SxSW '09 - Day 03
Gomez @ La Zona Rosa
The Bear @ Jackelope
TOMBS @ 710 Room
Year Long Disaster @ Red 7
Dixie Witch ""
The DollyRots @ Red 7 Patio
The Girls ""
Black Tusk @ Red 7
Valis @ 710 Room
Teenage Bottle Rocket @ Red 7 Patio
_______________
Day three of South By Southwest always tend to be the peak event for the festival. The bands and their fans are all in town by this point, the streets of Austin are full of music lovers and wannabe's alike, and the myriad sounds of music from different genres can be heard everywhere you go. The day three schedule also tends to have the densest bookings, making it that much harder to pick and choose which gigs to see. It was a tough one this year, but the shows I did settle upon were some of the best gigs I've ever seen.
We've sort of put the day gigs on the backburner for the past few days and instead opted to drink from the keg at Rusty's house. For a change of pace, we opted to hit up a day party downtown, and headed for La Zona Rosa. No free booze this year at the gig, unfortunately, and no free 'crap' from the promoters either (we usually throw the gift bag out anyway). We did catch a performance from the group Gomez, who have been a mainstay of the indy-music scene for some time. Though I'm not a fan, their indy-pop tunes were catchy and entertaining enough for us to hang out for the duration: or, at least until we finished a couple of pounder cans of Lone Star Beer.
Afterwards, we wandered around 6th Steet, taking note at how the crazy's were coming out in full force, and then stopping in at a Mexican Seafood restaurant for some grub and beer. We pretty much missed out on most of the day shows, save for a brief 5 song set from The Bear at the infamous Jackelope's Bar. Way too crowded for me to get any pictures, but the bands provided some pretty hooky riffs during their power-pop laced performance.
With the evening setting upon us, we headed out to the 710 Room to catch their early showcase from the Metal label, Small Stone Records. TOMBS took the stage and powered through their loud set of grindcore metal. Their music was good, but the scream-o styled singing from the frontman just didn't rung true with me. So, we moved on to the next set of gigs on the to-see list.
The Red 7 was hosting two separate showcases at their club, one metal and one punk rock. We started off with Year Long Disaster, featuring one of the son of the great rock'n roll demigod Ray Davies of the Kinks. Their Blues inspired southern rock was good, but not great. It just wasn't enough to keep my attention, so, to the bar I went to watch the rest of the gig from the comfort of a bar stool.
Next up at the Red 7 was the Austin band, Dixie Witch. The group was a blind pick from the SxSW web page, and I checked them out simply for the fact that they were on after Year Long Disaster. And I thank god that I took the time to do that. Dixie Witch was easily one of the best gigs I was able to catch at the festival this year. Stoner Rock meets Southern Blues is the best to describe the trio's music, and they most definitely rocked the house out for their entire 45 minute set. They weren't selling CD's for some ungodly reason, but thankfully I was sober enough too find their music online after gigs and proceeded to buy up their entire catalog.
After the Dixie Witch show, I hightailed it outside to the patio to catch the beginning of The Dollyrots show. Still one of my favorite live acts of all time. And to think, the first time I ever saw them play (or heard of them for that matter) was at SxSW 2006. Kelly and her boys put on another great gig, throwing out their Pop-Punk styled sounds like no one else can. They played their classics, of course, but also debuted some of their new music from their upcoming summer release. Always a great gig to see, The Dollrots.
The next gig on the Red 7 Patio was another blind pick, but I have to admit that The Girls put on the best show of the night. Fucking brilliant is a better way to put it. From the first note, this Seattle based outfit crunched out the highest energy 70's power-punk tunes I've ever heard. Imagine the Buzzcocks on speed, and you'll get a better picture of what The Girls are all about. Their recorded music does their live show absolutely no justice at all, and they simply put a great show, even if seeing the lead singer in a speedo through the whole gig was a bit unsettling.
Finally it was time for a quick change of venue in order to catch an 11pm show over at the 710 Room again. Rusty, Terence, and I headed out to catch another Small Stone Records band. This time, Valis took the stage for a 55 minute set of stoner-rock infused metal. Another blind pick, I actually thought the band was going to be awful; at least after hearing the first couple of songs. Apparently, they had to borrow gear from other bands in order to play, and the technically problems were miring their performance. A few songs in Valis finally got their stride, and picked up steam from then on. They even ended their gig by bringing on the lead singer of the band The Glasspack for another ear shredding song. I'm hoping to catch another set from these guys before the close of the festival, most definitely.
After an aborted attempt to catch the famous garage act The Woggles, we moved back to the Red 7 to see the remaining gigs of the night. We caught a few songs from the metal outfits Kylea and SkeletonWitch (both crazy ass metal bands, great in their own right), but the full on set we caught was from the Wyoming band Teenage Bottlerocket. This next-wave punk outfit was a fan favorite apparently, filling the outdoor stage with underage punk-wannabe's and fanboys alike. But even I have to admit the reason for their draw: straight out punk rock sounds that would inspire a mosh pit even from the oldest fans in the crowd. They played full on for 45 minutes non-stop, taking a breather just to say a few 'thank-yous' before diving right back in to their next song. While not the most original music, the sounds Teenage BottleRocket put out were pretty damn good and worth the time.
So, that's it for Day 3 of SxSW '09. Overall, the best day of music we've had so far. Check out some of the pics in the Day 3 folder.
Gomez @ La Zona Rosa
The Bear @ Jackelope
TOMBS @ 710 Room
Year Long Disaster @ Red 7
Dixie Witch ""
The DollyRots @ Red 7 Patio
The Girls ""
Black Tusk @ Red 7
Valis @ 710 Room
Teenage Bottle Rocket @ Red 7 Patio
_______________
Day three of South By Southwest always tend to be the peak event for the festival. The bands and their fans are all in town by this point, the streets of Austin are full of music lovers and wannabe's alike, and the myriad sounds of music from different genres can be heard everywhere you go. The day three schedule also tends to have the densest bookings, making it that much harder to pick and choose which gigs to see. It was a tough one this year, but the shows I did settle upon were some of the best gigs I've ever seen.
We've sort of put the day gigs on the backburner for the past few days and instead opted to drink from the keg at Rusty's house. For a change of pace, we opted to hit up a day party downtown, and headed for La Zona Rosa. No free booze this year at the gig, unfortunately, and no free 'crap' from the promoters either (we usually throw the gift bag out anyway). We did catch a performance from the group Gomez, who have been a mainstay of the indy-music scene for some time. Though I'm not a fan, their indy-pop tunes were catchy and entertaining enough for us to hang out for the duration: or, at least until we finished a couple of pounder cans of Lone Star Beer.
Afterwards, we wandered around 6th Steet, taking note at how the crazy's were coming out in full force, and then stopping in at a Mexican Seafood restaurant for some grub and beer. We pretty much missed out on most of the day shows, save for a brief 5 song set from The Bear at the infamous Jackelope's Bar. Way too crowded for me to get any pictures, but the bands provided some pretty hooky riffs during their power-pop laced performance.
With the evening setting upon us, we headed out to the 710 Room to catch their early showcase from the Metal label, Small Stone Records. TOMBS took the stage and powered through their loud set of grindcore metal. Their music was good, but the scream-o styled singing from the frontman just didn't rung true with me. So, we moved on to the next set of gigs on the to-see list.
The Red 7 was hosting two separate showcases at their club, one metal and one punk rock. We started off with Year Long Disaster, featuring one of the son of the great rock'n roll demigod Ray Davies of the Kinks. Their Blues inspired southern rock was good, but not great. It just wasn't enough to keep my attention, so, to the bar I went to watch the rest of the gig from the comfort of a bar stool.
Next up at the Red 7 was the Austin band, Dixie Witch. The group was a blind pick from the SxSW web page, and I checked them out simply for the fact that they were on after Year Long Disaster. And I thank god that I took the time to do that. Dixie Witch was easily one of the best gigs I was able to catch at the festival this year. Stoner Rock meets Southern Blues is the best to describe the trio's music, and they most definitely rocked the house out for their entire 45 minute set. They weren't selling CD's for some ungodly reason, but thankfully I was sober enough too find their music online after gigs and proceeded to buy up their entire catalog.
After the Dixie Witch show, I hightailed it outside to the patio to catch the beginning of The Dollyrots show. Still one of my favorite live acts of all time. And to think, the first time I ever saw them play (or heard of them for that matter) was at SxSW 2006. Kelly and her boys put on another great gig, throwing out their Pop-Punk styled sounds like no one else can. They played their classics, of course, but also debuted some of their new music from their upcoming summer release. Always a great gig to see, The Dollrots.
The next gig on the Red 7 Patio was another blind pick, but I have to admit that The Girls put on the best show of the night. Fucking brilliant is a better way to put it. From the first note, this Seattle based outfit crunched out the highest energy 70's power-punk tunes I've ever heard. Imagine the Buzzcocks on speed, and you'll get a better picture of what The Girls are all about. Their recorded music does their live show absolutely no justice at all, and they simply put a great show, even if seeing the lead singer in a speedo through the whole gig was a bit unsettling.
Finally it was time for a quick change of venue in order to catch an 11pm show over at the 710 Room again. Rusty, Terence, and I headed out to catch another Small Stone Records band. This time, Valis took the stage for a 55 minute set of stoner-rock infused metal. Another blind pick, I actually thought the band was going to be awful; at least after hearing the first couple of songs. Apparently, they had to borrow gear from other bands in order to play, and the technically problems were miring their performance. A few songs in Valis finally got their stride, and picked up steam from then on. They even ended their gig by bringing on the lead singer of the band The Glasspack for another ear shredding song. I'm hoping to catch another set from these guys before the close of the festival, most definitely.
After an aborted attempt to catch the famous garage act The Woggles, we moved back to the Red 7 to see the remaining gigs of the night. We caught a few songs from the metal outfits Kylea and SkeletonWitch (both crazy ass metal bands, great in their own right), but the full on set we caught was from the Wyoming band Teenage Bottlerocket. This next-wave punk outfit was a fan favorite apparently, filling the outdoor stage with underage punk-wannabe's and fanboys alike. But even I have to admit the reason for their draw: straight out punk rock sounds that would inspire a mosh pit even from the oldest fans in the crowd. They played full on for 45 minutes non-stop, taking a breather just to say a few 'thank-yous' before diving right back in to their next song. While not the most original music, the sounds Teenage BottleRocket put out were pretty damn good and worth the time.
So, that's it for Day 3 of SxSW '09. Overall, the best day of music we've had so far. Check out some of the pics in the Day 3 folder.
For almost 5 years now, I've toyed with the idea of collecting comics again after something like a 12 year hiatus. It all began over 25 years ago, I became enthralled with the super-hero medium after borrowing a few comics from my friend Todd Moore. We're talking 6th grade here, kids. Something about the hero genre, color scheme, and overt action just pulled me in like a moth to a flame.
I was blown away by such great classic titles as The Uncanny X-Men, The Avengers, Fantastic Four, and Doctor Strange. If I couldn't borrow a comic book from a friend, I'd save up half of my lunch money during the week in order to pick up as many titles that I wasn't able to get my hands upon.
As I entered Junior High, this small time hobby turned into a full blown collecting frenzy. I wound up collecting something like 20 titles a month, including classic standards from Marvel and DC comic but also into the independent publishers as well (that's where my name 'Grimjack' comes from in case you're curious). This was of course back in the day when comics where still on the cheap side, averaging 55 to 65 cents a book. The same place where I studied Judo and karate also ran a comic shop business on the side, so I was picking up new titles with regularity.
Upon entering High School, I found myself getting into other hobbies full time, such as soccer, basketball, music, and girls. All of those new 'activities' put a serious hamper on my collecting, save for the casual comic purchase as the local 7-11. As what little money I had went to other entertainment pursuits, comic collecting took a back seat.
Enter the college years at NMSU, where my second fling with comic books began. It was then that the Marvel Universe found itself back in the forefront of the comic world with the release of X-Force, the new Spiderman series, and the revitalized X-Men franchise. With a dull summer to look forward too with the hiatus in school, I found myself drawn to the superhero world once again. With the help of some college friends also stuck in town for the summer, I found myself picking up 'collector' boxes at two different comic stores. Not only that, but with a influx of money from an old and forgotten about bank account, I found myself ordering back issues from Mile High Comics, the biggest mail order comic shop in the U.S. at the time. Unfortunately, this era of collecting too would pass. A few trips to visit my family living overseas severely depleted my bank accounts, forcing me to give up my comics once again.
12 years later, I've found myself with the desire to read and/or collect comics once again. A few trips to the comic shop as well as several online orders got me pretty close on more that one occasion. However, I'd never find time to actually read the comics that I had actually picked up. About 4 months ago while going through my piles of junk in the house, I came across several bags of comics that I had purchased some 5 years ago. After ravaging through those titles (X-Men, Star Wars, Green Arrow, etc.) I found myself jonesing to pick up more books. In the meantime, I had been picking up the occasional Trade Paperback, an industry term that collects volumes of various comics into one book. What really caught my attention was the Marvel Zombie series, a multiple series of books putting the reader in an alternate Marvel Comics Universe where the worlds superheroes have been turned into flesh eating zombies. Way cool, so say the least.
Now, I've got the full on comic reading bug. As of last week, I've offcially jumped back into the world of collecting full swing. Today, I spent 50 bucks alone on back issues as well as new issues from such comic staples as the JLA, Wolverine, X-Men, Green Lantern Corps, Star Wars Legacy, and even Superman. A few other titles I've grown interested in include City of Others, Zombies Vs. Robots, Silver Surver, JSA, and Green Arrow. I've even been reading back issues in Digital form on Marvel.com and have the crazy idea of buying full 40 year digital runs of X-Men, Hulk, and the Fantastic Four.
Holy Crap...I'm a full Comic Geek once again.
-Grim
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I was blown away by such great classic titles as The Uncanny X-Men, The Avengers, Fantastic Four, and Doctor Strange. If I couldn't borrow a comic book from a friend, I'd save up half of my lunch money during the week in order to pick up as many titles that I wasn't able to get my hands upon.
As I entered Junior High, this small time hobby turned into a full blown collecting frenzy. I wound up collecting something like 20 titles a month, including classic standards from Marvel and DC comic but also into the independent publishers as well (that's where my name 'Grimjack' comes from in case you're curious). This was of course back in the day when comics where still on the cheap side, averaging 55 to 65 cents a book. The same place where I studied Judo and karate also ran a comic shop business on the side, so I was picking up new titles with regularity.
Upon entering High School, I found myself getting into other hobbies full time, such as soccer, basketball, music, and girls. All of those new 'activities' put a serious hamper on my collecting, save for the casual comic purchase as the local 7-11. As what little money I had went to other entertainment pursuits, comic collecting took a back seat.
Enter the college years at NMSU, where my second fling with comic books began. It was then that the Marvel Universe found itself back in the forefront of the comic world with the release of X-Force, the new Spiderman series, and the revitalized X-Men franchise. With a dull summer to look forward too with the hiatus in school, I found myself drawn to the superhero world once again. With the help of some college friends also stuck in town for the summer, I found myself picking up 'collector' boxes at two different comic stores. Not only that, but with a influx of money from an old and forgotten about bank account, I found myself ordering back issues from Mile High Comics, the biggest mail order comic shop in the U.S. at the time. Unfortunately, this era of collecting too would pass. A few trips to visit my family living overseas severely depleted my bank accounts, forcing me to give up my comics once again.
12 years later, I've found myself with the desire to read and/or collect comics once again. A few trips to the comic shop as well as several online orders got me pretty close on more that one occasion. However, I'd never find time to actually read the comics that I had actually picked up. About 4 months ago while going through my piles of junk in the house, I came across several bags of comics that I had purchased some 5 years ago. After ravaging through those titles (X-Men, Star Wars, Green Arrow, etc.) I found myself jonesing to pick up more books. In the meantime, I had been picking up the occasional Trade Paperback, an industry term that collects volumes of various comics into one book. What really caught my attention was the Marvel Zombie series, a multiple series of books putting the reader in an alternate Marvel Comics Universe where the worlds superheroes have been turned into flesh eating zombies. Way cool, so say the least.
Now, I've got the full on comic reading bug. As of last week, I've offcially jumped back into the world of collecting full swing. Today, I spent 50 bucks alone on back issues as well as new issues from such comic staples as the JLA, Wolverine, X-Men, Green Lantern Corps, Star Wars Legacy, and even Superman. A few other titles I've grown interested in include City of Others, Zombies Vs. Robots, Silver Surver, JSA, and Green Arrow. I've even been reading back issues in Digital form on Marvel.com and have the crazy idea of buying full 40 year digital runs of X-Men, Hulk, and the Fantastic Four.
Holy Crap...I'm a full Comic Geek once again.
-Grim
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Kiss my pirate ass, ye mateys!Another 4th of July Psuedo Party has come and gone. Much fun was had by all...not to mention liquor. For something to kill excess time with, check out the pictures.
So, I ended up catching a flick at the Ritz yesterday on a whim. The film in question is called Brand Upon the Brain!. By far one of the weirdest fuck'n films I have had witness to see.
Basically it's components are:
1 Part David Lynch Film
1 Part Silent Film of the 20's (imagine the original Nosferatu)
1 Part Acid Trip (taken beyond the Lynch aspects)
1 Part Weird Comical Fancy
A truly weird experience. I almost fell asleep the first 15 minutes, but thankfully the 'plot' picked up a bit to keep my attention span in check. Not for ADHD inflicted, or the easily bored.
http://www.branduponthebrain.com/index_2.html
index_2.html
Basically it's components are:
1 Part David Lynch Film
1 Part Silent Film of the 20's (imagine the original Nosferatu)
1 Part Acid Trip (taken beyond the Lynch aspects)
1 Part Weird Comical Fancy
A truly weird experience. I almost fell asleep the first 15 minutes, but thankfully the 'plot' picked up a bit to keep my attention span in check. Not for ADHD inflicted, or the easily bored.
http://www.branduponthebrain.com/index_2.html
index_2.html
So, Im back from Deutshebag-land. I've got a major headache, my arm is aching, and I'm in desperate need of a decent slice of pizza.
I'll post more later...pics, stories, blah, blah. For all three of you that read this tripe.
-Grim
***** I decided to add a bit to my little post. Here's a nice one about the new radio station in Philly.
As for 104.5 on the dial....Awesome! I get to hear Pearl Jam, Nickelback, and Marcy's Playground whenver I get in my car! Super Nifty Cool!!!
Can you just TASTE the sarcasm, folx?
OK, ok...Philly radio has been down the tubes for years upon years now. Yes, even the watered down Indy-Alt station that was Y-100 was caste into my 'sucks' bin. I even started listening to *gasp* WIP sports radio for a change of pace (until I rediscovered my love of NPR). And I fucking HATE sports. Understand that I spend almost 5 hours of day travelling in a car for my work, so anytime of music or radio distraction is lovely change of pace from staring at the backs of other cars, or talking to my asshole work partners.
But Radio 104.5 (yup, that's the ingenious name of the station for the time being) to a radio-black-hole zone like philly is analogous to giving a stale, nasty, moldy cracker to starving person. I'm sure it's the best damn piece of food that they've had, and are so glad to munch on at the time being. In the end, however, it's still just a shitty old cracker.
There's one really big reason why I can't get excited about this 'new' radio station (and yes, I have listened to it...1st day it was on, mind you). Simply put, its a CLEAR CHANNEL STATION. Not only are the chances good that it'll flip formats within a years time to fit whatever music style is topping the charts at the tim in order to make a quick buck on advertising, it's also well known that the evilly stupid entity that is Clear Channel has never been known to be forefront in radio programming. Ever. Even the most devout fan of mediocre Modern Rock/Alternative/Post-Modern/Indy Music will most likely more likely get bored with the already Vanilla flavoring of radio that this station is currently serving up. There are only so many times you're going to want to hear the same songs from The Toadies, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Eve 7, Everclear, Sister Mary Three, Fuel, Evanescence, Good Charlotte, Green Day, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and the rest of the more 'radio-friendly-college-acts' before you go running for your radio's dial.
Sorry to be a 'hater'...but the radio and music industry helped nurture the beast inside me on this issue. Now, I'm going to switch on my stereo and pop in my copy of Grinderman and revel in the non-radio friendly aspects of Nick Cave.
-grim
I'll post more later...pics, stories, blah, blah. For all three of you that read this tripe.
-Grim
***** I decided to add a bit to my little post. Here's a nice one about the new radio station in Philly.
As for 104.5 on the dial....Awesome! I get to hear Pearl Jam, Nickelback, and Marcy's Playground whenver I get in my car! Super Nifty Cool!!!
Can you just TASTE the sarcasm, folx?
OK, ok...Philly radio has been down the tubes for years upon years now. Yes, even the watered down Indy-Alt station that was Y-100 was caste into my 'sucks' bin. I even started listening to *gasp* WIP sports radio for a change of pace (until I rediscovered my love of NPR). And I fucking HATE sports. Understand that I spend almost 5 hours of day travelling in a car for my work, so anytime of music or radio distraction is lovely change of pace from staring at the backs of other cars, or talking to my asshole work partners.
But Radio 104.5 (yup, that's the ingenious name of the station for the time being) to a radio-black-hole zone like philly is analogous to giving a stale, nasty, moldy cracker to starving person. I'm sure it's the best damn piece of food that they've had, and are so glad to munch on at the time being. In the end, however, it's still just a shitty old cracker.
There's one really big reason why I can't get excited about this 'new' radio station (and yes, I have listened to it...1st day it was on, mind you). Simply put, its a CLEAR CHANNEL STATION. Not only are the chances good that it'll flip formats within a years time to fit whatever music style is topping the charts at the tim in order to make a quick buck on advertising, it's also well known that the evilly stupid entity that is Clear Channel has never been known to be forefront in radio programming. Ever. Even the most devout fan of mediocre Modern Rock/Alternative/Post-Modern/Indy Music will most likely more likely get bored with the already Vanilla flavoring of radio that this station is currently serving up. There are only so many times you're going to want to hear the same songs from The Toadies, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Eve 7, Everclear, Sister Mary Three, Fuel, Evanescence, Good Charlotte, Green Day, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and the rest of the more 'radio-friendly-college-acts' before you go running for your radio's dial.
Sorry to be a 'hater'...but the radio and music industry helped nurture the beast inside me on this issue. Now, I'm going to switch on my stereo and pop in my copy of Grinderman and revel in the non-radio friendly aspects of Nick Cave.
-grim
Right-o...I'm out for 9 days whilst I visit family and friends overseas. It's off to Germany I go...I'm sure y'all will miss me terribly!
JUNE 2009
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MAY 2009
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MARCH 2009