SXSW, Bill Murray & Me

South by Southwest was a whirlwind. Here's me stretching with Bill "Ghost-bustin' Ass" Murray as a group of us waited for our delayed flights out of Austin. We ran into him stretching his legs over a trash/recycling receptacle and pretty much tagged teamed the poor guy for some photos. He looked dead hungover, but was gracious in the moment and chatted with us about the festival and where we were headed from Austin. As it happens, he made quite a few rounds at SXSW this year. Here's a video of the famous actor tending bar at the Shangri-La: Bartendin' Bill Murray.

That's Lizeth Santos in the second photo. She's the wife of Rafter Roberts, and one-woman cocktail drum kit playing extraordinaire, Smile Now Cry Later. She gave me her EP, and Rafter gave me a few records, including his new one. I ended up reviewing it (quite favorably!) for San Diego CityBeat. Great indie dance pop. Here's the review: Rafter: Animal Feelings.

I ended up doing a house swap this year. My new friend Sara stayed at my place in Seattle, and I had her nice house in north Austin all to myself to write and re-write. Which is pretty much what I did for the good part of the day, and when I was through, I went into the city to see all the music and meet up with friends.

I had a single assignment due each day: one artist interview. I had my pick of hundreds of artists, but chose the following four, a diverse bunch. You can read them - and my SXSW wrap up - here:

Basia Bulat: Interview, SXSW
Imaad Wasif: Interview, SXSW
Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson: Interview, SXSW
Blue Scholars: Interview, SXSW
Overheard at SXSW: A Week's Worth of Random Quotes

Shortly after my interview with Imaad Wasif, the apple I gave him during our interview turned up in LA Weekly (along with a snarky comment about my tape recorder). You can read the blog post here: Imaad and The Apple.

Oh, my goodness. The random places and people and things that converge in Austin in March. It's just bananas. More for you soon!

Back from SXSW

Hello everyone. As most of you know, I've recently returned from Austin, Texas where I was covering the South by Southwest music festival. I had the time of my life and despite all the music, beer and general goings-on, somehow managed to send off an assignment a day for Prefixmag.com.

If you'd like to live vicariously through me and my coveted press badge, here's a map, starting at day 1.

SXSW Missive: Day 1
SXSW Missive: Day 2
SXSW Missive: Day 3
SXSW Missive: Day 4
SXSW Missive: Final Thoughts

At the prompting of Quincy Jones at his keynote speech, I visited his website to sign a petition to install a Secretary of the Arts. I was startled to find Prefix mentioned twice there, in quoted excerpts from my Day 2 missive. You can read all about it and watch a video of the amazing Alfredo Rodriguez here: 3.23 SXSW Recap.

I hope you all have some time to read through the series, comment if you like and get an idea of what it was all about.

SXSW - Showcasin' Cheat Sheet

I leave for Austin tomorrow and am happy to report that the list I compiled of every day party you never wanted to know about at South by Southwest is up at Prefix. You can read it here: 2009 SXSW Showcasin' Cheat Sheet.

Looks like it will be 70's and 80's this week - a nice change from the cold, rainy Pacific Northwest.

From Wednesday on, you can keep up with my Texas shenanigans at Prefixmag.com where I'll be posting a daily blog entry. I'll try to link Scrimshaw with the daily Prefix posts, but can't say for sure if I'll be able to pull that off. They say attending SXSW is like swimming in a pool of free beer - not the best conditions for staying on task, but a hell of a lot of fun. Whether it's here or at Prefix, I'll be keeping you posted.

SXSW 2009: 10 Bands to Watch

I'm sorry it's taken me this long to get back to Scrimshaw. I've been scouring press releases and doing a lot of research and scheduling in preparation for South by Southwest. One of my contributions just went up on Prefix - it's a list of 10 bands on the rise. You can read it here: 10 Bands to Watch.

I've compiled a giant document with all the minutiae of just about every day party in Austin - that will be up shortly, too, and I'll send a link along.

More news to come soon, honest!

SxSeattle Send Off Party Friday, March 6

On Friday, March 6th a handful of Seattle area bands headed to Austin for South by Southwest will play a send off showcase 9 pm at the Tractor. Champagne Champage, New Faces, Hey Marseilles, Battle Hymns round out the bill. Tickets for this 21 and over show are $8 and are available at Sonic Boom or through the Tractor.

The SxSeattle party in Austin will be held March 21st from 12-6 at the Palm Door. For more information and to RSVP (it's a free all ages event), go here.

Throbbing Gristle headlines Coachella

Holy Crap! Throbbing Gristle! Coachella! Then The Sonics and DEVO at SXSW! I'm not a crusty music snob, and I love the ever evolving shape of modern music, but it's nice to witness a little reverence here and there as new forms take their cues from the old.

The Sonics are a band from Tacoma and were at their height in the 60's playing Kinks-inspired garage rock. They had a number of big hits: "The Witch," "Psycho" and "Strychnine," and then pretty much fell off the map. Lately they've been making a comeback and played their first live show after almost 40 years last Halloween to a packed house here at the Paramount Theater in Seattle.

Throbbing Gristle is an electronic group formed in London back in the mid 70's. You can hear the influence of their sound (and other late 70's industrial groups like Can and Cabaret Voltaire), in bands like Portishead with similar droning beats and electronic programming. TG are performance artists as well, and were known to shock their audience (and critics) with raunchy stage antics. It will be interesting to see what kind of energy they bring to Coachella, 30+ years from their heyday.

Check out the official Coachella lineup here: 2009 Coachella Lineup.

Read my review of Portishead's Third here: Portishead: Third

.

Elvis Perkins

I love Jim Jarmusch movies, and when I first heard about Elvis Perkins, the one thing that came to mind was a recurring scene from the movie Mystery Train involving a pair of teenage Japanese tourists on a visit to Memphis who argue again and again (albeit in a very quiet, respectful Japanese way) over the real king of rock: Elvis Presley or Carl Perkins.

Much to my hopeful conjecture, Perkins' name is not a cross between the two, nor is there a lot of rockabilly or boogie rhythm in his music, but he does have an interesting back story. Elvis Perkins is the son of actor Anthony Perkins (famous for his role as Norman Bates in Hitchcock's Psycho) and Life Magazine photographer Berry Berenson, who died in the September 11 attacks.

Despite his background, Elvis Perkins has flown below my radar until just recently, when I heard some of the tracks from his debut album Ash Wednesday, and "Shampoo," the single from his forthcoming album Elvis Perkins in Dearland. Admittedly, my taste in music leans towards the singer-songwriter set, and I can't help but love the soulful, unhurried, honest quality of his singing. His new album comes out 3/10, and I mentioned earlier that I'm looking forward to seeing him at SXSW, but he'll be in Seattle at the Tractor Tavern about a week before the festival on March 9th. Going to try to make that show.

At any rate, here's the source of my tangential frame of reference: The Great Mystery Train Debate (That's John Lurie's original score you hear briefly in the background.) And here's some Elvis Perkins for you: Elvis Perkins' Homepage.

Trying things out...

I've resisted the urge to start a blog for a while now. I've been pretty turned off at the whole self-celebrating aspect of personal blogging - it's flashy, and borderline passive-aggressive. There are so many voices clambering away out there without that much to say.

But after seven years as a music writer, I'm still struggling to find steady work. Newspapers and magazines are folding, and jobs in print media and music criticism aren't exactly in high demand.

So, allow me to present to you:

Scrimshaw: A blog about music, and Seattle, and the places where these things intersect in my life.

First up:

I'm going to SXSW for the first time this year. I'm stoked to see any combination of the following: The Sonics, Elvis Perkins, Fol Chen, Tiny Vipers, Amy Annelle, DEVO, WAAVES, St. Vincent, Rafter, Akron/Family, Tom Brosseau, Samantha Crain, Japanese Motors, Grand Archives, Andrew Bird, some other bands, and your mom.

Didn't she tell you she was going?

Though I'm still working my way through the official SXSW showcasing band list, I've come to learn that Rachel Ray will be hosting her second SXSW party this year, and that among others, the Hold Steady is rumored to headline. I don't really know what to say about this, except that Brooklyn Vegan reported the news, and I enjoyed the feedback: Rachel Ray @ SXSW.

PS: This blog's a newborn with lots of growing to do. Just be like sushi and roll with it, please.