Part 2: Why I love Austin/Why I wish I was rich...

Wow, it's been a while. There's so much stuff going on in the next few weeks, that I figured I should post on here and let you guys know what's going on in my neck of the woods:


Tonight: Tuesday, Oct 21 : Dredg @ Emo's
I absolutely LOVE this band. I saw them about 7 years ago in college (wow I feel old). They played some shitty Mentos Tour or something and blew me away. Their CD, Catch Without Arms is amazing... here's a sample:
Dredg - Tanbark

This Saturday: Oct 25th
This Saturday, it's a tossup between Kings of Leon at the Austin Music Hall and Ben Folds at Stubb's. I love both, and have seen both, but the Austin Music Hall pretty much sucks, and Stubb's is probably my favorite venue, so we'll see. Oh, but the new KOL CD is INCREDIBLE! It's a tough call.


Then, as I'm sure you already know if you've read this blog before, Sunday is the day of all day's... the legend himself, Bruce Campbell at the Alamo Ritz!@!@!@!@!!! He's premiering his new movie, My Name is Bruce.


Thursday: Oct 30: TV on the Radio @ Stubb's!!!!!!
I'm more excited about this show than anything else... except maybe Bruce Campbell. Their new CD, Dear Science is only about a month old and already it's my favorite of the year. Check out my favorite of the album:
TV on the Radio - DLZ

Friday: Nov 7th : Calexico @ Antone's
Awesome band, awesome venue... that's all I have to say about that.

And finally...

Sat-Sun: Nov 8th and 9th : FunFunFun Fest at WaterLoo Park
Best lineup for a small festival I've EVER seen:
The National
St. Vincent
Minus the Bear
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
Bad Brains
Dead Milkmen
...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead
Sleepercar
Bouncing Souls
Annuals
and a hell of a lot more...

Re: This Day Just Keeps Getting Better

I got tickets to the My Name is Bruce premier... featuring Bruce Campbell live and in person!!

This thing seriously sold out in 10 minutes!

ACL Cover Songs

I posted a list of cover songs that I witnessed at this years Austin City Limits Festival over at OnDeafEars. Check it out.

Video of the Day: Lykke Li and Bon Iver

Song/Video of the day

One of my favorite CD's of last year was Andrew Bird's Armchair Apocrypha. It's one of those albums that grows on you and you find yourself singing... or whistling. Andrew Bird has got to be one of the best whistlers ever.

Here's a live video from La Blogotheque featuring Mr. Bird walking through the streets of Paris, singing (and whistling) a version of my favorite song of Armchair, Spare-Ohs. Enjoy

Song/video of the day

This is one of those songs that I'm constantly coming across over and over again. I really like the Get Up Kids, but their songs are usually hit or miss... but when they hit, they stick with you. This is an example of one that's kind of mellow and haunting... Enjoy ;)

Why I Love This Town (Part 2)

(a picture of downtown Austin in a random lightning storm from the weekend)

I got to go see Brian Posehn (Comedians of Comedy, the Sarah Silverman Show, Comedians of Comedy). He was absolutely hilarious. Also went to a place called the Draughthouse Pub, which kicked major ass in the beer drinking category.

Other highlights included being lazy on a couch while watching the Olympics, going to a birthday party featuring a unicorn pinata.

Here's a song for today. I heard this song a while back and then recently heard the Jose Gonzales version (scroll down the page for that one)... this version, the original, is WAY different and more fun.
the Knife - Heartbeats

Song of the Day

MGMT - Kids

Where's the Beef?

And WHAT, exactly, is this beef you speak of...

Song of the Day

Bon Iver - Skinny Love

Here's an !!!AMAZING!!! live version recorded by La Blogotheque

This Day Just Keeps Getting Better...

After telling everyone I know the details of my previous post, my friend Brad, who is also a huge Bruce Campbell fan, informed me about this gem of a movie slated to hit theaters on Oct 8:

I hate to quote Phil Collins, but...

I've been waiting for this moment all my life:
Sam Raimi says Evil Dead 4 is 'in the works'

Song of the Day

Minus the Bear - Fine + 2 pts

Song of the Day: Punk Rock Love Song Edition

Wreckless Eric - Whole Wide World

Song of the Day:

the Helio Sequence - Lately


I saw these guys a few weeks back at Mohawk and it was AMAZING! If you like 'em, check out Harmonica Song on my player to the top right of this page.

Not for the claustrophobic

I can't decide if this is real or not, what do you think??
The Quantum Sleeper Bed

The tag line should be "If you like living in fear, trying sleeping in it!"

Show review

So we played at Antone's last night and got a good review, check it out:
Squint Live at Antones - via Austin Sound Check

No 'Roo for Me: Day 4

Band's I WOULD HAVE SEEN today, had I actually gone to Bonnaroo :(

(4:45 - 6:15) Solomon Burke
None of Us Are Free

(6:00 - 7:30) Broken Social Scene


(7:00 - 8:30) Death Cab for Cutie
The New Year

(8:15 - 11:30) Widespread Panic (call me a hippie, whatever, gotta have one jam band in there)
Porch Song

No 'Roo for Me: Day 3

Band's I WOULD HAVE SEEN today, had I actually gone to Bonnaroo :(

(1:15pm - 3:30pm) Against Me!
Thrash Unreal

(4:30pm - 6:00pm) Cat Power
The Greatest

(6:30pm - 8:00pm) Iron & Wine
Carousel

(10:15pm - 12:15am) Pearl Jam
Corduroy

(1:00 am - 3:00 am) Sigur Ros
Staraflur

No 'Roo for me: Day 2

Band's I WOULD HAVE SEEN today, had I actually gone to Bonnaroo :(

(1:15 - 2:00) Jose Gonzales
Heartbeats

(2:45 - 4:00) Minus the Bear
Knights

(4:15 - 5:45) The Swell Season
Say it Now

(6:15 - 7:45) Rilo Kiley
Portions for Foxes

(9:00 - 11:30) Metallica (I know, I know... from Rilo Kiley to Metallica, crazy right?)
Enter Sandman

(12:00 - 3:00) My Morning Jacket (3 HOURS!!! OMG I can't believe I'm gonna miss this set
Wordless Chorus

No 'Roo for me: Day 1

I was unable to go to Bonnaroo this year, and I'm extremely bummed.
So, I'm gonna post some songs from bands I WOULD be seeing if I were in Manchester, TN right at the moment.



(8:30 - 9:30) MGMT
MGMT - Destrokk

(10:00 - 11:00) Atlas
Atlas - Battles

(11:30 - 12:45) Vampire Weekend
Vampire Weekend - Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa

Moving in the right direction [music inovation]

First, bands like the Smashing Pumpkins recorded entire albums strictly for downloading purposes.

Then, Radiohead comes along a changes everything by allowing listeners to decide how much they want to pay for there CD, shattering their own first week sales records with 1.2 million.

Now, the Icelandic music phenomenon, Sigur Ros are putting their mark on the ever evolving relationship between music and technology... I gotta say that I really like their approach. It's one that has been done before (many times actually)... but their approach sticks out because they did it the right way.

They are allowing listeners to stream their new album, in it's entirety, for free. Now you're probably thinking to yourself, "I've totally seen that before" and "the did that with their last 2 albums on myspace". See, I said it had been done before... or at least, attempted.

The differences in Sigur Ros' approach, and what makes it brilliant are 3 things:
~~~ 1.) It's not centralized to one site... the allow and encourage ANYONE to embed the script to stream the album in whatever web site they want. They're not forcing users to their myspace page and their homepage to try and get add revenue.
~~~ 2.) The listener is given complete control. They have the full playlist, can change songs, scan through (fast forward, rewind) the songs, and is also given access to DVD type content through the player... instead of a buggy as hell myspace player
~~~ 3.) This isn't a band that's struggling for listener's or money. This is a band that already has a HUGE following worldwide. For a band like this to release their music for NO charge whatsoever is a just a way to give more to their audience and to maybe change things a little bit in the music industry.

Anyway, enough gabbing, enjoy:

Song(s) of the Day: Weekend Preview

So here's some music from the bands that I'm (planning on) going to see this weekend.
The bad thing is that both these shows are probably going on at the same time, so let me know what you think, which one you like better, etc...


The Helio Sequence
(Sub Pop records alums, I LOVED their last CD, Love and Distance)
~~~Blood Bleeds
~~~Keep Your Eyes Ahead
~~~Let if Fall Apart


Dax Riggs
(Louisiana metal music LEGEND! Recently moved to Austin)
~~~Wall of Death
~~~Living is Suicide
~~~Tied to a Chair in my Brain

Video of the Day

Theme song from the Office... created in Mario Paint (Super NES)

Why I love Austin/Why I wish I was rich...

There is SO much stuff going on this week/weekend in Austin. I only wish I had the time/money/energy to go to all of it.



Here's what I'm talking about:
Thursday June 5th:
~~~Chuck Palahnuik (author of Fight Club and Choke) Book signing and discussion

Friday June 6th:
~~~Louisiana Alumni Crawfish Boil (all the 'big' school's but LSU)
~~~Eddie Izzard @ the Paramount Theater

Saturday June 7th:
~~~the Helio Sequence @ Mohawk
~~~Dax Riggs @ the Continental Club
~~~Eddie Izzard @ the Paramount Theater (round 2)

Sunday June 8th:
~~~The Cure @ Austin Music Hall

Song of the Day: International Edition

Sigur Ros - gobbledigook

PWNED!!!

Song(s) of the Day... Office Space Edition

So it's Thursday, and one thing that I've come to find out about the real world is... unfortunately ,Thursday is the new Friday. I say unfortunately because, while Friday is basically now a half day (in most respects), Thursday has now enveloped the stress and workload of two days into one.


It is with that in mind that I present today's music. I had this idea while stuck in traffic, so we'll start there. No, I'm not gonna post songs from the soundtrack to Office Space... if you're like me, you've heard those a million times). I'm gonna try and keep the music upbeat to help get you through the day.

The drive to work, stuck in traffic for an hour:
The Clash - Straight to Hell
Office Space - Gridlock

note: you may have heard this guitar riff sampled in the M.I.A song, Paper Planes

Walking in late, avoiding the "8 bosses":
The Thermals - Pillar of Salt


Getting to your pile of work, trying to pound it all out by the end of the day:
MGMT - Time to Pretend


TPS reports -- you didn't get that memo?
CSS - Rat is Dead


Get your shit done!! Time to go home and:
A.) Let off some steam with your boys:
Lil Wayne - Ride For My Niggas


B.) Get some alone time with your way-too-hot-for-your-dorky-ass girlfriend!:
My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges



Happy Thursday people!!

Radiohead - All I Need

Song of the day, brought to you by...

NBA Journeyman Detlef Schrempf.

In honor of the ongoing NBA playoff's and one of my new favorite bands, here is:
Band of Horses - Detlef Schrempf

"You call him Dr. Jones lady"

So Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls... SUCKS! Don't go see it.

Harrison Ford was good and Shia LeBouf was ok, everything else blew.

How I spent my Stimulus Check

So there's a blog site that let's people post how they spent their stimulus check.

This is my favorite one: http://www.howispentmystimulus.com/posts/view/289

Gotta see this one...

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=f3e_1211255241&p=1

Video: Radiohead in Dallas

This was from a particularly cool moment at the concert.


YOU AND WHOSE ARMY? from Victoria Sum on Vimeo.

Game 7: Spurs at Hornets

This is the biggest game in New Orleans basketball history!! The Hornets are defending their home court against the Spurs, who are defending their championship. This ought to be quite a game, as bloody as this series has been.

Go Hornets!!

Hornets news wrap-up

radiohead :: live in dallas

I was there!!! And it was incredible! We had some really good seats in the 1st section.
Read a full description of the show HERE by GorillaVsBear(radiohead :: live in dallas)

The best song of the night:

Texas Oil Tycoon gets it right

So what would expect a Texas Oil-ionaire named T. Boone Pickens to do with $2 Billion??
Maybe something crazy/eccentric like clone himself...
Maybe pay a pack of brilliant scientists to build some robot-legs...
Maybe build a gold plated oil-rig with a likeness of himself... riding it.
Maybe... I don't know, those are the things that pop into my mind.

Well, guess what T. Boone Pickens ACTUALLY did? He built the world's large Wind Turbine Farm... and has 3 more "farms" on order. Once his turbine farms are complete, he'll be supplying GE with enough electricity to run 1.2 million homes in the Great State.



Good job T. Boone. We salute you!

MUTO = crazy + weird + awesome

MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

1 more game

The Hornets are up 3 games to 2 on the defending champ Spurs. The next game is in SA on Thursday and I'm gonna do my best to get tickets.

I think I have found my lucky charm (I can't tell you exactly what, or *she* might lose the lucky streak ;)

This guy seems to have found one:

CP3 > Kobe

So my team, the Hornets are playing the defending NBA champs, the Spurs, tonight in San Antonio... a mere 80 miles from where I sit right now. They are up 2-0, and have a chance to all but seal the deal with a road win.

This is town is mostly comprised of Spurs fans, and if you don't know, Spurs fans are as hardcore as they are eccentric. So it's been great this week, seeing people wearing they're Duncan jerseys... looking like they need a hug just as bad as the real deal... People talking in line at Freebird's about how amazing Chris Paul is and how great it would be to have a player like that on "their team".

Which is even more reason Chris Paul, THE BEST PLAYER IN THE LEAGUE, should have won the MVP award. Instead, Kobe won the popular vote, in a season filled with drama, but lacking a clear cut superstar performance from a perennial big name player...

What bullshit!! Chris Paul's season has been amazing, both to watch and by the numbers. But you don't have to take my word for it: http://www.hoopsworld.com/Story.asp?story_id=8557

Counting the Cliches

So I had a three day weekend since I've pulled a lot of overtime at work over the last few weeks. I had the privilege of spending those three days on the road, playing some rock 'n roll with Squint in the middle Southeast Texas.



Friday, we drove to Montgomery, Tx (just outside of Conroe) where we played at the Lava Lounge. It was an all ages club, which is always interesting, especially in this small of a town. The place was really cool, the people were really nice... just wish there would have been more of them.




That night we stayed at a Day's Inn in Conroe. This place... was pretty ghetto, yet it seemed to be the local high school hangout. Nearly every room was open with a couple younger people hanging out, drinking. Even better, there was a bar attached to the hotel called Malone's. Naturally, we all went to the bar, drank and played pool 'til it closed. Good times.



The next morning, we woke up... hit up the illustrious continental breakfast (stale donuts and cereal) and hit the road. The next night, we were in Tomball, Tx, playing at Gary's Spot (or, the G-Spot to the regulars... yea, THAT kind of vibe). We played with 3 really good bands, (I believe) all from Austin: the Killer Crocs of Uganda, the Banner Year, and She Craves. Another interesting night but at the complete opposite end of the spectrum. We got back to the hotel and crashed around 5am.



The drive home the next day, sucked! Everything was going smooth until we hit the tiny town of Giddings, Tx, roughly 50 miles from home... where the van (a 1990 Chevy Glaval Gladiator conversion van) broke down. We called up our friends in She Craves and luckily they were about 20 minutes behind us. They stopped and picked up Tote so he could get back to study for a final.



Meanwhile, Dane, Matt, Beeker and I were stuck on the side of the road, in BFE f'ing Texas for around 4 hours. We had some 'issues' with AAA not liking the fact that we had the trailer, that delayed the process. Finally we got it figured out and our tow truck guy arrived. He was cool as hell, and hooked us up big time and, finally, we made it home.



The good news is that Dane had already lined up a new van the day we left. So Monday, he and Matt went and picked it up (will post pics soon). It's the same make, model, year, everything... only it's in WAY better condition.


P.S.
So over the course of this random, crazy, rock'n'roll-cliche-filled weekend, I managed to get a sunburn from hell... on my feet ($5 flip flops from Krogers were a bad choice).

Do what now?? part 2

Somebody's doing it already... and they're referring to it as "pixie" dust.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7354458.stm

Now I'm going with zombie-lizard-people. Get your blunt objects ready, and go HERE if you're bored at work and wanna hone your zombie killing skills.

Pics: Thrice, Circa Survive, (we missed) Pelican

Do what now??

So you know how lizards can regrow their tail if it gets chopped off??

Well, apparently the Depart of Defense thinks people should (and could) be able to do the same: http://www.engadget.com/2008/04/22/dod-establishes-institute-tasked-with-regrowing-body-parts/

I have 3 questions:

#1: Why?
#2: Can't we think of better things to do with $250 million than to create Lizard-people??
#3: If you had your arm chopped off, would you rather wait 5 years to grow a pale, scalely lizard-arm? Or would you rather have a brand new, able-to-punch-through-walls, lazor-guided, ROBOT-ARM!?

So much for privacy...

Google maps added Street Views to Austin... If you wanna see where I live/work, here you go! (You can click and drag to view 360 degrees of awesomeness, it's pretty nice)

Home (notice they got the Squint van outfront):

View Larger Map

Work (keep clicking the arrows to see my view of Lake Austin)

View Larger Map

My drive to work, the view from the 360 bridge (the weather was kinda crappy that day I guess)

View Larger Map

I can't believe this is real...

http://www.engadget.com/2008/04/18/enterprising-youngster-gets-himself-stuck-in-a-claw-machine/

Macaroni vs Manchester

So I ate at the Macaroni Grill here in Austin two days ago for lunch.

About 6 hours later, the Macaroni grill fought back... I'm pretty sure it was food poisoning. The pain ranged from "what the hell is that feeling", to "OK I gotta get this out of my body", all the way to "and now everything is going black".

The bad part is that I had bought 2 tickets to see Manchester Orchestra at La Zona Rosa. I talked my friend Carol into going with me, so she was at a bar next door waiting for me to show up while I was trying to de-Macaroni my body. I mustered the strength to drive there, found a parking spot, payed the fucking $7 parking, and meet up with Carol who informs me that Manchester Orchestra has been playing for about 30 minutes. At this point, I'm too delirious to give a shit about details... I'm on a mission from God.

Anyway, I caught 2 songs, which was well worth the agony of standing up and trying not to pass out, because they were two of their best songs: "I can barely breathe" and "Where have you been". Totally worth it.

Oh, and in case you ever eat at Macaroni Grill, don't get the Create Your Own Primo Pasta with shrimp, bowtie pasta, garlic sauce, mushrooms, and sauteed tomatoes... that combination is deadly!

Last Trip Home...

Was a blast. I had a really good time, despite all the bullshit drama...

I got to see 3 of my really good friends from high school; guys that mean as much to me as music, because they are how I got started playing music in the first place. I also got to hang out with my family and eat some f'ing awesome crawfish.

Thanks to everyone who came out Saturday night and watched us, Sunrise Kills and Colorcast Veteran play. That show was a great time... if I was a little inebriated and was dancing like an idiot... GOOD! Don't hate. It's not everyday I get to play in my hometown. And it's probably gonna be a while before I'm able to come back, so sorry if I missed you.

Victor and Bradley (of course) got hurt during the trip, so send 'em some love if you know 'em.


Will post some (more/better) pictures later.

For miles and miles... and miles... and miles

So my Jeep, which just turned a year old, hit 30, 000 miles today.
That's a hell of a lot of miles in 1 year if I do say so myself.

Back Home

So, honestly... I didn't wanna drive to Louisiana this passed weekend. And once I got there, I didn't want to drive back. I had a blast, played some music, listened to some really good music, got WAY too messed up, played some Wii sports... didn't get any sleep.

I wanna thank everybody that was there to hang out with me. And to those who weren't... I miss you.

A case of "the Friday's"

So I went and saw some great bands last night here in town (I love this city!!).

Here's who I saw:
Emo's outside stage - Zykos, and the Hold Steady
Emo's inside stage - Black Joe Lewis, and the Dirtbombs

All bands were really good, if you haven't heard or seen the Hold Steady, you should. Their CD, Boys and Girls in America was one of my favorites from the last few years.

Anyway, I'm a little hungover and can't concentrate just yet, so I need something to get my brain working... so blog it is.

After work I'm driving (6 hours, 500 miles) to Monroe, LA to play a show with my band (Sweet Lake Mafia). My brother's band, Sunrise Kills is also playing, and so is Colorcast Veteran... another great band from Lake Charles, LA.

If you're in the area, please come hang out, have some drinks, listen to some good music. Hell... Jager-bombs on me!!

If you use satellite radio, you might be interested: http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/24/xm-sirius-merger-approved/

starting this thing out...

So I'm finally getting around to starting a blog... since I've just moved and miss my friends a lot, I'm gonna go do my best to keep this thing up to date.

I'm also gonna go back and post some "journals" of the all the places I've been in the last 6 months and what I've been up to.


peace,
rono