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Monday, March 23, 2009
Mel Brown 1939- 2009
Former Austinite Mel Brown, the lomgtime Bobby Blue Bland guitarist who mentored many Austin guitarists in the 1980s, has died at age 69. Wearing a trademark straw hat, Brown often sat in on organ as well as guitar in the Antone’s house band at the 2915 Guadalupe St. location.
In recent years Brown lived recorded and worked in Kitchener, Ontario, where he passed away leaving behind his long time wife Angel.
“Antone’s and the many musicians who have played here and with him and friends of Antone’s express our sincere sadness for the loss of a great blues man and friend,” was a statement release Monday by the club.
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NIN, Jane’s coming to Austin 5/12
Nine Inch Nails and Jane’s Addiction will be playing the Erwin Center May 12, it was announced today. Tickets go on sale Saturday at 10 a.m. at all Texas Box Office locations (including HEB locations).
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Imaginary conversation concerning leaked ACL headliners
C3 source: Oh, man. I just saw the lineup for ACL Fest. It’s gonna be huge, man. We’ve got P-Jam, the B-Boys the Kings and GLO as headliners.
Friend: GLO? Ghostland Observatory?
C3 source: No, no. It’s a new local supergroup with Johnie Goudie, Black Joe Lewis and Carla Olson. GLO. I heard T-Bone wants to produce them.
Friend: Well, the Kings of Leon oughta be great.
C3 source: No, not those Kings. We’ve got the Kings X. Hot on the comeback trail.
Friend: The Beastie Boys will tear it up, man.
C3 source: Beastie Boys? No, the B- Boys, the Beach Boys, man. Classic rock in Zilker Park (singing) “fun, fun, fun, til her daddy takes her T-Bird awa-hay.” And then to end it all, there’s P- Jam.
Friend: Pearl Jam?
C3 source: Yeah, Pearl Jam.
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SXSW: Too many townies?
Hmmm. Just got off the phone with someone who reinforced what I’d been thinking. At times downtown during SXSW it seemed that the number of uncredentialed civilians to badgies and wristies was about 47- 1. The Levi’s/ Fader Fort gave out 17,000 wristbands and on the occasions I looked at the lines that stretched down E. Fifth St., not even bothering to get out of the car, there were many more folks without badges than with.
Sorry, Austin. Love ya, but the bands aren’t flying it at their own expense from all over the world to play for a room full of tattooed daycare workers and hip spring breakers who knew enough to rsvp online and overstate their music biz affiliations. (“I’m in band offspring management.”)
Can’t blame anybody for wanting to get as much out of SXSW as they can. More power. But if the overseas bands aren’t getting career results for playing private parties because all the booking agents, record reps, critics and DJs they invited are outside waiting, they’re gonna stop playing parties. But, then, maybe since they’ve come all this way, they might as well play.
Here’s what happening as far as I can tell. Party celebs like Rachael Ray and Perez Hilton and their sponsors want to come off as inclusive, plus they love the energy that freeloading townies bring to an event, so they make sure the public gets a crack at these “private” invites. The line outside Maggie Mae’s Saturday afternoon for Ray’s party featuring the New York Dolls and Hold Steady, was about three blocks long. Even approved media had to wait 45 minutes to an hour to get in, as the place quickly filled up with kids whose shift at Thundercloud didn’t start until 6 p.m. Having given up after about 15 minutes in the heat, I still have never seen the Hold Steady, who are touted as a great live band, but I’ve seen pictures and I don’t think that’s possible.
It could be, ironically enough, that the proliferation of day parties are actually helping the official SXSW showcases. SXSW organizers have long viewed these unsanctioned fringe-dwellers, which numbered more than 200 venues this year, as barnacles on the bow of their vessel. But since the hometown hellions learned to crash those parties- there’s nothing like getting totally wasted and then fed for free- it’s opened up space at the official showcases. Half of Austin is passed out by 9 p.m. (and ready to party again at 2.)
Meanwhile, the long lines to get into parties send many in the industry back to the Convention Center for the panels, trade show, TV tapings and the like that have long been a somewhat ignored part of SXSW.
Maybe this is the way it was meant to be. Amazing how there seemed to be no friction between SXSW and the “piggybaggers” this year.
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SXSW aftermath: Choffel impresses DeRo
Austin’s Brazilian-flavored folk/ pop singer Suzanna Choffel gets lumped in with the big girls in one of Sun-Times critic Jim DeRogatis’ reports from SXSW. Read his rave here.
We’re looking for other Austin artists who received positive press. Send in the clips.
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