Dancing About Architecture

To heck with the bands, the most interesting list for me, as far as SXSW is concerned, is always the one of all the people who'll be in town to speak at the various parts of the conference. This year, among those scheduled to appear on panels or in other similar speaking posts at either the music, film, or multimedia conferences, you'll find Chris Frantz, Tina Weymouth, and Jerry Harrison (no, the Heads aren't expected to play SXSW), Subgenius Rev. Ivan Stang, Mark Hosler of Negativland, Touch of Latex founder Lily Burana, R.U. Sirius, Bruce Sterling, Jimmy Webb, Steven Soderbergh, Bill Paxton, Thomas Dolby Robertson (yes, Mr. Techno-pop is pulling a "John Mellencamp" these days), and dusk-'til-dawn Reservoir Butt-Slackers Quentin Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez, Richard Linklater, and Mike Judge. Seeing all these guys speak would require badges for all three conferences, so for those of you just in town during that week to people-watch, consider this a list of faces to look for in the tamale houses of Austin.

Gavin McLoud

Austinites and semi-Austinites will be well-represented at this year's Gavin Awards, part of the annual seminar for the radio industry hosted by The Gavin Report, radio's leading trade magazine. The event in New Orleans began yesterday (Wednesday) and continues through Saturday. Nominees in the Adult Album Alternative category include KGSR for station of the year; KGSR's Jody Denberg for program director/operations manager and Susan Castle for music director; Lyle Lovett for best artist and his The Road to Ensenada for album of the year; and Shawn Colvin's A Few Small Repairs, also for album of the year. In the new Americana format, only in its second year for receiving awards, Watermelon is up for record label of the year and Watermelon's Eric Zappa is nominated for best label promotion person; Fredericksburg's KFAN and New Braunfels' KNBT (see music feature) are competing for station of the year; and KFAN's J.D. Rose could win best programmer. In other categories, Crystal Stevens of KVRX is nominated for college music director of the year. Lots of other names on the list, so we'll let you know which of 'em got read aloud at the convention.

Phoenix Rising

In case you've been patiently waiting for the follow-up to Phoenix, Vince Bell's well-liked Watermelon album of a couple years back, don't. Rather than penning new songs, Bell's been making like Kinky Friedman and Jesse Sublett (and the Individuals, and Mike Nesmith, and... ) by working on a book instead. Tentatively titled One Man's Music and detailing the songwriter's life from the night of his car wreck on Riverside up to the release of Phoenix, Bell says his goal for 1996 was to write one page a day, and as of a couple weeks ago, he had between 180 and 200 pages. "No bites yet," reports Bell, "but doggone it, it's gone to some neat publishers -- some big dogs." Bell says his agent is running him ragged with re-writes, so he's not that concerned with turning out some of that 10-years-worth of songs he has lying around his Fredricksburg home. "I've been looking for a new label -- talking to the Verve people and some labels in New York," says Bell. "But I despised being pigeonholed into the singer-songwriter thing. I didn't want to make another Phoenix. My music is far too many styles." Apparently that now includes spoken -- or at least written -- word.

Splitting the Atom

That stretch of Red River north of Sixth Street continues to expand as an entertainment district. Just recently, both the Caucus Club and Club DeVille opened their doors, and now plans have been announced to open a new live music venue, the Atomic Cafe, in the building which most recently held the Split Rail. Owner Deborah von Ohlerking moved here from Phoenix a year ago and plans to debut this club in the same fashion Emo's and Stubb's first reared their ugly heads; as part of SXSW, with a break for final renovations before having a grand opening in April. Von Ohlerking describes the type of music the club will feature as "rock, alternative -- some stuff on the hard side."

Cathode Ray

How 'bout that King of the Hill? Didja catch last week's episode with guest appearances by Willie Nelson, Ann Richards, Dennis Hopper, Lyle Lovett, and Ray Hennig? Yep, I said Ray Hennig, owner of Heart of Texas Music, who made a cameo without knowing it. Hennig says he was aware that the Mike Judge co-creation planned to turn him into a cartoon character at some point, but "I didn't even know it was on, and now I'm getting calls from all over the nation." Friends of Hennig with VCRs need not rush to HoT, though; he says there's already several people bringing him a copy of the episode.

The Hole in the Record

Sunday's been on the phone to Monday at the Hole in the Wall, with the two days battling it out to see which gets a CD out first. The club's Unplug This disc, culled from acts who play their acoustic Monday night shows, is in the can, and so is Free For All Vol. 2, featuring tracks from bands who've played Paul Minor's Sunday night showcases. Minor's disc is up to 21 bands, including his own Superego and songs he co-wrote with Monte Warden and Beaver Nelson, along with the Adults, Fastball, Skanky Yankee, and a dozen or so others. The Monday night disc, most of which was recorded at David Rice's place while he was off recording at Peter Gabriel's studio, has 19 tracks, including acoustic or semi-acoustic numbers from Andrew Duplantis, the Gourds, Damnations, Pat McDonald, Pam Peltz, and Cattleguard. That's at the pressing plant as you read this, and the two should be out within days of each other in early March.

Mixed Notes

Jeff Copas of Sixteen Deluxe phoned from Frisco the other day to ask for tips on passing himself off as a reporter to get free drinks, adding that things are going well as the band records its Warner Bros. debut with producers John Croslin and Dave McNair. The band expects to be done within the week, but will be taking some time afterwards to smell the cactus on the long drive home... That big public forum on Tuesday regarding musicians loading and unloading on Sixth Street turned out to be a little anticlimactic. After being delayed once by weather, the Music Commission meeting found the issue already resolved, with Steamboat's Danny Crooks the only clubowner to even make an appearance; he was there only out of courtesy, since he was the one who had raised the ruckus in the first place (his 120-year-old building makes it the most difficult for bands to load in the alley). The current situation boils down to this: if you're going to play a club on Sixth Street for the first time, make sure the club tells you where to load from and how long you can stay there... "I guess payback's a bitch for never buying any of those Michael Bolton records," moans Steven Doster, who's album cover for Rosebud, his first album in six years, is a dead ringer for the latest by the über-platinum-selling, blue-eyed soul man (see photos). Hey, Steve, cross your fingers and hope a few million of his fans are near-sighted... Still no word on exactly who will be releasing the final Ed Hall album, which was finished on January 1. Gary Chester says that a number of labels (including Trance Syndicate and Alternative Tentacles) have heard the recording and that the band is "waiting to hear from everybody"... Ian Moore manager Jan Mirkin confirms that her artist spent last week in New Jersey with Prince B of PM Dawn fame. She says the pair used the time to generally get to know each other, pen a song together, and do some basic demos -- although she stresses it's way too early to say if the two will work together in producing Moore's next album for Capricorn. Mirkin also says she was disapointed that her band Breedlove lost out to some grunge band at the Grammy Showcase competition at Stubb's last Friday... The 7th Annual African-American History Month Concert Series takes place this year in toto at the Victory Grill, running next Wednesday through Sunday. Wednesday boasts the debut of Brannen Temple and J.J. Johnson's double rhythm section project Hot Buttered Rum, while Martin Banks hosts a traditional jazz showcase. Then -- well, we'll get to the rest next week...

-- Contributors: Raoul Hernandez, Andy Langer, Lee Nichols, Margaret Moser