First of all, thanks to everyone who kept up with the blog during South By Southwest. It felt great knowing that you were checking in on us and hopefully you enjoyed some of the stories, pictures, and music that we posted here.
The question is, now that SXSW is over, what do I do with this site? I could just do nothing and let it stagnate, un-updated like half of the content on the internet (it's pretty frustrating when you realize all the preliminary research you've been putting in to a 'new' form of multimodal teaching techniques was in fact last modified in January of 1997).
No, instead I think I'll keep it going. There have been plenty of times I've heard some great new music, read an interesting article, or found some ridiculously good cheap eats and wanted everyone to know about it, but had no platform.
Yes, I realize that I have no specific qualifications that single me out against all the other jamokes currently in the blogging game, but it's my hope that in some way the breadth of topics that I'll touch upon will be unique, if in no other way than by being my own, and therefore different, than what's already out there.
So, if anyone's still reading, I hope you'll check in every once in a while and let me know how I'm doing.
Oh, and a quick teaser: We're about to take in two kittens from a local shelter, so you can count on some pictures of them in the next couple of days to start things off!
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Saturday, April 4, 2009
The Belle(s) of The Ball
At this point it would probably be pretty redundant to go over again why I liked the following bands, so in the spirit of instant gratification, here's a quick little list of who I was most impressed by and an attempt to somehow forward you to a place where you can listen to their music since I haven't figured out/haven't attempted embedding mp3's yet.
Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears:
By far the best discovery for me at SXSW. Here's their website. The main page has a music player on the top, start with 'Bitch, I Love You' and 'Gunpowder'.
Cursive:
From The Hips - Live on Letterman - off of Mama, I'm Swollen
Dorothy at Forty - off of Happy Hollow
A Gentleman Caller - off of The Ugly Organ
The Casualty - off of Domestica
The Avett Brothers:
Punk/Bluegrass. 'Nuff said.
Go to their Myspace and listen to 'Colorshow', the song that got me into them.
Two other gems off the same album are 'Talk on Indolence' (video here) and Distraction #74 (use the music player in the top right corner here)
The Thermals:
Lots of stuff to listen to on their myspace page. Start with Here's Your Future, We Were Sick, and Now We Can See
The Hold Steady:
Myspace. I was a late convert to liking this band. I just hadn't heard much of their stuff until the single Sequestered in Memphis came into the station. Start with that.
Marcy Playground:
Seriously, I know everyone is signing 'Sex and Candy' to themselves right now, but I was really impressed by these guys. Here's a song off the same album.
Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears:
By far the best discovery for me at SXSW. Here's their website. The main page has a music player on the top, start with 'Bitch, I Love You' and 'Gunpowder'.
Cursive:
From The Hips - Live on Letterman - off of Mama, I'm Swollen
Dorothy at Forty - off of Happy Hollow
A Gentleman Caller - off of The Ugly Organ
The Casualty - off of Domestica
The Avett Brothers:
Punk/Bluegrass. 'Nuff said.
Go to their Myspace and listen to 'Colorshow', the song that got me into them.
Two other gems off the same album are 'Talk on Indolence' (video here) and Distraction #74 (use the music player in the top right corner here)
The Thermals:
Lots of stuff to listen to on their myspace page. Start with Here's Your Future, We Were Sick, and Now We Can See
The Hold Steady:
Myspace. I was a late convert to liking this band. I just hadn't heard much of their stuff until the single Sequestered in Memphis came into the station. Start with that.
Marcy Playground:
Seriously, I know everyone is signing 'Sex and Candy' to themselves right now, but I was really impressed by these guys. Here's a song off the same album.
Best Meal in Austin
Before going to Austin, we got ourselves pretty excited about all of our food options. Unfortunately, things didn't quite go as planned. The BBQ and most of the TexMex were pretty underwhelming on the whole, but then, like a shining beacon of hope, there was Wahoo's Fish Taco.
Now, this wasn't really the most authentic meal in the world, as I think this is kind of like a mini-chain out there, but big portions, lots of options, and great tasting food are what I was looking for, and Wahoo's did not dissapoint...I mean, it necessitated pictures, so that's certainly saying something, right?
Bottom line, anytime you get to order your meal, and then they give you the option to have whatever you decided on smothered in any of four (i think) types of sauces (including queso!), I'm pretty much sold.
Also, for the record, my BBQ vote goes to Iron Works. Peep this previous post for the hard evidence.
Now, this wasn't really the most authentic meal in the world, as I think this is kind of like a mini-chain out there, but big portions, lots of options, and great tasting food are what I was looking for, and Wahoo's did not dissapoint...I mean, it necessitated pictures, so that's certainly saying something, right?
Bottom line, anytime you get to order your meal, and then they give you the option to have whatever you decided on smothered in any of four (i think) types of sauces (including queso!), I'm pretty much sold.
Also, for the record, my BBQ vote goes to Iron Works. Peep this previous post for the hard evidence.
Saturday Happenings
Who we saw:
Sky Larkin
Fastball
Anchorsong
Stereo Pony
Octopus Project
Efterklang
An Horse
Voxtrot
Backseat Goodbye
Marcy Playground
Notables:
Stereo Pony was an awesome example of straight ahead J-rock. The all-girl trio started off Japan Nite #2 in great fashion. And, as if they weren't cute enough as it was, knowing no English they read pre-translated messages to the audience in between songs along the lines of 'though we speak no English, we hope that we can share ourselves with you through our music. thank you.'
Caught the end of Efterklang's set on the way in to see An Horse and was very pleasantly suprised with what I heard.
Seeing Marcy Playground capped off our 1990's-early 2000's nostalgic trifecta (having already seen Third Eye Blind and Fastball), but there was a distinctly different feel to this show than the others. Where Third Eye Blind and Fastball both played relatively high profile venues (both being broadcast on tv), Marcy Playground came on stage a little after 1 am in a small courtyard nestled between two bars. The crowd was extremely strange, leaving me with the feeling that most didn't even really know who was about to come on stage. This show was one of the first that Marcy Playground has done in years and watching them was refreshing. It really felt like they were here to come out and play rock music. They made no effort to try and look younger or hip to make up for the fact that they were sick of playing the same songs over and over again. In fact, I think their hiatus did them good because they were able to play some of their older stuff with a grittyness that I think was missing in the very polished versions that Fastball and Third Eye Blind presented. Don't get me wrong, it was fun to see those two, but now that I have it's just kind of like, ok, that was interesting, but I have absolutely no need to see either of them again. Marcy Playground, on the other hand, can count on seeing me in the crowd next time they come through Boston.
Sky Larkin
Fastball
Anchorsong
Stereo Pony
Octopus Project
Efterklang
An Horse
Voxtrot
Backseat Goodbye
Marcy Playground
Notables:
Stereo Pony was an awesome example of straight ahead J-rock. The all-girl trio started off Japan Nite #2 in great fashion. And, as if they weren't cute enough as it was, knowing no English they read pre-translated messages to the audience in between songs along the lines of 'though we speak no English, we hope that we can share ourselves with you through our music. thank you.'
Caught the end of Efterklang's set on the way in to see An Horse and was very pleasantly suprised with what I heard.
Seeing Marcy Playground capped off our 1990's-early 2000's nostalgic trifecta (having already seen Third Eye Blind and Fastball), but there was a distinctly different feel to this show than the others. Where Third Eye Blind and Fastball both played relatively high profile venues (both being broadcast on tv), Marcy Playground came on stage a little after 1 am in a small courtyard nestled between two bars. The crowd was extremely strange, leaving me with the feeling that most didn't even really know who was about to come on stage. This show was one of the first that Marcy Playground has done in years and watching them was refreshing. It really felt like they were here to come out and play rock music. They made no effort to try and look younger or hip to make up for the fact that they were sick of playing the same songs over and over again. In fact, I think their hiatus did them good because they were able to play some of their older stuff with a grittyness that I think was missing in the very polished versions that Fastball and Third Eye Blind presented. Don't get me wrong, it was fun to see those two, but now that I have it's just kind of like, ok, that was interesting, but I have absolutely no need to see either of them again. Marcy Playground, on the other hand, can count on seeing me in the crowd next time they come through Boston.
The Biggest Rube in Austin...
Story Time:
So, it's Friday afternoon and Third Eye Blind are playing at the Austin Convention Center in the Lone Star Lounge, which is one of the SXSW Live! venues, which I mentioned in the previous post as being a venue used to broadcast various groups live on DirectTV.
This is what the place looked like:
Back to the story. Other than Lone Star, there was one other venue, directly next to it, that they used for the same purposes. Outside the two rooms, it was chaos. There were probably 5 or six different lines depending on if you had a badge, wristband, were part of the general public, and which show you wanted to go see. Problem was, no one knew which line was for what, and there were no SXSW or Convention Center people around to ask. I did see, though, a bunch of people with headsets further down the hall in the opposite direction of the venues, so I figured I'd go over and ask them what the deal was, and at the very least they could direct me to who would know, even if they didn't specifically.
I go up to the little group and ask which line is for Third Eye Blind. Right away one girl is staring at me kind of slack-jawed, while another starts giggling. Something's up. They ask me how much I like Third Eye Blind, now all of them kind of smirking/laughing to themselves. Great, music snobs. Whatever, I just want to get in the right line, so I say, 'Yes, I really like them and I've got all their albums, blah, blah, blah, now where the fuck is the right line!' (okay I may have just thought that last part to myself). Now one of the girls starts taking pictures of me. I have no idea what's going on, so I appeal to the guy standing to my left, he seems almost like he feels bad for me, and tells me where to stand. As I thank them, one of the girls with the headsets standing behind the guy, points to him and silently mouths, 'don't you know who this is?'
Embarrassment swept over me as I realized that he must be part of the band. I quickly thanked them and turned tail and walked to the back of the line, only to have the same headset girl who clued me in come over to me in line to make sure that not only was I talking to someone in the band, but it was the lead singer! Oh boy.
In my defense, I stand by the fact that I'm a big fan of their music, and for that very reason I don't feel that bad about what happened; I'm a fan of their music. I never really payed attention to what they looked like, and never having seen them in concert I never had a chance to see them up close and personal. Still, I think it makes for a pretty funny story.
Has anyone else had any embarrassing/awesome stories of running into musicians/celebrities? If so, comment away!
So, it's Friday afternoon and Third Eye Blind are playing at the Austin Convention Center in the Lone Star Lounge, which is one of the SXSW Live! venues, which I mentioned in the previous post as being a venue used to broadcast various groups live on DirectTV.
This is what the place looked like:
Back to the story. Other than Lone Star, there was one other venue, directly next to it, that they used for the same purposes. Outside the two rooms, it was chaos. There were probably 5 or six different lines depending on if you had a badge, wristband, were part of the general public, and which show you wanted to go see. Problem was, no one knew which line was for what, and there were no SXSW or Convention Center people around to ask. I did see, though, a bunch of people with headsets further down the hall in the opposite direction of the venues, so I figured I'd go over and ask them what the deal was, and at the very least they could direct me to who would know, even if they didn't specifically.
I go up to the little group and ask which line is for Third Eye Blind. Right away one girl is staring at me kind of slack-jawed, while another starts giggling. Something's up. They ask me how much I like Third Eye Blind, now all of them kind of smirking/laughing to themselves. Great, music snobs. Whatever, I just want to get in the right line, so I say, 'Yes, I really like them and I've got all their albums, blah, blah, blah, now where the fuck is the right line!' (okay I may have just thought that last part to myself). Now one of the girls starts taking pictures of me. I have no idea what's going on, so I appeal to the guy standing to my left, he seems almost like he feels bad for me, and tells me where to stand. As I thank them, one of the girls with the headsets standing behind the guy, points to him and silently mouths, 'don't you know who this is?'
Embarrassment swept over me as I realized that he must be part of the band. I quickly thanked them and turned tail and walked to the back of the line, only to have the same headset girl who clued me in come over to me in line to make sure that not only was I talking to someone in the band, but it was the lead singer! Oh boy.
In my defense, I stand by the fact that I'm a big fan of their music, and for that very reason I don't feel that bad about what happened; I'm a fan of their music. I never really payed attention to what they looked like, and never having seen them in concert I never had a chance to see them up close and personal. Still, I think it makes for a pretty funny story.
Has anyone else had any embarrassing/awesome stories of running into musicians/celebrities? If so, comment away!
(three) Friday('s ago) Happenings
OK, so maybe I wasn't as prepared for coming back to school as I thought.
Friday and Saturday were pretty hectic, so I was planning on just writing about them when we got back from Texas, but taking a week off for SXSW in the midst of midterms and class projects starts to look like a little less of a great idea on the flight home at 1:30 Monday morning when you've got class later that day. So here we are, about two weeks after SXSW ended and I'm still only up to Friday :/
Anyway, here's the rest of our adventures in a slew of hastily written posts before I forget any more details.
Who we saw on Friday:
Moth!Fight!
Bear Hands
Crystal Antlers
Cursive
The Thermals
The Hold Steady
Third Eye Blind
Dananananakroyd
Camera Obscura
Paper Chase
Sarah Jaffee
Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears
Notables:
Good God I Love Cursive! Even though the sound was a bit off (the backup vocals were WAY louder than lead) this has to be one of the best shows I've gone to so far. Between the 1/2 set we caught on Thursday and the whole set we got yesterday I heard almost all the major songs I was looking forward to.
The Thermals, again, were wholly satisfying, and to have them followed directly by The Hold Steady was seemed like the perfect continuation.
Third Eye Blind played in a venue used to shoot live concerts this week for DirectTV. It was a little strange being in a huge room with cameras whizzing by on cranes throughout the whole set, but it certainly succeeded in providing me my Third Eye Blind fix. It's got to be tough for a band like them, who most know almost exlusively from radio singles, to be expected to play the same songs over and over again, but I think they did a good job of spreading the field. By the end of it all I think they played 2 songs from each album, as well as a couple new ones. No 'semi-charmed life', although I'm pretty sure I saw a girl crying next to me during 'Jumper'. All in all it was an enjoyable experience even with a good deal of humiliation mixed in; more to come on that topic later...
Dananananakroyd, unlike Moth!Fight!, had the balls to back up their obnoxious name. Though I'm normally not a fan of the screaming-style of singing, but this group just looked like they were having so much fun on stage it was impossible not to become infected by it. Most of the time they had two lead singers, but on multiple songs, one of the singers (both of them could do this) would sit in on a second, full-sized drum kit and join in with the band flawlessly.
Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears brought it again, proving that their performance at the paste party a couple days earlier was far from a fluke, but rather was indicative of their ease in bringing a high energy and booty-shake-inducing set to any venue.
Friday and Saturday were pretty hectic, so I was planning on just writing about them when we got back from Texas, but taking a week off for SXSW in the midst of midterms and class projects starts to look like a little less of a great idea on the flight home at 1:30 Monday morning when you've got class later that day. So here we are, about two weeks after SXSW ended and I'm still only up to Friday :/
Anyway, here's the rest of our adventures in a slew of hastily written posts before I forget any more details.
Who we saw on Friday:
Moth!Fight!
Bear Hands
Crystal Antlers
Cursive
The Thermals
The Hold Steady
Third Eye Blind
Dananananakroyd
Camera Obscura
Paper Chase
Sarah Jaffee
Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears
Notables:
Good God I Love Cursive! Even though the sound was a bit off (the backup vocals were WAY louder than lead) this has to be one of the best shows I've gone to so far. Between the 1/2 set we caught on Thursday and the whole set we got yesterday I heard almost all the major songs I was looking forward to.
The Thermals, again, were wholly satisfying, and to have them followed directly by The Hold Steady was seemed like the perfect continuation.
Third Eye Blind played in a venue used to shoot live concerts this week for DirectTV. It was a little strange being in a huge room with cameras whizzing by on cranes throughout the whole set, but it certainly succeeded in providing me my Third Eye Blind fix. It's got to be tough for a band like them, who most know almost exlusively from radio singles, to be expected to play the same songs over and over again, but I think they did a good job of spreading the field. By the end of it all I think they played 2 songs from each album, as well as a couple new ones. No 'semi-charmed life', although I'm pretty sure I saw a girl crying next to me during 'Jumper'. All in all it was an enjoyable experience even with a good deal of humiliation mixed in; more to come on that topic later...
Dananananakroyd, unlike Moth!Fight!, had the balls to back up their obnoxious name. Though I'm normally not a fan of the screaming-style of singing, but this group just looked like they were having so much fun on stage it was impossible not to become infected by it. Most of the time they had two lead singers, but on multiple songs, one of the singers (both of them could do this) would sit in on a second, full-sized drum kit and join in with the band flawlessly.
Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears brought it again, proving that their performance at the paste party a couple days earlier was far from a fluke, but rather was indicative of their ease in bringing a high energy and booty-shake-inducing set to any venue.
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