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. Read the rest of this entry »

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. Read the rest of this entry »

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. Read the rest of this entry »

For Jason Hann and Michael Travis, there is life afer String Cheese and it’s called EOTO,a 100% improvised live Breakbeat/ House/ Drum n Bass/ Trip Hop project. Jason Hann explains.

AUSTIN DAZE: What does a trip to Austin mean to you all and where do you like to hang when you are here?

JASON HANN Wow, well Austin is just an amazing city to always get back to. Especially being in the middle of Texas– it’s pretty refreshing. We used to go through there with String Cheese all the time. What are the name of the Springs?

AD: Barton Springs.

JH: Oh yeah. Love that. That’s unbelievable. There isn’t a better place for live music..

AD: How do you all feel about the state of the jam band scene? What about your place in that scene now that you are no longer with String Cheese Incident?

JH: It’s hard to make a judgement other than that there are a lot of bands out there these days which is great. It also seems like there is definitely an influx of Electronica into festivals. So there is an evolution happening in that sense. One thing we definitely noticed is that it doesn’t seem like kids are touring as much because there is going to be something coming through their town or they have a lot of three day weekend festivals where people would rather settle in for a three day and see an amazing amount of bands than following a particular band to a ton of cities. In that sense, it is sort of changing. Not for better or for worse, just different. There is still a lot of really good players and bands out there. I think it’s pretty healthy. Read the rest of this entry »

We had a nice chat with Moving Matter. These guys are carrying the torch and keeping the jam band scene vibrant.

AUSTIN DAZE: Where did your band name come from?

MOVING MATTER: It was from this book and we were talking about stuff like how everybody is moving matter and energy and all that kind of deep crap. Also, it felt cool to have a verb name, kind of like Talking Heads type thing.

AD: Tell us about the jam band scene in Austin, Texas. Do you feel there is one?

MM: Yeah, there’s still one around. I don’t know if it’s at its height but it is coming back—it’s fluctuating as everything does. When we were getting out of high school and college we had Larry and Tunji and there was a big scene around them.

AD: Tell us your thoughts when you hear that Austin is the “Live Music Capital of the World”.

MM: Definitely. There are more places to play and more live music every night than anywhere in the world. It makes it hard and hurts bands financially.

AD: What sets a Moving Matter audience apart from the usual crowd?

MM: An alcohol problem! They like all styles of music and have an appreciation for jazz and techno. Read the rest of this entry »

What is It? and It Is Fine are the first and second films in a planned trilogy, It’s Mine being the third.  The second film is an autobiographical, psycho-sexual, fantastical retelling of Steven C. Stewart’s point-of-view of life. He died from complications of cerberal palsy one month after filming wrapped. It is Fine showed at the Alamo Drafthouse with a live perforamnce by Crispin.

AUSTIN DAZE: Tells us a little bit about Steven C. Stewart.

CRISPIN GLOVER: It’s sad that he didn’t get to see the completed thing. I know he would have loved to have been here talking—he really liked the attention. He liked to talk to the women and touch their hair. I didn’t go into detail about it but, it was something David Brothers and I were very firm about and that was that it was obvious that this film had to be made with Steve. It could not have been made with any other person. It is about a very specific individual. I know people often ask about the handicapped issue of the film and I would say, because Steve was an advocate–a different kind of advocate for that kind of thing–mainly that he wanted to play a bad guy in this movie which is not something that often happens in that situation. He was really firm on that. If Steve had died and this was a corporately funded film and they said, “Well we’ll get a different actor who doesn’t have Cerebral Palsy,” to me that film wouldn’t be interesting at all. But also even if it was not a corporately funded and distributed film and Steve died and they said, “Well we’ll get an actor who does have Cerebral Palsy to play the character” I still don’t think it would work. What’s important about the film is that he was living this fantasy. It’s at least important that this man had this fetish for women with long hair. It was absolutely specific that it had to be that guy otherwise there would be no point. I know that David Brothers felt this way as well and it wasn’t just because I said to Steve that I wanted to get the film made, I would have actually felt like I had done a bad thing if I hadn’t gotten this film made. I don’t know exactly why but I really would not have felt good about it. I would have felt like I did something wrong. So I’m genuinely relieved that this is on its way. And on top of it, I’m really proud of the movie. When the whole trilogy is done I feel like this film will be the best of the trilogy but more than that I feel like this film will be the best film I will ever have anything to do with in my career. It’s such a specific story and an impossible thing to replicate. It has to do with Steve and his peculiarities. That’s another reason that I really wish he was here, because I feel funny in a certain way talking for him. At the same time I’m also very possessive of the film so I like talking as well, but Steve would say things that I would never say. Read the rest of this entry »

photo by Marc Van der Aa

Zizek is a weekly dance party thrown in Buenos Aires, Argentina whose artists mix South American sounds in a completely new and exciting way. The club’s manager is a 31-year-old San Antonio native named Grant Dull, who has called the “Paris of South America” home since 2003.

Dull and a group of Zizek artists will be bringing their mash-up sounds to the U.S. in March, playing dates in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, New York and Austin.
They’ll be appearing at SXSW on Thursday, March 13 at the Ninety Proof Lounge.

Journalist Brian Byrnes spoke with Dull just prior to his departure for Zizek’s first international tour.

Brian Byrnes/Austin Daze: What is Zizek?

Grant Dull: Zizek is a local gathering in Buenos Aires thrown by two DJs and a promoter-turned DJ that strives to be a modern party that mixes all kinds of genres and where the number one concern is the dance floor. So from that concept we started experimenting with different sounds and DJs and bands to see what worked, and it’s been working. What we do is reinterpret traditional Latin American sounds using modern technology, and that has really been the driving force behind Zizek. We incorporate elements of reggaeton, cumbia and Spanish hip-hop, and that’s given an identity to the club on a local level because people here identify with these sounds, and it’s also given us an identity on an international level because very few people are working with these sounds. A lot of our producers are amongst the best in the world at reinterpreting these sounds. Read the rest of this entry »

Sometimes things are not what they seem. Like when you sit down with two of the funniest comedians to come down the pike and expect them to be cracking jokes the entire interview. Surprisingly, John Caparulo and Ahmed Ahmed had more serious things on their mind.

AUSTIN DAZE: How has it been since the tour? Has it helped your career?

JOHN CAPARULO: What we have right now is the experience. Taking that experience, that we went for 30 days on a bus, it does change your perception of reality. After going that long with a movie star, realizing how big things can get, it’s different than the usual nightly grind at the Chuckle Hut. That’s what I took from it ever since— I think I grew as a person and as a performer.

AHMED AHMED: I agree with John there is definitely a lot of growth that happened in those thirty days. The tour has manifested after the actual physical tour. It went into a pre-editing facility and was cut into a film, we took it to the Toronto Film Festival, and then it was sold and redistributed by another company—there is a whole after life that has been happening after those 30 days. It’s kind of like a two for one: we got the tour and then we got the movie but we weren’t really expecting the movie. So it’s nice. That people can recognize you on a national level in movie theaters is rare. I think John has mentioned this in the past: it’s really rare for comedians to do their act on the big screen. Read the rest of this entry »

Teeth. Vagina Dentata to be exact. Mitchell Lichtenstein allowed us to peak inside the brain behind this modern day superhero/horror/comedy flick and find out what the hell he was thinking. 

AUSTIN DAZE: How has the year been since Sundance?

MITCHELL LICHTENSTEIN: Long. I’m thrilled that it’s finally coming out. Actually this is exactly a year since our screening at Sundance. It’s been a great year doing festivals and stuff. People seem to be pretty excited about it. It’s been great but having lived through the year it’s been a long time coming of finding out if the people in the real world are going to respond to it or not.

AD: This film takes on potentially controversial subject matter. What seems to be the general reaction? Is the reaction what you intended?

ML: People definitely seem to have different reactions. It’s hard to tell because it’s been mostly at festivals. Someone who is going to go to festivals is going to have certain expectations. There is a big group of people that have seen it and get the humor and get the whole parody behind it and then also seems something serious behind it—all the things I would hope people would get. You know, people are also totally turned off by it. You do something like this and you can’t want everyone to love it. But I do think everyone loves Jess Weixler because she’s just so great. Read the rest of this entry »

Big Chief Kevin Goodman, Chief Council Alfred Doucette, and Big Chief Iron Horse
Big Chief Kevin Goodman lost everything in Katrina and fled to Austin. Received by the community with open arms, he decided to stay here and we are fortunate enough to experience the rich tradition of the Mardi Gras Indians.

AUSTIN DAZE: What does it mean to be a “Big Chief” and how to do you become one?

BIG CHIEF KEVIN GOODMAN: Being a Big Chief is inherited. I inherited the Indian tradition from my dad who was the original Big Chief and founder of the Flaming Arrows. When I was a kid, Mardi Gras Day was one of the days that we all looked forward to and we would get to put on these beautiful costumes. We would go out and have fun. It’s generations of Flaming Arrows: my dad’s grandkids, my kids, my brother’s and sister’s kids—they become part of the tradition too. The tradition has spread from generation to generation. Flaming Arrows is a family tribe. There are generations of history of Flaming Arrows. My dad is the one that started it and raised me and was my constant Chief and made my costumes and showed me the way. Read the rest of this entry »

We caught up with the director of Semi-Pro while he was back in Austin, his old school stomping ground, doing promo for the film starring Will Ferrell, Woody Harrelson and Andre Benjamin.

AD: How did you get involved with this film?

KA: I was working at New Line developing and producing movies and my first projet at New Line was Elf, which starred Will (Ferrell)– that’s how I really got to know Will. Tthen the writer of this film, Scott Armstrong, he was working on Elf also. After we finished shooting Elf, Scott had a one line pitch he was going around town with: What about doing a comedy about the ABA (American Basketball Association)? That was all I needed to hear. I grew up in San Antonio and was a huge fan—like more than you could ever really imagine. I was known. I was on the cover of the first playoff program-They had a crowd shot of me screaming–that actually was my cameo in the movie; I made that the cover of the Megabowl program. A couple of years ago Scott came out to LA and we started hashing through the story more after Scott got about 60 pages in to it. We went to South Carolina where Will was filming and showed him the pages and he had some great ideas. When we finished the draft we sent it to Will and he loved it. He said he wanted to do it next and wanted me to direct it. Read the rest of this entry »

We talked with Joel Laviolette of Rattletree about his latest musical project, a Zimbabwean style marimba band based out of Austin, Texas.

AUSTIN DAZE: Tell me where the idea came from to bring African Music to Austin.

JOEL L: I’ve played Zimbabwean music for about 15 years now. I discovered this music when I was going to jazz guitar school in Denton—I was a jazz guitar major. Then I discovered Thomas Mapfumo and the Zimbabwean stuff and I started to learn that and the mbira—which is the traditional Zimbabwean instrument. I met a guy in New Mexico who played the mbira and I dropped out of school and moved to New Mexico and joined a band there, Jaka. We played for several years together and toured and all that kind of stuff—this was in Santa Fe. This whole time I had been traveling around the country studying the imbira (for about 8 years) from whoever I could. I finally tapped that well of mbira players in America and realized I needed to go to Zimbabwe. I was also doing field and studio recordings of different types of Zimbabwean music and I came back to New Mexico and started a non profit record company called Mhumhi Records. I have the twelve recordings that I made in Zimbabwe and the money that I made from those recordings go back to musicians in Zimbabwe and Mozambique. When the music scene in Albuquerque dried up I came to Austin one day to visit a friend and instantly, that weekend, found a job, found a capoeira group that I could play with and met a woman. It was all just, “Austin is the place to be.” So I packed up and moved to Austin and because I moved here the music came. It wasn’t a plan other than that’s just what I do. Read the rest of this entry »