End of Silence

I tried to perpetuate the rumor that Prince might play ACL this year. As I’m sure everyone is aware by now, the lineup was released today and we got Foo Fighters instead.

I must say that it appears that the ACL organizers are listening to feedback. The festival is the latest in the year it’s been and this is the best mix of bands in the last few years. I’m still just going to buy a 1 Day pass and try to catch some of the side shows this year though. Foo Fighters are a good choice for headliner. They crossed over to arena rock level with the last tour. I’m not that interested in fighting the ACL headliner crowds to see them.

I’m sure you’re dying to hear my opinion so here’s the names that I’ll pull out of the lineup:

Mates of State – Husband and wife duo that I saw at Fun Fun Fun Fest.

M. Ward – I’d check him out though I wish he were with Zooey Deschanel doing She and Him instead.

MGMT – A little too electronic for me, but lots of people dig them.

Man Man – Caught them at SXSW this year. I’d see them again. Crazy stuff. I still need to post a review.

Vampire Weekend – They were the darlings of this year’s SXSW. Now you have a chance to see them.

Against Me! – No doubt to quell the complaints of the lack of harder stuff and the advanced age of most of the ACL artists in past festivals

Silversun Pickups – I’ve heard they’re better live than in recordings.

Gogol Bordello – They also made a splash at SXSW several years ago. You should’ve caught them at Emo’s, but they’ll still be fun at ACL.

Erykah Badu – She’s amazing. Again, glad to see they’re branching out a bit from the typical ACL fare.

N.E.R.D – See above.

Raconteurs – Rocked it at ACL two years ago and we don’t have to worry about Meg White ruining the whole thing and canceling it.

Mars Volta – I loved At The Drive-In and the first two Mars Volta records. They lost me with Amputechture and I haven’t even checked out the new one. Stiil would be worth checking out if you missed them last week.

Beck – Still kicking myself for missing his SXSW performance in, what was it? 1993? 1994? Should be good.

Who’re you going to see?

I tried to stop at P. Terry’s on Friday after work to pick up dinner for the kids and I, but was thwarted by APD and crime scene tape. Josephine St. was blocked off at Barton Springs Rd. and Butler Rd. was blocked off at Lamar Blvd. along with tape all around the perimeter of P. Terry’s. I could see a couple of employees inside the burger stand and several standing around in the parking lot. I checked the Statesman for the last two days and didn’t see anything. Does anybody know what happened? 

I was really annoyed that they weren’t open as I had my heart set on one of their burgers with jalapenos. I hope no one was hurt.

I got even more annoyed when I got to South Congress at Riverside. I started to turn south to find an alternative to P. Terry’s only to run into a mass of stopped traffic because of the hot rod rally. I ended up hooking into the parking lot of Freebird’s to get back to Riverside and head east to avoid the traffic problems. Speaking of the hot rod shenanigans, The Statesman ran a nice article on Steve Wertheimer and the Continental Club on Saturday.

Google debuted Street View in Google Maps last May, but it arrived in Austin yesterday along with 12 other cities and Yosemite Natl. Park. Click here to go to the map of Austin. The blue areas (or blue outlined streets) are the areas where Street View is available. I just looked at my house. Creepy!

There have been several local news reports,  KUT and News8Austin among them, about the Austin High School Jazz Band headed to NYC for the Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition and Festival at Lincoln Center in May. They’re having a fundraising concert tonight at 7pm at the Austin High School Performing Arts Center.

The KUT report was amusing in that one of the teen musicians mentions that he recognized one of the Ellington numbers from a cereal commercial. I’m guessing that’s how most kids get introduced to big band these days: commercials or cartoons. UT had an excellent jazz appreciation class when I was there in the late 80s / early 90s taught by Jeff Hellmer. The History of Rock N Roll class always gets all of the press, but I highly recommend taking Hellmer’s Jazz Appreciation class if you have the chance. They’re both under the same course heading: MUS 307 – Topics in Popular Music. I’m not sure if Hellmer still teaches the class or not.

And go support the Austin High kids tonight. It’s a very cool opportunity.

Would that the rest of the House Democrats were like my man Lloyd Doggett. He consistently makes me feel like I still have some representation in the Federal government, unlike my two rubber stamping senators. Go Lloyd!

Via Burnt Orange Report 

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