hell has frozen over

and i am going back to acl festival this year for the firs time since 2007. i'm not doing all 3 days though, oh no, i'm too old for that shit, i am only going on sunday. when you have 3 of my favorite live acts playing at a festival on the same day i guess there's a good chance that i'll want to go. now let's just hope that the weather is decent, shall we?

anyway, here are the sunday bands i'm most excited about seeing. and i swear to christ if i have any major scheduling conflicts once the grids are released i will cut someone so hard!

arcade fire

fleet foxes

randy newman

ryan bingham  and the dead horses

broken social scene

elbow

the walkmen

gomez

joseph arthur

acl mix

i used to make acl mixes every year, sometimes even with cute cover art and everything. i guess because i haven't gone since 2007 i stopped making those mixes. i'm bored and i woke up way earlier than planned so i decided to make one for this year. this won't necessarily be the most current music by the artists i've chosen, in some cases it's just my favorite by that particular band. or it might be a song that i just think everyone should hear. whatever, it's my mix and they're my rules. this is just a tracklist anyway, i don't post songs for download on my blog because i don't want to hear about it.

1. the strokes-soma

2. matt & kim-daylight

3. the xx-intro

4. portugal. the man-colors

5. vampire weekend-m79

6. broken bells-high road

7. the temper trap-sweet disposition

8. the flaming lips-yoshimi battles the pink robots pt. 1

9. spoon-written in reverse

10. band of horses-islands on the coast

11. the morning benders-promises

12. the national-fake empire

13. yeasayer-rome

14. blind pilot-we are the tide

15. monsters of folk-say please

16. lcd soundsystem-daft punk is playing at my house

my obligatory acl lineup post

i haven't been to acl fest in years but i still get antsy when the lineup is released. this year's lineup just came out and, as usual, i am not really blown away by the headliners. i've never gone for the headliners though. i'm not going to the festival this year (unless somehow i randomly end up with free passes/a parking pass) but i got quite excited when i first read the lineup. but then i realized something, nearly all the bands that excited me are bands that i have seen before. if you've seen band of horses at the parish (which is pretty small), seeing them with 50,000 people isn't that appealing. so here's what excited me:

the strokes
the flaming lips
spoon
vampire weekend
band of horses
the national
broken bells
yeasayer
matt and kim
the xx
portugal. the man
the temper trap
the morning benders
blind pilot

there are only 5 bands on that list that i haven't seen before (vampire weekend, the national, yeasayer, the xx, and the temper trap). the last couple of years i have preferred to go to aftershows. you get to see a real set and you don't have to spend all day in the [insert random weather element here]. i would LOVE to see an aftershow with band of horses and the national at stubb's. yes, that would be ideal. maybe a yeasayer/matt and kim show at la zona rosa? yeah, i could see that. either way, i'll probably hit a friday and saturday aftershow assuming my finances permit.

my festival picks

just as i predicted, i have a funny feeling today knowing that acl festival is underway and i am not there. i decided to take another look at the schedule and pick what i would be seeing, if i were there. there are only about 5 per day that i deemed worthy of my time. friday: vampire weekend 2:30-3:30 m. ward 4:30-5:15 mates of state 5:15-6:00 (but i would leave before 5:45) jenny lewis 5:45-6:45 david byrne 6:30-7:30 (if i wasn't too hot and or tired to stick around) saturday: fleet foxes or old 97s 12:30-1:30 (realistically i would not be at either of these because the next best show is 4 hours later) black joe lewis and the honey bears 4:00-4:45 mgmt 5:30-6:30 conor oberst and the mystic valley band 6:30-7:30 iron and wine 7:30-8:30 (if i wasn't too hot and or tired to stick around) sunday: stars 3:30-4:30 neko case 4:30-5:30 okkervil river 5:30-6:30 raconteurs 6:30-7:45 (but i would leave before 7:30) band of horses 7:30-8:30 out of all of those acts david byrne, vampire weekend, and fleet foxes are the only ones i haven't seen and that's pretty much why i decided to skip it. if you know me at all, you know that i'm no stranger to seeing the same bands multipleeeee times but for my money, at a festival, i want to see something new and exciting.

torn acl

i'm not going to acl fest this year. recently i've started to feel weird about that. i don't want to go but i know that some part of me is going to feel weird when the festival is going on and i'm not there. i decided to go back through my old blog and find some things i've written about past festivals. they'll be labeled as pros and cons. cons: -i am physically exhausted and i still have 2 more days of this. i hope i can make it. i have blood on my shoes from them rubbing the back of my heals, i have blisters on the bottom of my right foot and my legs are soooooo sore. (2004) -the heat really got to me on sunday after rilo kiley though. i felt realllly shitty for about an hour and then i was fine. you people wouldn't believe the amount of dirt that was flying around that place though. i had to clean dirt out of my ears each night. it was quite disgusting but quite worth it in the end. will i go to acl again next year? probably because i'm crazy like that. (2005) -i'm going go try to take 'er easy today because i'm worn the fuck out from yesterday. (2006) -ben kweller took the stage a few minutes late and said, "sorry for the delay, i'm having a double nostril nose-bleed." he tried to make it stop, he even put a tampon up there, but it wasn't happening. he had to cut his set short. he only did like 4 songs :( (2006) -i think it was more exhausting than any other year. i feel like i could turn into rip van winkle now. awww yeah. (2007) pros: -the pixies rocked my life away. they were fucking incredible. i can't even tell you. wow. (2004) -then we watched elvis costello. holy shit. i smiled the entire way through his set. and he wore a purple suit which was the cutest thing ever. he encored with "alison" which almost made me cry. seeing him was one of the highlights of my life. seriously. (2004) -i seriously just had the best weekend ever. (2004) -music-wise the weekend was perfect. (2005) -the vip lounge is fucking amazing. damn!! (2006) -i ran into joseph arthur and the lonely astronauts at the airport on thursday night while i was waiting for meghan to land. (2007) -i just need to say that arcade fire BLEW MY MIND tonight. i've seen them a few times before but this was out of control. their stage set up right now is freaking fantastic! AND they played an ENCORE. i am almost positive that in all the years i've been going to ACL i've never seen anyone do an encore. granted, it was only one song but it was the one song that i was going to be REALLY upset if they didn't play. wake up! i almost cried because it was so moving to be in that gigantic crowd with everyone singing along and dancing. (2007) so oddly enough, my list of pros is longer than my list of cons. i know that i've had some really, really amazing times at the festival. but i also know that i am always sooooooo miserable when i'm there. if the lineup were better i would probably be going this year but i just can't muster the energy to spend 3 days in the heat watching bands that i don't really care that much about. i mean, there are definitely bands that i would like to see but not enough to make it worth it for me. i'm still a little torn over my decision but i know it is best for me.

this is more important than voting for obama

okay, that subject line is a bit of a stretch but i have something very important to ask of you guys. all of you, even if you're a casual reader or just stumbled upon this blog.

if you know me, or have read a fair portion of this blog, you know that buddy is one of my favorite artists. he is an amazing songwriter and he delivers his songs with a sort of gentle intensity that can only really be understood if you've seen him live. and emphasis on the itense, really! unfortunately, at this point in his career, the buddster doesn't do a whole lot of touring. i finally saw him for the first time at sxsw this year and i literally shook like a 12 year old at a hanson concert. it was epic for me. he is backed by a group of wonderfully talented musicians that make the experience all the more breathtaking.

austin city limits music festival is having a battle of the bands contest called the sound and the jury. please go here and vote for buddy. it takes very little time and you don't have to register for anything. they do ask for your email address but that's it! oh, and they email you a link to confirm your vote. that only takes like .01 more second. you can vote once per day from an email address. use that information as you so desire. thanks everyone! ps-obviously, if you aren't already listening to buddy, you should be! and now you can listen to his full length album, alterations and repairs, on the sidebar of this blog. yay!

i knew it, i knew it

conor oberst, m. ward, and jenny lewis to play ACL after show this is mostly a no-brainer if you know the history between these artists. i am skipping the festival so, ideally, i would go to that show. however, tickets go on sale saturday and i have $0 so i don't quite know what i'm going to do. boo.

i know things

just the other day i was telling someone, i have no idea who (maybe my sister?), that i thought jenny lewis and m. ward would play some sort of side/after show during ACL since they're both going to be here. i was just perusing pollstar (looking for hot summer concerts, of which there are, like, none) and saw that they are doing a taping of austin city limits together on september 26. i would imagine that they'll both play separate sets but sit in on a couple of songs for each other. i'm also not going to rule out a possible show at the parish or something. also, pollstar lists that conor oberst will do a taping the following day, september 27. i would definitely like to try to go to both of those. i am excited about the actual possibility of going to tapings that weekend because i've never had time in previous years, what with spending ALL my time at the stupid festival.

weak lineup

alright, i finally have some time so sit down and discuss the 2008 acl fest lineup. this could get long, and boring. i'm not going to make a comment about every artist on the lineup, but there will be quite a few. Foo Fighters (bor-ing!) Robert Plant & Alison Krauss (not worth $170) Beck (hit or miss) Manu Chao John Fogerty (hahaha) David Byrne (fucking weirdo live) The Raconteurs (playing TWO nights at stubb's in a couple of weeks) The Mars Volta (played at stubb's last week) Gnarls Barkley Conor Oberst And The Mystic Valley Band (would like to see him in a non-festival setting) N.E.R.D. (here for sxsw) Erykah Badu Robert Earl Keen Patty Griffin Tegan & Sara Iron & Wine (wouldn't mind seeing again) G. Love & Special Sauce Neko Case Band Of Horses (would like to see) The Swell Season Silversun Pickups Gogol Bordello (here on march 17) Gillian Welch Eli Young Band The Black Keys (here for sxsw) Against Me! Jakob Dylan And The Gold Mountain Rebels Okkervil River Galactic Kevin Fowler Sharon Jones And The Dap Kings Hot Chip (would like to see) Vampire Weekend (here for sxsw) Slightly Stoopid Duffy Alejandro Escovedo Roky Erikson Yonder Mountain String Band Spiritualized Flyleaf Drive-By Truckers Ingrid Michaelson (here for sxsw) Stars (would like to see again) Jose Gonzalez CSS Del The Funky Homosapien Man Man (here for sxsw and again on april 30) Jamie Lidell MGMT (here for sxsw and in february) What Made Milwaukee Famous Jenny Lewis (would like to see again) M. Ward (would like to see again) Asleep At The Wheel Mason Jennings Heartless Bastards Antibalas The Nachito Herrera All-Stars Shooter Jennings Xavier Rudd (would like to see again) Yeasayer (here for sxsw and again april 30) Octopus Project Joe Bonamassa The Kills (here for sxsw and again may 24) White Denim Louis XIV Delta Spirit Mates Of State (would like to see again) Nicole Atkins & The Sea Electric Touch Black Joe Lewis & The Honey Bears (love love love but they play ALL the time) Black Door Slam Tristan Prettyman The Strange Boys Ryan Bingham Scott Biram Freddy Jones Colour Revolt Five Times August Langhorne Slim Sybris Eli "Paper Boy" Reed And The True Loves Bavu Blakes And The Extra Plairs AA Bondy Christopher Denny Mike Farris The Lee Boys South Austin Jug Band American Bang Bobby Bare, Jr. Massacoustics Belleville Outfit We Go To 11 Band Of Heathens City And Colour Sunny Sweeney Elizabeth Wills Autamata Bonnie Bishop Ben Solee Ben Cylus The Concert Supremes River City Christionettes Shields Of Faith The Jones Family Singers Nakia And His Southern Cousins Brotherly Luv The Hensley Ensemble School Of Rock Jambo Q Brothers Buck Howdy With BB Uncle Rock Big Don Mr. Ray The Jimmies not to mention all the local acts. i know that this festival isn't just for austin residents but it's still annoying. and i think it is lame and cheesy to book several of the same acts that were here for sxsw. also, i find it very odd that this festival is produced by the same people that put on lollapalooza, and that lineup is way better. granted, it's still kind of "eh" because it's pretty much every band that's every played a festival before but at least they have legitimate headliners. i was pretty sure i wasn't going to go this year before the lineup came out and now i'm glad to know that i won't really be missing anything. i'm gonna save my money and go to after shows. and maybe, for once, i'll have time to try to get into an acl taping.

festival news

beloved local dj car stereo (wars) has been working with the acl fest to put together a mashup of 29 artists that are confirmed to play this year's festival. i guess this is like the "scavenger hunt" and crossword puzzles they have done in the past. the official lineup comes out next tuesday.

thanks to the ears of austin, so far it looks like the following people will be playing the festival:

okkervil river
man man
silversun pickups
css
NERD
gnarls barkley
the raconteurs
MGMT
jamie lidell
eli reed
neko case
kate nash
hot chip
octopus project
del the funky homosapien
the heartless bastards
robert earl keen

i have no idea who the other 12 are. i also have no idea if i'm even going to go to the festival this year but i thought this mashup was a fun idea so i decided to share it.

in other festival news, lollapalooza has released their official lineup. there are no surprises there. it's pretty much every band that's ever played at a music festival before.