Posted by Leilani Polk on May. 22, 2009, at 2:54 pm
I missed her the last time she came to town, but you can bet I’ll make sure to catch Texas-based songstress Izzy Cox (aka the “Murder Ballad Queen”) this time around. Cox croons in a clear, honeyed soprano that slinks and slides against voodoobilly jazz, bouncy Western swing and honky tonkin’ blues. Her songs reflect a perverse sense of humor and feature a colorful cast of hard-bitten women, from a hoodoovoodoo type of girl who likes switchblades and Colt 45, to a mad woman in the Number Nine Ward with voices in her head telling her she’s dead, to “Belle Gunness,” an old folk tune about one of America’s most notorious female serial killers.
Thurs., May 28, 9 p.m., The Garage, St. Petersburg, $6 in advance/$8 day of show.
Ume (pronounced ooo-may) is a My Bloody Valentine/Sonic Youth-influenced rockin’ three-piece from Austin, Texas that is one of the more exciting bands I have heard in a while. Critics from all over are drooling over the beautifully brutal songs delivered by easy-on-the-eyes frontwoman Lauren Larson. Check it out:
Friday, March 20: Day 3 of this madness. Yesterday, Joran and I must have walked at least 5 miles trying to catch as many bands as we could, so my calves were a bit sore. Regardless of the bodily pain, today was the best day.
Taking advantage of all the free stuff you could get, I moseyed over to the Natural American Spirit cig table and got 2 free packs of smokes. I don’t usually smoke, but today I felt like it. While I was lighting up, I met two French filmmakers, in town to make a documentary for the French Government (so they said). I thought they were cool enough, so I did a quick interview with them.
Afterwards, I went to a panel discussion about how to survive as a musician in the current economic recession. The panel featured big wigs from Sub Pop Records, Jive Records and Atlantic Records. Also, Ian Montone of Monotone Inc. was on the panel. He is the manager for bands like The White Stripes, Cold Ward Kids and Dredg. The discussions themselves were standard: times are tough, the internet killed the biz and everyone has to work hard to make it.
The highlight for me was when I offered up an idea for a federated, regional music business model. After my statement and a follow up question, Montone and the guy from Atlantic looked at each other and I could read their lips, “That’s a good idea.” I hope they don’t steal it, but oh well. After the panel I met Montone and an old friend of Soulfound’s, producer David Eaton. I gave Montone props for sticking with Prog band Dredg through all these years and he invited me out to the show that night at Buffalo Billiards.
It took me a minute to readjust to driving on once-familiar roads and to which drawer the silverware was in, but I’m home. It’s my first day back at work, and I’ve re-told the stories countless times and am looking forward to doing it again next year. Plus, who knows, there’s always CMJ in October.
If you haven’t been following along, I suggest you read these posts in reverse order (1 – 9) and I’ll also be spending this week editing a ton of video from the bands and from Quincy Jones’ emotional keynote address. One especially tender moment I did not capture was a video tribute to Jones’ good friend Ray Charles that forced the legendary producer to turn away from the podium in tears.
If there’s anything I learned from covering the entire week of South by, it’s a sentiment that was expressed by Mr. Jones (”Q” to his friends) and that is, “You’ve gotta go to know.”
I used to scoff at industry panels and workshops, but I’ve learned (and forgive me if I’m a little late to this party) that if you open yourself and participate, it’s not the panel that presents any new idea, it’s that you can have new ideas by participating in focused and elevated dialogue. Innovation is not handed to you at an industry conference, but it is born there.
The 2009 Interactive Keynote with Virginia Heffernan and James Powderly.
And to the detractors at the NY Times that implied that marketing competed for attention with the music, I say, “that’s the point.” The parties would not exist without them. The bands themselves will soon be indebted to individual sponsors and be forced to sell ads around their liner notes.
And, finally, a shout out to all my new friends that I made in Austin: Travis McGuire (T. McG), Dave Schacherl, Monica Armmendariz, Sheppa, Iggy, Starsailor, Hannah (Montana), Logan Youree and Michael Bartnett at the Austin Chronicle, Amy Wanke at SXSW and to my old friends Chris Ledwith and Brian Austin (of Ivison). Thanks for everything guys. See you next time!
“What a diff’rence a day makes” – María Méndez Grever
The music portion of SXSW has begun and Austin is infested with indie rockers, scenesters, hipsters and musicians from all over the world. The snarky t-shirts and iPhones of the interactive and film portion have been replaced with leather, tight pants and guitar cases. And they’re everywhere.
Try to imagine if every bar, club and art gallery in Tampa and St. Pete tented their parking lots and had full concert lineups on indoor and outdoor stages for 6 straight days. It’s a lot to take in. Not to mention, the stimulation of the local economy here – from stage and equipment rental to groceries and clothing – is staggering.
These Arms Are Snakes at Red Eye Fly. More photos after the jump.
There are many methods of navigating the music portion of “South by.” You can meticulously plot your path, you can wander from bar to bar (if you have a wristband or a badge) or you can do a combination of both. Modes of transport can include car (shout out to Monica Armendazzle), cab, bus, shuttle, bike (they ought to rent these), rickshaw, horse-and-buggy, and finally your own two feet.
Ivan is in town now, as well as some folks from Creative Loafing Atlanta, so we’ve been coordinating via text. This has worked to avoid overlap and to catch wind of “secret” parties such as last night’s Playboy Party held in a warehouse on E. 12th in which Jane’s Addiction played a surprise hour-long set. Word on the street is that Metallica will be doing a similar stunt tonight to promote their new Guitar Hero game. We’ll see.
Today is my third day here and Ifinally have enough time/internet connection/patience to write a quick hello. I got this new Asus EeePC and the mouse/touch pad is fucking annoying the crap out of me.
Below is a quick run down of what we’ve been up to the last two days. I have some great new bands for you guys to check out, some tips for how all musicians can try to make some money and a few observations about what I’ve gotten from this trip.
I have been traversing (mostly by foot with a 30 pound back pack) the streets of “The Weird City” with Joran for a few days thinking of what my blog post on my maiden voyage to the country’s largest gathering of cool kids would be. I have gotten to interview some bands from all over the world. I sat in the front row while Quincy Jones spoke about his illustrious career for 2.5 hours. I have seen some great rock bands and some not so palatable ones at a handful of the city’s hundreds of well-packed venues. I have seen some friends from Tampa Bay and met some new ones. I have eaten lots of delicious Mexican food and drank lots of Dos Equis. I bought a Jesus Lizard CD at Waterloo. I bought some obnoxious buttons and a t-shirt for my wife.
I hope to have some videos uploaded in the next few days. Joran has been getting lots of great footage which he will be posting as well.
Sunday. Laid low today. Resting up for the long week ahead. Took another nice long walk this morning to HEB (Texas’ answer to bad grocery stores).
Definitely no iPhones at HEB. Actually, there was a Cricket and Boost Mobile kiosk in the entryway next to the Coke and holographic sticker machines.
Spent most of the day cutting together footage from day one.
Here it is:
UPDATE: Davey (one of the guys I’m staying with) just returned from DJ’ing what he described as a “Rat Pack-themed interactive after-party.” He said the party was totally lame, but that he played for an hour and got paid $300. Travis (his roommate) lamented on how last night, his band played a three-hour gig, two hours away, got paid $100 and had to split it four ways – less the gas money. Seems like half of us are always in the wrong business.
There’s something magical about waking up to strange birds singing unfamiliar songs. In the quiet of Austin’s East Side, this is how day two began.
And the morning of day two was difficult. My lower back was definitely still in pain and my right ear wasn’t fully functioning yet. (Later, a passing ambulance would prove it was back to normal). But, a hot shower, some good stretching and the fact that there was no coffee in the house was enough to get me motivated.
If for purely economical reasons, I decided to walk from the house to the convention center downtown - a distance described to me as “around ten blocks.” Very long blocks. It was still a brisk 40 degrees, and I could see my breath as I passed the businesses on Comal St. Several places in the predominantly Latin community offered party rental services (pinatas, moonwalks, table and chair rental) and were staging their colorful wares (yes, even the moonwalks) sometimes dangerously close to traffic on the dingy, gray curbside.
I arrived back at the ACC just in time to catch the first workshop of the day, ”Profit by Mobilizing your Online Community.” Definitely a disappointment. When I think “mobilize,” I think “inspire to action” or “cause to move in an excited and motivated manner.” The panel from Unwired Nation apparently understood the word “mobilize” to mean “sell them a mobile API with a voice and messaging plan.” I should’ve known. Read the rest of this entry »
It’s 40 degrees outside, drizzling non-stop and Austin has just become ground zero for every hipster with an iPhone.
It’s 10 a.m. and registration at the Austin Convention Center has just begun. Already the lines are starting to form down the surrounding hallways and escalators and the entire building is buzzing with people camped on the floor in clusters around the power outlets, charging their laptops and digging through their goodie bags.
The South by Southwest Conference kicks off today with the Interactive portion of the workshops. With sessions titled “User-Generated Content: A State of the Union,” and “Championing Social Media to the Man,” these first few days have drawn the new media elite, journalists, programmers, game developers and authors. In short, I am surrounded by every living geek in the world, all chomping at the bit to learn something new about content management, the new killer app (other than Twitter) and how to finally put the term “Web 2.0″ to rest.
I’m seated next to Jemima Kiss of the Guardian UK, as the UGC workshop begins. Before moderator Chris Tolles can even introduce the panel, someone interrupts him, saying, “Can you please let us know the hash tag you’d like us to use for Twittering this workshop?” Read the rest of this entry »
I realized this morning that I only have three more nights in my own bed before I fly to Austin for the annual South by Southwest music conference.
I will be covering the event (the showcases, awards, conferences and parties) for CL and starting Friday night (if everything goes according to plan) you’ll be able to read my daily blog right here at Tampa Calling.
In true New Media Douchebag fashion, in addition to the blog, I’ll be Tweeting (@jorantampa, #sxsw) and shooting as much video as I can. So tweet up, bitches, cuz I’m going to be giving the play-by-play on everything from Quincy Jones‘ keynote speech to the PJ Harvey/John Parrish set at Stubb’s, not to mention David Yow’s set with The Dicks at the Austin Music Awards. You can be jealous now. Peep the whole schedule here.
I’ll also be attending daytime conferences with names like “Bloggers are Now in Control” and “Social Networks for the Anti-Social.” Riveting stuff, I know. What’s more, I also scored a badge for the Interactive portion of the conference where I’ll get to attend workshops with the CEOs of companies like Opera and FriendFeed.
But I’m sure all you care about is me getting wasted with the dude from The Proclaimers or seeing pictures of Juliette Lewis. All in good time, my friends.
But seriously, if there’s something you’d like me to catch – leave a comment. And keep checking the blog for the daily updates starting Friday.
Another week comes to pass and I am a mere two weeks away from heading out west for some snowboarding. I am gonna try to make this weekly Americana(ish) web round-up a regular thing. Is anyone out there reading them? Anyhow, outside of music I have a few things I’m thinking about…
First, what the hell was Radhika thinking on Top Chef this week? The leader of the losing restaurant always gets eliminated in Restaurant Wars. She should have thrown the quickfire.
Second, the Rays went to the World Series, a black man is our president and the Arizona Cardinals are in the Superbowl. I dunno about you, but I spent this week looking up girls from highschool. Hell has obviously frozen over and it’s time for them to make good on some promises.
And finally, is there anything on earth better than VH1 reality TV? I had long thought Rock of Love was god’s gift to us but then they go and one up themselves with Tool Academy. Thank you, VH1, for giving my Sunday’s without football meaning again.
