SXSW BLOG, THURSDAY 3/17
(Note: I'm repeating myself in this post with details about my gig Thursday morning at The Four Seasons, DOH!).
Here I am in my comfy hotel room on Congress street in Austin Texas, waiting for my wife, Christi, to get ready for a late breakfast/late lunch after a late night last night! I'm listening to my rehearsal homework for my gig with Maggie Walters this evening, writing on my laptop, and cruising the internet on 'borrowed wireless' from the office building next door. The modern life is awesome, if a bit high-maintenance!
Yesterday was like two days in one: I had to get up at 5:30am (again) to get ready to play at the legendary breakfast concert that is hosted by the swanky Four Season's Hotel. I walked two blocks from my hotel, with my trusty Casio SK-1 slung over my shoulder--it fit right in my old drumstick back!. When I got there, at 6:45 the crowd was up (more early risers than all-nighters) with an impressive set up in their restraunt/bar. KGSR radio was hosting the show, and broadcast the performance live. On the show with the DJ was none other than Lyle Lovett and famous Tx. Music writer, Joe Nick Patowski.
The show was great. After a shakey rehearsal the day before, we totally rocked. It was one of those gigs where you are on stage and have an 'out of body' experience in the sense that you feel like an audience member at the same time you are playing--really enjoying how good it sounds. The set up was real relaxed, we were surrounded by a sea of couches and overstuffed hotel chairs filled with attentive music lovers. What a gift! And the whole time, Lyle was about 15 feet in front of us digging it completely. I got to talk with him before the show, and that was a thrill, too. I worked with Lyle doing a spoken word piece about 6 years ago.
After the show, we did a local television station interview, and we were then invited upstairs to go play on a local El Paso rock station.
After those gigs were over, I went back to the hotel and took a nap. When I got up I went to the Austin Convention Center and looked at the trade show. The buzz here was digital distribution & marketing!! Everyone is feeding off of the corpse of mega-label paradigm. Makes me proud! I tried some top of the line iPod earbuds which were incredible but pricey. I saw John Harvey of Top Hat Studios here in Austin, and Jeff Wells owner of Sound Arts Studio in Houston. I saw a cool Korean product: a little matchbook-sized plastic box with a headphone output, and player controls. It is a cool little collectable solid state player device. Since there are no computer hookups on it, the thought is that it will prevent digital copies being made of the music that is on it. You want Brittney? Well, you buy the Brittney box and listen a you like. You replace the batteries when necessary. Yes, you could still make a recording of the headphone output in real time, but who has the patience for that these days??
I hurried back to the hotel and changed clothes. It was off to the NARAS Texas Chapter reception with Grammy President Neil Portnov, and special guest, legendary producer, Jimmy Jam (interviewed by Charlie Sexton). I got to me Ivan Neville of the Neville Brothers. My buddy and fellow NARAS Board of Governors member, Carlos Sosa had just finished reheasal with Ivan's band, 'Dumpstaphunk'. Before the presentation, Grammy winning, gospel music sensation, Yolanda Adams performed. She has some SERIOUS pipes. Jimmy Jam was incredibly cool. He is smart, articulate, and a gentleman who obviously LOVES music. He had some really funny stories about working with Prince and playing in his band.
After the NARAS deal, I met up with Josh, John, and Heba from SugarHill and went to see Morrisy with them. I'm not really sure who it was in the group that was all about seeing Morrisy, but it wasn't me. Turns out I knew more Morrisy songs than I thought. He was good and his band was better! Only thing I didn't like was that he sweats a lot on stage. Gross. After Morrisy was finished, we ate some food and went to see The Drop Trio, a 'Medeski, Martin, & Woods' jazz ensem who simply blew me away. They played at one of my DWMusic shows last year, and they are 10 times better this year. I'm in the running to produce their next studio album. After their show, I got to meet one of their label reps, who seemed pleased that I might produce the band. Nice!
This was a great day indeed. Got home about 2:45 and slept like a baby,... today I'm off to see the Southern Backtones, and play a full length showcase set with Maggie.
Here I am in my comfy hotel room on Congress street in Austin Texas, waiting for my wife, Christi, to get ready for a late breakfast/late lunch after a late night last night! I'm listening to my rehearsal homework for my gig with Maggie Walters this evening, writing on my laptop, and cruising the internet on 'borrowed wireless' from the office building next door. The modern life is awesome, if a bit high-maintenance!
Yesterday was like two days in one: I had to get up at 5:30am (again) to get ready to play at the legendary breakfast concert that is hosted by the swanky Four Season's Hotel. I walked two blocks from my hotel, with my trusty Casio SK-1 slung over my shoulder--it fit right in my old drumstick back!. When I got there, at 6:45 the crowd was up (more early risers than all-nighters) with an impressive set up in their restraunt/bar. KGSR radio was hosting the show, and broadcast the performance live. On the show with the DJ was none other than Lyle Lovett and famous Tx. Music writer, Joe Nick Patowski.
The show was great. After a shakey rehearsal the day before, we totally rocked. It was one of those gigs where you are on stage and have an 'out of body' experience in the sense that you feel like an audience member at the same time you are playing--really enjoying how good it sounds. The set up was real relaxed, we were surrounded by a sea of couches and overstuffed hotel chairs filled with attentive music lovers. What a gift! And the whole time, Lyle was about 15 feet in front of us digging it completely. I got to talk with him before the show, and that was a thrill, too. I worked with Lyle doing a spoken word piece about 6 years ago.
After the show, we did a local television station interview, and we were then invited upstairs to go play on a local El Paso rock station.
After those gigs were over, I went back to the hotel and took a nap. When I got up I went to the Austin Convention Center and looked at the trade show. The buzz here was digital distribution & marketing!! Everyone is feeding off of the corpse of mega-label paradigm. Makes me proud! I tried some top of the line iPod earbuds which were incredible but pricey. I saw John Harvey of Top Hat Studios here in Austin, and Jeff Wells owner of Sound Arts Studio in Houston. I saw a cool Korean product: a little matchbook-sized plastic box with a headphone output, and player controls. It is a cool little collectable solid state player device. Since there are no computer hookups on it, the thought is that it will prevent digital copies being made of the music that is on it. You want Brittney? Well, you buy the Brittney box and listen a you like. You replace the batteries when necessary. Yes, you could still make a recording of the headphone output in real time, but who has the patience for that these days??
I hurried back to the hotel and changed clothes. It was off to the NARAS Texas Chapter reception with Grammy President Neil Portnov, and special guest, legendary producer, Jimmy Jam (interviewed by Charlie Sexton). I got to me Ivan Neville of the Neville Brothers. My buddy and fellow NARAS Board of Governors member, Carlos Sosa had just finished reheasal with Ivan's band, 'Dumpstaphunk'. Before the presentation, Grammy winning, gospel music sensation, Yolanda Adams performed. She has some SERIOUS pipes. Jimmy Jam was incredibly cool. He is smart, articulate, and a gentleman who obviously LOVES music. He had some really funny stories about working with Prince and playing in his band.
After the NARAS deal, I met up with Josh, John, and Heba from SugarHill and went to see Morrisy with them. I'm not really sure who it was in the group that was all about seeing Morrisy, but it wasn't me. Turns out I knew more Morrisy songs than I thought. He was good and his band was better! Only thing I didn't like was that he sweats a lot on stage. Gross. After Morrisy was finished, we ate some food and went to see The Drop Trio, a 'Medeski, Martin, & Woods' jazz ensem who simply blew me away. They played at one of my DWMusic shows last year, and they are 10 times better this year. I'm in the running to produce their next studio album. After their show, I got to meet one of their label reps, who seemed pleased that I might produce the band. Nice!
This was a great day indeed. Got home about 2:45 and slept like a baby,... today I'm off to see the Southern Backtones, and play a full length showcase set with Maggie.
posted by dan at 3/17/2006 01:44:00 PM
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