Thought I’d pass this along since I’d be pissed if I got detoured.
Less than a week after it was closed for Bat Fest, the Congress Avenue bridge will be closed tomorrow morning from 8:30am to 1pm for a dedication ceremony to rename the bridge after Ann Richards.
You’re stuck with I-35,South First, Lamar or Mopac.
The power’s out in my neighborhood (southeast across I-35 from St. Edward’s). Anybody else? I hope it’s not the same thing that LA experienced over the holiday weekend. It hasn’t been that hot lately, so it can’t be an overload.
Anybody else without power this morning?
You’re all probably subscribed to it already, but ACL has sent out an e-mail update today and it’s chock full of good stuff.
First, the $50 pre-sale for next year will happen the week after this year’s ACL, so watch your inboxes. Did they even have one this year? My memory’s terrible. I remember 2 years ago that their meager infrastructure couldn’t handle the demand.
Second, you can pick up your wristbands for this year starting on Monday, September 9th.
Third, there’s a set of ten free downloads on iTunes featuring these ACL artists: Art Brut, Rodrigo y Gabriela, Ryan Shaw, Old Crow Medicine Show, Heartless Bastards, Indigo Girls, Andrew Bird, Bloc Party, Tokyo Police Club and The Cribs. You’ll need the code from the e-mail to get them.
Last, they’re down to 5 bands for the battle to see who wins a slot ACL this year. The five finalists are Blue Flashing Light, Golden Bear, Homer Hiccolm & The Rocketboys, Nelo Music and Quiet Company. The winner will be determined at a live show at Antone’s next Wednesday, Sept. 12th. My vote is for Golden Bear.
If you’re looking for something to do tonight, you should check this out. It’s free and has members of several excellent bands participating. I’m pretty much just copy and pasting from the e-mail that I received because it covers it all. I dropped the explanation of who Queen and Freddie Mercury are because, well, if you don’t know, then you’re not going to be very interested in this show anyway, are you?
WHAT: Debut Performance and Birthday Party for Freddie Mercury
WHERE: Chain Drive, 504 Willow Street – 480-9017
WHEN: Wednesday, September 5 at 11pm
COST: FreeGuaranteed to Blow Your Mind – Magnifico!
A New Queen Tribute Band Hits Austin Like An Atom Bomb…On what would have been Freddie Mercury’s 61st birthday, a brand new Queen tribute band, Magnifico!, gives their debut performance for eager and unsuspecting patrons alike. The group of Austin musicians have devoted months to preparation – not as a one time lark but rather as a loving, if ostentatious homage to rock royalty’s most majestic rock band.
Drawing a set from both radio hits and deeper cuts, Magnifico! has spent countless hours learning the intricate progressions and notoriously complex backing vocals to do the music justice. “We all love Queen,” says member David Wyatt, “but we use the ‘tribute’ moniker reluctantly.” Whereas cover bands generally play music by multiple artists, most tribute bands focus on just one band and even go so far as dressing as specific members and taking on their speaking affectations. “No.” replies singer Zach Hall, “I’m not speaking with a British accent and I’m not growing a mustache.” But he may well wear tights. Considering Magnifico! is playing the music of one of music’s flashiest groups – they intend to be appropriately bawdy.
Magnifico! is made up of the outstanding vocalist Zach Hall (La Mancha), noble bassist, Margaret Myrick (Blackholicous), triumphant drummer Kevin Sparks (Black Irish, Bad Motivators), magnificent guitarist Adam Sultan (Mistress Stephanie & Her Melodic Cat), and distinguished keyboardist/guitarist David Wyatt (The Ron Titter Band, Captain Smoothe).
Awesome Freddie Mercury statue photo Creative Commons licensed from flickr user mondopiccolo
As with most years around here, we had some new laws go into effect on September 1st. This News8Austin story summarizes a few of the things that changed on Saturday, but I’m particularly interested in two of them.
Katie’s Law – It’s about f-ing time something like this went on the books. I’ve been advocating for this for years. In fact, this one doesn’t go far enough. It doesn’t start putting restrictions on you until you’re 79. Let’s move it up 10 years.
Castle Doctrine – Removes the requirement that someone must try to retreat before using deadly force to defend themselves. This one’s an interesting one in light of the death of musician Carter Albrecht in Dallas. The Statesman played up the tenuous connection to local musician, Charlie Sexton. I’m generally a fan of how Texas interprets this sort of thing. I live in a sketchy neighborhood that’s gotten sketchier over the last year or so. That being said, whenever guns are introduced into a situation, things can become very serious very quickly and there’s not much room for error. The Grand Jury’s out on this one as of yet, but I can’t see how blindly firing through the door doesn’t get you some sort of charge.
A local startup, Eestor, has been generating a news buzz lately. The question is whether or not it’s warranted.
Wired picked up this AP story today and I found mention of the company’s patent in posts going back over the past year or so, including this Engadget post and a post on an energy blog, Clean Break. Both the AP article and the comments on Clean Break mention a healthy dose of skepticism about the company’s product and the company itself is very tight lipped. The comments on those two posts alone are educational.