I have made it to New Orleans. No pictures in this update as the computer I'm using won't allow it. The first night here I was a bit frightened after hearing what I thought was a gunshot. I decided to stay in the hostel, but I developed a rather bad headache, so needed to go get some asprin. I headed out and found a convenience store nearby and picked some up. It was a long day of driving that had finally ended.
The next day I got a better look around and did some shopping in the french quarter. This is the area with the famous Bourbon street. Now I had been told about this place called Preservation Hall that had some really good blues. I didn't recognize the band that was playing that evening, and didn't have internet access so I couldn't listen to them before going, so it would be a real mystery I guess.
I chilled at the hostel for a little while then went over to the Gumbo Shop and had some red beans and rice. Basically, red beans, rice, and sausage in a bowl. I'm going to be making some for myself when I get back to Seattle.
After that, I walked a few feet up the street to stand in line for Preservation Hall. This venue is basically a box. Most people had to stand to watch the band play, they don't have a bar, and have no restrooms. The band was phenominal, The Preservation Hall-Stars. These are the most laid back and casually masterful musicians I've seen. They played early new orleans jazz-blues and their set-up from left to right was trombone, drums, trumpet, upright bass, and piano. Really really a great show. They played this gospel song that was just stellar, I have a short video of it and as soon as I get a computer, I'll be updating these posts to be more complete. Here's the Preservation Hall myspace.
After that, I walked around Bourbon street. Had some expensive beer and saw a lot of scantily-clad ladies. By the end of the night I was playing a piano at the European Jazz bar for about 10 minutes until they kicked me out for closing time.
I forgot to mention that I met this interesting guy named Azrael staying at my hostel. He's studying faith and says Seattle has a strong energy, and noted the space needle as being a major part of that. Really interesting fellow, glad to have met him. This is a very spiritual place. It seems like every block has a baptist church.
Today has been pretty slow, I thought I would come to Loyola University and take care of some writing. Got as much done as I could, also checked out the Park accross the street. It feels like I'm walking through a painting over there, there's a small river, golf course, and a bunch of people walking around. Kind of a Greenlake counterpart here in New Orleans.
Everything is pretty expensive around here. I think I'm about ready to be back in Seattle. I'm going to go check out Frenchman Street which supposedly has some great blues. Tomorrow is my last day here, when I'll be heading back for Austin for one night, then back on a plane to Seattle on Saturday.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Big Days - Austin - SXSW 2009
If I were to sit down and really do this by day, it'd be a day long project, so I'm opting for posting interesting pictures and telling a story about each. Here's my South by Southwest experience from March 18th to the 22nd in a nutshell.
I was trying to see a band at the Karma Lounge but couldn't get in because the verification unit was not reading my ID. And it was just my ID, everyone else's worked. So to prove to the person checking IDs that mine was legitimate, I went to another club, took a picture of them verifying my ID, went back and showed the lady the photo on my iPhone. It worked! I got into see the band Bloodgroup, which was surprisingly good.
Holy fuck. Black Diamond Bay rocked my socks off. They were stunning. Lead singer/guitarist Patrick was great. The song Blue Mace is beautiful. And I don't know the name of the last song they played but he and the drummer just went ape shit. Best show I saw at SXSW, not by much though.
Say Hi (to Your Mom) were a bit disappointing. Their recorded stuff is way better. Though the song Northwestern Girls was pulled off pretty well. I think if they got a synth played up on stage they'd be much more interesting to listen too. The club was great though, had an amazing light show.
Ironworks BBQ was delicious. I got a huge plate of ribs, beans, and egg salad. Topped it off with some rootbeer and I was a complete man. Sat out on the porch overlooking a small creek. I would definitely eat here again.
This guy from the band Bloodgroup used lit drumsticks to hit his drum pad. Pretty cool.
Another Bloodgroup shot.
The Cedar Street Courtyard was prettiest venue at SXSW. Basically a courtyard opening to 4th street with a bunch of leaves growing on the walls and a canopy over the band and upper deck. Trees were in the courtyard. It was difficult to get a good picture of it all. Best check it out if your in Austin though.
Some guy, pretty much how I felt in the Hilton accross from the Convention Center.
Flatstock 20. I bought a great poster for Kate but I lost the damn thing. FUCK.
Sabine St.
Daytime 6th St. The Street with all the clubs.
John and Karolin? at the SxSeattle showcase. I was so tired yesterday.
More SxSeattle showcase. I left early, last day of volunteering. I just needed to get out of there.
Hey Marseilles, band from Seattle. I actually took some poetry courses with the lead singer Matt Bishop. Very good show, they were the first to go on that day at 12:30pm.
Back entrance to the Palm Door, the venue for SxSeattle.
Cedar Street Courtyard photo. I could probably get this to look better with photoshop, but I don't have that on this puter.
Sitting on the ground at Cedar Street with Lee, Joe, Chad, and Suzy (from left to right).
People resting on 6th.
Another shot of Black Diamond Bay at El Sol y La Luna.
From left to right, Suzy, Lee, Chad, Joe. I had a great time at Cedar street with these folks. I talked a bit about these folks in my last entry. They are awesome people and I hope to keep in touch with at least Lee and Joe. I owe you some drinks Lee!
Lee and Joseph at Cedar St.
Volunteers at the Convention Center. The woman in the red jacket was Erin, my crew chief. All others were minions.
A guy from Northern Canada playing slide dobro at the convention center. Bad ass.
A group from Memphis at the Convention center playing strange zydeco sounding stuff. Sounded great.
Luke Temple with Here We Go Magic from Brooklyn. There seems to be a lot of good music coming from that region these days. Unfortuneatly, the venue they were playing at this night was shitty. Basically a school bus, as Jon from Iceland described it. A tunnel with a lot of feedback problems. Some really good songs I think, just a shitty venue.
The Tallest Man on Earth was erie. He would look straight into people's eyes for long periods of time as he played. His first song he did this to me and all I did was smile back at him. But he was inpenetrable. From the recorded material he had changed a bit, he was more dynamic with his rhythm and enunciation. I hate it when musicians do this. A little bit of a disappointment, but this guy has some amazing songs. Check out "The Gardener".
Justin Townes Earle at Antone's may have been my favorite performance, I'd say tied with Black Diamond Bay. Everything about this guy's show was spot on. He started before the background music had stopped playing with a side man, Charlie that played mandolin and harmonica. He began with my favorite tune he does, a cover, "John Henry". So good.
Some posters on the wall at Antone's, Muddy Waters, Jimmy Vaughn to name a few.
Jimmy Vaughn at Antone's. Classic americana with some fine musicians. These guys were definitely greased lighting.
Quincy Jones, producer of Michael Jackson among others walking around the arteries of the tradeshow.
A band checking in at Artist Check-in. Note the trendy shoes.
Someone at the Volunteer lunch was having a lot of fun. Nice. Batman is a bad ass.
Sprengjuhollin from Iceland. These guys were pretty entertaining. Sadly they were a bit far away from the main action over on 6th. But the show in the Opal Divine was a nice way to kick off the festival for me. The song "Worry till Spring" was stuck in my head for the next few days. I was also listening to it quite a bit on myspace, though.
An art shot. Band inside, people outside. I should be a photographer. Not!
Great shot of the big silver building in the center of town. Some traffic in Austin.
Justin (left) and John at the convention center. Justin was cool, he just bought a house in Austin and is into real estate. John works at Dell.
Aliya. Cool volunteer, didn't get to know her too well, but she can talk your ear off. Great girl.
Zoey. She's got some interesting taste in music I remember. I think she was going to see the Starfuckers the last time I saw her. Go Zoey!
Artist check-in line. There were thousands. Really quite amazing.
BEES!
Austin skyline from South First St. SoCo district. Good place for shopping.
A South Austin neighborhood, nearby Karen's house.
First morning of SXSW Music, at the bus stop. There were so many birds and the sound was amazing. Flapping wings and chirping. Beautiful way to start the day.
So that was SXSW music according to Rich. Today (the 22nd) is the last day technically, but I'm just so exhausted and I need to get stuff ready for my drive out to New Orleans tomorrow. I'm going to take a shower here in a sec and get going on some laundry. Also, I talked to a musician at the SxSeattle show who said this was the place to go to for old blues--Preservation Hall, in New Orleans that is. I think I'll check it out.
I am having the time of my life, and thinking of folks back in Seattle. Will try to get some mp3 links to songs at some point. Thanks for reading!
I was trying to see a band at the Karma Lounge but couldn't get in because the verification unit was not reading my ID. And it was just my ID, everyone else's worked. So to prove to the person checking IDs that mine was legitimate, I went to another club, took a picture of them verifying my ID, went back and showed the lady the photo on my iPhone. It worked! I got into see the band Bloodgroup, which was surprisingly good.
Holy fuck. Black Diamond Bay rocked my socks off. They were stunning. Lead singer/guitarist Patrick was great. The song Blue Mace is beautiful. And I don't know the name of the last song they played but he and the drummer just went ape shit. Best show I saw at SXSW, not by much though.
Say Hi (to Your Mom) were a bit disappointing. Their recorded stuff is way better. Though the song Northwestern Girls was pulled off pretty well. I think if they got a synth played up on stage they'd be much more interesting to listen too. The club was great though, had an amazing light show.
Ironworks BBQ was delicious. I got a huge plate of ribs, beans, and egg salad. Topped it off with some rootbeer and I was a complete man. Sat out on the porch overlooking a small creek. I would definitely eat here again.
This guy from the band Bloodgroup used lit drumsticks to hit his drum pad. Pretty cool.
Another Bloodgroup shot.
The Cedar Street Courtyard was prettiest venue at SXSW. Basically a courtyard opening to 4th street with a bunch of leaves growing on the walls and a canopy over the band and upper deck. Trees were in the courtyard. It was difficult to get a good picture of it all. Best check it out if your in Austin though.
Some guy, pretty much how I felt in the Hilton accross from the Convention Center.
Flatstock 20. I bought a great poster for Kate but I lost the damn thing. FUCK.
Sabine St.
Daytime 6th St. The Street with all the clubs.
John and Karolin? at the SxSeattle showcase. I was so tired yesterday.
More SxSeattle showcase. I left early, last day of volunteering. I just needed to get out of there.
Hey Marseilles, band from Seattle. I actually took some poetry courses with the lead singer Matt Bishop. Very good show, they were the first to go on that day at 12:30pm.
Back entrance to the Palm Door, the venue for SxSeattle.
Cedar Street Courtyard photo. I could probably get this to look better with photoshop, but I don't have that on this puter.
Sitting on the ground at Cedar Street with Lee, Joe, Chad, and Suzy (from left to right).
People resting on 6th.
Another shot of Black Diamond Bay at El Sol y La Luna.
From left to right, Suzy, Lee, Chad, Joe. I had a great time at Cedar street with these folks. I talked a bit about these folks in my last entry. They are awesome people and I hope to keep in touch with at least Lee and Joe. I owe you some drinks Lee!
Lee and Joseph at Cedar St.
Volunteers at the Convention Center. The woman in the red jacket was Erin, my crew chief. All others were minions.
A guy from Northern Canada playing slide dobro at the convention center. Bad ass.
A group from Memphis at the Convention center playing strange zydeco sounding stuff. Sounded great.
Luke Temple with Here We Go Magic from Brooklyn. There seems to be a lot of good music coming from that region these days. Unfortuneatly, the venue they were playing at this night was shitty. Basically a school bus, as Jon from Iceland described it. A tunnel with a lot of feedback problems. Some really good songs I think, just a shitty venue.
The Tallest Man on Earth was erie. He would look straight into people's eyes for long periods of time as he played. His first song he did this to me and all I did was smile back at him. But he was inpenetrable. From the recorded material he had changed a bit, he was more dynamic with his rhythm and enunciation. I hate it when musicians do this. A little bit of a disappointment, but this guy has some amazing songs. Check out "The Gardener".
Justin Townes Earle at Antone's may have been my favorite performance, I'd say tied with Black Diamond Bay. Everything about this guy's show was spot on. He started before the background music had stopped playing with a side man, Charlie that played mandolin and harmonica. He began with my favorite tune he does, a cover, "John Henry". So good.
Some posters on the wall at Antone's, Muddy Waters, Jimmy Vaughn to name a few.
Jimmy Vaughn at Antone's. Classic americana with some fine musicians. These guys were definitely greased lighting.
Quincy Jones, producer of Michael Jackson among others walking around the arteries of the tradeshow.
A band checking in at Artist Check-in. Note the trendy shoes.
Someone at the Volunteer lunch was having a lot of fun. Nice. Batman is a bad ass.
Sprengjuhollin from Iceland. These guys were pretty entertaining. Sadly they were a bit far away from the main action over on 6th. But the show in the Opal Divine was a nice way to kick off the festival for me. The song "Worry till Spring" was stuck in my head for the next few days. I was also listening to it quite a bit on myspace, though.
An art shot. Band inside, people outside. I should be a photographer. Not!
Great shot of the big silver building in the center of town. Some traffic in Austin.
Justin (left) and John at the convention center. Justin was cool, he just bought a house in Austin and is into real estate. John works at Dell.
Aliya. Cool volunteer, didn't get to know her too well, but she can talk your ear off. Great girl.
Zoey. She's got some interesting taste in music I remember. I think she was going to see the Starfuckers the last time I saw her. Go Zoey!
Artist check-in line. There were thousands. Really quite amazing.
BEES!
Austin skyline from South First St. SoCo district. Good place for shopping.
A South Austin neighborhood, nearby Karen's house.
First morning of SXSW Music, at the bus stop. There were so many birds and the sound was amazing. Flapping wings and chirping. Beautiful way to start the day.
So that was SXSW music according to Rich. Today (the 22nd) is the last day technically, but I'm just so exhausted and I need to get stuff ready for my drive out to New Orleans tomorrow. I'm going to take a shower here in a sec and get going on some laundry. Also, I talked to a musician at the SxSeattle show who said this was the place to go to for old blues--Preservation Hall, in New Orleans that is. I think I'll check it out.
I am having the time of my life, and thinking of folks back in Seattle. Will try to get some mp3 links to songs at some point. Thanks for reading!
Monday, March 16, 2009
"Try Not to Let Bullshit Enter Your Head." - Austin, Days 3,4,&5
Day 3:
Spent most of this day doing work, but by the end of the day I headed into downtown to catch the Chris Brecht show. Though before the show I wandered around and saw a theater with a bunch of people crowding around a black SUV. Someone famous, I thought. Some guy I'd never seen before jumped out of the car--
So I moved on down the street to the capitol building:
After that little trip I decided to head back on the same road and it looked like some more famous people were being photographed:
It's that chick from The Office and that guy from Clueless.
The Chris Brecht show was good. It did get a bit monotonous at times but the song "I Played Cards With the Devil" and this song, "Someone Is Gonna Lose" were great. The songs from the album sound really great, I guess the show itself was a little less dynamic--hence the monotonous feeling. Anyhow, not a bad experience at all.
The second band was really entertaining. They reminded me of a modern day Wonders. Sadly their recorded music doesn't pack as much punch as their live show, "Soul Control" is a good song. Here's the myspace.
Bob Schneider came on last and didn't really do it for me, despite the uplifting sound. I really liked the trumpet player however, who also played an accordian. This guy was all over the stage and really was getting the audience going. The songs Captain Kirk and The Effect are not half bad however.
Day 4:
The first day of volunteering was at the Interactive Tradeshow. Met fellow volunteers Zoey, Lee, and Jeff. I need to get some pictures of the people I'm working with. The show itself was alright, not a whole lot of useful technologies as I would have imagined, though this was a great site: blellow.com - at least the idea is great. Basically a social media site connecting freelancers and employers.
*Zoey in the Blue Shirt (really need to get more pictures of the folks I'm working with)
When the work was done, Zoey suggested going to a party called Dorkbot and the Frog Design party. I went downstairs with her and ran into Lee and asked what she was upto for the night, she said She was going to Aces, a bar on 6th. They went into the ladies room to change out of their volunteer shirts. Lee came out after a short time, but Zoey remained. Lee and I ended up waiting 10 or 15 minutes for Zoey, but still no Zoey. Lee went off to Aces and I waited another 5 minutes for Zoey. I ended up going off to the Dorkbot party to see if I could get in. Couldn't get in, so went in search of Aces, which by this time I had forgotten the name because some guy started talking to me about a cool interactive tradeshow guide - sxsw.razorfish.com. After he left, I re-remembered the name of the bar as Arcades. I was wondering around 6th asking people where Arcades was but got nowhere fast. So I started looking for a place to eat when I got a text from Lee saying it was Aces on 6th and Neches. Finally. So I went back that way after going back and forth between many blocks, many times.
Aces was great. When I got in there, there was a huge screen on the main stage with two plasma TVs, a girl on on side, a guy on the other, dueling it out in Halo 3. I was at the right place, I thought. Met Lee there and her friends, Suzy and Joe. And there were free drinks until 8pm. Freckin sweet. I chatted with them a while and came to know Lee as an HR girl, Joe and Suzy as grad students at UT. I think Joe was in microbiology and Suzy, I forget what she did.
Anyway, after a good time there, we moved to another bar that had food, I forget the name of the place but had a Pecan BBQ brisket sandwich. Tried a local beer I forget the name of also, but reminded me of a light Manny's. Everyone headed their separate ways after that, while a wondered around a bit more looking for the Frog Design party. I went to where I thought it was and was just so damn tired I opted to catch the bus back to Karen's. Great day.
Day 5:
Another long day of volunteering, though this time it started at 11 instead of 8:30am. Pretty much just sat around inside guarding a door so that no one could get through. Only people with the right badges. Got a lot of questions about where the bathroom was. I occasionally switched positions to the front door and chatted with other volunteers.
I finally met Master Cheif, too before he walked off to kill some aliens:
AWESOME.
At the end of the day, I went to the Web Awards where I said I would meet Zoey. Saw some cool sites and here's a good list. The end boss at Crappycat.com is crazy.
Following the web awards, I was trying to decide whether to check out a film or go to a party called Imaginations. I went with a film called RIP: A Remix Manifesto. I really liked this film. It talks about how music in particular is at a crossroads with copyright infringement. The music of the artist, Girl Talk (aka Gregg Gillis), was at the heart of the movie. He creates mash-up music that record companies hate because he samples copyrighted music. Really great movie, here's a review I found of it.
Day 6:
I pretty much just laid around today. Got a little sick last night after realizing that no buses were coming and taking a cab back to Karen's around 2. The cabby was cool though, I told him I was going to be driving to New Orleans and he was saying that there was looting in east Texas after the last hurricane came through and said to be careful. It's hard to feel worried though, most everyone I've met so far has been really helpful if I needed something.
I just lazed around and wrote a song outside in the sunshine. Karen showed me how to make Frito Pie. Been occasionally adding to this blog post, and should be getting to some work tomorrow as I'll be free again. Though, Wednesday I'll be back at the Convention Center for the music Tradeshow and the beginning of insanity. I bought some gatorade, redbull, and snackbars in preparation.
Some bands I'm really looking forward to seeing:
The Tallest Man on Earth
Black Diamond Bay
Justin Townes Earle
Say Hi
Spent most of this day doing work, but by the end of the day I headed into downtown to catch the Chris Brecht show. Though before the show I wandered around and saw a theater with a bunch of people crowding around a black SUV. Someone famous, I thought. Some guy I'd never seen before jumped out of the car--
So I moved on down the street to the capitol building:
After that little trip I decided to head back on the same road and it looked like some more famous people were being photographed:
It's that chick from The Office and that guy from Clueless.
The Chris Brecht show was good. It did get a bit monotonous at times but the song "I Played Cards With the Devil" and this song, "Someone Is Gonna Lose" were great. The songs from the album sound really great, I guess the show itself was a little less dynamic--hence the monotonous feeling. Anyhow, not a bad experience at all.
The second band was really entertaining. They reminded me of a modern day Wonders. Sadly their recorded music doesn't pack as much punch as their live show, "Soul Control" is a good song. Here's the myspace.
Bob Schneider came on last and didn't really do it for me, despite the uplifting sound. I really liked the trumpet player however, who also played an accordian. This guy was all over the stage and really was getting the audience going. The songs Captain Kirk and The Effect are not half bad however.
Day 4:
The first day of volunteering was at the Interactive Tradeshow. Met fellow volunteers Zoey, Lee, and Jeff. I need to get some pictures of the people I'm working with. The show itself was alright, not a whole lot of useful technologies as I would have imagined, though this was a great site: blellow.com - at least the idea is great. Basically a social media site connecting freelancers and employers.
*Zoey in the Blue Shirt (really need to get more pictures of the folks I'm working with)When the work was done, Zoey suggested going to a party called Dorkbot and the Frog Design party. I went downstairs with her and ran into Lee and asked what she was upto for the night, she said She was going to Aces, a bar on 6th. They went into the ladies room to change out of their volunteer shirts. Lee came out after a short time, but Zoey remained. Lee and I ended up waiting 10 or 15 minutes for Zoey, but still no Zoey. Lee went off to Aces and I waited another 5 minutes for Zoey. I ended up going off to the Dorkbot party to see if I could get in. Couldn't get in, so went in search of Aces, which by this time I had forgotten the name because some guy started talking to me about a cool interactive tradeshow guide - sxsw.razorfish.com. After he left, I re-remembered the name of the bar as Arcades. I was wondering around 6th asking people where Arcades was but got nowhere fast. So I started looking for a place to eat when I got a text from Lee saying it was Aces on 6th and Neches. Finally. So I went back that way after going back and forth between many blocks, many times.
Aces was great. When I got in there, there was a huge screen on the main stage with two plasma TVs, a girl on on side, a guy on the other, dueling it out in Halo 3. I was at the right place, I thought. Met Lee there and her friends, Suzy and Joe. And there were free drinks until 8pm. Freckin sweet. I chatted with them a while and came to know Lee as an HR girl, Joe and Suzy as grad students at UT. I think Joe was in microbiology and Suzy, I forget what she did.
Anyway, after a good time there, we moved to another bar that had food, I forget the name of the place but had a Pecan BBQ brisket sandwich. Tried a local beer I forget the name of also, but reminded me of a light Manny's. Everyone headed their separate ways after that, while a wondered around a bit more looking for the Frog Design party. I went to where I thought it was and was just so damn tired I opted to catch the bus back to Karen's. Great day.
Day 5:
Another long day of volunteering, though this time it started at 11 instead of 8:30am. Pretty much just sat around inside guarding a door so that no one could get through. Only people with the right badges. Got a lot of questions about where the bathroom was. I occasionally switched positions to the front door and chatted with other volunteers.
I finally met Master Cheif, too before he walked off to kill some aliens:
AWESOME.At the end of the day, I went to the Web Awards where I said I would meet Zoey. Saw some cool sites and here's a good list. The end boss at Crappycat.com is crazy.
Following the web awards, I was trying to decide whether to check out a film or go to a party called Imaginations. I went with a film called RIP: A Remix Manifesto. I really liked this film. It talks about how music in particular is at a crossroads with copyright infringement. The music of the artist, Girl Talk (aka Gregg Gillis), was at the heart of the movie. He creates mash-up music that record companies hate because he samples copyrighted music. Really great movie, here's a review I found of it.
Day 6:
I pretty much just laid around today. Got a little sick last night after realizing that no buses were coming and taking a cab back to Karen's around 2. The cabby was cool though, I told him I was going to be driving to New Orleans and he was saying that there was looting in east Texas after the last hurricane came through and said to be careful. It's hard to feel worried though, most everyone I've met so far has been really helpful if I needed something.
I just lazed around and wrote a song outside in the sunshine. Karen showed me how to make Frito Pie. Been occasionally adding to this blog post, and should be getting to some work tomorrow as I'll be free again. Though, Wednesday I'll be back at the Convention Center for the music Tradeshow and the beginning of insanity. I bought some gatorade, redbull, and snackbars in preparation.
Some bands I'm really looking forward to seeing:
The Tallest Man on Earth
Black Diamond Bay
Justin Townes Earle
Say Hi
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