Toros Rugged Road Trip
And the road trip started so well, too. After a promising 2-0 start to their six-game road trip, including an impressive 105-102 win over the D-League-leading Idaho Stampede, the Toros promptly decided they’d had enough of that comfy lead atop their division, and have dropped four straight. The players had expressed concern to me over…
Now I’m a ‘Believer’
‘The Believer’ gets pervy at the movies
Council Press Conference Against Racist Hayseed
Politicos calling for resignation of small town mayor pro tem taken to calling people “wetbacks”
Immigration? Ask a Texan
State pols look beyond state lines on immigration debate
Southern Poverty Law Center Releases New Hate Groups Report
Latest edition of “The Year in Hate,” an annual tracking by the Montgomery, Ala.-based Southern Poverty Law Center, counts a record 888 U.S. hate groups of all kinds in 2007.
Daniel Lanois and the Improbabilities of Sound
Daniel Lanois is missing. It’s Tuesday before the start of SXSW, and Lanois’ manager is standing uneasily outside the Hyatt Regency just south of Town Lake. Lanois left the hotel in a fury, the construction going on below his room interfering with tuning his pedal steel guitar. “He’s a little sensitive to sound,” says his…
Voucher Alert
Expect to see some form of vouchers-lite come out of the Texas Education Agency in the next couple of weeks.
Crossing Over to the Dark Side
Alan Parsons answers the $64,000 question
How Many Tote Bags Do You Really Need?
A rumble through some free stuff given away at SXSW
Is Space the Place for the Next Arms Race?
Independent Institute fellow Mike Moore on how to avoid an arms race in space
A Busy, Busy Soccer Week
High school playoffs start this week. Locally, the LBJ boys play Pflugerville Henderson; district winner Travis has a first-round bye, but plays on the weekend. The McCallum girls also play Henderson; the winner takes on Dripping Springs, and then, possibly, undefeated Leander Vista Ridge. Houston Dynamo is hosting Municipal of Guatemala in the CONCACAF Champions…
‘The Story of the America That Got Left Behind’
The Wire’s creator, David Simon, speaks at UT
Don’t Drink the Water and Don’t Breathe the Air
EPA puts three Texas sites on most-polluted list
The Real Good Friday
Alvin Crow & the Pleasant Valley Boys reunite, minus the Nyquil.
‘Allez Cuisine!’
Tyson Cole brings out the knives on Iron Chef America
City Council Notebook
What’s happening this week? Not much.
The Ice Bats Are Headed to the CHL Playoffs
For the first time since the 2002-’03 season, the Ice Bats will be participating in the Central Hockey League playoffs – and they did it on a night off. Amarillo lost to the Odessa Jackalopes Tuesday night, excluding the Gorillas from the playoff picture and handing the Bats an invitation to the postseason. Austin’s season…
Throw Down Your Heart
A geezer looks back at SXSW 08
And So Begins the Madness
A lot has happened since Texas lost to Kansas 84-74 in the Big 12 Tournament title game in Kansas City, Mo. First, we learned Texas’ NCAA fate, as they drew the No. 2 seed in the South Region. This is beneficial to Texas because if the Longhorns get out of the first and second rounds…
Don’t Drop the Eggs
Have we really come to this?
SXSW 08: It’s a Wrap
Most Surreal Scene: Bun B Fuze was a crazy scene Wednesday night, with only badge-wearers squeezing through the door and plenty of irked UGK fans left out in the street. Inside was no less chaotic, dozens of people crowding the stage at any given time, including some very mediocre rappers who had more diamonds than…
Hardcore for a Cure
International touring can broaden the mind and improve the wardrobe
Council Races Get Batty
Endorsements from the nascent BATPAC
Waxing Nostalgic: 2008 SXSW
Getty’s SX wrap-up.
Moving on Already
Tribeca likes it some Texas
Mini-Weee
It’s a cocktail weinermobile!
UT Baseball Reality Check
In an earlier column, I wondered how the youngsters were going to react to the adversity and difficulties they would face. My thought process was that the elder statesmen were going to be solid, and the new guys were going to struggle. To my dismay, it has been quite the opposite. In the belief that…
Six Degrees of Steve Buscemi
Steve Buscemi: actor, filmmaker, dad
Outlaws Training Camp Part 2
During a recent chalk talk, the Austin Outlaws’ 2008 offensive coordinator, Michael Jordan, explained the level of performance he expects from his starting quarterback, Julie Wilke: “If you see it, run it. You’re the commander. You’re the chief. Take chances. That’s why you’re the quarterback. The quarterback controls the ball – not the coaches. Coaches…
The Fest That Just Keeps on Giving …
The last of SXSW Film awards, plus Burger Hut burns up the Internet
Aftershock
Post-SXSW memories of balls and gutters.
BATPAC Endorsements Today
Presser a little after noon, today.
Richie Rejects Clinton Request
Party already has a verification process, chairman says
Getting the Boot
A gallery of bootage from SXSW 08.
Survived SXSW…Barely!
What a crazy week of great films and music!! If you are basketball fan (like I am!) it would be considered the perfect week. We are gearing up here at the Chronicle for our March Madness Tournament Bracket – lots of great teams this year…should be some amazing games. My boys at Syracuse didn’t make…
Texas Men Get Third, Women Fourth at NCAA Indoor Track & Field
Longhorns looking good in Olympic year
Girls Rock! Benefit
Girls Rock! Benefit 2008, NR, 90 min. Directed by Arne Johnson, Shane King. Prior to the screening, Bands formed from and inspired by last summer’s Girls Rock Camp Austin will perform, as will Code Rainbow and others. Recent Hall of Fame inductee Rosie Flores will emcee. A portion of the proceeds will help sponsor this…
Alabama Clash
Country-house fusion outfit gets unexpected guest
Slow Motion Sound
A pioneer of minimalism, Steve Reich is perhaps the most important living composer, responsible for altering the way that people thing about time, tone, and color in regards to music. OTR spoke with Reich following the SOLI Chamber Ensemble’s performance of his music during a Wednesday night showcase at St. David’s Church. His explanation of…
SXSW Pixels
Waterloo Records
SXSW Film
Cook County D: David Pomes; with Anson Mount, Xander Berkeley, Ryan Donowho, Polly Cole “Everybody’s talkin’ about how they want to take the edge off,” drawls the grimy, paranoid, East Texas meth-master, Bump. “Fuck that.” Bump is nothing but edge, and Anson Mount’s performance here is a hair-trigger work of tweaky outlaw panache, as unnerving…
Ballroom Dancing
SXSW Interview: Mick Jones & Tony James Austin Convention Center, Friday, March 14 Carbon/Silicon’s Jones and James were more Mutt and Jeff, or maybe Hope and Crosby, than their former Clash and Generation X personas would have you think. Their humorous conversation with MOJO Editor Phil Alexander revealed less about their storied punk rock past…
Live Shots
Lykke Li Ninety Proof Lounge, Friday, March 14 Dancing like a Shangri-La and singing like a dove, quirky Stockholm indie-popper Lykke Li (“licky lee”) charmed the leggings off any nonbelievers crowded around the tiny stage at Ninety Proof Lounge. With three shy boys at her side, the 21-year-old winked and mimed her way through her…
SXSW Film
Up With Me D: Greg Takoudes; with Francisco Vicioso, Erika Rivera, Brandon Thorpe, Justin Coltrain, Destiny Waters, Bernice Velos, Matt Timms, Anthony Portillo, Raya Sehgal, Kabeer Parwani Young Francisco is growing up in Spanish Harlem surrounded by a tight circle of friends. When he gets a scholarship to attend boarding school in upstate New York,…
Ballroom Dancing
The Blog Factor Austin Convention Center, Friday, March 14 Music criticism is undergoing as dramatic a sea change as the rest of the industry, print increasingly ceding cultural cache to online sources. Hyping the significance of blogs’ place in music’s new indieconomics was a rightly moot point among the panel of premier tastemakers, who instead…
Spotlight: Dana Falconberry
Dana Falconberry, Southern by scholarship and soul, not birth
SXSW Film
Writ Writer D: Susanne Mason In 1960, Fred Cruz, a young Mexican-American from a dirt-poor barrio in San Antonio, was sentenced to 50 years in prison for armed robbery. Although he was an admitted junkie, petty criminal, and all-around delinquent, Cruz always maintained he was innocent of the crime he was convicted of and nothing…
Ballroom Dancing
Rock Memoirs Austin Convention Center, Friday, March 14 Like many rock memoirs, it was tempting to skip ahead a few pages for the good stuff in this panel, but when it delivered, it was worth it. Former Rolling Stone books editor/author Holly George-Warren deftly moderated talk that featured almost-famous Jennifer Trynin (Everything I’m Cracked Up…
Live Shots
Santogold Stubb’s, Friday, March 14 “Fuck this industry shit – it’s a party!” Good luck finding an artist having more fun than Santi White at this year’s SXSW. The artist better known as Santogold passed the mic to the crowd for a joke contest when sound problems mired her free day show and was downright…
SXSW Film
A Necessary Death D: Daniel Stamm; with G.J. Echternkamp, Matt Tilley, Valerie Hurt, Michael Traynor, Konima Parkinson-Jones First things first: It’s not a documentary. SXSW was never coy about that, but if you just skimmed the log line, you could reasonably misread as fact the provocative premise of a filmmaker documenting in his thesis film…
Ballroom Dancing
SXSW Interview: Louis Messina Austin Convention Center, Friday, March 14 “I feel like I’m playing to seats,” quipped longtime concert kingpin Louis Messina at the start of Friday morning’s sparsely attended interview with Austin writer Joe Nick Patoski. As co-founder of Pace Concerts, Messina brought big-time rock to Texas for more than two decades. He…
Spotlight: Bobby Whitlock & CoCo Carmel
Derek’s still-standing Domino and his new vocal counterpart
SXSW Film
The King of Texas D: René Pinnell & Claire Huie, with Eagle Pennell, Chuck Pinnell, Lin Sutherland, Lou Perryman, Richard Linklater The restoration of Austin movie classic The Whole Shootin’ Match for last year’s SXSW reintroduced the world to the work of mercurial director Glenn Irwin “Eagle” Pennell: The King of Texas is his nephew…
Girls Can Tell
Gadding about
Spotlight: Sea Wolf
Alex Brown Church takes after Jack London
SXSW Film
Shuttle D: Edward Anderson; with Peyton List, Cameron Goodman, Cullen Douglas, Dave Power, James Snyder, Tony Curran There’s no sinking feeling like taking a cab and the driver going left instead of right, into a bit of town that just can’t be the quickest route. That loss of control is the start of Shuttle’s horrific…
Off the Record
SXSW music news and carryings on
Live Shots
The Little Ones Cedar Door, Friday, March 14 Although they got off to a late start due to an overlong line check, Los Angeles pop quintet the Little Ones had ’em jumping up and down and singing along at their Friday night tent show. At first listen, the band’s sound seems rooted in the early…
SXSW Film
Texas Shorts D: Various Since Austin is good enough to open its borders every spring to a horde of film-industry outsiders, it seems only fair that filmmakers from the city get a chance to show them how things are done here in Texas. So, in addition to a host of local features, including the Zellner…
The Gay Place
BLOGGIN’ THE GAY PLACE Aside from our daily listings, your friendly neighborhood Gay Place has also been blogging. Check out our Gay Place Blog, the SXSW Blog, and while you’re at it, our gAyTX Fun Guide to find yr peoples in the ATX. Feel free to contact us with your queer bits and tips as…
Live Shots
Nouveau Riche Beauty Bar Backyard, Friday, March 14 This isn’t intended to be any kind of knock against Dice Raw and his whale-print shorts, but that Nikki Jean surely owns any stage she steps on. With bass amps on rattle and hum and a frantic Dominic Angelella nearly playing his guitar out of commission, Jean…
SXSW Film
Humboldt County D: Danny Jacobs & Darren Grodsky; with Jeremy Strong, Brad Dourif, Frances Conroy, Fairuza Balk, Chris Messina, Peter Bogdanovich This fine ensemble piece – thoughtful and cheering, even giddy in stabs – presents a seriocomic, sympathetic portrait of a pot-growing family operating along the coast of Northern California and in constant fear of…
Ice Cream Man Presents!
Friday was perfect ice-cream weather but apparently not perfect ice-cream-truck weather. On our way to the French Legation for the Other Music/DigForFire.tv party, Bessie, our classic ice cream truck, started sputtering in the low gears. Obviously, something was wrong. We dropped in a pint of transmission fluid, but that didn’t help much. Instead of working…
Live Shots
Shelby Lynne Austin Music Hall, Friday, March 14 Folks were surely aware that Shelby Lynne would be showcasing the songs from her new disc, Just a Little Lovin’ (Lost Highway), her homage to Dusty Springfield. It’s an intimate, late-night kind of tribute that demands attention. So why did so many of them come to talk…
SXSW Film
Living With the Tudors D: Karen Guthrie & Nina Pope There have been a lot of beautiful losers and nerds in ascension at this year’s fest; Living With the Tudors lenses a distinctly different (and altogether less chic) kind of geek-out: that of British 16th century enthusiasts who gather summerly at Kentwell Hall in Suffolk…
Live Shots
Kimya Dawson Waterloo Records, Friday, March 13 Kimya Dawson looks a little like a cross between Macy Gray and King Buzzo of the Melvins. Musically, if she had been anything close to that hybrid, she might have been worth the time. Instead, she comes off like the anti-folkster version of the late Wesley Willis. It’s…
Live Shots
Zona Tango Elephant Room, Friday, March 14 If you were lucky enough to be at the Elephant Room for the U.S. premiere of Zona Tango, then you know that all electronic music is not created equal. Blood ties between Spain, France, and Argentina are often difficult to tease out in the contemporary world, but a…
MOJO Recommends
Duffy, SXSW 08’s Amy Winehouse?
Live Shots
Sub Pop Showcase Bourbon Rocks, Friday, March 14 Sub Pop loves to flaunt its diversity, and the front end of this year’s showcase was indeed far-flung. It was a mixed bag of quality, as well. The Ruby Suns brought the Kiwi psychedelic pop of debut Sea Lion to the outside patio, but the vibrant textures…
SXSW Film
Rock of Ages: ‘Young@Heart’ Coldplay, Radiohead, Sonic Youth, and the Ramones are a few bands UK-based filmmaker Stephen Walker loves. So, when he was told he could hear some of their greatest tunes, all in one night, he was down for it. When he found out the songs would be sung by a chorus of…
Day Party Crawl
Free Yr Radio/The Current Broadcast Seventh & Red River, Friday, March 14 Hip-hop, you don’t stop, not when Dizzee Rascal stakes the corner to throw down rhymes in time to a shirt designed with superheroes in mind. With shout-outs to the late Pimp C of Houston, Dizzee showed why he’s one of Britain’s best exports.…
My SXSW
My SXSW 08 duties began at 11:30am Wednesday. I meet Kathi, my manager, at the Dell Lounge in the Convention Center. We’re there for an interview with Variety.com. My publicist told us this would be a good idea. Kathi and I are skeptical, because we’re the only ones there – no cameras, no lights, no…
Live Shots
Fuck Buttons Prague, Friday, March 14 If you’ve only ever heard these Bristol, UK-based experimental “rainbow rockers” via their heavily traveled MySpace page, well, you’ve probably still got your hearing. Yet a little tinnitus is a small sacrifice for having worshipped at the sonic altar of Andrew Hung and Benjamin John Power in the flesh.…
SXSW Film
One Minute to Nine D: Tommy Davis During the one minute Wendy Maldonado has to embrace her children before she signs herself in for a 10-year prison sentence, she remains calm and dry-faced. Her husband, Aaron, is dead; she caved his head in with a wrench. And now, with a dead father and an incarcerated…
Day Party Crawl
Bloodshot Records Party Yard Dog, Friday, March 14 Thirteen years ago, Chicago indie Bloodshot Records had the novel idea of throwing a daytime party to showcase their bands, offering free beer and a cozy way to spend a sunny afternoon. This year’s event was no different than the past, taking place in the space behind…
Live Shots
Super Deluxe Comedy Death Ray Velveeta Room/Esther’s Follies, Friday, March 14 There’s the line that’s sometimes attributed to Martin Mull (and other times to Elvis Costello) that goes: Writing about music is like dancing about architecture. Know what’s even more ridiculous? Writing about comedy. Seriously. It’s totally binary: Something is either funny, or it isn’t.…
Live Shots
Mexican Combo Platter Dirty Dog Bar, Friday, March 14 Well, you knew things weren’t going as expected when the opening band of the evening was a no-show. So when Hey Besala of Juarez was AWOL, Monterrey’s Bam Bam stepped in with an anemic set. Good things were finally in store when Album stepped up, ritually…
SXSW Film
Goliath D: David Zellner; with David Zellner, Nathan Zellner, Caroline O’Connor, Andrew Bujalski, John Bryant, Wiley Wiggins, Chale Nafus Something of a bookend to the Zellner Bros.’ 2005 short “Foxy and the Weight of the World” (in which a man, felled by a bowl of poisoned Weetabix, delivers a last screed to his dog), the…
Day Party Crawl
Dizzee Rascal SXSW Live (the Bat Bar), Austin Convention Center, Friday, March 14 Hip-hop’s not made for the soundstage. It’s best when blasted and bumped amidst jam-packed crowds from wall to nearby wall in a dark room where you feel as close to the rapper as the dude tweaking out to your immediate left. Too…
Spotlight: Ume
Ume’s not trying to be Sonic Youth
SXSW Film
To Dance With Death: ‘The Matador’ In town for the world premiere of their documentary, The Matador, photographer and first-time filmmaker Stephen Higgins and his co-director, Nina Gilden Seavey, spoke with the Chronicle about the ambivalence they feel toward bullfighting, the role of the matador in Spanish society, and the fine line between art and…
Day Party Crawl
Vice Saves Texas Longbranch Inn/Victory Grill, Friday, March 14 Every year, those self-hating hipsters over at Vice magazine co-opt 11th Street to host Vice Saves Texas, and this year the theme was loud. Seattle’s Cops exceeded the decibel limit with their bottom-heavy panic-rock, while San Diego’s Muslims was a standout surprise – four clean-cut, button-up…
Spotlight: Mingering Mike
Mingering Mike, where musical fact and fiction collide
SXSW Film
Wesley Willis’s Joyrides D: Chris Bagley & Kim Shively Wesley Willis was an imposing figure onscreen and off. The 6-foot-6-inch 300-plus-pound Chicago native enjoyed a relatively successful – financially and otherwise – cult career, producing beautifully and meticulously drawn outsider art and startling Casio-driven songs about bestiality and “Rock N Roll McDonalds,” among other offbeat…
Ballroom Dancing
SXSW panels
Live Shots
Mika Miko Flamingo Cantina, Friday, March 14 “If you’re videotaping this, call it our Unplugged.” A late start time and sound issues forced L.A. all-girl quintet Mika Miko down to five songs, but as part of the cabal of twentysomething punks slouching out of L.A. right now, their two-minutes-or-less ethic made this not such a…
Thanks for the Memories
SXSW Film has never really been about the stars … but we took some pictures of them anyway. See you next year, kids. Vincent Riverside, Eden Brolin, and Josh Brolin Neil Patrick Harris Jeffrey Tambor Helen Hunt
SXSW Film
Joy Division D: Grant Gee; with Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook, Stephen Morris, Tony Wilson, Paul Morley Joy Division is not a documentary about the band Joy Division. Or, rather, it’s not that simple. It’s about the English city of Manchester in the 1970s: the rain-soaked, crumbling, devastated, crime-infested and hopeless city that helped form the…
Ballroom Dancing
Adult Rock Music Meeting Austin Convention Center, Friday, March 14 It was a lesson in subjectivity. Using the über-scientific method of numbers on flash cards, the panel of seven programmers for various media and the sparse 11am audience scored new songs – from Dallas’ Old 97’s to Winnipeg newcomers the Duhks – on likability, usability,…
Spotlight: Darondo
Darondo: not a pimp, not a myth
Benh Zeitlin Fund Set Up
Donation fund set up for Benh Zeitlin
What’s the rumpus?
Nothing more foolish than a man chasing his hat
My Smoothie With Robyn
Robyn is back, bitches, and teenier than ever!
Opportunities Approaching for Cyclists to Voice Their Opinions
Hey pedal pushers: Have you ever found yourself saying, “This road needs a gosh-darn bike lane” or “Golly, I wish parking wasn’t allowed in this confounded bike lane!” Well, your voice shall be heard. The city of Austin Public Works Department’s Bike and Pedestrian division is kicking off the first major update to the city’s…
Food-o-File
Texas Democratic debate and the primaries had political celebrities dining at local favorites, and Manor Road’s restaurant row gets some action
SXSW Platters
Citay Little Kingdom (Dead Oceans) Citay specializes in campfire psychedelia, the type of peyote-fueled, nomadic noodling that causes hazy visions of desert sky. Led by San Francisco-based guitarist Ezra Feinberg of Piano Magic and the Fucking Champs’ Tim Green, the largely instrumental collective’s second effort offers nine such enchanted phantasms. “First Fantasy” develops the blueprint…
SXSW Platters
Carolyn Wonderland Miss Understood (Bismeaux) If Carolyn Wonderland’s previous Bloodless Revolution promised she’d land on your doorstep one day, then Miss Understood is ringing the doorbell. Tossing Wonderland’s prodigious talents into the mix with Asleep at the Wheel’s Ray Benson as producer, Miss Understood is a mighty and joyous performance. As a youngster in 1980s…
Beside the Point
If you can’t arrest the homeless, let ’em eat surveys
SXSW Platters
Bon Iver For Emma, Forever Ago (Jagjaguwar) Justin Vernon’s Bon Iver (bon ee-vair) and his fragile and resilient debut, For Emma, Forever Ago, were wholly unexpected. After severing ties with girl and band, Vernon retreated to an isolated hunting cabin in the woods of Northwestern Wisconsin to recuperate, and that obvious chill and blinding whiteness…
SXSW Film
Not Your Typical Bigfoot Movie D: Jay Delaney The first part of Not Your Typical Bigfoot Movie hints at an unfortunate tendency in recent anthro-indie doc making (ferret out a weird corner of American culture, edit wittily, make halfhearted claims of empathy). Its subject, after all, is two not-so-beautiful losers, Dallas and Wayne, who make…
The Long Shadow of Bud Cort
From Ashby to Altman and emo boys everywhere
SXSW Platters
Mark Pickerel & His Praying Hands Cody’s Dream (Bloodshot) Although remembered as the drummer for Seattle punkers Screaming Trees, Mark Pickerel’s solo career has taken some interesting turns. Cody’s Dream, his second album under his own name, builds on his previous work of evocative moods and lucid melodies. Inspired by a solitary car trip through…
Ballroom Dancing
SXSW Interview: Danny Goldberg Austin Convention Center, Thursday, March 13 While currently a manager for a broad range of acts that include Steve Earle, the Hives, and Old 97’s, Danny Goldberg has been present at several pivotal moments of rock history. Critic and activist Jim Fouratt began by leading the music mogul through his past,…
Live Shots
The Heavy Elysium, Thursday, March 13 Donning black suit, white v-neck, and crisp red Pumas, Heavy frontman Swaby emerged to the sound of fire engines ringing and a band riding one dirty-ass bump. From there, full speed ahead as Britain’s most otherworldly act laced feedbacked guitars and a torch-fueled drum rig with an amped-up Curtis…
SXSW 08 Film Festival
Enjoy the madness while it lasts.It’s here.
Band of the Year
RUNNERS-UP: Bob Schneider, Roky & The Explosives, Ghostland Observatory, Okkervil River, Band of Heathens, Eric Johnson, Ruthie Foster, Octopus Project, Omar Kent Dykes & Jimmie Vaughan
Best Jazz
RUNNERS-UP: Eric Johnson, Ephraim Owens, White Ghost Shivers, Stanley Smith, Sarah Sharp, David Chenu, Paris 49, Monster Big Band, Mingo Fish Trap
Best Horns
RUNNERS-UP: Ephraim Owens; Grupo Fantasma; Grooveline Horns; Stanley Smith; Nick Warrenchuck; David Chenu; Mingo Fishtrap; M Squad, Jabarvy; Steve Zirkel
Best Radio Station
RUNNERS-UP: KGSR 107.1FM, 101X 101.5FM, KUT 90.5FM, KLBJ 93.7FM, KOOP 91.7FM, MIX 94.7FM, KVRX 91.7FM, BOB 103.5FM, KVET/KASE 98.1FM
Women & Their Work: Sliding through an artist’s work in 15 minutes
W&TW’s ‘Show & Tell’ provides a quick and easy intro to an artist via slides
Irish Whiskeys I Have Known and Loved
Taking pulls with local buyers
SXSW Platters
Black Mountain In the Future (Jagjaguwar) Coming down from the, er … mountain, well, British Columbia, bandleader Stephen McBean and his cohorts sound logjammed in the past on In the Future. Not that Black Mountain doesn’t deserve mad props for impersonating the best Norwegian metal band this side of Canada, equal parts hobbit rock and…
SXSW Platters
South Austin Jug Band Strange Invitation Whittled down to a trio, the South Austin Jug Band’s sound hasn’t changed as much as matured. Nearly gone is the happy bluegrass replaced by an introspective feel that was always there, just not in the quantity presented on third release Strange Invitation. For inspiration, singer/guitarist James Hyland, multi-instrumentalist…
Point Austin: Villamusing
Council says no to film studio, concert venue, and film set residential development proposed for eastern Travis County
SXSW Platters
Carbon/Silicon The Last Post (Caroline/EMI) “Train in Vain,” “Somebody Got Murdered,” “Should I Stay or Should I Go,” any Clash classic. Mick Jones launching Last Poet commencement “The News” with his last gang’s innate urgency spikes dopamine down your cerebellum. Nothing fancy, really; a novice might strum the same drang. Lyrically, Jones always preferred simple…
Day Party Crawl
Scion Metal/Tee Pee In-Store Stubb’s/Encore Records Video & Apparel, Thursday, March 13 Production delays and black Iron Maiden T’s still wrapping around the block at Stubb’s meant barely 20 inaugural minutes for Bergen, Norway, quintet Enslaved, whose game Scandinavian glower translated into drainage-ditch vocals and superfluous synth. UK institution Napalm Death cop to their cartoon…
Friday Picks
All showcases subject to change Vampire Weekend 11pm, Antone’s In typical Ivy League fashion, Vampire Weekend coined its own genre: “Upper West Side Soweto.” It’s a combination of traditional Afro-pop, Trinidadian calypso, and slick art-punk, leaning heavily on the lush orchestration of Paul Simon’s Graceland. The quartet of Columbia University grads craft concise pop about…
SXSW Platters
No Kids Come Into My House (Tomlab) Indie pop and contemporary R&B have often flirted but never progressed much beyond heavy petting. The former waxes fey and too sunk into Morrissey’s hopeless romanticism to saddle up the latter’s gritty lust. No Kids certainly don’t consummate the affair, but they get further than most, like the…
Ballroom Dancing
Widening Hip-Hop’s Global Reach Austin Convention Center, Thursday, March 13 “Hip-hop is always a direct reflection of the people and places of those who embrace it,” mused moderator and Bay Area hip-hop activist Davey D. Those places have long-included areas outside the U.S., as evidenced by the international flavor of SXSW 08, which includes Spain’s…
Live Shots
Dokkebi Q Buffalo Billiards, Thursday, March 13 Even ravers feel oppressed when the lights stay up, and whoever was manning the switch at Buffalo Billiards didn’t do this London-based electronic dub-step outfit any favors by forcing them to face off with a bright cavern. Adding insult to injury, various detritus was cleared from the stage…
Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who!
Jim Carrey, Steve Carell, and Carol Burnett provide just-right voices for these Seussian characters who offer the perfect antidote to the injustices experienced in childhood.
Best New Band
RUNNERS-UP: T-Bird & the Breaks, Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears, Suzanna Choffel, The Bellevue Outfit, Nakia & His Southern Cousins, Mothfight, Mother’s Anthem, Ringo Deathstar, Dead Pyrates Society
Best Latin Contemporary
RUNNERS-UP: Grupo Fantasma, Vallejo, Del Castillo, The Brew, Los Lonely Boys, Meneja Beto, Boca Abajo, Los Gallos, Latin at Heart
Best Keyboards
RUNNERS-UP: Ian McLagan, Yvonne Lambert, Thomas Turner, Earl Poole Ball, Joel Mullins, Shuttle Debris, Floyd Domino, Bobbie Nelson, Mike Flanigian
Best Record Producer
RUNNERS-UP: Mark Addison; Unrepentant Schizophrenic American; Guy Forsyth; Will Taylor; Back to the Garden; Will Taylor and Strings Attached; Mike McCarthy and Patty Griffin, Children Running Through; Patty Griffin; Fatty Carmello Trust; Noble Creatures; The Gourds; Dale Watson; Cradle to the Grave; Dale Watson; Stephen Doster; Little Tiny Secrets; Betty Soo; Derek O’Brien; On the…
Austin Video Bee: Daring to fail
This sampler of video art being made in Austin could not have come at a better time
Function Drinks
During these March festivities, look out for free samples of Function’s Urban Detox, unless you enjoy hangovers
SXSW Platters
Buttercup The Head Sits Upside Down on Top of the Head (Bedlamb) San Antonio’s Buttercup announced their ambition last summer: four releases in one year. They’re right on schedule with third EP The Head Sits Upside Down on Top of the Head, named in homage to sculptural artist Ken Little. The art-pop quartet traffics in…
SXSW Platters
British Sea Power Do You Like Rock Music? (Rough Trade) From its thunderous opening track, Do You Like Rock Music? answers that Brighton-based BSP are “All in It” in a way not heard previously. Their monstrous and altogether gorgeous wall of sound, once saddled with antithetical, inaccurate comparisons to the Cure (of all bands), here…
Naked City
Quote of the Week “The execution may have been a little chaotic, but the spirit of a precinct convention – of neighbors who rarely get to see each other coming out of their homes, standing in line on a chilly Tuesday evening, talking, arguing, thinking about political and policy beliefs, making their voices heard –…
SXSW Platters
Devotchka A Mad & Faithful Telling (Anti-) The Digital Age has sparked the globalization of indie pop, heard in everything from Beirut and Gogol Bordello to Vampire Weekend and M.I.A. Not since Doug Sahm’s Texas Tornados, however, has an act so uniquely coined its own multicultural currency as Denver’s Devotchka. A Mad & Faithful Telling,…
SXSW Film
Explicit Ills D: Mark Webber; with Paul Dano, Rosario Dawson, Frankie Shaw, Lou Taylor Pucci, Tariq Trotter, Naomie Harris, Francisco Burgos “You depressed?” 7-year-old Babo asks Rocco. “Yeah,” Rocco replies as he takes a drag. “You want a piece of gum instead?” “Sure.” “I’m depressed, too,” Babo admits. “Oh yeah?” Rocco asks. “What have you…
Friday Showcases
All showcases subject to change Ponderosa Stomp 7pm, Continental Club Offering a taste of the two-day festival held annually in New Orleans that celebrates the unsung heroes of blues, soul, and rock & roll, Ponderosa Stomp’s a respite from the hordes and a glimpse into a past filled with grit and heart. The scope of…
SXSW Platters
Pride Tiger The Lucky Ones (Caroline/EMI) Thin Lizzy gets voguishly name-checked now, but it took 3 Inches of Blood to pool the right ingredients with genuine gusto. The Vancouver metal band’s drummer and two guitarists spin off on Pride Tiger debut The Lucky Ones, opener “Let ‘Em Go” firing basic blues boogie through duel-guitar aggression…
Girls Can Tell
Gadding about
Live Shots
The Whigs Austin Music Hall, Thursday, March 13 There’s nothing fancy or new about the Whigs. Still, their just-released second disc, Mission Control (ATO), fires muscular pop that recalls the halcyon days of Nirvana and the drunken rage of the Replacements. Live, the Athens, Ga., trio kept the roar coming for nearly 45 minutes, breaking…
Body of War
Filmmakers Phil Donahue and Ellen Spiro show the story of a young veteran, crippled after five days of service in Iraq, and his evolution from gung-ho enlistee to passionate anti-war activist.
Musician of the Year
RUNNERS-UP: Stephen Bruton; Bob Schneider; Ruthie Foster; Eric Johnson; Guy Forsythe; Uncle John Turner; Pinetop Perkins; Aaron Behrens, Ghostland Observatory; Patrice Pike
Best Latin Traditional
RUNNERS-UP: Grupo Fantasma, Del Castillo, Cerronato, Cienfuegos, Los Lonely Boys, Cadaques, Meneja Beto, Son y No Son, The Brew
Best Male Vocals
RUNNERS-UP: Bob Schneider; Aaron Behrens, Ghostland Observatory; Malford Milligan, Storyville; Guy Forsythe; Ed Jurdi, Band of Heathens; Omar Kent Dykes; Dale Watson; Will Sheff, Okkervil River; Kevin Fowler
Best Record Store
RUNNERS-UP: Cheapo, End of an Ear, Antone’s Record Shop, Things Celtic, Encore Records, Backspin, Snake Eyes Vinyl, Sound on Sound, Turntable Records
Austin V-Day: Victory over violence with the ‘Vagina’ and its author, Eve
Eve Ensler joins Austin in the fight to stop violence against women and girls
Fishing for Change
Hightower’s latest is a collection of inspirational tales
SXSW Platters
Metallurgy Relapse Records grinds to a halt. Yours. High on Fire’s fourth alarm, Death Is This Communion, leaves craters deeper than even 2004 predecessor Blessed Black Wings, airplane-hangar sonics courtesy of Seattle soundman Jack Endino. Des Kensel’s turbine drums power Matt Pike’s locust swarm, the guitarist’s threshing gargle war-torn by Roman legion riffs. “Fury Whip”…
Developing Stories
Last week, the Austin City Council delivered an unwelcome rejection to Villa Muse – the grandiose entertainment-industry complex (with its own New Urbanist small town) proposed for a 2,000-acre site in eastern Travis County. In a 4-3 vote, council turned down the developer’s request for some very special treatment: a “temporary” release from the city’s…
SXSW Platters
The Raveonettes Lust Lust Lust (Vice) Cuddly as a young junkie, the reverb-drenched Raveonettes give themselves a partial makeover on Lust Lust Lust. Based in NYC, Danish duo Sune Rose Wagner and Sharin Foo aren’t content simply to revisit past haunts, so since bloat begot fast chords, presently we find the Raveonettes celebrating punk heritage.…
SXSW Film
Reel Shorts 2 D: Various Never underestimate the power of a poly-blend sweater and a sharp-edged necktie. The highlight of the second of the three Reel Shorts programs is, hands-down, “The European Kid” (D: Ian Martin), never smug in its celebration of mid-century modern home colors and an unlikely sex god. Indeed, it makes dysfunction…
Friday Sleepers
All showcases subject to change The Lovely Sparrows 8pm, Red Eyed Fly 2006’s debut EP from Austin’s Lovely Sparrows, Pulling Up Floors, Pouring On (New) Paint (Abandoned Love), was a brutally wrought pop gem, a breakup disc between bandmates renovated with Shawn Jones’ sneering cynicism. Gathering a loose collective of players for the Sparrows’ upcoming…
SXSW Platters
Justin Townes Earle The Good Life (Bloodshot) At the tender age of 25, Justin Townes Earle already must be sick of pondering his surname. Though his father, Steve Earle, once vowed to climb on Dylan’s coffee table to champion the late Townes Van Zandt, the next generation two-steps through such a musical minefield and turns…
Off the Record
SXSW music news and carryings on
Live Shots
Bodies of Water Mohawk Patio, Thursday, March 13 If the Polyphonic Spree can capture an audience with 25-plus people onstage, new Secretly Canadian signees Bodies of Water should be able to do it with five. And they did but not until the last song of a terribly confusing set. With a hyperactive Meredith Arthur behind…
Jimmy Carter: Man From Plains
Filmmaker Jonathan Demme accompanies Jimmy Carter during the former president’s controversial book tour for Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, and in the process offers a re-evalution of this world leader.
Album of the Year
RUNNERS-UP: The Phenomenal Ruthie Foster, Ruthie Foster; Stage Names, Okkervil River; Live at Antone’s, Band of Heathens; The Californian, Bob Schneider; Children Running Through, Patty Griffin; Unrepentant Schizophrenic American, Guy Forsyth; On the Jimmy Reed Highway, Omar Kent Dykes and Jimmie Vaughan; Noble Creatures, The Gourds; Cradle to the Grave, Dale Watson
Best Metal
RUNNERS-UP: Powderburn, Coarse of Ruin, The Sword, Pail, Blackaholicus, Lucid Dementia, Grady, Lions of Tsavo, Meyvn
Best Miscellaneous Instrument
RUNNERS-UP: Eric Johnson, sitar; Arty Passes, steel; Andrew McKee, recorder; John Pointer, boombox; Guy Forsyth, harmonica and saw; Scott Kinnebrew, laptop; Unforgettable Unknowable, ukelele; Mike Maddux, accordion; Gary Primich, harmonica
Show and Sell
Austin art is getting national buzz, but is anybody buying it?
‘There Has to Be a Better Way’
Chris Johnson is a 35-year-old pharmacist in Austin, Texas. He had worked for nearly a decade in chainstore pharmacies and was doing well, pulling down nearly $100,000 a year and gliding along an upward career path. But, he said, “It made me sick to my stomach.” He was sickened by the outrageous prices being charged…
SXSW Platters
Times New Viking Rip It Off (Matador) 2005’s sloppy, clanging Dig Yourself and last year’s basement party, Present the Paisley Reich, made Times New Viking the poster adults for lo-fi’s “revival.” For their Matador debut, the Columbus, Ohio, trio decided to stick to the blown speaker standard, resulting in the 16 songs/30 minutes of Rip…
SXSW 08 Film Reviews
Bi The Way D: Brittany Blockman and Josephine Decker; with Jonathan Caouette, Michael Musto, Dan Savage What is most charming about this feature-length, beautifully shot documentary might just be the people who made it. Chronicling a road trip across America, co-directors/best friends “Britts” and Josephine ask the question “What is bisexuality?” They come out from…
Reefer Madness
Federal drug enforcers show little interest in treatment
SXSW Platters
BoDeans Still (He and He) Sam Llanas and Kurt Neumann remain a musical marriage for the ages. Two decades on, and Still comes as a declaration: BoDeans are still with us, still rocking stellar lyrics and great harmonies. The pair reunites with producer T-Bone Burnett, who produced its captivating debut, Love & Hope & Sex…
SXSW Film
Reel Shorts 3 D: Various You know it’s not your day when you wake up in your FEMA trailer to find that your savings have been stolen from your peanut can. When it happens to Macarthur in John Magary’s “The Second Line,” it signals the beginning of a very bad day indeed, and when Macarthur…
Saturday Picks
All showcases subject to change David Banner 1am, Austin Music Hall “A friend of mine was in Jamaica,” starts a confident David Banner, “and he said the only thing people in Jamaica knew about Mississippi was Mississippi Burning and David Banner.” Banner is to Mississippi rap what Pete Maravich is to the no-look pass, the…
SXSW Platters
This Will Destroy You (Magic Bullet) American Analog Set once delivered demos of Explosions in the Sky’s debut to imprint Temporary Residence labeled, “This fucking destroys.” San Marcos-based quartet This Will Destroy You knowingly bridges those two seminal Austin influences through elongated suites of glacial post-rock and electronic ambience, providing a soundtrack to rapid eye…
Ice Cream Man Presents!
Even with more than 1,500 bands playing South by Southwest there are still plenty that don’t get accepted to perform at an official showcase. Most stay home, but some make the long trek to Austin and play anywhere and everywhere they can. Bessie, the ice cream truck, and I drove almost 30 hours from Long…
Live Shots
The Cowsills Central Presbyterian Church, Thursday, March 13 Even without their late brothers, Barry and Bill, the Cowsills made a joyful noise in the acoustically lovely setting of Central Presbyterian Church. This was a rare appearance by the late-1960s pop-rock group whose true-life family band inspired The Partridge Family but saw their star fade amid…
Funny Games U.S.
Michael Haneke comes to the U.S. to remake his tortuous German film about psychological terrorism with Naomi Watts and Tim Roth.
Song of the Year
RUNNERS-UP: “Flowerparts,” Bob Schneider; “Heal Yourself,” Ruthie Foster; “Heavenly Day,” Patty Griffin; “You Got Yr Cherry Bomb,” Spoon; “How Will You Shine,” The Gourds; “Our Life is Not a Movie or Maybe,” Okkervil River; “Jimmy Reed Highway,” Omar Kent Dykes & Jimmie Vaughan; “Build Havana,” Future Clouds and Radar; “Long Line of Losers,” Kevin Fowler
Best None of the Above
RUNNERS-UP: Brobdingnagian Bards, Shuttle Debris, Mingo Fishtrap, John Pointer, Will Taylor & Strings Attached, Chant, I Need More Cowbell, Death Is Not a Joyride, Dino Lee & the White Trash Revue
Best Songwriter
RUNNERS-UP: Bob Schneider; Wendy Colonna; Guy Forsyth; Patty Griffin; Aaron Behrens, Ghostland Observatory; Will Sheff, Okkervil River; Sam Baker; Ian McLagan; Sara Hickman
Arts Reviews
City Theatre’s production is so enjoyable that you’ll be inclined to overlook its flaws
The Hightower Report
Choosing a Veep; and The Deliberate Deceit of Drug Ads
SXSW Platters
The Vines The Best of the Vines (Capitol/EMI) History has proved that being tagged Australia’s Nirvana didn’t do the Vines any favors when America discovered the band in 2002, although they did eventually hook up with Foo Fighters producer Rob Schnapf. Following the band’s early success on modern-rock charts, however, things got weirder and worse…
SXSW 08 Film Reviews
Second Skin D: Juan Carlos Piñeiro; with Andy Belford, Anthony Cronin, Matt Ellsworth, Chris Mitchell, Heather Cowan, Kevin Keel, Dan Bustard There’s an alternate reality living inside your computer, and to many gamers, it’s no different – and oftentimes more agreeable – than the daily grind. Second Skin is the story of seven hardcore gamers whose…
Muni Filings: Race to May under way
Candidates for City Council, Austin Community College board, and the AISD board seal their respective fates by applying for ballot spots
SXSW Filmmaker Hospitalized
One day at the Festival, Rooftop Films founder Mark Rosenberg tells me all about Benh Zeitlin’s short film “Glory at Sea,” (partially funded through the Rooftop filmmakers’ fund), making sure I put it on my SXSW can’t-miss list; the next, he’s telling me that Zeitlin and three others from the “Glory at Sea” crew had…
Day Party Crawl
Lunch With Chicken Ranch Records Cheapo Discs, Thursday, March 13 No, Gov. Spitzer, it wasn’t that kind of lunch. Though Austin’s Chicken Ranch Records may have nicked its moniker from Texas’ most infamous bawdy house, Thursday’s high-noon indie-rock in-store was on the up-and-up. We Were the States kicked things off with a block of deftly…
Saturday Sleepers
All showcases subject to change Hospital Bombers 7pm, Habana Calle 6 Annex Taking their name from the Mountain Goats’ “The Best Ever Death Metal Band in Denton” (Satan’s Fingers and the Killers having already been claimed), the Hospital Bombers crib more than a little musical influence from John Darnielle. The Amsterdam quartet’s 2007 debut, Footnotes…
SXSW Platters
The Weird Weeds I Miss This (Autobus) This Austin trio’s previous two albums felt around for jazz, experimental, and improv, drawing their instruments out in oft-unsettling configurations. On I Miss This, their first for local label Autobus, they’ve gotten past the cocoon stage and emerged more tactile. Opener “You Drive Me Crazy” is almost Disney-esque,…
MOJO Recommends
Suicide II
Live Shots
Body of War Stubb’s, Thursday, March 13 The throngs stretching blocks-long outside Stubb’s may have assembled upon the promise of an all-star lineup, including rumors of an Eddie Vedder appearance that proved false, but the intended effect of bringing attention to the Iraq Veterans Against the War and the new Body of War documentary was…
Best Bluegrass
RUNNERS-UP: South Austin Jug Band, Sarah Jarosz, Onion Creek Crawdaddies, The Gourds, Warren Hood & the Hoodlums, The Belleville Outfit, Green Mountain Grass, Austin Lounge Lizards, White Ghost Shivers
Best Novelty Band
RUNNERS-UP: Supersonic Uke, White Ghost Shivers, I Need More Cowbell, Death Is Not a Joyride, Ghostland Observatory, The Dubliners’ Tabbycats, John Pointer, Asylum Street Spankers, Mistress Stephanie & Her Melodic Cat
Best Strings
RUNNERS-UP: Will Taylor, violin; Warren Hood, fiddle; Sara Jarosz, mandolin and banjo; Marc Gunn, autoharp; Andrew Noble, viola; Omar Lopez, violin; Chris Whitten, fiddle; Erik Hokkanen, fiddle; Elana James, fiddle
Arts Review
Tapestry’s new program of classic tap routines continues to reveal the form’s vitality and the troupe’s growing skill
Still a Good Day
Ice Cube’s coexisting Gs: gangsta rap and G-rated
SXSW Platters
Kelley Stoltz Circular Sounds (Sub Pop) Like labelmate Sam Beam of Iron & Wine, Kelley Stoltz grows substantial facial hair and has a way with words: “When there was fruit on the vine, tequila and lime, it was always fine,” he sings on “Put My Troubles to Sleep.” Yet where Beam has beefed up his…
SXSW 08 Film Reviews
Animated Shorts D: Various Concluding with the Academy Award-nominated “Madame Tutli-Putli,” the Animated Shorts program ends on a chilling note: With her wet, red-rimmed eyes, the madame undertakes a nightmarish train trip through darkness into light in this timeless stop-motion short. “Paradise” inventively uses antique tin-toys running on tracks to deconstruct Fifties-era falsity, the gears…
Frontera Residents Blast ‘Frankenfence’
Hatred of feds’ planned fence/wall hybrid for region is bipartisan, far-reaching
SXSW Film
FrontRunners D: Caroline Suh Manhattan’s notoriously competitive Stuyvesant High School admits 3% of the 25,000 kids who apply each year, and the student council elections largely reflect the sophistication you might expect from such a school, complete with televised debates, school newspaper endorsements, and an actual primary process, even. But FrontRunners’ charm is seated not…
Saturday Showcases
All showcases subject to change Brazil, Electrified 8pm, Club 115 Brazil isn’t all samba rhythms and breezy bossa nova. Some musicologists argue that a version of the electric guitar was developed in Brazil around the same time Les Paul was fiddling with the knobs on his axe. And never doubt the rocking-out ability of a…
SXSW Platters
Los Campesinos! Hold on Now, Youngster … (Arts & Crafts) “What the World Is Waiting For,” final segment of the Dennis Hopper-narrated seven-part series Seven Ages of Rock, traced Britpop from the Smiths to Oasis, sketching out a cycle of machine rebellion. Cardiff, Wales’ Los Campesinos! are revolting against modern UK bar rock (Arctic Monkeys,…
My SXSW
On the festival circuit, South by Southwest is the perfect storm of excitement and necessity. Not as singular as the stage-based Summer jams, not boring like the one-venue jump-offs, and occasionally helpful for making industry connections and/or eating tacos with entertainers: SXSW is great. This being the third year I’ve partaken, I’m extremely excited to…
Live Shots
Eli ‘Paperboy’ Reed Club de Ville, Thursday, March 13 With Amy Winehouse’s Grammy nod and Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings suddenly garnering crossover appeal, 2008 is shaping up as the year retro soul goes pop. So far, soul and funk of the throwback variety have been dominated by the ladies, but Eli “Paperboy” Reed could…
Best Blues
RUNNERS-UP: Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears, Ruthie Foster, Pinetop Perkins, Omar Kent Dykes & Jimmie Vaughan, Guy Forsyth, Miss Lavelle White, Seth Walker, Carolyn Wonderland, Grady
Best Punk
RUNNERS-UP: The Midgetmen, The Applicators, Riverboat Gamblers, The Skunks, Ghostland Observatory, Opposite Day, Flametrick Subs, Adrian & the Sickness, Punkaroos
Best Acoustic Venue
RUNNERS-UP: The Saxon Pub, Stubbs, Momo’s, Threadgill’s, Ruta Maya, The Parish, Antone’s, Lucky Lounge, Lamberts
Arts Review
This dual solo show didn’t offer any connections between Schroeder’s slender sculptures and Burke’s polished photos
Waiting for the Man
Lou Reed wonders if you ever read Othello
SXSW Platters
Say Hi The Wishes and the Glitch (Euphobia) If cinema’s “mumblecore” had a musical equivalent, Eric Elbogen would be among its pioneers. Say Hi to Your Mom’s first four albums cataloged, as their titles aptly conveyed, moping blahs of mumbled disco sadness, Elbogen’s lo-fi electro-pop producing lovable geek anthems of androids and vampires cut with…
SXSW 08 Film Reviews
Experimental Shorts D: Various Always an underappreciated jewel, the Experimental Shorts collection again proves a heady mix of worry and whimsy. Thomas Helman’s “df/dx” fills the bleakest stretch of the spectrum with dark washes of distortion obscuring his figures’ intentions. Gavin Heffernan’s “Grand Wheel” intercuts sweeping scenes of war protests and amusement rides, making the…
Biodiesel Industry Fumes Over State’s Heavy Hand
Texas environmental regulators come down hard on fledgling biodiesel industry
SXSW Film
You Are Not Alone: ‘Mister Lonely’ The concept of Mister Lonely, Harmony Korine’s first feature in eight years or so, is bizarre enough to excite the cult director’s fans: A Michael Jackson and a Marilyn Monroe impersonator (played by Diego Luna and Samantha Morton) meet in Paris; she takes him to an impersonator enclave in…
SXSW Film
Sex Positive D: Daryl Wein; with Richard Berkowitz, Larry Kramer, Edmund White, Joseph Sonnabend, Bill Stackhouse, Richard Dworkin If you don’t know who Richard Berkowitz is, you should. He started his life as a wild and nearly famous S&M hustler, sweating it out in the Eighties. Funny hair, red velvet ropes on all the clubs,…
SXSW Platters
Vampire Weekend (XL) As if on cue amid the recent critical hemming and hawing over indie rock’s cultural appropriations drops Vampire Weekend’s official debut with enough justified buzz to render the entire debate moot. It’s not simply that the New York quartet dices Afro-pop rhythms throughout that skitter across any number of musical inflections in…
SXSW Platters
Caroline Herring Lantana (Signature Sounds) If there were no other songs on Lantana, Caroline Herring’s murder ballad “Paper Gown” would still be the tour de force befitting her 2002 win as the Austin Music Awards’ Best New Artist. Compositions “Song for Fay,” “States of Grace,” and “Lay My Burden Down” resonate with Herring’s newfound strength,…
Spotlight: Clipse/Re-Up Gang
Clipse Re-Ups a new collaboration
Live Shots
Boys in a Band Habana Calle 6 Annex, Thursday, March 13 “Since we came to Austin, it feels like our asses are on fire,” said Boys in a Band guitarist/vocalist Zachariasson prior to their Thursday night showcase. Then the Faroe Islands quintet put on a show that sounded like something had been lit under them.…
Best Country
RUNNERS-UP: Dale Watson, Asleep at the Wheel, Kevin Fowler, The Derailers, The Mother Truckers, Heybale!, Willie Nelson, Alvin Crow, The Texas Sapphires
Best Rock
RUNNERS-UP: Okkervil River, Ghostland Observatory, Bob Schneider, Band of Heathens, Ian McLagan & the Bump Band, Grady, Future Clouds and Radar, White Denim, Tammany Hall Machine
Best All Ages Venue
RUNNERS-UP: Stubbs, Antone’s, Ruta Maya, Threadgill’s, Central Market, Broken Spoke, Red 7, Jovita’s, La Zona Rosa
The Beat Goes On
Harry Ransom Center hosts the Kerouac scroll
Austin Music Awards
2007-08
SXSW Platters
The Helio Sequence Keep Your Eyes Ahead (Sub Pop) The songwriting and musicianship on display by this Portland duo reveal two staggeringly talented artists. Unfortunately, Keep Your Eyes Ahead, the pair’s fourth album, suffers from multiple personality disorder. It’s a lushly sensitive indie-rock disc, jangly alterna-rock CD, and edgy Americana platter all in one uneasy…
SXSW 08 Film Reviews
Bootleg Wisconsin D: Brandon Linden; with Lepolion Henderson, Angela Harris, Alissa Bailey, Joyce Porter Attention creates silence – when people are interested, they grow silent in order to absorb with every sense. But also, silence creates attention – when someone speaks to us softly, we tend to listen harder, try to pay more attention. In…
Happenings
March 14-20
SXSW Film
Dreams With Sharp Teeth D: Erik Nelson “People always say you’re entitled to your opinion, but that’s not true: You’re entitled to your informed opinion. And most people just aren’t that informed.” So goes the underlying, often cantankerous, and occasionally downright vitriolic world-view of Harlan Ellison, who at 73 boasts countless books and articles and…
SXSW Film
The Amazing Truth About Queen Raquela D: Olaf de Fleur Johannesson; with Raquela Rios, Stefan C. Schaefer, Olivia Galudo, Brax Villa, Valerie Grand Einarsson If the hardest thing to decipher about a movie is whether it’s a documentary or a feature film, then they must be doing something right. Grainy and used-looking, the cinematography sings…
SXSW Platters
Lymbyc Systym Love Your Abuser Remixed (Koch) Instrumental indie rock remix albums are a rite of passage. For Austin/Phoenix-based duo Lymbyc Systym, comprising brothers Michael and Jared Bell, the honorary process rightfully follows last year’s stellar Love Your Abuser and includes contemporaries like San Marcos’ This Will Destroy You and Ninja Tune artist Daedelus, who…
SXSW Platters
Waco Brothers Waco Express: Live & Kicking at Schuba’s Tavern, Chicago (Bloodshot) Future generations, upon stumbling across this live recording from legendary Chicago watering hole Schuba’s, will be forced to ponder if maybe the lasting influence of a certain Welshman named Jon Langford was his cow-punk outfit Waco Brothers rather than UK punk and roots…
Spotlight: Nouveau Riche
Nouveau Riches of interstellar pop on a positive tip
Live Shots
Dan le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip Wave Rooftop, Thursday, March 13 You dream of showcases like this: brilliant, new, British. Too smart for America just yet but bang-on lyrically, deft and daft with the beats, and verging on the cusp of redefining hip-hop as we know it. Anyone who can reference Stephen Fry and Danny…
Best Cover Band
RUNNERS-UP: I Need More Cowbell, Skyrocket!, Mysterious Ways, Lost in Austin, Big Balls, Hells Bells, Forever Changes, Spazmatics, CR 290
Best Roots Rock
RUNNERS-UP: Rusty Wier, Bob Schneider, Band of Heathens, Guy Forsyth, The Mother Truckers, Reckless Kelly, The Belleville Outfit, James McMurtry, Shelley King
Best Concert Poster
RUNNERS-UP: 7th Anniversary, Aug. 24-25, MoMo’s, Jon Patillo; Roky Erickson, March 15, Threadgill’s, Jim Franklin; Black Crowes, Sept. 5, Backyard; Lucid Dementia, Sluggo Ball, Oct. 28, Emo’s; The Midgetmen, Aug. 3, Emo’s; Kevin Fowler, Midnight Rodeo; Octopus Project, June 2, Emo’s; Cerronato, Oct. 10, Jovita’s; Nakia, Continental Club
Graphic Novels
This graphic novel by writer Mat Johnson and artist Warren Pleece is a historical thriller set during the Harlem Renaissance of early last century
Off the Record
It’s the end of the world as we know it: South by Southwest 22 officially begins
SXSW Platters
Hayes Carll Trouble in Mind (Lost Highway) On his big-label debut, Trouble in Mind, Hayes Carll doesn’t stray far from where his music’s taken him on his first two discs. Some rave about the Houston native’s talents as a Texas troubadour, but, to these ears, he sounds as derivative and uninspired as any other “Texas…
SXSW 08 Film Reviews
Nights and Weekends D: Joe Swanberg, Greta Gerwig; with Swanberg, Gerwig So close to the way things are in real life it’s barely a movie, Swanberg and Gerwig’s Nights and Weekends is the revealing story of two people during two discrete periods separated by the span of a year, first as long-distance lovers and then…
SXSW Platters
Phosphorescent Pride (Dead Oceans) There’s a looming darkness to Phosphorescent’s Southern Gothic. Whereas the ornate orchestration and pastoral variations of theme on 2004’s masterful Aw Come Aw Wry allowed shafts of light in the form of redemption and grace, third LP Pride spins about as bleak as Nico’s The Marble Index. Despite reverb-drenched walls of…
SXSW Film
Full Battle Rattle D: Tony Gerber and Jesse Moss In less vigilant hands, Full Battle Rattle might easily have developed into another all too predictable rant against the U.S. military machine in Iraq. What saves it from such a fate is the ability of the filmmakers to imagine more than one point of view, allowing…
SXSW Platters
No Age Weirdo Rippers (Fat Cat) L.A.’s experiencing a renaissance, and it’s hard to pinpoint just what the “sound” is. Acts like No Age exist as an example. Drummer Dean Spunt and guitarist Randy Randall, formerly of the Wives, take matrimony to the next level with Weirdo Rippers, 11 songs from five previous vinyl-only EPs…
SXSW Platters
The Ruby Suns Sea Lion (Sub Pop) The first four songs on Sea Lion are a wonder: Lazy opener “Blue Penguin” flows into the Tropicalia-tinged “Oh, Mojave,” which jumps into the choral stomp of “Tane Mahuta,” sung in Maori and recalling Graceland-era Simon, which then skips into the synth-pop beauty “There Are Birds.” Pastiche is…
Spotlight: Blitzen Trapper
Blitzen Trapper: the hip-hop of indie rock?
Best DJ
RUNNERS-UP: DJ Mel, Scott Kinnebrew, Boba Fett, DJ Manny, DJ Exceed, DJ Chicken George, DJ Dallas, Car Stereo (Wars), Bigface
Best Teen
RUNNERS-UP: Sarah Jarosz, The Fireants, The Steps, Superpal Universe, Loose Cannons, Blues Mafia, Aftermath, High on Hotdogs, Rubber Monster
Best Instrument/Equipment Store
RUNNERS-UP: Bass Emporium, Guitar Center, South Austin Music, Musicmakers, Ray & Shane Hennig’s Heart of Texas Music, Rock & Roll Rentals, Music Exchange, Violins Etc, Tommy’s Drum Shop
The Great St. Patrick’s Day Pub Crawl
Down a stout or four for St. Patty’s Day, but don’t drink the green beer
Graphic Novels
Candidly morbid is perhaps the best way to describe Leah Hayes’ five fairy-tale-ish stories
War Stories
Phil Donahue and Ellen Spiro collaborate to document one wounded soldier’s transformation into ‘anti-warrior’
SXSW Platters
North Mississippi Allstars Hernando (Songs of the South) A blasphemer’s disclaimer: If Led Zeppelin never pulls off a reunion tour, fans of metallic blues will still have the North Mississippi Allstars. On Hernando, the Memphis trio’s first studio disc since 2005, Luther and Cody Dickinson again turn to paterfamilias producer James Luther Dickinson to anchor…
SXSW 08 Film Reviews
Half-Life D: Jennifer Phang; with Sanoe Lake, Julia Nickson, Leonardo Nam, Alexander Agate Half-Life, the debut feature from writer-director Jennifer Phang, pairs the tense relationships of a suburban Asian-American family with the specter of global environmental devastation, creating a world in which violence and destruction seem to forebode individual crisis. Timothy Wu (Agate) and his…
SXSW Platters
The Whigs Mission Control (ATO) In the aftermath of this Athens, Ga., trio’s debut, 2005’s Give ‘Em All a Big Fat Lip, Rolling Stone declared the Whigs “the best unsigned band in America.” That confidence boost fuels Mission Control. A noisy fun house bouncing around Nirvana, the Replacements, and Guided by Voices, the Whigs’ sophomore…
SXSW Film
Nerdcore Rising D: Negin Farsad One could argue that the Beastie Boys are the true progenitors of nerdcore (“Shadrach, Mesach, Abednago,” anyone?), but participants in this now-named genre (originally “nerdcore hip-hop”) orbit more specifically around tech and gaming geekery without bothering to aspire to any form of cool. Nerdcore Rising follows the national tour of…
SXSW Platters
Holy Fuck LP (Young Turks) Everything and the kitchen sink. Toronto improvisational instrumentalists Holy Fuck dabble in nothing, but the three- to fivepiece can manipulate sound out of anything. Cemented around core duo Brian Borcherdt and Graham Walsh, Holy Fuck runs the gamut from electronic dance-floor antics to the most pseudo-symphonic instrumental pop this side…
SXSW Platters
Shelby Lynne Just a Little Lovin’ (Lost Highway) With Shelby Lynne’s career at a stalling point eight years after the breakthrough success of I Am Shelby Lynne, her digging deep into her Southern roots on a Lovin’ tribute to Dusty Springfield makes perfect sense. Springfield may have been British, but her interpretations of classic soul…
Day Party Crawl
NPR’s Music for the Right Brain Parish, Thursday, March 13 Leave it to National Public Radio to put on a show this eclectic. With three beauties on bongos, violin, and cello, Swedish crooner Jens Lekman whipped through a short set focused on his latest, Night Falls Over Kortedala, closing with a dramatic solo rendition of…
Spotlight: White Denim
Year-old White Denim’s Gories-inspired greatest hits
Best Experimental
RUNNERS-UP: Octopus Project, Death Is Not a Joyride, Shuttle Debris, Opposite Day, John Pointer, Chant, Will Evans Project, Bexar Bexar, Calm Blue Sea
Best World Music
RUNNERS-UP: Matson Belle, Joel LaViolette, Tea Merchants, Mundi, Govinda, Oliver Rajamani, Djembabes, Austin Samba School, Bedlam Bards
Best Live Music Venue
RUNNERS-UP: Antone’s, Emo’s, Continental, Saxon Pub, Momo’s, Elysium, Mohawk, The Parish, Backyard
Texas Film Hall of Fame 2008
The stars at night, big and bright
After a Fashion
Stephen rubs up against all that glitter at the Texas Film Hall of Fame and learns how much of it actually rubs off
TV Eye
The new new media, plus David Simon to speak at UT, and more questions about the switch-over from analog
SXSW Platters
Lyrics Born Everywhere at Once (Anti-/Epitaph) A founding member of Quannum Projects, Lyrics Born first found success with 2004’s “Callin’ Out,” a celebration of syncopated rhymes and funkified basslines. Four years later, the Bay Area rapper’s still on the same dance floor. Truly hyph-lite, LP four, Everywhere at Once, drops more fizzle than pop over…
Day Trips
Take a ride on Capt. Day Trips’ magical musical tour
SXSW Platters
The Black & White Years (Brando) The Black & White Years hearken back to a simpler time – 1977 to be exact. The local quartet’s eponymous debut sounds like an updated version of the Talking Heads, with angular post-punk guitar carefully structured over jittery synths and polyrhythmic beats. Probably not coincidental, then, is the LP’s…
SXSW Music Fest Preview Guide
Recommended showcases; picks and sleeper sets
SXSW Platters
Grand Archives The Grand Archives (Sub Pop) Singer Mat Brooke, formerly of Band of Horses and Carissa’s Wierd, embraces the sunlight so rare to his home base of Seattle, leading his merry quintet on a journey to the happy place with a peaceful, warm, and affecting debut. The affirming nature of this urban indie rock…
Day Party Crawl
Roky Erickson’s Psychedelic Ice Cream Social Threadgill’s World Headquarters, Thursday, March 13 Stalking Lou Reed can make you feel pretty stupid. At least it’s really nice weather for stalking, but after last night’s Austin Music Awards show ran past Reed’s bedtime, there’s only a handful of places he could reasonably be expected to turn up…
Spotlight: Magic Christian
SF supergroup Magic Christian rises from the ashes of groovy
Best Folk
RUNNERS-UP: Sara Hickman, Eliza Gilkyson, The Hudsons, Betty Soo, Suzanna Choffel, Amy Cook, Brothers & Sisters, Sarah Jarosz, Peter & the Wolf
Best Acoustic Guitar
RUNNERS-UP: Eric Johnson, Monte Montgomery, Bob Schneider, John Pointer, Guy Forsyth, Sara Hickman, Willie Nelson, Ana Egge, Marvin Dykhuis
Best Local Label
RUNNERS-UP: Sound, ISMS Records, Steadyboy Records, Sleeveless, Mage, Beats Broke, Australian Cattle Gods, Natrix Matrix, Chicken Ranch
SXSW 08 Film Conference
Snapshots from the SXSW 08 Film Conference
The Common Law
Bike Helmets for Adults – What’s the Current Law?
SXSW Platters
White Hinterland Phylactery Factory (Dead Oceans) With the debut Phylactery Factory, New York-based singer-songwriter Casey Dienel has evolved from solo act to bandleader. The quirky writer-muso genres with fellow freak-folker Joanna Newsom, thanks to semiconfessional, somewhat autobiographical, regionally influenced tunes. Like Newsom, Dienel is an acquired taste, not because her lovely voice approximates a cat…
SXSW Platters
Nada Surf Lucky (Barsuk) Nada Surf’s fifth album reveals a few new tricks up the New York trio’s sleeve. They’re growing up. More than just another indie-pop album, Lucky is deeply reflective – age has a way of doing that to a body – even a little optimistic. Opener “See These Bones” is a poignant…
Oops!
In last week’s election coverage, a photo caption accompanying the story “Clinton’s Clan: Hill’s Goes Hillary,” misidentified the venue of Clinton’s appearance. She was at a rally at the Toney Burger Center. In last week’s coverage of the presidential primary election (“Garten Party: Texans for Obama” and “Clinton’s Clan: Hill’s Goes Hillary”), a cutline for…
SXSW Platters
Deadbeat Poets Notes From the Underground (Pop Detective) Rare is the power-pop act that doesn’t allow veneration to sap vitality. Led by former Blue Ash/Stiv Bators bassist/guitarist Frank Secich and ex-Backdoor Men guitarist Terry Hartman, Youngstown, Ohio’s Deadbeat Poets intertwine Byrds/Tom Petty jangle with strategic swatches of Dead Boys mayhem to create a whole new…
SXSW Film
Sister Christian: ‘They Killed Sister Dorothy’ There’s a dramatic courtroom turnabout in They Killed Sister Dorothy that blows everything that’s come before out of the water – and this is a film with more than its share of grandiose, truth-is-stranger-than-fiction legal strategizing. It arrives, unheralded, from theatrically inclined defense attorney Américo Leal, who argues that…
Thursday Picks
All showcases subject to change Billy Bragg 1am, Cedar Street Courtyard In the 25 years since his opening agit-folk cri de coeur “A New England,” lovesick balladeer Billy Bragg’s risen to “national treasure” status in his native UK, penned a book (The Progressive Patriot: A Search for Belonging), and released his first studio album in…
SXSW Platters
Christian Scott Anthem (Concord Jazz) There’s definitely something different going on here. This young, New Orleans-born trumpeter has played with the likes of jazz masters McCoy Tyner and his uncle Donald Harrison while also mingling in the R&B/hip-hop world on sessions with Jill Scott, Mos Def, and X-Clan. As a follow-up to Rewind That, his…
Ballroom Dancing
SXSW panels
Spotlight: Devotchka
Who needs globalization with Devotchka around?
Best Hip Hop
RUNNERS-UP: Bavu Blakes, MC Overlord, Dirty Wormz, Zeale32, Afrofreque, Dubb Sicks, Phranchyze, Tee Double, Braylon Wilcott
Best Bass Guitar
RUNNERS-UP: Roscoe Beck, Eric Johnson; Mark Andes, Ian McLagan; Josh Lambert, the Octopus Project; Seth Whitney, the Band of Heathens; Big Ben Richardson, Grady; Sarah Brown. Heybale!; Omar Vallejo, Vallejo; Gian Ortiz, Amplified Heat; Chris Maresh, Eric Johnson
Best New Club
RUNNERS-UP: Patsy’s Cowgirl Cafe, Qua, Panagaea, The Marq, Prague, Scoot Inn, Vicci, Merkaba Lounge, Besos Cantina
Election Wrap-up
Travis tops Texas counties in voter turnout
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
President Coolidge and his wallaby, ethicists and their bad behavior, and more
SXSW Platters
Throw Me the Statue Moonbeams (Secretly Canadian) Indie rock doesn’t cut it anymore. Let’s try indielectric. Seattle’s Throw Me the Statue, Scott Reitherman and his live band, laces straight-ahead indie pop with liberal doses of drum machine and loops. Between the fully addictive “Lolita” and its much less jolly album bookend, “The Happiest Man on…
SXSW Platters
Bobby Whitlock & CoCo Carmel Lovers Thirtysomething years ago, Texan Boz Scaggs invented adult contemporary radio by moving millions of Silk Degrees. Bobby Whitlock and wife CoCo Carmel’s studio debut, Lovers, transforms silken Left Coast murmurs of the heart into gritty Southwestern declarations of ardor. Her tart saxophone and his thick, rich, deep grain delivery…
Page Two: South by Simplicity
The plain truth behind the Festival’s origins
SXSW Platters
Liam Finn I’ll Be Lightning (Yep Roc) If your father were Neil Finn (Crowded House, Split Enz), some of that songwriting would probably have rubbed off on you, too. Not that Liam Finn copies his dad, but there are similarities in their obvious love of simple melodies, hooks aplenty, and the Beatles-esque production on I’ll…
SXSW Film
Paper Covers Rock D: Joe Maggio; with Jeannine Kaspar, Sayra Player, Juliet Stills Paper Covers Rock is, at its breaking heart, a simple three-hander: Sam (Kaspar), a woman recovering from a failed suicide attempt; Ed (Player), her well-intentioned but domineering sister; and Sam’s young daughter Lola (Stills), who Sam yearns to get back and whose…
Thursday Showcases
All showcases subject to change Hotel Cafe 7pm, Parish Hollywood’s Hotel Cafe is considered one of the premier singer-songwriter venues in the United States. For the past five years, it’s sponsored a tour of the U.S. and UK with the goal of sharing a communal vibe between acts and audience. The 2008 version features a…
SXSW Platters
South You Are Here (Young American Recordings) South never quite regained the critical attention afforded them for their 2000 debut, Overused, which paired the London trio with UNKLE’s James Lavelle to sometimes frustrating effect, although they’ve released three LPs in the interim. You Are Here finds them eschewing their early, post-electronica sound for a sparer,…
Ballroom Dancing
The Performance Royalty Debate Austin Convention Center, Thursday, March 13 The U.S. remains the only developed nation not providing royalties to artists for material broadcast on radio, a policy likely to change with legislation currently being debated on Capitol Hill. Though billed as a debate, the eight-member panel convened to discuss the issue during SXSW…
After a Fashion
The Austin Music Awards is an all in the family affair
Nanking
This vivid documentary account of the Japanese “rape of Nanking” in 1937 includes the reading of diaries, letters, and other accounts of the exceptionally vicious invasion written by the expats and survivors.
Best Indie
RUNNERS-UP: Spoon, Ghostland Observatory, Octopus Project, Voxtrot, Black Angels, Tammany Hall Machine, White Denim, Roky Erickson & the Explosives, Explosions in the Sky
Best Drums/Percussion
RUNNERS-UP: Tommy Taylor, Eric Johnson; Conrad Choucroun, Bob Schneider; Don Harvey, Ian McLagan; Brannon Temple, Blaze; Toto Miranda, the Octopus Project; Thomas Turner, Ghostland Observatory; Nina Singh, Grady; Chris Ortiz, Amplified Heat; Ken Tondre, Kevin Fowler
Best Radio Music Program
RUNNERS-UP: Eklektikos, John Aielli, KUT; Next Big Thing, Andy Langer, 101X; Twine Time, Paul Ray, KUT; Lonestar State of Mind, Bobby Ray, KGSR; No Control, Chuck Loesch, 101X; Lounge Show, Jay Robillard, KOOP; Blue Monday, Larry Monroe, KUT; Celtic Storm, Donnelle McKaskle, KOOP; Folkways; Kevin Connor, Ed Miller, and Tom Pittman; KUT
SXSW Pixels
Billy Baumann and Anne Benjamin of Delicious Design League Dan Stiles Tad Carpenter of Vahalla Studios Leia Bell Stainboy Reinel
Letters @ 3AM
Jo Carol Pierce’s music says: Go the distance, baby, and find out – find you
SXSW Platters
Evangelicals The Evening Descends (Dead Oceans) Is there some antiquated state law forcing every band from Oklahoma to emulate the Flaming Lips? Norman’s Evangelicals have taken that neon-lit ball and smoked out with it. Opening with the space tripped title track, The Evening Descends quickly snowballs into a confusing asteroid belt of otherworldly sounds and…
SXSW Platters
The Redwalls (Mad Dragon) There’s absolutely nothing wrong with the art of imitation, so long as it’s done correctly. Evidence stands by the Rolling Stones’ allegiance to Mississippi Fred McDowell on “You Gotta Move” and Jack White’s affinity for Jimmy Page licks. Chicago’s Redwalls have an undeniably classic British sound, and their self-titled newbie (their…
Playing Through
The Austin Gamblers gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender bowling league keeps it real, real fun
SXSW Platters
Kaki King Dreaming of Revenge (Velour) Whether plumbing the instrumentalism of her first two discs or moderately vocal – 2006 breakthrough … Until We Felt Red – Kaki King’s complex emotional tangle breathes through the pores of her guitar. On the 28-year-old prodigy’s fourth LP, the mostly instrumental Dreaming of Revenge, musical and vocal virtuosity,…
SXSW Film
The Ostrich Testimonies D: Jonathan VanBallenberghe D.C. “Rooster” Cogburn’s story reeks of injustice and helplessness. For years, Cogburn had been building his legacy as a premier ostrich rancher. After obsessively cultivating a particular breed, jumping through hoops of fire to get the ostriches out of Africa, Cogburn and his wife operated the successful Rooster Cogburn…
Thursday Sleepers
All showcases subject to change Amy Lavere 8pm, Antone’s In 2007, Amy Lavere caused quite a stir with her second effort, the Jim Dickinson-produced Anchors & Anvils (Archer). The upright-bass-playing Memphis resident possesses a smoky, waiflike voice and the ability to charm country, blues, and gypsy jazz into a mesmerizing whole. (Also: Friday, March 14,…
SXSW Platters
Destroyer Trouble in Dreams (Merge) The cover of Trouble in Dreams, a painting of a veiled, sneering, drunk woman, telegraphs upfront that Dan Bejar’s ninth album as Destroyer hasn’t strayed in lyrical content. His twin obsessions, art and the opposite sex, continue to intrigue and allude him, as he nasally addresses on “Plaza Trinidad”: “What…
Ballroom Dancing
SXSW Interview: Steve Reich/Thurston Moore Austin Convention Center, Thursday, March 13 Thurston Moore has been the Where’s Waldo? of SXSW 08 – label showcases, collaborations, booksignings. So putting him in a room with minimalist composer Steve Reich for an hour felt a little like looking in a petri dish. The pairing couldn’t have been more…
The Gay Place
SOUTH BY SOOOOOO GAY In the A-Town lookin’ for Gay Town? We here at Gay Place Inc. would be honored, chuffed, beside ourselves if you would let our listings, our Gay Place Blog, and our gAyTX Fun Guide be your SXSW tour guides. Feel free to contact us with your queer bits and tips, as…
10,000 B.C.
After all those cataclysmic movies like Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow, it seems right that Roland Emmerich has now turned his focus to the beginnings of civilization.
Best Industrial/Goth
RUNNERS-UP: Chant, Lucid Dementia, Death Is Not a Joyride., Pail, Ghostland Observatory, Scorpio Rising, Lust Murder Box, Subnatural, Exit
Best Electric Guitar
RUNNERS-UP: Jeff Plankenhorn, Bob Schneider; Eric Johnson; Redd Volkaert, Heybale!; Guy Forsyth; Stephen Bruton; Jimmie Vaughan; Carolyn Wonderland; Scrappy Judd Newcomb; Gordie Johnson, Grady
Best Radio Personality
RUNNERS-UP: Bob Fonseca KLBJ, Jason Dick 101X, John Aielli KUT, Deb O’Keefe 101X, Dale Dudley KLBJ, Raydog 101X, Charlie Hodge KLBJ, Jody Denberg KGSR, Bryan Beck KGSR
Event Menu
March 15-17
SXSW Platters
The Sadies New Seasons (Yep Roc) Leave it to the Toronto quartet to continually produce the most complete vision of what Americana should represent. On the heels of 2006’s exceptional live double-disc, the Sadies’ seventh studio album isn’t their most ambitious work, but it ranks among their tightest. “The First Inquisition (pt. IV)” thunders psychedelic,…
SXSW Platters
Jason Collett Here’s to Being Here (Arts & Crafts) Toronto’s Jason Collett has evolved into a master songwriter since his days in Broken Social Scene. Following in the footsteps of Petty, Springsteen, and even Dylan, Collett offers a potent dose of a distinctly North American craft. His third solo effort tones down the all-inclusive blast…
Soccer Watch
Austin Aztex tryouts, English FA Cup semifinals, and more
SXSW Platters
Retribution Gospel Choir (Caldo Verde) When Low’s Alan Sparhawk and Red House Painters/Sun Kil Moon guru Mark Kozelek formed the Retribution Gospel Choir in 2005, it seemed mostly an outlet for the slo-core pioneers to rock swelling guitar anthems that would ring incongruous in their primary projects. With Kozelek receding to a production role for…
SXSW Film
Older Than America D: Georgina Lightning; with Adam Beach, Tantoo Cardinal, Bradley Cooper, Lightning, Wes Studi, Steve Yoakum, Chris Mulkey, Glen Gould, Dennis Banks, Gloria Eshkibok In her directorial debut, Georgina Lightning implicates the Catholic Church in what some might consider an ongoing genocide. The film, also written by Lightning, is a ghost story/suspense drama…
SXSW 08 Film Awards
The rundown
SXSW Platters
Castanets In the Vines (Asthmatic Kitty) Brooklynite Ray Raposa flirts with the darker side of human emotion; 2005’s First Light’s Freeze was wintry in its ethos, to say the least. With his third release as Castanets, Raposa emerges on new songs set in the key of fear. In the Vines is a spare, unhurried blend…
Ballroom Dancing
Through the Lens: Photographers on Musicians Austin Convention Center, Thursday, March 13 Photographers and their photographs are kind of like your friends and their kids. The offspring are cool, but to hear parents talk about them is pretty goddamn boring. Don’t get me wrong, artwork is important stuff, and a great picture says as much…
SXSW Music Keynote Address
Lou Reed Austin Convention Center, Thursday, March 13 “I have a B.A. in dope, but a Ph.D. in soul,” Lou Reed told a packed room at the Austin Convention Center during his SXSW keynote address Thursday morning. In turn, this year’s keynote was best appreciated as a piece of absurdist performance art, Reed happily suffering…
College Road Trip
Raven-Symoné co-stars with Martin Lawrence in this mugging comedy, which also makes room for Donny Osmond.
Best Instrumental
RUNNERS-UP: Octopus Project, Austin Symphony, McLemore Ave., 3 Balls of Fire, Doc Grauzer, Golden Arm Trio, Mike Flanigin & His B-3 Trio, Brownout, Mundi
Best Female Vocals
RUNNERS-UP: Carolyn Wonderland; Wendy Colonna; Patrice Pike; Patty Griffin; Sara Hickman; Teal Collins, the Mother Truckers; Kelly Willis; Sarah Jarosz; Lou Ann Barton
Best Radio Program
RUNNERS-UP: Morning X, Jason Dick and Deb O’Keefe, 101X; Morning Show, Dale Dudley and Bob Fonseca; KLBJ; Eklektikos, John Aielli, KUT; Morning Show, JB and Sandy, MIX; Chillville, Ray Seggern, 101X; Folkways; Kevin Connor, Ed Miller and Tom Pittman; KUT; Lonestar State of Mind, Bobby Ray, KGSR; No Control, Chuck Loesch, 101X; Twine Time, Paul…
Ice Cream Man Presents!
If you thought there were only rock & roll bands in town for South by Southwest, you’d be wrong. The Choir Practice, from Vancouver, British Columbia, exemplify their band name probably more than any other group in Austin this week. At eight members strong, the vocal harmonies are at the forefront of their music, with…
Spotlight: Carbon/Silicon
The Clash comes full circle
MOJO Recommends
Dickensian sea-shanty-styled troubadour Johnny Flynn
Ballroom Dancing
SXSW Interview: Rob Glaser Austin Convention Center, Wednesday, March 12 The music industry’s moving faster than you can rip the shrink-wrap off a jewel case, so it’s time to pick a side. Either roll with the relics or buy yourself a ticket (literally) to the future, a route conducted partly by Rob Glaser, CEO of…
Live Shots
Ceci Bastida Continental Club, Wednesday, March 12 La indie rocker from Tijuana by way of East Los settled in for a relaxed night of new and familiar tunes from her most recent EP. Not that La Ceci was slacking off. On the contrary, she and her three-boy band were in full command of the intimate…
My SXSW
South by Southwest has barely started, and already a serious amount of brain chaos has entered my skull. Before I left Brooklyn, New York, I went to the doctor to make sure that the state of my liver and cholesterol level were sufficient to survive this week. He gave me a clean bill of health…
Spotlight: The Explorers Club
Brian Wilson approved: the Explorers Club
SXSW Film
Got Ink? ‘Hori Smoku Sailor Jerry’ Flash is fast. Flash is cool. Flash was invented by Norman “Sailor Jerry” Collins, who was no fool. Not, at least, when it came to getting subcutaneal on raw, corn-fed, post-Pearl Harbor G.I. flesh. Ink-slinging his days away in a dingy, dark, and entirely disreputable back alleyway called Hotel…
2007-08 Austin Music Awards
Austin Music Hall, Wednesday, March 12
Spotlight: James McMurtry
A-political Dick Cheney blues
SXSW Film
Yeast D: Mary Bronstein; with Bronstein, Amy Judd, Greta Gerwig, Sean Williams In Mary Bronstein’s directorial debut – in which we witness, in extreme close-up, the meltdown of three women’s interconnected friendships – it’s not only the characters who grate: Every small sound in the movie – paper crumpled, a plastic tarp unfolded – seems…
Girls Can Tell
Gadding about
Spotlight: Amplified Heat
Austin’s power trio is ready to rumble
SXSW Film
The Order of Myths D: Margaret Brown Cultural attitudes change over centuries and decades, spurred by such things as new experiences, the acquisition of knowledge, and the force of law. Racism in America is one of those things that have mutated over time; prejudice is now expressed in less overt terms and is often so…
SXSW Film
Cradle of Injustice: ‘Tulia Texas’ Before a massive sweep of drug busts rocked the town in 1999, Tulia was another anonymous Texas burg. Now it’s synonymous with an egregious miscarriage of justice. Cassandra Herrman and Kelly Whalen’s Tulia Texas lays out the facts of the case: how in 1999, an undercover drug string by contracted…
After a Fashion
Gossip
SXSW Film
Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson D: Alex Gibney For a time in the mid-Sixties to mid-Seventies, Hunter S. Thompson, self-proclaimed king of gonzo journalism, merged writer with rock star and gnawed a hole through the American political spectrum, ratlike in the best sense of the phrase – if there is…
Day Party Crawl
Van Morrison Austin Music Hall, Tuesday, March 11 The sun still shone when Van Morrison took the stage for his unofficial SXSW kick off, but the main thing worrying the capacity crowd at the newly revamped Austin Music Hall was whether the master would “Moondance.” Never mind that Van the Man has a perfectly good…
Off the Record
SXSW music news and carryings on
SXSW Film
Bulletproof Salesman D: Michael Tucker, Petra Epperlein An armored car doesn’t look all that different from a regular old SUV – until they’re both shot to hell and only one is still intact. Likewise, Fidelis Cloer doesn’t seem all that different from a regular old salesman. He makes cold calls like anyone else, keeps his…
Day Party Crawl
Mala Rodriguez SESAC Day Stage, Austin Convention Center, Wednesday, March 12 Rocking a powder-blue sweater and standing just over five feet with the benefit of three-inch-high cherry-red pumps, Mala Rodriguez doesn’t cut an intimidating figure. The good girl facade quickly faded Wednesday afternoon as the Spanish bad girl launched into her saucy reggaeton-flavored single “Toca,…
Live Shots
Black Joe Lewis & the Honey Bears Emo’s, Wednesday, March 12 Not that Black Joe Lewis & the Honey Bears are a blues band, but them unloading their soul revue on Austin’s punk palace was certainly a change of pace. In fact, this early showcase covered all the bases, from a blistering guitar workout and…
SXSW Film
Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father D: Kurt Kuenne Filmmaker Kurt Kuenne makes no apologies for the fact that he has made an extremely sentimental film about his boyhood friend Andrew Bagby, who was senselessly murdered by his ex-girlfriend. The film starts as a tribute to Bagby for the son he…
Day Party Crawl
Go Entertainment Day Party Scoot Inn, Wednesday, March 12 Celebrating their recent launch, local management firm Go Entertainment inaugurated SXSW on Austin’s Eastside with three stages at the Scoot Inn. Singer-songwriters held court inside, though Leatherbag had to contend with fellow ATX trio the Always Already bleeding through the walls with their solid synth-guitar dance…
Live Shots
Daryl Hall SXSW Live, Austin Convention Center, Wednesday, March 12 A recent Pitchfork interview with Daryl Hall pinpointed the appeal of Hall & Oates, namely with indie rockers who grew up in the 1980s listening to them on the radio. The crowd that showed up for his set, however, was testament to his generational appeal,…
SXSW Pixels
Girls cheering on Golden Bear. Officer Cpl. J. Carvalho handing out tickets on Sixth Street. No parking from 7pm to 2am. Johnny Hicklenton (r) promotes his film, Here’s Johnny.
SXSW Film
Reel Shorts 1 D: Various A sense of isolation is pervasive at the Alamo South Lamar this week. Isolation, disillusion, and melancholy. Throw in alcoholism and suicidal tendencies, and you’ve got an odd recipe for an afternoon at the movies. But though Reel Shorts 1 may be no trip through the tulips, neither is it…
Day Party Crawl
Red River Crawl Red River, Wednesday, March 12 The sun went all bully right after lunchtime, and Chicago’s Catfish Haven met its match, searing through tracks from 2006’s Tell Me (Secretly Canadian) at Creekside Lounge. George Hunter’s got tons of Southern soul underneath all that hair. At Emo’s Jr., Beth Tacular’s accordion pierced the air…
Live Shots
Bear in Heaven Maggie Mae’s Gibson Room, Wednesday, March 12 Like underwater bubbles blasting to the surface, Brooklyn, New York, fourpiece Bear in Heaven descended from the mount. Leader of the pack Jon Philpot eased us into a rhythmic groove, his reverb-drenched voice floating atop a myriad of knobs and cables. By the time Red…
The Gay Place
HEY, SAILOR Here for a conference? Desperately seeking a whiff of pink or rainbow? Wanna know where Your People at? Welcome home, Homo: This is the Gay Place. Let our listings, our Gay Place blog, and our gAyTX Fun Guide be your SXSW tour guides. Feel free to contact us with your queer bits and…
SXSW Film
Some Assembly Required D: Dori Berinstein This feel-good documentary about children who take part in the annual TOYchallenge competition can’t help but make you laugh. Launched by former NASA astronaut Sally Ride (who executive produced), the competition encourages fifth- through eighth-graders to learn about science and engineering through collaboratively designing a toy or game. Berinstein’s…
Ballroom Dancing
SXSW panels
Live Shots
DJ Rapid Ric Fuze, Wednesday, March 12 DJ Rapid Ric’s performance didn’t come off as a showcase of his own abilities as much as it was a reminder to those in attendance of the sheer talent the late Pimp C held. Running a set of Pimp-produced beats, the Austin spinner satisfied the still small crowd…
SXSW Film
Midnight Shorts D: Various The big drag about feature films is that you get caught up in horrible distractions like caring about the characters. That just gets in the way of the fun. Curated under the loose banner “short films for stoners” (which could explain why it’s called Midnight Shorts but starts at 11pm), this…
Ballroom Dancing
Tour Smart Austin Convention Center, Wednesday, March 12 “Welcome to the music business,” intoned journeyman Pigface/PiL/Nine Inch Nails drummer Martin Atkins. “You’re fucked!” Dire as that sounds, recognizing what you’re up against is the first step toward learning how to rock smarter. Drawing on his weighty new book, Tour: Smart (“Sheet Music,” March 7), Atkins…
Live Shots
Malcolm Holcombe Stephen F’s Bar, Wednesday, March 12 Gamblin’ House, the latest album from North Carolina guitarist Malcolm Holcombe, sounds like the blues. No doubt Holcombe’s had them many times in his life: His voice is all gravel and sandpaper, and his appearance, that of a friendly drifter or war-scarred Southern uncle. And he’s got…
SXSW Film
The Lost Coast D: Gabriel Fleming; with Ian Scott McGregor, Lucas Alifano, Lindsay Benner, Chris Yule Metaphor abounds on the Lost Coast: Mossy, fern-draped trails drip with cloudy innuendo; an angry, churning Pacific roars as cleansing boundary; desolate parking lots and the street crush that is the Castro at Halloween inspire contemplations of inner emptiness.…
Spotlight: Horse + Donkey
Who let Horse + Donkey out of the stable?
Live Shots
Jeffrey Lewis & the Jitters Club de Ville, Wednesday, March 12 Is it possible to both hate and love someone at the same time? That’s the strange feeling one gets while watching Jeffrey Lewis & the Jitters. Lewis’ latest, 12 Crass Songs, doubles as a double entendre in that he covers a dozen songs by…
Luv Doc Recommends: SXSW Free Concert
OK, let’s do this. Cue the intro vocals to Starship’s “We Built This City.” You feeling that? Are you ready to throw hair and pump fist? Is the fist wrist accessorized with a colorful bandana? After all, this is the Starship we’re talking about, not Axe. Otherwise you’d be rocking something in stainless-steel spiked leather,…
SXSW Film
Otis D: Tony Krantz; with Daniel Stern, Illeana Douglas, Kevin Pollak, Jere Burns, Bostin Christopher Otis is a serial killer, abducting and torturing that most stereotypical of Hollywood victims, the cheerleader. But he�s also slightly incompetent, and after accidentally killing too soon one of his victims, he kidnaps her replacement, with plans to make her…
Ballroom Dancing
The Best Online Resources Austin Convention Center, Wednesday, March 12 Words like “Best” tend to get over used, but this fast-moving and well-attended discussion fit the description. With all the major online players represented, from MySpace and YouTube to up-and-comers Bebo and iLike, there were lots of options and opinions offered, although a true novice…
Live Shots
Faceless Werewolves Beauty Bar, Wednesday, March 12 It was one of those nights for the Faceless Werewolves: a sparsely attended showcase soldiered through rather than savored. Nevertheless, the bassless Austin blues-infused tribal punk trio remained game even when guitarist Kelsey Wickliffe lost amp power midset. At least the scenery was spot on. With the Beauty…
SXSW Film
Wellness D: Jake Mahaffy; with Jeff Clark, Paul Mahaffy Thomas Lindsey, played with appropriate shlubbiness by Jeff Clark, is an experiment in how long a man can lie to himself. Caught in a pyramid scheme promoting a product that doesn’t exist, Lindsey tells his wife that all is well as he loses their life-savings. Trying…
Spotlight: Jay Reatard
Jay Reatard, gone in 60 seconds
Live Shots
Afro Punk/Matrix Show-case Vice, Wednesday, March 12 The 2003 James Spooner documentary Afro-Punk explores race in punk and indie rock, including dozens of interviews with blacks who love the energy and culture of punk rock but struggle with the isolation that stems from often being the only person of color at shows. The film spawned…
SXSW Film
My Effortless Brilliance D: Lynn Shelton; with Sean Nelson, Basil Harris, Calvin Reeder Successful author Eric (Nelson) is dumped by his old friend Dylan (Harris) and told that “you’ve always been an asshole.” Two years later and clearly the words still sting as Eric visits an unexpecting Dylan at his cabin in the woods. As…
Ballroom Dancing
Red Flags in Contracts Austin Convention Center, Wednesday, March 12 With major labels bedeviled by online delivery, and the CD an endangered species, working musicians need to realize that in the future changing your name to an unpronounceable glyph and painting “slave” on your face will no longer cut it. Now more than ever, performing…
Live Shots
Reich, Rags, and Road Movie St. David’s Church, Wednesday, March 12 Organizers from Gramophone/Boosey & Hawkes cheekily declared the Steve Reich-curated contemporary music showcase the “most subversive of acts at a subversive festival.” Yet the underlying note was that the overlapping galaxies of electronic and world music that long ago established the New York original…
