Here are some entertainment picks for the weekend. If you are into harder indie rock, this evening Emo’s has Young Heart Attack and Amplified Heat. As far as the big screen is concerned Semi Pro, The Other Boleyn Girl, and Penelope open this weekend. These are all getting marginal reviews. If you want to see a movie this weekend and don’t like Will Farrell, period pieces, or quirky romcoms (romantic comedies) then you might want to catch up on the movies that won Oscars. Also the Texas State Arts Festival is going on this weekend on the grounds of Bob Bullock State History Museum. The usual for any Austin festival will be available: live music, local food vendors, and around 100 artist who want to sell their paintings/sculptures/etc. to you. So go out there, support an artist and display something cool in your house. Have a good weekend ya’ll.
Buddy Miles, drummer for Jimi Hendrix Band of Gypsys, passed away of congestive heart failure last night here in Austin at the age of 60. He played with many of the greats in rock music Hendrix, Peter Frampton, Carlos Santana, and Wilson Pickett. He was also the lead singer for the California Raisins campaign in 86. They recorded 2 best selling albums of mainly R&B covers. Miles most famous song as a solo act was Them Changes. I know many blues guitar musicians have covered this great song. In fact, Steve Winwood and Eric Clapton played the song two nights ago and Buddy was able to listen thru the phone (according to buddymiles.com). He moved to Austinin 05 to get back into music and it looked like he was with several tour dates in 07. Look for a memorial concert at Threadgill’s on March 30.
There is another trend in the SXSW names that I find interesting, the double or repeating name. Here’s a list a what I’m talking about: Kiss Kiss (Milton, NY), Neon Neon (LA, CA), Man Man (Philly,PA), Tapes N Tapes (Minn, MN), Bam Bam (Monterrey, MX), Lick Lick (Austin), Tiger Tiger (Atlanta, GA), Radio Radio (Tulsa, OK), The Low Lows (Athens, GA). There are also triples Die Die Die (Dunedin, NZ) or quads Shout Out Out Out Out (Edmonton, AB). We have a couple here in Austin that have even played on the same bill, Foot Foot and Clap Clap. So if you think you are seeing double you might be. There might need to be a new band name, double double or three, three, three (yes the lower case is on purpose for an awesome logo).
Ghostland Observatory’s third album Robotique Majestic was released today. After several listenings to the 10 tracks this afternoon it seems to fall in line with their other two. Their are three instrumentals (tracks 1, 8, 10) which are great. I only like a few of the other tracks though No Place For Me, Dancing On My Grave and the title track Robotique Majestique. This latest offering doesn’t seem as danceable or fun as Paparazzi Lighting or delete.delete.i.eat.meat. Don’t get me wrong, I like it, just not as much as the their previous works. Their sold out show on Friday will be the last time you’ll be able to see them in Austin for a little while. So if you have tickets, have a great time.
Here’s the new music releases for this week and there’s something for almost everyone. BTW, I’ll be back this afternoon with another post about the new Ghostland Observatory.
Goldfrapp - Seventh Tree - High soaring dreamy female vocals from this band out of the UK. Electronic folk music.
Erica Badu - New Amerykah Part One - R&B with some funky bits sprinkled on top of Erica’s powerful and unique voice. She is a native of Dallas and has a few shows scheduled there soon.
The Afters - Never Going Back to O.K. - Clean Pop/Rock - Christian Band from Dallas.
Tift Merrit - Another Country - Indie Folk/Alternative Country. Tift voice reminds me of Emmylou Harris. She will be at the Parish first on 3/15 for SXSW and back on April 21.
Punch Brothers - Punch - Bluegrass/Folk - Chris Thile of Nickle Creek fame has started another band this one is a 5 piece. If you are into mandolin, banjo, violin, and some acoustic guitar this would be right up your ally. Chris sings on some songs too.
Pete Rock - NY’s Finest - Hip Hop/Rap - Of Pete Rock and CL Smooth fame. Rock has been one of the top producers of rap and hip hop in New York working with some of the best artist in this genre. As an expert on the decks he’s bringin some great beats and hooks. He has also plenty of guest rappers too.
Vallejo - Thicker Than Water - Rock with Latin tendencies. This Austin act has been around for many years, had various lineup changes but the core of AJ, Alejandro, and Omar are still there making solid rock music. They have several central Texas concert dates coming up if you want to see them. They typically put on guitar driven, energic performances for their loyal fans.
I didn’t get a chance to listen to Janet Jackson or Rocket from the Crypt but they have new music out today as well.
I’ll be back later this afternoon with a review of the new Ghostland Observatory, Robotique Majastique.
So I was looking through the SXSW bands last night and I started noticing some trends. There are 20 bands with the word “black” in their name. Such as: Paint It Black, Black Helicopter, Attack in Black, Black Moth Super Rainbow, The Blackout, The Black Hollies, Black Diamond Heavies, Black Angels, The Black Keys, Black Joe Lewis, The Black Ghosts, Blackholicus, The Black, Black Tide, The Black and White Years, Black Mountain, Black Top Demon, Black Tusk, Black Earth, Blacklist. In contrast there are only 4 or 5 ”white” name bands (White Mice, White Rabbits, White Rainbow, etc). BTW the 2 out of this list that I have heard, The Black Keys and Black Angels, are really good bands. I’m sure if you wanted to hear what any of these bands actually sound like you could find them on myspace. More SXSW name anomalies coming soon.
So the Oscars were last night. I kind of stumbled upon them while doing my laundry. Anyway no real big surprises most all of the people I wanted to win, won. The Coen brothers winning for No Country For Old Men was expected. The Borne Ultimatum taking the technical categories was deserved. In my mind after seeing Daniel Day Lewis in There Will Be Blood there was no doubt he would take home the best actor award. I was glad to see the duo from Once performing and winning best original song. Also that Juno was able to win best original screenplay. John Stewart was really good as the host. I hope he will be back next year. Kind of a ho-hum awards night.
Two movie picks for the weekend: Be Kind Rewind and The Signal. If you are going to see Be Kind Rewind go to an Alamo Drafthouse because they will be showing 5 minute movie remakes by Austinites before the feature presentation begins. Go to http://beta.filmmakingfrenzy.com/ to see all the entries. There are some really great/horrible/hilarious videos. That being said, I have no idea how BKR is going to be. The studio didn’t have any press screenings which doesn’t bode well. I do like the director, Michael Gondry and the two stars, Jack Black & Mos Def, so I will see this film, it just might not be great. I’m trying not to get my hopes up.
I originally heard about The Signal about a year ago from my friend who is one of the screeners for SXSW. He was really championing this movie to get the publicity it deserves. Here’s the basic story: All forms of communication have been jammed by a strange transmission which drives half of the population into a violence and murder. The film is apparently told from 3 different perspectives by 3 different directors. As their portion of the story ended they handed it off to the next director. This might make the storytelling disjointed and weird. It looks interesting and I will see it at some point I’m just trying to decide if it’s going to be a matinee or at home when it comes out on DVD.
Let me know what you think if you are able to check out either of these movies.
Occasionally we get promotional items for movies that are about to be released in theaters. Earlier this week we received an item for the new Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Can you guess what they sent??? That’s right a 10 foot (fake) leather whip. I’m not sure what we are going to do with it yet but now we have it, so beware. The Austintainer wants to shoot some video in the parking lot of cracking of the whip. We’ll see.
I am going to try to write on Tuesdays about what new albums are being released. I have only listened to snipits of these but here we go. Roky Erickson & The Explosives are putting out live music from his heyday, Halloween: Live 1979-1981. The Ravonettes new album is called Lust Lust Lust. If you’ve never heard this European duo, imagine harmonized female lead vocals over a 60’s era surf guitar. Also Steve Earle’s wife Allison Moorer comes out with Mockingbird today. There are several covers such as Johnny Cash’s Ring of Fire, U2’s Dancing Barefoot as well as her own soulful/country originals. Other new ones from: Ray Davies (lead singer of the Kinks), Davana, The Grand Archivies and Ursula 1000. There are some good ones coming out next week.
