Chris Cowan

Steven Wilson's Grace for Drowning

2011-11-13T20:04:00.001-06:00

Extended Weekend

Since I was already planning on being on the East Coast this past weekend, I decided to extend the trip by one day and catch Steven Wilson's Grace for Drowning tour.

Catching a train from NYC, after spending Friday in Hoboken, I arrived in Philadelphia. I was able to check-in to my hotel, and grab something to eat before heading over to the Liacouras Center, on the campus of Temple University. The actual show was not at the Center proper, but a chapel that had been converted into concert space. It was easy to find the venue, once I noticed the tour bus, with trailer in tow.

There were lots of people wearing Porcupine Tree T-shirts standing in front of the building, so I knew I had the right place. I entered the hall at 8PM and proceeded to the Merch table. I was one of the lucky few that was able to get a shirt. Later, while waiting in line at the concessions, I ran into Julie Slick (not a surprise really) and we talked about camp again.

I spent the 40 minutes or so before the show talking to the other people around me, and listening a to quadrophonic mix, of Bass Communion being played in the hall. It was at this time that I realized that the show would be in surround sound. Nice!

Touring Band Members

Steven led an outstanding 6 piece band, which included the following musicians:

Nick Beggs - of Kajagoogoo fame, on Bass, Chapman Stick, and Backing Vocals
Marco Minnemann - Austrian drummer extraordinaire
Adam Holzman - Keyboards
Theo Travis - Flute, Sax and Keyboards
John Wesley - guitars (called into duty when tour guitarist, Aziz Irbrahim's U.S. Visa was denied)

The show was just shy of two hours, and had one encore. The setlist included pieces from both of Steven's solo albums, Grace for Drowning and Insurgentes.

Throughout the show, I was very aware of the sound coming from speakers at the rear of the house. The entire set went by way too fast, and the band was fantastic. I was particularly blown away by Marco. It was a fantastic night of music.

Two of a Perfect Trio at the Belcourt Theater

2011-10-29T02:00:00.000-05:00

The Windows Opens

After attending the TOAPP Music Camp, I was a little bummed about the fact that tour wouldn't be coming through Texas. Fortunately, the winds of luck changed, and the opportunity to catch them on the second to the last tour date, presented itself. So, I made my plans for a one day trip to Nashville, TN.

Meet and Greet

The show was at the historic, Belcourt Theater. It's actually a two screen movie theater, with one of the rooms used for music, but typically acoustic acts. King Crimson however, has played there on multiple occasions.

One of the nice benefits of attending the camp was that I was able to attend the Meet and Greet, for any show on the tour, for which I had a ticket. I ate at one of the restaurants down the street and showed up at the theater door, at approximately 5:40PM. I did run into Adrian and Julie out front, and we exchanged hellos, as soon as they recognized me.

I got in promptly at 6PM, just as they were finishing their Sound Check. As it turns out, I was the only camper for this show, although I know from Facebook posts, that fellow campers had been present at many of the shows.

I must say, my life has taken a surreal turn. I was greeted by Pat as he came off of stage, saying with a big smile and handshake, What are you doing here? Glad you could make it! This made my night. Pat also let me in on some Austin dates for certain acts in the near future.

I had to smile to myself, as the other people in VIP were wondering who I was, and why the band and crew seemed to know me, not realizing that I had spent 5 days in Catskills with them all. Needless to say, rather than be an autograph hound, or get myself into pictures with the band, I opted for a picture of two of my new friends:

After the Meet and Greet, the band left to go eat dinner together, so most of us sat in the theater and picked out our seats in the first 3 rows. I plopped down in one of prime seats, right at the end of the row. The only mistake of the weekend was my forgetting my ear plugs.

Stick Men

Stick Men started the show with their 45 minute set. Markus was the only musician of the 6, not able to make camp, so I really didn't get to hear much of the Stick Men material, during the camp rehearsals. I knew they would be good, but I was blown away by the stoic, but amazing Markus Reuter.

Tony mentioned that both trios had agreed to save the King Crimson material for the Crim-centric set, but they had loophole, so they were going to play Breathless. All I can say is, Wow. Hearing this song from Exposure was a pleasant surprise.

The Stick Men set included:

VROOM VROOM
Supercollider
Improv
Relentless
Slow Glide
Breathless
Firebird Suite

Adrian Belew Power Trio

After a short intermission, Adrian's Trio took the second 45 minutes set. It was equally powerful, and they maintained the full court press. I was further blown away by Tobias Ralph and pleasantly surprised when they played Young Lions, one of my favorites. ABPT also snuck in a KC song, too, Neurotica. They hit that one out of the park.

The ABPT set included:

Young Lions
Beat Box Guitar
Neurotica
Of Bow And Drum
e

Crim-centric Set

Crim Quartet

After a second intermission, the 3 Crimson Alumni were joined by Markus Reuter, who did an incredible job covering Robert Fripp's guitar parts. I also had to laugh at Adrian's intro for Red, when he said:

This next song is the oldest King Crimson song that we will play tonight. It's from before any of us were in the band. In fact, it was written before I was born.

The quartet played 3 songs

Three of a Perfect Pair
Elephant Talk
Red

Double Trio

The night ended in full Double Trio mode, and was thundering. This was as close that you could get to King Crimson, without Robert Fripp. I must also add, that it was nice to see the rehearsals and then a show at the end of the tour. It was interesting to see how much tighter they had gotten with a month of road practice.

They played the following songs, to finish the night:

B'Boom
THRAK
Dinosaur
One Time
Frame by Frame
Indiscipline
Encore: Thela Hun Ginjeet

Post Show

The show ended shortly after Midnight, and the other theater had a special Halloween showing of the Rocky Horror Picture Show. I spent a little time afterwards, talking to John Sinks, Markus and Pat as they were packing up afterwards. I then went out to the lobby and looked at the merch table, and to say goodbye to Ade and Julie who were signing CDs and merch.

There was a woman at the merch table, with two young daughters. I quickly realized that it was Ade's wife, Martha, and two of his 3 daughters. I told Martha I would buy something, if I didn't already have all of the CDs on the table. She promptly produced a copy of the Acoustic CD, which I had to buy.

While waiting, I had to laugh though realizing that Ade's daughters (and in fact, anyone under the age of 30) has no idea what the Rocky Horror is. So, imagine the looks on their faces as a young waifish guy, in black fishnets, and a corset, walked through lobby.

Of course, when they realized I was a camper, his daughters started peppering me with questions about the Full Moon. Understanding why Adrian did not bring them along, and that they apparently had wanted to go, I made sure not to sell it too much. I did however, tell them that they had one of the Coolest Dads on the planet.

Bela Fleck and the Flecktones at the Paramount

2011-10-14T00:00:00.000-05:00

I have seen Bela Fleck perform 4 times in the past 3 years, both with and without the Flecktones. This time around, I noticed that he was touring with the original Flecktones lineup, which means that he had Howard Levy playing with him for the first time in almost 20 years.

The show lasted well over two hours, with an intermission at about the 75 minute mark. My friend Dan, and I had great seats 9 rows back from the stage on the floor.

I was unable to find a set list, and will readily admit that although I am a big fan, I find it difficult to remember the song titles. I managed to grab some shots of the band after the encore, but lost them during the upgrade to iOS 5 the next day. (Doh!).

The original Flecktones lineup is:

Bela Fleck - Banjo
Victor Wooten - 4 and 5 String Electric Bass
Futureman (Roy Wooten) - Drumitar
Howard Levy - Harmonica and Piano

During the show, the band was joined by fiddler, Casey Christopher Driessen, whom I recognized from the Sparrow Quartet. The icing on the cake however, was Bela bringing out his wife, Abigail Washburn, to sing during the encore. Surprisingly, Abigail didn't pick up a banjo herself.

It was a great night of music, and I was totally blown away by Howard Levy's piano playing. Of course, the Wooten brothers kept everything in high gear for this show.

ACL Festival 2011 - Day 3 Punt

2011-09-18T17:43:00.000-05:00

Punting after the watching the game

I started out Sunday by heading down to the Tavern to watch the game. Unfortunately, my Ravens laid an egg this week. A huge let down, after last week's drubbing of the Steelers.

I had planned on arriving to ACL late in the afternoon, and had only really wanted to see Fleet Foxes, and Randy Newman. However, I was not in the best of moods after the game. I had also woken up the past two mornings and was extremely congested, after inhaling a huge amount of ragweed pollen during the previous two days, at Zilker.

So, I decided to head home, missing the opportunity to sweat, worsen my blisters, pay exorbitant amounts for parking, food, and drinks, and infect my sinuses. I can watch Fleet Foxes on the webcast, and won't get to see Randy Newman, but it doesn't seem like much of a loss.

Some Observations about the ACL Festival after 5 years

Zilker Park is too small for the Festival in my opinion. During the past two years, C3 has upped the number of tickets they sell. It was impossible to maneuver around or through the Stevie Wonder crowd last night. There are other bottle necks, that make it difficult to move around between the AMD and Honda stages. (This is a real bummer).

I can only hope that they consider changing the location in the future. Perhaps out to the Formula 1 track.
I really detest the Cattle Chutes that they set up to funnel the foot traffic to and from the shuttles. At times, it seems like some sort of weird Pavlovian experiment, where they're trying to see what we'll put up with.
A small number of the food vendors are down right criminal in their pricing. There was one stand in particular, where as I was waiting in line, everyone returning from the counter was audibly complaining (rightfully so), because of the amount of food.

Well, I left the line when I saw what they were talking about.
The Porta-Potty situation is disgusting. I count my blessings that I'm a guy.
The trains! We wasted a shit-load of tax money on these things, why the hell are they not running during ACL and SxSW?

ACL Festival 2011 - Day 2

2011-09-18T17:09:00.000-05:00

Sleeping In

I don't remember ever having a hard time sleeping after a day of ACL. Knowing that feeling of exhaustion after 5 straight years, it leads me to wonder, Who the hell goes to the After-parties?

So, I got late Saturday morning, not leaving home until 1PM, and finally arriving on the ACL grounds around 2:20PM or so.

City and Colour

Having seen Dallas Green at St. David's during SxSW, I was anxious to see him again. City and Colour didn't disappoint, delivering a great performance to an attentive crowd.

Abigail Washburn

I then headed over to the Vista Equity Pavilion to catch Abigain Washburn. Mrs. Fleck, the reigning Queen of the Banjo, delivered an outstanding set of music. While she played, a gentle rain was falling outside of the pavilion.

Gillian Welch

I stayed put at the pavilion, in order to catch Gillian Welch. Since I only have one degree of separation with her, through Pat Pattison, it seemed like it was time to see her play.

Preservation Hall Jazz Band

After catching a bite to eat, I hung out for some more Cajun cooking. The Preservation Hall Jazz band delivered a raucous set of New Orleans' music.

TV on the Radio

Leaving the Preservation Hall band a little early, I worked my way over to the Google+. Although not being familiar with TV on the Radio, I was pretty quickly drawn in. This is a band I will have to check out more from, and I will be looking for them to be on tour.

Stevie Wonder

I almost feel like this is false advertising. I didn't actually see Stevie Wonder perform, it was more like I happened to be on the grounds, while he was on stage.

Leaving the TV on the Radio set a little early, I attempted to slide up front, attacking from the Porta-Potties on the right side, like I did last year with Ron and Alissa for the Eagles. It seemed that everyone else was on to that trick, and even getting there early, did not help.

In fact, this show was most crowded I have ever seen this stage during an ACL. Realizing that my first plan would not pay dividends, I started working my way back out, with the intention of cutting out 3/4ths of the way through Stevie's set, so I wouldn't have to wait too long for the shuttles.

Even this did not work as planned. I ended up much further from stage than anticipated. Fairly far from the stage at this point, the crowd was still thick, and it was difficult enough just to see the large video screens on either side of the stage. When Stevie finally did come out, for some reason they had the PA very low, and it was almost impossible to hear. I'm scratching my head on this one, because it was capable of delivering more volume.

I attempted to listen to the first three songs, which were actually difficult to hear or discern, until i had had enough. I left early, got right on the shuttle, and drove home.

ACL Festival 2011 - Day 1

2011-09-17T12:04:00.000-05:00

Taking the Shuttle to Zilker

As I have for the previous five years, I parked in my usual spot and took the shuttles over to Zilker Park. Prior to leaving home, I had actually packed some rain gear, because it was very overcast. Usually unwelcome during ACL, rain would be a great relief from the drought we are experiencing.

Asleep at the Wheel

As always, there's only one way to start the ACL Festival, and this is with Austin's favorite adopted band, Asleep at the Wheel. Some would argue that one of the most influential events in Austin music history, was the Wheel's move to Austin from Oakland, in 1974, at Willie Nelson's urging.

All I know is that there is nothing like starting the morning with some Texas Swing, and covers of Bob Wills songs.

Wild Beasts while it was actually raining

At the end of the Wheel's set, I walked down the hill to the Honda stage, where Wild Beasts was playing. As I walked, it actually started raining. It was short lived, but forecasts call for more rain this weekend. It is still badly needed.

I don't have much to say about Wild Beasts. They were a British Pop act that I did not find too compelling.

Disciples of Christ

Heading over to the Pavillion formerly known as the WAMU (now Vista Equity), I caught a set by a kick-ass, gospel group, Disciples of Christ. Four very impressive female singers powered this music into the stratosphere. Impressive singing talent was on display, for those fortunate few at this sparsely attended set.

The Secret Sisters

Continuing my orbit around the grounds, I was treated to the sound of two more female voices, singing in excellent harmony. A pair of sisters from the legendary locale of Muscle Shoals, Alabama, were seducing the crowd with their siren song.

Their music seemed to be the perfect complement to a hot, lazy late summer afternoon. My biggest regret was not catching their entire set.

Brandi Carlile

Hearing this band from afar, I immediately headed back to the AMD stage. As I got closer, I realized that this would be a real treat. One set was enough to make me a fan of Seatlle based, performer, Brandi Carlile.

She plays a rousing mix of Rockabilly, and Country influenced music, and played an impressed cover of Johnny Cash's, Fulsom Prison Blues. Not only is she a great front person, but her band was fantastic too.

Meanwhile, over at the BMI Stage

Finally making it over to the BMI Stage, even though it's right near the Front Gate, I saw this interesting setup. A rotating wheel of glass, with alternating wedges being silvered, was mounted in this device. People would line on both sides, as it spun, and watch the really cool effect created.

Unfortunately, the video doesn't do it justice, since you get a strobe effect from the digital camera.

Bobby Long

I had seen this British Singer/Songwriter earlier in the year, at SxSW. He delivered a very engaging performance. It is unfortunate that he couldn't command a larger stage, to be perfectly honest.

Francicsa Vanezuela

Francicsa was a very attractive Chilean singer-songwriter. She plays piano and sings, with music that is targeted towards an alternative, Latin Pop market. The band and the sound were good, and she herself is an excellent player.

Electric Touch

After getting some food, I checked out a British-American band, Electric Touch. They had a good sound, and presentation, but I didn't find the music very interesting.

Kurt Vile and the Violators

Like the previous, and the next acts I'm writing about, I didn't find this group very interesting.

Cold War Kids

I found this band to be similar to the previous. Good sound, pop sounding songs, but not very engaging or interesting.

The Austin Skyline

I attempted to catch a few shots of the Austin Skyline from Zilker. The night time shots rarely come out well, so here's two from the daylight hours.

Bright Eyes

These guys apparently have a big following. They were fairly derivative, reminding me of some 80's MTV pop band.
It was listenable, but not interesting, either.

Gary Clark Jr.

Even though Gary is from Austin, I had never heard him play. He's pretty damn good. It is not often that a Blues player can hold an audience of anyone other than Blues fans. Gary has no problems doing this.

Made a mental note to catch him in town, soon.

Sara Bareilles

As I was eating dinner, I could hear this Grammy nominated singer-songwriter on the Austin Ventures stage. She is fantastic, and will return on a bigger stage in the future. In addition to be an exceptional vocalist, she is also a very good piano player.

Coldplay

I knew that I wasn't a Kayne fan, so I headed over towards the AMD stage to watch Coldplay. Well, I can cross them off of my list. I guess I'm not much of a Coldplay fan, either.

Exhausted, tired, and having sore feet, I headed out about three quarters of the way through Coldplay's set, and got on the shuttle. I really need to pace myself, and probably won't get back until around 2PM on Saturday.

Return to Forever IV at the Moody

2011-09-14T21:00:00.000-05:00

Preshow

I bought the tickets to this show with the same crew that I attended the RTF Returns show with in 2008. This was the first of three, RTF reunion lineups, that have toured since then:

Chick Corea, Stanley Clark, Lenny White, Al DiMeola
Chick Corea, Stanley Clark, Lenny White, Bill Connors
Corea, Clark, & White

Unfortunately, the latter two tours did not come to Texas, but I have seen Chick perform twice since then, once with the Five Peace Band, and playing solo piano. I really enjoy Chick's playing, so I was very anxious to see this show.

We convened at Franks, before walking down to the Moody Theater for the show.

Zappa Plays Zappa

The opener was Zappa Plays Zappa. The lineup was very similar to the show I saw at Stubbs, two years ago, with the obvious addition of a new keyboard player.

The current lineup includes:

Dweezil Zappa - Guitar
Scheila Gonzalez - Saxophone, Flute, Keyboards & Vocals
Pete Griffin - Bass
Billy Hulting - Marimba, Mallets & Percussion
Jamie Kime - Guitar
Ben Thomas - Vocals & Trumpet
Joe Travers - Drums & Vocals
Chris Norton - Keyboards & Vocals

Set List

The set was similar to the Stubb's show two years ago. As usual, Dweezil had two special guests, with Chick Corea joining the band for one song, and then Eric Johnson, coming out later. I may have missed a song or two, but the set list was basically, as follows:

Don't you ever wash that thing?
Pajama people
Fifty fifty
Big swifty
King Kong - with Chick Corea
Don't you eat that yellow snow
Saint Alphonzo's Pancake Breakfast
Willie the Pimp - with Eric Johnson

Everything ZPZ played was well executed. I liked the new keyboard player, and even enjoyed the vocalist's singing more this time around. When Chick sat in with the band, the soloing was amazing, and he spent considerable time trading 8's with Dweezil. Even Eric Johnson was prepared, and his appearance with ZPZ was much better than what he delivered at Stubbs.

Return to Forever IV

The lineup for RTF IV is new, with two new players who have never played with the band before. In addition to the core lineup of Corea, Clarke, and White, RTF IV also includes:

Frank Gambale (of Elektric Band fame) - guitars
Jean Luc Ponty - violin (need I say more?)

Set List

The Set List was a mix of classic RTF songs, along with an individual songs written by JLP, and Stanley Clarke. There's not much to say other than this was a fantastic show.

I will say that JLP to the mix was akin to RTF a la mode. The apple pie was already really good, the ice cream pushed it over the top!

Medieval Overture
Senor Mouse
Sorceress / Shadow of Lo
Renaissance
After the Cosmic Rain
Romantic Warrior

Encore

Spain
School Days

All in all, it was a stupendous night of prog and fusion goodness.

ACL Badge Pickup

2011-09-14T02:30:00.000-05:00

It's that time of the year again. Since I was already downtown, I swung on by Zilker and picked up my wristband. Of course, this was the earliest that I've ever done this. The Zilker gate wasn't even fully up, yet.

NFL 2011 Week 1 - Ravens vs Steelers

2011-09-11T23:30:00.000-05:00

Nest 512 was in full roost at the Tavern, and is almost 60 strong, now. What better way to start off the season, than against our hated division rivals, the Steelers? Everyone, both pundit and fan alike, was expecting a close game.

Imagine our surprise then, when the Ravens delivered a 35 - 7 knockout punch.
Things went so well for the Ravens, that I have not heard a single peep out of my normal Steeler antagonists, here in Austin.

Three of a Perfect Pair (TOAPP) Camp

2011-09-04T16:13:00.012-05:00

When I first saw the announcement of a 5 day camp in the Catskills, with 3 members of King Crimson, last winter, I made a very quick decision to attend. I sent in my deposit, sometime in April.

This trip was also a present to myself, leading up to my 50th birthday, and it also afforded me the chance to return to the Mid Hudson Valley (a place where I lived for the first part of my adult life), for the first time in over 16 years.

As I'm typing this now, I am sitting in my living room, a week later, digesting the experience, and the subsequent drama with Hurricane Irene. I must say, that the most striking thing about TOAPP camp, is the fact that it went by so quickly. I believe that if you informally polled the other attendees, they would all be in agreement with me.

I am sure that the band and their techs were totally exhausted. Unfortunately for them, they will have very little downtime before they commence a US tour, on September 19th.

Day 1 - Monday 8/22/2011

I started the morning by driving over to Alto Music in Middletown, NY, in order to rent a Kurzweil PC2. This was to insure that I would have an axe to play. In hindsight, this was unnecessary, as they had several keyboards at the camp, already.

I headed north out of Middletown, right after lunch, and drove directly to the Full Moon Resort, in Big Indian, NY. The last 15 miles of the trip were through some narrow roads through the wooded Catskills, coinciding with a complete loss of cell phone service. It's probably good that there was no cell service at the Full Moon, but it certainly was inconvenient.

After getting my lodge keys, and unloading my luggage, I proceeded to the Barn, where we were all greeted by Tony Levin and Adrian Belew. Pat was already inside, and all three conducted a one hour session, where they talked about the schedule and logistics for the camp. One of the suggestions forwarded by Tony was that we take the opportunity to network, since bands like the California Guitar Trio were formed under similar circumstances.

We then all proceeded to the Front Lawn for a Welcome Social/Happy Hour with an Open Bar, which was followed by Dinner. I must say that all of catered meals at the Camp were excellent. Every fellow camper that I spoke to, had a similar assessment of the food.

The night concluded with a welcome concert by Ade, Tony and Pat. Afterwards, three buildings were available for people that wanted to jam. Two of which were reserved for acoustic only, with the last, the Performance Space, available for Electric Instruments. The Perf Space also had a Cash Bar, and a Campfire outside. Thus started the first of four straight late nights, with matching hangovers the next morning.

The highlight of the day for me was hanging out around the campfire with some campers and Adrian Belew, and hearing about his two auditions with Frank Zappa, and his musical career, which included working with David Bowie, Brian Eno, and the Talking Heads, in addition to King Crimson.

I was also happy that Pat recognized me from Austin, and really made me feel welcome, when he saw me at dinner. Surprisingly, out of 75 campers, 5 of us were from Austin.

Day 2

I had no trouble getting up at 7AM. The temperature was brisk, and the weather beautiful, as you can see in this picture. I made my way over to the lodge for the Wi-Fi and some Coffee. A full breakfast was served every morning at 8AM, and really hit the spot.

The first part of the day was individual sessions. They were appropriately staggered, so that it was possible to attend all three.

Adrian - Songwriting and Adventures

Adrian spent quite a bit of time with two different one hour sessions, discussing songwriting, his effects and playing style. I was interesting to hear about how someone who doesn't read music was able to hold down gigs with Frank Zappa, and then Robert Fripp.

Adrian talked at length about how Fripp had taught him the Discipline material, and postulated that he was actually the first Guitar Craft student.

He also introduced us to John Sinks, his long time tech, who is also a Crafty, and lived with Robert Fripp for some time. I must say, both Ade and John were some of the nicest, down to earth people, I have ever met.

Pat - Electronic Drumming

After the Adrian's first session, Pat conducted a seminar on his Electronic Drums setup, and the tools he used, particularly Ableton. Pat's Tech for the camp, Adrian, is also an Austinite. You can see the two of them in this picture.

Tony - Bass and Chapman Stick

Before he started his session, I was able to spend some quality time with Tony, as he showed us how to operate his Espresso machine.

Tony first talked about his background and musical education, and how he came to be a professional rock musician. He also discussed his playing philosophy and style, and spent a lot of time talking about his equipment.

The second half of his session, was devoted to Chapman stick. There were at least 8 or 9 touch guitar players in camp, with most playing Stick, along with one Warr guitarist, and one touch guitarist with a custom made instrument.

A highlight for me was that Stick Enterprises had sent two 12-string, and one 10-string Sticks to the Camp, for the attendees to try. Two very experienced players in camp, Matt Tate, and Jim Meyer, very graciously spent some time afterwards with all of the Newbies like me, who wanted to give a Chapman Stick, a test drive. I took full advantage of this, and have the seed of an idea in the back of my mind to perhaps buy a Stick, one day.

Here's a shot of Matt, showing us how:

Group Jam

The highlight of the day however, was the Group Jam. All 75 campers, along with Adrian and Pat, convened in the Barn. Tony Levin was the conductor and stood in the middle of us with a black felt pen, and a notepad. He conducted the group, and wrote instructions to guide the group.

It was a huge helping of cacophonous fun. I had jokingly told a couple of people that if it was recorded, that we could release the record under the title, The Worst of Glenn Branca. (Little did I know about a surprise, later in the week).

The first surreal moment of the camp occurred for me during the Jam. I sat down at a piano, and looked to my left to see Adrian Belew, right next to me. I would have never dreamed that I would have been in this situation, in a million years.

E for Orchestra

After the Group Jam, a number of us stayed in the barn for movie night with Adrian. He screened his recently released DVD, E for Orchestra. It is fantastic, I've already ordered my copy.

The day ended with more late night jamming in the Performance Space, and hanging around the Campfire.

Day 3

Adrian and Pat start teaching

The morning started once again, with me waking up before the Alarm Clock. Adrian continued his session from the previous day. Pat also talked about how he and Bill Bruford arranged the double drumming for the 90's lineup.

The stories about working with Bill were fascinating. Bill had apparently said there were 5 levels of double drummer playing. He called the simplest, level 1, the Allman Brothers Band, where all the drum parts are just doubled, and you get the inevitable flam effects. They of course, were going for Level 5, and Pat said he thinks they achieved it. Pat continued and discussed how he was taking on Bill's role with Tobias Ralph, the current drummer in Adrian Belew's Power Trio.

Pat also talked a bit about Polyrhythms, and had the campers perform various clapping exercises, including learning parts of Thrak, with is signature 5 against 7.

Trio Rehearses 80's lineup material

Adrian, Tony, and Pat's held their first full rehearsal as a Trio, performing Crimson material. Before each song, Adrian and Tony talked at length at what they played originally, and how they would be rearranging the parts, for one guitarist, instead of two. In most of these cases, Tony was picking up the slack on Stick.

More surreal moments occurred. Like, hanging out on the front porch with Tony and 2 other campers, and just chatting before lunch.

5 Piece Rehearsal

Although the Two of a Perfect Trio tour will have 6 musicians, Marcus Reuter the third member of Stickmen, was still in Austria, and was unable to make camp. The members of Adrian's Power Trio, Julie Slick and Tobias Ralph, did make it, and arrived in the afternoon. So, we had a double trio minus one.

The rehearsals became more complex, and all 5 were playing material from the 90's lineup of King Crimson, the double trio.

Day 4

Morning

For the morning session, Adrian taught campers how to play the parts from Frame by Frame, and Discipline. This was very interesting.

This was followed by another 5 piece rehearsal, which sounded drastically more polished than the previous day. The pressure was on these guys preparing for the show at the Bearsville Theater, that night. It was particularly amazing to hear how quickly Pat and Tobias tightened up their double drumming, in just 24 hours.

For the rest of the afternoon, the band and techs were very busy loading up gear to head over to Woodstock.

Bearsville Theater

At 5PM, the entire camp loaded up in two school buses, and took the half hour drive over to the Bearsville Theater, in Woodstock. This was the first time I had been back to Woodstock, in 16 years. The time passed quickly, as many of the campers were doing the Thrak clapping exercises from Pat's sessions.

I thought I had previously seen shows at the Bearsville, but had mistaken it for the Woodstock Town Hall. No matter, this was also an excellent venue, with great acoustics.

Dinner at the Bearsville

After arriving and having drinks, dinner was catered at the club. A really nice touch, the bar and club were separated by walls with large panes of glass. So, we could easily see and hear, the setup and soundcheck going on in the other room, as we ate and drank.

The best part of the libations was the fact that the bar had a Milk Stout on tap. Mmmmm.

Soundcheck

After eating, the campers basically had free rein of the club, during the sound check.

Setlist

After another hour, they started letting the rest of the people in. I ran into an old friend and Bass player, Mike Ralf, who I hadn't seen in at least 20 years. We both recognized and remembered each other, but couldn't remember the specifics under which we had met. I think he auditioned for Tom Limbaugh's band.

The opening act was Joey Eppard, lead singer of the band, 3 (and brother of one of the founders of Coheed and Cambria). I had seen him open several times for Porcupine Tree in Boulder and Houston (where I spoke to him after that show). For this show, he was performing solo.

After reintroducing myself to Joe, we had a nice conversation. He is an amazing acoustic guitar player and singer, with a heavy Flamenco influence. Unlike the Del Castillo brothers ( from a Flamenco influenced act here in Austin), Joey plays steel string acoustic, rather than nylon.

The main act, my 5 new friends, started at around 10PM. They did 3 phases of the show, the Trio (Ade, Tony, Pat), Stickmen (minus Marcus), and then the Double Trio (minus Marcus). Here was their setlist:

Pat, Tony and Adrian
- Three of a Perfect Pair
- Elephant Talk
- Sleepless
- Red
Stickmen
- Slow Glide
Adrian Solo
- Something from E (I think?)
Two of Perfect Trio minus 1
- B'Boom and Thrak
- Dinosaur
- One Time
- Frame by Frame
- Encore: Thela Hun Ginjeet

During the show, it seemed like a switch had been thrown. Everything was better and tighter than any of the rehearsals we had attended. It was interesting to see a group of professionals turn it on like this, at just the right moment. Their show went by too quickly.

Late on the Porch with Ade

After the show, we road back on the bus, and a group of us were anxious to hit the Performance Space, which was unfortunately closed. So we convened out on the front porch. We were eating Doritos, and drinking Vodka.

Pat, Tony, and Adrian arrived in a car, and hung out for a while. Adrian had his usual happy demeanor, and joined us on the porch. Pat and Tony mentioned they were leaving after about 30 minutes, to go to their cabin. Adrian turned his head and said "ok".

Those two left, without Adrian noticing, with his asking whether they had gone without him, some time later. As we said yes, he just shrugged his shoulders and continued talking with us. The whole group hung out at least another hour and half, finally hitting the hay at 3AM. What an incredible punctuation to our last night there.

Day 5

The camp wrapped up at 11AM. There were no sessions in the morning, we all ate breakfast and hung out. Right before everyone left, we all posed for a group photo.

Fun with Irene Afterwards

My original plan was to stay two extra days in the MHV, so that I could catch John Esposito's (my former piano teacher) gig. Hurricane Irene unfortunately intervened and the gig was cancelled.

Then, through a comedy of errors, that seemed like they were out of the movie, Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, I did not return to Austin, until Tuesday afternoon. Two days later than planned.

Despite that, I would not have traded this experience for anything in the world, and I'm seriously considering returning next year. I already have one friend who is interested in going.

Other Blogs

You may be interested in reading Adrian's and Tony's blog entires about the camp, as well.

Updates

I'm finding other camper's blogs, now. Will link to them, as I find them.

Jim Lange

The Protomen at Emos

2011-08-19T07:27:00.006-05:00

Deja Vu - Twitter to the Rescue Again

After attending the Long Star Ruby Conference this past weekend, I was paying more attention to Twitter than normal. In an eerie replay of the events that led me to seeing the Protomen last year, a just in time tweet notified me that they were on tour.

Quickly checking their website, I discovered they were playing Emos in three days. I immediately bought a ticket.

The Openers

For The Most Part

Knowing that there were two openers, both from Austin, I didn't really bother to leave the house until 10PM. As a result, I missed the first opener, For the Most Part.

The Descendants of Erdrick

The other opening act, Descendants Of Erdrick, bills themselves as Austin's Premier Video Game Tribute band. They were a five piece, with two guitars, a flute, bass, and drums.

The band were all very good musicians, but since I am not a Gen-X'er who was weaned on Nintendo, I didn't find hearing covers as engaging, as the Protomen's more creative approach. The lack of vocals was also a bit of a deal killer for me.

The Protomen

While waiting around for main act, I went over to the Merch booth and bought a T-shirt. I was also able to talk to Protomen guitarist, Robert. After telling him that I had been at their show last year, we commiserated about the stifling heat, and conditions at Game Over Video games.

I was also able to find out, that they intend to do one more album along the Mega Man story arc, with producer, Alan Shacklock, and then something new is in the works. We'll have to wait and see what happens. I was also surprised to hear that they had trouble getting back into SxSW, last year.

The Protomen's show started with one of their members in a jump suit and robot mask, as K.I.L.R.O.Y.! His banter and come back lines were very well practiced, and raised the level of their showmanship.

The line-up for the band appeared to be the same as the last years, with one exception. The second female member was MIA. I believe she was the member that played trumpet, keyboards, and sang backing vocals.

I estimate that they played about 75 minutes, with a mix of songs from both of their albums. There was one encore, and this time around they did an excellent cover of Queen's, Princes of the Universe. Frankly, I was amazed by how close the Protomen's lead singer was able to sound like Freddie Mercury.

I really enjoyed the show once again, my only complaint was with the sound, which was muddy at times. But, that's really the fault of the crappy house P.A. at Emos.

I will continue to be a fan of this band, and I'm anxious to hear their new album, in the coming months.

Ulrich Ellison House Concert

2011-08-15T22:59:00.016-05:00

My good friend, Ulrich Ellison, performed a house concert in celebration of obtaining funding for his new album, on Kickstarter. Not having caught any of his gigs in a while, I thought that this would be a fun way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

Uli was accompanied by percussionist/drummer, John Bush, and cellist/bassist, Steve Bernal. The space was fantastic, and supplied an excellent listening experience. They played two magnificent sets, and I made a mental note to look for more shows at this location, known locally for the Ham Jam.

Lastly, if you're an Austinite, and like guitar music in the spirit of Jeff Beck, you owe it to yourself to check out Ulrich's music.

Rush at the Frank Erwin Center

2011-06-13T00:45:00.008-05:00

Over a year ago, every rocker's favorite Canucks, announced a tour where they would be playing their most celebrated album, Moving Pictures, in its entirety. I had known about this show for months, but was a bit put off by the ticket prices, and the venue, the Erwin Center.

I guess the show wasn't sold out by Sunday morning, so one of my friends had diligently waited for the late tickets to go on sale. I got a call around 1:30PM, as they were waiting to a purchase a group of seats 10 rows off of stage left, at stage height. It appears that the late bird gets the worm every now and then, too.

My friends and I arrived at the arena, just in time to take our seats. The show started fairly close to the advertised 7:30PM time. Rush had prepared a somewhat humorous video to introduce the show. In the film, Alex, Neil and Geddy appeared as characters in the film, watching a band playing various arrangements of Spirit of the Radio in various genres, including Polka, and Country. A clock was used to set up a time travel motif.

Very cleverly, flash-pots went off, and the band segued almost seamlessly from the video, to playing Spirit of the Radio, live on stage, right as the clock advanced to the current day. This kicked off the first of two sets, lasting approximately an hour each, with a 15 minute intermission between them.

I was not surprised to see that the setlist for this show was available by 7:00AM in the morning. I was surprised however, at how good the sound was, particularly sitting on one side of the stage.

This show was pretty much what I expected. Their musicianship is still first rate. The only minor criticism I could make is that Geddy is no longer able to reliably hit the high notes vocally, that he is famous for.

I took a few pictures, but even from this advantageous viewpoint, the iPhone was not really up to the task of taking photos in this lighting.

Which One's Pink?

2011-05-29T14:33:00.004-05:00

I had noticed the ads for this show in the Chronicle a while ago, but didn't take any action. The band was a selection of local Austin, all-stars, and included my friend, Ulrich Ellison. Having recently purchased tickets for a Return to Forever show in September, with a bunch of Prog/Fusion fan friends, one of them just happened to mention, Hey, any of you interested in going to that Pink Floyd tribute show, this Saturday? Five of us said yes, and convened at the Ginger Man before the show.

It's a good thing that I went to this show. Having dilly-dallied a month ago, I had missed an opportunity to see the opening of the Fusebox Festival at the Seaholm. As it turned out, this was the last chance, as the City of Austin is beginning a multi-year, redevelopment project.

Arrival

When we arrived around 6:30PM, I was surprised to see that the stage was outside. It was a bit hot until the sun went down. During the After-Party, hindsight proved this to be the best choice. It would have been sweltering inside.

For contrast, I took these pictures of the plant's trademark smokestacks. Shortly after we claimed our seats.

Moving Matter

The show opened with a Jam Band, Moving Matter. They were good, but I'm just not that much of a Jam Band fan. They played for about an hour.

While the openers played, I ran into a few people I knew. One of them was Damon Lange from Nomad Sound. After talking to him a few minutes, I noticed that there were some additional speakers on tripods, behind the audience, as he was walking back to the mixing board.

Which One's Pink?

The main act, played two sets. The first set opened with Shine on you Crazy Diamond (Part 1) and then quickly went into the songs from the first part of the Wall, starting with In the Flesh? and ending with Goodbye Blue Sky.

This was really well done, and there were several surprises. For starters, the side-channel speakers I had noticed earlier, were used for surround-sound effects. The audience was swimming in a lake of sound, making it sound as if there were really helicopters descending as the Wall played. The other surprise was that they actually had a group of small school children as a small choir for Another Brick in the Wall.

There were 7 or 8 different vocalists during the show including Tony Scalzo from Fastball, Teal Collins Zee from the Mother Truckers, and the very impressive, Akina Adderly. All of the vocalists delivered great performances.

At the beginning of the second set, I took this second picture of the stacks. Throughout the show, lighting was projected on to the stacks to great effect, while the music played.

Here's a quick run-down of the songs that I can remember, in no particular order:

Meddle - One of these Days, and maybe San Tropez
Wish You Were Here - Shine on You Crazy Diamond, Have A Cigar, Wish You Were Here
Dark Side of the Moon - Speak To Me/Breathe through Money, Eclipse
Animals - Pigs (Three Different Ones), Sheep
The Wall - In the Flesh? through Goodbye Blue Sky, Young Lust, Comfortably Numb
Division Bell - Keep Talking

I'm sure I've forgotten some already. I must say however, that this show was very well done.

After-Party

At the beginning of the second set, they announced that there was going to be an After Party, and that everyone would get to see the inside of the Seaholm. This was a fun way to close out the evening, but as I said earlier, thankfully the show was outside.

Bottom line: It was great night of music, under the stars.

Tu at the One World Theater

2011-04-28T23:37:00.008-05:00

Being a huge Krim-head, I immediately bought a ticket to this show when I saw it on the One World calendar. I was confused however, while purchasing tickets to see that there were two types of GA tickets for the show. This was the first time that the One World was having a Club Night show. Tables were set up in the area in front of the stage, rather than the normal folding chairs.

Tu, in case you aren't aware, is a duet featuring two King Crimson alumni, Pat Mastelotto on drums and percussion, and Trey Gunn, on Warr guitar, a touch guitar instrument similar to a Chapman Stick. This show also featured vocalist, Chrysta Bell, a singer who fronted the now defunct, Austin band, 8 1/2 Souvenirs, as a special guest.

For the first portion of the show, Pat and Trey played instrumentals. In general, I find it difficult to remember the titles of their instrumental songs, but I did recognize that they played Absinthe, a song they usually play with their trio, KTu.

Like Porcupine Tree, Tu is also very multi-media savvy and synchronizes their music with some really impressive and artistic video. After 2 or 3 songs, Trey introduced himself and Pat and commented on the fact that they usually didn't get to play in such a nice sounding room.

After the first hour, Chrsyta joined Tu on stage. She has a very powerful voice, and played several numbers including a song that she had co-written with film director, David Lynch. The group was also joined on stage for one song, by a keyboardist, who was also video taping the show.

For the encore, Tu first played an instrumental number, and then were rejoined on stage by Chrysta. For the final number, the band began playing the very recognizable King Crimson song, Starless. The crowd erupted into applause.

This last number was actually a medley starting with Starless, and going into 21st Century Schizoid Man, before returning to Starless. I can only hope that a recording of this will be available at some time.

After the show, Trey, Pat and Chrysta were all available for a meet and greet. It was a great night of music.

Update

Trey Gunn has posted about the Austin and Dallas shows, and included some video on his blog, here.

Heart at the Moody Theater

2011-04-09T15:05:00.006-05:00

They say the first step, is admitting you have a problem.

Reading this blog, you'll may notice that I have spent quite a bit of time at the Moody Theater in the past 11 days. Since it opened in February, I have already been to 6 shows at ACL Live. As the Central Scrutinizer would note, Once again, we see music causing big trouble.

At the last minute, 1AM after the Jeff Beck show to be exact, I decided that I needed to get in touch with my inner couger and purchased a ticket to see Heart. As luck would have it, I was able to obtain a Mezzanine seat. So, I have hit for the cycle at the Moody, having now sat on all 3 of its levels.

This was a bucket list show for me. I grew up hearing the Wilson sisters, and figured I should see them at least once in my lifetime.
Riding down with my friends Ron and Alissa, we headed over to theater, after dinner at Jo's. On arriving, it appeared that the show was a sellout. The opening act, Electric Touch, started promptly at 8PM. They were good, but I'm not sure I would run out to go see them again.
Heart eventually took the stage at around 9:15 PM, with some sort of Celtic drone going on in the background. Their recent band lineup consists of the following musicians:

Ben Smith - Drums
Craig Bartock - Guitar
Debbie Shair - Keyboards, synthesizers
Kristian Attard - Electric bass guitar

I didn't realize until I consulted wikipedia, that the band will be celebrating their 40th anniversary in just 2 years, 2013. If you know the band, you'll know that Ann and Nancy themselves, are the only original and constant members of the band. In everyone's mind, Ann and Nancy Wilson and Heart are synonymous.

The show was as I expected. The Wilsons are still able to perform and sound just as good now, as they always have. The setlist was similar to this one posted on setlist.fm, with the exception that I can recall, being that they played 2 Zeppelin covers during the first encore, and did not play Love Reign O'er Me.

Here's a few pictures that I took. You can see some additional photos over at the ACL Live site.

A Retro Moment

The coupe de grace for me was seeing someone actually lifting a lighter, calling for the encore.

Jeff Beck and the Imelda May Band at the Moody Theater

2011-04-06T01:00:00.003-05:00

Several months ago, Jeff performed a tribute show for the late Les Paul, at the Iridium, in NYC. The artists that night included smoking vocalist, Imelda May and her band, Trombone Shorty, and Brian Setzer. The whole thing was broadcast on PBS, as a special, and it was fantastic.

Jeff Beck demonstrated an uncanny ability to genre hop into this Les Paul and Mary Ford material. It was a treat to see him checking in with some amazing performances on something other than a Jackson Strat (not that there's anything wrong with that). Anyway, I had never seen him play a hollow body, nor any of the amazing array of vintage Gibson and Gretsch guitars that he pulled out for that show.

During the interview segues, it was obvious that Jeff was a huge Les Paul fan growing up, and he was very animated and enthusiastic about the music. I watched the show several times, and was convinced that I would never get to see something like this live.

After the broadcast, I pre-ordered the DVD and CD of the show. They have since arrived, and I am still enjoying both (even after repeated watchings or listenings).

When they posted the opening schedule for the Moody/ACL Live earlier this year, I immediately locked my eyes on this show. It was in fact the first ticket I bought for the venue, even though it ended up being the fifth show I have seen there. I'm very glad I acted fast, because I was able to score a 2nd row seat.

I got there early and parked myself in my seat, not willing to miss one second. There was no opener , so things kicked off promptly at 8PM. (I pity any act that would have attempted to open for this show)

The format was very similar to the PBS special, minus Shorty and Brian. The band consisted of Jeff and Imelda May's band:

Darrel Higham - guitar and vocals
Al Gare - Bass
Stephen Rushton - Drums
Dave Priseman - Trumpet
Leo Green - Tenor Sax
Blue Lou Marini - Baritone Sax

Special mention needs to be made of Darrel, because he is also an amazing vocalist and performer. He in fact opens the show, and sang quite a few numbers before Imelda appeared on stage for the first time. He is equally as charismatic.

Once she was present, things really took off. Imelda is a very strong singer and has an incredible stage presence. I should also mention that she sings along to a recording of her own voice for quite a few songs, so that it is self-harmonized. This worked surprisingly well, but I would still have preferred to see her with some real backing vocalists.

I believe they played for over 2 hours, and while I tried to keep track of the setlist, the songs were going by too quickly to accomplish this. I believe that this setlist from a few weeks ago, is fairly close to the one for this show.

This show was everything I had hoped for and more. Jeff was clearly enjoying playing the music of one of his idols, and was incredible to watch. My only regret was not bringing a real camera. These cell phone pictures are the best that I could manage, given the lighting:

In closing, I had heard that Jeff would be heading immediately for LA to do the Tonight Show, later in the week, and then American Idol, where he would be performing with each of the finalists. (Normally, I'm not much of an Idol fan, but in this case I will be making an exception).

Update

The ACL Live sight has some additional photos here.

Austin Music People Launch at the Moody Theater

2011-04-01T07:23:00.008-05:00

So I had the opportunity to go to the Austin Music People (AMP) launch at the Moody Theater, this past Thursday. A fun event, I'm hoping that AMP has more legs than Save Austin Music did ;).

The GA tickets were relatively cheap, and the lineup was fairly impressive. It included:

The Bright Light Social Hour
The Coveters
Bavu Blakes
Brownout!
Alejandro Escovedo
Court Yard Hounds
Blue October
Ghostland Observatory

I arrived late, and went on to the floor even though I had the more expensive balcony seats. I heard Bavu Blakes, Brownout, Alejandro, CYH, and the 1st song of Blue October's set. The sets were short, not really long enough to let the sound guy tweak the PA properly.

My only complaint was that the theater was totally sold-out, and they would not let me reenter the floor area, after taking a leak. A fun night regardless!

Brownout! (Groupo Fantasma's alter ego)

Alejandro Escovedo

The Dixie Chicks minus one (aka. Court Yard Hounds)

Update

Some photos from the ACL Live site.

Devo at the Moody Theater (ACL Live)

2011-03-28T19:19:00.003-05:00

The Past

Right as I entered high school in 1976, the music world was being set on its ear. Album Oriented Rock (AOR) had dominated popular music for the first half of the decade. Once considered the music of rebellion however, Rock was becoming very commercialized and was now viewed as Main Stream.

Around 1975, something strange started bubbling to the surface. Popular music was bifurcating into two distinct poles. Two parallel rebellions were underway, against the status quo:

Disco represented a resurgence of dance music with heavy Latin, Funk, and Afro-cuban influences. It originated in the urban, black, latin, and gay dance clubs of New York City. The Disco scene was opulent and hedonistic.
Punk stood on the opposite end of the spectrum. It represented a return to Rock's garage roots. Simultaneously emerging from New York City and London, Punk held an anarchistic and nihilistic attitude; it evangelized a strong DIY ethos.

Of course, when this started happening, it was very important to pick a side. I felt more kinship with the Punkers.

Unfortunately, broadcast radio was not the best vehicle to listen to or discover new Punk bands. There were other venues, however. One of these was the then, still relatively young TV show, Saturday Night Live (SNL).

SNL had a musical guest every week, emphasized new artists, and had assumed the role of taste maker. Acts like Elvis Costello, and the Talking Heads, received a big boost after appearing on the show.

Most people my age, watched SNL religiously. However, even with all of this new music, nothing prepared me for the show that aired on October 14, 1978. On that night, Devo appeared on national television.

For the first segment of the show, Devo opened with their brilliant cover of Satisfaction. Ironically, the Rolling Stones were the musical guests, the prior week. For the second segment they showed a clip from their video, the Truth about De-evolution, then played Jocko Homo.

Of course, this was an amazing spectacle, clearly there was something subversive going on with this band. The following Monday at school, there were two reactions:

WTF was that? - held by most of my classmates.
I think we found our boys - held by me and my friends who were bummed about the Pistols falling apart.

It was only a short time later that all of us had a copy of Are We Not Men, We Are Devo and were wearing out the vinyl. As luck would have it, a few weeks later, tickets went on sale were for a show in Baltimore. I can honestly say that I will remember that first Devo show, as long as I live. All in all, I saw the band on every tour, for their next 3 albums:

12/29/78 - Painter's Mill Music Fair, Owings Mills, MD - they opened the show with 15 minutes of video, and Bob 1 had his wireless 2x4 guitar. (3 years before MTV!)
07/27/80 - Merriweather Post Pavilion, Columbia, MD - an absolutely hilarious show, with Devo Muzak playing over the PA, as we entered the pavilion.
10/31/81 - Radio City Music Hall, New York, NY - a truly bizarre show on Halloween in NYC. The perfect counterweight to the Zappa show over at the Palladium, the same night. They wore plastic JFK hairdos, played all synthesizers, and performed most of the show on treadmills. (Ok Go - just a bunch of ripoffs. Devo's choreography was much better in 1981!)

The members of Devo by the way were Art Students who met at Kent State. And yes, they were there during the National Guard Incident. Their intent with Devo was to make video art. It should be no surprise then, that they were perfect for MTV.

They finally have their hit Whip It, when things start unraveling. Two more albums later, they changed drummers, and eventually broke up. Things stayed stagnant for 25 years. Post-breakup, lead singer Mark Mothersbaugh, had the only success, writing and producing music for TV and movies.

Fast forward to 2009. Rumors of Devo reforming were swirling around, when I discovered that they would be interviewed and perform at SxSW that year. During the interview, I discovered that Austin was swimming with Devo fans, and that there were two tribute bands in town. Attending their show at the Austin Music Hall restoked my interest in all of the Punk bands, that I used to listen to in my past.

I was supposed to have also seen the Spudboys from Akron, at Fun Fun Fun Fest 2010. But, guitarist Bob Mothersbaugh had nearly severed his thumb tendon the day before the show, and they cancelled. Which eventually led to the present day, and this show, at ACL Live.

The Opening Act - Octopus Project

For openers, Devo selected Austin Electronic Act, Octopus Project. I have seen them several times before, I can't say they're my cup of tea. I think that lack of vocals is a deal killer for me, with this band.

None the less, they are generally entertaining, and one of the band members is fairly accomplished on the Theremin.

DEVO

When Devo finally hit the stage, it was like a flashback to 33 years ago. You can see the setlist here. There was a good amount of material from Are We Not Men, and Duty Now for the Future.

The big surprises for me, were that they dared to play Mongoloid in this PC era, and Smart Patrol/Mr. DNA. I would have loved to have heard Gut Feeling, Come Back Johnny, and Space Junk, but it was not to be.

Here are some pictures I took with the phone. It doesn't do to well in this lighting.

Last but not least, no Devo show would be complete with the Spuds in the pit sporting their Blue and Red Energy Domes.

Needless to say, I've had the earbuds full of Devo for the past week.

Update

Here's some photos from the ACL Live site.

RIP: Joseph William Pinetop Perkins

2011-03-21T20:00:00.001-05:00

Legendary blues pianist, Pinetop Perkins, passed away today at age 97. I was fortunate enough to have seen him play multiple times at Antones. He had been living in Austin for several years.

This moment is particularly surreal for me, however. This past Saturday night, I was at a SxSW showcase, for another legendary blues player, Bobby Rush. As a surprise, some people quietly moved Pinetop in his wheelchair, through the crowd, and parked him in the front row.

Bobby Rush's face lit up, he was delighted to see Pinetop, acknowledging him, and leading the crowd in a very loud round of applause. I distinctly remember thinking to myself that I should go see Pinetop a few more times, before the inevitable happened. He seemed to be in very good spirits as they wheeled him out of the 18th floor, at the conclusion of the show. Unfortunately, the inevitable did happen less than 48 hours later.

This is sad news on multiple levels.

SxSW BBQ - Day 10

2011-03-21T06:00:00.021-05:00

Closure

My friend Frank says that the good thing about the Sunday BBQ and Softball Tourney, is that it gives you closure. It let's you wind down a bit, and let's you get mentally prepped, because you know it's going to suck going back to work on Monday. Of course, I also figure that I already paid for the food, so I might as well go eat it.

So, for the second year in a row, I attended the BBQ. I also flirted with the idea to go see the handful of shows at Emos later that night, but then sanity (and the need to catch up on sleep) prevailed.

Only 355 days or so to go until SxSW 2012.

SxSW Day 9

2011-03-20T22:40:00.127-05:00

Panels

KUT Morning Show on the Hilton Stage - The Monahans

Ok, I broke my self imposed rule about trying not to see Austin based acts. In my defense, it's hard to walk by the day stage at the Hilton and not stop for a listen, on your way in, in the morning.

Vinyl Records 3.0 Challenges and Rewards

Another vinyl panel. Vinyl is surprisingly big, and records are selling. It's an amazing story, and it will interesting to see how this plays out over the next few years.

And On Piano... Nicky Hopkins

This panel arranged by biographer, Julian Dawson, talked about the life and music of the late, Nicky Hopkins. Nicky's volume of work was staggering. He was a legendary touring and session player, and a formidable composer/arranger.

The panel also included other friends that had known him, and two other pianists that had shared the same sideman chair, with the Rolling Stones, Ian McLagan, and Chuck Leavell.

It was delightful to here all of the stories about Nicky, and I promptly ordered a copy of Dawson's biography from Amazon. The icing on the cake however, was having Julian Dawson and Chuck Leavell play No Expectations, a song written by Nicky Hopkins, but credited to Jagger and Richards at the end. It's always great to have someone perform at a panel.

SxSW Interview: John Popper

This was another fantastic interview. While not a huge Blues Traveler fan, John and the other panelists encouraged the crowd to all move up front, and get close, so they could make eye contact.

What resulted, was a very intimate setting. I left with a newfound respect for Popper as an artist, and really enjoyed this session, as well.

SxSW Interview: Bobby Rush

My last panel of SxSW, and it was a great one, legendary bluesman, Bobby Rush.

The time went by very quickly, and I was fully engaged in this session. It was fascinating to hear Bobby's life stories, since they span an era of great change in the US. Bobby played with Muddy Waters and was known as the King of the Chitterling circuit. Looking at him today, you would never guess how old he was.

This was a great session, with added benefit that I would be getting to see him play, later in the night.

Parties

Unfortunately, in addition to cash bars, they no longer hand out party invitation envelopes in the swag bags. As a result, you have to send an RSVP in some cases, or you don't get in. Even with a badge.

Doh!

Music

Galaxy Express

I saw this band playing on the patio of what used to be the Habana, but is now called the Easy Tiger(?). They were a somewhat interesting garage rock band. Unfortunately, I came in during the last song of their set.

NEema

I then sauntered over to the Hilton, to check at the Day Stage. Neema was playing, I'm not sure if this was the female lead singer's name, or the name of the band.

In either case, she had a great voice, and the musicianship was first rate.

Erin McLaughlin

Back to St. David's to hear a very enchanting singer/songwriter named Erin McLaughlin.

Agnes Obel

Continuing my stay at St. David's, the next artist Agnes Obel was singer/pianist from the Netherlands, accompanied by a Cellist. Another fantastic set. No photos, because the venue people were cracking down.

Silje Nes

Staying at St. David's, I walked down the hallway to Bethel Hall, to catch experimental Norwegian artist, Silje Nes. Silje played a strat, and was accompanied by a bassist and percussionist.

While the music was very avant-garde and experimental, it was very enjoyable.

Amanda Shires

Since I had arrived early to the Hilton Garden to see Bobby Rush, I decided to quickly check out the Hilton Creek venue, downstairs. Amanda Shires was an alt-country act, that was listenable enough. I caught the last two songs of her set.

Bobby Rush

This was another amazing set. Bobby Rush held a packed house on the 18th Floor of the Hilton Garden, in the palm of his hand, singing and playing solo. No backing band. It was a very special night of blues.

The Soundtrack of Our Lives

After Bobby Rush's set, I quickly turned around and returned to St. David's to join my friends Ron and Alissa, for Swedish, psychedelic band, the Soundtrack of Our Lives. Several people were surprised however, that the band had decided to play acoustic.

I enjoyed this set, and have made a note to check out more of their music in the near future.

The Rods

From St. David's, my friends and I walked down 7th street to see the Rods. They were the closet thing to Spinal Tap, that I have seen at any SxSW. They were entertaining, but I'm not sure I would want to pay to see them headlining, to be honest. The novelty wears off after one listen.

Back to the 18th Floor

For the last showcase of SxSWm, I returned to the 18th floor. When up there during SxSW, I always try to get some pictures of Austin at night from the elevated viewpoint.

Homemade Jamz Blues Band

The last band I saw of the festival was the Homemade Jamz Blues Band. The band consists of a father, his 2 sons, and daughter, all from the Hill Country in Mississippi. Dad sings and plays harp, the eldest son plays guitar, the younger son plays bass, and the daughter plays drums. In addition, the guitar, a double neck, and bass, are custom made by the father, out of racing muffler.

Let me just say, these guys were smoking. The guitar playing son sounds like a cross between Stevie Ray Vaughan and Buddy Guy, and his daughter plays drums like Cindy Blackman. What a way to finish the festival.

SxSW Day 8

2011-03-19T22:40:00.105-05:00

Panels

SxSW Interview: Yoko Ono

Couldn't miss this interview. It was unusual in that the session began with a 15 minute video about Yoko's life. It wasn't clear whether it was self-produced or not.

Yoko spent a lot of time talking about her life, latest causes, and the situation in Japan. It seemed to go by very quickly, I will probably take the chance to rewatch the video when it is posted by SxSW.

Mastering Vinyl, Hear All About It

This was undoubtedly one of the best technical music panels that I have ever attended. The panel consisted of aficionado Michael Fremer, who produced a fantastic documentary about vinyl records are mastered and produced, and two legends, Doug Sax and Bob Ludwig. If you own any vinyl, it is more than likely that several albums have been mastered by one of these two gentlemen.

Lot's of good information from this talk, and I am relatively sure that I will want to obtain a copy of Fremer's DVD, after seeing excerpts. Furthermore, I will be getting a new cartridge and bring my turntable and vinyl out of storage. Back to the future!

Get Band Business Doing Smart

This panel featured the always entertaining Martin Atkins, and Hillel Frankel (who I believe may be Martin's agent). The premise was a mock debate, in order to discuss Atkin's guerilla marketing strategies for music.

Martin never disappoints, and I really appreciate what he is giving back to the world of Music.

Bobby Long

I'm having a difficult time remembering the next 3 day stage acts. I do remember that I enjoyed listening.

Lady Lamb the Beekeeper

Caitlin Rose

Random Shot of ACC during SxSWm

Parties

Dutch Impact

Another party, another cash bar (handled by the same caterer). Oh well, the good ole days of free food and booze are over I guess.

I stayed for one set, a band named Black Atlantic. They were good, not great, and not as interesting as the Canadian band from yesterday.

Hilton Stage - Brooke Fraser

A very nice, mellow singer/songwriter type with a backing band. Incredible voice.

Showcases

Boy & Bear

This was a great Pop/Rock band from Australia. Another Handicapping panel suggestion, and another winner. The crowd at Buffalo Billiards agreed.

Dirty Beaches

So this was the first stinker. I stayed for exactly half of the first song, and left wondering how this person was able to get a showcase.

Keepaway

I decided to head over to Cedar Street. As I got there, the crowd seemed unusually sparse. After hearing Keepaway, I understood why. Strike two.

Birds & Batteries

I then walked over to the Tap Room, and finally found a band that was tolerable. I wasn't blown away by this act, but found them listenable (and avoided a strike out).

Leslie Stevens and the Badgers

I decided to stay put, just in case. The next act Leslie Stevens, was a female Country/Americana singer from Southern California. She had a pedal steel player, and some members of the band, Paperclip, joined her on stage for a few songs.

Oberhofer

I then returned to Kiss & Fly for Oberhofer, another Handicapping panel recommendation. I found them listenable, but not engaging.

Lanterns on the Lake

This was a very interesting Cinematic, post-pop band from NE England. They played a mix of acoustic and electric instruments, and sounded very good in the Central Presbyterian Church. This was only showcase I saw at this venue, BTW.

Amy Speace

Not being able to get enough of St. David's, I returned there and checked out this country singer, Amy Speace. She was an accomplished singer, but this music seemed very pedestrian to me.

Mother Mother

I had picked out this band from an iTunes or Amazon sampler for SxSW. The band executed just fine, but the venue, Swan Dive, sucked.

If there is one complaint I have about SxSWm, it's the temporary use of these Dance Clubs as live music venues. What was particularly annoying about this place, was their insistance on playing House Music at loud volumes, while the band was trying to do a sound check. The results when the band started playing were as expected. I really wanted to go throttle the DJ.

In all reality, I can't imagine setting foot in this club at any other time. I'm hoping there will be a pendulum swing back towards live music, in the next decade, putting these dance clubs and the choke-and-puke bars out of business. (I can hope, at least!)

Ron Sexsmith

This was another SxSWm highlight for me. I got see an entire set of Ron Sexsmith with his backing band. Outstanding!

SxSW Day 7

2011-03-18T08:00:00.000-05:00

Panels and Day Stages

Matt Haimovitz & Uccello

This was an interesting opening act, right before the Keynote. A quartet of cellists played a variety of material, including an interpretation of the Led Zeppelin's Kashmir. Comparisons with Kronos quartet, are to be expected.

From what I understand, Haimovitz (on the left) is a Music professor, and the rest of the ensemble is composed of his students. I wish that I would have had time to catch one of their showcases, but that just didn't seem possible.

SxSW Keynote: Bob Geldof

Sir Bob Geldof opened his keynote lamenting the fact that an impressive list of people had given keynotes in previous years. Feeling somewhat inadequate, he wondered if he was up to the task.

Putting modesty aside however, he then went on to talk about why Rock could have only emerged from America, and why it was important to the rest of the world. He got more specific, talking about how Howling Wolf and Elvis changed his entire world, when he first heard them. Rock music was a catalyst for things that would have never emerged otherwise in Ireland.

Bob then went on to say that during his most recent trips to the US, that we as a nation, seemed tired and exhausted. His challenge was that the US needed new voices to emerge, arising to challenge the status quo. He also indicated that perhaps another nation would need to step up, although he wondered who that could possibly be. He was sure however, that somebody needed to.

Golden Ears

This was a State of the Union address for the A&R world. I'm going to have to go back and listen to the audio again, because although I didn't take good notes, there was some very good information and demographics provided during the panel.

Emmylou Harris

Although I fully intended to see Emmylou later in the evening at Antones, I decided to check out this set on the Day Stage, as a precaution. This ended up being a wise decision, as you will read later.

So, Emmylou played a short set of 4 songs, with a little bit of monologue in between songs. She was as fantastic as I would have expected. My only regret was not getting a better picture, but the iPhone doesn't really do too well in dimly lit scenarios.

Still Corners

This was Pop act, who were fortunately still playing after Emmylou. I was able to catch one or two songs. Very listenable, I wish I had had time to hear more.

Josh Ritter

Josh was another recommendation from the Handicapping panel. A solo, singer/songwriter type who was a little more on the Country end of the spectrum. I stayed for the entire set, and found it enjoyable, even if it wasn't my favorite genre of music.

Today's World of Songwriter and Artist Music Licensing Deals

As a proud member of the Austin Music Foundation, I have gotten to know the Brabec brothers (Todd and Jeff) personally. Not only have they spoken at every one of the 7 SxSWm conferences that I've attended, but they have also been brought to town by AMF several times.

Once again, they were top of the licensing game, and their information is invaluable to anyone who holds a publishing copyright. The new information that they discussed this time, was about the mobile App market.

The respect they garner was evidenced by the presence of several big-time, Entertainment lawyers in the audience.

The Head and the Heart

Another recommendation from the Handicapping panel, that was spot on. They were similar in some ways to James Vincent McMorrow. Very enjoyable set, I will most likely buy some music from this band.

Songwriters Explain Everything

This was another fantastic panel featuring songwriters Hayes Carll, Ron Sexsmith, and Hazel Dickens. Of course, all three artists played during the session, making for a very special experience.

I won't lie, I was there to catch Ron play.

Films

The Other F Word

This ended up being my last screening of SxSW 2011. I chose this film because I had heard very good things about it, while waiting in line at the Ritz for Beginners.

The basic story was about several aging West Coast Punk Rock musicians, and how their lives had changed, now that they were in their 40's and had kids. The F word was obviously fatherhood.

The subjects of the film included Jim Linberg of Pennywise, Flea of the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Mark Hoppus of Blink 182, Tony Hawk, Art Alexakis of Everclear, and Ron Reyes (aka Chavo) of Black Flag. The best line of the movie came from Jim Linberg, who said to paraphrase as best I can, "When I perform for audiences that are predominantly 20 years younger than I am, I feel like the clown at kids's birthday party. Maybe I should be up here on stage making balloon animals"

Great documentary.

Additional clips can be found here.

Music

Moody Theater - ACL Live

While waiting to enter the Moody Theater for Bob Geldof, there was Street Marching Band down below the balcony performing arrangements of Rock songs. Of course, here in Austin, this is treated as nothing unusual.

Bob Geldof

The first show of the night was Bob Geldof. He is about to go on tour, and this was one of his first shows with the band. Besides Bob, there was one other member of the Boomtown Rats in this band, bassist, Pete Briquette. Bob mentioned that it had been quite a long time since he last played in Austin, because the venue was Armadillo World Headquarters.

The set went by way too quickly and featured a good mix of his new material and a healthy selection of Rats' songs. On my end, I spent most of the time on the floor in front of the stage, but snuck up to the balcony for the last 10 minutes, just to see things from above.

Francis Mbappe

This was a fantastic afro-jazz trio, led by a bassist from Cameron, named Francis Mbappe, along with Cuban guitarist Richard Padron, and Will Calhoun, best known as the drummer for Living Colour. The show was at the Elephant Room, and all of the usual suspects (various Jazz fans living here in Austin) were present.

Without a question, I will be on the lookout for more music from Francis in the near future.

Abigail Washburn

Abigail is another favorite, and I have seen her a number of times, but always with Bela Fleck and the Sparrow Quartet. This time she was appearing at Antones, with a new band.

This great show went by way too fast. The only bummer being the crowd, because Antones was filled to capacity. I abandoned any plans of returning to Antones a few hours later for Emmylou Harris, since I had already seen her at the Day Stage.

Takashi Kamide

This was my first showcase at St. David's this year. (St. David's is my favorite venue because the acoustics are so fucking great in both the Sanctuary and Bethel Hall. I caught the last song of Takashi Kamide's set, a Japanese accordion player with an avant-garde bent.

G. Love

G. Love is a Blues act from Philadelphia. The Sanctuary was the perfect venue for this group, which features primarily acoustic instruments, particularly the Dobro. Great set, great sound.

Lia Ices

This was an Avant/Experimental act that I also found enjoyable. I need to listen to more from this band, as well.

City and Colour

I'm not sure that this band was on my radar, but the quality of the other acts at St. David's convinced me to just stay put. I'm glad I did, because this was the best band of SxSWm, as far as I'm concerned.

Dallas Green is a Canadian vocalist and guitarist from the band, Alexis on Fire. As a side project, he created City and Colour, sometimes performing solo, other times bringing along 3 other musicians to back him up. On this evening, he started the set with the band, and then finished the last 4 songs by himself.

All I can say is wow. This band knocked me on my ass. I loved the musicianship, the vocals, and the songwriting. Apparently, I was one of the uninformed, because it seemed at times that about 75% of the audience was singing along to their music. They have a following, and it's well deserved if I must say so myself.

I will catch these guys on tour next time they come around. I've already purchased a shitload of their music.

SxSW Day 6

2011-03-17T00:00:00.008-05:00

Panels and Day Stages

Handicapping SxSW Showcases

This was great panel to open up SxSWm. It included people that wrote for several music blogs, including Hype Machine, as well as one blogger who had listened to every single audio clip, on the SxSW website.

The end objective was for each panelist to give their list of 10 to 20 bands, that had to be seen. I had some overlap with some of their choices. My own list was generated from a smaller and incomplete sampling. I can say that I adjusted my schedule based upon some of the recommendations.

I should mention also, that for this year, I made a conscious effort to avoid seeing Austin bands if possible. I figure that I can see those acts, any time.

Entrepreneurs in Music

This was a fairly interesting talk, with Eric Garland of Big Champagne, as one of the panelists. I found it interesting, primarily for the demographic information presented in the talk.

Casiokids

This was one of the more interesting bands I saw on the day stage, they were primarily Electronic, but with some acoustic Latin percussion. I found them reminiscent of Oingo Boingo, in their sound.

Unfortunately, I was not able to catch their later showcases.

SxSW Featured Speaker: Andrew W.K.

Figuring this was a Keynote, I decided to see what it was about. I left about 10 minutes into his monologue. I'm not sure why this guy is famous, and I'm pretty sure that I won't be buying any of his music.

Daniel Johnston - The First Fifty Years

I just happened to walk in on this one. Hmm, not sure what to say about this. I didn't really find Johnston's music that enjoyable to listen to. I've read his bio on Wikipedia and learned some more information about him.

Mobile Music Moves to the Cloud

This was the backup panel, after striking out on the other two. Interesting, but no new info. If anything, I'm sure that our Congress will succeed in successfully destroying any new business models that emerge, and the US will continue to be the backwater, with no services like Spotify.

James Vincent McMorrow

James Vincent McMorrow has almost an Irish Tenor quality voice. His band is fantastic. They are extremely competent and tasteful, and then knock you on your ass with their multi-part vocal harmonies.

This was one of the bands recommended during the Handicapping panel, and this selection was spot on. I'm considering buying their CD or a download.

The Future of Music - Is There One?

Unlike earlier panels, I was waiting for this one because it featured Dr. Doom himself, Sandy Pearlman. I love this punker turned McGill University professor because of his no nonsense critiques of the music business, and his insight.

Surprisingly, Sandy has changed his tune a bit, and is enthusiastic about the vinyl resurgence, as precursor for more analog. He talked at length about whether there is something to the perception about the warmth of analog tape. He also said some interesting and provocative things about the truncation of the Harmonic series, by the CD Redbook spec and MP3 CODECs. It turns out that recent research is indicating that there is something to the preference by humans, for analog, and it's tied to our brains.

I had the opportunity to speak with him one on one later (a real treat). I now have a whole list of papers and books that I need to read, as a result of this conversation. Sandy jokingly told me that there will be test at next year's SxSW, and I could hand in my paper then.

How to Keep Your Digital Music Flowing

I sat in on this panel, but was really planning my evening on my iPhone. I'll have to go back and see if the audio was posted.

Parties

Canadian Blast Party - Karkwa

I left the Convention Center and crossed the street to claim my free daily booze ration, and then sneak over next door to the Canadian Blast party. I was able to listen to one set, by a band from Montreal, called Karkwa. I don't know how to label their music, other than with the word Alternative. I did enjoy them, however, and will be looking for more of their music.

I did notice one disturbing trend. Other than the Brush Square tent run by SxSW, none of the booze was free anymore. The Canadian Blast Party had a Cash Bar. I guess this is a sign of the economic situation. However, I think the Cash Bars are here to stay now! Damn it!

Hilton Stage - King Charles

After the Canadian Party, I strolled across the street to the Hilton to see what was going on there. An artist named, King Charles, was there. Backed by a band, he a very strong Reggae, Calypso, and Caribbean feel to his music. I stayed for the entire set.

Showcases

Yuck

This was a multi-national Rock band. I don't remember much about them, even though I was parked at Stubbs all night, and heard their entire set.

James Blake

Although this was recommended by the Handicapping panel this morning, I didn't find much that I enjoyed or was interested in.

Smith Westerns

This was another Rock act that I found somewhat engaging. I used this opportunity to stake a claim up near the front, under the deck. The prime real estate at Stubbs.

Raphael Saadiq

I had seen Raphael at last year's SxSW, and came away very impressed. Raphael hit it out of the park again this year.

He has successfully taken the old Berry Gordy/Motown sound, and brought in to the 21st century. Can't say enough nice things about this act.

Duran Duran

For the last showcase of the night, I chose to release my inner teenage girl, and see Duran Duran. Since they were just kicking off for a tour, there were some minor glitches. They did sound well rehearsed, however.

I enjoyed this 90 minutes show, but am unsure I would ever go to see them again. Now, I can scratch them off of my bucket list.

SxSW Day 5

2011-03-16T00:12:00.007-05:00

Panels

Metadata: The Backbone of the Digital Music Commerce

This was a fairly interesting panel for content publishers, and artists. The panel discussed all of the metadata standards available for audio and visual content, and why they were important.

For someone not in this business, it would probably not be too engaging.

A Conversation with Randall Poster

I was anxious to see this talk, because Randall Poster is one of Hollywood's biggest Music Superviors. Originally, the interviewer was supposed to be Austin based, director, Richard Linklater.

Richard was unable to make it, so the substitute just happened to be my friend (and Austin Composer), Graham Reynolds. I will most likely re-listen to the audio for this interview several times.

Practically Funny: How Alternative Comedy Kings Have Learned to Reach the Masses

This panel was a lot of fun, because all of the speakers were comedians. The host was Baratunde Thurston who is a writer and editor for the hilarious newspaper, the Onion.

Writing this now reminds me that I have never managed to catch any of the standup showcases during SxSW, and that in general, I have not been to a comedy club in a long time. I think that I need to remedy that.

Music

My first stop of the night for music, was Momo's. Since I was outside, I had to take a picture of Katz's. I ate there for the last time on 12/28/2010, 6 days before they closed their doors for good. Truly a sad day, and horrible way to bring in the new year!!

Austin and Memphis Music Foundation Party

The reason I was headed to Momo's was to attend an Austin Music Foundation Party. Unfortunately, I could only stay for the first hour, since I had two films that I wanted to catch. I was unable to catch Martin Atkin's talk this time.

The first band up was Star & Micey, an excellent Americana act, with a strong Bluegrass feel.

Films

Both films that a selected tonight were music based.

Love Shines

This film was a documentary about Canadian Singer/Songwriter, Ron Sexsmith. Ron is an exceptional talent, who has never managed to get over the hump. This film documents his latest album and tour.

In order to jumpstart his career, Ron selected famed producer, Bob Rock, to help him on this album. You may recognized Bob Rock more for his work with Heavy Metal Bands, such as Metallica. Surprisingly, I felt Rock was even better at producing an acoustic artist like Sexsmith, than metal bands.

Along the way (and in the documentary), Ron also has received help from Keifer Sutherland, Steve Earle, Elvis Costello, and Sheryl Crow. The screening ended with a Q&A with both the director, and Ron himself. (BTW, Ron was also showcasing at SxSWm).

Sound It Out

This was a wonderful documentary about the last record store in northeast England, Sound It Out Records. Afterwards, the director and the store owner (and subject of the film) were available for Q&A.

All of this talk of vinyl, has me pining to get a new cartridge and break out my old turntable and vinyl collection, again.

SxSW Day 4

2011-03-15T08:05:00.005-05:00

Panels

Your Data in the Cloud: Privacy, Ownership, Convenience

The panel discussed cloud storage, and locker technologies like Dropbox. The speaker was also hawking his own service, Pogoplug. I signed up for an account but have been unable to try it, yet.

Thunder in the Clouds

I attended a second cloud panel on this morning. Austin resident, and Drunk and Retired Podcaster, Michael Cote was one of the panel members. I sat through most of the talk, but didn't glean too much new information, from either of the Cloud panels I attended.

Keynote: Felicia Day

Not sure what to say about this Keynote. Felicia is from Austin, went to UT, and was even a SxSW volunteer. In fact, I know several people who worked with her when she volunteered.

I would say that while I admire her for what she has accomplished, this interview was not very engaging or interesting. (Apparently, I wasn't the only person that voiced this opinion).

Ain't it Cools News' 15th Anniversary Panel

This panel was a historical recap of Harry Knowles' AICN, a website that I occasionally read. I think it was perhaps a little too Inside Baseball. I found my interest waning, and cut out early.

Films

Beginners

This was the second screening of this film, so I don't know if the director or any of the cast were present for the first showing. Although an Indie release, it had two big stars, Ewan McGregor and Christopher Plummer.

This was a very good film about a young man who learns some important life lessons about love, from his father, who had recently died of terminal illness. The acting was exceptional, and I liked the screenplay and cinematography.

I won't post a spoiler, other than to say that I would recommend the film to others. This is exactly the type of film that you will never see come out of one of the Major Studios.

Ain't It Cool News 15th Anniversary Screening - The Dragonslayer

The hot ticket for the last night of the Film Conference, was the surprise AICN screening. There was a fairly long queued up outside the Paramount, when I arrived. Of course, speculation was running rampant about what film Harry had selected.

Harry eventually came out on stage in his wheelchair, and announced that he had a special guest to come out and help him announce the film. As he said this, out walked director, Guillermo del Toro, and they revealed that the movie would be the 1981 release, Dragonslayer.

Guillermo and Harry then went on to say, that this was actually a Disney movie and was rated PG. They talked about how this predated PG-13, and that this PG movie actually had some violence and nudity. Del Toro then went on to say that this would have never made it out the door in today's world, and lamented the changes in standards over the last 30 years. He had the line of the night, when he went on to say, This movie has balls. Big, hairly, wrinkly balls!, while cupping his hands to drive the point home.

They talked a bit about the obvious borrowing from Tolkien's Hobbit storyline, and the fact that the ILM effects still held up after 30 years. I had seen this film during its original theatrical release, but I had forgotten that Peter McNichols (recently Larry on the Numb3rs TV series), was the lead.

This ended up being a really fun and engaging screening, because of del Toro.

SxSW Day 3

2011-03-14T00:00:00.006-05:00

Panels

People as Peripherals: The Future of Gesture Interface

Rather than describe this talk, you can take a listen for yourself here.

A Conversation with Paul Reubens

Well it appears that Pee Wee Herman is back, and Rubens will be making a third movie. He talked at length about his career, losing out to Gilbert Gottfried for a slot on SNL, and even addressed his legal problems.

Here is some video from the interview hot off of the presses, over at the SxSW YouTube Channel.

Films

Tired of panels, I had previous decided to see 4 straight films at the Paramount. In hindsight, I wish I had gone for 5 straight, since the first one would have been the Conan O'Brian movie.

The most grueling part of this exercise was the fact that I had to leave the theater after every screening, and get back in line. Fortunately, the time gap between screenings was sufficient to accomplish this.

For the first movie, I managed to secure a place in line right at the corner of Brazos and 8th Street.

With each successive film, I kept dropping further and further back in the line. For example, this was my position for 13 assassins, I am at the corner of 7th and Brazos.

The Greatest Movie Ever Sold

The first movie up was the latest film from Morgan Spurlock. The basic premise was an examination of product placement in movies. To get the true skinny on the practice, Spurlock actually attempted to obtain sponsorships for the documentary itself. Surprisingly, he succeeded.

Spurlock introduced the film before the screening.

After the screening and a wardrobe change, Spurlock performed a Q&A.

13 Assassins

This was a fantastic film by Takashi Miike covering feudal Japan in the 1840's. It was in Japanese, with English subtitles.

Unfortunately, Takashi was scheduled to be present for Q&A, but he was unable to fly to Texas, because of the situation in Japan. The SxSW staff did say however, that Takashi was alright, and not directly affected by the disaster.

Paul

This was another of the high demand screenings of SxSWf, since it featured the cast from Shaun of the Dead, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. The female lead was played by Kristen Wigg. The film will be released very shortly, so there's no need to discuss the plot.

Bridesmaids (Work in Progress)

Last but least, was a second film starring Kristen Wigg, and Saturday Night Live cast member, Maya Rudolph. Although listed as a Work in Progress, the only thing that remained to be finished was some audio editing, according to the director, Paul Feig.

I found this movie to be surprisingly funny. It was much better than I expected. I won't post a spoiler, other than to say that the real star of this movie was Melissa McCarthy. She is the bride's future sister-in-law, and plays a female Chris Farley type of role.

SxSW Day 2

2011-03-13T00:00:00.010-06:00

Sxxpress Passes

Two years ago, SxSW introduced the Sxxpress pass. During this rollout, it was not very well advertised. Unfortunately this has changed.

When I arrived on this morning there were several hundred people in line, waiting for the booth to open. In years to come, it will be necessary to arrive early not only for parking, but for Sxxpress passes, too.

Panels

You Don't Have to Move, to Live Better

This was a talk by Majora Carter, a name fairly well known in Lefty circles. No surprises here, I don't see eye to eye with her on any of her political views. Basically, some of the ends proposed were noble, but I have a real problem with the means by which she proposed to attain them.

The Last Broadcast - Entertainment is Social, What's Next?

This was a fairly interesting talk on the future of Entertainment. Among the interesting things discussed were:

The history of NBC, the first network. It was started by RCA as a vehicle to drive sales of radio hardware. There was some discussion that history is clearly repeating itself.
An in depth discussion of TV downloading in Australia. Apparently, it doesn't have a great impact on sales of DVDs or digital sales. The downloading seems to be used by fans who are frustrated with Hollywood's propensity to release shows up to a year later in Australia, than they are released in the US.
Quite a bit of the session was spent discussing the huge impact of Social Networks on Production, Funding, Advertising and Marketing of TV shows, and what new Business Models might emerge, as a result.

I found this session interesting and thought provoking. Clearly, we have reached the Tipping Point

Time Traveling: Interfaces for Geotemporal Visualization

This was a fantastic session, with live demos of a number of utilities for simultaneously displaying geographic changes over time. I walked away from this talk with a fairly long list of websites and software projects to investigate.

A Conversation with Todd Phillips

I really enjoyed this discussion with the director of several comedy blockbusters, including The Hangover and Old School. Todd has a great sense of humor, is a good story teller and is very entertaining. He talked at length about working with Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis, and his love for setting up comedic situations that are uncomfortable.

The other great thing about this session, was the Interviewer, Elvis Mitchell. After 3 straight years of attending SxSWf, I can attest to the fact that Elvis is a fantastic film critic and writer, and is a very accomplished host.

Films

Fightville

This film follows two amateur MMA fighters on a small local circuit, in Louisiana. Both fighters have aspirations of making it to the Big Leagues (like UFC or Strike Force). At the film's outset both fighters are headed towards the same goal. By the end of the picture however, their paths diverge.

I won't post any spoilers, but this film is very similar in look and feel, to the Mickey Rourke movie, The Wrestler. I enjoyed it, and would recommend it to other people.

It's About You

The film was directed and shot by a father and son duo, Kurt and Ian Markus. The father, Kurt is a photographer and brings those sensibilities to his first film, which was shot primarily on an old, handheld, 8mm camera.

The subject of the film is a recent John Cougar Mellencamp tour (with Willie Nelson and Bob Dylan). Kurt and John were long time friends, after some photo sessions back in the 80's. I'm not entirely clear who had the idea for this project (Kurt or John), but clearly Mellencamp endorsed it.

This film worked for me on several levels, and I would easily recommend this film to anyone (even if they weren't a Mellencamp fan). Of course, my favorite director is another photographer turned director. I think I liked Kurt's work because it was definitely Kubrick-esque.

The icing on the cake for this screening however, was the Q&A. Kurt and Ian announced that Mellencamp was in the building, and would be joining them on stage. This was one of the highlights of SxSWf for me.

Super

This film received a lot of buzz because of Rain Wilson. While I found the film generally enjoyable, it seemed like a me too or copycat of Kick Ass, which premiered at last year's festival.

The director James Gunn, and the other star, Ellen Page, joined Rain on stage for the Q&A. Several other cast members were present and in the audience.

SxSW Day 1

2011-03-12T02:45:00.098-06:00

Film Recon

Getting to the Convention Center Early to secure parking, I decided to look over the film posters and make adjustments to my schedule, if needed.

I also walked around and took some shots of the downtown area, before the chaos started:

Panels

Fireside Chat: Tim O'Reilly interviewed by Jason Calacanis

This was one of the best interview sessions that I have ever seen at SxSWi. Tim talked at length about how his publishing empire grew out of a his work as a technical writing contractor. A great talk for entrepreneurs and/or people who aspire to be one.

Google's Marissa Mayer Presents

Unlike the O'Reilly Interview, I found this session boring. The bulk of this talk was the presentation of Google applications that I had already used. Contrary to the TechCrunch claims, the were no Google product announcements, at the conference. I ended up leaving this talk early.

Film

Page One: Inside the New York Times

This was my first film of the festival, unfortunately I was unable to watch it in its entirety. As luck would turn out, my brother's original flight was cancelled. He ended arriving 9 hours later than originally planned, so I had to go meet him. I am hoping that I will have an opportunity in the near future, to see the whole film.

This documentary is about the role newspapers and journalists in the new Internet world. It specifically covers how the Times broke the story about release of the initial videos from Iraq, by Wikileaks.

Taken By Storm: The Art of Storm Thorgorsen and Hipgnosis

This was an excellent documentary about Storm Thorgorsen, and his creative firm, Hipgnosis. This firm is iconic, having been the creative force behind the artwork for a staggering number of Classic Rock albums. His most famous design was for Pink Floyd's, Dark Side of the Moon.

The film covered Storm's entire career, and the eventual demise of Hipgnosis, as the CD replaced the Vinyl records in the 1980's. After the screening, the director, a camera man, and Storm himself were present for Q&A.

Little Deaths

This screening was an Anthology of three films, by three different directors:

House and Home - Sean Hogan
Mutant Tool - Andrew Parkinson
Bitch - Simon Rumley

In hindsight, this screening was an unfortunate choice. Neither myself, my brother, nor his coworker found anything redeeming here. In fact, I look at it as 90 minutes of my life that I will never get back.

Prior to the screening, there was something truly bizarre. The theater manager came out dressed in a Dog suit, and lit a flash pot, while "Who Let the Dogs Out?" was playing. He then announced that in keeping with the theme of the movie, they were going to have a chugging contest, and asked for 4 volunteers in the audience.

When the gathered around the table, it was announced that they would be chugging Beef Stroganoff rather than beer. Afterwards, the general conclusion amongst my group was WTF?

Badge Pickup

2011-03-10T06:00:00.004-06:00

For the last 7 years, I usually go downtown and pick my SxSW badge early. This also allows me to gather up the 3 schwag bags you get with a Platinum Badge.

Strangely, this year there was no schwag. Each bag contained a Directory, a Pocket Guide, and an Austin Chronicle. Apparently, they've made a real effort to cut down on the paper.

As always, I was in and out in no time.

Willie Nelson at the Moody Theater (aka. ACL Live)

2011-02-14T21:26:00.008-06:00

Although I had recently seen Willie with Asleep at the Wheel, when I saw that he would be opening the new ACL Live venue, the Moody Theater, I had to get a ticket.

I arrived about an hour early, parked under City Hall, and walked across the street to the venue. While waiting for the doors to open, I snapped a few pictures. I must say, this is an impressive facility:

First Set

For the first set, Willie played with a 30 piece Orchestra. I've been unable to find a set list, but do remember the following songs:

Crazy
All the things you are
You are always on my mind
Georgia

Second Set

For the second set, Willie was accompanied by a 4 piece band. Going from memory, I can remember the following:

Whiskey River
Crazy (sans Orchestra)
Momma don't let your boys grow up to be Cowboys
Jambalaya (on the Bayou)
Good Hearted Woman (Wayon Jennings cover)
Hey Good Lookin' (Hank Williams cover)
You are always on my mind

Of course, at the end of his show, Willie went around the stage, shaking hands, and signing memorabilia for at least 10 minutes. He is truly loved by the fans.

Post Show

In closing, I found this KVUE video clip on Willie's site.

RIP John Barry

2011-02-08T10:21:00.000-06:00

There appears to be a streak underway, hopefully one that will break soon....

Famed movie soundtrack composer John Barry, passed away on January 30th. A quick look at the list on wikipedia or IMDB, gives you an idea of the magnitude of his career.

Of course, he will be remembered most for his iconic scoring of the James Bond movies.

RIP Gary Moore

2011-02-07T13:19:00.000-06:00

Well another Rocker left this world much too early. More details here and elsewhere on the Intertubes.

RIP: Don Kirshner

2011-01-22T15:09:00.002-06:00

I missed this news during the past week, about Don Kirshner. His resume is as thick as a phone book.

Older people may recognize the name from Saturday Night Live reruns, with Paul Schaffer spoofing him in several skits. Before MTV, and before I was old enough to drive, my first exposure to live music was three late night television shows:

Kirshner was actually part of the last two, and really brought Rock Music to Television. I look fondly back on that time, and miss that type of programming, which died back in 1990 with Night Music.

~~Here's a sample of Kirshner's show:~~ Well apparently that video was pulled ;(

RIP: Gerry Rafferty

2011-01-04T19:31:00.001-06:00

Damn! In addition to Mick Karn, it appears that well known Stealers Wheel founder, Gerry Rafferty also passed away today. Let's hope that this is last of this type of news for a while.

Although I will always associate his music with my teenage years, I will never forget the infamous scene from Quentin Tarantino's, Reservoir Dogs, where they used Stuck in the Middle with You.

RIP: Mick Karn

2011-01-04T19:10:00.000-06:00

Fans of the Art Rock band, Japan, as well as David Sylvian, Kate Bush, David Torn, and Peter Murphy are most likely familiar with Cypriot born bassist, Andonis Michaelides, better know as, Mick Karn. Unfortunately, he finally left this plane today, after a protracted 6 month battle with cancer.

I was fortunate enough to have seen him perform once, during the mid 80's with Bill Bruford and David Torn, in support of the Cloud about Mercury album, at the Bottom Line, in New York. Before anyone comments, I am well aware that Tony Levin was the bassist on the album. Karn however, played at this particular live performance, and was outstanding.

A truly unique artist, he will be missed by many.

RIP: Billy Taylor

2010-12-30T09:56:00.002-06:00

Once again during my Christmas vacation, a great Jazz pianist passed away. I missed this news, but Billy Taylor passed away this past Tuesday, at age 89. He was one of those very rare individuals who could both teach and do.

This post over at NPR will perhaps do some justice to a truly great musician, and Jazz's ultimate evangelist.

We knew this day would come, but it is still very sad news.

RIP: Captain Beefheart

2010-12-18T09:50:00.000-06:00

Another great musical talent left this plane yesterday, Don Van Vilet. A name familiar to Zappa fans everywhere as Captain Beefheart. Short write-up here in Rolling Stone.

Ornette Coleman at Bass Concert Hall

2010-11-20T15:39:00.001-06:00

Another Jazz Legend at Bass

Once again, I was able to see another Jazz legend at Bass Hall. I was very fortunate, since I had waited some time to get tickets. Luck intervened once again, and I ended up in the 4th row. Although I was not able to take pictures during the show, I snuck one of the stage beforehand.

The show was introduced by a friend of mine, Casey Monahan, Director of the Governor's Texas Music Office. He spoke at length, about several Texas artists, all hailing from Texas, and in particular, one school in Fort Worth, which gave us Ornette Coleman, and Dewey Redman, just to name a few.

I estimate that the show lasted about 70 or 80 minutes, with Ornette playing mainly Alto Sax, but also Trumpet and Violin on several occasions. His band was interesting in that it featured two bass players. The band lineup was as follows:

Denardo Coleman - Ornette's son on Drums
Al MacDowell - Electric Bass
Tony Falanga - Upright Bass
Mari Okubo - a Japanese Operatic Vocalist who joined the band on stage for one number

Al played a very guitar-like style on Electric Bass, sometimes playing barre chords and strumming. It was always in counterpoint to what the other bass player Tony, was playing on Upright. Throughout, the band allowed Ornette to freely solo, in his smooth melodic way.

As far as Ornette goes, if you're familiar with his work, you know that he was controversial in some Jazz circles. He ushered in a movement that although mistakenly called free jazz, was melodic, obviously Blues based, but discarded traditional BeBop harmony. (This reminds me, BTW, that it would probably be humorous to see if Miles ever did a Blindfold test for Ornette.)

I thoroughly enjoyed the show, but will admit to having a little difficultly with song featuring Mari on vocals. I particularly enjoyed one piece where Tony Falanga played Bach's Cello Suite No. 1, as Al and Ornette really went to town. I'm sure Johann Sebastian would have approved, had he been there. Last but not least, I was amazed how well Ornette played, since he is in his 80's now.

Bottom line: It was a great space in which to hear some great Jazz.

FFF Fest - Day 2

2010-11-07T19:16:00.000-06:00

Probably won't be getting a wristband next year

Although I went for about 5 hours after the Ravens game, there was nothing that really did anything for me at this festival. I held out some hope that Deerhunter might deliver, but I ended up being underwhelmed.

Here's a few shots from the last day.

Fun Fun Fun Fest - Day 1

2010-11-06T21:35:00.004-05:00

This was my first Fun Fun Fun Fest, and I'm questioning whether I'll bother next year. I was already bummed because Devo was forced to cancel, after Bob Mothersbaugh's severe tendon injury a few weeks back. Of course, I should have known that the day may have been a let down after last night's stupendous show.

I arrived shortly before 2PM, to discover that the Willcall line was around the block and almost down to the 35 frontage road. Well over an hour later, I finally entered the grounds. As a result, I was not in a good mood.

I spent the next five hours, standing, inhaling dust and pollen, and listening to a lot of mediocre bands. I spent most of my time at the Orange stage, and found the bleed over from the Black Stage, with all the Metal and Thrash acts, to be particularly annoying. Hopefully, things will improve tomorrow. I will be going after the Ravens game and hope to catch Deerhunter, who opened for Porcupine Tree at Sunset Station, back in August.

Asleep at the Wheel's 40th Anniversary featuring Willie Nelson

2010-11-06T11:50:00.006-05:00

Asleep at the Wheel

If Austin has music ambassadors, then they undoubtedly are Willie Nelson and Ray Benson, leader of the band, Asleep at the Wheel. The Wheel moved to Austin in 1974, at the request of Willie Nelson, and they helped create the Austin music scene. They were fixtures at Armadillo World Headquarters, and they were the very first act to appear on Austin City Limits. Since their arrival, nothing has ever been the same.

Last night's show was a 40th anniversary celebration of Ray's 9 time grammy award winning band. The featured guest was, of course, Willie Nelson. I hemmed and hawed for several days about whether to go to this show, or the kickoff night of Fun Fun Fun Fest, with Weird Al Yankovic. The prospect of seeing some roots music, and more importantly, a legend, won out some time late yesterday afternoon.

In addition to popping my cherry for seeing Willie live, this was my first show at the Long Center. I arrived at 7PM, and it's a good thing because the show started promptly at 7:30. As it turns out, the early start was needed since the show ended just after 11:00.

At 49 years of age, I felt like a spring chicken in this crowd, with most of the audience much better dressed than a normal Austin crowd. So, mixed in with the Austin Opera patrons, there was a smattering of dance-hall cowboys, and outlaw, biker types. Your typical Willie Nelson crowd in other words.

Set One

The first set went well over two hours, with Ray and his current fiddler, Jason Roberts (Ray's musical director?), being the only constants on stage. The set was subdivided into sections, for each decade of their career, with a video segue projected on a drop down screen.

Ray announced that over 45 musicians were present, who were either presently in the band, or were members in the past. Several times during the show, I counted over 30 musicians on stage, at the same time. At various points they had 5 pedal steel players, 6 fiddlers, a 6 piece horn section, and 6 different piano players on stage at the same time. Although unlike the others, the piano players had to time-share between 2 full concert grands.

The highlights for the first set for me, were the first decade band with Leon Perkins, and Lucky Oceans, and Floyd Domino. Leon's song writing extends far outside of the sphere of the Wheel, and it's amazing how many hits the man has under his belt. Ray was lamenting how many hits they had made for other artists.

Other highlights, were the section with Chris O'Connell, and a special appearance by Leon Rausch, an actual member of Bob Wills Texas Playboys, who must be in his 90's now.

Intermission

At intermission, the band invited the entire audience out to the patio for a group picture, and free beer. In addition, they had a table with about 7 posters, and they invited everyone present to sign them. I thought this was a great personal touch, and explains why so many people love Ray and his band.

Set Two

The last set was all Willie and the current members of the Wheel for the most part. They played a combination of Willie's hits, and a generous helping of the songs from Willie and the Wheel, an album that I love. Ray also mentioned that they were working a second Willie and the Wheel album, which he jokingly called WW2.

I don't know what else to say, other than I was awe struck by Willie. What a performer! There's something real and genuine about the man, that just oozes from the stage. This is something that you can't fake. Perhaps next year, I will go to his 4th of July picnic, rather than punt like I did this year.

In closing let me say, I will follow other sites and update a complete list of musicians, and a setlist, if either materializes. And despite the no photos policy, I managed to get one shot at the very end.

California Guitar Trio at FEFC and the One World Theater

2010-10-30T19:39:00.002-05:00

I first saw all three members of CGT perform with Trey Gunn, and Robert Fripp as part of the League of Crafty Guitartists (LoCG) over 20 years ago, in Poughkeepsie, NY. I distinctly remember being blown away at that time. The dedication and discipline exhibited by all of the graduates of Fripp's Guitar Craft program, was astounding.

CGT emerged from the LoCG several years later, in 1991, and established themselves as a musical force. While it has been great fun to see this band through their entire career, it is even more fun to have had the opportunity to get to know these fantastic musicians on a personal level.

This past week, I had the pleasure to hear CGT perform three times, in support of their new album Andromeda. First, at a benefit show at the FEFC on Thursday night (10/21/2010). Then, two shows at the One World Theater on Sunday (10/24/2010).

FEFC

From my involvement with AMF, I have become friends with CGT's former road manager, Bruce. As a result, in the past I have been able to see Bert Lams' side project with Tom Griesgraber appear in a string of house concerts, last year. This time around, I was invited to a special benefit at FEFC.

The set list consisted of the following songs, and they played for almost 70 minutes:

Cathedral Park
Melrose Avenue
Andromeda
Bach Prelude in Circulation
Walk Don't Run
The Theme from HBO's John Adams Series
Echoes
Hazardous Z
Classical Gas
Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence Theme
Portland Rain
Chacarera
Bach's Toccata and Fugue in Dm

Encore:

The Marsh
Bohemian Rhapsody

The acoustic treatment in this space was excellent, and I know that several people were blown away by their arrangement of Pink Floyd's, Echoes. The band said this was their Warm-up show. Let me just say, they didn't need too much warming up. They were already on top of everything.

One World Theater

The set list for both the early and late show were slightly different than FEFC, and of course featured some additional musicians. In particular, 4 percussionists from University of Texas Percussion Studio. Once again, there were 3 Vibraphones, but they added a Drum Set on stage. The 4 players cycled in during the first three songs, with the Drums only used on Melrose Avenue. As before, this added an extra layer of sound to this already dense performance.

On the first encore number, the combined group of guitarists and percussionist was also joined on stage by local artist and Berklee student, Suzanne Oleson on mandolin. I have also gotten to know the Suzanne's parents, who took some excellent shots and posted them on facebook.

Cathedral Park
Blockhead
Andromeda
Bach Prelude in Circulation
Walk Don't Run
The Theme from HBO's John Adams Series
Echoes
Hazardous Z
Classical Gas
Portland Rain
Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence Theme - with the UT Percussion Studio
Chacarera - with the UT Percussion Studio
Bach's Toccata and Fugue in Dm

Encore:

The Marsh - with the UT Percussion Studio, and Suzanne Oleson on Mandelin
Melrose Avenue - with the UT Percussion Studio

I was unable to take a picture during the show, but here is one from afterwards at the Meet and Greet:

In closing, let me just say that the worst part will be having to wait another 12-18 months to see CGT back in Austin again!

Update

CGT has updated their site and now has pictures from the FEFC and the One World.

RIP: T Lavitz

2010-10-13T22:00:00.000-05:00

Really sad news, T Lavitz, keyboardist extraordinaire passed away last Thursday. I had seen him perform too many times with the Dregs/Dixie Dregs at the Chance in Poughkeepsie, to count. Never got to see him with Jazz is Dead or Boston T Party, and missed seeing him with the Bluesbusters (they had someone sub'ing for him that night).

I'm speechless, and am off to go listen to Unsong Heroes and Boston T Party now.

ACL Festival 2010 - Day 3

2010-10-13T21:29:00.005-05:00

Late Start

On this third and final day of ACL, I chose to watch my Ravens dismantle the Donkeys, first. So I arrived late at around 4PM.

Yeasayers

I don't remember too much about this band. They sounded alright.

Flaming Lips

I found these guys annoying like Gogol, and didn't bother to try and get close to the stage. In the picture below, you will notice the lead singer, Wayne Coyne, crowd surfing inside of a transparent bubble or ball.

Nora Jones

Nora was everything I expected, and I'm disappointed that I wasn't able to get a picture. I had just met up with my friend Ron, and was finding the extra 10K people to be very annoying.

I think the scheduler was a little brain dead. Having Nora right before the Eagles, insured that no one was able to move in that half of Zilker.

The Eagles

Well these guys are legends. Although I don't own a single Eagles album, FM Radio from 1978 on pretty much made certain that I knew every song in their catalog.

I had a great time, stayed for the whole set, and am embarrassed to admit that I found myself singing along with some of their songs. ( I did cry when Old Yeller died too, so there! ;)

One thing I did find interesting is that Joe Walsh chose to play several James Gang songs, and his most famous solo song, Life's been good to me so far. Don Henley also performed some solo material, but Glenn Frey did not. I found this setlist and it seems relatively accurate.

In conclusion, let me say that it was a lot better than Bob Dylan a few years back, but it felt like a State Fair or Six Flags show.

ACL Festival 2010 - Day 2

2010-10-13T20:58:00.000-05:00

First Aid Kit

I arrived early again Saturday morning. I guess this is something that comes with old age ;) The first band I heard was a Swedish duo, First Aid Kit. They were fantastic vocalists, playing acoustic music. It was interesting, but a little slow and subdued for my taste. Nonetheless, they were both excellent performers.

Towards the end of their set, they had to deal with bleed-over from the AMD stage and the next act:

Grace Potter and the Nocturnals

Grace Potter is beautiful tall blonde with a great voice, who also plays Hammond Organ. With all that going for her, I wish she had better music. Perhaps I'm in the minority though, but I don't dig hearing covers of Jefferson Airplane's White Rabbit. The rest of her set sounded like some 80's vintage Heart songs that didn't make the final cut for the album, and got left on the studio floor.

Pete Yorn

What can I say? Pete is fantastic, as is his band. He is an Austin favorite, and very clearly enjoys playing ACL.

the Gaslight Anthem, Manchester Orchestra and Kinky

I was unable to get acceptable pictures of these bands. I also ran into people I knew at both the Gaslight Anthem and Manchester Orchestra sets. The fact that I was engaged in conversation rather than listening, probably says something about my assessment of these bands.

I did find Kinky very interesting, however. There is a bit of buzz about them in Austin and other locales. I may have to check out one of their shows soon. They play an eclectic mix of Latin, Funk, Electronic and Dance music. They killed under the Pavilion formerly known as the WAMU.

Gogol Bordello

I met up with my friends, Ron and Alissa, and we trekked over to hear this band based upon a recommendation. I can sum them up this way: Take Frank Zappa and his band, lower the overall level of musicianship several fold, and make the humor a lot more annoying, and you have Gogol. Once per lifetime is enough for this crew.

Muse

After several aborted attempts, I was finally able to see Muse live. They very definitely killed during their set, and the crowd was rocking. Although they are often mentioned with Porcupine Tree, I don't see the connection there. They are most certainly not Prog.

The best description I can think of is that they are Depeche Mode with more guitar, and more upbeat lyrics. Rhythmically, they're kind of vanilla, with everything having a dance music kind of feel (which may explain the prevalence of female fans).

The leader of the band is Matthew Bellamy, and he is Muse. He is Freddy Mercury (with a similar incredible vocal range) and Tommy Morello (from Rage Against Machine) all rolled up into one. The other 3 members of the band (bass, drums and keys) could be easily replaced, without any impact.

Other notable things about their performance were the kick-ass light show. They do use a lot of sequencers in their show, but it's somewhat forgivable.

ACL Festival 2010 - Day 1

2010-10-11T22:39:00.000-05:00

Kickoff

Unlike last year, I made it a point to get to Zilker a bit early. I managed to catch a few shots of the nearly empty grounds as I arrived. You knew it wasn't going to stay like this.

Givers

I worked my way over towards the AMD stage, but since I was about an hour early for the Wheel, I decided to catch the Givers. They are a rather young pop act from Louisiana. It was well performed, but I didn't find them particularly engaging.

Asleep at the Wheel

If there's one constant at the ACL Festival it's Asleep at the Wheel opening on the first day. To date there have been 9 ACL Festivals, and the Wheel has played every one of them.

They filled the air with favorites like Route 66, Miles and Miles of Texas and Hot Rod Lincoln. They also played a generous helping of songs from their last 2 CDs, including one of my favorites, the Bob Wills tribute recording, Willie and the Wheel.

I was disappointed to discover that the Wheel will be celebrating a 40th Anniversary Show at the Long Center, with Willie on Nov 5th. Unfortunately, it conflicts with Fun Fun Fun Fest. Will have to see if I can swizzle my schedule accordingly.

One thing I like about these early shows is that the crowd is still sparse, and it's easy to move around. As a result, I was able to walk all of the way up front to the rail in front of the stage, and get some shots of Ray and the band.

Donavon Frankenreiter

I was unfamiliar with this artist, but penciled it in after listening to the samples on the ACL site. This was a very tight band, and particularly liked what I heard the keyboard player doing. Donavon himself was a very good songwriter, and the music fit the mood for the great weather that we were experiencing.

Those Darlins

I caught 2 or 3 songs of this predominantly female band. They reminded me of the Ramones with a country twang.

Blues Traveler

Even though John Popper seems to have an endless supply of Blues Harps, I've never felt this band was particularly Bluesy. They played their basic Greatest Hits set. The highlight was local 15 year old fiddler, Ruby Jane, joining the band on stage to trade 4's and 8's with Popper.

Also of note, by mid-afternoon the closest I could manage to get to the stage was behind the sound booth. I had heard that this year, 10K additional tickets were sold. It was becoming apparent that is was a bit more crowded than normal. (As the weekend progressed, it got worse ;(

Kings Go Forth

This was a kick-ass 70's soul/funk band. I wish that I had gotten a reasonable picture of them.

Angus & Julie Stone

I was very pleasantly surprised by this act, and would rank them as one of the best of the festival. They are a brother and sister act from Sydney, Australia. Both are excellent vocalists, and Julia is multi-instrumentalist to boot.

I'll just say that at the completion of their set, I had music crush on Julia. Would love to hear more from this act, and I would recommend them to anyone.

Qbeta

A raucous Sicilian based band, that followed the King under the Clear Pavilion. Instead of Latin feel, it had a similar Sicilian influence. The crowd ate them up. I must say that I enjoyed them too.

Spoon

Local favorites Spoon, had one of the early evening headlining slots on the big AMD stage. I'm not sure I can say I saw Spoon, although I heard them. Basically, it was too much of a hassle to get close to the stage. I recognized many of the songs from the ACL taping I attended in July. I also noticed that my friend, Wayne Meyers was playing in their horn section again, on the big video monitors.

Sonic Youth

The extra 10K people were readily apparent, as it was exceedingly difficult to get close to several of the stages. I have several of Sonic Youth's CD in my collection (purchased after hearing Steve Reich talk about them), but I must confess that I don't really get them. Nothing about their performance at ACL changed anything for me.

Phish

I stayed for the first 40 minutes of Phish's set. Honestly, I'm not a Jam Band fan, and didn't become one during this show. They did do one reasonable cover of the Talking Heads' song, Cities.

Not being particularly engaged by Phish, I headed for the shuttles and listened to the Strokes as I waited in line.

It's that time of the year again

2010-10-06T06:45:00.000-05:00

I cruised down to Zilker Park yesterday evening and picked up my wristband. Can't wait until Friday.

Porcupine Tree at Radio City Music Hall on 9/24/2010

2010-09-30T00:10:00.006-05:00

New York Odyssey

Last spring, Porcupine Tree had announced that they would be playing two special shows at the end of the Incident tour, one in New York City at Radio City Music Hall, and the other in London, at the Royal Albert Hall. My friends, Ron and Alissa, and I immediately planned on going to the New York show.

Together, the 3 of us had seen 5 other stops on this tour in Baltimore, Philadelphia, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio. The first show at the Rams Head in Baltimore, had occurred 364 days prior to this finale. We found every one of these shows to have been outstanding. With the exception of the San Antonio show, they had all followed the same format, two sets, each an hour in duration. The first set consisting the Incident in its entirety, followed by a second set of songs randomly selected, from their other albums.

This show however, was advertised as a three hour affair, obviously it was going to be different.

My history with Radio City Music Hall

While living in the Tri-state area, I had seen several shows at Radio City. The last one being Rush on their Signals tour, with Marillion as the opener, on 4/8/1983. The acoustics there are exceptional, so I was anxious to see another show there, after 27 years. (Holy shit, am I that old?)

Pre-show

Tree's fan base has steadily grown, they're not a secret anymore. It was clear that it was a sell-out or close to it. There were quite a few people walking the streets with band t-shirts on. As we waited outside for the doors to open, we spotted Jordan Rudess and John Myung of Dream Theater, among the crowd.

On entering the hall, we visited the bar, then the merch table, and then quickly found our seats. They were in row 3, but it was actually 8 rows back because there were about 5 rows of seats in the Orchestra Pit. None the less, it was a great vantage point.

The Show

After reviewing the usual places for the set list, there was this link to a photo, from a site in the Netherlands. (BTW, they did not totally follow the list in the photo).

As you can see, there were 3 sets. The first was unique in that it was Unplugged. Everyone with the exception of John Wesley and Richard Barbieri were playing acoustic instruments, with Colin on Upright! Steven announced sometime after the second or third song that tonight was going to be different, and that we were going to hear the Old Shit. The first set was phenomenal.

There were short intermissions between the sets, and at the conclusion of the first, I turned around to get a look at the hall. I was surprised to discover that Living Colour bassist, Doug Wimbish was sitting right behind me with his daughter. I'm sure that I would have been able to bird-dog other famous musicians in the audience. I'm also sure that this says something about Porcupine Tree. They are very clearly held in high regard by other artists (but I already knew that ;)

I think that like most PT fans, I enjoyed the second set the most, and was glad to be reminded how much I enjoy songs like Even Less. I also loved the hearing Arriving Somewhere for the encore. This show was three hours of auditory bliss.

Other observations about the show

Even though we were in the eighth row, there is a slight upward grade to the Orchestra Pit seats. Since many of the people in the pit chose to stand during a large portion of the show, this detracted a bit from the viewing experience.

I also noticed that since we were directly under the house mains above, that the sound was a little strange. Previously, I had always sat about 3 quarters of the way back in the house, which made for much better acoustics.

Out of the 6 PT shows I have seen in the last year, this was 2nd best. There was something very special about the Baltimore show at the Ram's Head. My friends and I, as well as the fanzine, Carbon Nation, all agreed that something special happened that night.

However, I will remember this RCMH show vividly for years to come, and I appreciate the planning and forethought that Steven and band put into this performance. Right now, I have to say that Porcupine Tree is one of the best live bands out there.

Jon Anderson at the Paramount

2010-09-17T20:11:00.001-05:00

My history with Yes

I am one of those old timers, who was fortunate enough to have seen Yes multiple times. My interest in the band waned with the second departure of Bill Bruford, after the Union tour. Other than BB, I have not seen any other members of that band perform in almost 18 years.

I have great respect for the alumni of Yes. However, I had to pass on the chance to see them, on the Yes and Asia tours, this past summer. When my friend called about this show, it seemed like it would be more interesting than the standard State Fair stop. Like Bruford, Jon's solo career was actually noteworthy. In fact, the Jon and Vangelis albums are fantastic.

The Venue

I have seen many shows at the Paramount, and have never had a bad experience there. I knew we had Orchestra seats, but didn't realize they were in the front row. When we got to our seats, I knew that we were in for something special.

The stage setup was sparse, with two guitars on stands, a ukelele, a mountain dulcimer, and a piano. Jon came out promptly at 8PM and began playing guitar and singing. The acoustics and sound were perfect, and I estimate that he played for about 70 minutes.

The music

I don't think that I can find any words to describe how fantastic this performance was. The consensus amongst myself and my friends was that Jon blew us all away.

Several times during the show, it seemed as though the Paramount had disappeared, and that I was in someone's living room. The best description I can manage is that Jon presented "a musical Autobiography." It was intimate, frank, and real.

Set List

Although I am very familiar with Yes and Jon's solo material, much of it was presented in medley form. He also reduced the arrangement, so that he could deliver them on a single instrument.

Before leaving, I was able to go up to the edge of the stage, pick up Jon's set list and take a picture of it. I expect to see Jon again.

Search Amazon.com for Jon Anderson

Porcupine Tree with Coheed and Cambria at Sunset Station in San Antonio, TX

2010-08-19T21:10:00.005-05:00

For the third time this year, I was able to see my favorite band, Porcupine Tree. This time, they were co-headlining with Coheed and Cambria. Since the gig was in San Antonio, there's no way I could miss it.

I was a bit concerned however, because the sound at this venue has been atrocious, for some other shows I have seen there. Basically, Sunset Station is a concrete slab with a roofed pavilion over it. In addition, shows end early here because San Antonio's noise ordinance calls for a hard stop at 11PM.

Deerhunter

Because of the horrendous traffic on IH 35 heading towards San Antonio, the opening act, Deerhunter, was already on stage when my friends and I arrived. We were able to hear the last 2 songs of their set, but I really didn't get a good feel for this band. The were closer in sound to Tree than Coheed (which is a good thing).

It appears I will get to hear this band again at Fun Fun Fun Fest, later this fall in Austin. So, I'll be able to comment further, after that event.

Porcupine Tree

Unlike their normal shows, this one was compressed. One long set, with no time for encores. No matter, this was a nice appetizer for the main course, next month in NYC. My friends and I are traveling to see their special tour close-out show, at Radio City Music Hall, one of the best concert venues on the planet.

Here is the set list that I posted over at setlist.fm. A quick perusal of the previous shows will reveal their set has been the same every night. Basically, they played the first four songs from the Incident, and then finished with their older stuff (although I Drive the Hearse is also on the Incident).

Surprisingly, the wizards that Tree hires to do sound, worked their magic again. Although not stellar, the sound was acceptable, and better than normal. Steven was in a good form, and did a little informal straw poll, to see who had more fans. It appeared to be slanted about 65% PT fans, 35% Coheed. There was a visible age gap between these two groups, too.

There were no postings requesting no photos, so I took some shots:

Coheed and Cambria

My friends and I stayed for the first 4 songs in Coheed's set before leaving. I had already seen them at ACL two years ago, and while I found them listenable, I wasn't knocked-out by them.

During the 30 - 40 minutes of setup between the two set, it had looked as though the average age had dropped by about 15 years. Interestingly, it appears that the different fans timed their arrival for the set they wanted to see, and then left.

Fortunately, the arranged the sets, so that the old fogeys (the PT fans) could go home and get to bed. I had a great time, but am now looking forward to RCMH that much more.

Robert Plant - Band of Joy at Stubbs

2010-07-29T22:02:00.002-05:00

Line to get in

Although none of my friends seemed interested, I couldn't pass up seeing Robert Plant, after the great show he put on at ACL, two years ago.

As expected, people were lined up around the corner to get into Stubbs. The line went all of the way to the 35 frontage road.

Bettye Lavette

I situated myself in the pit, over towards the left side of the stage, about 10 rows back. The opener was Soul and R&B singer extraordinaire, Bettye Lavette. She was touring in support of her latest album, Interpretations: British Rock Songbook, where she performs covers of Classic, British Rock songs by Elton John, the Who, and Pink Floyd, just to name a few.

I was a little tentative about this act, after the lukewarm review she had gotten from the boys over at Sound Opinions. Any reservations I might have had, because of the shortcomings identified in their review were put to rest, as soon as she began singing. She is a very powerful performer, and is difficult to ignore.

I estimate that she started playing around 7:15 and played about 45 minutes. I will probably keep an eye for her in the future, since I would enjoy seeing Bettye headline.

Robert Plant and Band of Joy

The main event started sometime around 8:30, and I estimate it lasted about 2 hours. Since the Band of Joy album has not been released, I was a little unsure what to expect. I did anticipate that T Bone Burnett might be involved with this project, since he was involved with Robert's project with Alison Krauss.

Those suspicions were further raised when I noticed that Austin's very own, Patty Griffin, was touring and singing with Robert. Not very surprising actually, after seeing her also join Elvis Costello in a similar capacity, in another T Bone project. She is one of the usual suspects, as they say.

Although I was unable to find a setlist, this one from a Houston show two nights prior is a close enough approximation. This show went by way too fast, and it most definitely appealed to my tastes.

I am particularly fond of music that sits at the nexus of Country, Blues, and Rockabilly, and is sometimes tagged with the moniker, Roots Rock. Whoever put this band together, did an excellent job. They were fucking excellent, and I could easily go see this show on two consecutive nights, and not get bored.

The band members were:

Buddy Miller - Acoustic and Electric Guitars
Darrell Scott - Acoustic Guitar, Mandolin, Pedal Steel, Banjo
Byron House - Electric and Upright Bass
Marco Giovino - Drums
Patty Griffin - Vocals

In closing, here's a few shots from the show:

The Protomen at Game Over Video Games

2010-07-11T22:45:00.012-05:00

About a month ago, I was listening to the Wired Audio Playlist Podcast (one source I use for new music) and immediately noticed a cut called the Hounds. The production on this cut was exceptional, and had a very familiar vibe. I remember having to rewind the podcast later in order to find out that the band was the Protomen.

Finding their website and myspace pages, I listened to some more of their tracks and enjoyed them as well. I found out that Hounds was a track from their recently released, second studio album, Act II: The Father of Death. The songs all had a Meatloaf feel to them, mashed-up with some Peter Gabriel.

A little further research on the Internet and Wikipedia revealed that they had 3 albums total (1 live), the band was from Nashville, and the second album had in fact been produced by famed Meatloaf producer, Alan Shacklock. I noticed that I had missed them performing at this year's SxSW, chalking that up to bad luck.

The most interesting thing about this band the fact that they have conceptually based all of their music, on the Capcom Video Game for the NES, Mega Man. (Which I had played with my little brother about 20 years ago). Obviously, they have a small cult amongst the gamer crowd. Although not a gamer, I had already decided they were creative and great musicians, after listening to their material.

Fast Forward to Friday

Friday evening I noticed a tweet go by about the Protomen being on tour, and their Battle Wagon having broken down, in Texarkana. I went over to their website and discovered that they were scheduled to play in Austin, Sunday night, with two opening bands, at Game Over Video Games. I really don't get into video games, and am not that into All Ages shows, but decided to go anyway.

When I arrived at the venue it was obviously a congregation point for those on the nerdier side of the tracks. The store was in a strip mall near the corner of Anderson and Lamar, and is like a museum for video games and game consoles, going all the way back to the Atari days. The actual show was in an empty stall next door. About 30 people were already milling around waiting for the show.

An announcement went out that the band had arrived late, without the 2 opening acts, but that the show would be going on. When they finally let us into the empty stall, it was hot and loud. None the less, this 9 piece band (7 guys and 2 gals) delivered the goods. They have multiple vocalists, and every person was a first rate musician. In addition to synths, guitar, bass and drums, 2 of people also doubled on trumpet and violin. Their set consisted mainly of the Act II material, followed by a smattering of the songs from their first album, and a cover of Styx's, Mr. Roboto complete with Vocoder.

The lighting was insufficient to get a good picture, but these guys were fantastic. I would recommend you check out the samples on their website, and would go on to say that I would gladly see them again (hopefully in a better venue).

Austin City Limits Taping - Spoon

2010-07-07T23:12:00.023-05:00

Beginning its 36th season, Austin City Limits is now the longest running music series in American television history. The KLRU studio on the UT Campus, has hosted numerous musical legends. It's prominence is such that the venue was inducted into the Roll and Rock Hall of Fame.

The beauty of this show is that unlike the tripe you find on network TV, it is taped live. There's no lip-syncing, overdubs or auto-tune. If there's a problem they may do an extra take, but you're never going to witness a debacle like Ashlee Simpson. This show has the intimacy of a small night club, and really succeeds in capturing what I call the Austin vibe.

You would think that after moving to Austin in 1993, that I would have already attended multiple tapings. I am ashamed to admit however, that this show was my first. It turns out, that the process for securing tickets to a show is a closely held secret, by those in the know. Donors to KLRU get preferential treatment, but everyone has to wait in line. With a capacity of 350, the seats are at a premium.

This season is particularly significant, because it will be the last one filmed at the present location. ACL will be occupying the new hall downtown in December. I can't wait to see the finished space, since it will have a much larger capacity. Since ACL only uses 47-50 dates per year, Live Nation will be booking it as a venue the remaining days. (I guess this means the Austin Music Hall is done now). Rumor has it that the very first ACL performer, Willie Nelson, will also christen the new stage.

Due to my involvement with the Austin Music Foundation, I have gotten to know several people that work for the show. To date however, this had not helped me secure tickets. So, when I saw the ACL tickets in silent auction at an AMF fundraiser, I didn't even think twice. Begging my friends hadn't worked, so I bought my way in ;)

Even though I had VIP passes, I was still required to wait in the same line as everyone else. I was about 20th in line, and although it was a little warm outside, the hour and half wait went quickly. Kudos to the KLRU staff for having bottled water outside, and the professional way everything was handled. Chit chatting in line, most of those around me were veterans, having been to multiple shows. All claimed, that I was in for a treat, and that it might be the best listening space in town for live music. (Honestly, I don't think it's any better or worse than Bass or the One World).

Right before 7PM when the doors opened, I could see that the line had grown, and it would be a full house. A later tweet confirmed this, with one of the ACL staff indicating that approximately 30 people were turned away.

Upon entering the studio with the first wave of people, I made sure to grab one of the vaunted front row, seats, just off the stage left corner. I took a couple quick cell phone pictures while the studio was still relatively empty.

Spoon took the stage at around 8:05PM and played for at least 90 minutes. There were several special guests, including Charlie Sexton. I am not intimately familiar with their material, but they seemed tight and well rehearsed. I did manage to find this picture of their setlist for those keeping score at home.

Although I didn't get a chance to corner him later, my friend Wayne Myers (who often plays with Graham Reynolds) was playing trombone in the horn section, which Spoon had hired for the night. The entire horn section seemed to all be local guys from Austin.

I included this last picture so that you can contrast it with the shot of the same space above.

I really enjoyed this evening, change my opinion on Spoon a bit (meaning I may actually buy a CD), and have promised myself to try and capture another ACL taping. Band of Horses perhaps?

One last note: This show is presently set to be aired on October 9 of this year, coincident with the ACL Festival.

Neil Young Solo at the Bass Concert Hall

2010-06-06T00:11:00.018-05:00

SxSW 2006

Ever since my junior high school days, I have been a Neil Young fan. Unfortunately, I had never seen him play live, having to satisfy myself with seeing him deliver the keynote speech, at SxSW 2006. I was disappointed at that time, because Neil didn't perform during the festival.

Afterward, I purchased a copy of the Jonathan Demme documentary, Neil Young: Heart of Gold on DVD. While watching the film, I made a mental note to myself, to try and catch Neil soon.

Fast forward to 2010

When they announced that Neil was playing a solo show at the Bass Concert Hall, I made plans. However, I anticipated problems getting tickets, since UT's ticketing system sucks, when there's high demand.

Initially, it appeared my prediction was correct, and my friends and I failed to get into the website. Miraculously, I was able to secure a single ticket in the Orchestra section several hours later. Sometimes it pays to be lucky.

Preshow

Several days before the show, a email was sent out by the TX Performing Art Center. The note advised ticket holders that they would only be allowed to be seated during song breaks (a policy I actually liked). In addition, the note said that cameras and recording devices would be prohibited, and the artist had asked that people not use cell phone cameras either.

This seems to be a growing trend now by some artists, beyond just Robert Fripp and Van Morrison, now. I honor these requests when they're made, but looking around, not everyone complied.

As I entered Bass, I discovered that my 10th row seat was right in the middle, which was absolutely perfect for both the visual and auditory experience.

Opening Act

The opening act was Bert Jansch. Bert is a relatively unknown, but highly influential Singer/Songwriter from Scotland. Neil lists him as an influence, and after hearing Bert perform, it's easy to see why. The packed house gave him a well deserved, standing ovation at the completion of his set.

Stage

The stage set for Neil's show had four stations:

Front and center there were two microphone stands, one for seated performance, the other for standing performance. There were 3 or 4 Fender or Mesa Boogie Amps, I was just far enough away, I couldn't tell what they were.
In the rear and in the center on a riser, there was a small Reed Organ, the type you pump with your feet.
Stage right, there was a console/tack piano.
And finally, stage left, there was a weathered Baby Grand.

As for the guitars themselves, Neil used 4 different guitars. Playing whatever was appropriate for the particular song.

Neil used two acoustic guitars. The first appeared to be a Martin, and was used to open the set with My, My, Hey, Hey (Out of the Blue). The second guitar had a dark finish, and an absolutely incredible deep resonant tone, on the lower strings.
A Black Les Paul was brought out, as he played Down By the River.
Last but not least, a Gibson Hollow-body, was used to introduce the very recognizable intro to Ohio.

Along with the guitars, he also had the requisite harmonicas, as well, with appropriate neck straps. The tack piano was used starting with Leia, and the organ made its appearance with After the Gold Rush

Songs

Surprisingly, the setlist for the Bass Show was already posted at the Sugar Mountain site, by the time I had arrived home. While slightly disappointed that I didn't get to hear Heart of Gold, Sugar Mountain, or the The Needle and the Damage Done, there was enough material to keep any Neil Young fan happy.

I would also like to add, that I was awed by Neil's stage presence. Even performing solo, his performance almost demanded your attention. I'm anxiously looking forward to seeing Neil again.

Robert Cray at Antones

2010-05-28T01:17:00.007-05:00

I estimate that it has been over 20 years since I last saw Robert Cray, at the Chance in Poughkeepsie, NY, in support of the Strong Persuader album (I only have that album on vinyl, BTW!) Although he's played Austin multiple times, in the 17 years that I've lived here, I've always managed to miss him.

I got to Antones a little after 9PM, and Alan Haynes the opener was already on stage. The house was almost, but not quite packed (which is a good thing). Robert and his band took the stage around 10PM.

This time around Robert's band included:

Tony Braunagel - drums
Jim Pugh - keyboards
Richard Cousins - bass

I recognized Richard Cousins from the previous time I had seen Robert. I assumed that he had been playing with Robert the whole time, but discovered via Wikipedia that he had left the band in 1995, and just recently rejoined Robert's band. I estimate that the band played a bit shy of 90 minutes, which was a little disappointing because it seemed a bit short.

I recognized several numbers from Strong Persuader, including Smoking Gun, but was somewhat unfamiliar with some of his more recent material. The band was tight, and Robert as always, turned in a fantastic performance on vocals and guitar.

Update

Just for shits and giggles, I looked in an old shoebox and found this. Apparently, it has been 23 years.

Chick Corea at the One World Theater

2010-04-25T23:08:00.009-05:00

Last night, I ended my week of fantastic music with Chick Corea, playing solo piano at the One World Theater. My friend Dan and I went to the later of the two shows, and it was an extremely enjoyable experience.

As we entered the theater, a technician was busy tuning a magnificent, Yamaha, Grand Piano. Shortly after that Chick walked out on stage, and began casually conversing with the audience, saying that everything would be completely improvised, and we'd would all see where that led.

The whole show lasted about an hour, and was magnificent, consisting of 4 pieces:

Improvisation

The first piece lasted approximately 20 minutes, and as it progressed, I was strangely remembering several stride players, before settling in on thinking about Bud Powell, one of my favorite Be-Bop era players, and Polka-dots and Moonbeams.

Surprisingly, after finishing the number Chick asked the audience if anyone recognized the melody he had quoted, and it was Bud's Beautiful. I chuckled a little about that. I had caught the vibe, but had the wrong song.

Monk

The next selection was inspired by Thelonius Sphere Monk, another giant. Chick was fantastic drawing upon all of the techniques throughout Monk's repertoire. The number ended with some tasteful quoting of Blue Monk.

Senor Mouse

For the last two numbers, Chick took requests from the audience. Senor Mouse was mentioned by several people, and Chick mentioned that it would be fun because he had never played it alone. Once again, Chick killed on it.

Ginastera

For the last number, a young gentleman of about 13 years of age shouted out Crazy Train for his request, much to the embarrassment of his parents. Chick however, chuckled, took it in stride, and then produced an iPhone, saying listen to this crazy train. Chick then proceeded to play some John Coltrane.

He then asked the youngster what he liked about Crazy Train, and after receiving the answer, Chick said that perhaps he should also check out the late, Argentinian Composer, Alberto Ginastera. Apparently, Chick had only discovered him recently, as well.

His last improvisation was inspired by Ginastera, and was stunning.

Meet and Greet

After the show, Chick was available for a meet and greet, and I was able to talk with him for a couple minutes, and get a CD signed. I spoke to him a few minutes about Ginastera (a love of mine) and Bartok, he suggested I check out the French Composer, Henri Dutilleux (which I promptly did, once I got home).

Update

So, I noticed that Chick published his set lists for both shows. There were 4 noticeable breaks, so I took that as 4 pieces, although you can see there were obviously more songs listed.

Also, I was incorrect about the Bud Powell. It was a quote from But Beautiful, a standard.

Art City Austin 2010

2010-04-25T18:00:00.001-05:00

Well, I didn't volunteer this year, but managed to stop downtown for a couple of hours. This year, there were less booths, less stages, and nothing was done with the 1st Street Bridge.

Here's a few shots:

Jeff Beck at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre, Houston

2010-04-25T10:31:00.013-05:00

In an act of sheer craziness, I drove to Houston for the 2nd time in 3 days to see Jeff Beck.

My Past with Jeff Beck

Prior to this I had seen Jeff on double bills with Stevie Ray Vaughan around 1990, at Madison Square Garden, and with Carlos Santana at the UT Erwin Center, around 1995. For both of these shows, Terry Bozzio and Tony Hymas were the backing band.

The last time that I had seen him perform was at least a decade ago, at La Zona Rosa during SxSW. At that time, Jennifer Batten, was in his band, along with two other supporting players that I no longer remember. I remember that I didn't enjoy this show as much as the previous shows, because I felt that Jennifer's two handed tapping style didn't leave enough space for Jeff. After that, it seemed that he had faded into retirement.

Fast forward to 2009

I was supposed to see Vinnie Colaiuta perform with Chick Corea's and John McLaughlin's Five Peace Band. Vinnie however was AWOL, having been replaced by Brian Blades. I found out at the merch table that night, that Vinnie had left to join Jeff Beck's tour. Having been totally unaware that Jeff was touring, I quickly found the Live at Ronnie Scott's DVD. Jeff Back was back and I knew that I wanted to see him. Unfortunately, this tour came nowhere near TX, and had already headed across the Atlantic.

Early this year, when I saw the announcement for the date in Dallas, I was again disappointed, since I already had tickets to see Chick Corea, on that same night in Austin. Fortunately, fate intervened, and a Houston show was announced a few days later. There was much rejoicing, and later, much traveling.

The Opener - Gary Hoey

When I arrived at the Verizon, it was similar to the House of Blues, with maybe a few hundred more seats. Although it has the word Amphitheatre in the name, it is an indoor venue.

Shortly after taking our seats, instrumental guitarist Gary Hoey, took the stage. For some reason however, he chose to play acoustic steel string guitar, rather than electric. He was accompanied by an acoustic bass player. Unfortunately, Gary's set was generally uninteresting to me.

The Main Event - Jeff Beck

There was about 20 minute break after Gary left the stage, and then things got down to business. As Jeff and the band took the stage, I was a little surprised to discover that there was a female bass player, but it was not Tal Wilkenfeld, and that Vinnie Colaiuta was not playing drums.

As the night progressed, I found out that the backing band was:

Jason Rebello - Keyboards, who I did recognize from the Ronnie Scott DVD
Narada Michael Walden - the drummer from Blow by Blow himself
Rhonda Smith - Bass and Vocals, who also plays with Prince.

I estimate the band played for approximately 90 minutes, and that this set list is a fairly close approximation of what he played in Houston. Noticeably missing was material from the Jeff Beck Group era, Wired, Blow by Blow (other than Led Boots), and There and Back. It didn't matter, the show still kicked ass.

Jeff was at his finest on this night, and seemed to command the attention of everyone present. I also noticed that the volume from the PA was not deafening and was in fact comfortable, allowing Jeff to make very effective use of dynamics. His solo version of Somewhere Over the Rainbow was particularly powerful. In closing let me say that although I still want to see him play with Tal, Rhonda Smith was outstanding.

Two Helpings of Porcupine Tree (and Big Elf)

2010-04-22T19:07:00.015-05:00

For the past two days, my friends and I spent a considerable amount of time driving to Dallas, and then Houston, in order to see two stops on the current Porcupine Tree tour. This is the second leg of their North American tour supporting their latest album, the Incident.

I had already attended two dates on the first leg this tour in September. Once again, Tree chose to play the first disc of the Incident in it's entirety, and took a 10 minute intermission, before returning to stage for a 2nd set of material from their older albums. They randomly select different songs each night to keep things interesting.

The venue for both shows was the House of Blues, and both franchises had the same basic layout, each holding approximately 2,500 patrons. I had no complaints about the sound or sight lines with either club.

Big Elf

The opening band this time around was Big Elf. They're a 4 piece Prog outfit, with a guitarist, bassist, drummer and keyboard player/lead vocalist. The lead singer had a stack of vintage keyboards including a Mellotron, MiniMoog, and Hammond B3, with a Leslie 147. They sounded like they had stepped right out of the 70's.

Although they sound a little bit like the Beatles on their website samples, live, they reminded me more of old Deep Purple. I didn't enjoy these guys as much as Kings X (I'm still in awe of Brother Doug), but Big Elf is a great band. I will watch for them in the future, and I will most likely also buy a CD.

Kudos to Tree's management for picking good and complementary openers, once again. So far, I have discovered three very interesting new bands during the 6 PT Shows I have seen to date.

Big Elf in Dallas

Big Elf in Houston

Porcupine Tree

Like the first leg of tour, there was an announcement before PT came on stage asking the audience to refrain from recording or taking pictures during the show. Perhaps Steven is spending too much time with Robert Fripp? (LOL) Still, I do agree that it can be distracting, and I had no problem complying with their request.

Dallas

In general, this show had a good vibe, although the sound was a little harsh at times. The crowd was very well behaved, unlike Philly.

The set list for the night can be found here. Having listened to Nil Recurring quite a bit lately, the person beside me was surprised that I knew they were about to play Normal (one of my favorites), I also enjoyed hearing Anesthetize, the Start of Something Beautiful, and Way Out of Here.

Lower Balcony Seating in Dallas

The one bummer of the night was the fan club seating. Like other members, I had bought tickets through the Fan Club site to be seated in the Lower Balcony. When we got upstairs, all of the Fan Club people were shocked to see where our seats were.

There were lots of reserved seats, but they had all been sold later through the box office. I would have been willing to live with this, had I not found out that these seats were the same price as ours.

The fan club seats were all the way up at the top or last row, on stools. I suspect that there was some chicanery by the HOB to be honest, and I know that some complaints were registered. It was bad enough that my friend Dan and I chose to go down stairs and stand in the GA section. I'm still a little pissed about this. Live and Learn.

Houston

For this show, my friend Dan and I parked right next to the rail at the sound board. As a result, it was much better aurally, although Tree always sounds good live. In general, I would say that this was the stronger of the two shows.

The set list was a bit different. Strip the Soul and Buying a New Soul made an appearance during the 2nd set, and Normal was gone.

Other Stuff

During the fall leg of the Incident Tour, they were selectively playing Trains. However, it really has taken on a life of its own, and it is now their defacto hit. They're almost forced to play it every night as the encore now.

The O's escape Tampa with their first win

2010-04-09T07:56:00.006-05:00

Last night, the Orioles avoided a sweep by the Devil Rays. For the third straight night, they were involved in a one run ball game. Unlike game 1, the closer Gonzalez came away with the save, in the bottom of the ninth. He did make it a little too interesting, however.

Surprisingly, there were several calls by the Umps that went our way, and I must say that I very much like the MLB app on my new toy. (Great work Steve Jobs!)

In other news

NFL draft day is almost upon us. I'm very excited by the Raven's signing of Boldin. With WR shored up, I'm hoping that we go after a shutdown corner in the draft.

The O's vs the Rays - 1st game 2010

2010-04-07T10:17:00.006-05:00

For me, the Orioles have been a Baltimore sports constant (unlike NFL or NBA franchises).

Growing up in Baltimore, my first memories of watching professional sports were the Orioles. I know I went to my first game in '68 (as a Jr. Oriole) to watch them play the Detroit Tigers. I'm not sure that I actually remember the '66 World Series, but I definitely remember their other WS appearances,'69 - '71, '79, and '83. I also remember some absolutely awesome pennant races against the Yankees, Red Sox, Brewers, Tigers, and Blue Jays.

During my college days, I was particularly prolific in game attendance, and estimate that I went to at least 30 games a season. GA tickets were cheap in those days, and they let you bring in your own beer. You just couldn't bring in bottles or cans, so we would pour a case into a Coleman jug or cooler.

Fast forward to 2010. Unfortunately, my interest in the team has waned over the past decade primarily because of the present owner, Peter Angelos. So much so, that after 6 or 7 straight years of having MLB.tv, I finally dropped my subscription in disgust and frustration in 2007.

This year, I decided to come back home and get the subscription again. Last night we played the Rays for our season opener. Things went well for 8 and half innings, and we were ahead 3-2 going into the bottom of the ninth. The O's brought in the closer, Gonzalez. At first, he reminded me a little of the great Tippy Martinez (our closer from the 80's, who was a great Yankee killer). Any reminders of Tippy were quickly eradicated when Gonzalez proceeded to load the bases with 1 out, and then gave up a walk-off hit.

They didn't look too bad, I just hope I am able to still stomach watching games after the All-Star break.

SxSW 2010 BBQ

2010-03-21T22:14:00.007-05:00

Postscript

For the first time in 6 years, I decided to attend the BBQ and Softball Tournament to wrap up SxSW. All badge holders and volunteers are invited. It tends to mostly be an Austin crowd, since the people from out of town use this Sunday as a travel day.

Attending was a no-brainer, since my fridge was completely empty, and I figured I had already payed for the food, so I might as well go eat. Fortunately, the weather turned for the better once again, and the rise in temperature to the low 60's made for a nice, leisurely Sunday afternoon.

As my friend Frank said, the BBQ serves as an anchor to let you know that SxSW is finally over. After eating and talking with various friends, I ruminated on the previous 9 day odyssey. I didn't have any major regrets, but decided that I need to remember to bring a real camera, since my iPhone camera is only effective in good lighting.

Barring an unexpected change in the economy, I fully intend to make SxSW 2011 my 7th straight year with a badge. In addition, I want to set the goal of forming a band, have it start playing out again, and then hopefully obtaining a showcase.

SxSW 2010 - Day 9

2010-03-20T06:54:00.026-05:00

It's Almost Over

Even though I was exhausted, I felt a bit of sadness realizing that this was the last day of the festival.

I should also comment that the weather turned for the worse on this day, with the arrival of cold front, on the heels of some thunderstorms. I really couldn't complain about the weather in general, since it had been excellent for the previous 8 days.

Panels

Creating a Music Town

This was an interesting panel detailing how groups from Portland, Maine, Athens, Georgia, and San Francisco are attempting to recreate an Austin-like scene, in their own downtown. I was particularly pleased to discover that Portland has a Music Foundation modeled after the AMF. (I was also surprised to hear that Memphis has a similar effort too).

In general, it was encouraging to see so many municipalities grasping the importance of music and the arts. Perhaps others will get to enjoy something similar to what we have here.

I Never Travel Far without Big Star

This talk was intended as a prelude to the Big Star showcase at Antones. Unfortunately, Alex Chilton's passing on Wednesday had changed the nature and tone of both events.

Members of both the original lineup, as well as the new lineup (the guys from the Posies) were sitting on the panel. In addition, there was a remote skype connection with the engineer for Big Star's first album. I believe he was part of Stax Records, and he had lots of history about the Memphis sound. I did not get his name, but he had worked extensively with Alex Chilton, throughout his career.

Although I was a fan of Big Star thanks to the guys from Sound Opinions, I basically listened and soaked this panel in, since I do not have a deep knowledge of this history or lore. The panel remedied that, allowing me to better enjoy the showcase later that night.

Bill Hicks - An American Icon Remembered

This session was a nice complement to the premier of the Hicks film. All of the panelists had participated in the QnA after the premier screening. The group included one of the movie's directors, Bill's brother Steve, and two fellow Houston comics. The final touch was Bill's mother, who was sitting in the audience.

I think I enjoyed the panel more than the QnA after the premier, mostly because it afforded the audience more time to ask questions. Let me just close in saying that I ordered several Bill Hicks CDs, from Amazon, after seeing the premier. Seeing the film reminded me how much I enjoyed and missed Bill's comedy.

Artists: Getting a Digital Ass-Kicking?

The was the last panel I attended for SxSWm. It was a general discussion about how artists can best utilize their web presence, to promote their music. For the star gazers in attendance, the designated celebrity on the panel was NY singer, Suzanne Vega.

The advice given was practical, and useful. I found some humor in some of Suzanne's comments. It appears that very few people actually know what she looks like, so she is not typically recognized. She complained that on more than one occasion, when she used her credit card while on tour, clerks or waiters would say Oh wow, you have the same name as that singer from NY.

Honestly, it wasn't until this panel that I knew what she looked like either. I would have liked to have caught her set, but it just wasn't in the cards.

Chop Shop - Atlantic Records Party

After leaving the last panel, I went outside and caught a couple of bands at the Chop Shop Records party. They were Scars on 45, and Marina and the Diamonds. I was impressed with Marina, a very British pop act. On Sunday looking through the Statesman write up about the Perez Hilton party, I had noticed that she also performed there, as well.

Although the music was enjoyable, the air temp was in the low 40's and dropping, and space under the tent was at a premium. I left before the next band went on, and headed to 6th street in an attempt to catch dinner.

Film

After seeing big lines at Mekong River, and having grown tired of Pizza and the Bratwurst carts, I decided to watch one last movie, at Ritz. I had noticed that the film at 7PM was short, and this would allow me to eat dinner, and more importantly warm up.

The screening was actually two films about dance. Members of the Austin Ballet Company were in attendance, apparently because several alumni were in the Opus Jazz feature.

Keep Dancing

This was a short 15 minute film about an elderly couple, who were Broadway and TV dancers during the 1950's. Now retired, they still dance several days a week. It was quite inspiring.

NY Export: Opus Jazz

The feature had a group of about 20 young men and women performing Jazz dance routines in abandoned buildings and parks, in downtown NYC. It was entertaining, and had a great soundtrack, but if there was some sort of meaning and message to it all, it evaded me. Then again, I was there for the BTUs and the Green Chilli Mac and Cheese, so who am I to complain? By those measures, this side trip was a success.

Music

I started off this night of music by venturing back to my favorite listening venue, St. Davids.

Ora Cogan

Was the first act I went to go see. She is a singer songwriter, and was accompanied by another guitarist who also sang backing vocals. Honestly, I found her singing to be flat and slightly annoying. Enough that I bailed early, and headed over to the other room, the Sanctuary.

Hey Marseilles

On the way to the other room, I ran into some friends and fellow Baltimorons who are part of the Ravens Nest, that I hang with at the Tavern, during Football season. They introduced me to two other people that had flown in from Baltimore, to visit for SxSW.

We talked for several minutes, before we all proceeded into the Sanctuary to see the last part of a set by a band from Seattle, Hey Marseilles. It was very well done, I should have just skipped Ora and gone straight to this show.

Shine

My Baltimore friends then mentioned that they were staying for the next band, Shine, who were from France. My friends had been putting them up for the week, at their house.

I was glad they had convinced me to stay, and found that I enjoy a lot of the recent French alternative bands, after first being made aware of this sub-genre by the boys from Sound Opinions (Thanks Jim and Greg).

Arborea

For the final act at St. Davids, I watched Arobrea. It was a husband and wife duo, with the husband playing a Strat, and the wife playing several instruments including violin, banjo, acoustic guitar, and/or pump organ.

The music reminded me of Steve Tibbetts. I was impressed enough with them that I bought one of their CDs.

Walking by the Big Event

On my way from St. Davids to Club 115, I passed a nondescript, block sized building with a huge crowd outside, as well as several touring buses. I had never seen this building used for anything, but on this night, the lines were 4 and 5 people deep, all of the way around the structure.

I discovered the following day that this was the Perez Hilton party. From the accounts in the Statesman, it appears that both Snoop Dog and Courtney Love performed there. Honestly, I don't think that I missed much. I'm not sure I would have enjoyed myself even if I had managed to finagle one of private invitation, wrist bands.

Anime Winds

My main purpose in leaving St. Davids and heading to Club 115 was to catch at least one band for the Classical Crossover showcase. This night was hosted Michael Drapkin of the Anime Winds ensemble, who I had met at an AMF function in February.

I had decided to check out his band's set, since it sounded intriguing. I had not realized however, that my friend Graham Reynolds had composed some pieces for their group. He and several other members of the Golden Hornet Project were participating in this showcase, in various roles, and had composed music for some of the groups.

Unfortunately, Club 115 shares a wall with a lesbian dance club. The dance music emanating from the club next door, easily penetrated the wall, making it almost impossible for anyone to hear the acoustic music. Anime Winds played valiantly, but the listening conditions really detracted from the experience.

A similar problem had occurred last year at SxSW, when Graham hosted a similar show at the Tap Room. Having spoken to several of these artists in the past, I understand why they do not want to perform in traditional chamber music venues. They were hoping to make their music more accessible with a different style of presentation. Unfortunately, the venues chosen by SxSW for the past two years have been totally inadequate. Here's hoping a better solution can be found in the future.

Tommy Keene

Leaving the cacophony of Club 115, I headed over to the Tap Room is see some Power Pop. Tommy Keene provided a good warm up for the Big Stars show to follow.

Big Star - A Tribute to Alex Chilton

For my last showcase of SxSW 2010, I went to Antones to catch the Alex Chilton tribute. I had obtained a Sxxpress pass in anticipation of a large crowd, and I was right. While waiting before the show, I noticed multiple celebs in the audience, such as John Doe, and Exene Cervenko from X and the Knitters.

The show lasted for approximately 2 hours, and the two frontmen from the Posies were joined on stage by a rotation of Big Star alumni, and mid-tier, Indie artists who have all listed Big Star as influences. John Doe did join the band on stage, Exene did not. The set ended with Susan Cowsill on stage, singing. Several people I spoke to were disappointed that neither Paul Westerberg, nor any of the members of Cheap Trick made an appearance. There were obviously rumors floating around that this might occur.

SxSW 2010 - Day 8

2010-03-19T08:38:00.017-05:00

Panels

DIY or Sign with a Label

This was a great panel featuring among others Richard Bengloff, from A2IM, and Cameron Strang, president of New West Records. There were no profound revelations at this panel, but it was encouraging to hear that Indie Labels are still doing well and not whining like the Majors.

CBGB Stories

Although I lived right across the river from NYC, in Hoboken, from 1979 to 1983, I was only able to visit CBGB once, while it was open. However, I do remember my own Punk Rock days, fondly.

I was very anxious to see this talk. The panel included Clem Burke, the drummer for Blondie, Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz, of the Talking Heads fame, along with Seymour Stein and Richard Gottehrer from Sire Records. Several other CBGB alumni were in the audience including Jerry Harrison, and Bill Popp. The session went by way too fast, and covered every aspect of the late Hilly Kristal's club, the undisputed birthplace of Punk.

Some time was spent discussing the antics of the resident club bullies, the Dictators. A good friend, Joe Schaedler, formerly of the Sic F*cks had told me all about their hi-jinks. Their favorite targets were the Talking Heads. So, it was humorous to hear Tina Weymouth's account of Dick Manitoba's constant heckling.

The club stories were plentiful, and the time flew by quickly. All and all, this session was too short. I hope to find a new documentary or new book about this unique landmark and this era of music history.

Day Stages

Court Yard Hounds in the Hilton Lobby

On the way up from the parking garage I was surprised to find yet another day stage in the lobby of the Hilton. In this case, it was a side project of the Dixie Chicks called the Court Yards Hounds. As you can see in the picture, the lobby was packed.

I listened to two songs before proceeding into the Convention Center.

Ashanka - Malaysian Band

At lunch, I just happened to hear this excellent 8 piece band on the smaller day stage. They played a fusion of Jazz, Rock and Eastern Asian Music. Although they had a showcase at the Copa the following evening, I was unable to go. As a result, I was thankful that I was able to catch the remainder of their set here.

The band included keyboards, electric bass, guitar, western drums, and a Cajone player. In addition, there was also Sitar player and two people playing Indian percussion. On the right, the Tabla player's drums are unfortunately obstructed by someone's head in this picture.

Amarala - Zaragoza, Spain

This Spanish singer was being interviewed in the Sx Booth in the Convention Center. I had missed the opportunity to see her the previous day at the Spanish Music party. Her voice and the music were fantastic, and I made a promise to myself to check out more of her music going forward.

Citizen Cope

Today I was able to see a full set of music from this Philadelphia born, singer/songwriter. In both cases, it seemed to me that he had a huge amount of charisma, totally captivating his audience. I found this phenomena interesting because although I personally found his set enjoyable, I did not find it anywhere near as moving, as those around me.

That said, I am certainly aware that I listen to music differently than the average Joe.

Court Yard Hounds

I remained at the day stage for a second helping of the Court Yard Hounds. Not much to say other than the performance and the band were all top notch.

Jakob Dylan and the Three Legs (Featuring Neko Case and Kelly Hogan)

The last act of the afternoon on the large day stage was Jakob Dylan, with Neko Case. This new band still brings back reminders of the Wallflowers, who performed at SxSW several years ago.

Another great set of music, in a great listening space.

Auditorium Shores

At the beginning of the night I decided to head to Auditorium Shores, because I had never actually seen Cheap Trick live, despite being a huge fan.

The BoDeans

After working my way through the conflicting and confusing directions to the correct shuttle, I arrived at Auditorium Shores in time to hear the end of the BoDeans. As in previous years, they had a special tent and bleachers for badge holders. The sound was great.

Cheap Trick

Cheap Trick sans Bun E. Carlos took the stage promptly at 8PM and played about an hour set, which included all of their hits. This show was a guilty pleasure for me. The band is probably past their prime and are teetering dangerously close to becoming a State Fair show or Six Flags act. Several other industry people in my section were loudly joking that this was most likely the largest crowd they had played in front of for a long while.

None the less, they sounded good and they can still play.

Showcases

Raphael Saadiq

I listened to the end of the Cheap Trick set while crossing the 1st Street Bridge on the way to the Austin Music Hall. My goal was to go see Raphael Saadiq and his retro-Motown act.

I was first exposed to Raphael through a free video on the iTunes store. I was impressed enough at that time, that I immediately went out and bought his latest album. It was great, and brought back memories of the Funk Brothers.

The packed house at AMH was visibly into the music, and I think there was agreement across the board that this act killed. I can think of no better opening act for Smokey Robinson.

Smokey Robinson

There's not much to say other than the King of Motown held court in the Austin Music Hall. He played for almost 2 hours, and covered all of his hits, as well as several others that he had written for other people.

Throughout the show, Smokey had the crowd eating out of the palm of his hand, converting them into a loud and enthusiastic backing choir. I don't think I have ever witnessed an artist manage a crowd to the degree that he did. It was amazing.

Bottom line: It was great to see this living legend.

The Low Anthem

I ended the night at St. Davids, and ended up hitting pay-dirt with this band from Rhode Island. This 4 piece band was highly creative, with each member performing as a multi-instrumentalist. In addition to acoustic and electric guitars and basses, there was a trap kit, violin, musical saw, a reed/pump organ, and crotales.

Arguably you could pin the Americana label on this band, but it wouldn't adequately describe what they do. I was totally engaged in their music, and duly impressed by the cell phone resonance/feedback trick at the end of the set, requiring audience participation.

In closing let me just say that this is only one of two bands this year at SxSW where I chose to buy a copy of their CD, after their showcase.

6th Street

On the way to St. Davids, I attempted to capture a picture of 6th Street so that others could appreciate how crowded it was on this night.

SxSW 2010 - Day 7

2010-03-18T08:48:00.020-05:00

Panels

Kat Edmondson

I arrived early for the Smokey Robinson interview, and was treated to the last 2 songs of a set by Kat Edmondson. Surprisingly, I have never seen this Austin artist in person, perhaps that will change in the future. It was a great way to kick off the day.

Smokey Robinson Interview

My main goal on this morning was to catch this interview. The list of people that have had a greater impact on popular music than the King of Motown, is very short indeed.

Fortunately, the interviewer, Dave Marsh, did a fantastic job of facilitating this session. Smokey spoke at length about every aspect of his career, starting with meeting Barry Gordy in 1958, while Smokey was waiting to enter college.

It is clear that Smokey was a formidable songwriter even at a young age, and Gordy recognized it, when they immediately cowrote a hit song. From that point on, the rest is history.

It is absolutely staggering to think about how many hit songs Smokey has written for both himself and others, and how many other artists and songwriters he has influenced. Not only is he an inductee of the Hall of Fame, but I'm sure almost every other inductee lists him as one of their major influences.

Does Rock and Roll belong in a Museum

I sat in on the first 5 minutes of this panel. It seemed like nothing more than a PR session for Cleveland, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I didn't find much of interest here, the talk was mainly hosted by one of the curators.

Welcome to the Music Business You're Fucked - Martin Atkins

Although I have seen Martin present variations of this talk five times now, he keeps it fresh with new insight, and by constantly updating his material. This aging punker uses one of the most humorous PowerPoint decks around to evangelize his DIY gospel. If you have aspirations to be in a touring band, then you must try to see him talk.

Once again, he didn't disappoint.

Miles Davis - Bitches Brew 40th Anniversary Tribute

Around lunch on the previous day, I had passed Lenny White of RTF fame on the escalators in the Convention Center. Looking at the schedule, I then noticed this panel.

Lenny and several members of Miles' family including a son and a nephew were speaking. In addition, longtime, Grammy winning, producer Steve Berkowitz was also present, since he was responsible for the 40th anniversary reissue box set.

This talk was outstanding, and there were lots of great stories about the making of the first true Fusion album, and how Miles operated. It is staggering to realize that the great fusion projects, Return to Forever, the Headhunters, Mahavishnu Orchestra, and Weather Report were all spawned from this project.

The best part of this talk however was that members of Miles' family and trust were present with merchandise. They gave every attendee a t-shirt and a copy of the remastered Bitches Brew album, on CD. In addition, two prizes were given out, to people that were able to properly answer a trivia question, about Bitches Brew.

Unfortunately, I was beaten to the microphone by a drummer several rows in front of me to answer the question to name five musicians on Bitches Brew other than Miles, and Wayne Shorter. The prize was a 71 disk box set containing all of Miles' Sony Recordings. That will learn me to stand in the back of the room!

In closing, let me say that now I regret missing the Kind of Blue panel at last year's SxSW even more now. I'm also kicking myself for not bringing my Canon SD camera. After this talk I was able to speak to Lenny for a minute and took a very up close picture with my iPhone. It turned out horribly without a flash. Doh!

The NMPA Late Fee Settlement

AMF board member Chris Castle and several others, discussed the latest rulings of the Copyright Royalty board. While some might find this boring, understanding this is key to people with hopes of pursuing a career in music.

Making Money as a Songwriter in a World of Change

Like Martin Atkins, I have seen and gotten to know the Brabec twins from their previous SxSW and AMF talks. I can't say enough nice things about them.

The tips and information the freely give out about music publishing are invaluable. If you've never heard them speak, go. If you can't arrange that, buy their book. It's the music publishing bible.

Showcases

Codeine Velvet Club

I'm not sure whether it was because of an expected increase in attendance, but a second larger day stage was setup this year, in the space used in previous years, for the SxSW trade-shows. The room was setup like a night club, and had sufficient acoustic treatments to afford a decent listening experience.

I was happy to see this, because I was somewhat distraught at the absence of the two DirecTV sound-stages on the ground floor, the Bat Cave and the Lone Star Lounge. In previous years, I had seen some exception performances there, and I was not overjoyed to discover that they had pulled out of the Conference. After 5 years, I had gotten used to this.

The new day stage however, was adequate, and the first band I saw there was Codeine Velvet Club. They were fronted by a male/female duo and had some very powerful and well performed songs. The band were all first rate musicians. The music reminded me of Joe Jackson's Night and Day phase.

I really enjoyed their set, and regretted not being able to catch them again during the festival.

Sounds from Spain

I attended a party outside in Brushy Creek Park hosted by some Spanish based music businesses. The tent was too packed to even get a look at the band, however there was plenty of good food (paella and gazpacho) and sangria available provided you could tolerate waiting in line.

Although the music emanating from beneath the tent sounded great, I was unable to get a good view of the stage. Fortunately, I would get to hear one of the artists, Amaral, the next day inside the convention center.

Sharon Van Etten

I started the night at St. Davids, one of my favorite venues during SxSW because of the listening experience. Sharon was a young singer/songwriter from Brooklyn. She accompanied herself on electric guitar, but her real strength was her vocals. Her voice was amazing, and it was a treat to hear it presented in this room.

I must confess to developing a music crush during her performance. This is saying a lot for a Jazz head like me, if you know how I usually feel about singers.

Citizen Cope

On the way to the Elephant Room, I stopped in at the Driscoll to see what was going on there. I was surprised to see a packed room, intently listening to singer/songwriter, Citizen Cope, from Philadelphia. Unfortunately, I got there just in time to hear the last 2 verses, of the last song in the set.

As fate would have it, I got to hear more of him the following day.

Wouter Kellerman

The next stop was the Elephant Room, with South African fluitist, Wouter Kellerman. He fronted are really nice ensemble playing a style of Jazz with a heavy world music flavor added in.

The band and the sound were great, and I was able to take it all in while sipping on a nicely chilled pint of Ace Perry.

1001 Nights Orchestra

Following the Elephant Room, I continued down Congress to the Copa to catch this quartet playing Middle Eastern music. Given the genre, I allowed myself an exception to my no Austin band rule ;)

The 4 piece band consisted of a percussionist, an accordionist, a clarinet player (who also played other reed woodwinds), and the leader of the band, who was Persian, and played a variety of Middle Eastern string instruments. For their set, this ensemble played their first a song in a time signature, of 2 beats per measure. With each successive song, they incremented the time signature by one (to 3, and so on), finishing up 45 minutes later with something in 11.

The songs were a mix of Persian, Turkish, Armenian and Russian folk songs. They were performed admirably, but I felt the percussionist was a bit off at times, and surprisingly had the most trouble playing in 4.

I would have liked to have heard more, since they announced a Persian New Years day celebration at Central Market the next day. I guess I'll have to wait, because I was not about to leave SxSW (and more importantly lose my parking).

John Grant

I swung by Buffalo Billiards to catch this singer/pianist do his thing. He was a great singer, and seemed to have attracted a large crowd. I enjoyed the two songs that I listened to, but was trying to make my way back towards Red River for some later shows, so I left.

Le Loup

I penciled this band in because they were from my home state of Maryland. Let me just say, I left halfway through their second song. I'll leave it at that.

Bobby Long

On my way to the 18th Floor of the Hilton Garden, I stopped first at the Creekside Lounge on the Ground Floor. Unlike previous years, there was a full stage and much improved sound system.

Bobby Long, a London based singer/songwriter was performing. He definitely had the right stuff, and a very powerful voice to deliver it with. I enjoyed his set and considered staying put for the other acts, but decided to stick with my original plan.

Julie Feeney

I heard the tail end of the last song for this Irish singer. I didn't really hear enough to make a judgement one way or the other.

The Chapin Sisters

This Los Angeles based act normally consists of 2 of Harry Chapin's daughter, plus a third member who is a half sister (and daughter of Wes Craven). Jessica Craven however, is presently on maternity leave, leaving Abigail and Lily Chapin to perform as a duet.

Vocal harmonies were on display in a big way, and it is apparent that the apple did not fall too far from the tree in this case. The time went by way too fast, and I really enjoyed the set.

Towards the end of their set, they were joined on stage by the next performer, Harmon Simon.

Harmon Simon

Harmon is an LA based singer/songwriter who plays lap steel. Like the previous act, he has a famous musical father, Paul Simon. I enjoyed his set immensely, as well.

Austin Skyline from the 18th Floor

One of the reasons I love this venue is the view. This picture captured with my iPhone does not do it proper justice, but you get the idea.

SxSW 2010 - Day 6

2010-03-18T08:15:00.014-05:00

Panels

Today was the first official day of SxSWm. With this being my second year with a platinum badge, I am amazed that I managed to find my second wind. Of course, there will be plenty of time to sleep when I'm dead, as one t-shirt I own says.

The Cloud vs. the Paradise of Infinite Storage

This was an excellent panel, mainly because of Sandy Pearlman. Sandy is a former producer of some renown in punk circles, and is now a professor at McGill University. He typically is placed on panels discussing IP and copyright issues. In this capacity, he plays a role analogous to what Bruce Schneier does in the world of computer security.

In the long run, I think Pearlman has it right. Large mobile storage will be ubiquitous. Once that happens everything will be turned upside down. The cloud will serve a utilitarian purpose, but it will not be a point of control.

Cheap Trick Interview

I am a regular listener of American Public Media's (APM) Sound Opinions podcast. The show is hosted by Jim DeRogatis and Greg Kot, two Chicago newspaper critics who provide the Indie Music equivalent of Siskel and Ebert. In a previous year at SxSW, I had the good fortune to meet and speak with Jim, and was pleased that he remembered me this year.

Upon entering the room for the Cheap Trick Interview, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that Jim and Greg were the hosts. As a result, I knew that it would be a good session.

The actual interview session lasted approximately an hour, and included 3 of the 4 original members, Rick Nielsen, Robin Zander, and Tom Petersson. For some reason, Bun E. Carlos was absent, and when questioned, Robin laughed and said he was under the weather, and sleeping back at the hotel. (Strangely, he was not present at their show the next night, and their website indicates that he is not touring. but is still a member of the band.)

The interview covered their entire careers, and was a great amount of fun. Kudos to SxSW for having Jim and Greg as the hosts, and here's hoping they are tapped for more interviews in the future. My only regret however, is not knowing that they were doing an ACL taping this same day. (Thanks Ed ;( )

Update or RIP: Alex Chilton

I forgot to mention that the subject of Big Star obviously came up at this interview, since Cheap Trick had covered Big Star's In the Street as the theme for That 70's Show. Unfortunately, this is where I first heard the news that Alex Chilton had passed away, on the previous day. This was a bummer since Alex had been scheduled to appear with Big Star at Antones on Saturday night.

Lemmy Kilmister

This was the second interview I attended for the day. This time, the host was awkward and uncomfortable. Lemmy was quite gracious, and kept the whole thing on the rails. Although the session was interesting, I didn't learn anything new that hadn't already been covered in the documentary.

In contrast to the Cheap Trick interview, this one was a FAIL.

Showcases

Zoe Keating

The first showcase of the night was San Francisco based Cellist, Zoe Keating. She does a single woman show with herself on Cello, and bunch of digital effects and delays. Her act is basically Frippertronics for the Cello.

The venue, the Central Presbyterian Church, had fantastic acoustics. Sitting in the balcony, I found the music filled the entire space wonderfully, and could easily have sat through 3 more sets without getting bored.

L.Stadt

This year, I attempted to focus on acts that were not from Austin or Texas, so I hightailed it down 7th Street to the Elysium, to catch the Polish band, L.Stadt. They had an interesting setup, with guitar/lead singer, bass, and two drummers playing traps, one of whom chose to stand.

I enjoyed the set which had elements of Oingo Boingo, as well as a roots rock feel.

Doll and the Kicks

I stumbled across this act while walking past the Emo's Annex on my way to the Hilton Garden. They were obviously British, and from the write-up are playing their fourth straight SxSW, and have toured with Morrissey. They were compelling enough to convince me to enter the tent, I just wish I had an opportunity to catch them again, so that I could hear more than one song.

Benjamin Rose Band

My next stop of the night was the Hilton Garden's 18th floor. The night time view of Austin from here, can't be beat, and every year it seems I consistently discover great bands playing here.

I had specifically penciled in the Benjamin Rose band from Cologne, Germany, after hearing their demo on the SxSW website. They played a 90's alt-rock set reminiscent of the Wallflowers. Very well done.

Motörhead

After seeing the documentary and the interview, I had to go see Lemmy the icon. Having seen this band one other time opening for Emerson, Lake and Powell in 1987, I knew what to expect.

Metal is not normally my cup of tea, but I must say in hindsight, that Mikkey Dee is quite the drummer.

Maldita Vecindad y Los Hijos del Quinto Patio

Antones was my last stop of the night. I was surprised to see a huge line of non-badge holders lined up outside the club. The band in question was from Mexico City, and played a unique mixture of ska and Mexican folk music.

SxSW 2010 - Day 5

2010-03-16T23:09:00.015-05:00

Panels

This was the last day my brother was in town, he headed for the airport after the Ek talk. I'm certain that he enjoyed himself, and I believe he plans on returning next year.

Prototyping Web Apps - Nobody Loves a Wireframe

This panel was basically an argument for using a RAD (Rapid Application Development) approach for standard website design. As far as I could tell, some of the Software Engineering practices from the late 90's are now bleeding out into other disciplines. Nothing surprising here, really.

Music Licensing for Emerging Media: Apps, Widgets, Viral Videos

Honestly, I'm not sure whether I attended this panel or not. If I did, I was diddling with my iPhone the entire time.

Music 2010: Playlists, Networks, Radio & Numbers You Need

This panel, unlike the previous one, featured music PR and marketing guru, Ariel Hyatt. The information was very valuable, and the panel was timely and good prep for the AMF party later in the evening.

The basic message was that if you want to survive in today's Music Biz, you better know how to leverage Web 2.0.

Daniel Ek Keynote Interview

Although my brother and I went to lunch, we were able to catch the last 20-30 minutes of this talk. Ek is the founder of Spotify, an amazing online music service in the UK. The best description I can give for Spotify is that it's what the original Napster should have become.

This was all a bit of a cocktease, however. Anyone from the US who sees a demo of Spotify would most likely want to sign up for the service. They would then discover that they can't, because of licensing and royalty issues peculiar to the US. Ugh!

Devo, the Internet and You

The spud-boys from Akron, Mark Mothersbaugh and Gerry Casale gave a talk as part of SxSWi, rather than SxSWm. As far as I could tell, they did not play this year, even though I heard that Josh Freese was in town playing.

For Devo fans this panel was an extension of the type of humor or gags, typical for the band. I found it mildly funny, but I'm not sure everyone present agreed with me. I won't ruin it other than to say the you should go over to their website and watch the focus group video, if you would like to see what they were up to.

My only disappointment is that I would have loved to have applied for the job of COO of Devo, Inc. Damn you Greg Scholl!

Parties

AMF Tour Smart Party with Martin Atkins, Charlie Cheney, and Ariel Hyatt

Being a proud Austin Music Foundation (AMF) member, I attended their party at Momo's on Tuesday night. In addition to free food, and music by the Chinese band, AV Akubo, AMF hosted several guest speakers.

Charlie Cheney was first and he discussed his website, which is a set of web based tools for managing touring bands. Ariel Hyatt was next and discussed PR and had copies of her book for sale. Both of these talks were well done.

The star of the night however, was the always entertaining, Mr DIY himself, Martin Atkins. He gave an abbreviated and compressed version of his normal talk. This guy is the bomb, and I'm seriously thinking about going to one of his Tour:Smart sessions one of these days.

After speaking, Martin and Austin based act, Chant, jammed on dueling drum kits to close the party.

Films

Les Signes Vitaux/Vital Signs

I managed to catch one film after leaving the Momo's party. Vital Signs is a French Canadian film taking place in Quebec. The film was in French with English subtitles.

The story follows a volunteer/nurse as she works with multiple patients, under hospice care. I won't give away too much of the story, but the main character has challenges of her own, and eventually is asked to leave.

I liked this movie because it fearlessly addressed the subject of death and terminal illness, coaxing the viewer into a state of poignant introspection. I was forced to revisit my own personal experience several years ago, with the loss of my last grandparent.

SxSW 2010 - Day 4

2010-03-15T07:59:00.016-05:00

Panels

Adobe HTML5 vs. Flash debate

This talk was essentially an Adobe product plug. One interesting thing mentioned however, was their Packager for iPhone. It allows Adobe developers to create iPhone apps, without leaving the Adobe environment.

Who needs Venture Capital?

This was a paenl very near and dear to my heart, given my personal experience with failed startups. The talk was fairly balanced, having both bootstrappers, and VC wonks on the panel.

I especially appreciated the fact that the panel included, Chris Wanswrath (aka. defunkt) from github. I am a huge fan of github for their service, and I also love their no nonsense, no VC approach. They're quite inspiring actually.

I was able to talk to defunkt after the panel, and received some bonus schwag because I was one of the few people (perhaps the only person) in the room that had listened to their github podcast.

Evan Williams Keynote Address

Evan is one of the founders of twitter. Twitter was launched at SxSWi in 2007. Having only gotten a music badge that year, I heard the buzz and signed up for an account that week, but didn't really understand what it was. Several months later a friend, Ian Varley, suggested we connect at an AMF mixer. This was about a month before SxSW 2008. It took a year, but I think that is when it clicked for me.

Back to the present

Evan drew a big crowd. So big in fact, that it required 3 satellite ballrooms in the Austin Convention Center, with live video piped in to the other rooms. There was nothing really surprising said during this address, since I was well aware of Twitter history and lore. The latter part of Evan's interview was mostly a pitch for Twitter's @Everywhere.

Jaron Lanier Talk

Virtual reality pioneer and guru, Jaron Lanier gave a talk around the subjects covered in his new book, You Are Not A Gadget. Before beginning the talk, he took the opportunity to play a reed, wind instrument from Ancient Greco-Roman times, that was a predecessor to the Pipe Organ.

His main argument seems to be concern about the future economy. He believes that the digital revolution will eventually put almost everyone out of work. I agree that there is some room for concern, but his arguments sound very similar to Ray Kurzweil's Singularity predictions, or those from the Hard AI movement. Although I have not read his book yet, I think some of his assertions are overblown. I also feel that he is overly dependent upon what I call zero-sum game thinking.

None the less, his talk was provocative, and I am looking forward to reading his book on my Kindle. Jaron finished the talk with another instrument from his collection of over a thousand, a pair of Ukrainian reed flutes (for lack of a better name).

Films

Lemmy

The first film of the night was a biographical documentary about the larger than life front-man of Motorhead, Lemmy Kilmister. Although I am not a Metal Head, this was a fun movie. Lemmy and his entourage (who looked like they stepped right out of the Spinal Tap movie) were present at this screening, because it was the premier.

At 63 years of age, Lemmy is clearly the last man standing having a career that spans working as a roadie for Jimi Hendrix, and being in the band, Hawkwind, in addition to Motorhead. When not touring, he basically hangs out in the Sunset Blvd area of LA, and is very accessible to his fans.

The movie also contains vignettes of other rockstars, like Slash, Anthrax, and Metallica expressing their admiration for the godfather of Heavy Metal Music, and recounting great stories about their interactions with him in the past.

In closing, I'll just say that I would recommend this movie to anyone, regardless of whether they are into his music or not.

Tony

My brother and I were unable to stay for the Q&A after the Lemmy screening in order to make this film at the Alamo Ritz. The film deals with the bleak and dark subject of a serial killer, in the heart of London. I won't give away any spoilers, but it seemed that in this movie the city itself was a supporting character to the killer, Tony.

Although the story was quite twisted, I also recommend this film.

SxSW 2010 - Day 3

2010-03-15T07:49:00.016-05:00

Panels

What's Open Video and Why Does It Matter?

The first talk of the day discussed efforts to promote Open Video. Members of the Mozilla Foundation and YouTube described recent efforts to move forward with HTML5 and newer codecs. The plans are encouraging, hopefully we will see something substantive by SxSW 2011.

Conversations with Michel Gondry

French born, director Michel Gondry drew the largest crowd for a Film or Music interview this year. The line began forming about one hour before the session started.

Michel discussed his career, his music videos, and of course his films. He had a film, Thorn in the Heart, at the conference this year, but I was unable to make a screening.

Towards the end of his interview he talked about a project he ran through his website. Fans could submit a photograph, and receive a sketch by Michel for $20. Michel later published a book with all of the sketches, and had a copy available on stage. Surprisingly, two people in the audience had purchased sketches, and he invited one of them on stage, for a side by side comparison.

This was a great interview of a great artist. My only lament is that it seemed clear that some things had changed, as Michel moved from Europe to Hollywood. Perhaps not all was for the better.

A view of the packed house in Room 18ABC.

Fun with HTML5 Video

This was another talk about the Open Video. In addition to the support and promise of Safari on the iPhone, there is good news on the Mozilla front. I found most of the HTML5 demos pretty impressive, particularly those using Hot Spots. I'm sure these technologies will pick up a head of steam over the course of the next year.

Films

Camp Victory, Afghanistan

This film was a documentary following a group of advisers from the New Jersey National Guard in Herat, Afghanistan. The US soldiers are responsible for training and preparing the Afghan National Army (ANA), for their role as a functioning peace keeping force. It emphasizes much of the commonality between the Americans and Afghans, while specifically focusing on the relationship between an American Commanding Officer, and his Afghan counterpart, the ANA General.

Throughout the movie, you discover that many of the Afghan soldiers are illiterate, poor, and have poorly maintained and out-dated equipment. It is apparent by the end of the film, that the ANA is still unprepared for the job ahead.

The film ends with the American advisers being replaced by Italians/NATO forces, and follows them back to their homes in NJ. During this segment, it details a rather depressing event where the American CO is informed that the ANA General has died in a helicopter accident. The Colonel is visibly shaken, and laments the fact that accidents like this are common, because the Afghans primarily use Soviet helicopters left behind, after the previous conflict.

It is my hope that this documentary gets wider distribution, since it tells an important story.

Futurestates

This was actually a set of 6 short films, prepared for PBS. Each short was approximately 15 minutes in length. Five of them presented future dystopias where Climate Change and/or our current Financial Crisis have progressed to catastrophic proportions.

I was somewhat disappointed with all 5 of these shorts, because none of the characters in these stories displayed any rebellion or disobedience to authority. In every film, the characters just went along with forced relocation, or whatever else the authorities mandated. Myself and another libertarian friend both decided that we were not enamored of this underlying message.

The last film was somewhat interesting. It was a first person narrative about a plastic grocery bag. After being initially picked up at a grocery store checkout, it is used to carry lunches and tennis balls, then used to curb the dog where it is subsequently thrown out. Ending up in a landfill, it is later picked up by the wind, and travels around the globe.

The narrative was entertaining because they gave the bag a voice, and a personality. I becomes attached to it's maker, the later goes through depression and separation anxiety, before learning to enjoy its freedom. I thought this short was very creative, and well done.

Electra Luxx

This was a pure Grindhouse Exploitation flick, where the main character is a retired, porn actress. Honestly, I felt the story was so-so, even though I enjoyed the hot chicks in spandex. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending upon how you look at it), the projector at the Paramount broke down about 1 hour into the film.

Trying to salvage the day, director Sebastian Gutierrez, and cast (including Carla Gugino of Watchmen fame) climbed on stage with their finger puppets, in an attempt to entertain the crowd. Unfortunately, the theater staff were unable to repair the projector, so we never saw the rest of the film. FAIL.

SxSW 2010 - Day 2

2010-03-13T00:17:00.024-06:00

Strangely, I have no pictures from this day.

Update

Ok, I lied. I found a picture from 3 days later of a poster/drawing made during the Boyd talk.

Panels

We F*cked Up

This was a humorous panel of Web Design consultants speaking at length about their worst screw-ups, and war stories. The thinking here was that others would learn from their mistakes.

During the talk and later Q&A, they encouraged members of the audience to also share their war stories. This raised the entertainment value of the panel immeasurably.

Directing the Dead: Genre Directors Spill their Guts

The first film panel that I attended. The guide listed the following directors as panelists:

Ti West
Quentin Tarantino
Ruben Fleischer
Scott Weinberg
Matt Reeves
Robert Rodriguez
Neil Marshall

Unfortunately, QT was a no-show. I suspect that he had something special originally planned for the conference, but I guess that I will really never know.

Later in the evening while waiting outside of the Alamo Ritz, I did hear that the QT Fest may return this year. Hopefully, I can score a ticket if it does.

Sans QT, the panel was still very entertaining, with each panelist supplying personal anecdotes about their films.

Opening Remarks: Privacy and Publicity

Danah Boyd from Microsoft Research gave this talk. It seemed to me this presenter was another policy wonk type, with a subtly hidden agenda. Of course, google's recent faux pas with their Buzz launch was covered in great detail. Facebook's profile ACL change was also discussed.

Strangely, not a word was spoken about Microsoft Live or any of their Web 2.0 products. I'm assuming that we can all look to them for our salvation. Of course, it wouldn't surprise me at all to discover that Danah is working with the new Cyber Security Czar. With Microsoft and the government working arm in arm, we can all sleep better now.

CSS3 and Fonts

Another Typography session, it was also interesting. I must say however, that as this CSS3 functionality is standardized across multiple browsers, talks like this will cease to be engaging.

Like the other web design talks, there was ample opportunity to kick the dead horse of browsers, IE6.

Films

Cold Weather

Unfortunately, my brother and I waited in line for about 40 minutes to discover that we wouldn't be seated. Apparently, for some screenings, particularly the premiers, the cast and crew soak up all of the available seats. We found out that this could have been avoided, if we both had obtained Xxpress passes.

SXXpress Passes

Although I had a Platinum Badge last year as well, I was totally unaware of the existence of the SXXpress passes. They were introduced with last year's Film Screenings, and have been expanded to include the Music Showcases.

Basically, each badge holder is entitled to 1 pass per day (or 2 per day if you hold a platinum badge). A small percentage of seats are reserved for all screenings and music showcases. Each pass is issued with the holders name, venue and day. They allow the holder to cut to the front of the line for an event.

I liked this system, but noticed that it was not well publicized. It is obviously a sign that SxSW is still growing.

BTW, here is my brief attendance estimate for SxSW. Interactive attendance was noticeably up, film was flat, and music was slightly down.

American Grindhouse

This was another very well produced documentary about the history of Grindhouse cinema. I would recommend this film to any of my friends, and have since put Tod Browning's Freaks in my Netflix queue.

SxSW 2010 - Day 1

2010-03-12T09:24:00.019-06:00

My younger brother Sean joined me this year for SxSWi and SxSWf. This was his first trip to Austin. Since the panels started fairly late today and the weather was awesome, we walked around town for a while.

Panels

How Sci-Fi shaped the Internet

I expected more out of this talk than it delivered, and ended up bailing early. My brother went to one of the design related panels. I think that might have been a better choice to be honest.

Getting Stoked on Web Typography

This was a very interesting talk focusing on the new font features coming in with CSS3, and how it has been adopted on the more popular browsers. The talk was a success for two reasons:

The presenter was passionate about the subject
She had lots of actual examples in her presentation

There was also good information about how to use free and Creative Commons Fonts in your website design. All in all, this was one of the better talks I attended.

Pay TV vs. Internet, the battle for your TV

This was the most entertaining panel of the entire Conference. Marc Cuban (broadcast.com, the Dallas Mavericks, and now HDnet) squared off in a debate with Avner Ronen of Boxee. Cuban's main talking point was revenue, and the fact that none of the new Internet ventures had any.

During this panel however, I couldn't help but think about Chritensen's The Innovator's Dilemma. One thing that seemed to escape both speakers is why it is called the Internet. Neither speaker seemed to be able to visualize the possibility of mixing private and public backbones.

For now, Marc will continue to make money. Sometime in the future however, that will change.

Screenburn Lounge

Sean and I made a trip through the Screenburn Lounge. I noticed one interesting thing, the Austin Lego Club.

Films

Like several other people I have spoken to, I find the film portion of my platinum badge to be the most enjoyable. My brother and I made a point to try and see several every night.

Red Chapel

This was an excellent documentary about 3 Danish comedians who travel to North Korea, in order to perform a famous sketch involving a transvestite, as part of a cultural exchange. Although 2 of the 3 people were born in South Korea, neither actually spoke any Korean. In addition, one comedian had a speech impediment, making him incomprehensible to his handlers. This allowed him sufficient cover to comment in real-time, throughout the course of the film.

The real objective with this documentary was to be able to film in North Korea and expose the truth, without raising suspicions. Reality turned out being far stranger than anything that would appear in a South Park episode. One particularly stark and eerie scene showed the group traveling along the empty 5 lane boulevards of Pyongyang (a city of 3.2 million people), at noon.

American, the Bill Hicks Story

Seeing this film was the second home-run of the night. The film was a biographical documentary, of the Houston born comedian, Bill Hicks. No description that I could write could do this film justice. All I will say is that is a must see about a true comedic genius.

Update

I forgot to mention that this was the premier of the film and that Richard Linklater was in the audience, as well as Bill's mother and older brother. Also present were two comics who worked along side of Bill at his home club in Houston. But most importantly, the co-directors of the film had an extensive Q&A sessions after the screening.

RIP: T-Bone Wolk

2010-03-01T19:06:00.007-06:00

T-Bone Wolk, NY-based session bass player extraordinaire, best known for his work with Hall & Oates, and the SNL Band passed away Saturday, 2/27/2010. He died from a heart attack.

This is particularly sad because the Hall & Oates reunion tour was about to get underway. For those of you unfamiliar with his work, go to the excellent site Live from Daryl's House.

T-Bone is actually playing guitar in the Daryl's house series and is the musical director. He's the guy in the hat, sitting next to Daryl, most of the time. Watch one episode, you'll know how much he will be missed.

Veterinary Woes and What's Next

2010-02-12T23:31:00.002-06:00

Recent Woes

The past month has been a little rough. The day after witnessing my Ravens lose their Divisional Round Playoff Game to that team from Indy, one of my two cats contracted Pancreatitis and Hepatic Lipidosis.

After a week in ER, and another 2 weeks with a feeding tube, I had little time for anything but work and taking care of her. Fortunately, she seems to have recovered nicely. The only casualty so far, has been my Lifestreaming experiment

Near Horizon

The forecast calls for lots of music. First, there's SxSW in a month, followed by a fantastic week in April, where I will get to see Porcupine Tree, Jeff Beck, and Chick Corea within a 4 day period. Can't wait.

Allan Holdsworth at the Continental Club

2009-12-12T15:38:00.008-06:00

Allan Holdsworth returned to Austin for an early and intimate show at the Continental Club. This show was very similar to the show that I saw, a little over a year ago, at the same venue. And once again, the band consisted of Chad Wackerman on Drums, and Jimmy Johnson on Bass.

The show took off with the Fifth and Fred, touching base with Proto-Cosmos somewhere along the way before landing about 90 minutes later. The problem as always, is his shows leave you wanting more. And with dates announced for early next year with Bozzio, Mastellotto and Levin, as well as others with Alan Pasqua, I am left in a quandary concerning whether to blow my Frequent Flyer miles on a trip heading West or East.

The best part of the show at the Continental was the small crowd, and getting to actually chat with Allan, Chad and Jimmy after the show. I begged Allan to bring Alan Pasqua along to Austin one of these days, and he smilingly acknowledged that it he would enjoy it, as well.

Dweezil Zappa Plays Zappa at Stubbs

2009-11-20T06:43:00.012-06:00

I saw Zappa Plays Zappa again after at Stubbs last night. Previously, I had seen ZPZ two times. Unlike those previous shows, I was a little tentative about this one. If I am to believe the rumors, all is not well in the ZPZ camp. There's squabbling with other Zappa Tribute Bands, special guests going AWOL, and musicians leaving the "core" band.

For this particular tour, there are no Alumni/Special Guests, the primary keyboard player, Aaron Arntz is gone, and there's a new lead singer, Ben Thomas. Ben was a very accomplished vocalist, but didn't have the extra umph and stage presence of a Napoleon Murphy Brock or Ray White.

The show started somewhere around 8PM, with Apostrophe and lasted approximately 2 hours, maybe 2 hours and 15 minute. Dweezil mentioned after the first song that there would be an Austin guitarist joining the band on stage, but didn't identify him at that time. I found the remainder of the show to be well done, but lackluster when compared to the two previous shows I had seen. There was some effort to play new material not covered on previous ZPZ tours, however they obviously avoided some songs.

Later, the special guest ended up being Eric Johnson. Once again, I listened to Eric's somewhat shaky blues improvisational skills. Now I like Eric just as much as the next fan, but jamming is not one of his strengths. This show confirmed what I had witnessed at a Robben Ford show a couple years back. Eric had the same problem then, although it was more obvious because David Grissom was also on stage. Fortunately, Dweezil helped keep this potential train wreck on the rails.

My remaining comments about the show: Sheila Gonzalez plays some absolutely awesome Saxophone (and Keys) during the show, and Billy Hulting on Vibes/Percussion, and Joe Travers were also impressive. This was however, the weakest of the 3 shows that I have seen. Then again, it's hard to top having Ray White, as lead singer.

Jean-Luc Ponty at the One World Theater

2009-11-14T08:19:00.003-06:00

Oh, what a show! I've been looking forward to seeing Jean-Luc Ponty for several months, since purchasing the tickets. Admittedly, I have not kept up with his career lately, but JLP's music is like an old friend. It's hard to believe that Cosmic Messenger, Enigmatic Ocean, and Imaginary Voyage are over 30 years old. Time surely flies, as it seems like only yesterday that I was listening to these records in my college frat-house.

Last night, my friend Dan and I went to the later (and latter) of 2 shows at the One World. The seats were fantastic, being in the front row, putting us no more than about 10 feet away from Jean-Luc and his 3 band-mates:

Baron Browne - 4 and 5 String Electric Bass
Damien Schmidt - Drums
William Lecomte - Keyboards

I was unable to find a set list, but I reckon that they played close to 90 minutes, with each musician taking a solo, and a single song encore, Big Country. I can remember them playing Cosmic Messenger, and a new arrangement of The Struggle of the Turtle to the Sea. I found it somewhat funny that even though there was no guitarist present, I could hear the guitar parts inside of my head.

I was very impressed with the band, and keyboardist was fantastic. Jean-Luc joked that the drummer Damien wanted to get out of playing, and become a producer. That will be a shame if he does.

In closing let me just say that I now wish I had bought tickets to both shows.

The Unaswered Question

2009-10-26T08:11:00.008-05:00

This past weekend, I attended Pat Pattison's Songwriting Workshop, for the second time. Like the first workshop, it was a fantastic and fun weekend.

My purpose in posting however, is not to discuss that, but to talk about a set of video lectures, the Pat recommended. The Lectures are titled, The Unanswered Question, Six Talks at Harvard by Leonard Bernstein.

At the present time, I have only viewed the first and second talks, and these lectures are amazing. They tie together concepts that I have acquired over my musical life. Some of this information has already been relayed to me in the past, by my teacher, John Esposito. Over time, I had found similar threads and references, in interviews of Steve Reich and Victor Wooten. Of course, Pat is also very tuned into this meme.

Even though I still many hours of viewing to go, I can safely say that I know I will never look at Music the same way again. Among other things, the Lectures provide the framework for a Grand Unified Theory that succeeds admirably, in tying together Language and Linguistics with Music.

These lectures are must viewing for anyone that loves music.

Little Feat at the One World Theater

2009-10-21T11:03:00.003-05:00

Little Feat played two shows at the One World Theater last night. I caught the late one with a friend of mine, and was expecting a good show, since I was in the front row.

I last saw Feat about around 2001 or so, at Stubbs. They played a fairly long show at that time. This time, I estimate that they played for approximately 90 minutes. I was surprised (and somewhat disappointed) that vocalist Shaun Murphy was no longer with the band, and that Richie Haywood was not on tour (for health reasons). The band presently performs as 6 piece:

Fred Tackett - Guitar and Vocals
Paul Berrer - Guitar and Lead Vocals
Bill Payne - Keys
Sam Clayton - Percussion
Kenny Gradney - Bass
Gabe Ford - Drums

I can't remember the entire set list, other than Times Loves a Hero, Oh, Atlanta, and Dixie Chicken. The show was good, but not stellar. There were some sound issues (something that I didn't expect at a One World Show).

Ravens vs. Patriots - Week 4

2009-10-04T16:51:00.003-05:00

It sucks to lose a game like this. Mark Clayton, you have got to catch that ball. Several Ravens and Coach Harbaugh will most likely be fined, for comments about the officiating. Harbaugh was clearly audible dropping the S* bomb on TV.

To be honest, the referees deserve every bit of criticism they got.

ACL 2009 - Day 3

2009-10-04T09:00:00.005-05:00

... and it's still threatening to rain

Faced with another day of down-pours, and my allergies kicking up, I decided to punt! Would have liked to have seen Pearl Jam, but it's not in the cards.

Given the choice between rain and heat, give me the heat!

Update

Looks like I missed an opportunity to slosh around in Dillo Dirt. Yum, yum!

ACL 2009 - Day 2

2009-10-03T13:33:00.005-05:00

... and it rained
Today was very reminiscent of SxSW 98(?), where it rained non-stop for most of the music festival. While welcome by the drought sufferers for sure, it really put the whammy on the festival. I had rain gear, but declared defeat at around 5:30PM, and headed home. Here's a summary of what I was able to see during this shortened day:

The Henry Clay People

They were listed as Pop/Punk, but they sounded more like a late 60's group to me. Towards the end of their set, the played of cover of Bang a Gong, by T Rex

The Virgins

A NY dance rock band, kind of like the Velvet Underground meets the New York Dolls. They were entertaining, and seemed to appeal to the under 25 crowd.

Ravonettes

Had to cancel their show. They were replaced by a totally forgettable band from Austin, that took their place. My friend Dan and I both agreed to move on after hearing one song.

Soul Stirrers

An absolutely kick ass gospel/soul band. Quite the rhythm section!

Bell X1

This was a great Irish pop band sitting somewhere between U2 and Van Morrison. The piano player was quite exceptional. I'd go see these guys again, for certain.

Sam Roberts Band

A fantastic band from Montreal. They sounded somewhat like 3 Doors Down. Excellent vocals and musicianship. Made passing the time in the pouring rain, tolerable.

The Airborne Toxic Event

Another very competent pop band.

The weather

At this point in time, I was cold and starting to get soaked, even though I had a Poncho on. I decided to make it the end of the day.

ACL 2009 - Day 1

2009-10-02T23:59:00.004-05:00

Got up fairly late today, and decided to trek on over to Kerbey Lane for some Gingerbread Pancakes, before heading downtown. As a result, I was only able to hear the last chorus of Asleep at the Wheel's last song, as I entered the gate.

After checking out the new lawn in Zilker, and filling up my Camel Pack with water, I headed over to the Dell Stage for Blitzen Trapper. As I arrived in the area, the lead singer was doing his best Robert Plant impersonation, but the rest of the show slowly wound down into some fairly uninteresting music.

Medeshi, Martin & Wood

The Livestrong stage was the next stop of the day. Medeshi, Martin & Wood is a trio, consisting of keys (mainly B3), bass, and drums. They were listed as a Jam Band, and I feel that was a fairly accurate description. Unfortunately, I can't say I'm a big Jam Band fan. I would have preferred hearing a trio like this in a pure Prog context.

Coheed and Cambria

This a Metal Prog band from the Mid-Hudson Valley area of NY, my old stomping grounds. They are a fairly competent Prog/Metal band, and fortunately do not do the Cookie Monster vocals.

They drew a very respectable crowd, and played a cover The Church's song, Under the Milkyway towards the end of the set. Given the age of the crowd, I'm not sure how many present recognized it, even after the band acknowledged the band.

Robyn Hitchcock and the Venus 3

A good set of British Power Pop band, with Bill Rieflin on drums. A very nice change of pace for the afternoon.

The Greencards

The Greencards are a Bluegrass band from Australia, from what I could gather, they were all very accomplished musicians. There was a big problem however with sound bleed over, from the other stage. It was impossible to hear some of their songs, because the song from the Livestrong stage was drowning it out.

Them Crooked Vultures

Ok, they're supposed to be a super-group. I found this band to be pretty uninteresting, and it seemed like they mailed it in to me. Of course, I was only 1000 rows back from the stage. Actually standing on top of the hill in front of the AMD stage, in order to watch the video.

I'm a big Led Zep fan, but not a fan of Nirvana, the Foo Fighters, or Queens of the Stone Age. I find the latter 3 bands tiring, at best. Sorry, but I don't get this band, nor do I get the hype. These guys are no Chickenfoot. (LOL)

Yeah, yeah, yeah

The last band of the day. All I could say was No, no, no. Dan and I amscrayed during the middle of the set.

Observations

For some reason, several of the stages (XBox, Livestrong, BMI) seemed noticeably smaller. However, the PAs certainly weren't. In fact, there were multiple problems with bleed over. It was impossible to hear anything from the BMI stage, if Livestrong had something. Sound was also leaking from the Austin Ventures, to the AMD. This was truly annoying!

ACL 2009 - The Quickening

2009-10-01T13:24:00.005-05:00

It's that time of the year again. Friday 1100, be there, aloha!

Ravens vs. the Browns - week 3

2009-09-28T03:33:00.003-05:00

As part of my very extended weekend trip, I was present at M&T Bank Stadium, to watch my Ravens slaughter the Browns, 34 - 3.

After raining all morning, the sky cleared up just before kick-off, and we had nothing but blue skys. As luck would have it, my friend and I were able to swap our upper deck tickets for seats in the Club Level. What a great exclamation point, to punctuate the trip with.