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August 17, 2006

Stones: Surcharges and More

Well, I purchased my tickets today in the presale. What they don't tell you is that there's a $17.00 per ticket service charge added on by TicketMaster, a $1 facility charge and a $4.95 per order charge. And I thought that Front Gate Tickets was bad?

Here's the opening acts we know so far:

Dave Matthews Band is playing a hometown gig in Charlottesville, Virginia, that day, so they are out (thankfully). Van Morrison is playing the Austin City Limits Festival the month before, so I'd rule him out as well. My guess is that the opening act may be of local interest and somehow connected to Capital Sports and Entertainment and Charles Attal. And bosom buddies Lance and Matthew McConaughey will be the co-introducers.

Posted by timothompson at 12:55 PM

August 15, 2006

Rolling Stones 2006 European Tour Setlists

After compiling my ideal Stones set in anticipation of their October 22nd visit to Zilker Park, I started to wonder how many of the songs in my list would make the cut for this tour. After checking message boards like Rocks Off, I finally found some well-updated current setlists from the European tour. From those setlists, I compiled a spreadsheet to see what kind of patterns I could find. What I discovered is that the first three songs and last three songs are exactly the same and in the same order at every show.

Set Openers

  1. Jumpin' Jack Flash
  2. It's Only Rock 'n' Roll
  3. Oh No, Not You Again

Set Closers

  1. Brown Sugar
  2. You Can't Always Get What You Want
  3. Satisfaction (encore)

Before the set closers, the Stones have been playing “Honky Tonk Women” followed by “Sympathy for the Devil”. In between, the Stones play a few other songs that are guaranteed to be played in the middle of the set (though the order varies):

Consistent Midpoints

Of the songs in my ultimate setlist, the Stones have only played 13 of them. What they have been doing is rolling out old favorites like “Bitch”, “Wild Horses” and “Sway” at certain shows. Most of these have only been played once or twice. But I'd totally be willing to give up “Streets of Love&rdquo and “Night Time is the Right Time&rdquo to get more of those songs in the set. Will they switch it up for the States?

Update: The Statesman now has a dedicated page for the show.

Posted by timothompson at 01:29 PM

August 10, 2006

Bradley is a Unique Sunflower

Whatever you might think about Bradley, who was aufed from Project Runway last night, you can't deny that his on-camera interviews were filled with some of the funniest, Jack Handey-esque, non-sequitur bon mots (unlike the nasty, catty sarcastic quips of people like Keith Michael or Jeffrey Sebelia). And in his exit interview, our man from outer space doesn't fail to disappoint.

Exhibit One:

Where do I find my design inspiration? In music. In music, in silence, in ... not strawberries. * * * * * For me, like inspiration comes through different means but like sometimes I can get into this like, you know if you sit down and really ... it’s like falling in love almost, like this giddiness comes out like ... yeah it’s like falling in love. You know when you’re in love like everything’s gorgeous, everything’s beautiful, like you can see your beloved and like you know it’s like singing. And I can reach into that sometimes, like everything’s ... you know it’s ... there’s nothing you can’t like ... well yeah, it’s just being inspired, period, like. Completely. And in that place I guess, or that state you can find inspiration and variety in everything. Except maybe a McDonald’s trash bag.

Exhibit Two

Yeah, don’t you think like the loser should actually go into a tank and they like shoot the thing and it like dumps you into the water and then they like pull you out. Actually they throw your garment on top of you, you know while you’re in the tank, throw it in the water, and then you know throw some like pink powder in there, you know. Don’t you think ... that’s something, something I think they should do maybe. More humiliation.

He'll definitely be missed in the remaining episodes.

Posted by timothompson at 03:37 PM

August 09, 2006

Guess the Pitchfork Rating

Stereogum points to Predictfork (That's Mr. Tower), a site that handicaps Pitchfork ratings. Calling LazyWeb: We need to do this like the Dylan Pool.

Posted by timothompson at 10:43 AM

August 07, 2006

The Six-Word Jim DeRoPalose-a Revue

"Lollapalooza doesn't care about black people."

Posted by timothompson at 10:48 AM

August 06, 2006

Holy Schnikes

Nels Cline can shred.

Posted by timothompson at 08:58 PM

Wayne Coyne Makes Sure the Lips Are Flaming During Shows

Just watch the video interview at the Rolling Stone blog.

Posted by timothompson at 02:24 PM

August 04, 2006

Thank You, Patrick Higginbotham & Co., For Reuniting Austin

Court-Ordered Lines for Texas Redistricting: August 2006

It's great to see three years after the Republicans in Texas redrew the lines in our state that the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, led by Judge Patrick Higginbotham, decided to use common sense rather than partisanship to redraw the boundaries. It was initially looking quite bleak for District 25 congressman Lloyd Doggett after Rick Perry and his attorney general Greg Abbott submitted a map that would excise Austin entirely from his district, leaving the city proper without its own elected representative (unless Doggett had been wily enough to move again and win an election against another Rep. Lamar Smith of San Antonio). Quite bleak indeed.

When asked by Higginbotham about the state's intentions, attorney Ted Cruz played dumb: "Cruz denied that the state Republican leadership was trying to target Doggett when it drew its map. He said the state did not know Doggett had moved from East Austin and would be paired with Smith under its proposal."

Under the judges redrawn lines, District 25 will now be less of a skinny fajita strip–in fact, it's gained a little weight from eating up Southern Travis and five nearby counties rather than seven counties stretching to the Rio Grande. Southern Texas will comprise two districts, 15 and 28. And the new point "where districts meet" will be about a block west of 29th and Lamar.

To top it off, Tom DeLay, the man who instigated the re-redistricting chaos, hasn't been doing too well in the courts lately, either. Karma can be a bitch.

Now if we could only auf his henchman Rick Perry in this fall's election.

Update: Paul Burka of Texas Monthly has a great in-depth post on the court's decision:

A final word on the two cases I observed this week--this one and the Tom DeLay ballot case before the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans three days earlier. I'm not too enamored of the executive branch of the federal government these days, and who could find anything to like about this Congress, but the much maligned federal judiciary looked great to me. Both cases had significant political implications, but both courts, and especially their presiding judges, displayed intelligence, fairness, restraint, nonpartisanship, and a desire to follow the law. No citizen could ask for more.

Posted by timothompson at 06:22 PM

August 01, 2006

Tim Gunn Bobblehead

In the interest of completeness, I'd like to point out Project Runway's Tim Gunn has now achieved bobblehead status.

Posted by timothompson at 11:58 AM