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Sunday, August 23, 2009
ACL buzzmeter - Kings of Leon taking the crown
You’re looking at as scientific a snapshot as you’re probably going to get of who’s drawing ears and eyeballs to this year’s Austin City Limits Fest. Using the personal schedule tool at www.aclfestival.com, we’re tracking (every Sunday night) how many fans have “added” an artist to their personal schedule as the big day draws closer. (Note - these are the numbers from 8/16, posted late because I neglected to post before leaving last week. Fresh numbers from 8/23 should be here by Tuesday.)
While you’re only seeing the top 20 here, we’ve got a much deeper running chart going to keep a close eye on who’s gaining steam and who’s stalling out.
So what of it? Well, first of all how about the three-furlong lead relative youngsters Kings of Leon have at the top on day three headliners and modern rock vets Pearl Jam? The more than 6,000 add lead has sprouted almost all in the last week, too (we started eyeing these numbers at the beginning of the month) which suggests the recently platinum-certified band made an impression earlier this month at Lollapalooza and are reaping the rewards in fresh interest. They’ve also got no competition at that time slot now since The Beastie Boys dropped out. Whatever’s behind their surge, it’s a real eye opener, though you have to wonder what the Sept. 20 release of Pearl Jam’s new record “Backspacer” and its attendant publicity push will do to ratchet up their numbers heading into October.
Indie darlings The Decemberists make a not shocking bow at No. 3 but one spot down we see it’s apparently folly to write off the Arctic Monkeys as 2007’s news. While the new “Humbug” is due to drop next week, it hasn’t exactly burned up radio charts of any kind, so this one’s a real head scratcher at this point. Am I missing something on that one? If so, drop me a line at cswiatecki@statesman.com.
Just outside the top 10, six artists within 1,000 adds of each other - Mos Def, Toadies, Sonic Youth, B-52’s, Lily Allen (pre-dropout) and John Legend - give an interesting glimpse of the truly mixed fare at festivals these days. Of those, Mos Def and the B-52’s seem the best bets to gain large numbers of new adds in the coming weeks; Mos Def because he’s the purple cow of the bunch and B-52’s for retro fun value. Their crowd could be MGMT-last-year big.
Looking ahead, the biggest chance for movement of any sizable nature will come whenever promoters C3 Presents name the replacement act for The Beastie Boys on the first night. And not that they need my urging, but we’re about six weeks out and it’s almost officially time to start getting antsy about how that hole is going to be filled. Time’s a-wastin’, dudes. -Chad Swiatecki
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Luckenbach enters record book for guitar jam
Courtesy of Gibson Guitars
In 2007, 1,802 Germans played “Smoke On the Water” in unison to enter the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest recorded guitar ensemble. That record was topped Sunday afternoon at Luckenbach, when 1,859 pickers played “Luckenbach, Texas” and “This Land Is Your Land.”
1,859 guitar players in one spot- and it wasn’t an Eric Johnson concert!
The “Pickin’ For the Record” event was organized by the Voices of a Grateful Nation, a support group for American soldiers and veterans, whose Welcome Home Project was the beneficiary.
Pickers paid $10 each, but they received a t-shirt commemorating their participation. The guitar army also played Gary P. Nunn’s “London Homesick Blues,” also known as “I Wanna Go Home With the Armadillo.”
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Glory hallelujah: preview Patty Griffin’s gospel record
Patty Griffin fans get fill a delightful hour inside, away from the heat, by clicking on this link, which not only has information on Griffin’s “Downtown Church” album, but contains several YouTube videos of Griffin performing gospel songs from the record.
Griffin got the idea to record an album of spiritual tunes in a downtown Nashville church (with Buddy Miller producing) after she sang a duet with Mavis Staples on “Waiting For My Child To Come Home” for the “Oh Happy Day” gospel compilation.
Although an incorrect Aug. 11 release date was posted on Amazon, “Downtown Church” is actually slated for an early 2010 release.
Griffin’s next Austin show is a Zilker Park fundraiser for State Senator Kirk Watson on Oct. 1, the day before ACL Fest starts.
