Welcome to my blog. You’ll get to read my Austin Daze articles online, as well as commentary on local and global issues. I’ll try to include links to sites where you can take action for the improvement of our home city and home planet.
Readers of the Austin Daze enjoy the great interviews with musicians because we enjoy experiencing music. Many folks in Austin also like to experience democracy, which is best experienced like music - as an active participant rather than passive observer.
Can we fuse our collective energy for participatory experiences?
I welcome your comments and appreciate the Austin Daze’s willingness to give me a blog.
Colin Clark
sprinklerintherain (at) gmail (dot) com
I am exhausted, Darling. Thank Venus we have an extra hour this weekend.
My day started with the Saints, who absolutely killed it as a trio. I was really looking forward to their performance and was not disappointed. They ripped through their classics such as “(I’m) Stranded” and songs from their new album, “Imperious Delirium,” which held up just as well. Look for an insightful interview with them in the next issue of the Daze.
I had heard a lot about Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, but never had a chance to check them out until Sunday. It was love at first listen as I was blown away by what I considered to be the best set I saw by anyone this weekend. The band had an incredible energy, and played cut loose rock n roll the way it was meant to be played.
Cat Power and Dirty Delta Blues closed the weekend for me. Ms. Power was very eccentric, often stopping her singing to complain about the sound. She also stopped to declare that there was a medical emergency in the crowd, although no one could seem to figure out what she was talking about. Near the end of the set, she lamented that her label people only come out to see her when she’s having a bad night. Could you imagine what a Cat Power tour with Ryan Adams would be like?
My opinion of the Fun Fun Fun Fest concurred with many of the people I spoke with. It was very well done, at the perfect time of the year, and without many of the hassles of Austin’s bigger festivals. I am very much looking forward to Fun Fun Fun Fest 2008!
Meanwhile, look for some photos of the festival to be posted on the Austin Daze web site.
The Fun Fun Fun Fest is rocking my fishnet stockings off. My welcome was Okkervil River’s Will Sheff asking the crowd, “Are you having fun, fun, fun, yet?” It didn’t take long to see the answer was clearly affirmitive, as much of the front of the audience looked like a collection of vintage bobbin head dolls as they were grooving to the group’s bouncy feel.
Seeing the Angry Somoans brought me back to my teenage years, as I got to rock out live to songs I once listened to on a third generation cassette tape through a Sony Walkman cranked up as loud as it could go. Stage diving was prevelent as they rushed through about 25 songs in 35 minutes, playing many of their well known songs, and covering Black Flag’s “Wasted.”
The group that really put the fun into the fest for me was The New Pornographers. I needed a few moments to gather myself afterward. I almost have to start dancing again just thinking about it. Kathryn Calder, you are my hero. A.C. Newman and Neko Case both referred to our fave coffee hang Spiderhouse during the show, and were rewarded with handfuls of requested Rice Krispie Bars from their booth.
Neurosis ended my night with their forceful rawk, as heavy as an oil rig in Midland. At times Sabbath-like, but also venturing into the dark land of Goth, they put together an experience as their music combined with black and white images of a nuclear holocaust and solar elcipses projected a a big screen behind them. Not for the timid.
Tomorrow promises to be absolutely killer, with the Saints, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, Cat Power, Youth Brigade and dozens more to leave you worn out for work on Monday morning, but knowing that it was all worth it. Viva la weekend!
Someone very much loves winter...
