SXSW Experience: Little Hurricane

There were so many San Diego bands in Austin this year that it was impossible to see everyone while we were there, so I asked some locals to share their SXSW experiences. This is from Little Hurricane. The band is performing tonight at TNT at the MCASD downtown with The Howls. If you went to Texas and didn't hear from me, feel free to answer the questions and shoot'em over to me for posting. 

How long were you in Austin (from when to when)? 
The 12th-18th, as well as a show the week before on 3/10


Did you drive or fly? Any travel stories you'd like to share?
We drove, since we were on tour the month before. The drive was pretty mild, but got terrifying on the way back in New Mexico when we hit a dust storm, with 70MPH gusts and then returned to a snow storm in California!

Did you play? If so, when and where?
We played The Hype Hotel, Beauty Bar, The Lonestar Riverboat, Auditorium Shores, and Buffalo Billiards

How were your crowds? The venues?
The crowds were amazing, the venues/ soundguys varied. Auditorium Shores was one of our biggest shows and stages to date! Opening for The Shins was awesome and totally unexpected!


Any memorable or standout moments from your own shows?
The show on the Riverboat was pretty memorable. We got to see the city while playing music and drinking Shiner on a riverboat! Who could ask for more?!

Did you catch any parties or showcases of note?
We went to an awesome house party across the street from Stubbs. It was a great way to end the festival- with an open bar!

Will you go back as a band or fan in 2013? 
We'll be back in Austin this year for sure!.

Any wrapup thoughts, lessons learned, crazy moments, cool tales to share?
Last year we got a huge break from a flyer we handed out at SXSW. We would never have gotten to play the shows we had this year had we not gone last year and promoted our band. SXSW is worth it no matter how small or big you may be.

The band has a pretty solid press package circulating to blogs. If you'd like to read it, click the jump.

ABC Amplifies Wavves

I hate reposting something I've seen on Hipster Runoff, especially two days after the fact, but since I've been talking so much about the Shepard Fairey art pieces, and since Wavves is going to be the featured band at next month's TNT that celebrates the Viva La Revolucion show, I thought I'd share this video clip.

Shepard Fairey Readies Local Installation

A while ago I told you about the big upcoming TNT at the Museum of Contemporary Art that will have Wavves performing and there would be live DJ sets.

TNT celebrates the new street art exhibition, Viva la Revolucion: A Dialogue with the Urban Landscape, a multifaceted show that features works -- both in the Museum’s galleries as well as at public sites throughout downtown San Diego -- by 20 international artists, including Shepard Fairey, Banksy, Barry McGee, Dr. Lakra, Invader, Swoon, and more.

Enjoy live music by WAVVES, DJs, art-making activities, and more

Today Shepard Fairey was out preparing one of the public sites. He wasn't there when I popped by, but let me just say that San Diego would be a whole lot cooler if more of our blank walls were given the OBEY treatment. I cannot wait to see what Banksy's got up his sleeves. This is on the side of the Hillcrest Urban Outfitters (the irony there is almost too much to bear), in the former Corvette Diner building. We grabbed lunch after taking some photos, and as we drove out of Hillcrest, it appeared one more section was being worked on. As @PaulaLuna tweeted, photos don't do this justice, so definitely go see it for yourself, but here are some pieces of the wall.

Video: Yacht "Afterlife"

There's a lot going on tonight...Sezio has their show with Washed Out, Small Black and Pictureplane. Casbah has a great show with The Paper Chase, Kiss Kiss and Street of Little Girls, and down at the Museum of Contemporary Art in downtown, Yacht will be performing with Bobby Birdman. Unlike past TNT events, this one is $10, but if Yacht is your thing, you won't mind the nominal cover.

"Afterlife" is the second single off their album See Mystery Lights. They're touring with a full band which should certainly make for a more dynamic show.

YACHT - The Afterlife from Jona Bechtolt on Vimeo.

Rosey's Diary: 3.3.09-3.11.09

You know, I had a conversation with a friend about blogging and I've been doing this since 2003. Crazy. It all started as these long diary-like posts where I rambled about everything I did and saw and everyone I talked to or hung out with. So while this might be unfamiliar to readers of this site, it's really the most natural way for me to write and the best way to get it done because it feels less like work and more like I'm just chatting with an old friend. That being said, I am picking up where I left off on that last "diary" post...at least I got past February and am finally writing about March, right? I'll probably keep labeling my posts as such, now that there are so many people contributing to this site these days and since someone jumped down my throat for all my "overdue recaps". So to read my 'diary', click 'keep on reading'.


3.3.09: Neko Case @ Casbah, Joel P West & Matt Curreri @ Soda Bar

I already wrote about spending the day at the Casbah for the free Neko Case show and hopefully you were following me on Twitter and were able to make it to the show because it was a good one. Neko Case played a long set and kept the crowd (well, maybe with the exception of photographers) happy, but as it was an early show with no opener, after the show I made my way to catch Joel P. West and Matt Curreri at Soda Bar. I was pretty exhausted from the day, however, so I didn't take photos, rather just hung out with my friends and enjoyed the show.



3.4.09: This was an all internet day for me, save for lunch with some friends at Souplantation and catching up on much needed sleep. This was the day the CityBeat demo review came out, so I have to admit I spent a day digesting the reviews.

3.5.09: It's no secret that I love Twitter and when Burger Lounge offered free fries to their Twitter followers, it seemed as good excuse as any to walk across the street from my apartment and meet some Twitter friends for a nice lunch. From there, Jake and I went to Gelato Vero to catch up with Daye. I also bumped into Josh from Silent Comedy and chatted a bit before heading home for a bit before making my way to TNT to see Writer and Joel P West as the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego. The crowd was a little thin at the start, partly because now the City permit requires that the patio be fully enclosed with a temporary fence and open only to those 21 and up, but by the time the music was full swing, there was a healthy crowd there to enjoy both performances.



After the show, I met up with Petro, Kris, and their visiting friends for some beers at their apartment before they called it a night. From there, I joined Jake, Pall, Jimmy, Hoth, Gabriel and a few others who were at Lou Jones before we all walked to Ould Sod and watched some karaoke before it was finally time to call it a night. I know writing about this portion of the night sounds really boring, but in reality it was one of those rare nights that happens when you least expect it. I guess I should just thank those guys for letting me be a part of it.

3.6.09: Friday I woke up with a sore throat and a cold but I wasn't going to let it stop me from my evening plans. In retrospect that might've been a mistake because I got my ass kicked with illness, but a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.

The night started picking up Dagart, meeting at Alex's, then grabbing Natalie on our way to National City for Hotel St. George @ X1FM Open Door Session.
Here are a couple pics I took:





Local Bands should all be trying to get on the Open Door. The crowd is all ages and exposes bands to prospective fans who might not otherwise know the band, there's people watching from across the world via the live stream, the sound is impeccable as a recording studio, and all bands should know how to stretch their performances to an hour when they're accustomed to sticking to 30-40 minute sets. Plus the bands are given a recording of their performance and it is added to the X1FM.com archives (then embedded here).

After the show, I grabbed dinner at In and Out before Alex took me to my car. The rest of them headed to Casbah, but I went to the Marquee to see The Howls, Matt Haeck & The Guiding Light, John Meeks. The venue is a converted church across the street from the Shell station on 25th, just north of the 94. The space is really cool and I'd been warned that there were shows there before that were peppered with religious sermons, which honestly would've made me walk out, but this was not the case at all and the people running it seem to be trying really hard to offer a cool spot for the under 21 crowd to be a part of the music scene, offering bands on weekends, open mic nights for poetry, spoken word, and music, and coming soon, "The Kids Are Alright" karaoke hosted by Adam Gimbel.

The arched ceilings and comfortable low vinyl couches were perfect for the alt-country sounds of The Howls, Matt Haeck, and John Meeks, and actually just what I needed as I felt illness creeping up on me. Since it was an old church, I kinda hoped there'd be hot chocolate and baked goods from grandma's, but maybe they'll work on refreshments in the future. My only complaint about the night is that between bands they played top 40 music that was louder than the bands had been. I know I wasn't the only one cringing as I listened to Fall Out Boy between bands.

As for the music, I'm already a fan of The Howls and John Meeks (who was backed by Jimmy Lavalle, Brian Holwerda, Hoth, and Matt Resovich), but I was glad to finally see Matt Haeck and The Guiding Light, who reminded me of Rocky Votolato both in style and appearance. My camera did not like the lighting, however, so you'll have to see him for yourself. At least you can kinda see the room in these couple snaps.



When the show ended somewhere between 10:30 and 11, I took off and made my way to the Casbah for Team Abraham's CD release show. I rejoined my friends from earlier in the night as well as seeing lots of other friendly faces that made it feel like a crazy house party more than a night at a bar, only I was sick and therefore perhaps the only sober person in the crowd. I wasn't there in time for Gray Ghosts, but noticed music in the Atari Lounge and remembered that Evan of the Parson Redheads was playing, so I went back to listen as best I could over the volume of the smoking patio and the DJ mix inside the venue. Evan was a trooper, though, and when a group of loud "Oh My God!" girls came in those of us listening just pulled up our stools to pay attention.



I'm not exagerrating about the non-sobriety of the crowd. As Team Abraham played and as Andrew mentioned, LJ threw her bra onstage and Dagart stripped to throw his boxers onstage. Nuts. The vibe between the crowd and the band made for a fun performance and I was a little sad I wasn't taking part in the rowdiness.



3.7.09: Saturday I woke up feeling better, so I took care of my household in the morning and then met up with friends and family at Blind Lady. My best friend was in town from Chicago after living in England for a while, so we hung out and caught up over the great organic pizzas and tasty beers that Blind Lady offers.


Eventually everyone had to go, but I was able to drag Todd with me to Jose's because I had to take pictures for an opportunity that seems to have now passed, but at least we had a couple good margaritas. After we ended up at Soda Bar for The Morning Benders and Cuckoo Chaos and I was in an alcohol mixed with cold medicine induced cloud so no pictures of that little adventure. Even Twitter failed that night. I guess it was going around.

I was feeling much better from my cold come Sunday and then I was hit like a truck by a flu that kept me at home and out of commission until Thursday night. Thank goodness for my wifi and Hulu.com as I pretty much laid in bed digesting medicine, liquids, and watching two entire seasons of Friday Night Lights over the course of four days along with my usual regiment of reading news and blogs and twitter and facebook and all these other glorious creations that can allow for someone to be out of commission for four days without feeling disconnected from their world. With that, I'll move on to the last of my diary posts that will make me all caught up.

Overdue Recap: Holy Rolling Empire & Tranfer @ TNT; Leopold & His Fiction @ Ruby Room, 11.6.08

Last Thursday, I headed down to TNT. I was especially pleased upon arrival that there was fencing around the patio. The past couple months, TNT had been denied their alcohol license from SDPD because the area was merely roped off, but they got the fencing and thus a bar back on the patio, instead of being relegated to the balcony of MCASD. I got there quite early...Jake dropped me off after dinner, and he was off to a gig, I was off to a night of getting down.

From the second I arrived, I knew it was going to be a great night. First, I ran into the boys from Transfer and chatted for a while, then met some of the guys from Holy Rolling Empire, a band from Arizona that later would blow my mind with their talent and performance. Click 'keep on reading' for more.












After saying proper hellos to everyone, I made my way to the bar to find my BFF Kristian pouring drinks. The sponsor of the night was Tommy Bahama rum as well as the usual Stone beers. I'm a fan of rum, but please don't try to convince me that you can make a cosmo with rum. That's all. I opted for the standard rum and coke for the evening. I was pretty impressed with the ice sculptures, though they were built to be ice luges but couldn't be used as such for obvious reasons. The energy at the museum was high throughout the night which was great to see after a couple months where the attendance slumped a bit.

Eventually the bands got started and there's clearly a reason why the openers have 'Holy' in their name, because HOLY SHIT. They were so. freaking. great. Their sound was huge and I was frankly astonished by how young they all were because they blew me away, not to mention what awesome guys they were to chill with. But I'm getting ahead of myself.



Holy Rolling Empire was followed by Transfer. It was funny to me that Cooper asked me to make sure I remembered to write about them because (a) it is well established that I am a fan and (b) there is nothing I could ever write, perhaps because language fails me, to express how awesome they are to watch every single time I see them. They are too big for San Diego but the fact that they never forget their hometown and love playing to a hometown crowd that makes them all the more awesome.

From TNT, Jeff was kind enough to drop me off at the Ruby Room to catch Leopold & His Fiction. I have to admit, I regret not having posted more about the band before their show, because they deserved more of a crowd than they had. They're out of SF, with roots in Detroit and Kentucky, and I think they're a band to keep on your radar because they brought it huge, which is something special- like they could've been playing to 5 or 5000 people and played with all the same heart. I introduced myself to the band after their set and was appreciative that I was handed a CD and it's really, really good. Their new album will be released in January and you can be sure I'll post MP3s when I'm given clearance to do so.





Since I'd been dropped off at the Ruby Room, I caught a ride with Abraham. I got a call from HRE that they were at the Red Fox Room so we headed to hang out for an after party, except they'd been kicked out of their room. We still got to hang out a little and I was able to capture some very drunken snippets of interview. I will post a disclaimer that Holy Rolling Empire love Transfer and are doing some dates with them as well as The Silent Comedy, so these videos are in jest. And please ignore my saucy slurring.







I heart these boys and I'm sorry that I missed their show a couple days later at The Jumping Turtle, but I guarantee they'll be back. I will do everything in my power to make sure that happens.

Kenan Bell @ Jivewire- Casbah 7.3.08

After my half day at work I took my recycling to National City which was a total waste of time, then returned home, cleaned, and took a nice long nap before heading downtown. I went to the House of Blues to hit happy hour, but unfortunately it was closed because they were preparing for Club Massive, so instead I grabbed a couple slices at City Pizzeria, which I still prefer over Bronx, then made my way to TNT.

I mentioned briefly before, but again I'll say I might have to rethink my future attendance at TNT. It was one of the coolest cultural events San Diego had going and our lovely police department put the shackles on it. No more bar in the quad of One America Plaza. There was something cool about being outside in San Diego's nighttime air, sipping cocktails while doing interactive art activities and watching some of San Diego's best bands. Now, all bars are relegated to the upstairs balcony of the museum, and on this night, the new part of the museum was closed to change the installations. Double bummer, if you ask me. I wasn't really diggin' the night. The organizers were pretty bummed, too. Hopefully the city reconsiders.

Anyway, we left when the second band started and made our way to Jivewire. My homie Jason plays keys in the band, and I missed the last couple of times they played. Jason hooked me up with a shirt and then we made our way in to catch their performance. I'm not particularly into hip hop, but I do appreciate a good lyricist with great flow, especially when backed by a full band. I really, really liked their performance. And, as I mentioned, when they asked the crowd to join onstage, I jumped in, and Jason had me play the keys, which I don't play at all, but it was pretty simple and just 2 keys. I can pretty safely say it was my first and last time onstage, I much prefer being in the crowd.



The night was awesome, but I already wrote about that and the rest of the weekend. For Jason, more pics after the jump.

Video: Green Pitch at TNT

OK, last video of the night and all my pictures and videos are filed nicely where they belong and no longer on my desktop so I'm off to shower and head over to Beauty Bar then the Casbah.

This band played before The Silent Comedy at TNT a couple weeks ago, and I'm still not sure if I got their name right, (ed- I didn't but have it right now). Its Green Pitch and I really, really liked them. This was their last song of the night. I posted another song that was in Danish, but this one is in English. I only wish I could kill all the ambient noise of the crowd. Boo.

Thursday Nite Thing & Annuals

Thursday Night I was ready to get out and take in some bands. My night started at TNT at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego. Natalie and I carpooled downtown and got there really early, thinking that with just one band, they would play early, but we found out there was an opener and The Silent Comedy wasn't playing until 9:15.
The alcohol sponsor for the night was a new collection of flavored rums, but I really prefer my drinks to not be flavored. The black cherry cokes were too sweet. We made soaps at one of the display tables then waited for the music. It was
a really beautiful night and unfortunately I forgot the name of the band- I think it was Green Switch? (Correction: band is called Green Pitch) I can't find them online, so if anyone knows, please email me. They're from Denmark and apparently the singer is studying at UCSD and has been here for about a year. She had a sweet voice that reminded me of Frente; Natalie suggested Lisa Loeb? Here's a song performed in Danish(though the rest of the set was in English)





By the time Silent Comedy came onstage, we were kinda stressing about getting to the Beauty Bar ontime, so we compromised and watched most of the set, but left before the last song, which was good because by the time we got to Beauty Bar, both openers were done. The Silent Comedy killed, as they always do, so we made sure to stay for "Bones" and the big "I am alright!" singalong, then we took off.


We completely missed Frantic Romantic and SayVinyl, which was really unfortunate. I'm gonna do a birthday show in Sepetmber and I'm hoping to get both of them to play so we'll see about that...

Anyway, we got there in time to catch all of Annuals set and their stage energy is so great. Actually, I'd say that's true for the whole band except Anna, who really looks like she couldn't be bothered. It wasn't until their last song that I actually saw her smile- but the rest of the band- happy as hell to play. Their set was over by about 11:20 which was a bit of a bummer, because the whole show should've been pushed back a little bit, but it was all good.





After the show there was this green light on the dancefloor that just made my eyes trip out; I couldn't adjust my eyes, so Jeff, Daniel, Abraham and I decided to go to the Ken. Earthless was playing so it was really loud, but we had fun just hanging out at the bar and making fun of the really drunk guy who they kicked out for groping some girl. He had a broken foot and hobbled around telling everyong they're not metal. He was entertaining to say the least and it was a fun way to bring out night to an end.

The Vision of A Dying World & Paddleboat @ TNT

TNT is one of my favorite local recurring events in town, though I have to admit I haven't even gone into the museum the last few times I've attended. I'm there for the music and for hanging out with friends with cheap drinks in the open air. This time was no exception and I got to hang out with my bff Kristian who was visiting from LA.

The Paddle Boat played first, but I was at the side area listening and didn't pull out my camera. They sounded great as the three of them sat in chairs on the stage and they've got some great upcoming shows, so make sure you check them. The Paddle Boat is a side project of Jeremy from the Vision, and originally I believe it was just a solo project, but now Jackson is playing with him, along with Jane who plays clarinet and adds to the vocals.

A short while later, The Vision of A Dying World took the stage. Their unique sound makes them easily one of my favorite local bands made all the better because they're such good guys. Still, I was a little surprised to see that the boys seem to have an increasing female fanbase. Ladies love The Vision, apparently. Anyway, it was fun taking pictures of them because there was a slideshow of pop icons on the screen behind them while they played. I especially like the gremlin...

Anyway, after the set, Andrea convinced me that we should check out Howlin Rain and Black Mountain at the Casbah, so I'll get to that in another post.