So the 3rd  list of bands dropped a week or so ago. I am looking forward to seeing the following bands: Heartless Bastards (with a better sound guy than they had at Fun^3 Fest), Magnetic Fields, Talib Kweli, Metric, Neon Trees, Alice Russell, Shiny Toy Guns, Soul Khan, Spinto Band, Stars,  and Three Blind Wolves.

Wish List:
We were Promised Jetpacks (they said that they would be there when we interviewed them during Fun^3 Fest), Mos Def (with Talib), Black Keys (they have a new album out), The Roots (they have a new album out), Blackroc (why not, the rest of the group is somewhere on this list), Broken Social Scene (’cause Metric and Stars will be in town). amd a Daptone label showcas.e

While I am wishing, I would like more bike parking and no moshing (or maybe move it to some sort of playpen type area).  I have more wishes, but I will save them for another post.

M Shooting We Were Promised Jetpacks

M happened to track down We Were Promised Jetpacks while I was checking out Mates of State.  We were able to sit down and interview Sean their bassist.

M accidentally kicked off the interview by saying that we were with Sean of Frightened Rabbit.  We quickly jumped into our first question about touring with the other Scots. The last few times we saw them they were playing with Frightened Rabbit or Twilight Sad.  We asked if they could play a gig with any band, who would it be?  Sean  said they like touring with friends.  They’ve toured with Royal Bangs and they would like to tour with Lady North.

We asked if they were happy to be back in the states.  They were exited.  M mentioned that they would be touring up until Christmas (that’s what the tour schedule looked like on the website).  We were wrong on that one.  They guys are going to get a break soon and they will spend some time in England.  They plan to practice and watch football (aka soccer).  At this point in time 2.0 got really excited about football (he managed to hold his questions until the end.). We asked what his Fun^3 Fest highlights were.  He said that they played Dallas last night and arrived in Austin at 4am. They wouldn’t have time to check anything out.  He said that he enjoyed playing today.  I thanked him for the sunshine they summoned during “Roll up your sleeves”.  He enjoyed playing today.  He said it’s been his best festival experience.

Apparently the guys will be back in Austin for SXSW 2012.  They were here for SXSW 2009 and 2010.  One of Sean’s favorite venues to play is Emos.  We had to give him the sad news that the venue is no more.  They moved.  We asked if it was the venue or the crowd that made it is favorite.  He said the crowd.  But he also mentioned the sound was good.  We had to burst that bubble as well.  They bring in sound people for SXSW.

Our last question was if he knew of any up and coming Scottish bands we should watch for.  Over the Wall, Lady North, and Three Blind Wolves.

If you have some time, check out the new album and catch them at SXSW in March.

So, I am officially free of the government shackles that held me steady for the last 10 years.  As of December 1st I am a free agent.  So what does that mean?  Infants and Hipsters is a reality.  I watch Scout three days a week and I stitch at Frock on Vintage on Fridays and Saturdays.  Most importantly, I have a weekend.

The last month of transitions was rough (the last 6 months of engineering this plan was rough). I think everything is in order.  I have health insurance, a dba, a new bank account, and I applied for a sales tax permit.    I managed to get it all done before Mercury went into Retrograde (I am not into astrology, but it is more than coincidental that something in my life goes wrong during this time).

What’s on Tap for December?  I’ve already crossed off decorating for xmas. I need to convince Scout that napping is a good thing  (she is opposed to sleeping in general).  Getting my business stuff in order for filing taxes.   Making a suit for M.   Writing. Reading the stack of books on my nightstand. Researching bands for SXSW [BTW.  They released the third round of artists.]  Working with Savannahred on her plus sized clothing line.

This was year 7 of volunteering my way to platinum. I I took 2 weeks off from work and this time around I stayed at my own place (Yay for living close to downtown!).

(You should go back and read the daily recaps. I put this stuff out on the internet for you, little readers)

Total # of bands: ~11 Theophilus London, Foster the People, Noah and the Whale, Portugal. the Man,  Charles Bradley and the Menahan Street Band,  TV on the Radio , Ellie Goulding, Smith Westerns,  Matt and Kim,  J. Roddy Walston and The Business,and Wanda Jackson.

Total # of movies: 19 ( the Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye, Little Deaths, Documentary Shorts,  Being Elmo: A Puppeteers Journey, Super,  Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop, Greatest Movie Ever Sold, Narrative 2, Medium Cool, Something Ventured,  El Bulli: Cooking in Progress, Fambul Tok, Blacktino, Hesher, the Other F Word, Our Day will Come, A Matter of Taste: Serving up Paul Liebrandt, Outside Industry: The Story of SXSW, and PressPausePlay.

Total $ spent: ~61 tips, 2 dinners and a Go Local card.

Carbon Footprint: I biked at least 58 miles (from my house to downtown is about 7 miles round trip).  The car was used once during the two week period (I was lazy and drove to the Alamo Lamar).

And now for the Rants/Raves (mostly rants though). (more…)

Yesterday morning I was so tired that I debated if I wanted to finish out this race.  I made breakfast, wrote for a bit and decided to see my 18th film.  It was the documentary about SXSW.  I was surprised that the machine has survived all of these years with the amount of growth.

Since it was the last day, I decided that I should go see some music and attempt to find M (I think I hung out with her once in the last week).  Wall to wall people and no bike parking (People go home, I would like my city back).  Luckily the line for the party at Stubb’s moved quickly in comparison to the hunt for something to lock my bike to.

I walked in during the end of the Bravery’s set (not a fan).  I grabbed a beer and found M. The next band was really good.  J. Roddy Walston and The Business.  M saw them the night before and said I should check them out.  I stayed for Wanda Jackson.  I was curious if she had given into the machine and altered her sound.  Nope.  She was the same as always, sass, jet black hair and a fringed jacket.

After Wanda’s set and 3 beers I headed back to the ACC for air conditioning and a film.   PressPausePlay.  Netflix this one.  It talked a lot about the film and music industry being diluted with artists who make art because they have the tools, but most of them just don’t have  the human aspect.  My thoughts exactly. There are a lot of bands out there that have made a name for themselves on the internet but they just can’t put on a good live show.  This is why I spent most of this SXSW in the movie theater.  I wanted to feel something.

I made another pass at Style X.  This time it was the fashion show.  I was curious to see if there was anything new and innovative.  Other than the awesome boots from Helm, the only thing that I liked was a yellow jacket (I need to find out who the designer was).

I checked in with M after the show and headed to Bar Congress for dinner with 2.0 and his friends from out of town.  After dinner I made the executive decision to bike home.  I wanted to shower and wash the SXSW out of my hair.

Free stuff: 3beers

Money Spent: $3 on tips and $23 on dinner

I decided to stay in and write for a bit.  I checked in with my mom (to let her know that I didn’t get hit by a car on St. Patty’s day).  I looked at the schedule and decided that there was nothing worth biking into town for until about 2.

Movie time.  #17 was A Matter of Taste: Serving up Paul Liebrandt.  If you are into food and art, check it out.  After the film I explored the convention center.  I was curious about Style X and I was tempted to go to the 70s house of porn American Apparel Garage Sale.  It was Style X’s first year so I didn’t have high expectations.  I had also surveyed some of my artist friends and it turns out that many locals were rejected (there was also a pricey booth fee).  I am curious how Style X was curated,  I may have to interview the man behind it at some point.  I’ve been to his store and this was not what I expected.  There was a mix of corporate (Keds), out of town vendors, and one or two locals. [BTW.  I know that it is really hard to spend a whole day in your booth vendors.  I've been there, but please, please find reps that know your products.  Yesterday some guy tried to sell me glasses and he said that they had a deal going one price for all prescriptions.  I told him that my eyesight was bad (not eligible for lasik bad) and he said that it didn't matter.  I double checked with the owner and he said that I would probably have to pay extra.]

After a disappointing stroll, I left the convention center in search of free beer.  I headed to  Fader because I was curious about Smith and Westerns and I wanted to see Matt and Kim.  I found a place to lock the bike and stood in line for about 5 minutes before someone came up to us and said the line was closed and that no one would be allowed in the rest of the night.  I decided to stick around.  They say that every year. Crowd turnover happens after every band.

…30 minutes later, I am in.  Fiat Fader was ok.  I still miss the Levi’s Fader though.  Specifically, the one that was at Youthworks (aka The Honeycomb Hideout).  After last nights trampling, I decided to steer clear of the front.  Matt+Kim= Mosh Pit (You would think that they would be more careful after Matt messed up his back a few years ago.  Nope)  Great Show.  I look forward to seeing them play this summer with the Thermals.

I biked to the ACC after the show to charge my phone and check in with a few people.  I was on the other side of tired.  I decided to go home early.  I was in bed by 10:30.

Free stuff: 2 beers and 2 bottles of water

Money Spent: $3 on tips

My tolerance for “special” people is tanking.  I don’t know if it is related to the string of violent films I have seen or what,.  My field notes from TV on the Radio at Stubb’s say the following: To the girl with the “serenity” tattoo on the back of her neck,  I have all I can do not go go Rainn Wilson on your ass with my bike wrench. [For those of you who don't know, that is a reference to Super.  Watch the trailer.  I am glad a wrote that down.   In reality, I would turn her in to security.  I would tell them that she was a danger to herself and that she was probably on drugs.  Why the passive aggressive approach?  Umm, APD doesn't like brown people.] I think that my surrounding concert mates would have liked to have a go at all the drunkards who felt the need to mosh around to a band that deserves more respect.

Let’s rewind to the start of my day. (more…)

I started the day by going to the grocery store.  I have done really well living off of the contents of my fridge and free items since last Tuesday. Sadly, the cupboard was bare and I needed to buy food or do a better job of foraging.

My legs were tired  (I hate that hill on Bouldin) so I decided to unpack the groceries and drive to the Drafthouse South. I was hoping to hop the film shuttle to the State Theatre, but I found out that the number of film shuttles has been reduced from three to one now.  Lucky for me Catch a Chevy Volt was in the area [BTW.  I told them our current shuttle situation and they plan to make themselves available to the awesome film people vs. the hipsters downtown].

My first film screening was Fambul Tok.  (more…)

I started the day with Yenta at the Vimeo Theater.  Her friends were in town to promote their film Something Ventured.  Another winner for me. I like documentaries and it was cool to see the evolution of the VC field.    After the show we grabbed lunch and walked over to the Fader Fort to wait in line for a wristband.  It took over an hour.  We have yet to figure out if it will be worth the wait,  but really, we didn’t have anything else to do and it was an excuse to spend some time out in the sun.

After Fader, we hit the Trade Show.  I found some useful products (sliderocket.com, stuffpal, endurancediary, triviatize, and minus) to check out post SXSW. The most useful booth, so far, was the WordPress one.  They had some new features that I should implement on the blog (I have been reluctant to move to the newest release).

I met a few of my peeps at the tradeshow and we moved on to the Go Local happy hour for food to counteract the number of free beers consumed.   Then I wandered around with @jakerella and ended up at the HP Mobile park (more beer and a slightly overwhelmed Michael Cera.  He looked like he was wishing for the power of invisibility).  I took advantage of the phone charging station.  I also had a conversation with another volunteer about the merits of volunteering and was it worth it.  He was a bit of a dick about it.  My advice to him, make this your first and last year for volunteering.

After more roaming and a final goodbye to @jakerella, I biked to the Long Center for El Bulli: Cooking in Progress).   Before the movie I made some friends in line.  [Tired me also recalls asking the guy from Foursquare what he would offer me to switch over from Gowalla.  Apparently the social networking world does not work like the cell phone or cable company.  All he could offer was some stickers.  I guess I will stick with Gowalla for now] The film was good, but a little slow for an evening flick.  I nodded off somewhere in the middle.

Note to self:  Do not watch subtitled movies when you are sleepy.

Free stuff: 2 beers, one shot of tequilla, and sunglasses.

Money Spent: $2 for tips

I was in a foul mood. 1) Because I did not have a Gowalla wristband, and 2) because I was going to miss a bunch of things because of the fashion show at Plutopia (Once again, this is the last time I will agree to an unpaid gig during SXSW).

I spent the morning in the movie theater watching mediocre shorts at the Drafthouse South. Out of  2 sets of shorts, Narrative 2 and Medium Cool,  the following stood out: Animal Control, Flow, and Clear Blue.   I really wanted to love Scenes from the Suburbs, but I didn’t (it had nothing to do with my foul mood either).

I went home after the movie and chilled out for an hour before taking the film shuttle back to ACC to grab my bike.  Then I decided that I should procure a beer at the PepsiCo Playground before heading over to MACC (where I had a sneaking suspicion that NOTHING would be free).  One of the best decisions EVER!

As expected Plutopia was a bit of a cluster.  At this point in time I will yield to the old saying, “if you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.”  I will say, that I wished I was dancing it out to Matt and Kim.  @jakerella, Yenta, and CollectiveSelection were nice enough to come out to lametopia to watch my show.  @jakerella bought me a $4 beer.   For those of you who were having way more fun elsewhere you can view the video of my friend Shawna on the runway here.

After the show we took a quick look around and decided to go on a free beer run. @jakerella and I finished out the night at Mashable House at  Buffalo Billiards drinking Golden Monkey [umm, the Monkey is dangerous. Weighing in at 9.5% it will knock you on your butt].There would be no bike ride home.  I stumbled to the film shuttle and walked home from the Drafthouse.

Free stuff: 4 beers and 1 shirt.

Money Spent: 0 (thank @jakerella)