i realize some of you have never been to sxsw and probably wonder, “how is that you get to see all these bands in such a short amount of time?”

the official sxsw showcases take place during the evening. bands play at specific hourly time slots, starting at 8PM and ending at 1AM. this is to allow people to see bands at different venues without too much complication. one of the nice things about the event is that 95% of the venues are located on or around 6th street, which allows for attendees to get to venues in an incredibly short amount of time. another plus to the venues is that 6th street between I-35 and South Congress is shut down by the police, allowing people to walk in the street, which helps when there’s about 8000 attendees running around.

parties are held in the afternoons, but are not part of sxsw. they’re paid for by other organizations: in most cases a label, but a lot of them are put on by booking agencies, magazines, etc. parties generally end around 6PM so that venues can clean up and prepare for the evening showcases. since they’re not advertised on the sxsw website, you have to keep your ears to the ground and eyes open. the people who put them together also send out invites ahead of time. there’s a couple sites out there that post information about them as well.

lastly, there are instores. once again, theyre not affliated with sxsw. bands play these as well. so, more chances to see bands.

the good thing about having both means you get more chances to see bands. if you miss out on a band because they’re playing a showcase up against another band you want to see, chances are they will play an afternoon party. with a little effort and some good scheduling skills, you’ll have no problem getting to see most of the things you want.

it figures – the day i leave for texas, the weather sucks. royally. the last few weeks in philadelphia have been really beautiful [or at their worst, bearable] but on tuesday it decided to rain and show simultaneously. for those who have never experienced this type of weather, its akin to wandering around in a gigantic slurpee.

i took the train down to BWI airport and waited for my plane. there’s nothing like staying up all night for a 6 a.m. flight that makes you notice strange things. like how the ad campaign for microsoft’s mobile products is super creepy. there’s always one person in the piece and it looks like theyre being watched by some unknown person. [not us, i feel like we’re watching this from the outside] or not. perhaps i was projecting my own late-night paranoia on it!

i was asleep before the plane took off, so i cant tell you much about the flight. but thats a good thing – im a horrible flyer. the less i remember about it, the better!

wish i could say the same about my transfer in houston. now, for those who dont know, i am not a fan of this city: its huge, home to horrible wealthy people and evil companies. oh, and everyone seemingly drives a lexus. upon landing, i discovered their airport is named after george bush sr and in the middle of it there’s a huge bronze statue of the man.

i met up with amy and dan at the gate for our flight to austin. we arrived to gigantic blue skies and lovely warm weather. i was horribly overdressed in my typical east coast all black.

amy and i headed to our hotel, where we discovered upon check in that our room was not cleaned! we fixed that one fast. then it was off to the convention center and time to orient ourselves downtown.

we met up with dan at the convention center and headed to chuy’s. if i correctly recall, the bush twins were caught trying to use fake id’s here. while waiting for our table, we replenished our empty stomachs on their freshly made chips and salsa. i had my first beer of the trip, shiner bock.

ill write about my first night of shows next.

if you havent heard by now, dave blood of the dead milkmen, committed suicide. you can read about it here, posted by dave’s sister kathy.

his presence will be missed by many, including myself. the dead milkmen meant a lot to me – they made punk rock but they made it funny, accessible and inclusive. their music holds its own all these years later and not only were they one of the best philly bands EVER, they were one of the best american bands.

in retrospect, it went OK. at the time though, i was stressing out because the turnout was poor. as you know, we need to have enough people sign up and it has to be divisible by 4. that just wasnt happening – we were always one person short, and then i gave up, gave in: i joined.

now i know what you’re thinking, “isnt that a bit unfair for the organizer to play?” sure, it totally is. people will accuse things of being rigged, and whatnot. so i left some crucial decisions to sara. one thing she’s in charge of is picking the judges and i am not allowed to know who they are. my defense? more people should have joined rock lotto, otherwise i wouldnt play!

so yeah, the bands are set and done. i had to allow people who werent present at the drawing in to make the correct number. we have 4 bands.

now, you know whats not fair? that im in a band with 2 of my friends: adam and carolynne. adam plays in this radiant boy and carolynne plays as a solo person now. [but before that, she played in april disaster.] sean is the final member of the band and i dont know veyr much about him. he’s an 18 year old engineering student at drexel with a love of john fahey and rainier maria. he has a minor in music theory, which means he’s the only one of us who knows how to read notes or wont give a blank stare when the phrase “augmented fifth” is uttered.

why do i think my band is unfairly weighted in my favor? well, half of the band are my friends. people are definately going to think i rigged that. [remember, i drew the names out of a big box.] i dont have to worry about the uneasiness that comes when playing with strangers. we’re all pretty much on the same musical page. there’s not going to be any fights over creative direction. this is more like playing with friends than a challenge.

nonetheless, i was excited to get cracking on music. ill talk about our first practice next time.

The Philadelphia Independent FINALLY comes to the internet with FlossDAILY. in this week’s issue, TRB gets slagged

It’s up to you: You can see This Radiant boy at the Khyber, or you can shell out the extra cash for a few hours of the kind of sounds that colonize your brain and make you like it.

plain parade gets a plug, like we havent had that enough this week

The great people at Plain Parade bring you another night of rock and roll music in what has been aptly described as a space straight out of a Richard Linklater movie.

check it out. i love this paper, you should too.

today on my drive to work: the brian lehrer show talks about the grey album and how laws define/restrict/etc modern artmaking. anyone who’s visited the illegal art website or exhibition would have enjoyed it.

then, when i hit the halfway mark on my drive, i switched to radio times and their topic was indecency on the airwaves, protection of the first amendment and how the FCC resolves conflicts.

it should have been the sign of a good day, but im here at work, sick as anything. i hate being at the mercy of yo-yoing weather.

ill be on wprb this sunday, covering a shift.

10PM - 1AM, listen in.

philadelphia, as seen in the world lomography project.

this post was brought to you in honor of purchasing a new holga.

yesterday a signed copy of superchunk’s tower EP arrived in the mail. i was just expecting a t-shirt! [i got that too]

merge records made a very sad week a lot more brighter.

also: matt ransford’s superchunk site is still as good as any modern site. i get fetal over reading the old superchunk international(e) email updates. remember when this is how you got your music information? remember when mailing lists mattered?

Fluxblog has great mp3s.