Been a long time, long time, long time...

Hi!

To anyone stumbling across this blog... Well, I sort of ran out of time to keep it up. I'm sorry about that. BUT...

I'm hoping to have a new writing project coming soon. In a few months. With a talented pal. It'll be very!

In the meantime, you can find me DJing here:

Moheak Radio:
http://www.moheak.com/

And doing the Twitter thing (I know, I'm such a hypocrite):

@shebmo

Thanks for everything..Here's to a new chapter. Coming soon. Really.

xo
Mo

The Talented Mr. Dalley

So this Monday (August 10th), I'm so lucky to have the fantastically talented Denver Dalley coming in to the Little Radio studios to chat with me! This guy was responsible for putting out one of my favorite records of 2007, Intramural's "This Is A Landslide," a beautiful piece of work. He was also an integral part of Desaparecidos (you know, that Conor Oberst side project), his other projects Statistics, City Lights and Two of Cups, and will be playing with Har Mar Superstar at Little Radio's debut Summer Camp on Sunday August 16th!

Whew!

Check him out:
http://www.myspace.com/denverdalley

We're gonna have a good time.

The Monday Mo Show!
Mondays (duh)... starting at Noon till 2pm PST
(3pm EST, 8pm in London, 9pm in Berlin, and 5am Tuesday in Sydney... sorry Sydney!)
Little Radio (dot) com

To tune in, go here:
http://www.littleradio.com/radio/

Monday, Monday...

Little Radio! Two weeks in a row! That makes me happy... and I hope some of you too...

Here's the fresh playlist for ya:

Sticky Boom Boom - United Soul Association
Don't Go Breaking My Heart - ODB & Macy Gray
New Rose - The Damned
Beat My Guest - Adam & the Ants
Percussion Gun - White Rabbit
The Summer - Coconut Records
Anonyme Amour - Bertrand Burgalat
Da Ben Dan - A Ci
Here Are Many Wild Animals - A Camp
You're Absolutely Right - The Appolas
Lady Don't Tek No - Latyrx & Lyrics Born
Collapsing New People - Fad Gadget
Spacerobotsactionfun! - Luxo Champ
My Night With the Prostitute from Marseille - Beirut
Never Mind the Phone Calls - Earlimart
I and Love and You - The Avett Brothers
About Face - Grizzly Bear
Put There By the Land - Great Lake Swimmers
Because I'm Beautiful - Cinerama
Subzero Fun - Autolux
My Girls - Animal Collective
Permanent Scar - O+S
Things That Will Get you Expelled From Heaven - Wardens
Conjuur - School of Seven Bells
New in Town - Little Boots
Hydroplane - The Brilliantines

Tune in when ya can... and when I'm on!
The Mo Show
Mondays... starting at Noon till 2pm PST
(3pm EST, 8pm in London, 9pm in Berlin, and 5am Tuesday in Sydney... sorry Sydney!)
Little Radio (dot) com

Thank you!!

Long Hot Summer

A sweaty, downtown Little Radio show for ya:

7/20/09

Girl In A Sportscar - Alan Hawkshaw
Charlie's Angels - Donna Lynton
The Future Will Come - The Juan MacLean
Spooky - Dusty Springfield
You (Toi) (Si) - Farrah Fawcett
Star - Elysian Fields
Queen of Apology - Sarah Blasko
My Rights VS Yours - The New Pornographers
Summer Air - The Explorer's Club
Gloom Junky - The Verlaines
Wait for the Summer - Yeasayer
Everybody Plays the Fool - The Chosen Few
Take Me With U - Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings
In Paradise - Jackie Edwards & Judy Mowatt
Typical Girls - The Slits
Lay It Down - Peter, Bjorn & John
Everything With You - The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
Never Had Nobody Like you - M. Ward feat. Zooey D.
Park Benches - Belles Will Ring
The Air That I Breathe - The Hollies
Miss Pitiful - Etta James
Dimestore Diamond - The Gossip
Miss Lucifer - Primal Scream
Love By Numbers - Ash Wednesday
Long Hot Summer - Style Council
Treasure Map - Orba Squara
A Cheater's Amoury - Hanne Hukkelberg
Warning - Great Northern
Love Made Visible - The Delays
Some Things Last A Long Time - Beach House
I Paid for the Party - The Enchanters
Turn the Radio Off - Love Is All
Kathy in Her Bedroom - Bedroom Walls
Skinny Boy - Amy Millan

And that's our radio show for the day... yay!

Tune in every week (hopefully!) at noon PST on Little Radio (dot com) for more internet radio fun!

Long Time No See...

I keep doing this disappearing act... I know, I know, lameness. Let's just say I had lots of life and work to take care of in June and July.

But I'm back! And even back on Little Radio! Let's see if I can come up with some stories to tell you to make up for my absence...

Yours faithfully (well, eventually)~
Mo

Little Radio Playlist 6.22.09

Three weeks in a row? It's summer madness! Well, it's summer at least. At last, right?

As the temperatures rise here in downtown LA, so do the tunes on Little Radio.

Check it:

Nude on the Moon - Tipsy
Summer - War
My Night With the Prostitute from Marseille - Beirut
A Cause Des Garcons - Yelle
One's On the Way - Loretta Lynn
Miss Hard to Get - Dennis Landry
Goin' Man Huntin' - Jo Ann Garrett
Winter Hill - Doves
Bones - Editors
Electric Lash - The Church
Anyone Who Had A Heart - Dionne Warwick
Whistle - All India Radio
Hard Days 1.2.3.4. - Loney, Dear
You and Your Sister - This Mortal Coil
Summer Breeze - The Isley Brothers
Dance The Night Away - Van Halen
Hong Kong Garden - Siouxsie & the Banshees
Love Goes On! - The Go-Betweens
Summer in the City - Vietnam
(I Want You) More Than Ever - The Clientele
Good Times - The Easybeats
Poser Psychotic - The Ponys
Feeling Called Love - Wire
The Door Into Summer - The Monkees
Don't Hold Back - The Parson Red Heads
Homecoming - The Teenagers
Cello Song - The Books - feat. Jose Gonzalez
Hot Fun in the Summertime - Sly & the Family Stone
Sundown, Sundown - Calexico feat. Valerie Leulliot
Press Play & Record - Lois

It looks like we've got the weekly thing down! Here's the latest info, so you can make an appointment on your calendar:

The Mo Show
Mondays... starting at Noon till 2pm PST
(3pm EST, 8pm in London, 9pm in Berlin, and 5am Tuesday in Sydney... sorry Sydney!)
Little Radio (dot) com

To tune in, go here:
http://www.littleradio.com/radio/

Let the summer fun begin!

Little Radio Playlist 6.15.09

Still a gloomy day in June, but we kids here at Little Radio are doing our best to chase off the June gloom and bring some cheer to your internet radio!

Little Radio Playlist
6.15.09

Out of the Races & Onto the Tracks - The Rapture
Tragic Carpet Ride - Polvo
Gasoline Alley - Rod Stewart
If You Feel It - Ms. Tyree "Sugar" Jones
Origami - Obi Best
Ladyflash - The Go! Team
Cheer for Fate - The Mount St. Helen's Vietnam Band
Remember Everything - My Jerusalem
Song Against Sex - Neutral Milk Hotel
Another Reason to Go - Vetiver
Soul Sister - Allen Toussaint
Mama's Got A Good Thing - Laura Lee
The Changeling (Get Guilty) - A.C. Newman
I'm Sure of It - Blanche
My Old Ways - Dr. Dog
Reloader - Everest
Under your Spell Again - Waylon Jennings & Jessi Colter
Drivin' Nails in My Coffin - Those Darlins
Lunch Hour Pops - Broadcast
Knowing Animals - O+S
Our Faces Split the Coast in Half - Broken Social Scene
Too Many Kims - The Tyde
Fools - The Dodos
Iamundernodisguise - School of Seven Bells
Meddle - Little Boots
Photobooth - Friendly Fires
Stereo - Pavement
I Could Sing All Night - Tommy Collins
Here's Some Dances - The Eight Minutes
Bomb the Twist - 5.6.7.8.'s
Babylon's Burning - The Ruts

And on that note... see you next week! Noon till 2pm, PST, Little Radio (dot com), the Monday Mo Show.

Thanks for listening!

Little Radio Playlist 6.08.09

It's June and we're back! I think we're gonna get regular for a while again... whew!

Little Radio Playlist
6.08.09

Sankofa - Tony Allen
Ain't That Terrible - Roy Redmond
Leave My Kitten Alone - Detroit Cobras
The Living Kind - The Ups & Downs
Two Ways Out - Darker My Love
Say Yes - Afternoons
Dr. Ring Ding - Jackie Mitoo & the Soul Brothers
Tighten Up - Archie Bell & the Drells
Mambo Sun - T. Rex
Against Privacy - Cold War Kids
Big Money - Big Black
I Can't Get Behind That - William Shatner
Love Letter to Japan - The Bird & the Bee
Falling Out of Love (With You) (feat. Dean Warham) - the 6ths
Sweet Sweet Baby - Lone Justice
Lascia L'ultimo Ballo Per Me - I Rokes
Skinny Boy - Amy Millan
Beware of Darkness - George Harrison
Oh Well, Okay - Elliott Smith
Gravity - Pylon
A Wish Away - The Wonder Stuff
Function at the Junction - Shorty Long
Nago - Trio Mocoto
Dog Eat Dog - Adam & the Ants
Sitar Beat - Klaus Doldinger
I Love A Man in a Uniform - Gang of Four
We Live In Brooklyn Baby - Roy Ayers
Stumble Waltz - Everest
Mod Lang - Big Star
Beautiful Things - The 3Ds
Song for Her - Jason Falkner
A Month of Sundays - The Church
Beat Fuga Shake - Riz Ortolani

Rock on Mondays! I'll help you get a good start to your week... Little Radio, noon PST to 2pm PST... till next week!

Little Radio Playlist 5.11.09

Hey! Do you wanna know what you heard? After a 2 month hiatus? Well, here you go!

Little Radio Playlist
5.11.09

Bombay 405 Miles - Kalyanji & Anandji Shay
Highly Illogical - Leonard Nimoy
Roscoe - Midlake
Charlotte - Booka Shade
Talk On Indolence - The Avett Brothers
Park Song - The Dodos
The Engine Driver - Decemberists
Goner - Dead Confederate
Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps - Doris Day
Never Too Young - Justin Hinds & the Dominoes
My Baby Is the Real Thing - Allen Toussaint
Poor Girl - X
Snake Eyed - Holly Golightly
Us, Weakly - Actionslacks
Tom Boy - Bettie Serveert
Only A Fool - Loleatta Holloway
Who Would Want Me Now - Appolas
Before We Begin - Broadcast
Love Goes On - The Go-Betweens
Like A Hitman, Like A Dancer - A.C. Newman
Half Asleep - School of Seven Bells
And I Won't Cause Anything At All - Loney, Dear
Fire Eye'd Boy - Broken Social Scene
Fox on the Run - Sweet
President Gas - Psychedelic Furs
Le Responsable - Jacques Dutronc
Forty Five 45s - Shrag
Thursday - Asobi Seksu
Glassbottom Lights - The Tyde
Tokyo Sunrise - Dios Malo
Someday We'll Have A Better World - Eddie Kendricks

That's this week... Hopefully we'll be back in June!

Bite the Ears Off First...

Now THIS is what Easter is all about!


Peep on a BBQ from Spacecat on Vimeo.

Courtesy of my friend, Zombie Dawg.

What's the Flap?

The next big thing...

Bedsores Made Beautiful

I was supposed to be working - in fact, I was on an epic IM work chat with 5 other people. I rarely get on the ole IM because more often that not, it gets in the way. But sometimes it's awfully fun.

Like the other day, when a friend of mine popped in and interrupted aforementioned epic work chat. I don't chat with him often, but it's always entertaining when he shows up.

"Mo!!!!!!!" he started. Then he lapsed into Rudy Ray Moore (that's Dolemite to you) speak. Which means the chat degenerated happily into raunchiness. He came up with many plays on my name, none of which I can remember because he called me Mo'No, and stated that was an illness I probably never wanted to get. I wrote that I wouldn't mind, because I could use a couple months in bed. He replied that I would get bedsores, to which I responded that I could hopefully find someone willing to flip me over from time to time. And then I challenged him to write a song (of course, he's a musician) using the word "bedsores."

"You mean it? I will! I'll send it to you tomorrow - I really will!"

And he did. With the warning that it was done with strep throat, I got a really gorgeous, kinda naughty and slightly silly tune called "Mo'No" that uses the phrase "and the bedsores make you twitch." I"d love to post it for you, but hey - it's my song now, ain't it?

Even with it was written totally on a whim and as a joke, it's still pretty awesome, which is a testament to the guy who wrote it, Jeff Klein. A smokey (or shall we say, strepped?) voiced vocalist with brooding, biting lyrics and a sharp sense of humor, the multi-instrumentalist put out a few of his own albums which evoke red velvet, cigarettes and smudged eyeliner (most likely on the girls, but occasionally on the boys too). It's definitely nighttime when you listen to Jeff Klein albums...

Over the years, he's been involved with lots of other bands (Twilight Singers/Gutter Twins, Ed Harcourt) and toured with many more. Over the course of that, as he got pulled into band activity, he figured out he wanted one of his own. Enter My Jerusalem.

This is Jeff, along with Dave Rosser (Twilight Singers/Gutter Twins), Ashley Dzerigan (Great Northern), Cully Symington (Bishop Allen), and Rick Nelson (Polyphonic Spree) as the core - although I think the band will expand and/or contract as the situation deems necessary. For now, this is what Jeff is focusing on, and it's fantastic. When my friends and I stumbled into their show at SXSW, they turned to me and said, "You know these guys? They fucking rock!"

With cred like that, of course they do. Their EP, Without Feathers, is out now. Imagine the National with grit, lots of grit - a beautiful and lush rock and roll record, which sounds simple despite the intricacies. Here is the dark loveliness, here is the yelping gasp, here is the bouncy smile - for a 5 track EP, My Jerusalem's got it all.

Check out some tracks here at their MySpace page. Or Facebook. And look forward to the full album - I sure as hell am!

Why I Will Never Twitter

I'm sure you've seen this, but it's is so genius...

I Got Punked

When I read this today, my heart leaped out of my chest, I lost my breath, and I nearly fell out of my chair:

PIXIES TO PLAY 23 SHOWS AT NYC'S MERCURY LOUNGE

In what is surely an unprecedented run, the Pixies will play 23 straight shows at the Mercury Lounge in New York City. 'I don't think it's ever been done before,' says bassist Kim Deal. 'We originally were approached about doing 10 shows, which was cool and all, but we said EFF THAT, we're the PIXIES, we're going to do more.' Sources close to the band reveal that initially they were shooting for 25 shows, but a scheduling conflict with a Dashboard Confessional show prevented this from happening.

And then I clicked the link for more info... How on earth could I have forgotten what day it is today?

Sometimes, it's good to be got.

Social Networking, Explained.

I love the Brits.

Here is Facebook in real life:



Your worst nightmare, perhaps...?

SXSW - The Recap

Well, I survived. People were dropping like flies around me... illnesses, alcohol, complete bodily weariness. I credit being a member of the Herbal Resistance (go Wellness Formula!) with avoiding the first item, knowing better than to drink much during endurance tests like this one for number 2, and as for number 3? Well, you can sleep when you're dead. Or at least back home.

So here's a list of the bands I saw:

Day 1
Yelle
Ladyhawke
Heartless Bastards
The Avett Brothers
DD/MM/YYYY
Jeremy Jay

Day 2
Bersas Discos DJs
Afternoons
Port O'Brien
Those Darlins
Dark Meat
Megafaun
The Grates
Tricky
Nite Jewel
Dead Confederate
Efterklang
The Very Best (Esau Mwamwaya & Radioclit)

Day 3
Little Boots
Pains of Being Pure At Heart
School of Seven Bells
Mumford & Sons
My Jerusalem
the bird and the bee

Day 4
Thao Nyguen & the Get Down Stay Down
Japanther
The Vivian Girls
Trash Talk
Eugene Mirman
Cage the Elephant
The Duke Spirit
Silversun Pickups

There was all sorts of stuff other than just the shows, you know. You can't help but have adventures on a trip like this.

Dashing off to see Tricky, I was stopped by a guy with a microphone and his pal with a very professional looking backpack. It turned out they were BBC Radio, and they did a quickie interview with me about Scottish bands (other than Franz Ferdinand, that is). I immediately slipped into Mo-Radio voice, and all went well.

Taming the wild Jackalope.

Nay and I had a very enjoyable time ripping off the heads of small crustaceans and sucking out their guts. After the crew at the party table next to us at a place called The Boiling Pot showed us how, that is. It's not often a place lets you eat with your hands, and dumps your entree out of the bowl into a pile on your table. There, Nay and I were also politely accosted by some rather rough looking guys who had taken pictures of us from the patio, and drew hearts with crayons on the glass wall separating us. Perhaps it sounds sweet, but it was actually kinda creepy.

Seeing the guys of Born In the Flood leap into a cold, cold hotel pool in their underwear, then remove said underwear, toss it to the other end of the pool, and nakedly race for it. (Spin says to think of them as a more rugged Coldplay, but I'll always think of them like this.)

Running into Jeff Klein everywhere. He's so adorable!

Finding cool prints at Flatstock to give to my adopted nieces and nephews.

A parting meal with lots of friends, bottomless mimosas, and delicious South American food before heading to the airport, where I would later be punched in the gut by a sleeping sorority girl on my flight home.

The worst part of SXSW is that towards the end, you are kind of over the thronging, drunken masses. At least, I am. The best part? Getting to check out great music, and if you're lucky, you get to do it with great friends too.

Autin - Day Four

And yes, the madness continues...

Day Four - March 21

At this point in the trek, you kind of don't care who is playing anymore. You're gonna see what you're gonna see. I already knew I wasn't going to bother trying to get to the Kanye West show that night. What? Am I crazy? Absolutely. Crazy tired of the Auto-Tune phenom no matter who is doing it. I hate robot voices. And overly dressed hipster kids. So what did I see?

Mess With Texas: thank God the good people of Austin rose up against the SXSW machine... The third (hopefully annual) Mess With Texas day fest is free to anybody who wants to hang out in the park all day and check out a heck of a lot of the great bands that played during the course of the festival. So I saw a couple acts I'd missed during the week.

I kinda fell in love with Thao Ngyuen and the Get Down Stay Down. Figures - she's from the Bay. She rocked pretty hard with her boys, and vocally reminded me a bit of Cat Power - if Cat Power were an excitable and rowdy person instead so darned morose.

Then the Vivian Girls. My brother had told me they were like a cross between the Aisler's Set and the Gossip. Or maybe he didn't. All I know is that when both Kevs and my brother told me I was missing out, I downloaded for a listen and liked it. Live, it made me think of those glorious K Records girl bands of the early '90s. You know, they all sing the same note, and they don't really ever change anything much, but they are having fun doing it in a nice indie rock way. And in this case, they brought up a whole lotta people to dance.

After cruising around the park, catching random bits of music, and getting myself a big ole snowcone, I went back to my hotel for dinner. And then to go see the Sonics. Yes! The mother-fuckin' Sonics! They were playing and it was going to be glorious... only I got the nights wrong and missed them. They played Friday. DAMN!!!

In despair, I texted some friends who were headed to see some comedy and I wound up in a giant underwater sea adventure... well, it was decorated that way, anyhow. Once you passed through the concrete sea serpents and sparkly plastic bubbles, you entered an auditorium filled with comedians! I gotta tell ya, it was the perfect palette cleanser after all the rock and roll. After a rousing set from Eugene Mirman (occasional Flight of the Conchords player), it was time to hit the road for more music.

The Duke Spirit did their rock thing at Antone's, evoking that '60s sex appeal the lady singer is so good at doing. And sounding smoky hot too. Nay had spotted her earlier in the day wearing the same outfit she wore this evening - which was topped with a glittery garage bag of a jacket that only a rock star can get away with.

And then I broke one of my SXSW rules again... I stayed for an L.A. band. But it was the Silversun Pickups, kids from my hood, folks I've had drinks with, peeps who play softball with friends. They are doing quite well for themselves and always rock the live shows - and after all the touring they've done the last couple of years, they pretty much tore the roof off the place. The music is both beautiful and rollicking, as evidenced by Drew Barrymore hurtling herself to the front of the crowd so she could sway her arms dreamily during "Lazy Eye." See? You can both hurtle AND sway to SSPU. Despite a barrage of technical difficulties and a crowd half filled with utter morons, SSPU was the absolute best way to end a long few days of Rock, Roll, and everything inbetween.

And at this point, my camera was long dead. Yet, here I am, to South By another year...

Austin - Day Three

Yesterday's highlight? Walking into Pete Townsend on the street, realizing it was Pete Townsend, turning into Porky Pig and forgetting to take a picture with him. A friend pointed out to me that he probably wouldn't have been able to hear me had I asked anyway...

Lowlight? Being approached by a random MTV street crew and asked to participate in a SXSW version of "Elimidate" with Asher Roth. "Let's make this a multi-cultural thing, because you are a pretty multi-culti lady!" Um, gross. I snuck away with my hot dog when a bunch of frat boys had surrounded Asher and started chanting "I love college!" on the street.

The day was full of parties and dead cameras, but some bands too. So now, back to the music:

Day Three - March 20

Little Boots: an adorable Brit who announced at one point during the show, "Normally we would do this rave thing right now, but we only do that after 10pm." Fun disco pop with cutesy girl vocals - a good time was had by all, even if it was one in the afternoon.

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - The Slumberland label lives up to its age old reputation with another wonderful little band, that's got all the blogs (including mine, apparently)talking. Blissfully sweet fuzzed out pop, in songs a couple minutes or less, all performed with smiles. And the lead singer even had a white cut out of a paper heart glued to his guitar. Too cute.

School of Seven Bells - Two sisters harmonizing a la Cocteau Twins with keyboards and a dude formerly from Secret Machines doing some pretty amazing guitar work. It's a soundscape thing, dreamy yet engaging, totally beautiful and hypnotizing in the best way. I fell in love with them immediately, and stayed on board the whole set.

My Jerusalem - a new project from Jeff Klein, a singer-songwriter with dark and brooding sensibilities delivered in a ferociously rock way. The band, featuring members of the Twilight Singers, Polyphonic Spree, and Great Northern, is a full throttle emotional rock and roll experience. I can't wait to hear more.

The Bird and the Bee - Ending the evening with this deliciously sarcastic electro pop was perfect. Especially when they did their sincere sing-a-long, "Fucking Boyfriend," but ended with the sweetly sincere Bee Gees tune, "How Deep Is Your Love." Everyone in the crowd swooned.

And then, to bed, to gear up for one last day...

Austin - Day Two

Oh my friends, there just isn't enough time in the day to tell you all how much music there has been in the last 24 hours. Let's just say I didn't see my hotel room for 14 hours yesterday.

So you'll have to settle with a brief re-cap for now:

Day Two - March 19th

First surprise of the day? Those Darlins. Take the country punk of the Knitters, make Exene Cervenka alot more sexy and times her by 3, and you're getting close. These gals (with a token guy banging the kit) are truly redneck women who probably also happen to love the Gossip. The three of 'em traded off vocal duties and belted it all out with mucho gusto.

The chaos of Dark Meat also left me counting the number of people performing on stage (and off) while being simultaneously covered in confetti. Rock, jams, riots, laughs all ensued. I think there were 7 or 8 people playing. I really have no idea what was happening, but it was a good time.

The Grates: One of the happiest, rowdiest Aussie bands you can hope to see. Patience, the lead vocalist, is either a little touched in the head or the most enthusiastic person on the planet; perhaps a little of both. No one could possibly look like they are having more fun while performing... She fronted her pop punk outfit with a frenzy seldom seen, and even hopped onto the shoulders of a willing male audience member for some good old fashioned ribbon twirling...

Tricky played the Fader party, and it was... well, rockin'. Which wasn't what I was expecting, because I still consider him a trip hop guy. He also licked his lips an awful lot. And rarely opened his eyes. And didn't sing as much as I expected (his back-up singer carried most of that duty). And he jumped around alot. It was a great rock show, but I wasn't really there for that, so my bad. He did end by getting into the crowd, where he stayed, causing quite a ruckus as he posed for pics with fans and such, which was nice.

Discovery of the Day!!! Efterklang! My new favorite Danish band. Another act with a hundred people on stage (besides the regular guitar-bass-drum dealio, we had a violin, trumpet, flute, 2 sets of keyboards, and a modified xylophone)that played beautiful, layered, jubilant songs with just enough drama, yet also enough lightness to balance it all out. They were absolutely captivating and I'm totally in love with all of them (and their pervy moustaches).

I ended the night with The Very Best. Otherwise known as Radioclit and Esau Mwamwaya. This is a project between a South African singer and a British DJ fusing gorgeous world rhythms and vocals with hipster beats and grooves. They were so fucking fantastic that they shut the place down... like literally. Management was pissed off at how rowdy the dance crowd got, and shut off their power. I was fortunate to be a major cause of that, as I got pulled from the floor to join a couple other girls on stage for a dance party with the DJ. We had about 5 songs to ourselves when security told us it was time to get off the stage, and that was when the MC invited everyone else up... chaos ensued. Glorious, frenzied chaos. (Fortune cookies were thrown!) It was great fun.

That's all for now... gotta hit the pavement and hope my camera doesn't die in the process...

Austin - Day One

SXSW. Spring break for the music industry? Yea, kinda. A big, musical street party featuring lots of glorious hot dogs and bands. Ultimate club hopping. Major drink swapping. Drunken ballroom moshing (kudos to 'Nay for inventing the term). A good time, in other words! At least, for me it is.

Despite wearing comfy shoes, I somehow got a blister where my squishy sandals didn't even make contact with my skin. Odd.

How did I earn said blister? Perhaps by doing the following:

Recap of Day One: March 18th

I started my day by picking up my badge and bag of swag, dropped it all off, and wandered to the Fader party to pick up the wristband that will be gracing my body for the next 4 days. I waited in line for almost an hour. (This will most likely be one of the few lines I will actually wait in). The wait was full of sunshine and spliff talk. Really. The chubby white Southern boys behind me drawled a fascinating conversation that went a little something like this:

"Dude, he said he was gonna get us in VIP after smoking a sweet spliff."

"I gotta spliff here somewhere, we should smoke that spliff."

"Yea, I rolled a sweet spliff, let's smoke that spliff."

"It's a sweet, sweet spliff! Dude, where's that spliff?"

"I think I lost the spliff! It was a sweet spliff! Look around, maybe I dropped the spliff."

"I don't see the spliff - too bad, that woulda been a sweet spliff."

"Yea, this sucks face."

How else to top such a meaningful exchange than to go see Yelle? Since her album was one of my favorites last year, I was really looking forward to seeing her (and hopefully learning how to properly pronounce her name). By the time the little French hellion took the stage, I knew I would not be disappointed. She rocked the crowd with her fist pumping French disco, demanding that dancing was a must (her bandmates wore "Dance or Die" t-shirts), and threw her stylish self wildly all over the stage, bobbed hair flailing all about her face. Sure, she sings in French so most of us had no idea what she was singing about, but I suspect there was a hell of a lot of attitude in there. Go girl!

Then, somehow, I wound up at City Hall. Turns out the mayor of Austin likes to throw parties too! This one was much more low key than most events - a singer song-writer here, a jazz band there - but I'm not one to turn down free food and booze. And then Gibson gave the dude a guitar. I've never seen a mayor receive a complimentary electric guitar before, but I'm also not one to keep track of these things.

Then on to Stubb's to settle in for a night of... well, all sorts of stuff. We started off with Ladyhawke, a kiwi sensation who has charmed the indie kids with her '80s take on indie pop, and she was just... well... boring. I really wanted to like her, seriously! But all the tunes were like one-hit wonders from B-list bands from an era that produced the glorious Xanadu soundtrack - and her lackluster performance made most of her songs sound like they'd been purposely left off said soundtrack. Oh, well...

We struggled towards the front to catch the Heartless Bastards, which were a stopgap band to the Avett Brothers (my main attraction for the night). They started off well - I like chicks who can do a hearty vocal and blues rock out with the best of 'em. But then they deteriorated into an almost metal jam band... songs got longer, solos got slower, the show felt like forever... and it cut into the next time slot, which is kinda not cool. Especially considering that this Avetts performance was the only one scheduled for SXSW.

Ah, but the Avetts...

But at last, the Avett Brothers hit the stage. With the four of them lined up impressively under the lights - Joe on cello, Bob on stand-up bass, Scott on banjo and Seth on guitar - the boys proceeded to show the crowd why they are one of the best live acts in the nation today. And I absolutely don't say that lightly. The energy poured off the stage and the crowd sang along to songs they had only just heard, with gusto. There was dancing, singing, tears, and screams all within a far too-short set. Nobody does romantic bluegrass punk old-timey music like these young boys from North Carolina. At one point, a woman in the crowd yelled, "Sing it, girl!" To which Scott, then at the drums, interjected into the song in a lovely drawl, "Yea, baby!"

From there, we moved to Emo's to see DD/MM/YYYY. This was the Toronto band's 3rd show of the day, and it was a fucked up, riotous mess. Yet a glorious one! This sweaty, skittering punkish band played with a sense of absolute anarchy - no one stayed on the same instrument for more than two songs, the harpsichord was played using a toe coming through a hole in a sock, unintentional feedback worked, and chaos reigned. They were AWESOME! During the course of the show, the patch chord caused laser like ear ringing, a drum tore, a guitar crapped out, and the singer wailed 'Everything is fucked up" while the drummer shouted "Everything's broken!" repeatedly. Yet it was a vibrant, high voltage performance - I think, if everything was working, they would have killed everyone in the room.

I wandered over to the Beauty Bar to check out Jeremy Jay. I've decided that he is the gay Franz Ferdinand boyfriend I've always wanted. His sweet minimalist disco brought to mind both the Scottish lads as well A Certain Ratio - that '80s white boy groove that was so endearing, and evidently still is. There was also a lot of minimalist disco dancing at the show, which was charming to watch.


And I'll end with a quote from an excitable man standing next to me: "Everything's disco again!" Sort of, kinda of, at least for Day One.