sxswish list

this is long. it is my list of bands that i would like to see at sxsw. i have pretty strong feelings about seeing some of these acts, and others i am much more casual about. * denotes a band or artist that i sincerely recommend.

akron/family

aqualung

the avett brothers

andrew bird*

black joe lewis and the honeybears*

blind pilot*

blitzen trapper

buddy*

camera obscura

chairlift

cold war kids

holly conlan*

datarock

the decemberists*

dinosaur jr

echo and the bunnymen

gil mantera's party dream

gomez*

grizzly bear

the handsome family

the hold steady (to give them a chance to redeem themselves. i saw them once a couple of years ago and it was AWFUL which was pretty upsetting because they seem like a band i would like)

ima robot

lady sovereign

loch lomond

loney, dear*

the mae shi

matt & kim

meiko

the morning benders

passion pit (for dana...maybe i will like them if i see them live)

elvis perkins in dearland*

peter bjorn & john

ra ra riot

shiny toy guns

angus & julia stone

vetiver

viva voce

voxtrot

m. ward

we were promised jetpacks

the whip

wintersleep

brian wright & the waco tragedies

youth group

tightrope

i know that yeasayer has been performing this song live for a while but i don't believe a studio recording of it had been released until last week. it's on the dark was the night compilation. anyway, i cannnnnnot stop listening to it. i love it more than any other yeasayer song i've ever heard. 

pre-order a new tide

head on over to the gomez store to pre-order your copy of a new tide. the first 500 orders will receive an autographed cd booklet! and for the true audiophile, the vinyl comes with a copy of the cd as well! and it's only $15. what a steal! and it would appear that one lucky pre-orderer (haha) will win an autographed geeeetar. i don't know the details on that though. 

sunday funday

yesterday we went to brunch at nomad and then had a kite/mustache party at bartholomew park. these are a few of the pictures. there are more over on my flickr. it was a blast except for the part where i fell and skinned my knee and jacked up my shoulder. haha oops. oh, and i got a weird sunburn. lame! 

stefanie: secrets!

i was thinking about sharing this today while i was eating my grilled chicken sandwich at chick-fil-a.

for any of you that have ever eaten a sandwich at chick-fil-a (and if you haven't, wtf are you waiting for?) you know that they all come with two pickle slices on the bottom half of the bun. i hate these pickles because they're all slimy and icky. i love dill pickle spears. LOVE THEM. but i hate pickle slices. don't try to rationalize with me either. ha! anyway, here's where the secret part comes in: i don't order my sandwiches without pickles. why? because i like the pickle juice that seeps into the bun. so i let the sandwich sit while i eat half the fries to give the pickle juice a little more time to seep. then i remove them and enjoy my pickley grilled chicken sandwich. 

i think i might make this a series here on the blog so stay tuned for more secrets. 

do your soul (and ears) a favor

and buy this compilation. it's the latest release from red hot organization, an international organization dedicated to fighting aids through pop culture. so, not only is it an amazing, amaaazing cause but it's also great music. 

and if you're in austin, head over to mohawk at 5:00 today to listen to the album and enjoy some free (and dirt cheap) beers provided by austinist. they will also be accepting donations for aids services of austin. unfortunately, i'm still living with my still un-named parasite so i probably will not be heading to mohawk after work. but you all should!

parasite poll!

i like to give names to everything. my computer (rosalita) my car (black betty) etc, etc. anyway, i decided to name my parasite, because i'm a weirdo. in the top left of the sidebar, you'll see a poll; vote in it! 

p-p-p-parasite?!

ladies and gentlemen, i have giardiasis. GROSS! i've been sick for a few weeks now and finally went to the doctor about it. my first reaction upon reading the wiki page about it was, "i have beaver fever? ahhaha!" but really, i just want to know where i ate the poop? hopefully i'll be fine in 7-10 days.

be careful out there, folks. there is poop everywhere! 

andrew bird addendum

i meant to add this to the last post but i didn't. i could edit it but i don't feel like it. it's my blog, i do what i want. 

after seeing him at the paramount i don't know if i'll ever be able to see andrew bird anywhere else again. for example, he's playing at stubb's during sxsw. i love stubb's but it's not the best sounding venue on the planet. i'm just so glad i was able to see andrew bird at a venue that would really do him justice. it was a million times better than crowding into stubb's with 5000 hipsters from all over the country just to see him play for 45 minutes. he played for nearly 2 hours at the paramount! i kind of wish i could go back and relive that night again and again. 

andrew bird at the paramount

thursday night i went to see andrew bird at the paramount theatre. that place is so beautiful. our seats were towards the back but it's a pretty small venue so it didn't really matter. the first 20ish minutes of the show were spent watching andrew kind of run wild around the stage playing with his looping mechanisms. it was fascinating! later he said, "i had to kind of indulge myself there at the beginning because it just sounds so good. i got to play carnegie hall a couple of weeks ago and this is almost as good." i find loops so interesting. it is almost mind-blowing to see one person make that much noise! the only other time i had seen andrew was with a band at acl in 2007. i enjoyed the band a lot but it is so entertaining to see him do it alone.  

i can't quite express how phenomenal the show was. it was like nothing i have ever seen before. everything was so grandiose and beautiful. highlights include:  

-pretty much all of his banter in between songs 

-having his guitar tech walk on stage a few songs into the set to deposit a sock monkey that was made in his likeness (he explained that a "nice woman" in toronto had made sock monkeys for all the members of his band and that all sock monkeys look the same except for their accessories. so his had a tiny violin case. he said he has to have it on stage with him now because he's afraid he'll have a bad show if it's not there.)

-pointing out to everyone that his socks had horses on them (he had taken his shoes off after that opening jam session) 

-why 

-a nervous tic motion of the head to the left 

-a "peril less" version of masterfade 

-TWO ENCORES 

-the part where he told us that people in austin are are nicer than most other places. "they must breed niceness here."

he was dressed really nicely in slacks and a blazer but i was sort of hoping for a v-neck :)

this year's sxsw scandinavian prince is...

emil svanängen, otherwise known as loney, dear.  i saw him and his band open for andrew bird last night and i was super impressed. it was a very fun show. i particularly enjoyed when emil asked the audience to participate in a sing along to the meter marks ok. it was so beautiful. i got goosebumps! his between songs banter was quite funny as well. my favorite being when some girl in the crowd yelled out, "i love suspenders!" and emil said, "they're called braces, honey." i seriously lost my shit for about 3 minutes. 

anyway, he'll be back for sxsw this year (for the third? time) and i quite look forward to seeing him again. and in case you were wondering who my past scandinavian princes of sxsw have been, there are only 2 others:

2007: sondre lerche

2008: jens lekman 

andrew bird review to come later. 

tiltshift madness

i'm home from work today with some seriously awful stomach and back pains. to entertain myself, i've been making some tiltshift pictures on tiltshiftmaker.com. actual lenses for tiltshift photography are ridiculously expensive. that website offers a fun alternative to spending a ton of money just to take some fun pictures. some people actually need those lenses because they're photographing tall buildings so i guess it's not always just for fun. here are 50 beautiful examples of tiltshift photography. 

and here are 3 mediocre examples of it:

wristbands are here! wristbands are here!

well, they're not actually here yet but sxsw wristband info has finally been released. visit wristbands.sxsw.com for info. i'll probably buy one, just in case. i don't know though. i only used mine, like, twice last year. we'll see.

a new tide

feast your eyes on this artwork for the new gomez album:

it's definitely different than any of their previous albums. and it's definitely 1 million times better than the artwork for how we operate (sorry to whomever did that) but i'm not sure what i think of it. i would like to hold it in my hands and really examine it. 

and for you east-coasters, here are some tour dates:

Mar 21 Workplay Theatre, Birmingham, AL
Mar 22 Visulite Theatre, Charlotte, NC
Mar 23 The Orange Peel, Asheville, NC
Mar 24 Center Stage, Atlanta, GA
Mar 26 Rams Head Live, Baltimore, MD
Mar 27 Chameleon Club, Lancaster, PA
Mar 28 Theatre of The Living Arts, Philadelphia, PA
Mar 29 9:30 Club, Washington, DC
Mar 31 Bowery Ballroom, New York, NY
Apr 1 State Theatre, Ithaca, NY
Apr 2 Pearl Street, Northampton, MA
Apr 3 Music Hall of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY

(March 22, 23, 24, 26 and April 1 are co-headlining dates with Josh Ritter. Blind Pilot is support on March 28 and Alberta Cross supports on April 3)

visit their gigs page for ticket info. nyc and brooklyn have already sold out. crazy! the details of their sxsw shows haven't been released yet but i did receive word yesterday that they will be recording an in-studio session at kgsr while they're here. hooray! and i have no doubt that they'll be announcing some west coast dates soonish. they heart the west coast. 

you only love me when i'm leaving

okay, you guys, please direct your attention here to see if devotchka is coming to a town near you. it is seriously in your best interest to go if they are! my only other devotchka experiences before last night's show were acl 2007 (it was so insanely hot) and sxsw 2008 (i saw them in a parking lot at 7th and red river at 2 in the afternoon). i was really excited about finally seeing them play a real set, at a real venue (even though i hate la zona rosa). let me tell you, it was everything i hoped it would be and more. they're such an incredible group of musicians. the music is so intense and dramatic, it's like nothing i've ever seen before. and i'm not going to lie, i definitely teared up a time or two. whatevs! haha! anyway, i just wanted to share a little bit of my experience with y'all in hopes that you'll go see them too.

i'm totally bored

yes, i am extremely bored. so guess what? i made a quiz! lame, i know. but seriously, i'm trying to kill a couple of hours without losing my mind. anyway, you should take it. it's only 7 questions. i mean, come on! 

new music and sxsw watch

head over to gomeztheband.com for a free download of the first single off their new album (set for release on march 31), airstream driver. it's super catchy!

if you preorder the new elvis perkins in dearland album, you get a free 128k stream of it. this one is released on march 10. i have a deep, deep love for the last elvis perkins album and i can't wait to see them again! 

i've been talking up black joe lewis and the honeybears for quite a while now. we go see them almost every time they play because their live shows are that much fun. so much energy! the music is like nothing else out there right now. if you live in austin and haven't seen them yet, what the hell are you waiting for? i've never known anyone to not have a wonderful time at one of their shows. it's just impossible not to enjoy it!

anywho, they just released a 10" available here. and it comes with a free "bitch i love you" sticker! believe, if i had had any cash on me when we saw them the other night i would have bought several of those stickers. haha! they also have a full-length album coming out on march 17. 

oh, i almost forgot! go check out the black joe lewis and the honeybears' daytrotter session. and then tell me that big booty woman doesn't make you want to dance.

this will change your life

i bought a cheese grater from ikea several years ago. it seriously changed my kitchen-life. i grate cheese A LOT. i don't like buying that already shredded cheese from the grocery store because it doesn't taste like anything and it doesn't really melt very well. anyway, i was at ikea today with my sister and i decided to see if they had any in case something happened to mine. you know, a backup. and they did! 

i can't tell you how magical these things are. the one that i bought years ago came with both of the graters but only one container to hold the grated goods. now it comes with 2! seriously, get thee to an ikea and buy one for you and one for a friend. you'll wonder how you ever lived without it. 

nomad brunch

i've heard good things about sunday brunch at nomad bar but i had never been until today. i met a few friends there this morning and was totally blown away. they had two chefs there making waffles and custom omelets/breakfast tacos. they also had biscuits and gravy, cheesy hashbrowns, sausage links, pork loin, bagels and lox, and probably some other stuff that i am forgetting right now. everything was incredibly delicious and the chefs were super attentive and friendly. they also have $10 bottomless mimosas so i got to fulfill by proclamation of "being outdoorsy in that i like getting drunk on patios" yesssss! 

so yeah, sundays from 11-2, nomad is where it's at. it was so nice to brunch somewhere that wasn't super duper crowded. so it's with a heavy heart that i recommend this to the blogosphere. i would like to go back and have the same experience again (not having to wait forever for food or a table) but i also think more people should be able to enjoy this shit, because it's gooood. 

ps-my resolution to be more fun when i go out is still going really well. i had a fantastic time at bender last night with my southside pals.