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March 30, 2006

Ladies and Gentlemen...Mr. Leonard Cohen

I just watched this Canadian 1965 Leonard Cohen documentary, which predates his music career, from the library. While sitting in a bathtub at the end, he scrawls "Caveat Emptor" on the wall with a marker, suggesting that he has been trying to fool the cameras and the audience the entire time, similar to his contemporary, Bob Dylan. However, at the same time, the camera doesn't lie, and you do get a sense of an young artist filled with his portent (saving his manuscripts for posterity) while not wanting to appear pretentious (shunning the attentions of the social elite to hang out with students at a party). The movie gets somewhat meta when Cohen watches documentary footage of himself and comments that he didn't realize he came off that way to people. I thought this Cohen observation about women left something for thought:

I think most of the women that my friends love are very attractive, sexual people. That is something for which we be happy for and which we must bend on our knees all the time. Sexuality is general, and although only one man may be receiving the favors of a woman, all men in her presence are warm. That's the great generosity of women and the great generosity of the creator who worked it out that way. There are no unilateral agreements of sexuality.

Posted by timothompson at 01:38 PM

March 29, 2006

TV Blogging (the "new" Cat Blogging)

Posted by timothompson at 06:37 PM

March 27, 2006

Relationship Advice From "Freaks and Geeks"

While watching the commentary track of another old episode of "Freaks and Geeks" the other night, I thought that Linda Cardellini, who played Lindsay, had some simple, common-sense advice for men when dealing with the fairer sex:

  1. Be a gentleman.
  2. Don't be weird.
  3. Don't smother her.
  4. Be yourself.

Posted by timothompson at 06:34 PM

SXSW Canvasser Without Grasp of Marketing

sxswcanvasser.jpg

If you've viewed some of the videos by the Austin American-Statesman staff, you may have noticed the short "Canvassing SXSW," where the video crew follows a wayward poster artist shilling for his band by flyering downtown locales with an image of an alien. His first wild move in front of the cameras involves taping a flyer to the back of a short woman's navy blue sweatshirt, proclaiming, "You're saving the world." But the guy is so guerilla, he doesn't believe in putting the name of the band on his flyers: "Not even the name of the band – just an image," he declares proudly. For his final postering stunt, he says, "We need a new idea. We need something spectacular – we need a big finish, like that woman." He then tapes a poster on the side of a white loading truck. While you have to admire the guy's likeability and spunk, you can't help but wonder if it's dawned on him that seeing an image of an alien on the back of some woman's sweatshirt is going to engender brand recognition or just make them wonder if there's yet another sequel of "Alien" coming out. Though a band with a recognizable symbol like the Red Hot Chili Peppers might be able to pull such a feat off, this guy might need to brush up on his Marketing 101.

Posted by timothompson at 05:41 PM

Berman Sings and Tour Report

Posted by timothompson at 02:17 PM

March 26, 2006

New Loud Family

Sue Trowbridge sent out an email about the new Loud Family LP, which should be coming out in July. They have a new track, "Total Mass Destruction," on their MySpace page. Their label has started a blog, and Jeff Norman has posted some rare mp3s on his site.

Posted by timothompson at 02:34 PM

March 24, 2006

Female Bassists Represent at SXSW

Female Bassists at SXSW

Roll over Kim Gordon and Kim Deal! Females were well represented in all aspects of this year's SXSW music fest, but I think I noticed the bassists more than other female musicians – maybe because of the heft of the bass. I borrowed a few Flickr photos for the above image. Here's quick, non-comprehensive list of SXSW bands using women bass players:

Update: Rainer Maria photo, © 2006 Chris Foresman/Additive Theory. (I was attempting noncommercial use, but I'll attempt to credit other Flickr users as well. However, if you would like me to remove your photo or link to your site, please contact me.)

Posted by timothompson at 01:06 PM

March 21, 2006

Gang of Four at SXSW

Let's sum up SXSW 2006 in a cliched listing: large crowds, long lines, hipsters, Neil Young, the Beastie Boys, Ray Davies, headbands, Chrissie Hynde, Morrissey, day parties, Billy Bragg, barbecue, Perry Farrell, Echo and the Bunnymen, the Red Bull House, the Flaming Lips, the Podcast Pickle, Tapes 'N Tapes, garbage, exhaustion and the Arctic Monkeys. But by far, one of the biggest surprises to hit this year was the bootleg parking garage rooftop performance by Gang of Four. Even SXSW organizer Roland Swenson was surprised:

This off-site "shadow fest" is plainly a source of irritation for SXSW organizers, especially when corporate hosts import talent not booked at the official festival. With a hint of aggravation entering his voice, Swenson noted that Sauza tequila put on a private party featuring the English post-punk band Gang of Four.

"I don't want to stand in the way of somebody's payday, but we have to look after the event," Swenson said.

Hmm...next year may see a few changes (but we say that every year). Gang of Four's Dave Allen has posted a video of his band's secret performance on his blog.

Posted by timothompson at 10:29 PM

March 14, 2006

SXSW MP3 Torrent Blues

I've been going through the mp3 torrents looking for gems in the rough, I don't know how people like Vinyl Mine have done it. I am sick to my gills of hardcore, Blink 182-soundalikes and intentionally obtuse bands, and SXSW hasn't even started yet.

And even if I cloned myself, I couldn't see all the bands listed (not to mention just wanting to hang out with friends old and new and just relax). This year's SXSW just seems a little too intense right now.

Here's a raw dump of mp3s I enjoyed: the like, turn me on dead man, erin roberts/porlolo, the bats, calla, gingerbread patriots, mogwai, saturday looks good to me, irving, stardeath and white dwarfs, peel, foxymorons, circle takes the square, tapes n tapes, luminous orange, the meligrove band, novillero, antietam, faith kleppenger, kid congo and the pink monkey, oranger, the double, laura veirs, tim fite, peter case, page france, goldfrapp, dressy bessy, christopher o'reilly, silversun pickups, troy von balthazar, sia, ill ease, neko case, belaire, waterloo, the kingdom, blackbud, oppenheimer, dae strom, healthy white baby, doujah raze, vietnam, the carrots, great northern, the amazing pilots, the jai-alai savant, goldrush, the czars, magneta lane, seaflea, grupo fantasma, old crow medicine show, john schooley and his one-man band, the joggers, cold war kids, bound stems, levy, jim noir, mary lou lord, nomo, carbonas, the duke spirit, simon dawes, aloha, the eighteenth day of may, the beta sweat, the capes, corinne bailey rae, the longcut, people in planes, goldenboy, pilot's lounge, baboon, rogue wave, of montreal, times new viking, anthony hamilton

Posted by timothompson at 02:39 PM

March 10, 2006

Guess the 5 States

Po Bronson:

Okay, there are 5 states where fully one-third of all same sex couples in that state are raising a child in their home.

Guess which states?

I asked this in bookstores, and the audience guesses were: "California? Massachusetts? Vermont? New York?"

Nope. There are more gays and lesbians (proportionately) in those states, but they don't raise children as much.

Okay, this shocked me the first time I read it. The 5 states are ...

Mississippi ... Louisiana ... South Carolina ... South Dakota ... and Alaska.

The reddest of the red states!

Posted by timothompson at 04:03 PM

SXSW Free List

The SXSW Free List PDF is now available.

Posted by timothompson at 01:03 PM

SXSW 2006 Posters

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I've uploaded a collection of SXSW party posters to my Flickr.

Posted by timothompson at 11:49 AM

March 08, 2006

Jocks vs. Soft Males

Stephen Metcalf discussing Simon Reynolds' Rip It Up and Start Again postpunk book in Slate:

And now for a brief aside, if you'll indulge me. As someone imprisoned within a bizarrely testosterone-addled culture, it seems to me that the hermetically sealed universe of grad student twee epitomized by Orange Juice, and later by Belle and Sebastian, does have a larger significance. If you're an American, the very ideas of "literate, playful, witty, camp" conjure up a gender indeterminacy that makes many American males squeamish, to say the least. You close your book by adverting to George W. Bush; you wonder if the current crop of bands that name-check postpunk can oppose Bush, and his and Blair's joint venture in Iraq, with the same intensity that the original postpunkers opposed Reagan and Thatcher. We think of punk rock as necessarily violent and loud, but does political anger always have to be violent and loud? Look at how Bush came to power, then stayed there: in no small part by feminizing his opponents, often on the issue of national security. Responding to the tone colors the Republicans surrounded him in, the American electorate saw John Kerry as French, a kept man—good god—a windsurfer. Why not say it outright: He hits like a girl. A society with such a low tolerance for the ironic and quirky is a society with a low tolerance for ambiguity and nuance, and we're paying for this fact dearly right now.

Village Voice writer Mikael Wood trashing The Boy Least Likely To's The Best Party Ever in the Village Voice:

Next week these U.K. indie-pop wimps set out on a North American tour with James Blunt, the former Kosovo peacekeeper who surprised the world by proving that it's possible to be more insufferable than David Gray. Trés savvy: Nothing makes tunes called "Warm Panda Cola" and "God Takes Care of the Little Things" sound less puke worthy than ones titled "You're Beautiful" and "Goodbye My Lover."

On The Best Party Ever, their debut (out since 2005 in England, but due here next month), the Boy Least Likely To come off as the boys most likely to replace Belle and Sebastian in the hearts of frail indie folk for whom Belle's recent diversion into swinging T. Rex glam-boogie constituted treason. Like Stuart Murdoch, singer Jof Owen tempers his hothouse melodrama with crucial wisps of black comedy; in "Fur Soft as Fur" he celebrates "fresh strawberries and cream" before admitting, "Sometimes at work I feel like a machine."

Owen's multi-instrumentalist partner Pete Hobbs helps keep the train out of the ditch too. He laces "Sleeping With a Gun Under My Pillow" with tumbling-tumbleweed slide guitar, and makes a jubilant Fisher-Price fiesta out of "I'm Glad I Hitched My Apple Wagon to Your Star." Best party ever? Hardly. Best pity party ever? Maybe.

Posted by timothompson at 01:56 PM

March 07, 2006

Silver Jews Warm-Up Show in Nashville

A couple meager reports (Lou Barlow?) from the Silver Jews show last night at The End in Nashville.

Update: The Nashville Scene has a review blurb of the show. Posted by timothompson at 10:04 AM

March 06, 2006

Urban Defeats Rural in the Oscars (Or is it Blue States Over Red States?)

Larry McMurtry, screenwriter of Brokeback Mountain, talking to the USA Today Oscars blog about Crash winning the Academy voters over for Best Picture:

McMurtry was asked whether Brokeback’s best-director Oscar was a way to recognize the gay-themed film without giving it the biggest award, best picture. His reply: “I’ve had four movies (nominated). The three rural ones (Hud, The Last Picture Show, Brokeback Mountain) lost; the one that was urban (Terms of Endearment) won. The members of the Academy are mostly urban people. We’re not a rural nation. It’s not easy to get a rural story made.” Asked whether Crash's Los Angeles setting helped its best-picture chances, McMurtry said, “Yeah, I do.”

Posted by timothompson at 11:21 AM

March 03, 2006

Texas Indie Music Video Festival Results

I've posted the Texas Indie Music Video Festival Results to MetroBlogging.

Posted by timothompson at 12:33 PM

Snippets

I've posted some Austin linkage on Austin MetroBlogging.

Posted by timothompson at 10:59 AM

March 02, 2006

For Lent

I'm giving up Bloglines and RSS feed readers (This is going to be tough).

Posted by timothompson at 02:23 PM

March 01, 2006

SXSW Recommendations: Round One

Here are some SXSW recommendations based purely on listening to mp3s from the SXSW torrent download.

Update: Garrick Van Buren is on the same wavelength.

Posted by timothompson at 02:50 PM