My First Second Stage Pick: State Champion

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Today's News from the ASC blog -- two Haiti benefits:

Radiohead @ The Music Box on Sunday night


Spoon offers up two live concerts for a donation

Peter Gabriel is doing an orchestral covers album of some indie rock bands that you know and love. Click here to read my blog post from Friday.

Meet Me On The Balcony

I compiled a list of Haiti Benefit Concerts happening this week.

Also saw these guys at the Black Cat this evening -- they're going places for sure.

Grow Till Tall

Blogged today on the death of Kate McGarrigle, folk singer extraordinaire and matriarch of the McGarrigle/Wainwright musical dynasty.



Also did a little piece that coincides with today's show on Sigur Ros frontman Jónsi Birgisson. It's about the side project.

Jónsi mixing Animal Arithmetic from Jónsi on Vimeo.

Waiting For Something

"My life's weird dude, it's like... pedal to the metal or, like.... nothing. You could either say that somebody has a window of time where they have the opportunity to do what htey do creatively, and do it well, or some people say that you have a certain amount of songs before you dry up or whatever.. I tend to think that its a certain amount of time. I'm racing time constantly. A lot of it's the fear of death, too, I know i'm not going to be able to make records when I'm dead, but I'm not dead now, so I want to make records." -- Jay Reatard

A Short Documentary About Jay Reatard (not for the faint of heart):

Waiting For Something - a short documentary about Jay Reatard

Jay Reatard | MySpace Music Videos

K'naan on Austin City Limits Tomorrow

K'naan and Mos Def will be featured on the first all-hip-hop episode ever:

Supergroup

Slightly overshadowed, and understandably so, by the death of Jay Reatard, this post went live today: Build Your Own Supergroup.

And rest in peace, Jay.

Is Making Music Too Easy?

A poll that I wrote for All Songs: has cheap technology watered down music? Click here to check it out.

Busy busy busy.

The Knife To Release Opera Album

Here's my first little blurb for the All Songs Considered Blog. Click the link to read on:

Can you feel The Knife?

Please Secure Your Own Mask Before Helping Others

I gave a big, friendly grin to the guy in the Cashmere sweater. He probably wasn’t used to getting looks like this from us poor folk as we marched solemnly through his spacious cabin, past the curtains, into Economy Class. His reaction was priceless. I gave it another try, this time to the large, balding man in a suit. The same perplexed and uncomfortable look crossed over his face. He cast his eyes down to his magazine.

Yet somehow we were a notch above all the other passengers who had to endure the hardships of the Economy Class. Before, when I slipped the man at the gate my boarding pass, instead of beeping once like for everyone else's, his little emachine beeped twice when It scanned my ticket. I was ushered to the desk where my parents and I were arbitrarily given $150 worth of upgrades. That’s right – emergency exit row seats.

When I got to my seat, I stretched out my legs (pretty far actually), and decided it would be good to review the literature on how to rescue my fellow travelers in case of an emergency. The flight attendant approached to interrogate all of the exit row occupants:

“Are you willing and able to help in the case of an emergency?” -– we all sort of muttered quietly in response.

“I need oral confirmation,” she demanded abruptly. Like school children, we all chimed in obediently, “Yes.” No need to tell her I was half blind and my mom had a bum leg.

Then we were in Minneapolis. It was like this:


On the second leg of the flight, I realized that this was the first time that I’d ever bought a one-way ticket. As someone who doesn’t travel super often, I started wondering if, in general, is the fact that you’re buying a one way ticket is a good thing, or not? On one hand, It means you’re off on an adventure – you don’t know when you’ll be back, you’re going with the flow. Or maybe it means that there’s just not enough left wherever you came from to bring you back any time soon. I’d like to think that it’s the former.

No One On The Corner Gets Swell Like Us

Last night, Plan 9 Productions performed their first show as a duo, thereby christening the Movement Oasis. The Oasis, located in an industrial park off of Piner Rd. in Santa Rosa, is an Aikido Dojo by day with ambitions to double as a venue for musical performances and dances in the future.

The Future is precisely where you'd expect to find the Beats From The Mothership series that Plan 9 showcased last night. It was an intimate affair, but I doubt that any who attended came away disappointed. Sudman and D-Funk traded off, seamlessly slinging an arsenal of samples and snares, bringing their original compositions to life with improvisatory embellishments and interludes, always keeping the steady hip hop and dance grooves going. For a first show, the performance was impeccable. If anyone has a party that they want DJed, I would definitely recommend calling on these guys.



They've also made a live recording of the entire show available for download.