The start of the year

Out with a bang

For those of you who have been reading along, you know I had a plan:

1. Leave the continent – Didn’t happen
2. Quit my job (10 years of state employment is more than a person should endure) - CHECK!
3. Take on a massive design project -  I call it life phase 2.0
4. Read more – I read a lot on the internet
5. Spend less money/time on home repair - CHECK! I sold that money pit over the summer.
6. Master Indian Cuisine -  Can one really master Indian Cuisine?

After writing this list I revised it to say that I was going to be the opposite of my breeder friends.  I was going to quit my job and focus on my art.  CHECK!  Some things fell into place a little later vs. sooner but, I managed to make it happen. I am thankful for the people that helped along the way.  Friends old and new.

Here’s my year in lists.

This year in live music: SXSW 2011 ( 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.) Reggie Watts, Arcade Fire, Thermals and Matt and Kim, and Junior Boys,  Fun^3 Fest 2011 (Heartless Bastards, Thermals, Franki Chan, Big Freedia, Reggie Watts, Four Tet,  Public Enemy, Passion Pit,  T-Bird and the Breaks, Joy Formidable, M83, Lykke Li,  We Were Promised Jetpacks, Mates of State, MNDR, Austra, Ted Leo,  Architecture in Helsinki, Del the Funky Homosapien, Flying Lotus,  and Diplo)

This year in Sewing: Restoration work for Amelia’s RetroVogue,  participating in Vintage Vivant, Costuming for Riley Do Right and A Ride with Bob,  In-store seamstress gig at Frock on Vintage, and altering a few wedding dresses.

This year on the interwebs: A few site redesigns, getting to know social media.  Giving up on Gowalla.

This year in Movies: I joined AFS so I could see more new releases for cheap or free! . (theater) The Muppets,  Thunder Soul, Beats, Rhymes and Life: the Travels of a Tribe Called Quest , Cowboys and Aliens, White Material, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2,White Material Submarine, Everything Must Go,  WAR!: Women Art Revolution. SXSW (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.).

This year in Books: Sadly not much time for reading this year… Goodreads

This year in kicking ass: I am officially DBA Spinsta.   I was a SXSW Crew Chief.  I got promoted to Bookkeeper/Money wrangler for BluesShout!, Refashionista, Fun^3 Fest Blogger, Apparel Surgeon, and baby whisperer.

Unfinished Business: Just before Christmas I got an email from my friend who is a stylist for Amazon.  He asked me to ship him some stuff to shoot.  We had been talking about it for awhile so I made it happen.  Stay tuned.

Plans for 2012 (in no particular order):

1. Seeing my favorite kiddos in SC
2. Collaborating with Savannahred and many more designers
3. Teaching sewing classes
4. Saving the lives of many more garments
5. Brushing up on ASL
6. I am thinking about guitar again or maybe accordion

From 8-9am she sleeps in her crib and I take care of anything requiring phone calls.  I also clean out my inbox and do any personal bookkeeping.  This is her longest nap during the day and my opportunity for 1 hr of uninterrupted work.

Once Scout is up, she gets fed every 2 hrs and takes a 20-30 minute nap sometime in the 2 hr span. I don’t dictate the naps I just put her down when she shows signs of rage.  During feedings I plow through my rss feed.  She’s chatty so anything involving active listening is out. Between feedings and naps I might get some other things done that don’t require 100% focus.  I check Twitter and Facebook for things to read during the next feeding.  I make to-do lists.  Scout is chilling in her bouncer right now while I write.

We usually shut the office down around 3 or 4.  I catch up on shows I record on the family DVR or whatever is in my Hulu queue.  That way I can be productive when I go home.  Sometimes we cook dinner while we watch TV.  Last week Scout and I made Chicken Cacciatore.  I made sauce and rice earlier that day.  Food that requires minimal supervision.  Then we tossed chicken in the pot on low and let it cook while we watch Soul Plane (someone left me a present on the DVR). (Seriously, if you have time to sit on the couch, you have time to cook)

Scout loves the kitchen.  The bouncer fits on the countertop within site of me but out of dangers way (she gets a little freaked out when she can’t see you).  She is way too squirmy to be held in the kitchen.  Besides, holding a baby 24/7 is completely unnecessary.  This is why some parents have no time.

I am not sure if this system would work out if I had to watch her everyday.  5 days of Crankypants would probably wear me out. This system will definitely evolve as she gets older.  Right now she is easily entertained in a chair with a dishcloth.

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.

…They go and announce the dates for Fun^3 Fest 2012.  Seriously?  Fun^3 Fest was barely over.  Climbinginskirts was still writing up interviews and post-processing images.  Some people are still coughing up dust.  I have yet to clean my sneakers.

That’s right kids.  The 7^th annual Fun Fun Fun Fest will be November 2, 3, and 4, 2012 at Auditorium Shores.  The organizers have already dropped hints about extremely early bird tickets.  Watch the email and Twitter for more information.

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.

T-Bird and the Breaks Photo by melruns.com

M and I had the opportunity to sit down with Tim “T-bird” Crane and Sam Patlove of T-Bird and the Breaks on Saturday afternoon during Fun^3 Fest.

We told them that we weren’t interested in the usual interview stuff.  Like what clothes they were wearing (apparently they get asked about that a lot).  Although we did give them props for their mashup style on the stage Saturday afternoon.  T-bird and Sam were sporting the more Hip-hop/Gangsta clothes (they were inspired by the Public Enemy show the night before), both in shorts, t-shirts, bandanas and high tops.  The rest of the band was right out of Motown.  The three back up dancers in red dresses, the bassist in a fly red dinner jacket, the horn line in black.  Then there is the guitar player.  He gets mad points for the Dashiki.

Now for the interview.  M and I had prepped a few talking points in case we blanked out.

On Education:

We asked the dudes about T-bird’s music education.  T-bird spent a lot of time skipping school (he ended up dropping out) to “study” music in the record stores.  We asked about what kids were doing these days with music programs in schools getting cut and with record stores around the nation closing their doors.  T-bird said that even with the loss of stores, it’s easy to see what’s hot.  Music is so much more accessible with the internet.

We asked the dudes about their musical preference.  It was a no brainer.  They are vinyl guys.  They shop at Breakaway and End of an Ear if they have the money.  T-bird’s last record purchase was Herbie Hancock’s Fat Albert Rotunda (We may here a few licks from it in future songs).  Sam’s latest purchase was the tUnE-YarDs “w h o k i l l” on iTunes.  I asked if they ever thought about putting out something for record store day.  They said they would love to but didn’t have an avenue for getting involved.  I told them if I found out how to make it happen I would let them know.

On Finance:

We asked the dudes about how they support a band this big.  There are 10 of them right now.  Some artists have been forced to scale back due to travel costs.  They do their best by hiring session artists for recordings and take tapes on the road or pick them up on the way.  We asked if they envisioned scaling back anytime soon.

T-bird said that the current material requires all these people.  They can’t sacrifice sound so they make due.

M asked the dudes what they are doing to keep the lights on.  They said that keeping the lights on is hard.  Some of them don’t have electricity right now.  M asked them about the oddest jobs they pulled for cash.  Plasma donation was on the list.  Their guitarist Johnny “Too-Bad” Allison drives a bus for an after school karate program.

And now for the music…

I asked T-bird why they gave their genre the name “Chunk”.  They could have gone along with the other neo-soul artists.  He deferred to Sam.  Sam said that chunk was a mix of funk, hip-hop, and rock.  They would prefer to stay uncategorized, but when you have 5 categories to choose from on iTunes, or you are trying to tell people what your sound is like, you have too.  Chunk because their music is chunky.  I told them that my friends and I would classify it as music with some ass in it (aka. heavy bottom).  They agreed.

We asked the dudes what they had liked so far at the fest (We delayed our interview with them so they could check out the tUnE-YarDs).  T-bird was pumped about tUnE-YarDs, Big Freedia and Public Enemy. Sam thought tUnE-YarDs were super fresh.  He also enjoyed Reggie Watts, and Ocote Soul sound.

We joked about the issues with the sound during a few sets.  I told them that the sound guy thought we were rollin’ through the hood.

My final question for the band was, “would they ever do a soundtrack for a blaxploitation film?”  The response, “Hells Yes!” I told them that the question was spawned by the   Mayfield-esque guitar riff during their set.

The band’s next gig will be on New Year’s Eve at Stubb’s. Tickets are available here.

Stay tuned for M’s photos from the fest.

One of my ongoing life goals is to be less angry. I’ve been marinating over this passage from the book on anger for the last few days. Yes, it is ok to be angry but the key is to understand why you ended up that way.

Questioner: What is anger and why does one get angry?

Krishnamurti: If I tread on your toes, or pinch you, or take something away from you, won’t you be angry? Why should you not be angry? Why do you think anger is wrong? Because somebody has told you? So, it is very important to find out why one is angry, to see the truth of anger, and not merely say it is wrong to be angry.

Now why do you get angry? Because you don’t want to be hurt- which is the normal human demand for survival. You feel that you should not be used, crushed, destroyed or exploited by an individual, a government or society. when somebody slaps you, you feel hurt, humiliated, and you don’t like that feeling. If the person who hurts you is big and powerful so that you can’t hit back, you in turn hurt somebody else, you take it out on your brother, your sister, or your servant if you have one. So the play of anger is kept going.

First of all, it is a natural response to avoid being hurt. Why should anybody exploit you? So, in order not to be hurt, you protect yourself, you begin to develop a defense, a barrier. Inwardly you build a wall around yourself by not being open, receptive, therefore you are incapable of exploration, of expansive feeling. You say anger is very bad and you condemn it, as you condemn various other feelings; so gradually you become arid, empty, you have no strong feelings at all.

Sadly, I haven’t found any advice on how not to build a defense barrier like Fort Knox. There mush be some balance between being empty and locking yourself away.

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.

I have to admit that I was happy when the clubs started moving east. The frat dudes and sorostitots started invading Red River.  Then they took over Rainy Street.  The old and grumpy moved in to the apartments and condos and the noise ordinance got stricter.  But the south east?  Tejano bars, pawn shops, and UT student housing, that is what I think of when I think southeast.

Emo’s was the first to make the move.  After 20 years in that concrete shack we all loved on Red River, Frank  Hendrix decided to open Emo’s East at 2015 E. Riverside, the former home of The Back Room.

“Emo’s East started out as a dream to compete with the top live music venues in the country,” said Hendrix in an interview with Soundcheck. “Now over a year later, we are opening doors to a room that is 100% designed for live music. We are raising the bar to a live music experience in Austin.”

Apparently the venue is  fashioned along the lines of Washington, D.C.’s 930 Club and will accommodate up to 1,700.  It will feature state of the art sound and lighting, plus tons of parking. I like the idea of parking (biking there doesn’t sound like a good idea) and improved sound, but have we shown that we can have nice things?  How long before the hipsters tear this thing up?  Yes, we have ACL live, but that is geared at a completely different audience.  It is out in Swankytown.  Emo’s was for hipsters.  The new Emo’s?  Not sure if the hipsters are invited back to their old space or if the new venue was created to bring in the music lovers of swanky town.  We like are live music but we don’t have  ACL live money.  Will this be the end of the $12 show? I remember when they renovated the Music Hall.  Sure the sound improved a bit, they could bring in bigger acts. But, the prices went up and the place feels ike a death trap.

Beauty Bar is next in line for the move.  After 5 years at its current location on 7th St and Red River, Beauty Bar founder Paul Devitt and Frank Hendrix from Emo’s are joining forces to open a 700-capacity venue  called the Beauty Ballroom on the SE corner of Royal Crest and Riverside. The plan is to bring in  more national and touring acts with a state of the art light and sound, a 500-cap dance floor and 200-cap balcony. Ok, this makes sense.  After last year’s SXSW incident it was obvious that they needed a bigger venue.  But southeast?

Jen & M at the Fest by Nathan Malone

I’ve been checking out what my fellow bloggers had to say about the fest now that it is over.  I forgot to mention a few things in my daily synapses so I will try and sum it all up now while I test drive my new laptop speakers (Scout and I are rockin’ out to Stax-Volt: the Complete Singles 1959-1968).

Total # of bands:~26  Heartless Bastards, Thermals, Franki Chan, Big Freedia, Reggie Watts, Four Tet,  Public Enemy, Passion Pit,  T-Bird and the Breaks, Joy Formidable, M83, Lykke Li, Spoon*, Crooks*, Soul Khan*, SPEAK*, Le Butcherettes*,  We Were Promised Jetpacks, Mates of State, MNDR, Austra, Ted Leo,  Architecture in Helsinki, Del the Funky Homosapien, Flying Lotus,  and Diplo

*streamed on Pitchfork

I have to say that my top 5 bands at the fest were Joy Formidable, We Were Promised Jetpacks, Thermals, Architecture in Helsinki, and  T-Bird and the Breaks. There was definitely some face melting.  I was behind the photo pit railing for all of these sets.

Total $ spent: $26 on beer and tips.   The prices were comparable to most festivals.   I was lucky to snag free food in the media area 2 nights in a row.

Carbon Footprint: I biked to the festival every day.  The only downfall was when some db decided to park their bike on top  of mine.

And now for the Rants/Raves: I have to admit that I was one of the doubters when the organizers said that the fest was moving to Auditorium Shores.  I liked Waterloo Park.  It was small, easy to navigate, there was shade, and the hill provided an amphitheater-like setting.   Moving the fest allowed for more attendees, bigger stages, more venders, and some pretty big headliners. I get it.

If I had interest in the Black Stage I may have complained about the hike, but honestly, I didn’t lose anything over there.  I spent most of my time between the orange and blue stages.  The media area was conveniently placed between the two.  My one venture out to the yellow stage was for Reggie Watts.  I wasn’t digging the tent, especially the fact that people were  smoking in the tent (WHY?!).  My guess it was there to help with the sound.

I would like to thank the organizers and Pitchfork for streaming the fest.  Best idea ever.  Taking time off from work is always rough, but I was able to get some work in on Sunday morning while I streamed a few bands.

For the most part things went smoothly during this transition year.  It could have been a complete cluster.  Security even upped their game this year.  Even with the pat down lines I was able to get into the fest in a decent amount of time.

So yes, I had fun.  Was it a full 3 Funs? Not really.  More like 2.25 Funs.  I was exhausted from my crazy work schedule. For those of you reading my tweets over the weekend, yes, I was Ms. Crankypants.  I needed a nap. If scheduling permits, I will be back again next year.  If someone wants to hook me up with free PIP passes, I will gladly party it out and write about my experience.

Stay tuned for the interviews with We Were Promised Jetpacks and T-Bird and the Breaks.