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March 31, 2005
Tea Me
Like Lia, I want some free tea (hold the bag please). Is it unethical to blog pimp for free tea accoutrements? Yes. But, mmmm...Adagio Tea.
Posted by timothompson at 12:47 PM
March 30, 2005
Austin City Limits Festival Partners Take On Lollapalooza
According to the story in Billboard of Lollapalooza relaunching in Chicago today, Austin City Limits Festival handler Capital Sports & Entertainment has been brought in to manage that festival (July 23-24th in Chicago) as well. In other recent news, ACL Festival partner and booker Charles Attal, who owns Stubb's, was brought in by House of Blues to co-own and book the Madison Theater in Cincinnati. The success of the ACL Festival has seen both operations expand as other cities try to suck in some of that mojo.
Update: The Lollapalooza site has been launched, despite Greg Kot's story questioning whether they'll get the permits. Still no artist list, but with 2-day passes going for $35, I think a few people will take a chance. The site also confirms that CSE's ACL Festival partner Charles Attal is booking Lollapalooza as well. In addition, Austin design firm Springbox designed the Lollapalooza site.
Update: Kot still is quite skeptical about whether the concert will be approved by city authorities.
Update: Kot reports that the deal seems to be falling in place.
Posted by timothompson at 08:50 PM
March 29, 2005
The Quotable Catchdubs
There's something to be said about the skill that Nick Catchdubs has with mixing classic rock references with street lingo. I am going to use this post as a storage place for my favorite quotes:
“David Fricke your jeans are mad tapered.”
“But on the reals, where’s the love for Rick Danko?!”
Posted by timothompson at 01:40 PM
Cat Piss Blues
The Friedbergers/Fiery Furnaces interviewed by PETA about their pets [via an ad on Stereogum]:
P2: Did either of you have any companion animals when you guys were growing up, or do you have any animals now?
FF: Oh yeah, when we were growing up. We don’t have any animals now. We’re both very dog crazy. We had a cat and a dog growing up. Our cat, Rodney, was very interesting, actually. He chose my mom to like and didn’t like Eleanor that much.
P2: For no reason at all?
FF: Oh no. There is a very good reason. Eleanor says it’s not true, but … I remember when Eleanor got her first electric guitar. I think I gave it to her for her birthday. A friend of mine had this case he wasn’t gonna use, this real nice guitar case. … So Eleanor took it home and apparently she left it open. … She fixed it up—she made it so it fit her guitar perfectly and was all funny colors—but apparently Rodney didn’t like the attention being paid to the case and he peed in it. So that’s what he thought of Eleanor’s would-be music career apparently.
P2: Uh-oh.
(It's true. Blockquoting makes blogging easy.)
Posted by timothompson at 11:56 AM
March 28, 2005
Two Letters
Letter to Tape Op Magazine (March/April 2005):
Hi. My name is Anthony and I was wondering, can I record my demo on the computer and if you can show and tell me how, email me. -Toni
Sure. No problem. It’s so simple. Wait, I need to finish editing these letters before I write that book for you
-Larry Crane, Editor
Letter to Sub Pop Records:
Dear Sub Pop Records, My name is Brian XXXX and I'm 14. I'm from Othello, WA and I play guitar. I am a self- taught guitarist. I play on my boombox in my room with Styx, Journey, Green Day, Nickelback, Metallica and music like that. I was wondering what does it take to get a record deal. I have met Styx, Mark Wills, Joe Nichols and I just love music. I just know that I can become a GREAT guitarist in a band. What does it take to get a record deal? I also have made my own song up. It has a cool guitar riff throughout the whole song.
Please Write Back Soon,
Brian
I guess you can't fault them for asking.
Posted by timothompson at 05:23 PM
March 27, 2005
A Week of Exhaustion: SXSW
Posted by timothompson at 12:19 PM
March 24, 2005
Chunklet Scouts
Chunklet Magazine invades Austin, Boy Scouts of America style.
Posted by timothompson at 11:27 AM
March 23, 2005
Splendid SXSW
Splendid has compiled the best, non-hype, non-buzz and non-BS SXSW wrap-up I've read so far.
Posted by timothompson at 03:24 PM
March 21, 2005
Amazon Guides
Amazon has been having artists post their top 20 albums.
Posted by timothompson at 09:53 AM
March 20, 2005
SXSW Recaps
I don't have any yet, but for those jonesing for some, check out herjazz.org, Radar Orange, and the Village Voice blog.
Posted by timothompson at 02:37 AM
Swearing At Motorists at the Porchlight Party
Posted by timothompson at 01:34 AM
March 18, 2005
Graham Coxon at Stubb's
Posted by timothompson at 01:10 PM
Adult Swim
Posted by timothompson at 10:18 AM
March 16, 2005
Confession
So I was at 20x2 during SXSW Interactive on Monday, and I was approached by someone because they wanted to do an interactive cell phone game during their presentation. They asked if I could help out, and I was like "Sure! Sounds fun." But I was having a little performance anxiety. What was going to happen was I was going to receive a call on my phone (set the ringer to the loudest setting), and then I was supposed to call the next person on deck, who was someone named Laura, and tell them the message I heard from the person who called me (like the telephone game). To make sure that I wouldn't misdial, when I was handed the number, I programmed it into my cell phone with a "0" name so it would be first in order. I was prepared.
When that person got up on stage, I got my cell phone ready. He called someone. The audience was all like "WTF?" as cell phones started ringing everywhere. Finally, I got the call. The message was something like—hell, I can't recall what it was now. Maybe "We can put a man on the moon, but we can't make toilet paper out of steel." Or maybe "Rubber bands are not for tying around your peepee, but don't suck coffee through a straw.”
All I remember is that when I got the call, I dialed my auto-program number. It rang. And rang. And rang. Oh, shit. I looked at the paper with Laura's number again. I had mistaken a 1 for a 4. By this time, they had moved on to the next speaker. Whoops!
I just wanted to use this blog post to apologize to whoever was doing that presentation. I was the broken link in your chain.
Posted by timothompson at 11:52 AM
Clarence Skiboots
A preview of the upcoming Malkmus album “Face The Truth” from Clarence Skiboots:
This is Malkmus' most innovative album yet.It picks you up and takes you for a ride from the very beginning of the opening track 'Pencil Riot', which has a mix of guitar and keyboards I have never heard from Malkmus before.It gets the album off to a great start.Then comes 'It Kills' which fuckin' rocks hard, better than live versions I've heard.With 'I've Hardly Been' comes another new style from Stephen, with guitars galore and vocals which also serve as another of Malkmus' instruments he handles with grace and godliness.'Freeze The Saints' showcases Malks lyrical talents and his beautiful vocals in hushed tones.'Loud Cloud Crowd' is another solid track, with a mix of jangly guitars and moonlight melodies.'No More Shoes' is the guitar jam that Mr.Malkmus has been trying to perfect for years, and he has accomplished the task here.It's an 8 minute masterpiece.'Mama' was a nice surprise as well, as I have heard live versions, and this version far succeeds those.'Post Paint Boy', known to some as Maker Of Modern, is another gem which Stephen has polished up, look for this to be one of the first singles.'Baby Come On' is the other song that could be the first single released, with Stephen rockin out.He ends the album with a 3 minute ditty called'Malediction'.It's a beautiful song, and much different than the epic 1% Of One ending we had on Pig Lib.Overall, I give this cd a solid A.
We don't think Clarence will be putting the album on Soulseek, unfortunately.
Update: I guess it is now on Soulseek? Weird stuff on first listen.
Update: The first single, Post-Paint Boy, is on iTunes.
Update: ILM thread.
Update: Acid Casualties has an MP3 of the interview with Steve Lamacq at SXSW.
Update: Get my favorite track, "No More Shoes."
Update: FakeJazz reviews it.
Posted by timothompson at 09:19 AM
March 15, 2005
Texas Legislature Screws the Middle Class
I don't have much to say about HB3, the recent Texas Legislature bill that shifts the tax burden from the wealthiest among us to the poor and middle class (and increases taxation on luxuries like smoking and plastic surgery). I'll just quote from DriveDemocracy.org:
Dear DriveDemocracy Member,They’re already here. That’s the advertising slogan for the upcoming Steven Spielberg/Tom Cruise remake of H.G. Welles’ classic tale, War of the Worlds. And that’s how it feels watching the Texas House of Representatives. They’re already here.
For those of you not in Texas, you should pay attention to what's happening to us because we're on the bleeding edge of the Bush GOP agenda. Everything Bush is bringing to the US as a whole has already been rolled out here and what's happening in Texas now, a huge tax hike for the working and middle classes accompanied by tax cuts for the wealthiest.
When Orson Wells narrated the story on national radio in 1938, many Americans believed his alarmed exclamations about attacking Martians were an authentic newsman’s reactions to a real invasion from outer space. Now “real” newsmen give us fake reactions to real invasions and we believe the fakery just the same. And while we are distracted, the real invaders, cannily dressed as undertakers, sneak into town and steal the future from us, the undertaken.
How else is one to look at the Republican-dominated Texas State House passing a tax bill that 1) raises taxes on 80 percent of the population; 2) doesn’t put a dime into public education, where everyone thinks the money should go; 3) gives huge tax breaks to companies that have been indicted for (or are under suspicion of) participating in a criminal campaign financing scheme to take over the world, I mean, the Texas House?
Footnote: Apparently, the tax bill was drafted by a conservative think tank in California [via].
Update: Quorum Report had posted the revised property tax tables last week. (PDF)
Posted by timothompson at 01:48 PM
March 14, 2005
SXSW Cracking Down on Day Parties?
The SXSW organization has started revoking press passes of some publications holding day parties, according to the unofficial list. Most recently, they revoked Chunklet Magazine's pass. The SXSW day party scene has outgrown the showcases to the point where you can avoid buying overpriced wristbands and still get to see most of the bands you want to see.
Speaking of sxsw, those assholes revoked chunklet magazine's press pass. The official reason is that they weren't going to cover the festival enough, but through the grapevine I heard it was because they were advertising their free party/day show too much. I'm thinking of making t-shirts that say "sxsw destroys music" and wearing it around all week.
If true, this is a bad trend. Though they have the right to protect their intellectual property, what the higher-ups at SXSW might not realize is that the day parties are not parasites of their festival. They actually make the festival stronger. And remember, nobody likes a buzzkill.
Posted by timothompson at 02:51 PM
March 13, 2005
Tana the MILF
Tana on the Apprentice: “I was going to be playing the hip card on air. I tell you one thing, a I am a MILF in Iowa. That is ‘a mother I would love to fool around with.’”
Posted by timothompson at 06:03 PM
March 11, 2005
SXSW Band Search
I was hoping someone would invent this—a search tool for SXSW bands. [via]
Posted by timothompson at 02:34 PM
March 10, 2005
TCB
One rumor that definitely isn't true is the Arcade Fire as the Merge showcase's special guests; the Montreal mopers are booked in jolly olde London that day. Another eyebrow-raiser was Interpol and Spoon joining forces to play under an assumed name, but the New York kids will be en route from Missouri to Florida, leaving Britt Daniel and company with a little extra room on the guest list for their March 17 Austin City Limits taping with Ray LaMontagne.Though people waiting for the purported Geto Boys reunion will have to keep waiting, every so often one does turn out to be true, like the original lineup of Guided by Voices as special guests at their own hoot night Thursday at Emo's. Like most SXSW shows, a (very) limited number of tickets will be available first-come first-served at the door for those lacking badges or wristbands, which once again sold out a heartbeat after becoming available.
So, no Arcade Fire at the Merge showcase, the original GBV will reunite at their hoot night and Spoon will play Austin City Limits again. And knowing that, was Ryan right about Dino Jr. playing the secret Merge showcase slot? See you there.
Update: Ryan now tells me that Merge is releasing the next Teenage Fanclub album. Could the secret slot be them?
Update Update Update: Frank Chromewaves assures us it's Spoon (and this Merge discussion thread confirms it). They rate two showcases? No fair!
Update: There are other artists with more than one showcase including Peter Rowan, Radio 4 and “the hardest working man at SXSW” Robyn Hitchcock, who now has four—yes, four—showcases (Wednesday, March 16th, at Emo's Main Room; Thursday, March 17th, at the Blender Balcony; Friday, March 18th, at the Cactus Cafe; and Friday, March 18th, at La Zona Rosa) and one day party, Saturday March 19th at Yard Dog. SXSW loves them some Robyn Hitchcock.
Posted by timothompson at 11:44 AM
March 08, 2005
Suze Orman: For the Young, Fabulous & Broke
I caught a show called “Suze Orman: For the Young, Fabulous & Broke” (TiVo link) on PBS last night. In the show, financial guru (and GM flack) Suze Orman gives financial advice to people in their 20s and 30s. Though it was somewhat like an infomercial (she was hawking a product for a pledge drive, I think, and she’ll be hard to miss on TV for the next few weeks), I thought there was a lot of common sense in what she had to say.
Here were my key takeaways:
- Credit Reports: A law approved by Congress in 2003 entitles all Americans to one free credit report a year from each of the three major bureaus — Experian, TransUnion and Equifax (though they try to make it as hard as possible to get them). Thankfully, you can call (877) 322-8228 or visit http://www.annualcreditreport.com to make the process easier. You owe it to yourself to clear your credit record.
- Retirement: Go with the standard 401k (or 403b for nonprofits) savings plan if you have an employer that matches dollar contributions. Invest to the maximum that your employer will match, but no more than that. Otherwise, start a Roth IRA, since the penalties for early withdrawal are much less harsh than they are for a 401k.
- Credit Cards: Do not cancel your credit cards. Part of your credit score is based on how much you are using of your available credit lines. If you cancel a card, and you have a balance, you're going to have a larger percentage of your credit line used up and a lower credit score. She said that it is OK to carry some credit for essential items (groceries, gas, work clothes), if it's necessary to live and get by. But don't purchase frivolously or over-extend yourself. This is especially true if you are trying to break into a field on the ground floor (which I'll mention next).
- Work: If you have low responsibilities and are young, you have to try your best to get yourself noticed (I call this the “You Just Haven't Earned It Yet, Baby” rule). Do not expect to be owed anything, especially if you're in a competitive field (arts, design, publishing, etc.). You have to go to work at least one hour earlier than everyone else and work at least one hour later, just to be noticed by your supervisors. You are trying to become an indispensable element to whatever business you want to establish yourself at. Live below your means, and you will be noticed eventually. She also stressed not to ask for a raise.
- Home Ownership: Because homes average 4-5 percent appreciation per year and because you get a tax write-off on interest, you have to make saving for a down payment on your home your second savings priority (after retirement savings).
Posted by timothompson at 12:34 PM
March 03, 2005
Bruce Sterling on SXSW Interactive
From the Austin Chronicle: “You know the way bloggers go ape when they discover a gay prostitute in the White House press corps? (SXSW Interactive is) just like that, except with beer.”
Posted by timothompson at 03:22 PM
March 02, 2005
Under the Influence
After Michael Bierut posted another in a series of Design Observer entries about young designers imitating other, more famous designers or photographers (another example here), influential designer Art Chantry (who may have been posing as young design student Jessica Simpleton earlier in the thread) shared some of his opinions about imitation in the design profession:
do you REALLY think kruger INVENTED that look? don't you have any idea where she got that? do you really think that no one EVER did work that looked that BEFORE kruger??? are you kidding?!?!? lordy, sometimes i think that you ny design culture folks really think you folks invented the wheel. she was drawing off very long design traditions and ideas that LONG redate her work. i always looked at her work as total copycatting. the big difference is that she lived in ny and claimed to be an artist instead of a mere designer. otherwise her work leaves no impression of originality of even novelty. i swear, sometimes i think you new york design culture folks live in a bunker.as for owning a design style, perhaps you should buy our buddy chuck anderson a cup of coffee sometime and kisten to his story about his battle with the gap/old navy and tell me if a person can own a "design style". the man is a living hero for all of us designer folks and nobody even knows about it.
man, if we could truly "own" a design style, i'd be filthy rich.
Following some other commentary, Chantry discussed how designers can create entire subcultures and underground movements through skillful marketing tactics:
the impact of heckler & associates is an interesting case. when they did the rainier beer campaign, the figured out how to use satire and stoner humor to sell beer to the hip young audience (aka - kids), without aiming directly at them. they turned a 12% market share product into a 65% dominant product in a little over 2 years. rainier put other breweres out of business in the market.with k2, they helped promote and build the dominant downhill ski company. as their market aged, they looked around and saw skateboard punks and saw the fledgling burton snoboard biz and saw renewal in their sales. snoboards had been around since the snodad (a sno surfboard) in the 60's. but k2 decided to create a culture and started snoboard magazaine and began sponsoring major boarders and began competitions creating stars. THEN they began to design product to sell to the culture they created. they virtually created the snoboard culture as we know it today. it was a marketing ploy that they exploited mercilessly. first create a market by creating a culture.
heckler & assoc. desided to do the same thing on their own. red hook became the first major microbrew. in fact, the word microbrew was coined to describe red hook's market creation. sure, private brewers have been around since antiquity, but red hook created the microbrew culture and then exploited it as a marketing plan. the same thing was done with the coffee shop and starbucks.
my point is that there is no vernacular or lowbrow. there is only human planning. kruger exploited by creating a fine art market for tabloid humor and launched a thousand ships. but, the originators are often obscured by our ignorance of the process we all exploit.
how do you thing "grunge" happened? we all sat around up in seattle and made it up. no joke.
Though these points are open to question, it is still fascinating to think about. How often do marketers create cultures out of thin air?
Posted by timothompson at 10:36 AM
March 01, 2005
Tiny Showcase
Congrats to Jon Buonaccorsi and Shea'la Finch for launching Tiny Showcase.
Posted by timothompson at 01:34 PM