Austin City Limits Music Festival

Grant Lee Phillips and The Section Quartet at Largo

2011-06-18T16:09:00.001-07:00

Going to Largo in L.A. is like going to a family reunion; without the stress. The artists are like family, they all know each other and perform with each other. And the crowd... it’s the usual suspects. So, I was only half surprised when Kristy Hanson, a local singer/songwriter who I’ve talked about over the last few years, calls out my name when we get into the open air lobby. After hugs and introductions (Maria hadn’t met Mike, her husband and bass player), we ended up talking for 40 minutes about everything from music (Kristy and Mike are collaborating on an EP) to Google (his new job) to English and reading (both Maria and Kristy have English degrees). Finally it was time to get to our seats. Now, I believe, although I may be wrong, that I met Kristty at either a Section show or a Sam Phillips show when we were seated next to each other. And sure enough, a few years later, the same thing happens. In a couple hundred seat auditorium, we were seated right next to each other. As I’ve said in the past, I love Largo.

The Section Quartet opened the show, doing what they do best, rocking out as a traditional string quartet. As usual, they covered Radiohead (twice), Tool, Queens of the Stone Age and Muse, to mention but a few. The first Radiohead cover was from the album The Bends, which they plan on playing in its entirety on September 23rd in Santa Monica. I understand they will have some guest vocalists, including Grant Lee. Don’t miss it, especially if you are a Radiohead fan.

I’ve never seen Grant Lee Phillips headlining a show and I’m not sure what I was expecting, but I wasn’t really expecting it to be such a great rock and roll show. Grant has this beautiful, you might call it glam rock inspired, voice. His newer material is fairly mellow. But the older, especially the Grant Lee Buffalo songs, are rockin’. This evening, there was an equal mix of mellow and rocking songs. Eric Gorfain played violin occasionally and the entire Section Quartet came out for a few songs; at one point completely filling the room with sound. Grant stuck with an acoustic guitar throughout the show, but with a quick touch of a pedal he was playing some smoking electric leads. As I expected, Grant’s sense of humor kept us all laughing in between songs. Even at the beginning of the evening when the rules were being laid down to us (no cell phones, no texting, no taping), Grant was in the background miming the speaker. This was a perfectly paced show with all the right songs being played at just the right times. What a treat. I can’t wait to see him again. I understand he is planning to return to Largo on July 15th. I know I’m going to be there.

ACL Week - Saturday (Day 4)

2010-10-11T07:09:00.000-07:00

The second day of the festival again had perfect weather. In the mid 80’s with light breezes and occasional cloud cover, it is hard to imagine better weather conditions. We had lots of holes in our schedule for Saturday and it was going to take some luck to fill those in. And there were mixed results.

We started very lucky, checking out Balmorhea, an instrumental band that spends most of its time writing soundtracks. The music was both beautiful and, at times, intense, with exciting arrangements from their unique lineup. With violin, cello, stand up bass, keyboards, drums and guitar (sometimes banjo or electric bass), they created an exciting sound that got the day going.

Linda, Liz and I moved over to the number 2 stage for Grace Potter and the Nocturnals. When last we saw them, they were playing the tent; blowing the roof off, like nobody since Los Lonely Boys back in 2002. The question was, were they ready for the big stage. The answer was unquestionably yes. Coming out in what can only be described as a Tina Turner outfit with a Tina Turner attitude to boot, Grace isn’t a Tina clone. She’s a rocker and she gave life to that old, tired genre we call classic rock. She had the crowd going wild, and not just the fans in the front row who probably got a bit more of a show than the rest of us (she joked that she didn’t realize how high the stage was). Look out world, Grace is just going to keep getting bigger and better.

Crossing the entire field, it was time to check out the Boss’ favorite young band, New Jersey boys, The Gaslight Anthem. They put on a solid set of what is becoming the New Jersey sound (A little Bruce and a little Jesse Malin, a lot of energy). They had a nice crowd singing along. They are a lot louder than Bruce or Jesse, but their desire to speak to the people is the same. This is another band that is coming on strong.

We couldn’t figure out how to fill the biggest hole in our schedule, so off to the football tent we went and watched Alabama lose their hold on the number one ranking. But it was a nice rest, which we would need for what was coming next.

I’ve been waiting to see Gogol Bordello for some time now. I missed them the last time I was here and have been kicking myself ever since. And on this day, I got everything I came for and more. Gogol is best described as gypsy punk. But if you were to pick a band they resemble it would be Flogging Molly. The energy and craziness on stage is the same, if not more so. The crowded was bouncing around, floating people and singing when they were supposed to. They were easily one of the highlights of the festival for me. You get a feel for this in the studio CDs (especially the new one produced by Rick Rubin), but you have to see them to really get the energy they send out. Check them out when they come to your town. You won’t be disappointed.

The crowds were growing and it was time to move on. After some tacos at Maria’s it was off to The Gallery over The Continental Club to see guitar legend Jimmie Vaughan. Jimmie was playing with the Mike Flanigin Trio (can’t remember the drummer’s name) with Mike on organ. Together they put on a potent set of jazz with heavy blues themes. I haven’t been to a jazz show in some time, but they made it sound so good it made me want to get back to the local jazz clubs. The interplay between the three of them made it sound like this was a regular gig for them, but the truth is, they are just that good. The room had a maximum occupancy of 49, so, yes, it was an intimate evening with Jimmie just a few feet in front of me. It was a wonderful way to finish off the evening.

ACL Week Sunday (Day 5)

2010-10-11T06:50:00.001-07:00

It’s Sunday and the final day in what may be my final year at ACL. The day started with 15 year old phenom Ruby Jane. With a bluegrass base and the spirit of a… well, of a 15 year old, Ruby plays a mean fiddle, a solid guitar, sings beautifully and leads the band with a crazy intensity that you normally only find in a 15 year old (there we go again). She yells with joy during band members’ solos (and sometime her own too) and you can just feel that the spirit of the music is in her. I can’t wait to see how time changes this young lady. She’s got a hell of a start though.

Ted Leo and the Pharmacists were billed as a blend of punk and… well it doesn’t matter, because there was no blend, at least today. Their brand of punk is smart and I believe socially relevant, but it is just punk. After about 20 minutes we were ready to move on. If that is your thing, you might enjoy them.

Liz, Linda and I met back up as Frank Turner got his set going. Frank is from Manchester England and has a sound that reminds me of a modern Big Country (although not nearly as anthem like). He was a lot of fun too, singing about refusing to grow up and making a great sing-a-long out of it. It was a good call from Liz.

At the same stage a half hour later was valley boys, Dawes. Landing somewhere between Americana and modern rock, these youngsters (okay, they aren’t that young… I’m just getting older I suppose) showed that they had a desire to write the important songs about important subjects. They have a long way to go and could easily get sidetracked by fame, but keep an eye on these guys. There was a fun moment in the middle of the set. The lead singer/guitar player, did a nice solo and was making the big stage moves. When the solo ended, there was a big applause from the crowd. I don’t think he was expecting that and he got this huge grin on his face. I love when the spirit of rock works both ways and the fans actually light up the performers. Good show. Good luck guys.

The tent was jammed when we got there. Linda found her way in but Liz and I decided to just find some shade under a tree and listen from a distance. It may have been a bit of a mistake as Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue put on one hell of a show. Playing trombone, trumpet and singing, Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews, at the tender age of 24 has all the skills to rock a crowd. Playing songs that were probably around before his father was born and mixing them in with more modern music, the band shook the tent to its foundations. I’m kicking myself for not trying to get inside, but even without seeing the show, we were definitely entertained. I will not miss him next time.

As many in the crowd shuffled out, we slipped in to the front of the stage, meeting up with Linda again to see Martin Sexton. Martin has an unusual voice, but it comes with great power. Accompanied with just his guitar and a second microphone (in which he vocally reenacted Hendrix’s famous Star Spangled Banner to open the show), Martin was funny, charming and driven. My only two problems with the show were 1) that he came back for an encore and sang “God Bless America” (why?) and 2) he was much more religious than any of us expected (when I told Deb this today her reaction was, “Jesus”, to which I replied, “Exactly”). Otherwise we enjoyed his show.

We continued to hang on the stage, and waited for the great Richard Thompson to appear. With only an hour to perform, Richard dispensed with any chit chatting with the crowd (he did make a few humorous remarks) and went right at it, singing several songs from his latest CD. All but one of the songs found him on electric guitar and he brought down the house several times with his solos. Not one to hog the stage, he traded solos with his violin player and sax player and overall rocked the house. His current band is tight and obviously very talented. This may have been one of the highlights of the weekend. I can’t wait to see him again.

There was only one band left playing in the park (well, actually 2 with Norah Jones refusing to get off stage on time, causing a bit of a musical mess as the Eagles came on and played on top of her) and it was the weekend headliner: The Eagles. It appeared that a good 50,000 people decided to stay for that show with people seated all the way back toward the exit sign in the middle of the park. Knowing the venue, we left the park and walked over to the trail behind the stage where we could hear the show perfectly. It would have been nice to see them, but that was impossible in the park anyways. We listened for a good hour and a half before deciding it was time to go home. They played mainly their hits and solo hits which I suppose is what the crowd wanted but doesn’t lend itself to a consistent sound (especially with Joe’s material). The music sounded very close to the record, so if you like that, you would have enjoyed the show. I couldn’t really tell if there was any real passion here, but they sounded good.

The three of us headed back to Deb and Linda’s house and hung out for awhile. It was weird not being with Deb at the festival for the first time in 9 years, but overall it was another good experience. In the morning we all (along with Deb’s mom) got together for breakfast and now I’m heading home. I don’t know when I’m coming back here. I hope to check out South by Southwest (SXSW) next year and if something special happens I could find myself at ACL again, but for now, I will just say a sad goodbye to one of my favorite cities. Goodbye Austin. Goodbye ACL.

ACL Week - Friday (Day 3)

2010-10-09T23:21:00.000-07:00

Okay, so this is actually the first day of ACL. But for me, it is already on to a third day of music. And what a beautiful day it was. The sky was clear all day with occasional breezes and temperatures in the mid 80s. The grass has grown out very nicely after last years mud fest and overall the park was in great shape.

First up was Sahara Smith. She has a sweet voice and some nice songs that might be called country, but lean to the left and don’t really have much in the way of twang. We enjoyed the set.

We then moved to the tent, now called the Clear Stage, for Carolyn Wonderland. They have taken all of the seats out of the tent and re-planted grass. I was early and was able to kick back on the grass until the Gospel band that was playing had finished. I then slipped up to the front, dead center, for one of the highlights of the day. Carolyn came out and as she always does, rocked the house. I don’t know what is taking America so long to find this truly talented lady. She picks her guitar like no other woman I’ve seen play. She can easily (and I mean easily) hang with the best guitar players playing. Her voice is strong and soulful. She can even handle the trumpet. Check out the video I have here. The sound gets screwed up, but hang in there for a bit and you’ll get the picture. She is really amazing.

I forced Liz to check out Angus and Julia Stone (couldn’t get Linda to bite), and she was surprised by how much she actually liked them. Hailing from Australia, the brother and sister team create a very unique sound. Julia has a voice close to Joanna Newsom’s, but she uses it in a much more assessable way. Her melodies are sweet and she sings with such joy, you easily will forgive anything unusual about her style. She also plays a mean harmonica, did some rocking out on electric guitar, and played some of the coolest rock trumpet I’ve ever heard. Watching her dance around in her bare feet, reminded me of the young Natalie Merchant; filled with a passion for the music. Angus, is a more straightforward singer/songwriter, with a feel that only seems to come from down under (be it Australia or New Zealand). Together, they go from soft to rock in an instant. Near the end they did, what sounded like a several minute jam based on Neil Young’s “Cowgirl in the Sand”, with Julia playing harmonica and trading leads with their violin player. It was great. Check out their CDs, I think you’ll really enjoy them.

I caught most of Band of Heathens set. They are a country rock band, leaning heavily on the rocking. It is better than you’d expect. And with a name like that, you know they’re going to interesting.

Amos Lee has grown up since we saw him 3 years ago. There were no surprises this time, other than it was a very straightforward set. His Philly soul music will melt your heart along with other body parts. Okay there was some strangeness. At the very end he, along with his buddy Angel, sang a Barry White type song about wanting to take a shower with you/her. I just found it so strange after his traditional set of music; but fun.

I had heard Ryan Bingham and the Dead Horses on The Loft on Sirus XM not too long ago, so I was looking forward to seeing Ryan show us his stuff. And he came with both barrels blazing. Somewhere between Steve Earle, Dylan and maybe Neil Young, Ryan Bingham sings about this world and still is able to rock you off your feet. It was a perfect final set for tonight. As I walked out, I could hear, but couldn’t even come close to seeing The Strokes on one end of the field and Phish on the other. I’m guessing, if you stood in the middle of Zilker Park, it would have been a very strange feeling.

2010 ACL Week - Thursday (Day 2)

2010-10-08T21:07:00.001-07:00

We finally met up with Deb (who is going to miss the festival to take care of her mom) and headed over to Zilker Park for a benefit for some state senator. In the huge park that was ready for the event, only one stage was lit up and we settled in for an hour plus show from the amazing steel pedal playing of Robert Randolph and the Family Band. Somewhere between funk and the Allman Brothers (with a strong leaning towards Gospel) lies RR. Somehow, he took this staid, stiff group of political junkies and wannabe players and got them moving and grooving to his fine beats and blistering steel pedal playing. If you only watch one of the videos I post, this should be the one. Half the crowd was out of their seats dancing by shows end.

We jumped in our cars and headed over to Saxon Pub. Deb had told us about this wonderful Blues singer/guitar player named Seth Walker and that seemed like a logical next move. Seth has a smooth soulful voice and he laid down some great songs, playing jazzy leads and getting great support from his two piece (stand up bass and drums) band. Several times he used a reggae beat making me think of a gutsier, more talented Jack Johnson. Another good show under our belts.

Deb departed and Liz and I took off for the Continental Club. We got in just as Jon Langford joined Deano Waco and the Purveyors. Jon, mixes folk, country and punk into a crazy, fun, loud stream of music that was both sloppy and tight and always foot tappin’. We were bouncing in our seats and he had most of the crowd out of their chairs dancing (which reminds me... Why is it that Texan’s, no matter what the beat or style of music, insist on swing dancing to everything? At least at the Continental Club). We had a great night. Bring on the festival.

ACL day 1

2010-10-08T11:18:00.000-07:00

It is a beautiful day here in Austin. It's in the mid 80s and the music is floating through the air. Liz and I are sitting on the soft grass in the Clear tent waiting for Carolyn Wonderland. Life is good. I can't believe this is my last ACL. What was I thinking? :-)

There are videos up on YouTube from last night at http://YouTube.com/infomas ( I think that's the link). I'll write about last night tonight.

Sent from my iPhone

2010 ACL Week - Wednesday (Day 1)

2010-10-07T00:28:00.000-07:00

I’ve been apprehensive for weeks now about how this year, my last year at ACL, was going to go. The list of bands playing the event was the weakest (at least for us) since... Well, in the 9 years I’ve been going, this is the worst. Still, you never know what will happen. At least we have the clubs. Or so we thought. Searching on the web for a show tonight turned out to be just as bad. Only Jon Dee Graham was the type of quality performer that we were willing to pay for. What is going on?

But let’s start from the beginning.Jet Blue recently started direct flights from Long Beach to Austin. They also started trading mileage through American Express, while at the same time, Southwest stopped working with AMEX. It was a no brainer. So, for the first time, I had a wonderful quick flight (about 2.5 hours). I barely made a dent in my reading. The highlight was getting to hear most of Vin Scelsa’s show on Sirus/XM’s The Loft. I love listening to his raps and his interesting mix of music, but only get to hear him once in a while since he is only on twice a week and in the middle of the day. Coincidentally, he played several Austin based bands during his two hours, including: Alejandro Escovedo, Scrappy Jud Newcombe and Shawn Colvin. What a wonderful way to fly.

With Deb’s mom in town, Liz and I ended up at (I won’t say the name of the hotel, because it is designed to be cheap) a hotel near their house. Between my bugs and her interesting stains, it is a bit scary.

After settling in, and not having a real meal all day, we took off for our annual trip to Salt Lick BBQ. Now I love tradition as much as the next guy, but this is beyond tradition. It is a calling. It is... the devil waving you in. As you walk through their large gravel parking lot, the smell hits you like a ton of cow (or maybe that’s pigs). In fact, you don’t even have to get out of the car to smell it. In fact, I can smell it now. Oh wait, that’s because there is some in my fridge. Seriously, it is the best BBQ I’ve ever tasted. Just look at these pictures of the pit. Okay, I’ve got to stop because it is 2 in the morning and I’m getting hungry just writing about it.

You would think, with such a large state, there would be room to properly build roads and intersections. Apparently not in South Austin. We couldn't use the GPS that Deb loaned me (oh, that’s another story...The rental agency didn’t have any GPS’s because it was a local dealer and they only sold one a month. They didn’t have any maps either because... Ready? The company wants them to sell more GPS’s). So, the hotel we are staying at has an address which is actually just the highway it is off of. Her GPS wouldn’t let us type in the address. So, I pulled out my IPhone. And with that, we proceeded to drive around in circles for about an hour. We finally called Deb and she some how guided us in. But it is so strange, with highways intersecting and each one has a side road on each side. What a mess!

We finally ended up at The Continental Club to see Jon Dee Graham. I’ve seen him there many times over the years and he puts on a nice show. He rocks hard and has moments of brilliance, but over time, it seems to be missing something. Still, I love seeing him and will probably do so again. I’ve got a nice little performance linked in. The sound was too loud for the camera, but you’ll get a good feel for the show from it. Tomorrow, we are going to a benefit at the park that will feature Robert Randolph. Should be a great time.

Austin

2010-10-06T10:18:00.000-07:00

Flying on JetBlue listening to The Loft on XM. It's almost like Vin Scelsa knows I'm on my way, playing Austin favorites Scrappy Jud Newcomb and Alejandro Escovedo And now Shawn Colvin. It's a good sign.

Sent from my iPhone

ACL 2009

2009-10-12T08:11:00.001-07:00

It was one of those crazy years at ACL and between the rain and the Internet problems, I will be doing one big blog post for the entire 3 days. So, here we go...

It started Friday

morning at around 8am. Yes really. For some reason we decided to do the KGSR live broadcasts at Threadgill's and... what a treat. Like Thursday morning, there were several bands playing 2 songs and getting a mini interview. The stage is outside with folding chair seating and lots of people standing. We caught three shows on Friday...

Todd Snider did two fun songs and got us laughing (which isn't easy that early in the morning when you've been out till God knows when on Thursday).

Medeski, Martin and Wood did this fun little song to open (check out the video) and then a much more serious song (which is more of what I expected having not ever heard them but heard of them) to an enthusiastic audience.

Mishka did a couple of little reggae type numbers and, well... Enough said.

We have always made it to the opening of the show on day one. With plenty of time, and a good free parking place (I'll never tell), we had a nice stroll to the park. The weather hadn't turned yet, but it was in the low 80's, which is freezing compared to previous years.

As we walked into the park we were blown away. The crabby/crappy grass had been replaced with a rich, lush green field. It

was soft to walk on and just gorgeous. Little did we know what that was going to cost us later. After buying gifts and getting lunch, we headed over to the Austin Ventures stage for The Low Anthem.

I have really enjoyed The Low Anthem's new CD, but was concerned that it may be a bit too low energy. But they put on a good, if short show, displaying their musical talents and their ability to easily switch between instruments.

Sara Watkins was up next and we were front and center for a excellent set. Playing with her brother Shawn, Pete Thomas on drums and a bass player who looked awful familiar, she put on a spirited set of bluegrassy singer/songwriterish music. I will have to pick up her CD. Joining her during the show was David Garza on guitar (they actually covered one of his songs) and some guy named John Paul Jones on Mandolin. I

understand he played in some band called Led Zeppelin. He also produced her current CD.

Sara with David Garza.

John Paul Jones

Splitting up Liz and I went to see young blues rocker Jonell Mosser. While waiting, I ran into a guy who worked with The Fabulous Thunderbirds. He told me that he had a drum lesson scheduled with Jonell's drummer and did I know

who Hunt Sales was. For those who don't, he is one of Soupy Sales' sons (Tony is the other) and both played on Bowie's Tin Machine CD as well as Iggy Pop's Lust for Life. As you can see, the years haven't treated him the best, but he can still pound out those drums. My understanding was that he had no music or tapes to go with before performing that day. It was his first time with Jonell and he just winged it, doing a great job. Jonell is a fine and interesting blues rocker, somewhat like Bonnie Raitt.

We left Jonell early so that we could get in to the tent to see Poi Dog Pondering. Deb was waiting for us with front and center positions. Unfortunately, front and center in the tent means that the vocals don't come in that well. Still it was a thrilling show by the 12 piece band. Part way through, Abra Moore came on stage to perform a few songs. She used to be in the band many years ago when they were based in Austin. It was fun seeing them together again.

Abra Moore with Poi Dog Pondering

We split off again and I went back to the Austin Ventures stage (where almost all the acts we enjoyed ended up) to see Robyn Hitchcock and the Venus 3. Peter Buck from REM is a member of the band, but it is really all about Robyn, his strange talks in between and the unusual but brilliant songs. His new songs may be the best in years. Again, another stellar set.

I met up with everyone to see Them Crooked Vultures. Josh Homme from Queens of the Stone Age fronts the band (guitar and vocals), Dave Grohl drives the band (drums) and John Paul Jones lays down the bass in this super group. Also performing is guitarist Alain Johannes from Queens of the Stone Age (among other bands). This is hard driving rock with a minimal of catchy melodies but lots of power and energy. One of the highlights of the weekend.

Instead of hanging around for the headliners, we headed over to the Speakeasy to catch a full Poi Dog Pondering show. The stage was so small they had to put the horn players on the floor. When you watch the video I made, notice that when I pan to the right I can only show about where they were. Now this is what rock and roll is all about. Lots of energy, passion, singing, craziness, and fun went into this set. Abra Moore was again on stage (that makes 13) but this time for the whole set. I would say it was a club highlight this year, but every club show turned out to be a highlight. Maybe next year, we'll just go to the clubs and avoid the actual festival.

Somehow we dragged ourselves out of bed Saturday morning and headed to the festival. But first, we needed to get some bad weather gear, 'cause it was gonna rain. There was a light rain as The Felice Brothers took the stage. They reminded me of the Gourds, but a bit more straightforward. I really enjoyed their set of alt country bluegrass rock stuff.

As we stepped under the tent to see the Sam Robert's Band, the rain started coming down. We got some nice seats and enjoyed this Canadian rocker.

Splitting up again, Liz and I went to see Floggy Molly. Standing in the pouring rain, the boys from Ireland insulted us, pounded us and and put on one friggin' hot set. People were dancing around like there was no rain and it was really hard to not join them. If you've seen them, you know how good they can be. If not, you just have to see them. They will make a believer out of you. Best set of the day, so far.

It was still raining and we moved a bit to the right and watched some of ...And You will Know Us by the Trail of Dead. They are a solid and powerful band. We were a bit too far back to really get into it, but enjoyed what we heard.

As we moved across the field I asked Liz if she was hungry. "There is no way I can eat without the food getting soaked". She was right. And so we moved to the main stage to see The Levon Helm Band. Levon is on strict doctor's orders not to sing. But that's okay, he's got one big, fancy, potent, talented rockin band and they shook the crowd opening with "Shape I'm In" and driving through covers and originals by Levon. There are those who thought it was the show of the day (including some DMB fans).

As Levon Helm finished we easily made it over to see The Decmeberists at the next stage. It was probably my biggest mistake of the weekend. Although they were good, they decided to perform their entire new CD (which is a suite of music) which took up the entire hour. All of the fun songs were missing. We should have gone over to see The Scabs. Deb, who left the show early could hear "Big..." (oh wait, I probably shouldn't say the name of the song) and they were cooking.

By now, the field was starting to turn to mud. In fact as we left the show (blowing off DMB) the only way out was through the mud. We headed home, changed shoes and showed up late to Momo's to see Jesse Klein. Unfortunately, through a mix up on the web site, we only caught her last song (and only half of it at that). But that was okay, because the last show of the evening at Momo's was Suzanna Choffel. Deb nearly dragged me inside (we were relaxing in the outside portion of the club) because she knew I needed to see this women and her band. And what a show it was. Suzanna has a jazz style to her voice and with crazy vibes player Laura Scarborough (not to mention the excellent sax/clarinet playing by Brad Houser and drums by Eldridge Goins) she put on a sexy and exciting set that can only be described as jazz/singer/songwriter/rockin' fun. I was just knocked off my feet by this lady and the ease in which she lead this band. I picked up her current CD (a new one is on the way) and it too is excellent. I can't wait to hear more and to see her again.

That was just a bit too much for us and by the time we got to the park on Sunday we could hear the end of Black Joe Lewis' set. Another jem missed. As we walked into the park, we were once again amazed. That beautiful green grass was now mud. And not just any mud. Apparently they used processed sewage to get the most out of the grass. It didn't smell like sh*t, but it wasn't too far off either. And to make matters worse, they laid hay on the mud where the food court was. So, now it pretty much smelled like a barn. This was not going to be a fun day.

We started out with Rodriguez, a 60's performer who disappeared after 2 CD and was only recently brought back to America's attention. We loved his set, although one song was so messed up by him, that the band didn't know what to do. He seems older than his age and needed help getting to the front of the stage for the show. If you have the chance to see him, do it now while he is still performing. Really interesting stuff that was way ahead of its time.

It was too muddy to go all the way across the field to see the B52s, so we stayed near the last stage and saw Jypsi. They are 3 sisters who, uhmmmm, play bluegrass. They are fine players although some of our group didn't like their vocals. As we left their show we could hear the B52s and they sounded great. Another miss.

We caught 2 songs from Brett Dennen and that was enough. So we decided to head over to the Arctic Monkeys and wait for Ben Harper. The Arctic Monkeys were good, but not knowing their music and being way back in the crowd, I soon found myself hating the fact that the sun was beating down on me and the mud was smelling and making me uncomfortable. I turned to Deb and said, "I'm not having any fun anymore. I'm headed to the football tent to watch the games". She agreed that the festival had turned into a real quagmire and it was time to go. "We'll find a show to go see tonight. There is always someone good playing in Austin". So we headed home, showered off most of the mud, changed shoes again and sure enough as we looked through the paper, there was Raul Malo, playing in a club that had maybe 50 seats and only holds a few hundred.

Raul Malo rocked the Continental club as we stood only a few feet away from the stage. Playing for a good hour and a half, Raul stuck to the rockin' numbers, withholding the Spanish ballads he often does, and just finished off our musical week with a blast.

The Trishas backed up Raul on a couple of songs.

Thanks Austin for giving us another great week of music. Even though the festival was mediocre at best, the clubs easily made up for it. Also a big thank you goes out to John Kunz, at Waterloo records. We went on a big shopping spree on Thursday and he did everything he could to help us, including letting us walk out of the store with some free collectibles, and a couple of hats. John runs one of the best record stores in the country and as he took to the time to chat with us and tell us great stories, you could see why it has been a success for so long. Thanks John, you really helped make it a special ACL week for us.

Acl

2009-10-04T10:21:00.001-07:00

It's another late start today. We had another late show last night and
after sleeping in and then installing a new router for Deb and Linda
(gotta pay my rent) it is 12:15 and we aren't at the festival yet.

Some of the beautiful grass that was grown this year is now mud so I'm
in sandals today. It's gonna be a muddy day. We are all tired and if
the rain hits at all like yesterday, Pearl Jam will play without us.
To make things worse, today has the weakest lineup. Still, it's all
good. :-)

--
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ACL Pre Show Thursday 2009

2009-10-02T05:01:00.001-07:00

ACL Pre Show Thursday 2009

We're on vacation. And yet, there we were, at 7am, in line at Threadgill's. What were we thinking? Every year, KGSR does a live broadcast highlighting a half dozen or so bands from the festival. Each band does 2 songs. This was the first year they were at Threadgill's and we decided to check it out.

David Garza was first up. On his own, his songs are unusual and interesting. I love hearing him with a full band though.

Next came Black Joe Lewis. These are a bunch of young guys who are doing the soul/funk/rock thing. Can't wait to hear a full set from them. They should kick some serious ass this weekend.

Reckless Kelly was classic Texas Country/Folk (whatever that is).

Somehow, on such a small stage, they managed to set up Asleep at the Wheel. Country Swing never sounded so good.

The morning finished off with Bob Schneider by himself. He did a fun acoustic version of Tarantula and then a beautiful song (I believe from the new CD) on piano.

Changing things around this year, we hit Waterloo Records early. Having spent lots of money, we ended up having a long chat with John Kuntz, the owner of Waterloo Records. He's probably the nicest guy in Austin (which is saying a lot) and runs a world class record store. Walking away for a nice bag of schwag (again, thank you so much John), we did a quick stop at Amy's Ice Cream (very cool website and great ice cream) and then headed over to Chuy's for annual margaritas and Mexican food.

After picking up our wristbands, it was off to The Lucky Lounge for what may turn out to be the most rockin' set of the weenkend; Ian Mclagan.

Ian, who played with Rod Stewart in the band Faces back in the 60's is still putting out good music and can rock and roll with the best of them. Switching between a Hammond B3 organ and an electric keyboard, his 4 piece band just laid down classic riffs and had us bopping around during 2 50 minute sets. Bring on the festival!

ACL Pre show Wednesday

2009-09-30T21:46:00.001-07:00

It was a nice easy flight into Austin today, a day before the crowds hit the airport and we headed right over to Salt Lick BBQ for the best BBQ in Austin. They never disappoint. Hopefully they will have some turkey at the airport on my way out. With the freezer bag they provide, it will make a nice dinner when I get home.

Our first music stop of the week was The Saxon Pub. Actually, Deb, Linda and Liz hit Artz for some female singer/songwriter stuff and Matt, Tammy and I went the rock and roll route with Monte Montgomery. Monte is an acoustic guitar player, but don't let that fool you. He has more tricks up his sleeve then just about any electric guitar player around. What we watched for about 75 minutes was amazing guitar work, held together with some very nice songs. The speed and skill that he uses as he moves up and down the fret board is just amazing.

Tomorrow may be a long day. First musical moment will be at 7:30AM... if we get up. Wish us luck.

New Posts

2009-09-29T23:31:00.001-07:00

It is ACL time again and I am blogging, posting pictures and streaming videos. This year, pictures will be split between this blog and Facebook. You are welcome to friend me there if you'd like. See the link below. First music posts will probably be Thursday morning.

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ACL 2008 Final post

2008-10-05T17:05:00.000-07:00

Traditions come and go. Over the last 7 years we created quite a few traditions in Austin; maybe too many. And so this year, many of them fell by the wayside. I didn't get a picture of our favorite photographer (well I did but it's not a good one). I believe she gets to see the shows she wants and I did see her parked in front of the Swell Season stage for most of the show. So she still has good taste. :-) Also, the butt of the year did not happen this year. Maybe we'll resurrect it next year. Jerry, our waiter for the last 6 years at the Hyatt is gone. And so, for the first time in 7 years we did not eat at the Hyatt and I did not get my special coffee (which if I never mentioned, contained just a bit of Baileys in it). Because we didn't go to the Hyatt, we didn't pass by Stevie Ray and tip our hats. Another long standing tradition gone. But a new tradition, Sunday night margaritas and Mexican food at the new Chuy's near Linda and Deb's house is sure to continue. Wow, those margaritas were good, or we were just so tired... And I haven't laughed that hard since... since I saw the Richard Simmons on "Who's Line is it Anyway" video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUZuV0xce3A&feature=related . As always, there are thank you's. Thank you Deb and Linda for your hospitality. Thanks to everyone who has commented on or off blog. Thanks to everyone who has stopped by to read and look at the pictures and videos. And a big thank you to the people of Austin who sure know how to make a visitor feel welcome. I've already got my ticket for next year. So until then, keep enjoying the music.

Sarah Borges at the Continental ACL 2008 Pre Show

2008-10-05T16:53:00.001-07:00

After Alejandro, we headed over to the Continental Club for Sarah Borges. Again, this turned into one of my highlights for the week. Sarah is sassy and rockin and just so much fun to watch and listen to. I enjoyed her latest CD but was not ready for how hard she rocks it live. Check out the video below and then go see her when she is in town. This was soooo worth the ten bucks to get in. :-)

Alejandro Escovedo - ACL 2008 Pre Show Sound Check at Shady Grove

2008-10-05T16:44:00.000-07:00

We were at the show so early, we got to hear the sound check. You can see those videos at http://www.youtube.com/downthunderroad . After the sound check we chatted with Alejandro for awhile. He was still beaming from getting to meet Jimmy Carter at the DNC this summer. It was a bigger thrill than being on stage with Springsteen. I actually think he has his priorities on right. :-) The opening act was The Jones Family.

Alejandro Escovedo - ACL 2008 Pre Show at Shady Grove

2008-10-05T16:32:00.000-07:00

What an evening we had the day BEFORE ACL. We got to Shady Grove real early and ended up in the front row for Alejandro Escovedo. Playing lots of songs from his new CD, we were rocking and rolling for a good hour and a half. Being that close he could actually hear me when I yelled something out. When he mentioned Orange County I was the only person in the place to clap. He smiled at that. Then when he tried to congratulate Shady Grove for 15 years of concerts, he said 13 and I yelled 15. He then introduced a song that he said was real old; couldn't remember how old. I again yelled 15 and got a nice laugh out of him. Near the end of the show, he wondered aloud what to play next. I yelled "Crooked Frame". Deb yelled it too and then we both did. He heard us and decided that was a good choice. Overall he just rocked the house. Before ACL even started I had one of my highlights for the weekend. Check out the videos below...

And here was the set list (which I got a copy of!):

put you down
always a friend
sister lost soul
chelsea hotel
juarez
rosalie
sensitive boys
i was drunk
people
everybody love me
real animal
castanets
encore (can't remember but he played my request, "Crooked Frame")

ACL 2008 Traditions

2008-10-05T16:27:00.000-07:00

Some traditions don't end. Above is the annual picture of the ACL sign and below it is our annual picture in front of Chuy's. That's Linda, Deb, Liz and Bruce.

Patricia Ahn, Shooter Jennings, Joe Bonamassa at ACL 2008

2008-10-05T16:13:00.000-07:00

Patricia Ahn was a replacement act. She needs seasoning. But check out the cute video of her Boob song. Shooter did a solid show of country rock and Joe Bonamassa showed us why he is a potent guitar player. I've got videos of Patricia and Joe below. Oh, and you'll notice the cranes in the skyline. There has been so much construction downtown that they added the cranes to the logo this year.

Octopus Project at ACL 2008

2008-10-05T16:06:00.000-07:00

So, I checked 'em out for awhile. Having the Austin High Marching Band all come up on that small stage was pretty funny. They have an interesting appeal although they may be just a bit too minimalist for me. Check out the bad sounding video below.

Mike Farris and Nicole Atkins at ACL 2008

2008-10-05T15:44:00.000-07:00

Mike sings gospel like you wouldn't believe. Nicole is really becoming a solid rock performer. Check out her version of Crystal Ships below.

More John Fogerty pics from ACL 2008

2008-10-05T15:39:00.001-07:00

John Fogerty at ACL 2008

2008-10-05T15:30:00.000-07:00

John Fogerty put on a rave up of a show, playing almost all Creedence Clearwater Revival songs during his hour set. You can see just how much fun he is having in the pictures and videos below.

Sharon Jones and the Dap -Kings at ACL 2008

2008-10-05T15:25:00.000-07:00

What a performer she is. Check out the video below, but you just have to see the whole show to get an idea of how outrageous she is.

Fleet Foxes and Robert Earl Keen at ACL 2008

2008-10-05T15:15:00.000-07:00

The fleet foxes, above, have beautiful harmonies but couldn't do anything with them. They're banter back and forth however could have filled a nice comedy set.

Robert Earl Keen is really growing on me. Loved most of his set.

The Swell Season at ACL 2008

2008-10-05T15:08:00.000-07:00

One of the highlights for me this year was The Swell Season. Glen is both passionate and gentle. I just loved the show.

Plant and Krauss at ACL 2008

2008-10-05T15:05:00.001-07:00

I've already posted the pictures and a short review. Here are the videos. The sound was too loud for my camera and the lighting did not always allow for a good picture, but hearing the versions of Led Zep songs is worth putting up with this.

Rodney Crowell at ACL 2008

2008-10-05T14:55:00.000-07:00

One of the surprises for me was Rodney Crowell who was so down to earth and funny moving and all at the same time. There is Deb and Liz watching Rodney do his stuff.

Patty Griffin Videos from ACL 2008

2008-10-05T14:44:00.000-07:00

And here are the Patty Videos:

More Patty Griffin at ACL 2008

2008-10-05T14:39:00.000-07:00

That's me getting Patty to sign "Mil Besos". You can read the story about this a few posts below.

Patty Griffin Pics from ACL 2008

2008-10-05T14:30:00.000-07:00

Patty Looked so much better here than on the cruise. And she played with the kind of fun and spirit you would hope to see from her in her home town (she only mentioned that a dozen times).

Random ACL Stories

2008-10-01T07:33:00.001-07:00

I’ve got random stories to tell about ACL. There just wasn’t time this year to tell the stories in a timely manner. Hopefully, next year I’ll go in to the festival feeling good. Anyways, here is the first story. It is about my meeting with Patty Griffin:

You may or may not remember that my wife, while on the Cayamo cruise, wrote Patty a long letter about how I played Mil Besos when I proposed to her and how we danced to it as our first song, and a bunch of other stuff that I never got to see because it was supposed to be a surprise for me. Patty played it for us, but at the wrong show. So, after her show at ACL she was signing. I went up to her and asked for a big favor. "Could you sign this a special way for me?" And so I said, "To Bruce and Maria, Mil Besos". "Ah, how sweet" Patty said. And while she was signing it I said, "And thank you for playing Mil Besos for us on the cruise". Patty said, "You're welcome". And then a pause. "OH. You're THE Bruce and Maria! It is so nice to meet you!" You'd think after I scared her in Chicago a few years back she would have remembered me. :-) "That was a beautiful letter", Patty said and then I had to move on because there was a huge line. But it made my weekend.

Bruce

ACL Sunday

2008-09-28T20:11:00.001-07:00

We stood through most of Shooter Jennings show. It was good country rock. They are a tight band, and it was fun, but it was Sunday, so we wandered around (I ditched the girls and was hanging with Guy at this point) and ended up at Okkervil River's stage, didn't grab me, and then watched a bit of the Raconteurs. We were too far away and so we decided to call it a day. We ended up at the new Chuy's south of the city and after a couple of margaritas I was laughing so hard (sorry, I can't even begin to tell you why) I was crying. Another great week in Austin. There are more posts to come. I have lots of pictures to post and a few more videos to upload. There are stories I still want to tell as well. But for now, I need a shower real bad. :-) Thanks to those of you who have kept track of me on the blog.

Re: [worldclassrock] ACL Sunday continued

2008-09-28T14:14:00.001-07:00

Mike put on a great show, blending southern gospel with some Stax and soul. Man can this guy sing and with a 4 piece horn section and 2 backup singers he had the WA MU tent believing.

Now listening to Joe Bonamassa a guitar wizard. I feel like I'm back in the 70's with his sometimes bluesy but always electric rock and roll guitar.

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ACL Sunday continued

2008-09-28T13:37:00.001-07:00

Watched a few minutes of Octopus Project. Uhmmm... Interesting. If the video comes out okay I'll post it. Sort of industrial techo with a pretty crazy show. Then caught a few minutes of Patricia Ahn. She was cute but I think she needs more seasoning. Very cute video coming. Up next Mike Farris in the blues tent.

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ACL Sunday

2008-09-28T10:54:00.001-07:00

It's casual day on another beautiful day in Austin. We are all wandering around, hitting parts of shows and just having a mellow day. I did some shopping in the marketplace and am now catching Nicole Atkins. When she was last here she played one of the smaller stages. Today she is on the number 2 stage and is having no problem adjusting. Her big rock sound is perfect for the large stage and the extra amps. I videoed a nice version of crystal ships. It should be up tomorrow sometime.

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2008-09-28T08:30:00.000-07:00

ACL Festival 2008 Saturday

So... Plant and Krauss were good. But I sure wouldn't pay the $125 a seat that they wanted when they blew through town a month or so ago. Still, it was worth sitting and standing in the same spot all day for this show. Robert Plant is still larger than life. And when he wails, no man alive makes that amazing sound. So, when you join this great voice with one of the finest voices in music today, Alison Krauss, it is a joy to behold. Therein lies one of the problems of this show. Just not enough duets. Each of them focused on their own music as well as the music from their album. There were several Led Zep songs placed throughout the show which had the crowd going wild. All of them were twisted around and sometimes slowed down, making for a very unique effect. The crowd didn't care and often sang along. The band was amazing. T-Bone Burnett was the band leader and sang one of his current songs, almost apologizing for it afterward saying, "You don't hear a song like that every day. I figured I could get away with it in Austin". What was he thinking though? The song just did not fit with the rest of the music. Jay Belarose, on the drums, as always, created atmosphere that no other drummer can even come close to. Buddy Miller, on guitar, proved that he could accompany Plant on the BIG songs. Hanging on the front rail, this is probably as close as I'll ever come to Robert Plant, so I am a very happy camper today. Videos are still uploading on Youtube, but you can check out the 3 Zep tunes and more at http://www.youtube.com/infomas

CCR

2008-09-27T17:51:00.001-07:00

It was billed as John Fogerty, but it was really a CCR show with only a couple of songs from his solo CDs. AND Kenny Aronoff on drums! The two great drummers back to back, with Jay Belarose playing with Plant/Krause. Anyway, John and band ROCKED. It must have been like this to see CCR in the day. I think I lost my voice singing along.

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More acl

2008-09-27T13:54:00.001-07:00

Just sat through a fun set from Sharon Jones and thr Dap-Kings. Her soul review had us bouncing around for the whole hour. You just have to watch the videos when we post then later. Robert Earl Keen is up next. Then Fogerty. And finally Plant and Krauss.

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Re: ACL day 2

2008-09-27T11:59:00.001-07:00

Couldn't really hear Mugison. The fleet Foxes were okay. As Deb said, harmonies for the sake of harmonies can wear on you.

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----- Original Message -----
From: Bruce Greenberg
To: 'worldclassrock@yahoogroups.com' <worldclassrock@yahoogroups.com>; 'thepromiselive.aclmf@blogger.com' <thepromiselive.aclmf@blogger.com>
Sent: Sat Sep 27 09:39:52 2008
Subject: ACL day 2

We are in the front of the number 2 stage and plan on staying put all day. Front row for Plant and Krauss. At this stage we will be able to also hear the sets at the stage to the side. Up first at that stage is Mugison (Iceland's answer to Beck). Then at this stage is Fleet Foxes (think CSNY). Hope you all are having a good weekend so far. We are.

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ACL day 2

2008-09-27T09:39:00.001-07:00

We are in the front of the number 2 stage and plan on staying put all day. Front row for Plant and Krauss. At this stage we will be able to also hear the sets at the stage to the side. Up first at that stage is Mugison (Iceland's answer to Beck). Then at this stage is Fleet Foxes (think CSNY). Hope you all are having a good weekend so far. We are.

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2008-09-27T00:35:00.000-07:00

ACL Festival 2008 Friday

There is just too much going on and we're getting too old... So the brief descriptions that I posted today will have to do for now. But head over to my Youtube area and check out all the videos as they get completed: http://www.youtube.com/infomas . Hopefully tonight or tomorrow you will find several Patty Griffin Videos and one Swell Season video. Deb will have video uploaded at some point also, including a song or two from Carolyn Wonderland's performance at the Saxon. I should chat about that for a minute. First, Carolyn was on fire, playing for over 2 hours. Her solos where hot, her singing was over the top and we were drained when it was done. BUT... There was this cow (you'll understand my anger when I'm finished) who decided to get in front of everyone (there is a very small area in front of the tables just in front of the stage) and danced almost every song. She turned to someone part way through the night and said the words that drive me crazy, "I paid my $10, I'll do what I want. Kiss my ass!" Now, when I turned my chair to face the stage and stuck my legs out, just a bit, I am 8 inches from the stage. And so I stayed there as a public service. This allowed at least the people behind me to see. Near the end, this cow, got pissed because i refused to move my legs (they weren't even stretched out) and so she would put one of her arms out, trying to block my view, while dancing. As Deb said, it was pathetic. This was this woman's night to shine and she wasn't going to let anyone stop her. Pictures are going to have to wait until I have more time. Oh, and Deb's Youtube area is http://www.youtube.com/user/downthunderroad

Acl continued

2008-09-26T16:38:00.001-07:00

Patty Griffin was great as always. I got a very cool signing from her (can't tell you right now). We tried to see Jenny Lewis but the tent was overflowing all the way to the food court ( that is a long ways, trust me). So we split up and I am sitting next to the stage waiting for The Swell Season. If Alejandro starts to blow them out, I will probably ditch them and watch Mr. Escovedo rock us two nights in a row.

Guy! Where are you? :-)

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Acl friday

2008-09-26T12:56:00.001-07:00

It took less than 2 songs to realize that I didn't want to be watching Vampire Weekend. Moved over to Jakob Dylan, who isn't all that exciting so far, but at least he isn't Vampire Weekend.

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Rodney Crowell

2008-09-26T10:44:00.001-07:00

Hadn't heard him before and wasn't expecting him to be this good. Opened with a song about intelligent design.

Overheard the winner of the contest to play. They closed with Jonathan Richman's Roadrunner! Great taste in music at least.

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Wow

2008-09-25T20:11:00.001-07:00

ACL is still a dozen hours away and already there are highlights! Just sat through an amazing set from Alejandro Escovedo and now we have Sarah Borges back at the Continental. More later.

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2008-09-25T11:57:00.000-07:00

ACL Festival Wednesday Pre-Shows

Look at this picture. Enlarge it. This was my first visit to the real Salt Lick in Austin and man what a meal we had. And then I saw this pit filled with meat. I just wanted to jump in. YUM!!!!

After dinner we headed over to the Hills Austin Cafe to see Charlie Robison. He is the white trash brother of Bruce Robison and now ex husband of Emily Robison of the Dixie Chicks. Bruce is a better writer, but Charlie was a lot of fun. Bruce Joined him for a bunch of songs on this live radio broadcast. This is more Deb's kind of country folk, so that's about all I'll say here.

It was off to the Continental for a great double bill: Jon Dee Graham and James McMurtry; and all for $7.00. I love Austin! Jon Dee, as you may know, was in a horrible auto accident (fell asleep at the wheel and hit a concrete barrier) in July. With broken and floating ribs and now missing a spleen, he somehow (he says he is on pain meds) was able to get back on stage again. Jon Dee has always been a passionate performer, but he seems to be playing with an extra amount of adrenalin these days; playing like someone who is glad to be alive. It was a short but very lively set, including one new song. Enjoy the video. The image is pretty dark but the song is worth it.

James McMurtry put on a nearly 2 hour set (we didn't get out of there until nearly 2:30) playing songs mainly from his last 2 CDs. If you haven't seen this guy live, you are missing so much. Sure he is one of the best songwriters in the biz today. He's a poet. His stories are always several levels deep. Is he talking about growing old or the effects of a hurricane or a society on the brink or all three at the same time? His songwriter really is amazing. But in concert, he turns up the electric guitars and just nails his sound into you. You're bouncing around to some of the finest lyrics either side of the Mississippi. And his fans seem to get it. A would be pole dancer jumped up on stage and gave us all a show as James sang, "Choctaw Bingo" and the girl was actually singing along to this amazingly horrifying song. All of this is laid before us with a complete lack of emotion. But that just seems to emphasize the point. He is like an angry father who is giving you that look of disapproval. Don't mess with me.

Tuesday ACL Pre-Show 2008

2008-09-24T12:44:00.000-07:00

So, I flew in to Austin from Dallas with a little tail wind and beginnings of a head cold. Hopefully this doesn't last long. Deb and Linda had my room all ready to go and after some good hot wings we were off to the Saxon Pub for The Band of Heathens. What we didn't realize was that Bruce Hughes, who used to play with Bob Schneider not to mention Poi Dog Pondering, was the next act on the bill. How cool is that?

The band of Heathens is a three guitar three vocal country rock band with plenty of harmonies and great guitar licks. Along with the guitars bass and drums they added a keyboard player (with lots of organ) giving them a lot more funk to the sound. I've never heard them without the keyboards and honestly, I don't think I need to. They had a great sound with him and I hope they keep him in the band. This was a very nice way to start the weeks activities.

Bruce Hughes had a typical Austin lineup. Everyone had Austin creds, from Judd Newcomb who has played with everyone in Austin was on guitar. The drummer was borrowed from The Band of Heathens. The bass player, Harmoni ( http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=7295699 ) replace Bruce when Bob kicked him out of the band (he even joked about it on stage) and the keyboard player, Mark ( http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=26790201 ) is a producer for lots of bands in Austin. Mark by the way had a theremin built into his keyboard (more on that later). Bruce, played a sort of funky, Philly white soul with lots of mean solos from Judd and Mark. Mark was just really amazing, turning the keyboard into a junk box of sounds that weren't really music but fit the songs perfectly. All were seated during the entire show, and yet, it rocked and we bounced and... What a way to start ACL week for us.

Tonight may be a triple bill: Charlie Robison at Hills Cafe, and then Jon Dee Graham and James McMurtry at the Continental Club. Hopefully this head cold disapates soon.

ACL 2008

2008-09-19T08:40:00.000-07:00

ACL 2008 is just a week away!

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ACL 2007 Sunday

2007-09-17T05:03:00.001-07:00

It was girl’s day at the festival; at least for the first half. Jennifer Niceley started things off very… nicely. With her smooth smoky voice and her jazzy dark style, she enchanted the crowd.

She also won this year’s contest (voted on by all 4 of us)
Then we headed over to the Austin Ventures stage for Amy Cook. Amy was your classic Austin musician. She came to Austin and was determined to play ACL in two years (it took 3). She can sing, she can rock, she writes wonderful songs and she had plenty of enthusiasm and spirit. It is artists like her that keep me coming back to Austin and helped push Deb and many others into moving here.

After Amy we split up. Deb and Linda went on to see Robert Earl Keen, Lucinda Williams and Guy Forsythe. Liz and I headed over to the Wa Mu tent to finish up the ladies section of the show with Grace Potter. This was the tent where 5 years ago (or was it four; they are all starting to merge) an up and coming Los Lonely Boys blew the roof off the place. Well, at times, Grace and her band reached that same level of intensity. It took a few songs to get going, but once they did, wow. Grace traded off between a Hammond organ and an assortment of electric guitars (although she left the lead playing to her guitar player) including a Flying V. So, if you haven’t figured out yet, this was classic rock and roll, with the Hammond organ laying the counter point to the blazing guitar solos. Watch out for this woman and her band.

In the same tent we were honored to hang on the rail and watch one of the great harmonica players and blues legend, Charlie Musselwhite. He absolutely did not disappoint. It was like grandpa up there, a sweet old man, making eye contact and smiling. And then he picked up the harmonica and man did he wail. His band was top notch too, with a young guy (maybe in his 30s) playing some of the best guitar licks we saw all weekend. Unfortunately, I was on a mission and had to leave early.

My daughter Jessie has been a fan of The Decemberists ever since I played The Mariner’s Revenge Song for her. So much so, that a couple of years ago she painted her impression of the inside of a whale (You have to know the song to understand). She has yet to see them live and we just couldn’t make their Hollywood Bowl show (with orchestra!) earlier this year. So, without telling her, I printed out a digital copy of her painting and brought it with me to Austin. So there I was, in a huge line to get the Decemberists autographs. At least I had the lovely Lucinda Williams to entertain me while I waited. After about 20 minutes a Waterloo Records employee comes out and at about 10 feet in front of me says, “You guys may not get in”. Then comes to about where I was and says, “It is really doubtful you’ll get in”. And then a few feet behind me, “It’s not going to happen”. I stuck it out and sure enough with only 5 minutes left for signing he came out again, went two people in front of me, placed one of his employees in the line and said, “This is the end of the line. Sorry folks.” I was so disappointed. I had to do something. So I went up to another Waterloo guy and said, “Could you do me a big favor?”. “I’ll try”, he said. I showed him the picture and asked if he could just give it to them. I told him it was my daughters and that I wanted Jess to know that they at least saw the painting. So he walked up to the road manager and asked him to give it to them. The guy asked who it was for and I said it was for my daughter. He then wanted to know where she was and I explained that I was from California and she wasn’t with me. He said, “Okay”, and passed it on to the band. The lead singer looked at it and smiled, then signed it and passed it on. The next thing I knew I had the entire band’s signatures on the sheet. I can’t wait to give it to Jess.

I met up with Liz at the Dell stage (I should get some sort of money for mentioning these names, don’t you think?) for the Amos Lee show. Amos is one of the top singer/songwriters out there right now and we kicked back and prepared for a nice mellow show. Little did we know that the Philadelphia native knows how to use electric guitars. What a mix of music he played for us. Starting off with some Philly soul, he rocked, he joked, he sang a children’s song and through it all, you just had to love him. He comes off as such nice guy. Even though I really have enjoyed his CDs, I totally underestimated how good he was going to be in concert. This was one of the great surprises of the show for us.

After the show we tried to move up to the rail, but the Decemberists fans were too young and too willing to be sardines for a couple of hours. So, we backed up just a bit and found a nice spot to sit. Of course that didn’t stop the growing crowd from infringing on our personal space. Hell, this is a festival, there is no personal space. Oh well. So it goes. We relaxed and chatted with the younger people around us. We enjoyed talking to the girl in front of us until her boyfriend showed up. “Hey, you didn’t tell us your boyfriend was TALL GUY”. It wasn’t really a problem though. I was able to look off of his shoulder and had a full view of the stage. The Decemberists did not disappoint as they threw themselves into the music while the crowd acted like an Indigo Girls crowd, singing along to every song. This was Liz’s first exposure to the band and she fell for them. How could she not fall for them with their strange stories, goofy hooks and nerdy looks. If these guys don’t become the big alternative band soon, I’ll be surprised. Maybe they are. I should go check.

As the last note faded from the stage, Bob Dylan and his band took the AT&T stage for the final show of the weekend. Deb and Linda had found a spot on the rail by the sound booth, so we started the long winding trek through the crowd. It took about forty five minutes, but we finally met up with them. There isn’t much to tell you about the show. Just before going onstage, Bob requested that there be only 2 long shot non moving cameras for the big screens and no spotlights at all. So, if you weren’t at the front of the stage, you really didn’t see anything. I can understand Bob not wanting anyone to see him close up, but does the rest of the band have to pay for it? And why wasn’t this worked out earlier. In a smaller venue, I can understand this. But at a festival where people are so far away, it just isn’t fair. I could go on, but I won’t. If Bob wants to stay mysterious I won’t get in his way.

This morning we headed over to Waterloo Records, one of the great record stores, and finished off my CD buying for the month. Their staff is always so helpful, going the extra mile whenever possible. If it wasn’t for the Waterloo guy, I wouldn’t have gotten those autographs. Thanks guys/gals. See you online when the KGSR CDs go on sale. What a great time we all had this year. Liz wants to come back and we all hope to be in Austin next September. Thanks to everyone for their nice comments, and thanks for reading this far. It is always fun to bring this to you all.

Signing out until next year…

ACL 2007 Saturday

2007-09-15T21:33:00.001-07:00

Day two of the festival and it looks like it is going to be another beautiful day. We find our special parking spot that is less than a mile from the park (it took us 6 years to figure this out?) and costs us nothing. Liz is holding up great considering it is her firstACL . And, she is learning things she never thought she'd know. Luckily, as the saying goes, what happens in Austin, stays in Austin.

The gates actually open early. Okay, not before 11am but 11:12, which may be the earliest they have ever opened. We decide to do some shopping first and then head over to see Willy Mason. We saw him 2 years ago and you could tell he was the real thing. But he was young and his songwriting still wasn't totally polished yet. When we got to the stage we almost didn't recognize him. He has really grown into a man (he really looked almost like a teenager back then). And his songwriting skills continue to grow. You can see it in his second CD and I can't wait to hear the third one. He was really good. The highlight of his show was when he brought his mom out to sing duet on a couple of songs (one she wrote). She is a singer/songwriter also and hopes to someday have a record released. It was such a sweet moment. And the harmonies! It is really hard to beat when family members harmonize together. Their voices always blend so nicely.

Our first risk of the day worked out well. Dr. Dog got moved to the big stage when the White Stripes canceled (they didn't replace them, everybody moved up one slot and they took the opening slot). What a fun band they are. With loads of energy to spare, they proceeded to pound out Beatlesque pop songs with just enough feedback fuzz and furry to give them a winning sound. Throw some psychedelic strains into the mix and serve very hot.

We decided to have an early lunch (1:30) and headed over to the food court. This area is classic Austin. Not just because of the food, but because you actually hear several stages at the same time; all different types of music all at the same time is soooo Austin. We heard a bit of Back Door Slam (sounded really good) and The Legendary Soul Stirrers (from Chicago apparently, but maybe not legendary enough for Liz to know who they are). We also caught the beginning of Raul Malo's set, which started off hot with an old Mavericks song, then moved into his new album of country crooner classics. But, that was the stage we were headed to, so we headed over after a quick meal and caught the end of the show, which, like the beginning, really cooked.

As Raul left we settled in at the front of the stage and stayed there the rest of the day: easy on the legs, a bit harder on the butt. :-) We blew off PaoloNutini (he was fun to watch last year, but the CD didn't do much for me) and relaxed while listening to the fine reggae of Stephen Marley as it blared across the field. Guy and a friend joined up with us just in time to hear a good set from Steve Earle. Steve, played solo most of the show. But when it came time to showcase his new songs, he added a dj , who laid down some bass beats and scratching while Steve played his guitar and sang about the problems of the world. It is a really interesting sound and I can't wait to hear the new CD (okay, I know I keep saying that, but how else can I say it? So manyCDs , so little time).

There was a second microphone on the stage, and we could see Steve's beautiful and very talented wife sitting in the back. Nevertheless, you never know, so we crossed our fingers. Sure enough, AllisonMoorer joined Steve on a few songs, including a beautiful love song that he said he "didn't have to act when he sang it with her". Awww. Great set.

Everyone wanted to see the Indigo Girls and I thought it would be fun to see them with such a large crowd. Also, because of the White Stripes canceling, Damian Rice got moved to the number 2 spot. This meant that it would be nearly impossible to get close to the stage. With that in mind we sat back down and waited. Zap Mama better we worth it. Yep, that was the next band on stage, Zap Mama. And what an interesting show. Not really my cup of tea, but it was fun and we did bounce around to the rhythms which jumped from funk to Brazilian to salsa and back to some world beat that I guess you can call Brazilian soul. The leader of the band is a tall beautiful black woman from Belgium I believe, and she has such a creative way of performing. It was a world beat kind of show with a big beat to keep you dancing. And could she dance, doing a bit of break dancing, and the splits and spinning like a wild woman, all while wearing a formal length dress. Very impressive. Also impressive was her band with three backup singers (one was a lady bass player, another had pipes that were incredible), a very good guitar player, a percussionist, some solid keyboards and the man I'm guessing is the arranger of the band; the drummer. What a showman he was, twirling his sticks as he swung his arms down on the drums. He was very very good. The biggest problem was the timing of the show. The sun was behind the stage and it was impossible to see anything. They really need to close up the back of that stage.
And so we settled back down and waited again. It wasn't quite as comfortable this time as one or two, uhmmm, ladies, really wanted to be on the rail and we weren't interested in giving up our spots. So they got just a bit too close and for the first time we felt a bit squeezed. But it wasn't too bad. The worst part was we could hear Damian Rice just enough to know he was putting on one hell of a show. Damn.
I was really hoping for a band show from the Indigo Girls, but they came out and did their duet instead. About half way through the show they brought out the band that has been opening for them on tour, and played the rest of the set with them. They can rock so hard and have so much fun doing it, I really don't get why they do the duets so much. It doesn't really matter. IG shows are always a lot of fun and this was no exception.

Alas, it was just too crowded to get near enough to enjoy Arcade Fire. We heard a couple of tunes from far away. They sounded and looked great. The stage looked like it was way cool, but we couldn't be sure. It was bad enough that we were so far, but to also have to hear Muse blasting in the distance made it impossible to enjoy them. So, we settled for some good margaritas and Mexican food at a local eatery. And our day was done.

ACL 2007 Friday

2007-09-14T23:30:00.001-07:00

Friday was easily one of the best ACL days we have had in years. In fact is seemed like one of the shortest days we've had. But by the time we left the Saxon Pub, at 12:30am, it was nearly one of the longest.

ACL started, as it normally does, about 15 minutes late, with the theme from Star Wars blaring. After a quick shopping spree at theACL tent (t-shirts where so-so this year, which is better than last year, but the poster is a lot better, which isn't saying much), we headed over to see Sahara Smith who was about half way through her set. She seemed pretty good, at times a bit like Beth Orton. I've got a short snippet below.

Seattle has it's cows (I think it is cows) and some other city somewhere I believe has pigs. But Austin, one of the coolest cities in the U.S. has an art project with guitars.

Then it was off to the big stage for one of the highlights of the day and maybe the weekend. Jesse Malin rocked the small crowd that gathered like only a New Jersey boy can. Hey Mike, what the hell is it? Is there something in the water? With only an hour to play, Jesse kept up the pace not to mention the passion, giving us easily the most exuberant and exciting set of the day. He did slow down for a ballad or two, but watching him perform, he never seems to be really slowing down. What a potent rocker he is. Do not miss this guy the next time he is in town.

Once again our favorite photographer was here. It only took one shot with my camera to get this wonderful picture of her. No need to stalk her this year. :-)
ACL is all about decisions, and we made a difficult one after Jesse's set. As we walked across the field we could hear Joseph Arthur just starting up. It sounded real good and maybe it was a mistake passing him by, but we really can't complain. Because... our next show was the Heartless Bastards and we got a set that almost equaled the quality of their name. Playing a set of I guess you can call it alternative rock, what you will walk away with is the lead singer's voice. Just when it starts to sound like a lot of modern bands, she will dig down deep and just blow you away. A very good set. I'm still not sure if I'm buying their CD. We'll see how the rest of the weekend goes. :-)

It was time for a quick bite and for me, the luck continued. Salt Lick, one of the best BBQ places in Austin is at the festival this year. I had a sausage wrap (high protein, low carbs... oh whatever) and it was very good. The girls had the sandwiches which weren't nearly as good as getting them at their restaurant. Meanwhile, one of the propane tanks exploded in a trailer behind the park causing a huge plume of smoke to rise. A couple of people were seriously injured (workers I believe).

After lunch, we headed to the Austin Ventures stage for Will Hoge. If you like the Black Crows you will like this band. They are young and hungry enough to really give it all they got, and we were lovin' it. He had one of the funniest comments of the day. Looking out at the smoke he said, "I hear a trailer caught fire. I'm sorry to hear that. Being from Tennessee, I can completely relate".

A decision was made... We wanted to get nice and close for Crowded House, so we ditched Blonde Redhead and made our way very close to the front, right on the middle rail (I did run over and snap a few pics though). This worked out perfectly because Blonde Redhead was playing right across the way. Their full, at times almost lush sounds bounced across the hills, sounding really good. After a while though her Yoko Ono type voice starts to get to you.

If Jesse Malin wasn't the highlight of the day, Crowded House was. Putting on a very short 1 hour set, they always remind us of how great pop rock can be when it is written with intelligence, wit and charm. There was very little time for banter, and Deb thought they should have left the ballads at home (being a festival, you need to crank it up a bit), but no one argued that they sounded great (much better than they did at the Glass House earlier this year). The video I shot was really really short. The videonazis were out jumping into the crowd to stop people from video taping the show. Idiots. But that is a rant for another time.

The weather, did I mention the weather yet? It was a beautiful day. Never got over 93 and the humidity was relatively low. But as Crowded House started playing, a few rain drops found there way onto us. The band noticed, and of course, do I have to tell you what they played next? It was a perfect time to hear, "Weather with You". They left us, as any great band should, wanting so much more.
After the show, we headed over to the Waterloo tent to start buying CDs where I caught up on my Jesse Malin collection. It was there that we ran into Guy, one of our lurkers. Guy has plenty of music in his head and really should chime in more often. This is what you get for emailing me Guy. :-) We had a great chat waiting for Spoon to start up. The crowd was pretty big for Spoon so we stayed as far back as we could. And maybe that was okay. They were a bit disappointing to us. Although I like their music, the energy never seemed to get off the ground (or stage); even with a horn section (I think there was a horn section... that's what Deb said).

We left the show early, sorry Bjork, grabbed some tacos at taco X press, and headed over to the Saxon Pub for Jimmy LaFave. Up first was a guy we may check out today, Mario Matteoli put on a good set of roots based rock.

We then got really rocked by Dustin Welsh. His wall of sounds band was really hot. Notice I said "sounds". Dustin plays banjo and dobro. He's got a violin player (she plays a lot of lead) and a female backing vocal. There is also an acoustic guitar. They all sing harmonies. The drums of course. And then, a metal styled guitar player, right down to his unisex shirt with holes in it and necklace. He played a classic big auditorium rock guitar. The merging sounds were great. It is too bad the room was so small and the mix had too much of the guitar in it. They would have been even better.

And finally, to end the evening, Jimmy Lafave. He has such a unique style and he brings it to all the songs he plays; even covers. And there were some great covers, from Dylan to Donovon to Bruuuuuuuuce. But live, he hardly notices the crowd and even said thank you out of the side of his mouth. The guitarist and keyboardist were hot, trading leads and really thrilling the crowd with the smooth solid delivery. Maybe expectations were too high and we were too tired. The evening ended on a great note with Jimmy covering "The Weight", one of my favorite songs. And now Deb is yelling for us to get in the car, so off we go for day 2.

ACL update

2007-09-14T09:34:00.001-07:00

Well, we're here and it is a beautful day. Supposed to be in the low 90's with some clouds. Sharah Smith is on stage. I am planning to upload videos tonight, so you will get a feel for the music. More later. :-)

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Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless Handheld

Billy Harvey at Shady Grove - Austin

2007-09-14T07:04:00.000-07:00

Still playing with my camera. I thought I'd give the video feature a test. Here is a snippet from Billy Harvey's show last night. Enjoy.

ACL 2007 Pre Show - Thursday

2007-09-13T21:36:00.001-07:00

It's Thursday of ACL Week, which means that we head over to Chuy's for some margaritas and Mexican food. If the woman on the right doesn't look familiar, that's because she is new to our ACL group. Her name is Liz. She's actually an old friend of Deb's from Chicago. And for those who don't know, that's Deb on the left and Linda in the middle. We then staggered, I mean headed up the hill to the festival to get our wrist bands. What's amazing this year is how green everything is. It has been raining all summer and it sure shows. The picture doesn't do it justice. But I can pretty much guarantee you that there will be no dust storms this year.

There is a new logo for the festival. I'm not sure I like the guitar. To Hard Rock Cafe, don't you think?
That's me with Stevie. It is our tradition to visit him. And we do it every year. There were already flowers left in his hand when we got there.

Our first concert of the week was Billy Harvey at the Shady Grove. Every Thursday they, along with KGSR, put on a free semi-acoustic concert here. We got there real early, not knowing if it would be crowded, and ended up in the front row.
Billy, as you may know, was Bob Schneider's guitar player for several years. His, last CD, Pie, was excellent but we had never seen him solo before and weren't really sure he could command an audience (it is already a given that he can play the hell out of the guitar). Well, we were mildly surprised. Billy is witty and entertaining and held us captive throughout much of his 2 plus hour set. If you haven't heard him, think Steve Poltz, but not as good with the lyrics. But he keeps getting better and better and I can't wait to hear his latest CD. Throughout the set he relied on loops for a backing band. So many artists over use them and really aren't able to have them smoothly interact with the music. Billy did a great job; one of the best I've seen. It was a great start to the ACL weekend. Okay Zilker Park, bring 'em on. :-)

ACL 2007 Pre Show - Wednesday

2007-09-12T22:27:00.001-07:00

No music to start the trip out, but we did get some excellent BBQ from Rudy's Gas and BBQ. Yep, you heard me right. While you're getting your tank filled up, you can get your tank filled up with some really really good BBQ. We had the brisket (I had a half order of the extra moist, more fat I supposes, and the lean cut which was wonderfully burnt on the ends which adds to the taste. The BBQ sauce was good, not the best I've had. But the meat was just excellent. They have a great sense of humor there too. When they found out it was our first time (yes they called us virgins) the entire cooking staff yelled hello. Then they brought us samples of the brisket and creamed corn so we could decide which we wanted.

As you can see, gas on the left, food on the right.

They have a "Cutter Cam" so you can watch them as they cut the meat.

The sense of humor goes right up front, "Worst BBQ in Texas". I beg to differ. This will be on my list of places to go next year.

Still working on my camera... I did a group shot but it didn't come out that well. Hopefully I'll get the bugs worked out by Friday.

ACL 2007 is almost here

2007-09-11T17:29:00.001-07:00

ACL is almost here! I’m catching the next flight out (okay, actually it is the first flight out tomorrow) and will start reporting on Thursday. I’ve got a new camera, my old pancho (it has been raining all summer I hear) and and and no idea which bands I’m going to see. So, keep on an eye out for this site for the next week.

The early bad news is that The White Stripes cancelled. I guess I’ll be watching Arcade Fire instead. Not a bad second choice.

Final Words on ACL

2006-09-18T17:37:00.000-07:00

There are always leftovers...

Stacey, great meeting you. I wish we would have had more time to chat. Hope you'll come back next year.

Linda, thank you so much for letting me stay with you. What a beautiful house you have. And thanks for the free taxi service to the airport. :-)

Deb, you ready for your first non-winter?

ACL - If it is all about the money, which some people in Austin say, then I don't know how much longer I will attend. They raised all but one of the stages to festival hight. We used to be able to lean on a couple of the stages. Now they all have fences. This may have been the lowest total for Austin preformers this year and that includes the Greencards who don't live in Austin anymore.

Austin, other than your jocks, I love you. You are one of my favorite cities. I love your music. I love your people. I love your politics. I love your weather. Okay, I'm kidding about the last one.

Any and all mistakes can be blamed on a lack of sleep. My bad. :-)

ACL 2006 - Sunday

2006-09-18T16:59:00.000-07:00

Things started out a bit weird on Sunday. As we walked to the park, some drunken idiot was riding a bike with another idiot on the handle bars. They were barely staying up let alone near the side of the road. As we looked on, they looked at us
Again it was decision time. I decided I really wanted a good seat for the BoDeans (I've never seen them. Can you believe that?). That meant sitting through Matt Costa and then the Greencards and missing Son Volt (again, the guy on the plane said they were great).

and laughed and then ran into a car that stopped because they were heading right for her. The guy, holding his bent tire started yelling at the woman in the car who was quite shaken by the whole thing. He left and we went over and comforted her. He scratched up and dented her car a bit. Did I mention that was 11am? :-(

And the rain finally came. As we waited for the year late Kathleen Edwards (she got hurricane'd out), the rain came pouring down. Pouring Down. Yes, that was on purpose. It was the hardest rain yet for ACL and a pretty intense one for a Southern California guy like me. But as if Kathleen had a magic connection with mother nature, with 5 minutes to go, the rain stopped and... and... the sun DIDN'T come out. For those of you who don't live in hot parts of the world, if the sun comes out after the rain, you're gonna fry (or at least get one hell of a steam bath). The sun threatened to show up throughout the day and it did make some short appearances, but it never quite made it. That kept the temperature down a bit (not as much as you'd think though).

So Kathleen comes out and first thing says, "Well, I sure am glad I have no performances after this because I'm probably going to get electrocuted". And then she rocks. I was chatting with a guy on the plane today who said that he wasn't sure what to expect from her. He liked her CDs but wasn't thrilled by them. And then he saw her and... Well... she is just something to see in concert. Her band is very very tight these days, and when they rock, they do it really well. And her voice (someone called it a lighter Lucinda) is just so inviting. During her show, she told us the story of someone who mistook her for Aimee Mann; "Sure, Aimee and 10 hamburgers and you get me". That, of course started the Aimee jokes. Part way through the show a group of fans yelled, "We love you Aimee"! She just loved that. When I got her autograph, I asked her to sign it "Aimee Mann". She almost did, signing it, "An Aimme Mann fan, Kathleen Edwards". Speaking of signing, Linda has this thing about a certain phrase and last year got Lucinda to sign her picture, "F Off" (she did actually spell it out). So inspired by Lucinda's willingness, she asked KT Tunstall for the same autograph. KT loved the idea; "First time" she said of the request. I missed KT but Deb and Linda said she was great.

While KT was playing on one stage I wanted to be up close for Jose Gonzales. I felt that his music is so fragile, it requires a small room and no distractions. I was right. Standing at the front of the stage wasn't good enough. His guitar playing is really something to see. He creates these beautiful moods and then oh so softly sings over it. Because of the weather, his seat (he played seated with a mic'd guitar) was half way back on the stage. As you'll see, I could barely get him in my frame. It was a beautiful but short show (only 35 minutes). But that allowed me to go check out more of Patrice Pike's show (where I caught back up with Deb and Linda). Patrice just gets better every year. I was too far away for pics (she had them packed in this year... local girl makes good).

It wasn't a good sign for me when I heard that Matt Costa was a Jack Johnson find (I could be wrong. I know that someone from No Doubt is working with him and in fact he had some No Doubt equipment with him). I don't know what it is about Jack, but everything seems so light and just bores me; especially in concert. And on first listen, Matt did very little for me. Nice pleasant music with some feel of importance that I didn't think it deserved. At the end he had a bunch of friends, including Elvis Perkins, come on stage and play percussion and sing. You would think there would be plenty of energy from this, but there wasn't.

We've seen the Greencards before. They are a fun bluegrass based group with a very talented lineup that now includes a guitar player. They actually are almost a poor man's Nickle Creek. But that's not fair to them. They are very good and fun to watch.

Finally, the BoDeans. Am I an idiot or what? How could I have passed these guys up all these years. This is just about as much fun as rock and roll can be without playing to a lowest common denominator. This is fun solid rock and these guys are tight. Don't know the lyrics to the sing-alongs? No problem, you'll figure them out and you'll want to sing along; the music is that infectious. What a great hour set it was. We were very happy.

The headliner for the weekend was Tom Petty. We decided to leave the park and watch him from the railroad tracks behind the stage. You can actually see the video screen and it is closer than many spots in the park. The first half hour was fun. And then the light show. Not Tom's; Mother Nature's. And then the rain came. And we all covered up and waited. It took about a half hour for the rain to go past and for the stage to get back to normal. Tom continued the show for another hour singing oldies (his and covers) as well as songs from the new CD. I understand they had monitor problems, which may have slowed the pace of the show. And that was my only complaint. Tom was always great at pacing a show; knowing when to bring it down for a while and knowing when it was time to rock. The show seemed a lot mellower than the old days and was not what we expected from him (especially at a festival). But he is still one of the great concert performers and when he finally kicked it up a notch we were dancing around in the mud. It was a great way to end another fun weekend in Austin. Can't wait for next year.

ACL 2006 - Saturday

2006-09-17T08:10:00.000-07:00

We brought back one of our traditions this morning by eating at the Hyatt and having Jerry bring us his "special" coffee. Really, it is. And it brought back so many memories of previous ACLs. If only the day could live up to those memories. But... it wasn't going to be. This was maybe the weakest ACL day I can remember. No great finds and no great performances. Not that the music was bad, and not that we didn't have a great time. I've just seen a whole lot better over the years.

The day started out with the Troy Campbell Band featuring “Scrappy” Jud Newcomb on guitar. Troy plays a rockin’ alt-country and with Scrappy’s hot leads we had a nice start to what was to be a pretty hot day (just under 100 degrees).

Up next was Nada Surf. While waiting, we got a nice dose of Galactic over at the next stage. At one time you might have called this jazz fusion. I’m not sure what the kids call it these days though. It was pretty good, although like many fusion bands, it gets pretty redundant. They attempted a little Led Zep, but without Plant singing, it just didn’t cut it.

Nada Surf is a pop rock outfit. A friend of mine has been telling me to check them out for some time and this was my first listen. We really enjoyed their show. Some excellent tunes and plenty of energy. Can’t wait to listen to the studio stuff.

It’s been hot out here today; a pour some water over your head day. It wasn’t as bad as the first year when the suntan lotion was bubbling on my arm, or last year when I bought 2 bottles of water at a time (one to drink and one to pour over my head). But it had me thinking that the 600 bucks for VIP passes and the chance to sit in an air conditioned bathroom was looking real good.

The first real big choice was coming up: Aimee Mann or Calexico? I’ve never seen Calexico. But I love Aimee and haven’t seen her in a couple of years. Maybe it was a mistake (talking to a photographer on the plane, it was), but we went with Aimee. With just a two piece band behind her, Aimee put on a really mellow show, even for her. We heard most of the favorites during her hour set and she continues to do the Magnolia joke (“a song that I like to call the one that lost out on an Oscar to Phil Collins and a singing monkey” or something like that). Luckily we were right up front and got to check out all the tattoos (what’s with the anchor on your shoulder Aimee?).

The kids were starting to press in and we didn’t like Iron and Wine THAT much, so we gave up our front row center spots and split up. I took off for the Raconteurs. Of course, there was no way I was going to get anywhere near the stage, but I learned a valuable lesson. The problem with the big stage is that if you aren’t up close, no matter where you stand there is someone talking (and way too loud). I found though, that if you stand right next to a speaker rack, you won’t hear any of the talking. And someday I won’t hear anything at all (there were 3 Crown amps that either said 10,000 or 100,000 watts… whatever, it was freeking loud. And so were the Raconteurs, who put on a real rock and roll show. Jack shared the lead guitar duties (which really surprised me), but when he took over, it really pissed me off that I’ve missed the White Stripes ‘cause he sure can play.

Then it was back to the Iron and Wine stage. We were now a good 50 yards from the stage, but that was okay. I&W put on a almost hypnotic show, with the music always appearing to be ready to take off and explode, but never quite doing it. Another good show today. So, even though it was a very week day, we ended up having a lot of fun. Now on to the clubs.

When we got to Antone’s at 9:30 and they hadn’t let anyone in, we decided there was no way we were going to make it to two shows and quickly sold our Los Lobos tickets; heading over to Momo’s for Jon Dee Graham and James McMurtry.

This is the first time I’ve seen Jon Dee with a band (bass and drums) and man can he rock. Playing a short 45 minute set of mostly favorites, he only slowed down for a short period and focused instead on his harder edged songs (or least they became harder edged with his powerful guitar guiding the way. Jon Dee Graham has a Wednesday night residency at the Continental Club right now. So, if you’re in Austin on a Wednesday night… need I say more?

Also hanging out at the Continental Club on Wednesday nights is James McMurtry. My only exposure to him has been his latest CD (thanks Mike). I figured I was going to get a nice country like performance with some good guitar work (I had heard he was a very underrated guitar player). Boy was I wrong. His single guitar wall of guitar sound was pure rock and roll; all distorted and filling up every bit of air in the room. He crunched through an hour set, singing about the failed American dream and other happy moments. I need to find a live CD of his, because the studio stuff (at least his latest one) does not nearly tell the whole story. I could easily see him on a bill with the Drive-by Truckers. If that hasn’t happened, it should.

Deb and Linda deserted me part way through Jon Dee’s set (whimps) and at 2:15 in the morning I was left to find a cab. Now let’s look this over: The bars are closing, everyone is in town for ACL and partying all night and cabs… are not stopping. I spent a good half hour trying to flag down a cab; battling with about a dozen other cab-driven wannabe’s and a drunken dude who was trying to flag down anything that moved. So, I’m standing there and some UT idiot in a cab, yells at me and then throws something at me. Like his football team, he couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn. Here’s hoping that UT loses the rest of their games this season. A*shole. Sorry. I just had to vent. I made it home safely, and before anyone blames Deb, she did pay for my cab ride. What a long night. Can’t wait for tomorrow.

Jon dee

2006-09-16T21:24:00.000-07:00

Ran into Jon Dee Graham before his show at Momo's tonight. I told him my fiance wanted to know if he quit smoking. He said, "tell her I hid the t-shirt (she gave him an anti smoking shirt when he was in L.A.).

Meanwhile, it doesn't matter where you go in Austin, the talent is so deep. The 3rd and 4th bands on the bill at Mom's tonight were very good.

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ACL 2006 - Friday

2006-09-16T07:31:00.000-07:00

It was in the mid 90's as we entered day one of ACL 5. After buying t-shirts and posters, we were drawn by the siren's song of Claire Small. Our first of 2 finds for the day. Claire has a beautiful voice and we all really enjoyed her songs. We will be looking for her CDs in the Waterloo tent.

Thursday night we ran into a woman at the Continental Club who looked our age but maybe a bit crazier. She had driven from East Texas (I'm told that is a long drive) by herself and was attending the festival alone because her husband is into fishin' not music. She told us to check out a guy named Paolo Nutini. A quick check that night online told us she wasn't too drunk (unlike the guy we met who went to grade school with Deb... what are the odds of that?), and so off we went to check him out. This 19 year old beer drinker from Scotland (someone yelled out, "You aren't old enough to drink", as he took a swig of beer, and he said, "It makes it taste even better") was really special. He can sing, he can have fun (covered Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy"), his songs have a modern feel with good melodies (guaranteed airplay in previous eras) and a sense of music history (he did a wonderful cover of John Sebastian/Lovin' Spoonful's "Daydream"). Oh and I'm told he is really cute. Another CD to buy at Waterloo.

Every year we keep an eye out for our favorite photographer and she hung right by us at the Paolo Nutini show, so I got a nice shot. Speaking of which, I hear I was on TV this year; as the camera panned the crowed during Paolo's show and my red shirt stuck out.

Having missed Mishka at the Continentle Club the night before (we are becoming lightweights), we decided to check out a bit of his set; the highlight of which was his introduction which was given by Matthew McConaughey (his manager). Not that there was anything wrong with Mishka. He does a slow, spiritual form of reggae. We needed a bit more energy, so we headed over to the food court for some BBQ and sweet tea.

Last year we saw Tristan Prettyman solo. This year she had her band behind her and she sounded great. She has one of those cute voices that just makes you feel better when you hear her sing. All of the songs sounded great. Another trip to the Waterloo tent?

At around this time I heard that the reporter from Indie 103 in L.A. was whining about the heat. What a wimp. It was hot, but the sun screen hadn't started bubbling on my skin like previous years, so life was good.

I was looking forward to Nickle Creek. I've never seen them and I understand that time is running out. As everyone who has ever told me about them says, they are just amazing to watch. You start with a country/bluegrass base, then throw in classical training and finish it off with a joy of playing that is contagious and you have the ingredients for my favorite show of the day. Watching these guys (and gal) go from intense solos into even more intense runs played similtaneously is just amazing. It was everything I thought it would be; and more. Their version of "Toxic" just has to be seen to be truly appreciated, with Chris getting Brittany's moves down perfectly. And the jig on a mic'd floor during the medley that included The Band's classic, "The Weight", was just a pure joy to watch. What an excellent show.

When last we saw Cat Power (two years ago I believe) she was solo and melting down (left the stage early). But it was a different breed of Cat this year. She has her "Memphis Band" (about a dozen of them at least) and a new happier attitude. It made for a fun hour as this sturdy band lead Cat through most of her latest CD, "The Greatest" along with classics like her very unique rendition of "Satisfaction" (which included a little rooster walk a la Mick).

We finished off the day watching (and listening) to Trish Murphy. Her southern rock is potent and fun, and she easily wins this years butt shot (although we'll see if she can compete with Lucinda when she's 50... I'm betting she can).

The real crowds finally arrived and it was time to leave. Every stage was heavily packed we decided to get to La Zona Rosa early to get up front for Guster and Gomez. There was no reason to hurry. We weren't the only ones with this idea. By the time we found the place (4th and Rio Grande) the line was all the way down the street, so we headed over to Hut's for a burger. We got to LZR at about 10pm and Gomez arrived 10 minutes later. Well, it was more like exploded, as they put on a blistering hour and a half set that left us wondering if Guster could compete. These guys are so talented, with three good singers and three good guitar players and lots of fun and energy. They just wore us out. Which may be why we were just not nearly impressed with Guster when they arrived onstage at about 12:15am. They later said that this was the latest they ever remember playing (obviously they've never played the NYC bar scene). Guster was good, but I really believe they should have gone first.

And that is all the energy I have left for this... On to day two.

Night

2006-09-15T18:05:00.000-07:00

The place is now officially too crowded. We are a 1/2 mile from The Tragically Hip. It's time to hit the bars. Guster and Gomez await us.

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Oh my God

2006-09-15T15:26:00.000-07:00

Nicklecreek covers "Toxic"!

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Waiting

2006-09-15T14:03:00.000-07:00

It's been a good day so far. Just saw tristan Prettyman and we're about 25 feet from the stage for Nicklecreek. Someone said this was their last show. If so, it should be good.

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Friaday

2006-09-15T09:42:00.000-07:00

It's nice and warm and the festival was only 15 minutes late. Claire Small's voice carried across the field and we were drawn to it. Our first very pleasant surprise.

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ACL 2006 Pre Shows - Thursday Night

2006-09-14T22:37:00.000-07:00

Thursday night found us at the Continental Club. It was our first time there and even though we didn't know the bands we were going to see, with the club's reputation, we knew we would be okay. And sure enough the two acts we saw came through. Up first was Beth Garner. She fronted a 3 piece band that included a guitar/slide player, bass and drums with Beth playing electric rhythm and lead guitar along with singing. The music was rock with a bit of southern style. Well worth the 10 dollar admission. Up next was Scott H. Biram. Scott was a one man band with his distorted electric guitar, bass drum (of some type, we couldn't see it), harmonica and bullet mic set to maximum distortion (pretty much like Springsteen's during his last solo tour). Oh, he also had a bull horn which he felt the need to use in between songs. The sound was a bit blues, a bit punk blues, a bit weird. And we enjoyed it.

The real thing starts tomorrow and we haven't even decided who we are going to see! Stay tuned...

ACL 2006 Pre Shows - Wednesday Night

2006-09-13T21:52:00.000-07:00

Our first night in Austin found us at Artz Rib House for BBQ and blues. The BBQ was fine, but not as good as the Salt Lick I had imported for my birthday party.

The blues/country/gosple was provided by Shelley King and Carolyn Wonderland. Shelley (bottom) has a solid blues/country voice and even did a nice job on a gosple number. Carolyn (top) not only can belt out a song with her voice (and man does she have a voice) but she plays a mean slide, knocked off some hot solos on her two guitars and even did a trumpet solo during one of Shelley's songs. The two traded songs with Carolyn playing fills during Shelley's numbers and Shelley adding rhthym during Carolyn's songs. It was a nice way to start the week.

Acl 2006

2006-09-13T08:15:00.000-07:00

Well, acl 2006 is just days away. I'm in the airport on my way to Aiustin and thought I'd test my remote blogging. Lots more coming...

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2005-09-26T07:20:00.000-07:00

ACL Update Saturday - Drive-By Truckers

2005-09-26T07:19:00.001-07:00

ACL Update Saturday - Drive-By Truckers

2005-09-26T07:19:00.000-07:00

ACL Update Saturday - Drive-By Truckers

2005-09-26T07:18:00.001-07:00

ACL Update Saturday - Death Cab for Cutie

2005-09-26T07:18:00.000-07:00

ACL Update Saturday - Death Cab for Cutie

2005-09-26T07:17:00.001-07:00

ACL Update Saturday - Built to Spill

2005-09-26T07:17:00.000-07:00

ACL Update Saturday - Asylum Street Spankers

2005-09-26T07:16:00.000-07:00

ACL Update Saturday - Drive-By Truckers

2005-09-26T07:15:00.000-07:00

ACL Update Sunday - Rachael Yamagata

2005-09-26T07:14:00.001-07:00

ACL Update Sunday - Linda and Rachael

2005-09-26T07:14:00.000-07:00

ACL Update Sunday - Deb and Rachael

2005-09-26T07:13:00.001-07:00

ACL Update Sunday - Bruce and Rachael

2005-09-26T07:13:00.000-07:00

ACL Update Sunday - Tristan Prettyman

2005-09-26T07:12:00.000-07:00

ACL Update Arcade Fire

2005-09-26T07:11:00.000-07:00

ACL Update Sunday's Dust bowl

ACL Update Sunday- Part 7

2005-09-25T23:40:00.001-07:00

I finished off the weekend laid back on the grass listening to Jack Ingram. I’m pretty sure I’ve listened to him at this event before. He calls himself “country”, but he has a strong rock sound within that country. It’s a fun show and I suppose if I was up closer I would have enjoyed it even more.

And so we come to the end of another ACL Festival. I know we all had a great time again. Jim, don’t hurt yourself kicking yourself. I heard a rumor that the show has already been set for the first weekend in October next year. That is a great time for me, and I’m pretty sure I will be here again. I know I’ve left lots of stuff out and I hope to get the pictures posted soon. But for now, I’m signing off from Austin. Thanks for visiting my blog and don’t forget to bookmark this page for next year’s show.

ACL Update Sunday- Part 6

2005-09-25T23:40:00.000-07:00

The Arcade Fire was the band I came to see. With the sun beating down, I decided to just get a good but long distance view of the stage and a nice view of the screen. So, were they everything people had been saying? I love the CD, but live is always something different. All I can say is that I am still kicking myself for not blowing off Lyle Lovitt (my favorite act on Friday) and seeing them at a club in town. I have no doubt these guys and gals would have blown the roof off of any club in town. The live show consists of about 9 members. I had trouble keeping track because they kept changing places and instruments. Female lead singer became accordion player, became drummer, became bells/percussionist. Violinist became deadly percussionist (more on that later). French horn player… just played the French horn. But, he did get into a pseudo fight with the male violinist. This guy, the violin player was totally crazy out there. At one point he was banging his sticks on anything that didn’t move. Later in the show he pretty much beat the crap out of a cymbal that was attached to a stand. He was actually hitting it as hard as he could and then picked it up and smashed it against things. And this wasn’t even the main attraction as the songs carried on around him. But he reflected the energy and emotion that everyone in this band carried. The music was good, they were fun to watch and they rocked the place. I am constantly amazed at the younger audiences and how they are accepting bands that might not have made it back when we were younger. This was easily my favorite set of the weekend. I need to see them in a smaller venue.

ACL Update Sunday- Part 5

2005-09-25T23:39:00.000-07:00

While we waited for Rachael to sign our CDs, The Dove’s played in the background. I had not heard them before and really liked what they were playing. They are on my add list now. At this point, we all split off and did not regroup for the rest of the day. I went and laid down, because a)it was hot, b) I wanted my feet to be rested for the next band c) it was friggin’ hot. I found a nice piece of dirt with about 80 percent shade and relaxed for about 45 minutes.

ACL Update Sunday- Part 4

2005-09-25T23:38:00.001-07:00

Up next was Rachael Yamagata. Mike, why didn’t I listen to you? She was fantastic. A great set, much more lively than I had anticipated. I thought for some reason that she was mainly a piano girl, but she actually spent more time behind her guitar (except when someone spilled a beer on her electronics and messed everything up for a few songs). Anyway, it was an excellent set and we couldn’t help but go buy her CD and get it autographed.

ACL Update Sunday- Part 3

2005-09-25T23:38:00.000-07:00

We then split up. Maria and I went to see a Columbian band she had waiting all week for. Once again, with no announcement from the stage beforehand, they were replaced (couldn’t get a flight in) by some country band (I was so pissed at this point I couldn’t even tell you who they were). We marched off, along with several other Columbian nationals that we had met. At this point I went to the information booth to see who else had canceled. I could help but start my rant when I got there. That got the attention of a higher up who listened and told us where to write to complain. He then gave us a couple bottles of water. I guess I felt a bit better.

ACL Update Sunday- Part 2

2005-09-25T23:37:00.000-07:00

We start off at Tristan Prettyman’s show. Maria, Deb, Linda and I where to share only two shows today. We missed half of Tristan’s show, but enjoyed what we did hear. She plays acoustic guitar and sings very personal songs. She had the women in the audience going fairly crazy.

ACL Update Sunday- Part 1

2005-09-25T23:28:00.000-07:00

Today was going to be a challenge. We knew going in that it was going to be hot. I don’t think we thought it would get to… 107 degrees. And it felt every bit like it. There was no wind most of the day and not a cloud in the sky for relief. What a scorcher. I had decided that I was not going to try and do battle down in the pits today. So, most of the pictures did not turn out that great. The other thing we weren’t prepared for was the dust. Although this is the same field as every other year, the wind from the previous days and then the heat today caused dust clouds to raise and stay afloat throughout the day. If I can figure out why Blogger isn’t uploading my pictures, I’ll pass on an amazing picture I got of the dust. Lots of people were wearing surgical masks or bandanas over their mouths. Every exposed inch of my body had dirt on it. I’m surprise the drain didn’t clog when I finally get my shower tonight. But as always, I’m getting ahead of myself.

ACL Update Saturday - Part 5

2005-09-25T22:38:00.001-07:00

I joined back up with Deb and Linda (yes a new name here… we met up with Linda early in the day and she just started following us around) and we finished off the night with the Drive-By Truckers. I love these guys. They are a southern fried rock and roll band with a conscience. They tell stories of despair and deal with issues that LS (do I have to say their name?) would never have thought of attacking. And the three guitar and slide attack can be overpowering. It was a good show and a nice way to end the night. As we left we were able to hear some of Oasis’ set. We were too tired and the crowd was too big, so we skipped it. They sounded really good though. We ducked the rain and got a bit of wind to cool us off. Not sure what tomorrow will bring (okay actually I am because I was late getting this out, but I wanted to sound dramatic).

ACL Update Saturday - Part 4

2005-09-25T22:38:00.000-07:00

By the time Death Cab for Cutie came on stage, all the kids (okay, many were of drinking age, but that was about the oldest around us) were crowded in pretty tight. I had been on my feet a long time and this was going to be a painful show. But, Death Cab delivered a solid performance and that helped minimize the pain. Unfortunately, the vocals were too low in the mix. The audience made up for that by singing along with many of the songs. I have only listened to their latest CD, but this show makes me want to go back and check out the older stuff. One of the things that struck me most about them was there unassuming attitude on stage. They were just regular guys who were somehow suddenly famous. Their following is a bit strange. A young guy who was no were near 18 yelled out, “I love you”, to the lead singer. Not too much later another guy yelled “I want to have your baby”. I’m not sure how he was planning to do that, but I got a good laugh out of it.

ACL Update Saturday - Part 3

2005-09-25T22:36:00.000-07:00

We all split up and I decided to check out Built to Spill so that I could have a good spot for Death Cab for Cutie. I ended up right up front, and was probably the oldest person there. Not generally a problem for me, but the older crowds that are up front are a bit more fun for me to hang around. I did meet up again with a brother and sister who had been living in their car for a few months as they traveled around the southwest. Nice people with their heads on very straight. We had a few minor problems with the kids around us, and it was nice to have someone I could actually talk to near by.

Built to Spill is an interesting band. They have three guitars and push a mid-tempo rock attack. The leader of the group at times sounded like Neil Young, but that may have just been the sound system. Overall I liked their style.

ACL Update Saturday - Part 2

2005-09-25T22:31:00.000-07:00

Our first full concert was The Asylum Street Spankers. Great name and it fits. They are a bluegrass based band; sort of. They actually went in several directions moving from 30's swing to a medley of TV themes. But there were two very big highlights. The first was called something like Hick Cop and was a combination of a country music and rap with lots of explicit lines and parts of the theme from The Beverly Hillbillies. The second highlight was a bluegrass version of NIN's "Closer (I want to f*** you like an animal)". The intensity of the original performance was replaced by the insanity of the whole band making animal sounds instead of singing the word "animal". I was laughing so hard I almost fell over. Check them out at: http://www.asylumstreetspankers.com/ .

ACL Update - Saturday Part 1

2005-09-25T22:20:00.000-07:00

Saturday was a mess. Most of the no-shows because of Rita hit us on Saturday. After waiting an hour in the heat (at least there was a breeze) they announced that Kathleen Edwards was being replaced by a Louisiana version of the White Stripes. This pair was bad; or at least not ready for this. Part way through one of their songs, they just stopped and looked at each other. This wouldn’t have happened if the management of ACL hadn’t mismanaged the relationships it had with local talent. Austin is one of the richest sources of music in the nation. Not one (that I know of) of the 8 or 9 replacement bands was from Austin. Only FEMA could have screwed this up more.

Meanwhile, they asked Tracy Bonham to do a solo show (as a replacement band) since she was performing with Aqualung. She stole a couple of members of Aqualung for a couple of songs and played with another woman (sorry, can’t remember her name) for awhile. It was a nice try, but again, there were dozens of Austin performers who could have filled in. While I’m on this rant, understand that everyone was in town. Bob Schneider had played shows during that weekend. Alejandro Escovedo and Jon Dee Graham were playing shows. All it would have taken was a phone call. Colin Herring was in town too along with that whole Sin City group. Okay, enough ranting for now.

ACL Update - Friday Part 6

2005-09-24T23:26:00.000-07:00

The signing made us miss most of John Prine’s show. Everyone we talked to loved it as he kept the band simple and played both old and new songs. He was, like so many others, political. He even changed the lyrics of a song to point a finger at the current administration.

As the sun set in Austin, the stage was set up for 18 people. Yep, it was time for Lyle Lovitt’s Large Band. I’ve never seen Lyle and the sight and sound of 18 musicians, and not just musicians but musician’s musicians, was fantastic. The full 18 only did a few songs at the beginning and at the end. The rest of the time he moved around between a 5 piece and an 8 or 9 piece band. Many of the band members have either been long time members of his band or are part of rock and roll history or both; with too many to mention here. It was a great show. I did have a few complaints: It took forever for him to get on stage (the band did a whole solo piece first), he did an extended joke asking the audience to guess whether band members drove trucks, and he gave the cellist an extended solo. During a full show, this is all fine. But with only an hour and a quarter to work with, he could have tightened up his set a bit. It was the best show of the night though.

ACL Update - Friday Part 5

2005-09-24T23:23:00.000-07:00

No time to waste, we had to go all the way across the field to see Lucinda Williams. Amazingly, we were able to get on the center isle and within about 15 feet from the front. The wind was keeping us cool, even as the temperature reached into the high 90’s. While we waited, we sat next to a guy who owned a record store in New Orleans (check out http://www.magicbusrecords.com although they are out of business right now). He has been in Austin since the storm and doesn’t know if he will be able to go back. His store is in good shape, but all of his customers are gone and it will be some time before he will be able to open up again.

Lucinda was in the same spirit as when we saw her a couple of weeks ago. She was happy and really enjoying being out there. The set was more country than rock this time, probably because she was in Texas. One of the highlights, again, was her new song Jailhouse Tears. Someday she will record it with someone like Hank Williams III and it is sure to be a country hit (although radio may have a problem with some of the lyrics). At the end she did two songs of redemption; the second being “Get Right with God”. She was having so much fun at that point that she was wiggling her hips big time. And we were all having a blast watching.

We decided to do the autograph thing with Lucinda. Unfortunately she wasn’t doing the picture thing. But we had a great time in line sharing stories. One of my favorite stories of the weekend was from a woman who had driven out here because her friend at the last minute decided to not go. The flake was avoiding her as late as the Wednesday before the show. The highlight to the story was while she was trying to contact the flake, a call came in from the flake’s business partner wondering why her partner had locked herself in the closet afraid to talk to the storyteller. I had trouble getting past that, “locked herself in the closet” line: We were laughing so hard.

ACL Update - Friday Part 4

2005-09-24T23:17:00.000-07:00

While they set up the stage for Steve Earle and his band, Kasabian played on the next stage. We really enjoyed the music. It had a New Wave energy and reminded me a lot of the Buzzcocks.

Enough people left after Asleep at the Wheel to allow us to get right up front. Steve Earle came out with “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” playing on the sound system and proceeded to give us a rockin’ political set. “Usually”, he said, “When we play festivals we just play the hits… but”. He then played several songs from the new CD, “The Revolution Starts Here”, but did get a few hits in, including Jerusalem and Copperhead Road. His wife, Alison Moorer joined him on stage for a few songs. He kept his comments to a minimum and let his music do the talking; but it spoke loud and clear.

ACL Update - Friday Part 3

2005-09-24T23:15:00.000-07:00

Instead of seeing the Ditty Bops, we… decided to do our shopping. Let’s see… One t-shirt for me, a poster of course, and the CD and DVD from last year’s show. Maria bought… I’m not sure what they are, but she assured me they were made of metal. Actually, they are very cute toys… I think.

We had a bit of time before Steve Earle hit the stage so we decided to catch the end of the Asleep at the Wheel show. As you can see from the pictures, the fans where enjoying the swing time. And no, this was not a religious moment for Ray, or even a Celine Dion moment (maybe I should have said a Darth Vader moment). He was simply saying “Who me?” to the local cop who pulled him over in his Hot Rod Lincoln. Lots of fun for everyone.