Jesse Kamp's Journal

I Am A Cool Nerd King!

2007-09-02T20:41:25Z

(Thanks to zenala and bittergem.)

Defense

2007-04-28T02:08:48Z

I just wanted to post announcing that I passed my dissertation defense earlier today. So after I fill out some paperwork and pay some fees next week, I'll be able to get my PhD. Then I go off to work at Oracle starting in June.

SXSW 2007 Day 4

2007-03-26T17:54:46Z

This is the fourth and final post in a series of posts on handofluke and my adventures at SXSW 2007, detailing the events of Saturday March 17, the fourth day of the festival.

After investigating our options, we decided that the best thing to do would be to go down to the Habana Calle 6 Annex for the Musebox party. This party had two stages. The main outside stage had a bunch of up and coming acts playing, and the intimate inside acoustic stage was set up as a tribute to Nick Drake. They were supposed to have a bunch of Nick Drake photographs there, but for some reason they couldn't get through customs, unfortunately. The acts inside all played 3 or 4 songs, including (for the most part) a Nick Drake cover. They had the stages alternating, so you could go back and forth between them and not miss anything, which was nice.

Anyways, when we got there we found out they were behind schedule, so we caught the last couple of songs of The Laughing. I don't remember much about them except that they had a giant stuffed white tiger on the stage. They had a free brunch with build your own breakfast tacos, so we also partook in that before Then we went inside for Stephanie Dosen, then back outside for Winterkids from England. They played a nice short set of new-wavey pop. They also had free champagne, so handofluke had a mimosa. I just had orange juice.

After Winterkids, we wanted to go over to the Hot Freaks blogger party at The Mohawk and Club Deville, but when we got there we were unexpectedly faced with having to pay a $3 cover. We didn't feel like it was worth it, especially since we may have only seen one band there, so we headed back to the other party. We had also pondered going to the Mess With Texas party at some point in the day, but the huge line outside of Red 7 deterred us from that idea.

When we got back to the Musebox party, we heard one song of Les Breastfeeders, who didn't really do that much for me. So we decided to go check out the NY2LON party over at the main Habana Calle building across the street. I had put both of our names on the guestlist earlier, so that wasn't a problem. There was a big line when we got there, but it appeared that they were letting people in and just had to take time to find every person's name amongst the thousands on their list. We heard the end of DATAROCK's set while in line. They seemed to have a pretty goofy electro-pop-rock sound.

They had two stages there, one inside and one outside. There was no one playing on the inside stage when we got there, so we just waited around outside for Thunderbirds Are Now!, from Detroit. I was really excited to see them, and surprised as well, since they were a last minute addition to the party (replacing Amy Winehouse) and weren't on the original schedule. They played a very fun high energy set of punkish and danceable rock music. Several of the members walked out into the crowd at various points in the set, and at one point their keyboard player climbed up on the rocks surrounding the stage.

Then we went inside to catch Takka Takka. I went to the bathroom during the first part of their set, and don't really remember much about their music at all. Then we went outside for The Fratellis. For some reason they were all sitting down and playing acoustic guitars, so we couldn't see them at all. After a few songs we had to leave to go back to the other party. As were leaving they played the song have in that iPod commercial.

We went back to the Annex across the street in time to hear one song on the inside stage from Irina Bjoklunde. Then we went outside for The High Dials from Montreal, who were the band we were most interested in seeing at the party. At first I wasn't entirely sure it was them, because they had a different bassist (who was the member I remembered the most clearly), and they were playing songs I didn't recognize. But eventually they introduced themselves and ended the set with "The Holy Ground", which was the only song I recognized. The new songs were good, though, continuing their psychedelic pop sound. I look forward to hearing their new album when it's released.

Next inside was Øystein Greni from Bigbang, from Norway. I think we decided to sit down on the floor for part of his set, to rest our feet. The most memorable thing about his set was that when he tried to play his Nick Drake cover, he was so overcome emotionally that he couldn't finish. It was kind of sad.

After that, we went back to the outside stage for Uncut, who we had also seen on Wednesday, and who were still good. Then back inside for Richie from The Willowz. He was OK. The final band outside was PowerSolo from Denmark. They all wore big afro wigs and had a lot of energy, but their music wasn't that good. At one point in time the singer crawled underneath the song during one of the songs. The final act on the inside stage was Tobias Froberg with Ane Brun, from Sweden and Norway, respectively. They had some nice harmonies and I enjoyed their set quite a bit. It was a nice way to cap off our afternoon.

Since we had missed Cloud Cult on Thursday, and we noticed they were playing at around 6pm at one of the unofficial counter-festivals put on by some of the bars who are not official SXSW venues, we decided to go check them out. They were playing at the Chuggin' Monkey, so we headed down Sixth Street. We got there and it was pretty crowded. The place was pretty narrow, with just a bar down the length of it and a stage in the front corner. We found a spot near the bar closer to the wall, but we couldn't see very well because there speakers in the way. We got there in time to hear the last couple of songs by Cameron McGill and the Quartet Offensive. They were pretty good and I wouldn't have minded hearing more.

Eventually, Cloud Cult got set up and started. They're from Minneapolis and played some nice melodic indie rock. They had a couple of people with them who were doing paintings during the show, but since they didn't have enough space on the small stage, they had to do the painting outside. They played one song about a "Happy Hippopotamus". I would be interested in hearing them again in a better setting where I can actually see the band well.

We elected not to stick around for Earl Greyhound, who seemed to be quite popular judging by the line outside when we left. Instead, we went over to Whole Foods for some dinner. I got some BBQ sliced beef and handofluke had London broil. We ate it outside in a bit of a hurry, because we wanted to get over to La Zona Rosa by 8pm.

After eating, we went over to La Zona Rosa. Surprisingly, there was no line and it wasn't crowded, which was good. We got inside and almost exactly at that moment Mohair started playing. Good timing. They were pretty standard British rock.

After Mohair, we worked our way closer to the stage for Mew. We had also seen Mew on Thursday, but today since they were in a club, they had animations synchronized to the music projected behind them. It was a pretty cool effect. The music was great as well. They played more older songs at this performance than at the one on Thursday.

Following Mew was Eisley, who are a family band from Tyler, TX. They played some decent alt-pop. It was pleasant, but nothing too memorable. Several of the members looked quite young, so I'd say they still have some potential to grow as a band.

I was really excited to see the next band on the schedule, who was listed as "thee spree", but who was really The Polyphonic Spree, from Dallas. They had previously had another official showcase at SXSW the previous night, and SXSW usually doesn't like bands to have two official showcases, which is why they were listed under an alias. Though it seems that since so many bands had two shocases this year and were listed under very thinly veiled aliases, rather than simply saying "Special Guests", that SXSW must have been loosening up the rules about multiple showcases. But I digress. Since The Polyphonic Spree has about 18 members, it took them a while to set up, but they seemed to have the procedure down pretty well. Eventually, they started their set and it was great. Tim DeLaughter kind of conducted the large band in their "choral symphonic rock" music, as well as singing the lead vocals. He's a very engaging frontman. For their new album, they had abandoned their trademark robes in favor of these militaristic black outfits, which Pitchfork said made them look like "My Chemical Romance superfans". Tim led the audience in some singalongs, including a great one on "It's The Sun". They played some songs off of their upcoming album, which should be good. At one point in the set, one of the percussionists came into the crowd and I was afraid I was going to get decapitated by a cymbal. All in all, it was a great show.

Following The Polyphonic Spree, we made our way back to the other side of Congress to Buffalo Billiards for the Bella Union showcase. It was also St. Patrick's day, so we had to fight our way through not only the SXSW people, but also lots of drunk non-SXSW people in green. We made it there, but unfortunately the place was already full for Midlake and there was a line outside. But that was OK, since even though it would've been nice, I hadn't counted on catching Midlake that night. We were more interested in catching The Kissaway Trail from Denmark, who were on after Midlake. After talking to the doorman, we determined that we should be able to get in before The Kissaway Trail went on. So we waited in line. As soon as Midlake's set ended, lots of people left and we made it in. We were tired at that point, so we found a couch to sit on in the back of the club. We wound up staying back there for the entire set. We could still see pretty decently from there. The MP3 that was posted on the SXSW website sounded something like Mercury Rev, and while that comparison is not inaccurate, I don't think it gives a complete picture of their sound. They have some really nice melodic guitar parts. I'm definitely going to keep an eye out for them in the future. Between them and Mew (but forgetting about PowerSolo) I'd say that Danish rock is doing pretty well for itself.

The Kissaway Trail played a fairly short set, which was actually good since it meant we were just able to catch the 1:40am Night Owl bus home. We made it home, exhausted after 4 long days and 58 acts, but happy after seeing so much great live music.

SXSW 2007 Day 3

2007-03-26T04:34:26Z

This is the third in a series of posts on handofluke and my adventures at SXSW 2007, detailing the events of Friday March 16, the third day of the festival.

On Friday we went down to the Emo's Annex tent for the Noispop/WOXY party. The theme of the party was "Everybody Needs A Nurse", since they had nurses there with information for people who didn't have health insurance.

First up was Dave Smallen from Oakland. He played some solo acoustic songs from his band Street to Nowhere, I believe, as well as not one, but two Leonard Cohen covers, one of which was "Famous Blue Raincoat".

Next was Snowden from Atlanta. They had a nice post-punk kind of sound, with some good loud guitars and melodies. I enjoyed their set.

Following Snowden was Aqueduct from Seattle. They were led by a wacky frontman on the synthesizer singing some interesting lyrics. It was definitely unique.

The next band was one of the acts that I had really come there to see, The Broken West from Los Angeles. I had downloaded their debut album on Merge from emusic earlier in the year, and liked it, so I wanted to make sure I caught them live at some point at SXSW. They recreated the power-pop songs of their album pretty well, I thought.

They were followed up with another The Little Ones, also from LA. They also had a similar sort of indie power-pop sounds. I enjoyed their set quite a bit.

Between the later sets in the party, they had comedian Zach Galifinakis doing little stand-up bits. At this point, the next performer, Alexi Murdoch, was late in arriving, so Zach had some time to fill. A lot of the jokes he seemed to have just made up. We had noticed him off to the side of the stage earlier scribbling down ideas. Despite that, we was pretty funny. At one point he borrowed handofluke's glasses for a joke.

Finally, Alexi Murdoch, who is from Scotland, arrived and was ready to play. He played some nice singer-songwriter types of songs on his acoustic guitar.

Next up was the last act of the party, and the act that we were most anxious to see, Bob Mould. We had also seen Bob yesterday, and he played pretty much (maybe even exactly) the same set he had played that day, but it was still great.

After the party ended at around 6pm, we didn't have anything else scheduled until 9pm, so we had to decide what to do. The party schedule I had printed out said that Mew was playing down at Guero's on South Congress at 6:40pm, so we decided to check that out. Unfortunately, the schedule was wrong, and when we got down there we found out that there was an entirely different party at Guero's. All was not lost, however, as we went across the street and had a nice dinner at Homeslice Pizza.

After dinner, we took the bus back downtown and headed over to The Parish for a reunited Buffalo Tom (from Boston) at the New West showcase. We got there pretty early, and there were some people sitting down near the stage, so we joined them. Eventually we got up and Buffalo Tom came on. They played a great set that included some new songs from their upcoming album as well as lots of old classics like "Taillights Fade". They really rocked hard and had a lot of energy. It was definitely a highlight for me.

We elected not to stick around for The Drams and Steve Earle, and instead made our way over to The Dirty Dog Bar for the Yep Roc Showcase. Unfortunately we had to miss Rock Plaza Central, who were playing at the same time as Buffalo Tom, but we got there in time for Robyn Hitchcock. He was playing with Peter Buck from R.E.M. on guitar and Sean Nelson from Harvey Danger on background vocals (both of which, incidentally, we had seen the previous year at SXSW with The Minus 5). Robyn's set was alright. He played a mixture of stuff from his latest album as well as a few classics. Most of it was pretty lowkey, even "I Wanna Destroy You".

After Robyn, many people cleared out so we managed to get much closer to the stage for the next band, You Am I. They're an Australian rock band who've been around awhile. They put on a good high energy show, but I wasn't really that into it.

Next was the band I most wanted to see Sloan, from Halifax. They're Canadian power-pop legends, and I had never seen them before. I had been really digging their latest album, which made me want to see them even more. They did not disappoint. All of the members in the band write songs, so they all took turns singing, with occasional instrument swapping as well. Their set was so much fun and they had a lot of energy. All of the new songs came off quite well. The set hit a climax with their classic song "Money City Maniacs". Sloan really know how to put on a good show.

Next up was The Apples In Stereo, who took a fair amount of time setting up, but the wait was worth it. I had also been enjoying their recent album, which they played a lot of songs from. They seemed to really be having a lot of fun onstage and it came through in their music. Just good fun old-fashioned pop songs. The club let them play beyond 2am closing time, which was pretty cool, especially since they had started late.

Somewhere we then decided after looking at all of the people waiting for the bus to try to catch a cab home, which turned out to be a difficult task. So eventually our search for a cab wound up with us just walking home, with a stop at Ken's Donuts for a snack on the way. We finally got home shortly before 4am and went to sleep.

SXSW 2007 Day 2

2007-03-25T03:57:14Z

This is the second in a series of posts on handofluke and my adventures at SXSW 2007, detailing the events of Thursday March 15, the second day of the festival.

The plan we came up with for Thursday, after examining all of the options, was to spend the afternoon over at the Scoot Inn in East Austin at the Brooklyn Vegan/AAM Party, which we did. We took the bus downtown, then took one of the Dillos to East Austin, a couple of blocks from Scoot Inn. As we were walking over there, we heard some music, which turned out to be New Violators, the first band playing outside at the party, who were from Norway. After making our way around to the front entrance, we went in and heard the rest of their set. They had a nice, fun, new wavey sound. They had music on two stages, one outside and one inside. Earlier on, the schedules were somewhat staggered, so after New Violators we went inside to hear The Finches, from San Francisco. They were an acoustic duo, and we were able to hear about two songs of their set, which was alright. Then we went outside to hear Rob Crow from Pinback. He had a kind of eclectic sound. He was with a band that rocked pretty hard, but he had some poppy hooks too. I enjoyed the performance. Then we missed the band inside, because later in the day they had unfortunately made it so that both the inside and outside bands were playing at the same time for some reason.

I should also add a digression that during the early part of the afternoon we got some free stuff from the party. At first we noticed the free "water" and chips they had put out on tables. We had some Vitamin Water, which doesn't really deserve to be called water because not only is it flavored, it also has 125 calories per bottle. We also tried some Kettle Brand Cheddar Beer chips, which had an interesting flavor, as you might expect. We also noticed that they started putting out books on the tables, which somewhat surprised me. The books were all copies of "Perfect From Now On", in hardcover, which was even a book I wanted. So I grabbed one. Not long after that, I noticed they had gift bags at the entrance. One box was labeled "free and awesome" and one "free and radical". I got a "free and radical" bag. It included a copy of the book, so I put the other copy back for someone else to grab. There was also a magazine, a poster, and some sampler CDs and stickers. It was pretty cool. They also put out some food they had gotten at HEB, which we had for lunch.

After Rob Crow, next up was F**ked Up, who are a hardcore band from Canada. They were pretty musically tight, although I'm not a big fan of the screaming style of vocals prevalent in hardcore. They played a rather short set. I think they had borrowed their gear and the band they borrowed it from needed it back quickly so they could play a show in San Antonio that night. Because the set was so short, we managed to catch most of the set by O'Death inside, who were from New York. They had a sound that was kind of like old fashioned bluegrass mixed with punk, including fiddle and banjo.

Then I think we sat around outside for a while until Matt & Kim, from Brooklyn. They were a duo, obviously, with Matt on keyboard and vocals and Kim on drums. Despite not being all that musically talented, they were kind of endearing. They were kind of drowned out, as well, by some rap being performed at a party next door. We then went inside and caught the last song of The Twilight Sad, who we had also seen on Wednesday. Then we sat around some until Hella came on. They were a bit too noisy and experimental for me, so after one song of theirs, we went inside and caught most of the set by Austin's Brothers and Sisters. They played a nice set of countryish indie pop music.

Unfortunately, at 5pm were two bands I wanted to see, so we had to go outside to catch Mew and missed Cloud Cult playing inside. But Mew played an awesome set of their atmospheric Danish rock music. Here are some pictures and video. I was interested to note that they didn't use the monitors, and instead all had what appeared to be Shure earphones in their ears. They even had some under-21 fans who couldn't get in and so who watched the show from outside the fence.

After Mew's set, we were getting hungry, so we looked for a place to eat. After deciding against Wendy's since there was no place to sit, we wound up at a nice sandwich place just on the other side of the freeway off of 6th street. Most of the music shuts down between 6pm and 8pm, so we had some time to kill, and so we sat around by the creek outside.

When it got closer to 8pm, we made our way over to Buffalo Billiards to see Bob Mould play at 9pm. Before that, we listened to a set of indie rock from Say Hi To Your Mom from Seattle. If I recall correctly, they had a lot of songs about vampires. Bob Mould actually came on shortly before his schedule 9pm start time (perhaps because the place was already full, so there was no real point in waiting). He played a typical 40-45 minute acoustic set from him. Great as always. It started with "Wishing Well", of course, and ended with a fun sing-along version of "Makes No Sense At All". He played one new song as well, which I enjoyed quite a bit.

After Bob, we made our way over to Stubb's for Bloc Party later that night. Somewhat surprisingly, it wasn't that crowded when we got there and there was no wait to get in. The first band we saw turned out to be Apostle of Hustle, from Toronto, who were a last minute substitute for Rodrigo y Gabriela, who had immigration issues coming from Mexico. That was actually a pleasant surprise since they were a band that I had wanted to see that I didn't think I would be able to see. Apostle of Hustle sounded quite a bit like Broken Social Scene, with a kind of a Brazilian and Caribbean flair. Of course, that's not surprising since the lead guy in Apostle of Hustle is one of the guitarists in Broken Social Scene. After Apostle of Hustle were The Dears from Montreal, who played a nice set of atmospheric indie rock. I wasn't into it too much, though, perhaps because by that point my feet were hurting quite a bit.

Before Bloc Party came on, things got a bit more crowded and claustrophobic, but we managed to mostly stand our ground. Bloc Party came on and put on a good show. I enjoyed it more than their show in Berkeley last August. They played a lot of songs off of their new album, which I enjoyed quite a bit, as well as some of the classics from their first album.

Unfortunately, Bloc Party got done a little too late for us to catch the 1:40am Night Owl bus, so we had to wait over 20 minutes for the next bus. Luckily we were able to sit down on a bench. There were also a lot of people waiting to get on the bus, but we managed to fight our way on, which was good since I think the bus might have filled up and people had to wait half an hour for the next bus. We got home and went to sleep to ready ourselves for the next day.

SXSW 2007 Day 1

2007-03-25T00:40:47Z

Thanks to pestering from handofluke, this is the first in a series of posts on handofluke and my adventures at SXSW 2007, detailing the events of Wednesday March 14, the first day of the festival.

We had originally planned to go to a show with some local bands on Tuesday at Emo's, but after handofluke's plane getting in about four hours late, we decided to take a pass on that.

We wound up getting a slightly later start on Wednesday than ideally we would have, but that was ok. We took the bus downtown and walked over to The Mohawk, for the Austinist/Gothamist/Gorilla vs. Bear party. We only saw one band there, which was Sparrow House, that was a side project of one of the guys in Voxtrot, who we wound up seeing later that day. He was playing inside, and was alright, pretty low key. A nice start to the day.

Then we went down Red River to the IODA party at the Emo's Annex tent. We got some Tex-Mex there and then watched some bands. The first band was The Affair, who are a female fronted band from New York City with a kind of a poppy but rocking sound. They were fun. Then came The Twilight Sad from Scotland, who were intriguing. They mixed really loud wall of sound guitars with quieter sections in their songs. I'm still not sure exactly what to think of them. After that was Uncut from Toronto. They had a sound that kind of reminded me of bands like Fugazi, and also a little of British post-punk. There was even one guitar part that sounded like The Edge from U2. I guess the point is they had a really nice guitar sound.

After that, we were unsure what to do, so I looked at the schedule of all of the parties, and made a change in plans. I had originally thought to go back to The Mohawk for a while, then back to Emo's Annex, but since The Mohawk had been so crowded earlier we weren't sure we really wanted to deal with going back and forth like that. But I noticed that we had time to go across town to Momo's to see Midlake at Momo's, so we decided to do that. This also had the side effect of making us not need to go see Midlake later on Saturday night, which had a domino effect on the rest of our schedule that turned out to be extremely beneficial.

So we walked over to Momo's. The party was the NX35 Denton Party, so all the bands were from Denton, TX. When we got there they asked us to fill out an information card, so we could get information on Denton music, I guess, and then we walked upstairs to the club. We had thought we'd be getting there a little late for Robert Gomez, but it turns out that they were behind the schedule that I had seen on the web, so he hadn't even started yet. We waited a while and eventually he went on. He had quite a large band (9 people, I think), but the music was pretty low key singer-songwriter stuff, for the most part, and was entertaining enough.

After a fairly long wait, Midlake finally went on, and they were awesome. They only played for about thirty minutes, but they played most of my favorite songs off of their debut album, including "Roscoe", which is one of my favorite songs from last year. All of their songs are so well structured. Everything just fits together so well. Perhaps because of this, I hadn't realized before how good the guitar parts in their songs were. Some of the solos were quite nice. They capped the set off with "Head Home", which is another of my favorites.

We had some time for a dinner break at that point before heading over to Emo's for the 4AD/Beggars Banquet Showcase. I had wanted to go to Schlotzky's, but it turns out that their downtown location had closed recently, unbeknownst to me. So we wound up going to a pizza and subs place on Congress instead. Actually, we had thought about going up to the UT Campus to see Mew play at the Austin City Limits studio for a radio broadcast on KEXP, but we were worried we would have trouble getting into Emo's by the time we got back. Plus, we wouldn't have had enough time to eat if we did that, probably.

After dinner, we walked over to Emo's. We saw a huge line outside when we got there, but it turned out that those were all people wanted to buy tickets to get in. Since we had wristbands, we got priority over them. When we got in line there was only one guy with a badge there, and no other wristband people, so somewhat surprisingly we were right in the front of the line. We talked some with the badge guy who was in line. He was a local photographer and wanted to get right up by the stage and not in the designated photography area, which is why he got there so early. The line got longer (but not that long), by the time they started letting people in.

Once we got inside we determined that they would definitely allow you to go between the inside and outside stages at Emo's, which we weren't entirely sure about. So that was cool. The first band we wanted to see was on the inside stage, so we sat around in the patio area for a while resting our feet. We heard a couple of songs by Wolf & Cub playing outside before the inside stage started up. It sounded like typical Australian rock. We went inside then for iLiKETRAiNS from Leeds. They had lots of dynamic guitars with kind of a post-rock sound. The one thing I remember the most was their horn player. He started off not playing and looking up like he was bored, then when he joined in he was really blowing hard. He really got into it. I guess he had to blow hard to be heard over the loud guitars though.

We went outside next for Emma Pollock, who was from Scotland and who used to be in The Delgados. I recall watching most of her set (at least Emma herself) through the space between two close together poles. Her set was good. It was a louder than I expected, since apparently the one really quiet track she had was the one that was chosen to be on the SXSW website, so that was all I had heard previously.

We managed to move into a slightly closer sport for Beirut, who I was excited to see and are from New Mexico. The main guy behind Beirut is Zach Condon, who informed us that he had recently turned 21. He had brought along a bunch of friends to back him up onstage on his Eastern European flavored songs. The set was enjoyable, although for some reason they had thought they only had 15 minutes to play, when it was really more like 45 minutes. Since they hadn't practiced much recently, they had to keep scrambling to come up with more songs to play.

Following Beirut was The Mountain Goats. John Darnielle is the main guy behind The Mountain Goats, and he's an amazing songwriter, especially with his lyrics. He did not disappoint tonight. When they were setting up, I had thought that the guy setting up the drums looked like Jon Wurster from Superchunk, but I wasn't sure, since I didn't have any idea that he played with The Mountain Goats. The last time I saw them in the fall they didn't have a drummer. Once he started playing, I became almost positive that it was Jon Wurster (which John later confirmed when introducing him). I should also mention that Peter Hughes, who's a Mountain Goats regular, was on bass. The addition of Jon on drums made them totally rock. It was so diametrically opposed to the last time I saw them last fall, which was very intimate and quiet, but that was awesome as well. They just tore through a lot of Mountain Goats classics, like "This Year" and "Going to Georgia". It was a lot of fun.

After The Mountain Goats, we went inside for Voxtrot, who I was quite anxious to see. Since even though they were from Austin, I had managed to avoid seeing them up to that point. They played a lot of great indie pop songs off of their 3 EPs as well as their upcoming debut album. One of the guys in the band had his birthday that day, so someone brought up cake and we sang happy birthday. It was a good set.

Finally, we went outside and caught a couple of songs by Blonde Redhead before going to catch the bus home to rest up for the next day.

Sunday Bloody Sunday

2006-07-03T20:30:54Z

Video of George Bush "singing" Sunday Bloody Sunday.

Dan Brown's Secret

2006-06-02T19:09:51Z

This hilarious article from Godspy reveals the true secret to how Dan Brown comes up with the plots for his novels, such as The Da Vinci Code.

By the way, the article is written by the author of The Bad Catholic's Guide to Good Living, an extremely funny, and informative, book that I highly recommend. A seasonally appropriate excerpt from the book about Pentecost is available online, if you want a sample.

Neko Case and The High Dials

2006-04-19T06:55:44Z

Tonight I went to see Neko Case and The High Dials play at La Zona Rosa. I had nearly forgotten that tonight was the concert was tonight, but luckily I remembered in time. I guess I've got too many things on my mind.

First up was The High Dials, who I had seen just a month ago at SXSW. They put on a great show of their 60's style psychedelic rock, with great lush instrumentation and harmonies. They started off with "The Holy Ground" and "Fields In Glass". Towards the end they played "Soul In Lust" and "Our Time Is Coming Soon", both of which really rocked. I had gotten there early enough so that I got a good spot to stand, two or three rows to the back of the stage. Last time I saw them, they had a sitar that they had in a case on stage, but they never used it, which was a little disappointing. This time I saw the sitar up there again, but I kept waiting for it to come out. I was a bit worried I'd never see it, but they did not disappoint me. It came out for the last song, which was a new song called "Open Up The Gate". The song was excellent and they really jammed on it. I thought the song sounded familiar, and my suspicion was correct, because it turns out it was one of the songs on a live recording of another of their SXSW performances that I had downloaded. I'm listening to it again now, good stuff.

Then after a while, Neko Case came on. The performance was good. She has such a beautiful and distinctive voice. She played for an hour and a half, and played a lot of the songs off her new record, and a lot of the best songs on her older records. Her backing band did a good job as well. I did have the distraction of an annoying photographer with a loudly clicking camera standing in front of me for half the show. (How many pictures from the same spot does anyone really need? He must've taken over 100.) Thankfully, he eventually moved. I think I enjoyed the show more after that. The main set closed with "Hold On, Hold On", that was a highlight. Then they came out for the first encore, which concluded with "John Saw That Number", which I had been hoping that they'd play. So that made me happy. They even came out for a second encore. All in all, an enjoyable show. And it ended just in time for me to catch the Night Owl bus home.

John Allen

2006-04-04T03:58:04Z

Tonight I went to a talk by John Allen at the University Catholic Center. Allen writes the Word From Rome column for the National Catholic Reporter and is the Vatican correspondent for CNN. The talk was on the first year of the papacy of Pope Benedict XVI. He talks about a lot of the same things in his current column. It was pretty interesting, although there wasn't much too surprising since I've pretty much been keeping up with the news on the Pope (thanks in part to Allen himself). One interesting point he made was that only maybe 5% of the work of the Pope really has to do with doctrinal matters of faith and morals. That leave 95% as matters of prudential judgment, and on these matters has done very well at consulting with other bishops to reach some kind of consensus and not just going off and doing things according to his personal preferences.

For me, some of the audience questions were perhaps the most interesting part. One person asked about the national makeup of the new cardinals created recently. Allen noted how the Pope didn't seem to care as much about making sure that the cardinals were geographically balanced so much as just picking the most qualified bishops regardless of their country. Also, apparently some people thought that making Cardinal Zen of Hong Kong a cardinal was a bad move for relations with China, but Benedict went and did it anyways.

The other interesting question also regarded the geographic distribution of the Catholic Church, I think specifically the question was on the possibility of a Pope from Africa or Latin America. His answer focused on what he termed "the upside-down church", which will be the focus of his next book. His thesis is that with more and more of the members of the Church coming from the "global south", the leadership of the Church will drastically change to reflect that reality, with a different worldview to go along with it. He gave an example of a fictional "Pope Raphael I" from Africa in 2060, with the examples of what the "Pope" does based on things said by various African bishops today. I'm not sure I buy that in 54 years the bishops will have the same preoccupations that we have today, but the overall thrust of his argument was intriguing.

The Power Of Procrastination

2006-03-29T02:07:32Z

I just got back from hearing Jorge Cham of Piled Higher & Deeper fame give a talk here at UT. The Avaya Auditorium in ACES was packed with people. Luckily I got there just early enough to snag one of the few remaining seats. The talk was great, it was extremely funny and even somewhat insightful. The outline slide for the talk was very succinct:

Present Outline
Talk
Answer Questions

In a survey of graduate students in popular culture towards the beginning of the talk he mentioned how Real Genius was about "four graduate students who are shocked to discover that the research they're doing has military applications. Imagine that."

The later part of the talk was focused on The Power Of Procrastination. One key point was that procrastination is not equal to laziness. A lot of the material related to Newton's Three Laws Of Graduation. The slides were also very well done. As he mentioned at the end, one of the key skills he learned in grad school was Powerpoint.

After the talk there were a few questions. He verified that he does not write Cecilia's blog in one of his answers. Unfortunately, he didn't have books for sale so I couldn't buy them and get him to sign them. I still need to pick them up from somewhere, possibly Book People, since he mentioned they had them there.

SXSW Statistics

2006-03-26T02:25:17Z

I compiled statistics on the number of musical acts handofluke and I saw at SXSW this year on each day, and it's as follows:
Wednesday: 14
Thursday: 16
Friday: 17
Saturday: 5 new acts, 6 duplicates from previous days
Total: 52

SXSW Day 4

2006-03-26T02:12:53Z

The final entry detailing handofluke and my SXSW experience, detailing the events of last Saturday.

Saturday was a farily dreary, rainy day. Our plan was to go up to North Loop for a party to see The High Dials again. However, when we got up there on the bus, they were still just beginning to set up. We browsed some of the stores around there, but they still seemed to be very far away from starting. I don't think they even had any speakers yet, and certainly no instruments set up (though they did have a tarp covering the area in front of the stage). That was a disappointment, but since we had seen them already once, it wasn't too bad. And I found out afterwards that The High Dials are coming back to Austin next month opening for Neko Case, who we had missed entirely at the festival (except for her appearance with The New Pornographers), so I think I may get a ticket for that concert. It should be a good show.

We took the 7 bus. The plan was to transfer to the 338 bus, but I was worried we'd miss the transfer, but we chanced it anyway. After finally finding the bus stop a couple of blocks away from where we got off, we lucked out and the 338 came soon afterwards. We took this down to by Waterloo Records, where we wanted to go to later for an in-store. First, our plan was to go over to Mother Egan's Pub for a bit. When we got there, they were running a bit behind schedule, so Swearing At Motorists were still playing, who we had seen yesterday. Next up was Missing Tapes, who I notice we had also seen previously, though I don't remember much of them either time. Unfortunately, since they were behind schedule we entirely missed Oxford Collapse, since we had to go over to Waterloo.

We then walked over to Waterloo to see Rogue Wave play an acoustic in-store set. They played some good indie-pop. They also played a Buddy Holly cover. It was a little distracting dealing with people trying to get to the cash register, but I guess that's what you get at an in-store. I think we stopped afterwards at Whole Foods to use the bathroom. When we got back to Mother Egan's, they were in between sets. We were kind of hungry, and their menu didn't seem that great, so we decided just to go down the street to Hut's Hamburgers for some burgers. It was a nice break to be able to sit down and eat a real meal.

We got back to the pub as Irving was playing, who we had also seen on Thursday, although I enjoyed them this time a lot better than the previous time. I think part of that had to do with the venue being better. Next up was Silversun Pickups, who played some nice upbeat indie-rock and were pretty fun. Unfortunately, since they were behind schedule, we had to leave before the next band, Head Of Femur, who sounded intriguing.

We had to leave because we wanted to make sure we got in to Antone's for the Merge Records showcase. The line wasn't too long when we got there, barely around the corner. They hadn't started letting people in yet. We waited for a while in line. While in line, we saw a billboard on the back of a truck advertising a contest to get your band's music featured in the movie Snakes On A Plane. That was pretty cool. Eventually the let in the badge people, followed by the wristband people, which would be us. We staked out a spot in the front row on the left side of the stage. We took turns going to the bathroom while the other person saved the spot. It took a while for the club to fill up, so it wasn't very crowded at that point.

Eventually, the first band came on, White Whale. They were pretty rocking, but not so much in as poppy a way as a lot of the other bands we'd been seeing. Next up was Annie Hayden. Along with her backing band, she moved things in a more singer-songwriter direction. Then came The Essex Green, who we had also seen at the Merge party the previous day. I think I enjoyed them more this time. The vocals definitely sounded better.

Finally we got to the first big band (at least for us) of the evening, Superchunk. The place was totally packed by this point. There was a short person who was a big Superchunk fan standing behind us, so handofluke graciously switched places with her for the set. Overhearing conversation before the show, apparently they had only played two shows last year, and this was their first show of this year. Once they came out they tore into a super high energy 40 minute set, including a couple of new songs. It was a lot of fun and the crowd was really into it. Mac joked to the audience that they thought they might get signed (pretty funny since he owns Merge Records). They also related a funny only at SXSW story about overhearing a girl consoling her boyfriend, "don't worry, you could still break out", which lead to some jokes about "breaking out". After the set was over, I look up and to my surprise right in front of me is David Cross (of Mr. Show and Arrested Development fame). He proceeded to inform us that Superchunk started it all, and that all of the indie-rock bands out at SXSW wanted to be them. Indeed, David.

The place cleared out a little, but not too much, after Superchunk was over. Next up was Camera Obscura, another repeat from the party the previous day. They were ok, but I think after the high energy of the previous set I wasn't in quite the proper mood to enjoy them. After they finished their set, there was an incident with Jason Narducy and handofluke while he was coming out to set up his bass that I'll leave to her to relate.

Finally, the big finale came, the "icon" set, courtesy of Robert Pollard. He and his band, including the aforementioned Jason Narducy as well as Jon Wurster, the drummer from Superchunk, totally rocked the place. Another awesome show from a great frontman fronting a great band. And we were right up front to enjoy the action. Unfortunately they were only able to play for an hour, but it was an hour of all out rock. The set list was varied a fair amount from the show the previous day, and even the songs that were repeated were all outstanding songs that I definitely didn't mind hearing again. It was a fitting end to an awesome SXSW.

We exited in time to catch the Night Owl bus home, and went to sleep with SXSW over.

SXSW Day 3, Part 3

2006-03-25T07:05:37Z

The third and final part of handofluke and my adventures on Friday of SXSW.

We made our way across to the main 6th street area where most of the action was. First up on our agenda was The Mendoza Line at Maggie Mae's. I think they had started by the time we got there, so we were in the back by the bar. They played some nice mellowish indie-pop tunes. Maggie Mae's was interesting because they had tv screens above the bar showing the band. But the images on the screens weren't as good as just watching the band live, so it was pretty pointless. Next up were Great Lake Swimmers, but we didn't stick around for them, since we wanted to go over to Red Eyed Fly to check out Flight Of The Conchords, who were supposed to be New Zealand's answer to Tenacious D. We never got to find that out though, since the place was packed and even the people who had badges had to stand in line, though most of them got in. After waiting a while with no people with wristbands being let in, we decided that we didn't have a hope of being let in, so we went somewhere where we could actually listen to some music.

We wound up at Stubb's, where they had a showcase of mostly British (and one Canadian) band playing. We got there while White Rose Movement were playing. They sounded pretty good, but our feet were tired, so we decided to take a break and sit down for a while. We got up for the next band, The Subways, who put on a high energy hard rocking show. At one point the singer climbed up on the speakers and onto the balcony of the restaurant where all the VIPs were.

The next band up was Metric, who was the band at Stubb's I was most intrigued by. Before they started, they started setting up these six columns of lights behind them on the stage. Each column had around 5 rows with five lights across. During the whole set the lights flashed at the audience in different colors. It was an interesting effect, although a bit blinding. Their set was pretty good, the female lead singer kind of reminded me of Debbie Harry. They were the one Canadian band there, from Toronto.

The Magic Numbers and Snow Patrol were next up at Stubb's, but there was other stuff I wanted to see, so we left. We went across the street to Club DeVille for a set by Peter Holsapple & Chris Stamey of the dB's, who along with R.E.M. were supposed to be one of the top jangly guitar bands of the 1980's, and who I really need to get some albums by one of these days. They played a lot of really good songs and they had a great backing band. Unfortunately, there was a really loud band next door that started midway through their set, which kind of drowned out their quieter sound. They valiantly played on, though.

When we got out, we noticed there were a lot of people lined up for Snow Patrol at Stubb's. I kind of wanted to go check out Rogue Wave back at Red Eyed Fly, but there was still quite a wristband line outside, so we went with my backup plan, which was to go over to Spiro's for The Aeroplanes. I was interested in seeing them because the description in the Chronicle sounded intriguing, and earlier I had seen a sticker for them in the portable toilet at Stubb's that listed quotes describing them as the next great anthemic British rock band, which piqued my interest more. We went in, and they had a few stages, so we weren't sure which one was the right one, so we finally asked the beer lady outside, and she directed us to the right place. The venue wasn't that great, but there was a spot to sit down, so we sat down and waited for them to start their set. They started late, and I think the music was pretty good, but my tiredness combined with the subpar venue and sparse crowd kind of detracted from my enjoyment. (Here's a random fact for you. I was just looking at their bio, and apparently Jeff Bridges is a big fan. Dude!)

After The Aeroplanes finished, we walked back down 6th Street to catch the Night Owl bus home. Since we had actually stopped to have a real meal during the day today, we didn't need to eat when we got home for once. Then we slept, ready for the next and final day.

SXSW Day 3, Part 2

2006-03-25T06:19:52Z

The second part of handofluke and my Friday at SXSW.

When we last left off, we had taken the number 7 bus downtown to go to the Merge/Sub Pop party over at Pok-e-Jo's BBQ. We had to transfer to the Silver Dillo to get over there. I wasn't sure exactly which stop to get off on, since the BBQ was on 5th and we were on 6th, but it turns out I guessed right. While we were walking over there, a guy stopped us to ask us what was going on over at Pok-e-Jo's, since apparently we looked like we knew what we were doing. So I told him and even showed him the schedule.

As we arrived at the outdoor stage, Band of Horses were playing. There was a fair crowd there, including an extremely long line for the free beer. Next up was The Essex Green. They were ok, although the female singer's voice wasn't that great, although the sound system could have been party to blame. Next up was Britt Daniel of Spoon, playing a short solo acoustic set. He played 4 songs, "I Summon You", a new song, "Everything Hits At Once", and "Me And The Bean". It was a good performance, though there were some technical issues. MP3s of a soundboard recording of the performance have already been posted, in case anyone is interested. Next up was Camera Obscura. I missed the first part of their set standing in line for the toilet. They only had two portable toilets for the whole party, so the line was long. Not as long as the beer line though. During these performances a lot of people were sitting down in front of the stage, but we remained standing behind the people who were sitting.

Next up was the act we were really there to see, Robert Pollard. Everyone stood up for this performance, and we were right up close to the front. Before the performance started, Patton Oswalt came out to do a short stand-up bit and introduce Bob. Bob and his band rocked out a tight 40 minute set. A bittorrent of the performance has already been posted, if anyone out there is interested (registration required). It was a lot of fun. At one point, Bob pointed to a guy in the front row and said "hey everyone, Jon Stewart", and the guy did look a lot like a darker skinned Jon Stewart. Beatle Bob came onstage and danced at one point in the show. This show was probably the highlight of my day. Of course, I think anytime I see Bob play it's the highlight of my day.

After the show, we just missed the Silver Dillo, and not wanting to wait for the next bus, we just decided to walk. We were hungry, so we stopped in the middle at the Whole Foods flagship store to get some food. Then we walked along Sixth Street towards the nighttime showcases, which will be detailed in the next post.

SXSW Day 3, Part 1

2006-03-24T22:26:17Z

This entry covers the first part of handofluke and my Friday at SXSW.

On Friday, we started the day by going up to the Chunklet party up on North Loop. We wanted to get there in time to see Ted Leo & The Pharmacists, but we were a little late in getting going. We decided to walk up there, but it was a little longer than we expected. At least the weather was cloudier and not as hot as the previous day. Later I realized that the number 7 bus went right by where the party was, which would've changed my plans had I known it earlier. Anyways, when we were still a few blocks away, handofluke remarked to me, "It sounds like someone is playing Rush really loudly." Soon after, we realized that it was Ted Leo covereing Rush that we were hearing. It kind of helped guide us to the party. We got there as the Rush cover was ending and found a spot behind where the band was set up so we could get a good view. Basically they had set up two small tents on opposite sides of the street in the parking spaces in front of a record store and a vintage store that were up there and alternated between the tents. There was no elevation or anything so the sight lines weren't good, and there were lots of people in front of the band, which is why we wound up behind. Ted Leo put on a great high-energy set of his punky indie-rock, as is usual for him. I had seen him play a few times before, but I wanted to catch him at least once during SXSW, so this fulfilled my quota.

After Ted Leo, we went across the street to catch The Carbonas and The Selmanaires. The Carbonas were supposed to go on before Ted Leo, but I guess they had some problems. I know they mentioned they were using the equipment of The Selmainaires. We listened to a few of The Carbonas more hardcore punk tunes before heading back across the street to browse the record store a little bit and stop at the nearby food store to get some apple juice to drink. We also sat down to plan out the evening, since I didn't have much of an idea who to see then. We went back to catch some of The Selmanaires' set, then back to the other stage for Black Heart Procession, who to be honest I don't remember much of. Then back across for Swearing at Motorists. They were a lot of fun. They were just a duo, with Dave Doughman on guitar and a drummer. But Dave really went all out for his performance, jumping and flying around all over the place and just all around rocking out. This behavior led him to complain about the uneven surface. Apparently there was a hole in the ground right behind him, which caused him much consternation.

Finally, we went to the other stage for Elf Power. You may recall from yesterday's entry that the main guy from Elf Power guested with The Minus 5 the previous night. Elf Power put on a good set of their Elephant 6 style 60's influenced psychedelic pop. It was good. They also had a cellist with them, who was hiding behind the speaker so I could barely see her. Following Elf Power's set, we caught the 7 bus downtown to go to the Merge party at Pok-e-Jo's, details of which will appear in the next post.

SXSW Day 2

2006-03-24T07:28:16Z

Now we come to the second day of the account of handofluke and my adventures at SXSW. (Updated 24 March 2006 @ 15:43.)

For the afternoon, the plan was to head down to South Congress for some parties going on down there. In particular, there were a couple of bands I wanted to check out early in the afternoon at the Schubas party. I had originally wanted to go to the Stereogum party at the Parish, but we weren't randomly selected for the invites they were giving out. That's probably ok, since we wound up seeing 3 of the 5 bands playing there at other times. Anyways, we were a little late getting going, and as we were walking down the street towards the bus stop, we saw a bus go by. Then I realized I had forgotten my watch. I figured I might have had just enough time to run back to the apartment to get the watch and run to the bus stop before the next bus came. I managed it, but just barely. It was much warmer and quite humid, so that running wasn't all that pleasant.

After busing down to South Congress, we got off by the Yard Dog art gallery for the party put on by Schubas (which is a club in Chicago, for those wondering). We went out the back fo the gallery to find the stage. It was squeezed in between two neighboring buildings and was pretty small and low. Since we were late in getting there, we only caught the end of the Tapes 'n Tapes set. I had heard a lot of buzz about them, so I was curious. From what I heard, they were ok. I would think I'd need to listen more before making a real judgement. I heard they played around 16 shows at SXSW, so I suppose if I had really wanted to I could've seen them again, but it never happened. They did have a baritone player in the band, which I thought was really cool. You don't see much of those, a lot of trombones, but no baritones.

After that we hang out a bit in the alley. I was really thirsty, and I think this was when I went over to get some water. They were giving out free beer, but you had to pay $2 for the water, and they gave me a bunch of ones for change, and I don't think they gave me quite enough, but it was too crowded and I didn't feel like arguing. I did get my money's worth from the bottle at least later in the day when we went over to Guero's, who had a free water source that I was able to refill from multiple times.

Next on the Yard Dog stage was Nickel Creek. They all crowded around one microphone on stage, which gave the even an even more intimate feeling, quite a bit different than the previous times I'd seen them at the ACL festival. They gave a good set of their brand of poppy bluegrass, with great mastery of their instruments. The highlight I'd say was their unexpected cover of Britney Spears's "Toxic". Quite good, though not as good as Richard Thompson's version of "Oops, I Did It Again". (However, both of those covers are far better than the originals.)

After Nickel Creek, we headed up the street a block in time to see the last song of Trances Arc in the courtyard outside Guero's taco bar. Next we went across the street to Home Slice Pizza to hear some of The Missing Tapes followed by Irving, both of which were bands of the indie-rock variety. They played on a stage set up behind the restaurant. At the time, neither of the bands made much of an impression on me. One interesting fact was that Irving apparently had a song on Gilmore Girls. We got a couple of slices of pizza while we were there, it was good pizza. Too bad I don't live anywhere near there, or else I might go there more often. While we were getting the pizza, we heard a little of Sorta playing at Guero's on the other side of the street. They seemed to have a pretty good alt-country sound.

Next we went back across the street to see The Ark at Guero's. I had picked up a sampler cd of bands playing at the party when we were there earlier in the afternoon, and we were intrigued by the song titles "Deliver Us From Free Will" and "One Of Us Is Gonna Die Young", both of which they played. It turns out they were a Swedish glam rock band and they were a lot of fun. They had a lot of energy and really catchy songs, it was great.

After The Ark, we first went over to the Yard Dog to see what was going on there. Unfortunately they were behind schedule so The Ponys were still playing, and we had seen them yesterday. So we went back to Guero's for Your Horrible Smile. They weren't too bad, but we had to leave so we could catch a bus back downtown to see The High Dials. I was a big fan of their most recent album and was really looking forward to seeing them live. They were playing at this bar, The Tap Room, down in the Warehouse District that looked kind of like a big cave. They actually played about six shows at SXSW, but this is the only one we made it to. When we got there, there were some people standing right by the door, so I wasn't sure what was going on, but I finally bypassed them to get to the doorman and went in. It turns out they were underage fans there to see (what they could of) the band that was playing when we got there, Tally Hall. The only song we heard of theirs was a cover of Biz Markie's "Just A Friend", so we didn't really get a representative sample to make any sort of judgement. They seemed like fun, they were all wearing white shirts and ties. Anyways, we waited a while for The High Dials to get set up and everything. By the time they got started they only had time to play a short set, but it was still a lot of fun. They play lush 60's style psychedelic pop music.

We had a decision to make at this point. We weren't sure how tough it'd be to get into the Austin Music Hall to see Morrissey, but since we were only a few blocks away we decided to check it out. When we got there the line stretched for a few blocks, but it seemed that they were still letting people in. We decided to go for it, and the line actually moved quite quickly once we got in it. When we got inside, the place wasn't even nearly full. The next day I found out that there was a surprise Beastie Boys show over at Stubb's at around the same time, which probably helped lessen the crowds over at the Austin Music Hall. The Zutons were playing when we got there. They, like all of the rest of the bands at the showcase, were British, since it was sponsored by the BBC. A lot of people were apparently there to see them, since the place cleared out a bit when they were done. Next up was Corinne Bailey Rae, who is apparently "Number One" in Britain. She sang a few acoustic R&B flavored tunes. It was enjoyable. Next up was Richard Hawley, whose mellow singer-songwriter stuff was nice enough, but at this point my feet were starting to hurt quite a bit, and I needed something more upbeat. The place was also getting more crowded again in anticipation of Morrissey, which didn't help matters.

There was a long wait before Moz came on, but when he did it was worth it. He seemed to play a lot of stuff from his two most recent albums, but he did throw in some Smiths tunes, like "Still Ill", "Girlfriend In A Coma", and "How Soon Is Now". During the beginning of the last one there were some people who pushed into the back of us, but the song was still great. He put on quite a show, prancing around stage, whipping his microphone cord, and periodically taking off his sweaty shirts and throwing them to the audience.

There was supposed to be a "Special Guest" after Morrissey, who I was speculating might be Ray Davies of The Kinks. We waited around a while to see who it would be, but nobody showed up and we had to leave to catch more music. The word is Ray was supposed to play, but he had an argument with Morrissey beforehand and canceled, which was too bad.

We took the last number 1 bus down to the Continental Club, back on South Congress where we began the day. We got there in time for Jake Brennan & The Confidence Men, who really impressed me. They were just a nice rock and roll band, of a kind of alt-country or pub band type. They played a nice and tight set, and the venue was a small one with good ambience. One of the songs Jake introduced by apologizing to "The Mystery Dance" beforehand, and sure enough it sounded a lot like the Elvis Costello tune.

Next up was The Minus 5, who I was really excited to see since I'd been digging their new album a lot. It was good tongue-in-cheek country flavored rock music, a lot of fun. They actually played well beyond the 2am bar closing time, until maybe 2:20, which was cool. For the last part, our feet were so tired that we had to sit down. I do feel somewhat embarrassed to admit that I didn't realize that Peter Buck of REM was their bass player until well after the show, even though the thought occurred to me during the show and I dismissed it. I must've been too tired out after the long day. One interesting aspect of this set was that their regular guitar player couldn't be there, so they had a bunch of guest guitarists come up on stage to help them, including Steve Wynn and the guy from Elf Power.

After we got out we took a cab home and got something to eat, since we were hungry by this point. While waiting for the cab, we noticed some sort of after hours party going on a few doors down. I think there was a police car out front. I guess the partying at SXSW never stops (although I'm not sure that's true, since I didn't hear of much happening between around 5am-11am).

SXSW Day 1

2006-03-22T05:46:43Z

This is the first in a series of posts on handofluke and my adventures at SXSW, detailing the events of last Wednesday, the first day of the festival.

handofluke had a very late flight here, and didn't arrive at my apartment until around 5am. We then slept until around 11am and got ready to get going. The plan was to spend the afternoon around Emo's, since there was a few bands I wanted to see that were playing free shows there. So we bused downtown and walked over there. On the way over there you could really tell it was SXSW with all of the advertising for various bands and parties, including a giant Morrissey banner.

We got to Emo's a little before 1:30pm, when What Made Milwaukee Famous was supposed to start on the outside stage. Apparently they had started early, because they were playing when we got there. They were good. I hadn't heard them before but I might check them out again since they're local. After that Zykos was to play on that stage, but we had seen them before, so we went over across the street to the Emo's Annex for the IODA party. I wanted to see Oranger, who were scheduled to go on at 2:30pm, but they were behind schedule, so we got to hear the whole set of Magneta Lane first. Oranger played a really good set of psychedelic rock, including some awesome theremin playing. I was getting a little hungry, and there was free food at the party, so I stood in line for that. I got some good tex-mex food, including tamales and quesadillas. I'm glad I ate something then because I wound up not eating anything else until after I got home at around 3am. While waiting in line for food, The Mutts started playing. They weren't that great so after finishing eating, we went back over across the street to Emo's.

At Emo's, we heard about one song of The Evangelicals on the inside stage, then went outside to catch The Ponys. They were good, but the most memorable thing about their set was the cameraman taking pictures onstage. He would be bopping his head like crazy to the music, then stop to take a picture, then go back to bopping his head. It was amusing. After that I think both the inside and outside stage were between sets, so we sat around for a while and rested our feet, which is something we learned you can't do enough of at SXSW. Then we went inside to hear a few songs by Deathray Davies, then outside for Shearwater. They were quieter than most of the bands we'd been saying. I think I'd need to listen to them a little bit more before deciding how much I liked them. Then we saw I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness on the outside stage, which is another local band I'd heard a lot about but never heard live. I enjoyed their set and wouldn't mind seeing them again. This was the last band of the afternoon, so the Emo's staff then tried to kick everybody out so they could get ready for their evening showcases. I was waiting for handofluke to use the restroom, and I was afraid they'd kick me out before she got out, but luckily that didn't happen.

For the evening portion of our day, we wanted to go see the Matador showcase at Stubb's. Since we thought it might be popular, and we didn't have anything to do, we went straight up Red River to Stubb's from Emo's. They hadn't started letting people in yet, so we waited in what was already a somewhat long line for a while before they let us in. We wound up talking to a little to the guy behind us in line, who I believe came in from Philadelphia. Finally they let us in, and we staked out a spot not too far from the stage, on the edge of the canopy hanging over the stage, which was good because it drizzled a little later in the night. The first act, Jennifer O'Connor, went on at 8pm. I enjoyed her performance well enough, however, the same cannot be said for the next band Brightblack Morning Light. They had this very repetitive, percussion and keyboards sound. Each song basically seemed to be doing slight variations on the same vamp for about 10 minutes, without even much in the way of dynamic variation. When they started, I don't think most of the crowd even realized they had begun, that's how boring it was. Maybe if I was trying to go to sleep or something it wouldn't be quite as bad, but in that environment it definitely was not good. At least it was just boring bad and not annoyingly bad. They also had a woman sitting up onstage who provided some entertainment value. All she did was just sit there on the ground in front of the keyboard during the whole performance. We were trying to figure out what her job in the band was. I think she contributed a few "ahhs" in the background occasionally (there were no lyrics), but that was about it.

Sitting through the previous band was all worth it, though, when The New Pornographers came onstage. They launched into "Twin Cinemas" and didn't let up for the next 40 minutes. It was an awesome display of power-pop performance. I particularly enjoyed "The Bleeding Heart Show", since that happens to be one of my favorite songs. After The New Pornographers finished, Belle And Sebastian came on and were just as good. They went on shortly after 11pm, and the next band wasn't due to come on until 1am, so they were able to play a longer than usual set, over an hour (most showcases are only 40 minutes, due to the usual one band every hour scheduling). It was a great performance. They played a lot of songs off of their two most recent albums, though there was a fair amount of older stuff as well, including opening with "The State I Am In" and closing with "Judy And The Dream Of Horses". Stuart Murdoch has a great stage presence, including some crazy dancing. During "Jonathan David" they invited a female up onstage to dance with them. She seemed like a huge fan and had a lot of fun up there. She even had her own homemade B&S t-shirt, which prompted Stuart to say how everyone should make their own t-shirts, because it's cheaper and cooler, but we should buy their t-shirts too. As Stevie Jackson (who sang the song) noted, it's no wonder they're broke.

After B&S ended their performance, the place cleared out a bit. Previously it had been packed, I guess with B&S fans. There was a while before the next band, Mogwai was to come on, so we found a spot off to the side to sit down and rest. Once they started playing, we found a spot to stand somewhat further back than we had been previously to listen to their mostly instrumental "post-rock". They played well, and it was a nice band to end the evening with. We left as the feedback from their final notes was still echoing so we could go catch the Night Owl bus. The bus was a little bit late, so we got there in plenty of time. It was totally packed so we had to stand. After we had gone a few blocks, we suddenly stopped after making a turn. Apparently the bus had run into someone's bike, but luckily not the cyclist, who was OK. I didn't see any of it. We had to sit there for a while while the driver took care of the situation. Eventually we got home, had something to eat since we were quite hungry by this point, then went to sleep so we could be ready for the next day.

Murder and Coldplay

2006-02-06T18:56:44Z

I just found this article about a man brutally murdering his sister and brother-in-law in El Cerrito, CA (only a few miles away from where handofluke lives). Here's the interesting part:

Wycoff said he went to a Coldplay concert on Monday night at Arco Arena in Sacramento -- the first concert he had ever attended in his life. He said he didn't drink or use drugs, which he says he never does.

"I thought it could be a bit of an alibi," he said. "It seems like somebody who goes to a Coldplay concert wouldn't do this."

No further comment is needed, I think. (Found via stereogum.)

My Top Albums Of 2005

2006-01-28T07:59:39Z

I know that it's about a month late, but I've gotten a lot of new music recently, and I wanted to wait to see if any of it was good enough to make my list. Some of the stuff I've gotten recently was good enough to make the cut, but I'm not sure exactly on the placement yet. Plus my waiting was ultimately somewhat futile since I just downloaded several more 2005 albums from emusic. So expect some changes to this list in the future, and consider this version 1.0. Without further ado...

My Top 10 Albums Of 2005

Sufjan Stevens - Illinois
I know I'm not being very original here, since pretty much everyone else on the planet seems to think this is the top album of the year. But I can't help but agreeing with them. The album begins with the understated brilliance of "Concerning The UFO Sighting Near Highland Illinois" and continues on through 70+ minutes of songs about all aspects of the Land of Lincoln. From the grand epic pop songs like "Chicago" that you just want to sing along to, to the more intimate, and sad, songs like "The Predatory Wasp Of The Palisades Is Out To Get Us", this record has it all. I could go on, but suffice it to say that pretty much every song on here is great.
The New Pornographers - Twin Cinema
The Canadian "supergroup" releases another album of perfect power-pop songs. "The Bleeding Heart Show" is one of the greatest songs of the year, building to a climax so beautiful I almost wish it would go on forever. I'm not sure if Twin Cinema surpasses their previous albums, but it at least equals them.
Bloc Party - Silent Alarm
This record is chock full of perfect rock songs that just make you want to dance. I think just about all of the songs on Silent Alarm could be hit singles. All that and their subsequent single "Two More Years" might be even better, so there definitely seems to be a lot of promise for the future of these lads.
The Decemberists - Picaresque
This album is full of Colin Meloy's literary story songs about barrow boys and engine drivers and bagmen. Some of the songs are more fun and poppy, like "16 Military Wives", while some are big and epic, like the brilliant seafaring tale "The Mariner's Revenge Song".
British Sea Power - Open Season
While being a bit more polished sounding and lacking some of the rough edges that helped make their debut "The Decline Of British Sea Power" so fascinating, this album is at least nearly as good. The songs flow together well and occasionally reach moments of transcendent beauty.
Spoon - Gimme Fiction
Yet another great album from Austin's own Spoon. The hooks are plentiful and the arrangements are tight and somewhat sparse. I especially like "My Mathematical Mind".
Bob Mould - Body Of Song
On this album, Bob successfully combines the electronic sounds he's been playing with in recent years with his signature guitar sound. It's his best record in nearly 10 years.
Ben Krieger - Queen Of The Ocean, Commander Of The Sea
Mixing pop and prog influences, this album features a 14 minute, 8 part epic about a bionic jellyfish named Stingra working for the C.I.A. It also has a hidden track about "F*cking Bob Pollard", in tribute to the Guided By Voices frontman. How can you go wrong?
The Mountain Goats - The Sunset Tree
Intimate, autobiographical accounts of John Darnielle's life growing up with an abusive stepfather. It may sound like a total downer, but there is an undercurrent of hope that makes songs like "This Year" and "Dance Music" seem almost uplifting.
Okkervil River - Black Sheep Boy
This kind of reminds me of a more accessible version of Neutral Milk Hotel. Also check out the companion EP Black Sheep Boy Appendix.

Other Notable 2005 Albums I've Listened To:

The High Dials - War Of The Wakening Phantoms
This is just excellent, beautiful, 60's style pop music.
Art Brut - Bang Bang Rock And Roll
This is just good, fun, dumb rock music, with lyrics about topics like forming a band and modern art (making you want to rock out).
The National - Alligator
The Hold Steady - Separation Sunday
Doves - Some Cities
Antony And The Johnsons - I Am A Bird Now
Josh Rouse - Nashville
Richard Thompson - Front Parlour Ballads
This is another solid album from the guitar master, this time done mostly acoustically.
Aimee Mann - The Forgotten Arm
The Go-Betweens - Oceans Apart
Thunderbirds Are Now! - Justamustache
Stephen Malkmus - Face The Truth
Eric Matthews - Six Kinds Of Passion Looking For An Exit

The Conversion of St. Paul

2006-01-26T05:50:15Z

When I got to mass earlier today, it was a bit more interesting than the usual daily mass. I discovered that it was the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul, which is the patronal feast of the Paulists. All six of the Paulist priests in Austin were there, all concelebrating the mass. It was kind of neat seeing them all up around the altar during the eucharistic prayer, and it meant all of the holy communion ministers were priests, which doesn't happen usually. I also appreciated learning a little more about the Paulists from Fr. Scott's homily (which was entertaining, as his homilies are wont to be).

Pandora

2006-01-22T06:05:20Z

So I finally got around to checking out Pandora, and I must say I like it. I created a station based on Celebrated Summer by Hüsker Dü and, with some tweaking, it's giving me a good stream of music. Of course, with all of the new (and not so new) music I have (both on CD and from emusic), I'm not sure that I have that much time for something like Pandora. But it is a cool concept nonetheless.

I'm Not A Heretic!

2006-01-18T03:00:27Z

Well, at least not with respect to the Council of Chalcedon.

You scored as Chalcedon compliant. You are Chalcedon compliant. Congratulations, you're not a heretic. You believe that Jesus is truly God and truly man and like us in every respect, apart from sin. Officially approved in 451.

</td>

Chalcedon compliant

100%

Pelagianism

67%

Modalism

33%

Nestorianism

33%

Apollanarian

33%

Monophysitism

33%

Arianism

Monarchianism

Adoptionist

Docetism

Donatism

Socinianism

Gnosticism

Albigensianism

Are you a heretic?
created with QuizFarm.com

I had to puzzle out a few of the questions, but apparently I was able to remember the right answers, since I got a perfect score. It would be nice if they had an answer key pointing out which questions go with which heresies. I always have a hard time keeping them all straight.