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Thursday, March 19, 2009
Scene report: The Hold Steady at Found Magazine day show
In a slightly sad bit of production, comedian Andy Kindler, who is often quite funny, took the stage minutes before The Hold Steady to “warm up” the crowd with some jokes. The crowd got heated, but probably not in the intended fashion. One fan threw something at the self-effacing comedian as he stumbled through five awkward minutes before introducing the band.
The band took the stage and frontman Craig Finn immediately had the crowd worked into a frenzy, as the band romped through “Constructive Summer.” Finn, despite his grad school looks, has as much swagger and energy as anyone you will see at SXSW, and he had the crowd in the palm of his hand, as the band delivered electric shocks through the sweaty crowd in the forms of “Multitude of Causalities,” “Navy Sheets,” and the set’s highlight, “Sequestered in Memphis,” which had the crowd soul clapping and singing along to the chorus: “Subpoenaed in Texas, sequestered in Memphis.”
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On the streets: Chatting with Annie Clark of St. Vincent
I ran into the amazingly talented Annie Clark (St. Vincent) this afternoon on Seventh Street. Hot on the heels of her widely praised show at Central Presbyterian, Clark was incredibly humble when I told her of the rave reviews I had been hearing since last night. The bill at the church last night, which included Anni Rossi, M. Ward, Department of Eagles and Camera Obscura, was so hot that I thought Twitter was going to melt at one point.
When I told Clark that people had been howling ever since, she — very modestly — said that was “silly.”
Clark’s new album “Actor,” which comes out on 4AD in May, has been called a “mindblower” by the Statesman’s Michael Corcoran, and many expect it will be one of the year’s best.
The lithe woman who knows how to shred said she had just come from seeing the Dirty Projectors at a day show. She cutely said that the Brooklyn-based band, which plays a showcase at 9 p.m. Thursday at Emo’s, totally owned and “ruled it so hard core.” Clark also said she was planning to return to the church tonight to see Grizzly Bear perform at 8:30 p.m. That show will be packed beyond belief, so go early or go somewhere else.
St. Vincent plays again at midnight Friday at Antone’s at the Billions Corporation showcase.
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Review: Andrew Bird at ‘Austin City Limits’
(Wednesday, ‘Austin City Limits’ studio)
Whether he is playing solo, with a drummer or accompanied by a full band, there are things you know you can expect when Chicago’s Andrew Bird takes the stage: enigmatic lyrics, artful whistling and layered loops of sonic strings.
Bird treated a near-capacity crowd at the Austin City Limits studios Wednesday night to a beautiful hour-long set. Looking like the TA in one of your college poetry classes, dressed in shock red pants and a bulky knitted scarf, Bird wasted no time setting his aural landscape, as he plucked and bowed his violin and then set the sounds on a loop while whistling over them and quickly discarding his shoes during a dreamy introduction that gave way to the Russian folksiness of “Why.” His sultry delivery of the lyrics “you’ll get your punishments when you show me your crimes,” had Bird sounding like a man lustily talking the ghost of a former lover into a corner of a darkened bedroom. Indeed, part of the beauty of Bird’s live performance comes from hearing the singer jazzily play with his lyrics, reshaping the songs from his albums.
Following “Why,” Bird’s band joined him for the Native American sounding beginning of “Masterswarm” that hit the road and morphed into some kind of gypsy love song. After the jaunty “Fitz and Dizzy Spells,” Bird thanked the crowd for the thrill of being able to play for them at ACL and admitted that he was “coming to like Austin more and more.” (Bird was here just last month at the Paramount Theatre.)
The brief 11-song set was highlighted by the Irish ballad sounds of “Effigy” that mutated into a country epilogue by song’s end and the rollicking “Fake Palindromes.”
Bird closed the set with a little help from the audience, enlisting their aide on the chorus of “Table and Chairs,” which rose like a tribal anthem of angels before turning softly into a gentle lullaby and floating off into the night like so many musical hummingbirds.
Andrew Bird plays a SXSW showcase at Stubb’s Thursday night at 11 p.m. Bird’s show was the second of ACL’s new season, which will air in the fall on KLRU.
Setlist from Andrew Bird @ ACL Studios, 03.18.09
- Intro
- “Why”
- “Masterswarm”
- “Fitz and Dizzy Spells”
- “Effigy”
- “Oh no”
- “Nervous Tic Motion (of the head to the left)”
- “Anonanimal”
- “Mitosis”
- “Natural Disaster”
- “Fake Palindromes”
- Tables and Chairs”
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Your A-List: Best locally produced beer, liquor or wine
Tito Bevridge (real name) may be a geologist by education, but fortunately for us he also has a love of vodka, one that led him to leave the oil and gas, and later the mortgage, world to devote his time to making some of the best vodka on the planet. With 44 percent of the vote, Tito’s Handmade Vodka is this year’s Your A-List winner for best locally produced beer, wine or liquor.
Tito had made a name for himself among his friends by making small batches of flavored vodka as holiday gifts. Once he realized how much people loved what he was putting out, he decided to get into the business whole hog. Self-taught, he fooled with recipes and made his own stern, and eventually opened the first legal distillery in Texas. A labor of love, Tito put countless hours into perfecting his vodka and getting his company up and running. In 1997, Tito cranked out 1,000 cases, a number which has jumped to around a quarter-million now.
It may look like a plain o’l bottle, but that was the idea. He wanted to save costs on fancy packaging and carved bottles and pass the savings on to the consumer in the form of a vodka so smooth, you can drink it straight without a wince. The vodka is made from 100% corn, distilled six times and filtered through activated carbon, making it one of the best tasting vodkas in this or any other country.
What started on a make-shift distillery outside of town has led to a spirits phenomenon, and you can find people drinking Tito’s all over the country now. Thanks to strong grassroots, marketing, a tireless work ethic, an affable persona and, of course, a damn fine vodka, Tito has created quite juggernaut.
Others receiving votes
- Real Ale Brewing, 17 percent
- Live Oak Brewing Co,. 12 percent
- Dripping Springs Vodka, 7 percent
- Independence Brewing Co., 4 percent
- Draught House, 4 percent
- Uncle Billy’s, 4 percent
- Paula’s Texas Orange, 3 percent
- Alamosa wines, 2 percent
- Caprock wines, 1 percent
- Savvy Vodka, 1 percent
- Treaty Oak Rum, <1 percent
- Orf beer, <1 percent
- Write-in: Driftwood Winery Estate
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Your A-List: Best spot to catch a Central Texas sunset?
Others receiving votes
- The Oasis, 28 percent
- Mount Bonnell, 14 percent
- Lake Travis, 6 percent
- Downtown skyscrapers, 4 percent
- Loop 360 scenic overlook, 4 percent
- Hula Hut, 3 percent
- UT Tower, 2 percent
- Zilker Park, 2 percent
- Pennybacker Bridge, 1 percent
- Write-in: Driftwood Winery Estate
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