SXSW Thursday - a good day for alt. rock gold

Carbon/Silicon at KGSR

In addition to R.E.M., Lou Reed was on the prowl and alternative gold was in full effect at SXSW 08. Maybe Pete Townshend closed the door on the British Classic Rock folks last year. I'm still waiting for the Chris Squire keynote myself.

Thanks to Jody Denberg at KGSR, I had the opportunity to see them and do some chatting with the god himself, Mick Jones. They play with a ton of exuberance and Mick's voice and guitar haven't lost any of their appeal. He has a lot of style with those fuzzy melody lines...

But what a cool dude. There are going to be some Clash reissues coming from Sony/Legacy shortly, including a recording of their show at Shea Stadium from September 82. The picture above shows me bending Mick and Tony James' ears after their rocking radio show.



Thurston Moore Groop at Threadgill's

Later that afternoon, I scammed a little vid from the other side of the fence while listening to Thurston and his solo band play. I wonder what the idea is to do it on an acoustic guitar? Seems to just illuminate how unique the man is on guitar... the visual doesn't fit the sound Thurston! I hope it's not for the Neil Young reason of having a bad back or something. I'm a huge fan of this guy and it comes back every time I see him play. I hope Yes gets into the Hall in the same year!



In the next entry about R.E.M., Rev. Coes loses his jacket at ACL.

Post-Stubb's R.E.M. Alternative Gold Flash Mob

As mentioned, seeing R.E.M. at a convention is like taking a trip in the Time Tunnel. Except for Bill Berry's retirement that is. Somehow, they really lost their zing when he left. Well, their show attracted a Night Watch of Alternative Rock Journeymen, as portrayed in this photo above. left to right:

Front Row: l to r: Dan Mackta; Jim Merlis, Georgia Hubley and Ira Kaplan

Back Row: l to r: Peter Standish, Alan Wolmark, Dennis Dennehy, Jim Pitt, Mark Kates, Jo Lenardi

Dennis is jeering me for street teaming for a Red Sox video last summer, I am replying as I take the picture that he's a fat bastard. Literally. It's not that often I call someone that to their face but I must admit that I've gotten a few pounds over my usual weight during the past few months! Probably takes one to know one.

This picture contains some alternative rock royalty from the 90s, folks who helped launch that part of the music business and bring it to its peak around 1995.

The week got considerably better after a good night's sleep and the Embassy breakfast.

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.

Catching Up - SXSW Tuesday

Just off the plane back from Austin, but I haven't posted in 11 days. So I will catch up one day/post at a time.

Arrived and caught the last few notes of the interactive part of SXSW. My old friend Loren Feldman is blowing up w/his 1938media.com site and introduced me to a few of his fellow marketer/blogger/net personalities (a shout out to Stephanie Agresta!) and share some good info and philosophy. It's not politically correct and I don't endorse all the points or opinions on his site! I hear he sparked a good bad debate during one of the interactive panels.

My first chow was Churra's: Migas con queso, no hongoles, but if you were FOLLOWING ME ON TWITTER, you would know that by now. Why you would want to know it is another story (for another day).

Caught the Paula Nelson Band (on video below) doing an acoustic set at Antone's. It was only the first day, but things were already in a blur! On the marketing tip, Paula's was not an official SXSW Music show, but part of the Interactive lineup. Note the DELL slide behind the band. Billy Bob Thornton headlined, which I didn't see. I heard he did a set on Monday night at the Hilltop with Rue Coleman and Texas Boogie supporting. Poodie's sold a lot of beer that night!

Here is "Find Your Way Home Again":

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.