Posted by bree
On: May 7, 2008
When You Get Back We’re Going to Cha Cha All Night Long… She lied.
So were the words John Clearly sang to our group of revelers at a crawfish boil on Saturday afternoon. It was a private party and we had him and his Absolute Monster Gentleman all to ourselves. His soothing, soulful voice set against the funky grooves of the Gentleman sang about his lady’s betrayal. As I swayed lazily in the sun I had another betraying lady on my mind: The Grand Lady herself; Lady Katrina.
Since the storm, every time I come to New Orleans I can’t help but do a city survey of progress. A “see for yourself” against the newspapers that continue to report just how little progress has been made since the storm. Unfortunately, they are still mostly right. House after house remains marked with the number of evacuees, survivors, the dead. They are still abandoned, bordered up, half torn down. “Do Not Demo” is written in large black letters on several—a plea to the government and developers, perhaps? The once shiny FEMA trailers look weather beaten. Those staying in them, equally worn.
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Posted by bree
On: May 7, 2008
Consider this food and drink review a shameless plug for the New Orleans tourist trade. I am happy to do my part. I covered the fanciest to the seediest sometimes more than once in a span of 24 hours. That would be every meal covered from the time I woke up to the time I went to sleep. It was the second week of Jazz fest after all and most shows don’t end until 8am. Some, as was the case with Vinyl at Maple Leaf even serve their own breakfast (pancakes and champagne). Eating, and doing it frequently, is one of the surest ways to survive the festivities. Drinking of course, is the other. Here are some highlights…
Friday afternoon…with the rains coming down I made an executive decision to forgo the fairgrounds (and Stevie Wonder!) and instead eat my way through the afternoon. Joined by an ex New Orleans resident (she lost everything in Katrina) and an ex New Yorker (she wanted a backyard) we set out for the French Quarter. First stop: Desire Oyster Bar for well, oysters, roast beef Po’ Boys and Bloody Marys—spicy, pickled beans, olives—the works. The oysters were delicious, the roast beef Po Boy one of the best I’ve ever had, the Bloody Mary perfectly spicy with all the necessary vegetables. The waiters are some of the nicest people I met all weekend. It was a perfect welcome to us weary travelers who had yet to check into our hotel.
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Posted by bree
On: April 29, 2008
When we meet Tony Stark he is the quintessential American stereotype—excessive, arrogant, consumer happy. He’s a filthy rich playboy with a child-like perspective on the world. Namely it and all its spoils are his for the taking. A made-in-America James Bond, he’s a little sloppier, a little louder, and after a stint in captivity in Afghanistan, a lot more conscientious about his imprint on the world. American dream turned American hero and the timing couldn’t be better. Our President has failed us. We have failed the world. Bloated consumerism has ravaged our environment, sent our gas prices soaring, our economy to the toilet. Now is the time to reconsider our purpose. Well, at least someone should. Read On »
Posted by Russ
On: April 29, 2008
We patiently awaited the appearance of the “JET PACK MAN.” My mind had been wandering all day. I knew that it would be cool. Tim League spares nothing to make the movie experience something to remember. Add in Harry Knowles and you have magic abrewin. So there we are in this crowd, glaring at contestants who showed up in Iron Man Costumes. They were throwing factoids about for prizes when out of the corner of my eye I caught a glimpse of “JET PACK MAN,” emerging from a cloud of smoke.
Right then the years washed away and I was a twelve year old kid entering the fantastic world of summer film. READY TO TAKE THE RIDE AND BELIEVE. Ready to believe in the fantastic. Summer movies have been stepping up for me, sure there have been peaks and falls but that is just the name of the game. This Costumed “JET PACK GUY” whizzing by set my wondernment ablaze and made this movie one step closer. A standing ovation for this stunt sequence is in order. If this wasn’t the best damn precursor to this flick, I couldn’t have imagined a better one. Read On »
Posted by Russ
On: April 25, 2008
OLD SETTLERS HELD TWO MUSIC HIGHLIGHTS AMIDST THE PARADISE-ESUE NORMALCY OF THE EVENT. ABOUT 8 YEARS AGO I HAPPENED ON MY FIRST ONE. AT STONE MOUNTAIN, I BELIEVE. COME SUNDAY AND THEY HAD TO PRY US STRAGGLERS FROM THE GROUNDS. IT WAS THAT GREAT. I DIDN’T WANT IT TO END. SO EVERY YEAR I HEAD BACK. AND EACH TIME I FIND THE MAGIC. THE MUSIC, THE PEOPLE, THE FOOD, THE WEATHER, THE CONVERSATIONS AND DID I MENTION THE MUSIC? THE DAZE HAS LONG BEEN INVOLVED THANKS TO THE LONGTIME SUPPORT OF RANDY COLLIER, JEAN SPIVEY, PROPAGANDA MEDIA AND SO MANY OTHER KIND FOLKS. GOD, I LOVE THIS FESTIVAL.
THE 2 MUSIC STANDOUTS. RIGHT. I GOT WRAPPED UP IN THE MAGIC. THE FIRST WAS THE CAMPGROUND STAGE ON THURSDAZE5 NIGHT WITH THE WAYBACKS. THESE BOYS ARE SMOKIN! IT WAS GREAT TO SEE WARREN CUT LOOSE AMONG HIS HOME FAN BASE. AFTER 3 OR MORE ENCORES, I WANTED MORE. GREAT SHOW. MY SECOND HIGHLIGHT WAS WHEN RALPH STANLEY SANG “OH DEATH” TO THE CROWD. SHIVERS. THE WHOLE CROWD WENT SILENT AND GAVE THE MAN THEIR FULL ATTENTION. A FIELD FULL OF PEOPLE SILENT. IT WAS AMAZING. LOOK FOR 3 BIG INTERVIEWS WE GOT OUT THERE IN THE NEXT ISSUE RELEASE. PLAN TO BE THERE NEXT YEAR, I HOPE T0 BE THERE.
Posted by Daisy Riprock
On: April 24, 2008
I have attended this festival many times. It has never let me down, either.
This year I only went on Saturday, mostly to see Ralph Stanley. His vocals were riveting and chilling. He only played banjo on one number, but it was enough. I saw Ralph Stanley play banjo. Mark that off my list of things to do in life. A true living legend, his 15 year old grandson (who plays mandolin in the Clinch Mountain Boys) spent about five minutes listing Mr. Stanley’s recent accomplishments Read On »
Posted by Erock
On: April 18, 2008
The campground was packed with RVs, tents, and canvass as we crept into the lot for the first night of the festival. Under the shade of the oaks people gathered greeting friends old and new or made their way towards the main pavilion where the Brave Combo was just setting up. Hula hoops, unicycles, and children played and ran around. The Brave Combo played a rocking set, followed by the Waybacks who rocked our faces off. The Waybacks play again tonight, don’t miss it. Just as we pulled out of the campground it began to rain hammers and nails. I am not sure how the campground fared, but I am sure there was not a dry person anywhere. This morning I awoke to a beautiful sun. The storm has passed and a beautiful weekend of great music and people is ahead.
Posted by Russ
On: March 6, 2008
Louis Black speaks and we listen. He is an inspriation. He reminds us to fight for what we want to create, leave the excuses at the door, shed the fear and be prepared for just how many people are going to be pissed at you for doing that. Here he weighs in on the ups and downs of living the dream.
How he feels about unofficial SXSW events and day parties…
I will be perfectly honest, there are some events that I don’t like because either they bring in bands that aren’t playing SXSW or in some cases they cherry pick. We announce that a band is going to be playing at SXSW, everybody gets excited, they go and offer their management a ton of money and we lose them. It’s almost pointless to explain this again and again because the people negatively react because they don’t really want to hear our point of view. Most of the day parties don’t bother us at all—that’s great; I love the day parties; I love to watch the day parties. People act like we are out to close all the day parties. We do nothing to 90% of the day parties and if anything, we actually help them. We stage a ton of events but we also help other events all the time. What bothers us is when multi-national corporations and national corporations fly in name bands for private parties–that I don’t like. When a national corporation rents space close to the Convention Center and puts up their logo so that the sponsors that are helping to pay for all this get pissed, I don’t like that either. This could really screw us in the long run. Those are the two things I don’t like.
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Posted by Russ
On: March 6, 2008
She is the female James Brown of soul and responsible for leading the soul/funk/R&B revival. She’s been doing her thing for 13 years and the rest of the world is finally taking notice. With a voiceto be reckoned with, Sharon Jones can no longer be ignored.
AUSTIN DAZE: When did you know that this was what you wanted to be doing?
SHARON JONES: I didn’t think that I was going to be doing this until the 80s and 90s. All my life I would get inspired by gospel and just singing but the main thing, when I knew that the funk and soul was it, was when I met Gabe almost 13 years ago. I went in to do background on an album and once I finished I was like, “That’s good music these guys are playing.” Then the first time we went to London I opened up for Maceo Parker and that’s when I knew, I knew that this was it. Because I had a title–people were calling me the female James Brown and I had never heard them call any other woman the female James Brown. I never heard them call anyone the Queen of Funk. I know Aretha is the Queen of Soul. So I thought, this is something here; I better stick with this.
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Posted by Russ
On: March 6, 2008
One of the original girlie shows in Austin and still going strong, Kitty Kitty Bang Bang keeps getting better with age. We sat down with the girls behind the corsets to find out how they do it.
AUSTIN DAZE: How did you all get started?
TIJUANA TRIXIE: I’ve been interested in burlesque since high school. I don’t know if you are familiar with the movie Gypsy. My mom told me I had to see the movie; that I would love it. It pretty much planted that seed and that was what happened.
AD: And when was that?
TT: Probably my sophomore year in high school. A long time ago. But ya’ll don’t have to print that. It wasn’t until my junior year in college that I began to think about it again. I just got really interested in vintage art and pin up art and stuff like that. In my mind it was, “Someday I’m going to open a venue that can host a burlesque show or an old time vaudeville show.” There really wasn’t a forum for that. But then thanks to the wonderful world of the internet I noticed that other people were doing it. There is a group in New Orleans called the Shim Shamettes that spearheaded the whole resurgence of burlesque. There is another group called the Velvet Hammer out of LA. They were both real big role models for me and I just kept an eye on them and what they were doing. I was finally like, “If people are already doing it right now then maybe I should do it too.” I thought Austin would be the perfect place for burlesque in that it would welcome it with open arms. That was six years ago. Venues Velvet was my old roommate and I was living in San Marcos at the time and I moved back to Austin and got in touch with her and said, “Introduce me to theater people and dancers. I want to do this.” She was my lifeline to a lot of talent here.
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