a long time. I have gone back to a lower frequency of posting, which I attribute to a burnout of sorts. By the time I've listened to radio news (NPR) for many hours, get my daily dose of Rachel Maddow, (almost daily) Stewart/Colbert, and wade through the endless stream of Facebook friends and Liked-pages news feed, commenting here and there, or not, (this election is INSANE) or issuing a status update maybe, plus scrolling through Twitter... I am too mentally wasted and worn out to put together a posting. It will be time for dinner+couch+TV with the spouse, or just getting out and being in the world in person. Anyway, here's a rundown.

Oct 20 was Tour de Fat, which we attend pretty much every year. It's a touring bike-themed, beer-themed, steampunk-flavored play day and costumed bike parade hosted by New Belgium Brewing Company in Colorado. MrB likes to ride in the parade. I sit it out but enjoy the day. I tend to have one beer too many and get too much sunshine. None of that changed this time. A few pics from the day:





On the 24th I went to the book signing of Matthew Inman, a.k.a. The Oatmeal - who creates some of the funniest comics you'll find anywhere. His new book is called "How to tell if your cat is plotting to kill you," and contains How to Pet a Kitty along with a whole book-full of other cat comedy. I absolutely love The Oatmeal.

On Oct 27 we went to see 18-yr-old guitar phenom Carson Brock. He is the son of Kyle Brock, who goes way back to the 1970s playing bass with Eric Johnson, and gets better every time I see him. Good voice too. Look for him on your geetar radar. Here he is on the Jimi Hendrix song, Red House.


Halloween came and went. We had a solid hour of very cute costumed children coming to the door. The most popular costumes still seem to be Princess and Pirate, not much changed about that since I was little. I was never a Princess though, always a Hobo.

Nov 3rd we went to the Celtic Festival, where we had an enchanting day of wonderful Celtic music, climaxing with Moya Brennan (of Clannad) and band, including Cormac De Barra, two harps, drum, fiddle and guitar. It was really quite a treat. Here's one of her videos from about a year ago. Our venue was not nearly as magical as the setting in this video, but it was really nice, a stage in an intimate setting with the lake behind. It is still very warm here, still a bit warmer than I would like it to be, but the weather is still lovely and it cools down a nicely in the evening.


And there's cat news... mostly we do not go out except on weekends, and look forward to nightly visits from some neighborhood kitties. There's one in particular who has stolen our hearts. She is owned by the people 2 doors down but she is left out what must be most of the time. On Friday night, in the exact middle of the night, we heard a meowing in a place where there should be no meowing. There she was, on the second floor roof (which was very steep) crying at a high bathroom window which isn't any taller than a cat door.

Everybody was pretty freaked out and scared. I went outside and didn't really see any path down that wouldn't be painful. MrB was finally able to pry the screen off and pull her through there. We don't know why she was up there, whether she was escaping some critter or just decided to see if that might be an alternate place to be let in. We think she must have balanced on the plank fence and jumped up. We hope that she was sufficiently terrified by it to not try again. Anyway, couldn't help but think of this song.

The election is on Tuesday, and it can't get here soon enough. I think our heads might just spin right off at the neck. Will be checking in here again soon, I hope.

How old am I? This many.

This was my favorite TV show as a kid. I also loved The Liberace Show.
There were lots of shows on where you'd get to watch people dancing. The music was great too. Late at night, there was only a test pattern on.
These were my heroes as a pre-teen. I kept scrapbooks of clippings about them. I met Alan Shepard as an adult (during his book tour) and he signed my old LIFE magazine with him on the cover.
I witnessed these events on live TV. What an emotional roller-coaster!

This guy on the right held me in his arms onstage. Toddlers are hard to resist. About 12 years later we met him again, and when my mother asked if he remembered it, he nicely lied and said that he did. I got to see the guy below, on the left, when he looked like the picture on the right.


My first concert that was unaccompanied by parents was this one. I went with my older girl cousin. I don't think she was into the British Invasion, she preferred Elvis and Frankie Avalon.
I got to see these rock icons in concert. I most regret not seeing Jim Morrison, Brian Jones, or The Beatles.


The 17-yr-old version of me had this closeup view of Plant. More about that here.

I lived in a whole bunch of places, some of them twice. Trying to settle down a bit more these days.

Yes, it's another birthday. Nothing planned except maybe a day off work. I will most likely be well-behaved and probably go to bed early.

Here is Liberace playing "Bumble Boogie" on his TV show.

This music could melt your face

Ramen Noodle Rag

The South Austin Jug Band became one of our favorite bands after we moved down here in 2000 (which is right about the time the band formed). They were amazing, and we felt lucky to be able to see them fairly often. The peak of this version of the band was when they won "Best New Band" at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival in 2003. It was a pretty big deal. Over time they had some personnel changes, and each person who left took a few songs with him along with a playing style. The ones who joined the band in their absence were equally awesome, the overall sound was a bit different... more of this... less of that. They finally called it quits at the end of 2008, all of these guys and the later band members went on to be part of other bands, both new and old, and are all still hitting the stage on a near-daily basis. This reunion show of the original line-up (which may be just a one-off) that just happened on August 5th will be a night to remember for all of us.

Enjoy!

This lineup, left to right: Matt Slusher, Will DuPuy, James Hyland, Warren Hood, Willie Pipkin. Later band members include Dennis Ludiker, Brian Beken, and Matt Mefford. All musical monsters down to the last man.

This week in live music

It's been a busy month, between work, some freelance work, and trying to finish painting the inside of the house. I wish it was something fun, like a mural, but instead it's large areas of a rich charcoal gray. I love it, actually. What is it about a bold gray? Is it the way it can make ordinary accent colors look stunning? Don't know.

It finally feels like Texas summer here now, it's been mostly in the 90s (with one 101° day so far) but compared to last year it's very mild.

As usual, we've had a chance to get out to some live music events. The Head and The Heart (Seattle) came through town, and even though they sold out a major venue (Stubb's) for 2 nights in a row, they still came by Waterloo Records for a free in-store. They've got great songs and love the vocals. We even managed to drink a free beer while going through the autograph line, then the female singer, Charity (a beauty, by the way), complimented MrB on his very cool Third Man Records t-shirt. That shirt gets the ice broken. This is Down in the Valley, one of their better-known tunes.


Also on the schedule was a free show from The Dunwells (Leeds UK) at Shady Grove. We saw them back in March at SXSW, and liked them enough to come back and see them again. Their music is Americana (just like all the others in this post), and I would say it's got some Dawes, Eagles, Searchers, CSN, some country, pop... anyway, I really like it. They recorded their album at Willie Nelson's studio here in town, and are still here doing a bit more of that. They were a treat to see again, and some nice guys too.

Later in the week we went to the CD release for one of our favorite bluegrass/dawg/swing/jazz/jam bands (jeez, genres are so complicated these day they are nearly meaningless - or the meaning is up for a long discussion) - MilkDrive (Austin). This is an amazing instrumental (not sure of the name of it), although quite a few of the new ones have vocals. This is a real beauty.

All Good and Fine

We had a great day of music on Saturday. This was a free all-day concert held on a downtown street, a benefit for Comfort the Children International. Lots of "green" foodie vendors with samples/coupons, and the permanent shops and sidewalk joints. Ponderosa (Atlanta GA) and Cowboy & Indian (Austin TX) are excellent bands that we've seen before and liked a lot. We saw only partial sets of theirs because the stages were located at the other end of the street from where I was hanging out. I wanted to make sure and see Seryn (Denton TX).

Over a year ago we caught a few songs of theirs during SXSW, we were watching from the sidewalk outside an Irish pub, and were very impressed and asked the woman in the band who they were. She said "Seryn. S-E-R-Y-N." (pronounced sir-WREN, or sair-REN). We missed some opportunities to see them again since that, but got lucky on Saturday. I have been in love with their sound ever since. Gorgeous! High-energy, rich beauty.

The traffic light looked weird as a backdrop for the stage.

Believe me, it sounds good.

They are one of Paste Magazine's favorite bands - period. When the set was over, someone asked a band member who they were, and he replied "Seryn. S-E-R-Y-N." It must be spelled each time. Ha Ha!

Alpha Rev (Austin TX) is another favorite of ours, and they have added quite a bit of new material lately. Casey McPherson's voice is amazing to me. Good singer and songwriter too. Like Seryn, lots of lush sounds here. Check out this western-flavored "Lonely Man." I swore it was something that I'd heard from Mark Knopfler before, but it is an original tune co-written with the Texas Ukulele King (TUK), and his version that he calls "That's How You Die a Lonely Man." I'm not seeing a ukulele in his picture though. ;-)

We finished off the day with a night show at the great listening room, the Cactus Cafe, where 2 of the mainstays from The Band of Heathens were doing an unplugged show - Ed Jurdi and Gordy Quist. They are doing something special both at these unplugged and full-band gig - they are recording the show and making it available for sale on a thumb drive afterward.

This is Gordy Quist, the singer and songwriter of this tune. I didn't get any focused shots of Ed Jurdi, so apologies for that. Need to improve the camera situation soon for better low-light shots.

I love every one of their songs. Every one.

I'm Too Old For This

I'm Too Old For This - Christopher Cross and Van Wilks, a soundtrack very appropriate for this post.


I almost feel as though I should apologize for the almost complete lack of political posts lately here at the Oasis. I'm not out of touch with it, I keep up with the goings-on, but I am so disgusted and tired of it by days-end. The knockout punch came this week when early voting began for the Texas primaries and I discovered that we have been the victim of the redistricting fiasco - and we are not longer living in Rep. Lloyd Doggett's district. For the first time in my life, I had a Congressperson who truly represented my views. The only (D) running against whoever with be the GOP candidate is named Elaine Henderson. I have never heard of her. She does not seem to have a published website yet, and her Facebook presence is very sparse. I ran across this very short bio but so far cannot detect any signs of a campaign. [sigh]

We had a bit of a rough time since the beginning of May. My back was feeling stiff so I tried to stretch it this way and that - obviously I waaaay overdid it because I sprained it. Pain, pain, pain. The doctor gave me some meds, a muscle relaxer and a pain killer, so I wasted quite a few days away in pain and foggy brain. While that was going on, MrB fell off his bicycle and got some bruised ribs and generally very painful midsection - so there we were - both applying ice and heat and swallowing those foggy pills.

On Friday night, we missed a planned concert because of that, but did go out Saturday for a great show. It was Van Wilks birthday party show, with Carson Brock opening, and special guests Eric Johnson, Christopher Cross and Dave Sebree (Dave runs the Austin School of Music and rarely plays solo, but he is one hell of a guitar player). The video at the top of the post is from that show, and so is the following pretty instrumental. We could all use a little beauty, it sure can overwhelm all the ugliness.

Rainy Day in Vancouver - Christopher Cross, Eric Johnson, Van Wilks

Acousticity

We were just a couple of days past Eeyore's Birthday drum circle day when it was time for some great live music shows. We got a couple of very special tickets for the Punch Brothers' Austin City Limits TV taping! Didn't not take any pics or video (They really really prefer that you don't take video, esp. since they are filming the show anyway, and all the phone cams make the audience look dorky.) but there are lots of nice pro pics at the link.

This was only our 4th time to get to attend and ACL taping. The tickets are free but must be acquired through a lottery or a connection, it's not easy to get in. The sound is amazing, and so is the camera work on the finished product, that we may get to see on TV this Fall.

If an ACL taping with what is probably my favorite band right now was not enough, we also saw them the next night at a sold-out, little-bit rowdy show at Antone's club. If the crowd at the taping was a bit reserved, this one made up for it - and there's video to show for it. This is actually an old one that mandolinist Chris Thile first wrote and recorded back when he was about 18. It's a gorgeous instrumental that I can't listen to enough.

Punch Brothers - Song For a Young Queen


This one is a cover of a song by The Strokes, but PB has made it their own, IMO. It's not one that they played during the taping because it contains one of those words that you still can't say on TV.
Punch Brothers - Heart in a Cage


Just a couple of days after Punch Brothers came though town, we were happy to welcome The Greencards back to Austin. They have moved back here from Nashville, and it's nice to have them back. Like Punch Brothers, they really tear it up on the strings and vocals. Here's a beautiful instrumental.
The Greencards - Adelaide


Great shows! What a week. Now - a little rest.

The lines are worth it, SXSW Day 4

Well, all week I had been showing up to things embarrassingly early, and had been first in line more than once. This day I gave MrB a break and agreed to show up only maybe a half hour before doors opened - but then nearly freaked out when I saw the line to get into Rachael Ray's party. She has a great lineup with not only free drinks but free food. The first people in line got there at 6:40 AM for 10:30 doors. Very hard core. The line, from this point of view, turned a corner on the right and went another half city block. I was ready to give up, but he said we might as well stay to see what happened, and sure enough, we got in and there was plenty of room to spare. The food line was about as long as this one, so we called our orange wedge Blue Moon beer garnishes and Bloody Marys "food."

Skipping the food line allowed us to head to the indoor stage where we miraculously snagged a table and chairs on the upper level with a perfect rail view. I was amazed. Here's an example of the view of Jack White's label all-female The Black Belles. I was sort of hoping he might make an appearance, but this year I did not get to lay eyes on him.

The Black Belles

Rachael Ray
Also viewed from this vantage point: The Wild Feathers and Click Clack Boom. Then it was outside for GIVERS and we were headed home to prep for our final event. By 'prep' I just mean get off the bus and get the car.

One last walk down 6th St. for Southby sightseeing. Here is the weirdest-looking stage I ever saw (Rolling Stones excepted). It's hard to tell, but at ground level it's a music stage and the top of it is a giant Doritos vending machine.

To draw attention to your band, put a penis on the sign.

We were 2 of ~10,000 people who had won free tickets to an outdoor screening of Big Easy Express, a tour documentary about the Railroad Revival Tour including Mumford & Sons, Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros and the Old Crow Medicine Show - so we faced our second monster line of the day. This one must have been a couple of miles long, but it was very organized and moved quickly. I was starting to feel the effects of a cold coming on, so it didn't matter to me (for once) that I didn't get up close to the stage.

Here's the trailer for the film, which was absolutely pure joy, especially given the way that we got to see it - sitting on the lawn of the LBJ Library on the UT campus on a beautiful night - followed by a full concert performance by the musicians involved. Old Crow has sort of broken up since this happened, but they had representation there by a former member.

They even brought in the Austin High School Marching Band to perform with them on a number, because they had done that during the filming of the documentary. It was just so cool. We got a video here, and more goodies on my channel here. It was an amazing finale for our annual mad music bash. Cost for today's tickets = $0.


SXSW is a Rite of Spring. Very soon it will be hot as blazes and I won't want to go out. Very soon. Time to get some rest, and hit the Cold-Eeze. Tomorrow is another work day.

Blues club in pretty blue, SXSW Day 3

We have been to Antone's many times, and think of it as a concrete floor where it's always hot and sweaty (even in Winter) and overcrowded. Not necessarily bad things, but it is what it is. On this day, it looked like they had it all dressed up for the Prom or something. They took down all the pictures and posters hanging on the wall, the Stevie Ray Vaughan, the Doug Sahm, the old framed antiques showing unrecognizably young versions of the regular house band, and the big picture of Clifford Antone himself. They did keep that blue neon that just says BLUES, and it looked really good with all the added hanging Japanese paper lampshades. The other thing they did was to actually run the air conditioner enough to cool the place down. We easily found a little turf by the stage monitors where it remained uncrowded and we could sit down between sets. I wasn't the least bit tired after 4 hours of music.

This was the Pandora.com party, and started out with CHAPPO (feathered clothing, confetti, sonic and visual experimentation), Field Report (singer/songwriter, very good), and LP (woman with a big rock voice, think "Annie Lennox").

Then there was Gary Clark Jr., who was born and raised in this town and has been slinging guitar in these clubs since he was a kid. He's finally become an overnight success, just played for President Obama at the White House sharing the stage with Jeff Beck, Mick Jagger, Buddy Guy and many more, then a couple days after that played at the big Hubert Sumlin memorial bash with the likes of Eric Clapton and Keith Richards. He is someone you should definitely try to see, esp. if you love a mean, rockin' bluesy guitar.

Finally there was (were?) The Dunwells (Leeds UK), and they were my discovery of the day. Contemporary folk, I suppose, wonderful harmony vocals. The sound was beautiful in Antone's this time, and the party was so pleasant it just made my day.
The Dunwells


After Antone's we headed down to Home Slice Pizza, where they were having their music party. Saw Family of the Year and Dan Mangan (pictured below). Very good stuff. We ended our day on a high note. (noooo, not that kind of 'high'). Ticket cost for today = $0.

Treasure at the taco bar, SXSW Day 2

Continuing on with the Townie's Unofficial SXSW Day Party Journals, Day 2. There will be 2 more installments after this one, so hang in there!! On Thursday AM we went up to Stubb's. Mainly, I wanted to see The Punch Brothers again, and preferred this 10AM party to the earlier one staged by the radio morning show.

Highlights from Stubb's:
Alpha Rev, good local indie band that was already an old favorite, played first, and we enjoyed the cool temperatures and good sound from the stage.

Kopecky Family Band was a nice discovery. Not sure how we've managed to miss them so many times before.

I got a kick out of the superfan next to us for Lucero. So stoked!! And he loudly told the bandleader before the show started that, other than Springsteen, he was the greatest songwriter of our generation! That's some big love. I do understand it... I really do.

Alabama Shakes was the headliner at this party, and the radio gal on the announcement mic made what I thought was a rude faux pas. With the Punch Brothers standing on the stage ready to start, all she can come up with initially was something like "Bet you all can't wait for Alabama Shakes! We're all here for that, right?" The crowd attempted to correct and convince her that many of us were here for these guys!

Punch BrothersThe band was great, and we got some video, but the sound on that stage was no longer something that would show them off, it was hard to hear, especially the vocals. Instead of our video, here's one created the following day by radio KFUV a day later.


Actually, we did stick around for Alabama Shakes, because there is a HUGE buzz for this band right now... magazine covers, an Austin City Limits taping (look for it this Fall), critics choice lists... Their set also suffered from muffled, bad sound, and although I thought they were really pretty good, they did NOT knock my socks off.

Alabama Shakes

By then I was hot and tired, but the long walk to the bus stop is always entertaining on 6th street during the festival. These people are not really naked. They are wearing skin-tight flesh-colored leotards for some promotional purpose.

We went down to South Congress to Guero's Taco Bar courtyard, where we saw 2 really good bands. I really want to recommend The Belle Brigade. It's fronted by a brother and sister who have sweet harmonies and great songwriting skills. Their harmonies reminded me of The Indigo Girls, but they claim influence from Paul Simon and Fleetwood Mac. Good stuff, anyway. Children were romping wildly, dancing and playing in the mulch in front of the stage, we were sitting in the dirt in the shade of a tent, there was a light breeze and the music was so good.

The Belle Brigade (LA)

The band after them, Ivan and Alyosha (Seattle), was so good that I bought both their CDs!


We decided to call it a day at that point, and remember it all as a good time. I will leave you with the image of this pair of busking cuties on South Congress. Ticket money spent today = $0.