SXSW Wednesday

By the time I took this picture, Fuze and Canada were already in full attack mode. I got parched and drank a bit of the Strawberry and it wasn't bad. I won't be drinking that stuff persistently though.


Later that day, the Paula Nelson Band rocked the Saxon Pub on South Lamar. Americana radio peeps Rick Star, Big Kev, Erin and Fred were in attendance and we thank them for their support!

Rick Star (left) has played many records (Shelby, Joseph Israel, Ike and Tina) I have promoted and his station KFAN Fredericksburg is a an eclectic one. Check it out!

Big Kev (right) I only know for about five years. He's down in the Jersey/Pennsylvania corridor and is obviously a major personality too.

Paula Nelson and her band play Austin blues-house rocking music the city is known for and do it well. Her album Lucky 13 goes for Americana adds on Monday March 24, and it was hot when Erin, music director of KFAN (second from right), reeled off all the songs from the album they are already spinning. "Fire Below," "Baby You're Mean," "Day to Day Love" and the Prine cover "Angel From Montgomery" among others! "A core artist" says Rick Star later in the week in the glow of Willie's big Texas flag back stage at the Backyard show. It's a good hang in the Hill Country. Thanks for the hospitality folks!

Later that evening, R.E.M. moved the crowd at Stubb's. I was so heartened to see a band from one of my first conventions, CMJ '84, still on the scene working it. As the conference unfolded, gold seemed to be a persistent theme. And what's wrong with that? No that's not a veiled Paul McCartney divorce reference! As Jeremy Tepper once said, "that's too today for me."

Remember, this is still only Wednesday night.

IBS warm-up for SXSW, Aloha Ray Kane

Leading up to SXSW, I am pleased to report that I will be moderating the panel on Social Networks and College Radio at the Intercollegiate Broadcasting Conference this Friday 3/8 at the Penta Hotel in NYC. Let me know if you want to come. IBS is the first conference many of us attended; it predates most of the others pertaining to college radio and is concerned with the nuts and bolts of running radio stations more than it is into providing a forum for the music business. This is my first non-record company/music panel after numerous radio/record talks over the years.

(Harp magazine's blog called my SXSW panel last year "seriously geeky, but oddly compelling.") Are they still in business?

SXSW, the "Granddaddy of them all," takes off this weekend with their Film and Interactive conferences and goes full speed with music next week. "Everybody's going" doesn't quite apply to music people anymore, but other companies with different agendas have made the festival into a bombardment of the senses in the past few years.

You may not go there to introduce a product like paper towels yet, but we are getting closer to that point. Last year, I was excited (and a bit dismayed) to see Toyota's massive Yaris attack. Levi's is another major spender at SXSW, and I anticipate Monster energy drink or some other flavor will be in our faces too. Street teams? How about Major League Baseball is bringing its multimedia truck that usually parks outside the World Series and All Star Game.

I will continue to focus on my radio contacts, seeing bands and gathering content for this site, but if the quicker picker upper or the idildo need a spokesman, I'm available.

earbender received a new playlist from Radio K, KUOM Minneapolis with a lot of great info and pictures on it from live performances especially. A few they had recently were Dosh, A Place to Bury Strangers and Andrew Broder, click here to listen.

Current events and topics I'm into:

RIP Leonard Rosenman and Ray Kane

Jeff Tweedy on migraines

Arms Dealer for FARC arrested in Thailand

Behind Vermont's blowout for Obama

Rakim returns with The Archive, earbender visitors from Wyandanch!

View Robert Beck's Favorite Pictures (from Sports Illustrated)

DJ Scratchy has a great vintage reggae podcast here from wirelessfm.