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Thursday, March 12, 2009
Erykah Badu’s band added to free SXSW show
Erykah Badu’s Cannabinoids have been confirmed to play Auditorium Shores Saturday March 21 at 7 p.m. Explosions In the Sky couldn’t ask for a hipper opening act.
The show is free and open to the public.
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SXSW: Watch some panels, music showcases live online
Ustream.tv has set up a SXSW studio at The Belmont and will be live-streaming multiple panels and music showcases throughout the festival.
The shows can be watched on the Ustream site or on Austin360.com. The Ustream player is also available to embed on other sites.
The schedule, subject to change, is below.
Friday, March 13
4:30 to 5:30 p.m. — Are You Really Experienced?, a music/tech all-star panel
5:30 to 6:30 p.m. — Adele
6:30 to 7 p.m. — Are You Really Experienced?, a music/tech all-star panel, and Adele
7 to 7:30 p.m. — Set the Film Free
7:30 to 8 p.m. — Are We Humans, Or Are We Bloggers?
8 to 9 p.m. — We Are the People: Gov. 2.0, Empowering Constitutes and Governments
9 to 9:30 p.m. — Jake Dilley and the Color Pharmacy
9:30 10:30 p.m. — Meet The Ustream Studio Team
10:30 p.m. to 1 a.m. — Special live music
Saturday, March 14
4 to 5 p.m. — Are You Really Experienced?, a music/tech all-star panel
5 to 6 p.m. — Emerging Idea Lab
6 to 7 p.m. — We Are the Futures: Big Thinkers Searching for Solutions
7 to 8 p.m. Set the Film Free
8 to 8:30 p.m. — Jake Dilley and the Color Pharmacy
8:30 to 9 p.m. — TBA
9 to 10 p.m. — Our World in Motion
11 p.m. to 1 a.m. — Special live performances
Sunday, March 15
3 to 4 p.m. — Emerging Idea Lab
4 to 5 p.m. Are You Really Experienced?, a music/tech all-star panel
5 to 5:30 p.m. — We Are the Futures: Big Thinkers Searching for Solutions
5:30 to 6 p.m. — We Are the People: Gov. 2.0, Empowering Constitutes and Governments
6 to 7 p.m. — Our World in Motion
7 to 8 p.m. — Set the Film Free
8 to 8:30 p.m. Jake Dilley and the Color Pharmacy
8:30 to 9 p.m. — TBA
Monday, March 16
3 to 4 p.m. — Are We Humans, Or Are We Bloggers?
4 to 5 p.m. — Are You Really Experienced?, a music/tech all-star panel
5 to 6 p.m. — Emerging Idea Lab
6 to 7 p.m. — Set the Music Free
7 to 8 p.m. — Set the Film Free
8 to 8:30 p.m. — We Are the People: Gov. 2.0, Empowering Constitutes and Governments
8:30 to 9 p.m. — TBA
9 to 9:30 p.m. — Ustream Meetup
9:30 to 11 p.m. — The Jeff ‘The Dude’ Experience
11 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. — Special live performances
Tuesday, March 17
2 to 3 p.m. — Green with Envy with Pat Green
4 to 5 p.m. — From the Land of 10,000 Bands with Roster McCabe, Daughter of The Sun
5 to 6 p.m. — Are You Really Experienced?, a music/tech all-star panel
6 to 7 p.m. — Emerging Idea Lab
7 to 8 p.m. Our World in Motion
8 to 8:30 p.m. Jake Dilley and the Color Pharmacy
8:30 to 9 p.m. — TBA
9 to 10:45 p.m. — Peter Himmelman’s Furious World
11 p.m. to 1 a.m. —Spirit 76, Heatbox, Cloud Cult, Doom Tree
Wednesday, March 18
3 to 4 p.m. — Are You Really Experienced?, a music/tech all-star panel
4 p.m. to ??? — Special live performances
Thursday, March 19
3 to 4 p.m. — Are You Really Experienced?, a music/tech all-star panel
5 to 7 p.m. — Meet and greet with USA Today’s Pop Candy blogger
7 to 8 p.m. — Special live performances
8 to 8:45 p.m. — Stereogum
9 p.m. to ??? — Saddle Creek Records
Friday, March 20
Noon to 6 p.m. — The Bridges, Death on Two Wheels, Sarah Borges, Indigo Girls
3 to 4 p.m. — Are You Really Experienced?, a music/tech all-star panel
5 to 6 p.m. — Indigo Girls
7 to 8 p.m. — Abalone Dots (Sweden)
8 to 9 p.m. Rachel Goodrich
9 to 10 p.m. — Chris Pierce
11 p.m. to midnight — Into the Presence
Saturday, March 21
12:50 to 1 p.m. — Live update from Ustream Studio
1 to 5 p.m. — Hotel Cafe Showcase (via Gibson showroom). Artists confirmed so far include Meiko, Cary Brothers, Chris Pierce, Jim Bianco and Greg Laswell.
3 to 4 p.m. — Are You Really Experienced?, a music/tech all-star panel
4 to 8 p.m. — Special live guests
8 to 8:45 p.m. — Fake Problems
9 to 9:45 p.m. — The Von Bondies
10:00 to 10:45 p.m. — Favorite Gentlemen Records
11 to 11:45 p.m. — Manchester Orchestra
Midnight to 12:45 p.m. — Glasvegas
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Behind the SXSW Buzz: John Cruz
Hawaiian singer-songwriter John Cruz is used to hearing calls for “Island Style,” his 1996 song that has become an anthem of easy life and family love back home. But when it was relayed to Cruz at a January show in D.C. that a homesick Hawaii native wanted to hear it, the request was something special. It’s not every day the President of the United States wants to hear a song you wrote. Cruz and his friend Jack Johnson sang “Island Style” for Barack Obama at an Inaugural ball.
“It’s just unreal that a guy from Hawaii is the president,” says Cruz, who grew up in Oahu, one of 12 children. “The hope is that now more national attention will be coming to Hawaii. We’re not just about hula girls and Don Ho.” Cruz says that, growing up in the shadow of Waikiki hotels, songwriting was not encouraged for up-and-coming musicians. “The only way to make money playing music was to do covers,” he says. “You don’t get acceptance for originality, but by how much you can sound like the guy who had the hit.”
Meanwhile, local radio stations play more “Jawaiian”- reggae played by Hawaiian musicians- than the indigenous music.
But that’s changing. New coffeehouses and original music venues are cropping up among the musical tourist traps. “There’s a cool underground scene going on,” he says. “Look at the bands coming to South by Southwest. None of us play what you would call Hawaiian music.”
Adding elements of slack key, slide guitar and falsetto vocals to his contemporary sound, Cruz, 45, is perhaps the most Hawaiian sounding of the five-act Aloha State contingent, which includes One Right Turn, featuring his two younger sisters and an assist from father Ernie Cruz. The surname comes from Guam, though John Cruz is often thought to be Hispanic. “When I played in Mexico recently, someone was surprised I didn’t know the language,” he says with a laugh. “I said, ‘man we don’t speak Spanish in Palolo Valley.”
His dream as a young man was to move to New York City to play music. While a freshman at the University of Hawaii he saw that the school had an exchange program with the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and Cruz transferred. After college, he moved to Manhattan, where he busked in subways and got gigs at places like the Bitter End and the Life Café in the East Village.
Cruz had no real intention of moving back to Hawaii- which can be a suffocating place for a songwriter - but he returned in 1995 to help his brother make a record and has been there since.
On “one small kine” budget he made “Acoustic Soul,” the record with “Island Style,” which has sold 100,000 copies in Hawaii, but very little elsewhere. The song is still played in the Islands on Top 40, adult contemporary, oldies and Hawaiian music stations.
Last year, Cruz released the self-produced “One of These Days,” which uses top Los Angeles sessions players. “Missing You” hit big in the Islands, though the LP aims much further.
“It’s hard for a Hawaiian to break out in the mainland,” he says. “We’re just so isolated and behind the times. That’s why we we all so thrilled when Barack Obama became the president. It just shows you that although it’s hard to make it on a national level from Hawaii, it can be done.”
John Cruz will be playing at Roy’s Hawaiian restaurant every night during SXSW, but his official showcase is 1 a.m. Friday March 20 at Submerged (333 E. 2nd St.)
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My Bloody Valentine at Austin Music Hall.
No, really. The legends of shoegaze will be here April 21. Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased here.
You might want to hurry.
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Metallica confirmed at SXSW: Austin Chronicle
Austin Powell of the Austin Chronicle says he’s received confirmation from the Metallica camp that the metal superstars will indeed be playing Stubb’s on Friday March 20 at 10 p.m. as part of the “Guitar Hero: Metallica” showcase. The Chronicle founded SXSW in 1987.
Roland Swenson of SXSW was not too happy with Thursday’s “Off the Record” scoop, however. “He didn’t get it from us,” Swenson said. “We were told not to confirm anything and we’re sticking by that.”
OK, so hypothetically, let’s say everyone believes that stadium headliner Metallica is going to play Stubb’s, a venue that holds only 2,100. Is there going to be any way the average fan can get in? Swenson said it will be standard SX policy, with badges and wristbands getting priority. There will also be a line for those willing to pay cover, but admission will be based on space availability.
It promises to be pure insanity. But here’s the good news: Stubb’s is an outdoor venue. Fans will be able to hear the band all the way to Hyde Park.
Powell said he got the confirmation two days ago and notified SXSW organizers that he planned to print it, but never heard back from them.
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Weekend Picks: Epic guitar rock, noise and crunch and pre-fest fests
FRIDAY
Nothing Sucks Anymore, Again Fest at Club 1808. This is what I like to see: A one-night festival, also known as a show with a lot of bands on it. A nice cross-section of the Austin underground here with spacey oddball Caliban Goodbrain, drum machine rockers Cry Blood Apache, Followed by Static, Harlem, Jana Hunter and more. 8 p.m. $5. —-Joe Gross
Also recommended
- Balmorhea at Ballet Austin
- Southern Culture on the Skids at the Continental Club
- AMODA Digital Showcase at the Mohawk
SATURDAY
Yeast by Sweet Beast 2009. The first of three nights of noise and crunch, the sound of electricity bent and twisted into shapes man was not meant to know. The Saturday shows are at Salvage Vanguard Theater and feature sets from ST37, Balaclava, Future Blondes, Great Tyrant, Bee vs. Moth and more on the main stage. Side stage highlights include Muzak John, the Watchers and Xathax. Sunday and Monday nights show are at Plush. Sunday bands include Plutonium Farmers FM Campers and more. On Monday (among others): Laundry Room Squelchers and Low Red Center Music. Shows start at 7 p.m. Saturday, 8 p.m. Sunday and Monday. $5. 2803 Manor Road. 474-7886. — J.G.
Also recommended
- The Hex Dispensers, Finally Punk, Manikin at Emo’s
- the Black at Antone’s Records (2 p.m.)
- Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears, White Denim, American Princes at the Red Eyed Fly
SUNDAY
The Gunslingers at Beerland. Blown-out guitar rock epic straight from … France? Yes, France. While most of the United States associates French rock and pop with Johnny Halliday, Serge Gainsbourg and, say, Daft Punk, France has always had a vigorous rock underground. Gunslingers leader Gregory Raimo finishes off great swaths of punk overload as he swings his mighty ax into his amp. We should all place our heads in his path. Check out their amazingly good ‘No More Invention’ album for the full story. Live, it should be a blast. With Dikes of Holland and Woodgrain. 711 Red River St. 479-7625. — J.G.
Also recommended
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Nah Right at SXSW
Hip-hop blog don (and highly entertaining Twitterer) Eskay from the seriously influential MP3 blog Nah Right has moved past his perception of SXSW as a fest for (ahem) “white rocker people who wear flip flops”. Nah Right, along with The Smoking Section will host a side party which will likely be the definitive unofficial hip-hop event of the fest. Scheduled performers include Mickey Factz, Blu & Exile, Curren$y, Brother Ali, Charles Hamilton, Buff1, Blue Scholars, Tanya Morgan, Black Spade, Nato Caliph & Rockwell Knuckles and more. Surprise guests will, no doubt, drop in. The party is at Peckerheads on Sixth and will go down all day long on Friday, March 20. RSVP here to get on the list.
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