Captiol 10K

The Capitol 10K was this morning. My expectations may have been even lower than last year, as I haven't been able to get back into a good routine since the holidays, and SXSW really did some damage. I did manage to run and lift weights twice early last week, but my legs stayed sore all week. I can remember after the Turkey Trot last year when I was in good shape (and ran an amazingly fast 8:25/M pace) that it would be no problem beating last year's time. Last week I knew it wasn't going to be that easy.

Conditions this morning were a lot like last year with horrible humidity. It was a little better in that it was overcast and lightly rained on and off throughout the race. I had to walk a little, starting at the 15th & Lamar hill, as I expected. At the halfway point, my Forerunner said 32 minutes, so I knew my chances of breaking last year's time were slim. But a mile or so later I redid the math and it looked possible. So, I pushed myself a little harder. I don't think I would've if I didn't think there was a chance. I ran all of the last mile and a half, and ended up at 59:58, 1:19 better than last year. I can't complain about that, but I still need to get in better shape! I felt great afterwards, had an IPA, and napped the entire afternoon away.

Game Over

It was fun while it lasted. I wish they didn't have to tank so hard though! Then Davidson had to seal any chance at salvaging my bracket by losing to Kansas today. Maybe I can get into the NBA a little bit, but other than that looks like I'm done 'til football season.

Friday at Mohawk

There are a few Austin bands left on my list that I want to see, and Friday I headed down to The Mohawk to see one of them, The Ugly Beats. Shapes Have Fangs was first. I could hear them as I was driving by to park, and could tell already that I liked them. They were a lot like what I expected of The Ugly Beats, with 60's-ish melodies, clean guitars, and unison back-up vocals, often by all three supporting band members. The lead singer jumped around a bit, showing plenty of enthusiasm.

The Ugly Beats were everything I expected and I really enjoyed their show. I discovered them in my usual fashion, by catching a video on MEtv. They opened with that song that I was already familiar with, and that enabled me to get into the show immediately. I loved the keyboard sound, though I didn't catch what it was she was playing (it wasn't a Nord for once). She was smiling the whole show--so much so that for awhile I thought it might be a nervous smile, but I believe it was genuine. Very garage band sounding, with 60's style drum fills, clean and easy guitar chords, and unison back-up vocals. They were having a good time on stage with the band members often leaving their positions to go play next to another, share their mic, or other goofing off such as the keyboard player fingering the bass while the bass player strummed. For the last few songs they brought up a girl in a red dress and long boots to dance on stage. I seemed to be the only guy dancing for awhile, but my efforts were rewarded when a cute girl danced with me for a couple of songs. Some of their music was tricky with 7/8 measures and switching between rock and a waltz tempos, but I can pick up on these things quickly and still looked good dancing. I bought a CD and will buy their other one next time, I expect.

The Fleshtones from NY were the headlining band. One of their claims to fame is that they are the only 70's NYC punk band never to have an inactive year. Unfortunately, their show, while "wild and crazy," didn't feel spontaneous at all, as if it was totally rehearsed and had been done a million times. The guitar player was too much. His loud shirt was unbuttoned half way, he wore a flat cap, and had a goofy smile frozen on his face. I had to laugh due to the number of guitar kicks he did. I swear he did one every couple of measure during the first song. The lead singer duct taped his microphone to the stand--again, felt totally planned. He talked about SXSW too much for someone in a band that wasn't there. Most of the audience seemed to be into it, but I did find a few people that shared my feelings. My theory that night was that this is what happens when you've replaced everyone in the band a dozen times. A member quits and you replace them with someone that sounds and/or looks something like them. However, something is missing. Eventually you end up with a fuzzy copy of a copy of the original, exciting band. I didn't stay for the whole thing and headed over to LJ's.

Bracket Progress

I got all four games correct tonight. Looking good! Kansas, WISCONSIN, Memphis, and Texas to win tomorrow!

SXSW Recovery and Recap

It's almost two weeks now since SXSW has ended, and I'm finally writing my last post. As expected, SXSW took a huge toll on my immune system. Monday through Wednesday of last week I suspected I had a fever, and I woke up Tuesday in the middle of the night with horrible chills. I didn't have any trouble working, but I did stay home sick on Wednesday just because I was feeling guilty about getting others sick. By Thursday I was feeling better. My illness was actually a blessing in disguise, because it did motivate me last Wednesday to find a new doctor. My old doctor retired three years ago and I hadn't seen one since. Yesterday I had my first physical in years.

SXSW was definitely worth it for me. Still, I felt that I was tricked into buying a wristband with the lottery deal. Everyone that entered the lottery won, so it's not like the wristbands were really in demand that much. But this is another blessing in disguise, because I doubt I would have bought a wristband otherwise. While it did work for me, I wouldn't recommend the wristband to your typical concert-goer. You have to be someone who wants to see lots of bands you'd never heard of before. I am fairly certain of all the bands I saw during SXSW, I had only heard of one or two of them previously. If you're wanting to see the well-known acts, you're better off seeing them at ACL or at a regular concert.

I previously thought I would be happy staying at one venue all night and enjoy seeing whatever bands were there, which I did a few years ago one night. If you are happy doing that every night, you will definitely save money over the wristband. But, the flexibility of the wristband does have value. I thought I would be annoyed by walking from venue to venue throughout the night, but there was enough different in the atmosphere and crowd at each place that it always renewed the excitement and made it more fun.

I was listening to the Sound Opinions podcast which I blogged about before, and it was their show on SXSW. It was great to hear their reviews of the live shows they saw, and compare them to my experience. We actually both commented on the same show, and I'll give you one guess which one it was!

Next year I plan on doing the same, or stepping it up by taking off of work to see the free day shows and parties in addition to the showcases, or maybe even getting a badge so I can get to the actual conference.

Still can't get enough live music--probably Mohawk tomorrow night.

SXSW Saturday

Finally, my last entry of who I saw at SXSW! Saturday afternoon I headed down to the free "Mess with Texas" party at Waterloo Park. I was most interested in the comedy acts, as several comedians that I enjoy from TV shows like Best Week Ever were there. Paul F Tompkins told us why cake is better than pie, and Human Giant used a t-shirt cannon to distribute out old concert T-shirts. They all thanked us for taking the time to come to a FREE show. Who's bright idea was that? There were plenty of bands playing, including Pissed Jeans from the other night, but I only heard them in passing.

I headed down to my HQ Lovejoy's to see if I could actually plan something, and was pleasantly surprised by a free show by MS Led from Seattle. I don't know if they had an official showcase at some other time. I'm not seeing them on the schedule. They were pretty rockin'. I didn't right it down, but I believe they were a three piece, with a girl lead singer. More people got up and danced to them (including me) than other bands I'd seen here, so everyone was having a good time. Good start to the night. I remember debating whether or not to see Tift Merritt at The Parish or some band from Tel Aviv named Monotonix at Bourbon Rocks Patio. Going with my "bands that are from farther away are more interesting" theory, I went to Monotonix. I definitely made the right choice. I'm so glad I hadn't read anything about them beforehand, because apparently they do something similar every time they play and it was great to be a total surprise to me. [Spoiler alert if you ever plan on seeing them] They are a three piece consisting of guitar piped through a bass amp and guitar amp, making it sound like both bass and guitar are playing, a lead singer, and drums. It started out interesting enough, with the singer standing behind the drummer with his back turned to us for most of the first song. He then staged dived into the crowd, cool, but I've seen that before. Then, he pours beer on the drummer and drums, so that when the snare is hit, beer is flying everywhere. Now we're talking! THEN... he takes the bass drum out into the crowd. Before I know it, the guitar player is out in the crowd playing guitar and the bass drum. Eventually the whole drumset and whole band is out in the crowd, the lead singer is jumping off the bass drum into the crowd to surf some more, a big garbage can is over the drummers head, and beer is being poured on everything and everyone! It was truly crazy. The bass drum was hoisted into the air several times and the lead singer would play it by beating his fists on it. I am sure at one point all of the drum equipment and/or band members were in the air at the same time. The crowd wasn't huge and I was right up front, doing my best to help out. Somehow, I escaped injury!

I took the 9 o'clock hour off as I had to immediately go tell people about that show, and also had to get to the Austin Convention Center early enough to get into the Carbon Silicon show. The line was long, but it was no problem for me to get in. This was a more conventional show than the last, but I enjoyed myself just as much. It was just so cool to be looking up at the stage to see Mick Jones play and sing. I kept telling myself "I know that voice! I can't believe I'm hearing it live!" I have many of the Big Audio Dynamite albums and several Clash albums, so it was great to finally see someone whose music I've enjoyed for many years. The music in his new project is reminiscent of all his previous stuff, so I loved it. I don't even really need to mention that he didn't play any B.A.D. or Clash covers, but thought you might be curious about that. I acted (?) the drunk fool jumping up and down the whole time so I'm hoping to be in a video if ME gets to make one out of it. The whole show was broadcast on DirectTV, too bad I didn't get anyone to record it. Of course, I probably also reeked of beer from the previous show. I'm sure everyone gave me plenty of space. By the end of the show I had worked my way up to the third row or so, where I deservedly belonged instead of the frozen masses.

After the show I went to Emo's where I chilled out in the back area for awhile. After awhile a long line formed from inside to get back to the stage where X was to perform, but I was fairly certain I wasn't going to improve on my night so I decided to call it quits. I probably went back to LJ's, Mugshots, and/or Kebabilicious before heading home to reflect on my great SXSW experience.

Back to Austin Music

Last night I headed to Emo's anxious to see some Austin bands. There are a few Austin bands I'm looking forward to seeing for the first time, but Saturday those particular bands were not playing. I had seen The Carrots before, and enjoyed their show enough that it was time to see them again.

There were four bands on the bill. Damaged Chromosome was first. They consisted of four guys: two guitar players, a drummer, and a keyboard/drum machine guy. The drum set up was simply made up of a floor tom and a snare with a tambourine on top of it. It was hard to tell what was going on here. I couldn't separate the guitar parts from each other, or the tom from the drum machine. The lead singer guitarist had a capo halfway up the fretboard which seemed a little strange. I also had trouble hearing or understanding the vocals. The lead singer guitarist was oddly placed next to the drummer instead of out in front. I think these young guys just need to work on their confidence a bit more and they'll be much better. I am sure I lacked in that department when I was that age, too. I did appreciate their "woo" falsettos in harmony, that takes some guts.

Diagonals, a five piece band was second. They had a keyboard player (with a Nord Lead 2, of course), two guitars, bass, and drums. The lead guitar was very effectsy and the single note lead guitar parts stood out nicely in their music. Sometimes at the end of songs it would turn into really effectsy echoey guitar noise, though, which I didn't like. That's maybe a good ending for one song, but keep it at that. Their last song had some nice rhythmic breaks in it. Same echoey guitar noise ending though.

The Carrots were next. This show was better than the last time I saw them at Beerland. They've really nailed the 60's girl group genre, as their originals really have that feel without seeming like they're copied from other songs. I give their head songwriter, the keyboard player, a lot of credit. Also I give the rhythm section props for really driving the music along. There are a lot of rhythm changes within the music, say from going from a straight rock beat to a swing beat back to straight rock, which he handled well. I talked to him a bit after the show. The only thing I missed was the clear guitar part which must've been mixed low this time.

Mermaid Blonde was last. I thought it was hokey that the lead singer was wearing a yacht cap until I remembered the name of the band. This band is guitar, bass, drums, and two keyboards. Only three of them were standing. The lady drummer was sitting, obviously, and one of the keyboard players was sitting behind her really small amp with the keyboard on top of the amp, in a black cocktail dress. She had to look up at everyone else. This was hot on several different levels, and it's probably wrong for me to be thinking that way! They probably just can't afford another keyboard stand right now, but I suggest that they keep things the way they are. They had some guy using an overhead projector to make a color fluid background, but it was very faint and didn't work very well. I don't think I noticed it at all until shortly before they stopped using it. The girl drummer was kickin' ass but switched with the bass player for the last couple of songs. The ending was a little interesting too--the lead singer jumped off the stage before the song was over, and ran to the back (to use the restroom presumably). I expected him to come back but after twenty seconds or so the band just stopped playing. It was unexpected and therefore pretty cool.

Throughout the course of the evening I chatted with a father from CA, who was there with his daughter scoping out universities. I guess they were looking for a town with a lot of music going on and they were deciding between here and Seattle. I convinced him to stay at Emo's for The Carrots. I hope they had a good time!

SXSW Friday

Friday I headed down to LJ's after work, where I planned to plan the rest of the night. I wasn't too successful at planning, and also didn't end up seeing many shows that I liked very much. But that's OK, you can't win every time. I started at The Parish and saw a song or two from Portastatic. I chose this one just cause he was from Chapel Hill NC, and I hadn't seen anyone from that area of the country yet. It was one guy on acoustic guitar and his vocal style sounded too whiny for me, so I moved on. Emo's Lounge was next, Jeff Hanson from St Paul. Also one guy on acoustic. He really sounds like a girl. It was rather creepy to me, so I moved on. I stopped by Mohawk and realized how tired I was. I sat down in a big chair and didn't really pay attention to the two bands. The one outside, Black Helicopter sounded good but I really had to chill out on that chair inside.

Next I went to my best show of the night, Pissed Jeans from Allentown at Bourbon Rocks Patio. I just noticed now that it was Sub Pop records showcase. Had I realized that before I might have seen a few more bands there that night. The lead singer was very Mick Jaggerish with his pouting, strutting, and taking a dumping? What does that mean? I am writing this from notes I took, and it is much more difficult doing this a week later--my memory has faded fast. Anyway, the band was having a good time and was real energetic. I would definitely see them again. The lead singer was a smart ass, too, which I liked. After a song he thanked the audience "for being so quiet" and I have written hear that he asked someone "Do you need a pick?" I think that was directed at the drummer, ha.

I stopped by Emo's but didn't take any notes. I talked to some French guy who was in a band playing the next day, but of course I don't remember the conversation. This is starting to get useless, isn't it?

I went to Red 7, mostly because I'd never been there before. Kayo Dot was playing. They had an interesting line-up which included flute, mellotron, sax, and this cool looking red electric violin. Most of them had music in front of them, so I imagine these musicians all had classical training. I didn't take any notes on the music, but I must've not been really into it because I only stayed for about half the set before meandering over The Parish to catch Destroyer. I already posted about them, but I read a show review in the Chronicle today and the reviewer had similar thoughts. The show apparently did get a whole lot better later in the set, but I had left by that point already.

So, not much stuck with me Friday night. Pissed Jeans was great, but otherwise I was just not in the right place for me. I was in the right place at the end of the night, however, when I was standing in front of The Orchid and the dancers inside managed to accidentally break a huge front window which came crashing down right in front of me. I was a safe eight or so feet away, but I was looking directly at it when it happened. Rock-n-roll!

Tear Report

I went to the Michael Martin Murphey show at The Saxon Pub tonight. It was really a whole lot better than I expected. I ended up buying a CD and had it signed. My short conversation with MMM involved my reaction to his songs I've never heard before, and Wisconsin weather. I shook his hand, yeah! Let's go to my notes:

Saxon has an intimate setting. You can be sitting at the bar and still feel like you're right next to the performers. The place was full, nowhere to sit, so I was standing on the near side of the bar for the show and had a 50 yard line view to Michael. He had a great cowboy outfit on on as far as I'm concerned. Red shirt, brown vest, yellow handkerchief, tan hat, sky blue guitar strap, blue jeans. Looked good. The first thing I noticed was the quality of his voice--very smooth. Velvetty, does that make sense? He peppered his show with the anecdotes and jokes I would expect from a singer/songwriter doing a solo gig. One of his first referenced Wisconsin where he lives, and he stated that "it keeps the whiners out." Take note Texas cold weather wimps. He went somewhere I didn't expect when he sang about Hawaii, where his grandfather lived and he sang about throwing his toy drum into a volcano. Only the other day I saw Buzz' entry and picture from Diamond Head so in my mind I was floating between my apartment and Diamond Head while the song was playing.

Killpen was a great song with a heart string pulling set-up. Apparently up-nort at an auction there are two pens for horse auctions, one for the good ones and one for the rejects that will either get sold for something or carted up to Canada for slaughter. His teenage daughters convinced him to buy one horse which ended up being a great foal. This reminded me a bit of a DVD I started watching earlier tonight, more on that later.

He added a musician when the leader/conductor/etc (don't remember) of the Texas State Symphony joined him on Bass. The bass he played was built in 1790. This may be the oldest instrument I've ever heard live. I have to ask my sister pro musician if she's heard an older instrument, cause that's damned old! The second (unexpected) set was a little less memorable just because I'd had a few beers by that point.

I was bracing for Wildfire, and when he played it I was able to control myself, mostly because of the beer but partly because of the 10 minute monologue before the song which unfortunately didn't catch my attention. All day when I thought about the song I almost cried and could feel the fluids build up in my nose, so it was surprising to me that it didn't happen when he played it. I formed one tear in the outside right corner of my eye, and caught it with my napkin at the end of the song. I think if he had full orchestration I would've lost it.

I loved this show, totally worth the admission! Every song was professional quality. This guy is a legend.

Wildfire

I'm anxious to see some Austin music again, but tomorrow I may have to see a touring act at The Saxon Pub, Michael Martin Murphey. Actually though, he does have a strong association with Austin, as he is from Texas and is associated with the outlaw country music movement that began here. He now lives on a ranch near LaCrosse, Wisconsin, so he has settled down in a good place. It was almost a year ago when I was lucky enough to have the TV on and see him play "Wildfire" on Letterman. That song makes me cry, it's so sad. So maybe I'll be crying tomorrow night!

SXSW Thursday

Thursday night I was already dead, having not slept much Wednesday night due to my overindulgence AND my lack of sleep Tuesday night too. Thank goodness I woke up from my brief nap to head over to Molotov Lounge to see the Madison bands. I missed the first one, Droids Attack, but they were classified as metal, and since that isn’t my thing I didn’t care so much. The Gusto started after I got there, they were punk and played fast, which I was glad to see since I hadn’t seen that style of music on Wednesday. There’s no glass in the windows of this place, so its open to the outside atmosphere which this night was relatively warm and humid, so there was a lot of sweating going on. The band commented about the differences between Wisconsin and Texas quite a bit, which I certainly enjoyed. The crowd was fairly small which disappointed me a little, especially since I had sent a note about the Madison bands to the UW alumni president down here hoping he would forward it on to the list, but he didn’t.

I had a nice conversation with the label guy, and while I didn’t get the details I ought to mention that the reason there were Madison bands down here this year is that their label worked them in. So, if anyone out there wonders why they didn’t get into SXSW this year--other than the fact that they didn’t apply—having a label probably helps.

Screamin' Cyn Cyn and the Pons were the last Madison band, and they were awesome. I bought CDs by both the bands and listened to theirs tonight for the first time. I think every song on the album is less than two minutes long. It’s great! Back to the show. Their bass drums was half filled with those plastic balls you jump into at a carnival or chuck e cheese or whatever. The woman guitar player was dressed in a prom dress, the lead singer had make-up on and I think he was meant to look like a doll or something, the bass player had this brown outfit with a headband, and the drummer had a big beard and a plain white T-shirt. Very diverse and interesting look. The lead singer ran out into the crowd a bit, which was cool. At one point he ran out into the open window at the front of the place. The lead singer, bass player, and guitar player occasionally did this leaning backwards into eachother without falling down thing which was very very cool—I’m not sure I’ve ever seen that done before, sweet! The guitar was really cool looking, a silver sparkly (Les Paul maybe?) which looked well with the prom dress. At the end of one song she was playing some ending licks and charged a few steps into the crowd with every beat, right in my direction which was enthralling. I’m running out of adjectives to use to describe the experience! I told her about that moment after the show. The second to last song she sang lead and it was about no one RSVP’ing for her dinner party. She ended up lying down on the ground in the middle of the audience at the end of that one. Unfortunately, I don’t think this one is on the album I bought. I should note that this may be the first time that in addition to blogging about the bands I’ve seen, a band has blogged about me! I’m the smart guy.

SXSW Wednesday Part Two

Then I headed to Soho. The band Canada from Ann Arbor, MI was playing, and I thought since they were from a Big Ten city I might enjoy them. Only halfway through the first night, and I see the first (and not last) melodica player in this group. He used the convoluted tube attachment so that the keyboard of the melodica was in front of him instead of having to play it sideways. It was a little hard to see through the crowd but I noticed the pegbox of a string instrument, and a vibrating hand. The top of the instrument was just above the head of the sitting player, so I assumed this was a cello. Maneuvering to a better location, I noticed that the cello player was an attractive woman with black, straight shoulder length hair and glasses. Perfect look for a cello player! For one song they used a xylophone, which I may have mentioned seeing before in another band but to me is more rare than melodica and therefore more interesting to me. During one song many in the audience were shouting out something, which led me to believe that those people were familiar with the music and may have even come down to see them from Michigan. Wait! 2 cello players! Cool. From their description on the web I see that they are a seven piece band; however, the most I counted was six: drums, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, bass, and two cellos. Their music was good but they and their home audience got a little carried away by playing an encore—and therefore screwing the next band. That pissed me off so I left a minute into their encore song.

Out on the street a band named Frantic was recruiting people in the middle of 6th street to see their show in an hour. I really admire their determination, but I didn’t end up seeing their show.

I headed down to Antone’s to see Brothers and Daughters, but the line was too long and I felt that I would never get in, so I headed back to 6th street. I stopped in B.D. Riley’s and the Argentenian band Capsula was playing. They were a three piece: a girl on bass, and guys on guitar and drums. They were really enthusiastic which I love, but unfortunately I wasn’t getting into their music so I left after a few songs.

I stopped at The Parish just cause I really like the venue. Walter Meego was playing and they had an interesting setup: a twosome with canned keyboard and drum track, the two guys playing two guitars or one guitar and keyboard. Some of their music was instrumental. It was interesting and I felt the groove they were laying down.

I was going to go to The Wave to see some international bands, but ended up talking with Gabe from Mugshots for too long. Capsula walked into Mugshots while we were talking. I recognized them and told them I appreciated their show. I ended up again at LJ’s for yet another free barleywine on my way to Flamingo Cantina to see the ska band The Aggrolites. Lyle was there so I talked with him a bit, but eventually broke off to jump around. I’m not sure I understand the difference between Ska and Reggae. The Ska bands I was really into in the 90’s were Ska-Punk evidently, because this Ska was too slow for me. I liked the rototoms, and the organ was surprisingly prominently featured in almost every song. The bass was fuzzy and subtle, also cool. The lead singer would often have an angry look on his face while he beckoned the crowd on. I didn’t feel that he was really angry, just that it was his look. Maybe that’s an LA thing? They played a few interesting covers: “Ain’t to Proud to Beg” and “Don’t Let Me Down” in a ska style (or rather reggae sounding to me).

That last show ended at 2 am and I had to work the next morning! While I overdid it this first night, what I realized was that the wristband is worth it. It enables so much flexibility, and if you don’t care about the high profile acts and realize that you’re going to see good bands no matter where you go, the different feeling of each new bar and crowd keeps it exciting the whole time. I thought I might be annoyed with moving from place to place, but it really made it more fun.

March Madness

I set up a group on Yahoo! for anyone who wants to participate here. Group ID = 150897 and Password = badgers if it asks.

Good luck and Go Badgers!

Sultan

Someone came across my What Made Milwaukee Famous entry yesterday by googling "sultan chords what made milwaukee famous" and this video was just on MEtv, so I thought I'd jot them down quickly in case they come back. Call it my good deed for the day. Also, I probably should make more entries proving the title of my blog!

Verse
Am F C G x 2
Dm G Am Am
Dm G Am Am
Dm G

Verse 2
Am F C G x 2
Dm G

Chorus
F C/E Dm G
F C/E Dm E

Am F Dm G
Am F Dm E

Key Solo
Am F C G x 2

Verse
Am F C G x 2

Chorus
F C/E Dm G
F C/E Dm E

Am Am Dm G
Am Am Dm E
Am F Dm G
Am F Dm G
Am

SXSW Wednesday Part One

Since I hadn’t made any plans as far as my schedule went, I decided to start at Emo’s where there is at least two bands to choose from, and plenty of space to make further plans. I wasn’t in the place longer than two minutes before running into someone I knew. So much for remaining anonymous for this festival! Black Joe Lewis was playing R&B on the main stage and sounded great; however, I had already violated my guideline of seeing only non-Austin bands. I love them of course, but I do have the rest of the year to see them. So, after a few songs I went into Emo’s Jr. where an electronic band called Paper Rad from Providence was performing. Performing might be pushing it—there was an interesting video showing on a screen and music playing, but no band that I could see. So I guess that’s the old clueless guy in me emerging. I was getting used to the idea of the kind of electronic performance where there’s just a guy on stage pushing buttons, but I didn’t think we had gotten to the point where people aren’t required at all. Don’t get me wrong, the music and video were really interesting, but I’m a little old-fashioned in wanting to see musicians. I stopped by LJ’s for a minute where I got the one thing they make better than barley wine, which was a free barley wine.

From there I went to Mohawk and saw the end of Soiled Mattresses, who consisted of keyboard, drums, and what sounded at first to me like a trombone but was actually a soprano sax. My ears were deceiving me already. The sax player was a geeky looking guy who played the sax in an over the top out of tune fashion, which made me laugh and didn’t repulse me for some reason. Maybe I was already halfway through the 32oz high life I bought. He wandered out into the crowd occasionally which was fun. This band also had a Nord—I still wanna get one of those. Airwaves from Brooklyn was next. They were a trio of two guys on bass and drums, and a girl lead singer on clean guitar that cut through. Liked ‘em. I wish they used more b/u vocals. I wandered outside to see a few songs from the band I came to see, Call Me Lightning, just because they were from Milwaukee. They were a trio as well but all guys and heavily distorted guitar instead of clean. Two of them were long haired bearded types, and the drummer was clean cut with short hair. The guitar player had a real beat up looking Fender, liked that. After a few I went back inside having decided I preferred the other band, but they were done already. I felt a little guilty for leaving them, and I think I may have said as much to their lead singer after the show!

Man I took a lot of notes on Wednesday. I still went to another 4 places I think! So, there will be a part two for Wednesday. Good for me that my notes got shorter and shorter as the festival went on, otherwise this could take me all year to write up.

Badger Basketball

Time out from my music adventure coverage to note that Wisconsin, the Big Ten regular season champions, are playing in the Big Ten Tournament Championship game tomorrow! I may end up skipping the green dress run for this!

Bejar

This entry is out of order since I have my Wednesday, Thursday, and most of Friday's notes to blog about, but the 1am show at The Parish tonight is one that I must write about now or I won't be able to sleep.

I didn't have a plan tonight, and I ended up striking out at almost all the shows I went to. However, I did note that Destroyer was playing at The Parish at 1am and told myself I must see it. I knew I would be emotionally conflicted. While Dan Bejar is a member of my favorite band The New Pornographers, he sings my least favorite songs on their albums. It is mostly his voice and vocal style which bother me. His voice is quite grating and his style doesn't maintain a steady pitch. Instead, it falls in pitch at the same time it falls in volume. I am conflicted because the songs that he writes (which I assume are the same ones he sings) are constructed well, and are getting better with every new album. I had to give his other band "Destroyer" (of which he is the lead singer of) a chance.

Miraculously, I managed to show up early, but that didn't benefit me at all. Twice he came on stage and intently stared at the keyboard and keyboard player, then left the stage. The third time he came on stage he put his guitar on, then after conferring with the keyboard player, took it off and went backstage for another three minutes. By this time they were over five minutes late.

If there is one rule for bands to know before coming to SXSW, it's that you need to start on time and end on time. Yeah we understand your little problems that are not necessarily your fault, but when you don't follow the schedule you are pissing off everyone that is coming from the other 99 bars in town to see your show or the next one. Just because you start late doesn't mean you can end late, so you better be prepared to start on time even if things aren't quite right. That includes problems with the keyboard--your least essential instrument! (This opionion comes from a keyboard player BTW)

The first couple songs were good, and I had almost forgiven their lateness. But then--Dan complains about his guitar being out of tune and leaves the stage for another 5+ minutes. That was it for me, I left. I can tell when a guitar is unbearably out of tune, and his really wasn't. I may have eventually noticed at some point that his guitar was a little out of tune but most of the audience would have no clue. The delay drove me out, as well as at least 5 others. This situation reminded me of the first New Pornographers show I saw at ACL a few years ago where Neko was complaining out loud about this and that. What is it with these Canadians, does everything have to be perfect, are they perfectionists like me but can't hide it? Think of your audience reaction guys. If you pretend to be happy to be here, we will be happy to see you.

So I didn't really like Bejar when I got to The Parish, but I wanted to give him a chance. I have slowly warmed up to his music, and I was hoping the show would make me like him more. Even after the bad experience tonight I still want to like his music, but it's not getting any easier. Blah.

SXSW Begins

8:00 is the start of the official SXSW festival. I still don't have a plan for tonight other than the Aggrolites (ska!) at 1 am, if I can last that long. I didn't set myself up that well for today, I didn't get much sleep last night and work today completely exhausted me. If it weren't for SXSW, I'd be calling it an early night.

Passenger Side Window Smashed

The little window behind the door window on my passenger side was smashed last night. Thankfully it doesn't look like anything was stolen. But, this will set me back $370. How annoying.

TPIR

I started TiVo'ing The Price is Right several years ago, but I stopped watching when it was announced that Bob Barker was retiring and I realized that I was never going to get to be in his studio audience. I made an attempt 5-10 years ago, but on that day the tapings were canceled due to Bob having heart trouble. Not wanting to think about it, I stopped watching. When Drew Carey started as Bob's replacement several months ago, I watched one show and thought he did OK. A couple of weeks ago I started watching on a regular basis again, and I'm comfortable with Drew as the host now. Watching contestants win can still bring me to tears, so I suppose the host wasn't the most important factor of the show for me. That means I may make an attempt to get in the studio audience again, though I will have to come up with a new strategy for being picked to "come on down" as my old strategy relied on Bob being host.

MTV and METV

More thoughts on METV. I realized tonight that while it is just a local cable channel for most people, I think of it more as MTV.

Those of us that were watching TV in the 80's remember the original MTV. VJs, music, music videos--all the time. MTV even had frequent promotional spots encouraging everyone to contact their cable companies to allow something called "stereo"--two audio channels, one for the right speaker and one for the left. On a TV channel!?! I digress. MTV featured artists that were a big deal, nationally or internationally known. So, when watching METV, I attach that same notoriety to the bands I see--even if they are really only known locally. What's great is that then I go see these same bands at local venues and it feels that much more exciting because I just watched them on TV. I don't mean to imply that they wouldn't be great without videos. If I've realized anything over the past several months, it's that I can never leave such a hotbed of awesome, creative, exciting bands to live anywhere else. However, the fact that I am able to link the bands and videos of today in some fashion to the bands and videos of old MTV makes it more fun and exciting for me. I now TiVo the Tex-Mix and Red River Rocks shows everyday and they keep me informed of the latest happenings with local bands. We should get more 30-40 year olds to watch Ch 15. I bet a lot of them would like it!

Two Shows

Not much to write about since I haven't been taking notes and everything kinda blurs together.

Sunday I went to Built to Spill and Meat Puppets at Stubb's. I guess I am really getting used to the smaller clubs because outdoor Stubb's is starting to feel too large to me. While I had fun, I wish now I had been closer to the stage, where people are really getting into the music. I can't think of much to write other than they both sounded great, but it wasn't super interesting. One different yet very annoying thing was BTS' encore. It took forever and it was really starting to piss me off. I think their drummer might have been feeling the same way since he appeared to be tearing down his drumset before they were done! Meat Puppets didn't play Backwater (I'm sure they're sick of it) but I did recognize a few others, including their latest single.

Last night was What Made Milwaukee Famous, the Lemurs, The Story Of, among others. Again not much to say as I didn't take notes as my mind was distracted. I did notice one of the bands used a xylophone which was a pleasant surprise. Also, that particular xylophone/keyboard player was smiling the entire time. He was having a great time. I really like WMMF's new song Sultan, which has a driving triplet beat, and the melody/harmony really sounds great. I have a question for @G to comment on/pass on to TSO. Was the "12345" vocal part on their pre-recorded track? They can't do that if that's the only vocals going on at the time! I'm looking around for whoever is singing it and no one is! Why can't they sing it live? Or did I miss something? Also I meant to ask them about their videos--maybe next time.

So I was distracted last night cause I ran into the girl I was going to ask out, but she was on a date. We had a very short conversation (really hard for me to understand anything when loud bands are playing) and of course the rest of the night was spent wondering what I should have or shouldn't have said, or if I came across rude, etc. I suppose I should be happy I'm emotionally still at a high school level. That means I'm still feeling young, right?

4

Just recalling my most memorable game of Brett Favre's career: the Dec 22, 2003 game against Oakland which the Packers won 41-7. An emotional game in which the whole team stepped up and Favre could do no wrong. I just found an interview clip, and it is the most memorable game for Favre too.

Thursday at Parish

@G and I were at the Parish Thursday night to see a bunch of local bands. Of course she was just there to see The Story Of. I took notes (photographic evidence here) and here's what I got.

The Story Of - interesting use of the megaphone for some of the vocal parts, but borders on being too gimmicky. Amusing and strange how the bass and guitar players are jumping around in the background behind the two front guys, who have keyboards in front of them which kind of anchor them a bit--though the lead singer made his way out from behind the keyboard at times to emote. I like the courage to have octave vocal parts with one in falsetto. It's a good sound that might be thought of as cheesy by some, but I really like it. My most important observation is that I recognized a few of their songs--and since I've only heard them once before, that means that they were memorable (and in a good way).

My Education - it would be unfair to dislike this band just because they had no vocals, but after the show I have to question placing instrumental bands between non-instrumental ones. People just have a hard time adjusting to it and it makes it hard for the band and the audience. Their lineup was two electric guitars, drums, and lead violin. The electric guitars were occasionally switched out with acoustic or pedal guitar. The violin player was tearing it up, proven by his half torn out bow by the end of the show. They sounded good but I was a little bored by them. Not because of the lack of vocals, but the fact that alot of their music consisted of soloing over 8 bars of 4 chords repeated over and over again. A little too jam bandy for me.

Boxing Lesson - my second time seeing this band. I complained before that their vocals had too much echoey effects for my tastes, but it wasn't nearly as bad as I remembered this time. But, I was still bored with them for the most part. They had a lot of sweepy synth and computery stuff going on which didn't really add much to the songs. It just seemed to get in the way of them. They could've done more with the backup vocals. It has so much potential when you have one guy and one girl singer. The b/u vocal wasn't audible at times--that could've been the sound guy's fault. At one point this band had such a long intro that I wondered aloud if someone had to make an emergency trip to the can or something. "Build up" intros are great if you're a band with a big following and you're headed into one of your best songs, but when no one is paying attention it's sort of a waste of time. Man I'm harsh aren't I?

Experimental Aircraft - only stayed for half the set. Having seen them on METV I was looking forward to seeing this band. My notes are really sparse but I found their music interesting, about as interesting as The Story Of's was. Always good to have female vocals and guitars. The bass was strong and had some interesting parts. And, does every good band in Austin have a Nord? I was thinking that this year I would buy a Rhodes but maybe I should get a Nord instead.

Believe It or Not

I either learned or re-remembered tonight that "My Life" by Billy Joel is the theme to the TV show "Bosom Buddies." I know that sounds trivial, but if it weren't for this sitcom, Tom Hanks and Peter Scolari wouldn't be the superstars that they are today! :0____