ACL Sound Off

Alright, alright. Yeah, I know.
THE MF'ING EAGLES ARE PLAYING ACL.
& PHISH, DON'T FORGET ABOUT PHISH, REMEMBER YOUR POCKET PIPE!
Now that you've got that out of your system, let's talk about who else you should be Tweeting about. I'll go ahead and do you a favor by skipping the giant headliners (after noting that Flaming Lips better be doing Dark Side of the Moon in its entirety), and even skip the mid-tier bolded acts right below it. I'll devote this to the very bottom acts that turn into skimmed text rather than new discoveries.

Gayngs

This is a Justin Vernon project, and that should be enough. Who is Justin Vernon, you ask? BON IVER! So while Bon Iver is on hiatus, you should check out this side project. I described their sound previously as an acid trip space ride. Not for publication.

The Soft Pack

I would be more excited about the Soft Pack if they hadn't released a new album.
A. I didn't find the album that moving. I thought it was a really shitty way to launch into indie rock rotation.
B. The Sirius station I listen to played/talked about/interviewed them for what felt like a month. I don't know how much the Soft Pack paid them, but it was absolutely ridiculous.
Regardless, it's a pretty solid band. Maybe they'll play older stuff.

Miike Snow

You've probably all heard Animal, so I thought I'd post the remix. I was kind of surprised to see Miike Snow so far down the list. They got a little MTV play, so I figured there would be some draw. They were also all over the place at SXSW, but according to this random creep I kept running the show was pretty lackluster. The album is excellent, though, so I'm willing to give it a shot.

Bear in Heaven

So chic right now. Saw them at SXSW, but there was a drunken pseudo hippie headbanging next to me. His hair kept hitting me. It was greasy.
I'm going to let this track speak for itself. If it doesn't, let me translate: awesome.

Mayer Hawthorne & The County

Not all of his stuff is so falsetto-y, but it is all that cute. Reminiscent of Jamie Lidell, Mayer Hawthorne is starting the R&B revolution among white boys. Plus, he's adorable.

Lissie

Anyone who can sing like that live, I'm going to see. Lissie got some buzz when Perez Hilton caught one of her many SXSW sets. For one of the first times, I completely and wholeheartedly agree with Perez's music taste. Her voice is kind of flawless.


White Rabbits

Really, this live show could go either way. I could see a lot of infectious energy or a major fail. We'll see?

THE MOUNTAIN GOATS

Maybe it was the Rhapsody commercial, or maybe people have been watching Moral Orel re-runs, but whatever the reason, the Mountain Goats have re-emerged!!!!!!!!!!!1one
I honestly could sit here and type for a long type about how awesome the Mountain Goats are and how I will probably start crying when they come on stage, but I'll spare you. Just, seriously, listen to their music. Do it. Now.


I really don't have much of a beef with anyone on the line-up, big or small, except for Switchfoot. Really? Random, poor choice. Also, Dawes sounds like a washed up John Mellencamp, and not in the good, nostalgic way.
I'm up for discussion about the other tiers, too, if you're interested. :)

Hall of Mirrors

On the surface of calm waters,
trapped in the windows of pristine shops,
resting rigidly on walls –
inescapable reality.

With a single, slipped glance
insecurities are exposed.
It needs no thorough search
to find misplaced hairs and extra pounds.

Reflect, reassess, reappear,
and hope the deprivation
and hair dye made it bearable
to look in that terrible frame.

Lining that proud hall of Versailles
are critics much harsher than nobles.
The mocking echoes wonder
how Marie faced all of those mirrors.




Sorry for the kind of morbid poetry. It's finals week. Positive thoughts won't happen until tests are done. This was written as part of my final sheaf that I turned in last Friday for my poetry class, so we'll see what my professor thought of it.
I am running on so little sleep is stupid. I am tweaking so hard on caffeine that my eyelids flutter when I try to shut them. I have a cumulative history final that is over 1000 pages of reading. I am so tired that I'm sick to my stomach. It's also my least favorite day of the year, when it comes around and reminds me that she's gone.


I'm just ready for Lyon.

1960s Speak

I've been reading a lot of Frank O'Hara lately, so I think that is where the casual, more literal tone of the poem is coming from. I'm not comparing myself to him, I promise, I just think that's what I was trying to emulate.

It’s that pause with beer halfway to your mouth,

to lock your gaze on the invisible,

and your blue eyes glass with reminiscence

(although you would swear they were brown).

That clear blue betrays you, for it shows

your memories like a projector

of speed heads and protests and Pink Floyd,

the time you saw them through dry ice.

When you needed nothing more

than another day in which to exist

and maybe the new Allman Brothers,

with a vinyl scratch discs don’t give.

Your life would read like Kerouac

if you, in fact, had ever read him.

But you haven’t, and you won’t,

you’re too busy living.

My desk shifts aren't always boring

I'm working the front desk at San Jacinto. Saturday desk shifts are the worst. Everyone is running around in the sunshine and I am stuck here in my little box (at this moment I am only 40 minutes into the shift, I am melodramatic).
A man staggers through the door, clearly straining under the weight of an end table that look very similar to the ones we have here. This isn't especially odd. People have been moving things in and out all day. It is around 90 degrees outside, and sweat is pouring down his face.
He walks up to the front desk and sets the table down. He must be in his late 20s, with a full beard, skinny jeans, and a beat-up pair of Tom's - today's prototypical look of a college graduate. He sighs before speaking.
"Hi," he reluctantly volunteers. For someone with such a straight forward look about him, he is being rather hesitant.
"I lived here in 2001. I know, a long time ago. When I moved out, I took this with me," he says as he gestures to the table. "Now - I'm here to return it. If you would like to escort me to the third floor study lounge I took it from, I will gladly put it back where it belongs."
At this point I can't help but laugh. His sudden assertion took me by surprise, and his matter-of-fact attitude seemed inappropriate for something as simple as undoing college shenanigans. I covered my mouth, ineffectively guarding body shaking giggles.
"Actually, you can just leave it here, we'll have someone take it up later," I say after regaining composure.
"Are you sure? Would that be convenient?" the man asks.
After reassuring him several times that it wouldn't be a problem, I opened the door behind the front desk and he brought the table inside.
"Any particular reason you want to bring it back now? Just out of curiosity," I questioned our bizarre re-gifter.
He didn't miss a beat.
"It doesn't belong to me."
But why the sudden conscience? He, at one point at least, had no moral qualms about claiming his souvenir.
For the second time since our encounter he sighed. Not a frustrated sigh. Maybe reminiscent. Maybe regret, but he must have detected my confusion.
"I've had a lot of shit going wrong in my life," he started. "I did a bunch of dumb shit in college, so I'm kind of trying to right my wrongs, if that makes any sense."
"Trying to balance karma, I get it."
He backed out of the space behind the front desk, glancing at the table again.
"Well, thanks Abby," he said, peeking at my name tag. "I'll see you later."
He started to leave and I began to think of the kind of days where I wanted to undo everything in my life, and how desperate and alone I felt. I also thought of the awkwardness of consoling strangers. Despite my generally non-obtrusive personality, I decided he probably needed some consolation. He put his hands on the the door.
"I hope everything starts to look up for you," I semi-shouted from behind the desk.
He turned to look at me with a half-smile, pausing for a moment.
"Me too."

There has been

a lot of talk about ACL tickets the last few days. I would like to go VERY much, whether with a press pass or not I haven't decided, but I will be there regardless. Unfortunately, I will be missing out on the bulk of summer fests due to my France trip (boohoo, right?), but here is my weigh in on the line-ups for the festivals I will be missing.

Bonnaroo
Bonnaroo, I would very much like to attend you, but I swear if I see another festival where Dave Matthew Band and Kings of Leon are the headlines I will throw up. Better question: why are those two bands listed before Stevie Wonder?! Oh well, I guess he can't see unless someone tells him...
Anyway, there are some gems and some major womps in the line-up, which I guess is like most festivals. Weezer was one of the more surprising picks. They were struggling to tour with Make Believe (more in their physical state rather than ticket sales), so I can't imagine what state ol'man Rivers Cuomo will be in for such a large crowd. Overall, pretty solid, but there are so many buzz bands it's kind of irritating.

Five acts I absolutely, positively would not miss:

• The Flaming Lips performing Dark Side of the Moon <---ZZZZOOOMG listening to it now
• THE MIDDLE EAST - My mind is still blown from SXSW.
• The Avett Brothers - More importantly, I'd jump on the stage and kidnap them.
• Jeff Beck - Tickets to see him in Austin were in the hundreds of dollars toward the end, and now he's a blip way down on the line-up list? Further proof that Austinites know their music.
  
• Local Natives - SO. DAMN. GOOD.

Five acts I suggest you avoid like the plague:

• Weezer - Sorry, guys. It's even past novelty at this point.
• Steve Martin & the Steep Canyon Rangers - Seriously?
• OK Go - That new music video is SWEET, though. I just imagine it would be really boring.
• Dawes - I believe my assessment for their SXSW performance was "this sounds like John Mellencamp...except really boring. And not good. At all." <-maybz a bit more eloquent
• Neon Indian - Okay, avoiding like the plague may be harsh. You should check it out if you like it, but it takes a pretty dynamic electronic guy to make that show interesting. I wasn't impressed, but the crowd was also very lucid.

Sasquatch!

I think Sasquatch! is cool for several reasons. A) It has punctuation in its name. B) The Gorge is a PERFECT place to have a concert. You could probably see from ANYWHERE, where as that flat ground of Zilker are very limiting. C) They consistently have killer line-ups without the cheesy buzz bands or burned-out old rockers.
I even like the way they present the bands on their website - each with their own little blurb and There are a few overlaps between the big music festivals for the really good acts, but Sasquatch! takes the cream of the crop from the others and adds PAVEMENT to their repertoire. Yes. Pavement. Jaws, get ready to drop.

People I would sell internal organs to see:

• PAVEMENT - I can't believe they are doing a major festival that close to their reunion!
• Ween - They are still way too cool for me to handle.
• Public Enemy - WIN for the oldschoolhipsterfriendly rap pick.
• Tallest Man on Earth - Sweden's Bob Dylan? Yes, please. Note: He is playing in Austin on May 2nd. I'm already going and YOU SHOULD TOO. Tickets are only $10.
• The Mountain Goats - I feel like I haven't seen them out and about much, of late. The Mountain Goats, so I've heard, put on a crazy good live show.
  

When it's time to wait in Port-O-Potty lines:

• Passion Pit - I love Passion Pit, okay? Really, I do. But their live show makes me want to weep. It's BAD.
• MGMT - Kind of in the same boat with Passion Pit. Good album, bad live show. Also, their newest release has really thrown everyone for a loop, and I'm not sure how to feel about it yet.
• Nada Surf - Live, they're mediocre at best. I actually went to one of their shows for their opening act and left a few minutes into their set. Granted, I'm not really a fan of their recorded stuff.

Honestly, I can't think of two more than aren't overlaps of the last bad ones. Also, the list of people not to miss was VERY hard to keep to five. Seriously, check out the line-up.


To be continued...

ee cummings, yo

Humanity i love you
because you would rather black the boots of
success than enquire whose soul dangles from his
watch-chain which would be embarrassing for both

parties and because you
unflinchingly applaud all
songs containing the words country home and
mother when sung at the old howard

Humanity i love you because
when you're hard up you pawn your
intelligence to buy a drink and when
you're flush pride keeps

you from the pawn shops and
because you are continually committing
nuisances but more
especially in your own house

Humanity i love you because you
are perpetually putting the secret of
life in your pants and forgetting
it's there and sitting down

on it
and because you are
forever making poems in the lap
of death Humanity

i hate you
-ee cummings





New poem of mine coming soon.
Only slightly better than this one.

These are a few of my favorite things (part 2)

5. Taking pictures
I've been into photography lately. Ever since SXSW and my pseudo photography skills, I've been kind of addicted. I don't know shit about photography, but I've been doing a lot of online research and testing with my borrowed Canon Rebel. Soon sweet Chelsey Kilzer and I are making a trip to Laguna Gloria for a photo shoot. Anyone want their picture taken?

4.


3. Being published
No, I haven't gotten over it. Probably never will. There is nothing like a byline to make my entire day. I'm not quite at the giddy level where I was in my first semester (aka I don't obnoxiously post everything on Facebook), but I'm still pretty close. I surely hope these are things I will experience for the rest of my life, the thrill and being published, that is.
SHAMELESS SELF PROMOTION: You can download the latest issue of Performer, the magazine I intern for, here. After the .pdf downloads, if you don't feel like reading the rest you can just search my name for the best parts. :)

2. Letters
I don't get them very often, but I've stockpiled each one that I've gotten in college. There is something so nice about someone's handwriting. It doesn't matter if it's on paper or a greeting card, if the note is short or long, I save it. I want to write letters from France (in French) to everyone this summer, and maybe they will save them and think it is as cool as I do. Most likely they will not.

1.

What makes you happy?