SxSW 2010 - Day 8

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

... 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!

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Update

Looks like I missed an opportunity to slosh around in Dillo Dirt. Yum, yum!

ACL 2009 - Day 2

... 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

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

It's that time of the year again. Friday 1100, be there, aloha!

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Ravens vs. the Browns - week 3

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.

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Porcupine Tree x2

PT is presently one of my favorite rock bands. When the tour to support The Incident was announced, I was a little disappointed that I would have to fly to see them (again). I originally bought the tickets for the Philadelphia show, back in April. Things looked like they were working out well for me, since I could also visit my family, and catch a Ravens game during the same trip. I had also arranged to meet up with some friends from Austin, who were flying to see them in Philly, as well.

Several months later, a Baltimore show was added on Friday night, making my (and my friend's) schedule a bit more complicated. As a result, I ended up having to drive from Leonardtown to Baltimore, catch the PT show, drive to Philly the next day for the second show, then get up at 4:30 AM to drive back to Baltimore to tailgate, on Sunday morning. Needless to say, it was exhausting, but I made it. Fortunately, next weekend will be nice and relaxing with just the ACL Festival (LOL ;)

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Rams Head Live - Baltimore, MD - Friday 9/25

In hindsight, this may have been the show of the year for me. It was the better venue and performance of the two shows. The only slight minus was the lack of seating. It's a GA venue, with one web site listing the capacity at about 1600 people. If it wasn't a sell-out, it was close, because the club was packed.

The openers, Kings X, played for approximately an hour, followed by 2 sets of an hour each, by PT. For this tour, the first hour set consisted of a complete performance of the Incident, with the 2nd set consisting of a rotation of some older material.

The band had posted a No pictures or recoding request at the venue, and I complied with their request, for both shows. I was able to secure a position, right behind the sound board for this show, which made for an excellent listening experience.

Afterwards some members of PT were out and about. In particular, John Wesley, Colin Edwin, and Richard Barbieri. I'm not much of an autograph collector, but I did get to chat with Colin for a second. I noticed Richard Barbieri high tailed it quickly out of there, and that unlike Houston in 2007, Steven Wilson was nowhere to be found. I asked Colin to talk the band into playing Texas more, and in particular Austin. It sounds like their agent is deliberately restricting them to large metros, because of concerns about the US economy.

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Electric Factory - Philadelphia, PA - Saturday 9/26

This venue was also GA, and a bit bigger, holding approximately 2000 to 2500 people. The sound was good, but not exceptional. In general, there's a certain vibe that comes with attending a Philly/South Jersey show that detracts from the experience. True to form, a fight did break out during the show. I called it about 2 minutes before it happened, to my friends. It's kind of sad that this wasn't a surprise.

There were quite a few faces in the crowd that I recognized from the previous night, and this show was the first indication for me, that PT is becoming very popular. The set list was essentially the same, with some differences in the second set, as had been noted on the PT boards. One surprise however, was Normal from the EP, Nil Recurring.

I did talk to several people who mentioned that on previous tours, PT had played the Keswick when they came to Philly (where I saw King Crimson and which has seating). I also noticed, that there were a significant number of females in the audience, which is noteworthy for any band that might even tangentially have the label Prog associated with it. Perhaps this shouldn't be surprising since although they are labeled, Neo-Prog, they seem to be able to attract fans from the Prog, Metal, and Pop worlds in a way I've never seen before.

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Opening Act - Kings X

My friends, Ron and Alissa, have raved about this band for a while. They are actually from Houston, and after seeing them twice, I am now sorry I didn't go see them at the Red Eyed Fly in Austin. The lead singer/bass player, Brother Doug, is awesome. The guy is one of those classic rock scream/singers like Robert Plant or Ian Gillian, but takes it to a new level.

I will go see these guys, next time the return to Austin.

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Good News

Steven Wilson mentioned a Spring Tour! Here's hoping for a stop in TX.

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Update

PT has a blog and pictures from the Electric Factory show

Living Colour at Emos

Living Colour is back! For about 2.5 hours, I saw this incredible band rise like a Phoenix, from the ashes, outside at Emos. To be honest, Emos seemed almost like an inappropriate venue due to its size. However, in hindsight, it was just fine.

The band covered material from Vivid, Times Up, Stain, and the latest effort, The Chair in the Doorway. Realizing that I don't have a copy of Collideascope, I'm not sure if they played any material from the album. (I just remedied that problem via the Amazon music store).

A highlight of the night was the band's cover of Crosstown Traffic to commemorate Jimi Hendrix. Ironically, this show occurred on the 39th anniversary of his death, 9/18/1970. The other highlight for me was getting to talk to Vernon after the show, and talk about our mutual friends, all associated with the late, great, Arthur Rhames.

In closing, let me say this was a great show, and I hope to see them again. Hopefully, next year!!!

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Ravens vs. the Chiefs - week 1

Something strange is happening here. The Ravens had 501 yards of Offense, winning 38 - 24, with 5 TDs and 1 Field Goal. Joe Flacco had 300 yds passing, and the 3 headed monster in the backfield, Rice, McGahee, and McClain are really going to be something.

So this is what it's like to have an Offense?

Added bonus from yesterday, I finally found a Sports Bar in Austin where fellow Baltimorons congregate, The Tavern on 12th and Lamar. There's probably 30 of us.

Bela Fleck, Zakir Hussain, and Edgar Meyer at the Bass Concert Hall

An eclectic, but interesting show. Bela Fleck, was accompanied by Tabla Master, Zakir Hussain, and Acoustic Bassist, Edgar Meyer. I've seen Bela 3 times within the past two years at ACL and SxSW, with the Sparrow Quartet and the Flecktones. It is also the second time that I have seen Zakir, who is incredible. This is the first time that I have ever seen Edgar play.

The show last night, consisted of two sets of approximately 1 hour, with a short intermission, and a single song encore. The acoustics were fantastic, with this trio being almost tailor made for the Bass Hall.

All I can say about this show is that it was a fascinating fusion of Indian Classical, Bluegrass, and American Jazz, by 3 masters. Plenty of room was left for improvisation by each musician. Any further attempts at a description would fall into the Dancing about Architecture category.

This trio did record a CD, The Melody of Rhythm which I highly recommend.