Final report from SXSW

Whew!  What a crazy week this has been!  So, as I mentioned before, Sunday was incredibly special and was a greatly satisfying end to the SXSW week.  What is it you ask?  What could have me sooo excited? 

We were invited to a very special private party thrown by Coach Darrell K. Royal - yes, that Coach Royal, the most winningest football coach in UT history!  Thrown at a private home in the Hill Country about 45 minutes outside of Austin.  It was a gathering of current and future Texas music legends who came together in honor of Freddy Powers, a songwriting legend having written for the likes of Merle, Willie, George Jones, Ray Charles, and more.


Below, are some of the names of those who attended and played this incredible intimate gathering:
Bob Cheevers
BB Morse
James Hand

Kevin Ahart

Pauline Reese

Lauren Beller

Shawn Madden

Corrina Kalish

Bo Porter

Lee Duffy

Billy Dee

Carl Miner

Gary "Soapy" Hopkins

Andrea Marie of Magnolia

Emily Grace

Tamara Jolaine

Tony Barker

Jason Caraway

Louie Ortega of the Texas Tornadoes and Sam Folio, part time Tornado and current president of the Musicians Union of the United States and Canada

and one of my new favorites: Waylon Payne

These are just a portion of the amazing performers present at this magical and historical gathering.  It was an honor to be at this event!  Thanks to Catherine and Freddy Powers and Coach Royal for having us!

BTW, we got there at 4 and didn't leave till about midnight - we just couldn't leave; there was so much more to hear!  

Report IV is coming

Ok, so I got home Monday, 2 am after this incredible Sunday house concert and had to get up at 6 to go to work; worked all day, tried to write when a friend in need showed up.  Then I had to sleep and now I am up on my way to work again and I have dinner plans, so this story is coming soon and believe me, you'll want to read it.

Coming soon!

A

Report III from Austin and SXSW

It's late, I just got home from one hell of an amazing night!  Unfortunately, you'll have to wait until tomorrow to find out what went on because tonight, I am writing about Saturday's events.  It was quite eventful with one giant disappointment.  Saturday morning I got up very excited to get on with a day full of good music again - my goal was to see Erykah Badu play at Auditorium Shores that evening in a concert that included 3 days of free music.

First, it was off to Amanda and Robb's crawfish boil - yum!  Robb is a great cook and we always enjoy our invitations to share food with them.  We were there only briefly before heading downtown for the show.  We got down there easily with very little traffic, parked with no problems not even a line, then walked over to the Shores and into the grounds with no line!  How lucky!  Picked out a spot on the left of side of the stage and waited, and waited (we got there at 5:15)....7 o'clock came and went but we were patient knowing that Erykah the Egyptian goddess, prophetess, poetess was going to make us forget the hard dusty ground below our butts because we would be dancing!  

Finally, the band comes out, plays a couple of songs then leaves the stage - several minutes pass and we were all wondering if that was it.  Then comes Erykah, she plays two songs then leaves and that, folks, was it.  There was apparently some travel delay, but it took the melody right out of my day's song.  Completely disappointing.....

Erik did his best to cheer me up and we wound up walking around 6th Street.  There were people everywhere, 6th was blocked from Congress to 35.  We made it to Mother Egan's by 1 am to see another co-worker from Dallas, Dylan, play his showcase with one of his bands, The Crash that Took Me.  That cheered me up - very talented group - I heard the influences of Flaming Lips and Smashing Pumpkins.  You might also know Dylan from DARYL.  Go, Dylan, go!  All of them are very talented but the bass player and the drummer stood out I thought and later I heard they were a married couple and that he got his start drumming for speed metal bands!  Good chops, y'all!

Anyway, it's been a long time since I've seen 3 am, but see it I did and it was good...

Sleep well and tune in tomorrow when I will tell you about today's amazing adventure - made up for the Erykah thing and thensome.

I'm not completely done with this entry - links and possibly video will follow!

Good night,

Arlene

Report II From Austin and SXSW

What another great day to be alive in Austin, TX. Yesterday, my friend, Angela and I had the very good fortune to be invited to a free day party at The Independent where we were treated to one of the best bands I have heard in a long, long time: Red Riders from Australia (they also happen to be staying with my friend, Mel, from the previous post).  I heard many influences in their music, including The Alarm, little bit of Echo and The Bunnymen, bit a Midnight Oil, U2, even something from waaay back, Strawberry Alarm Clock.  I couldn't hear the lyrics, and don't know much about them but they made me want to dance and that has been rare for me lately!  Also, the lead singer has a great collection of guitars!  One is this beautiful golden red Rickenbacker with a unique arched sound hole.  I'm telling you, if these guys don't take off, then something is wrong with the world!

I have to thank a former colleague, Krissi, for the invite.  Her company did the PR for the party - the great things about these day parties are hardly anyone is there, you get to see bands who are showcased SXSW (meaning you can't get in to see them without a wristband or badge), and they are FREE!

After that wonderful surprise at the Independent, we headed over to Nuevo Leon for some great fish tacos - grilled fish with cabbage and guacamole - yummmm!  And that's why we live here...

On to the evening's activities: Gallery Lombardi where we were treated to an old school hip hop BBoy break dance competition.  I hate to just focus on this part of the opening because inside the gallery was some fresh tattoo-style, animated, Dia-de-los-Muertos, eclectic rock-hard art, but the BBoys had a majority of my attention.  That took me back to the old neighborhood in San Antonio - break dancing, skateboards and parachute pants!  There may have been a variety of groups involved, but all I could hear the DJ say was, "Footwork Fellowship" - I looked them up on You Tube - check it out.  It was a great night, Erik got some great shots:  Truth & Beauty

 

And we were still home before midnight!

Where there is dance, where there is music, where people gather to be audience and performer,

there is hope, and a future happy memory to get us through the bad times.

I love Austin....

A

Report from Austin and SXSW

18 March 2009

When I lived in Denton, my friends and I would take regular road trips to Austin and I found myself daydreaming about living here for all the great music - heavily into the Dallas scene via the University of North Texas, Austin seemed friendlier and had a lot more daytime, outdoor stuff to do. Now, years later, I'm actually living in my favorite Texas town and have - for the most part - avoided the whole SXSW scene - too many people, too much smoke and way, way too much traffic everywhere. You would think I would be all over it after having daydreamed about it for so long - all of my choices from high school to career path were heavily influenced by music and musicians - but I haven't been since I moved here. That said, however, I had a great spontaneous evening last night at the dawn of SXSW 2009 and thought I would share.

My friend, Mel, and I bonded over punk music in high school, and she is how I found myself at Emo's last night at some film/music thing as the guest of some British music distributor named Harry. Earlier in the day, Harry (who I just met last night) ran into David Yow - he was very excited because David is one of his punk rock idols. David used to be with Jesus Lizard and Scratch Acid and it was a reunion that my husband and I fell into by accident (they hadn't seen each other in 9 years!) - so we spent the evening hanging out, having a beer with David Yow and Steve Anderson (also formerly of Scratch Acid). They were nice laid back guys and considering what they've been through, looked pretty damn good. They were joined by Ellen, Steve's wife and a friend known as "Muffy" or "Buffy" (sorry, my hearing in a loud bar is not so good, I think her real name is Diane) - all really nice folks living in Austin (well, David is in L.A.).

Honestly, I didn't know who Scratch Acid was (according to Wikipedia, they broke up the year I graduated from high school) - I was more into Brit Punk back then - Pistols, Anti-Nowhere League...but I knew Jesus Lizard - love their music! As I'm sitting across from these guys, I'm wondering have they gone through all the emotional earthquakes of life and become happier people and what does that mean for their music or do they still play? And if they don't play, what do they do? One thing I've experienced and witnessed in others is this softening of attitude with age - I'm so NOT punk now. What is in store for all of us old rockers? How do you maintain that dark bitter rage when life gets good? Hell, every day, I'm amazed to still be alive and healthy, and I look back on my life and I am content with it's contents - everything has happened in the right time for reasons that I don't always fathom immediately but ultimately recognize as necessity for growth. I hope it is the same for them although that could mean the music could start to suck.....

Arlene

Austin, TX

For the Sake of Your Health, Don't Buy This!

I have been at home more lately and have been watching a lot of Oprah.  As you know, I am a fan (as previously noted in this blog), but when watching one of her shows last week where she had one of the authors from "Eat This, Not That", I was appalled.  

The premise is that you can find "healthy" options in any restaurant (even fast food) - apparently, the authors base the "health" of a food choice on the number of calories it contains rather than actual nutrient value.  By that reasoning, iceberg lettuce would be healthiest food choice a person could make (look at the USDA website for nutrient comparisons of food - www.USDA.gov).  During this particular show, the author would give the audience two choices and ask them to guess which one they thought was "healthier" - one of these comparisons pitted a bagel with cream cheese against a sugar-coated donut.  Most of the audience picked the bagel as healthier and this author actually stood up on national television and tried to tell us all that the donut was actually a "healthier" option because it had fewer calories and less fat!

 

This is ABSURD!  Neither of these options is healthy.  In fact, none of the options provided on screen were what I would call "healthy".

People, we need to take our health into our own hands - "Physician, heal thyself!"  Here are a few websites and references:  www.dogtorj.com (click on "the Answer"), www.mercola.com (Dr. Mercola is the author of many books on healthy living and I have found him to be a great resource), see the documentary "Super Size Me" by Morgan Spurlock - if this doesn't put you off of fast food forever, I don't know what will!  Google: "World Health Organization, diet" and look around the site. 

Everyday we are bombarded with blantantly false and subtly misleading information through advertising about what is 'healthy'.  If you care about your health, stick to veggies and fruits as your primary dietary intake and get some exercise even if it's a 15 minute walk - if you can't do it for yourself, do it for the next generation.  They are counting on us!

A Second Request for Artwork

Hello Again, Lucidious,

Here is my next piece.  I titled this one "Flamenco" because the roses at the bottom reminded me of the skirts of Flamenco dancers and her pose looked relevant, too.  This is an earlier piece to "Beloved" and the first more refined piece in this genre.  It is also on a silk dupioni and framed by the Frame House in Dallas.  It's also more fashion oriented than my other pieces, although, the element of fashion does play a big role in all of them.  

It's one of my favorites.

A Request for Artwork

This is a piece called "Beloved" and if you think you see Oprah, you do.  I don't always agree with Oprah, but I admire her.  She found her calling and she passionately helps others find theirs and that is so admirable.  This piece started as a paper collage using magazine images (one from her spread with "Vogue" magazine so many years ago) which I run through a series of line drawing modifications until I'm happy and then I turn it into a hand embroidered piece on silk.

The image represents the aura(l) energy embodied in her spirit broadcasting to the community and the 'disillusion/dissolution' of her ego into the higher human consciousness - she is an inspiration! 

I have had several people suggest I send a photo in and try to get on the show but I've never pursued it because I'm sure she gets a million requests every day.  

Anyway, tell me what you think,

Arlene