Down in flames...

One of the first - among many - to go was Resonance, a highly-esteemed quarterly print music magazine I interned for. Then No Depression, another well-respected Seattle rag went from print to online to - as of February - a user forum only, signaling no real journalism or paid writers. Now, say good bye to Blender. This news comes in the wake of the passing of the Seattle Post Intelligencer, a daily that had been a Northwest publishing establishment since 1864.

Kyla Fairchild, co-publisher of No Depression (who I was seated two rows behind on the plane back from Austin) posted a very thorough explanation of what's happening in the print world right now called "The Cold Hard Facts." It's worth reading if any of this snowballing and troubling news is of interest to you.

February 9th's episode of Jon Stewart's Daily Show touches on these issues also. Walter Issacson wrote an article for Time Magazine called, "How to Save Your Newspaper," and in his interview with Stewart he says, "[We] have to get away from the notion that good reporting has to be given away for free on the internet...we have to get to some system where some journalists are getting paid."

Something like this needs to happen, and happen soon if we are to be become informed exclusively through the internet. The old business model - provide a service, then get paid for it - has changed entirely because of the internet, and we've gotten used to getting everything free. But there's truly a hidden cost to "free" online stuff, and we have to restructure the way we think about online content. Free equals free. As it has been for ages, you have to pay for quality. As newspapers dwindle and magazines go under, this will undoubtedly only become more and more obvious.

To see the interview with Walter Issacson, go here.

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.

Seattle Soundbite, Thursday March 19th

For many of us working in creative mediums, a part-time job in the food service industry will carry us through the leaner times of our professional lives. In a music city like Seattle, with a full-fledged gastro-culture to boot, thousands of musicians, artists and writers moonlight as servers and bartenders as a way to make ends meet.

Seattle Soundbite is the fund raising take on the lifestyle: bands perform, participating restaurants offer street style food and we all delight in the stipulation that performing bands need to have at least one member working within the food service industry. This year's event will be held Thursday, March 19th at the Showbox SoDo. It's $15 and the Helio Sequence headlines. (Proving that even signed Sub Pop acts still have to schlep pasta for a living.) Other acts on the bill: Bird Show of North America, Sue Quigley, Doctor Doctor, Puget Sound System, Truce and DJ Reflex. Proceeds benefit the Washington Restaurant Association, The Vera Project and Pro Start.

Foodies rejoice - participating restaurants include: Barrio, Cantinetta, Crémant, OddFellows, Palace Kitchen, Pike Street Fish Fry, Purple Cafe & Wine Bar, Quinn's, Ray's Café, Red Door, Serafina, Tango and Via Tribunali.

More information about Seattle Soundbite can be found here.

The Gits & Home Alive

As a music writer living in a city with a rich and storied music scene, every now and then I'll check out various films and documentaries about Seattle's ongoing role in the music world in an attempt to educate myself. Last week I watched The Gits, the 2005 documentary about the post-punk group and the 1993 brutal rape and murder of their lead singer Mia Zapata.
For me, a non-native Seattleite, these kind of movies promote a better understanding of historical events that took place before I moved here, and The Gits fit the bill. Grunge-era names are dropped, venues and shows referenced, and among the film's many touching moments: the mention of non-profit organization Home Alive, the self-defense studio Zapata's friends created in response to her murder. Sadly, after 16 years, Home Alive is closing within the month. Lack of funding and debt is to blame.

This news aside, for anyone with an interest in Seattle music history, I recommend The Gits. I had heard of Zapata but never grasped how universally loved and respected she was within the music community and beyond until now. Concert footage shows Zapata's amped, electric performances, her voice commanding and gravelly; friends and family remember her loving spirit and offbeat goofiness. Home Alive says: "Mia was a living, thriving, raging testimony of the power of unleashed artistic expression."

Curse of the rising star: she was 27 at the time of her death.