Some things are just precious…

Randy Newman live, playing piano & singing Feels Like Home.

Show at the Key Club – 5/29/09

Vast was awesome last night, I opened for them at the Key Club. Polaroids of my band members (me+you=the band) are on my Flickr page!

Photos courtesy of Lizanne Webb.

The Dan Band does Beyoncé right…

Brilliant and hilarious, you must watch!!

And for the sake of comparison, I tried to post Beyoncé’s video but she apparently does not like her videos embedded.  Check it out on YouTube

Elvis Perkins in Dearland

Listen to: Chains Chains Chains 

Elvis Perkins released his debut studio album, Ash Wednesday  in 2007. His band, Elvis Perkins in Dearland, includes multi-instrumentalists Brigham Brough (bass,vocals, saxophone), Wyndham Boylan-Garnett (organ, harmonium, trombone, guitar, vocals) and Nick Kinsey (drums, clarinet, vocals).

I saw them in Austin, TX during SXSW and bought a CD after the show not anticipating the extent to which the music would grow on me. In order to fully appreciate it, I suggest listening to the nuances in his voice, the eclectic instrumentation and the unusual melodies. This album sounds like it’s right out of the early 1970s, accompanying The Band, Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan in the record stacks at your local music store.

Upon further research I learned that Elvis Perkins is the son of actor Anthony Perkins who died in 1992 of complications related to AIDS and photographer Berry Berenson who was a passenger on one of the September 11th flights that attacked New York City’s twin towers. Knowing that, the music seems to take on new meaning. I pondered whether to include that personal information in this post as I’m writing about his music and not his personal history but is it fair to say that the two are inextricably linked?

Leerone on TheStream.TV

Raw Rhythms – Leerone

Watch This Episode on www.theStream.tv

I performed on a live streaming web show called Raw Rhythms last night with the lovely string quartet that accompanied me at the Troubadour this last Saturday night. The show is or was hosted by Katie Scanlon and Megan Marlow, who usually interview the guest artist or band and mediate between comments and questions that come in online on a live chat feed. However, they were not present last night so I had to wing it on my own!! Speaking to a camera is definitely something I need to practice, I realized this when attempting to create video web blogs (I’m still trying). 

The show is meant to showcase the artist but more so, provide a place for “fans” or as I prefer to say, band members (me + you = the band) to interact with the guest artist/band through questions and comments that are fielded through a live chat room feed and instant messages. In other words, viewers can send instant messages to us during the show and THANK YOU to those that actually did!! I didn’t get to see all of the comments but I responded to those that I did see. It’s not quite as gratifying as meeting face to face but for those of my friends who are on the other side of the globe or even in Athens, GA (Jon Lester!)- it’s a special treat and now we are one step closer to making real contact

Link is above if you would like to watch the performance and awkward banter. Stay tuned for my video blogs, coming soon… Thanks to Brian Gramo, owner of The Stream. 

Photo by Michael Modecki

SXSW 2009 – Cold War Kids – Part III.

St. John LIVE – I apologize for the poor quality. Guest appearances by Brigham Brough (saxophone), Wyndham Boylan-Garnett (trombone) and Nick Kinsey  (clarinet) of Elvis Perkins in Dearland.

SXSW 2009 – Cold War Kids – Part II.

Brigham Brough on saxophone and Wyndham Boylan-Garnett on trombone of Elvis Perkins in Dearland join the Cold War Kids for their last song, St. John. 

 

SXSW 2009 – Cold War Kids – Part I.

Part I. Before the show

I arrived to the Cold War Kids show 2 hours early. I was determined to be in the very front in order to have an unobstructed view when taking photographs. I brought flyers with me, the flyers advertise my free download offer on my website, along with labels to stick onto the flyers while I waited. The labels included my show information (my show was the following day). I would later hand out flyers to any willing recipients. I was pleasantly surprised when three lovely ladies who saw me at work kindly offered to help me with the tedious task (Kelly, Amulya & Charu). Then, another sweet soul joined, and then another and another. After conversing, I learned that they were all Austin natives. Their generosity left me thinking that Austin people are awesome!!

SXSW 2009 – St. Vincent

Annie Clark of Saint Vincent is not apologetic and I like that. She performed at the Presbyterian Church- the acoustics were gorgeous! She is a sick guitarist. Her voice is deliciously sweet… Definitely a fantastic performer.

SXSW 2009 – Ceci Bastida

Cesi Bastida, a Latin indie artist from Tijuana, performed at Flamingo last night. She sings in Spanish, dances and plays an array of instruments including the melodica and a tom (drum). She’s pretty darn amiable! The band (James Bairian, Jorge Villanueva, Dave Green, Louis Castle, Danny Rukasin) was very tight and looked like they were having the best time (that’s always a pleasure to witness). I heard quite a few people in the crowd saying “Te Llamó” and in addition to professing their love, the audience was jumping and dancing. Her energy is contagious, uplifting and fun.