The Current Music Blog: March 15, 2007 Archive

The Stream 03/15/07

Posted at 8:57 AM on March 15, 2007 by Barb Abney

Need a morning chuckle? Art Brut delivers!

Do you have Mac OSX and Garageband 3? Then why not make your own Nine Inch Nails remix? Go here for more info.

Hey New York, here’s a listening party for your pleasure... Hear both Kings of Leon’s Because Of The Times and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club’s Baby 81 tonight at Club Midway. More info here.

An “official” EL-P leak.

Radio 4 and Bob Mould will be playing a benefit for Callum Robbins at the Bowery Ballroom on Monday April 16. Callum is the son of J. Robbins (Jawbox frontman). Learn more about Callum here.

Today In Music History:
1940 - Phil Lesh was born
1941 - Mike Love was born
1944 - Sly Stone was born
1947 - Ry Cooder was born
1955 - Dee Snider was born
1962 - Steve Coy was born (Dead or Alive)
1962 - Terrence Trent D'Arby was born
1963 - Bret Michaels was born
1968 - Jimi Hendrix was called "most spectacular guitarist in the world" by LIFE magazine

Live On Air Blogging 03/15/07

Posted at 8:59 AM on March 15, 2007 by Barb Abney

11:30am
Tunes On The Telly Tonight:
Grizzly Bear on Carson Daly

10:55am
Peter, Bjorn & John were the victims of theft last night! Someone stole one of their bass guitars!

10:10am
Today on our Song Of The Day Podcast we're featuring Fujiya & Miyagi, with "Ankle Injuries" from their full length, Transparent Things. They'll be playing our SxSW Showcase in just about 26 hours! Learn more about them on their official site or their Myspace page.

9:50am
Lisa Gerrard (Dead Can Dance) is coming to the US this spring and will be playing a date at Guthrie Theater.

The Washington DC band Thunderball will make a SxSW appearance.

9:20am
Lucinda Williams will be playing State Theater on April 11 along with Carrie Rodriguez. Tickets are available and on sale now. tour info.

9:10am
Less than 2 hours before Peter, Bjorn & John kick off our SxSW broadcast !

The Long Winters will be playing 400 Bar next week and will be stopping by The Current for an in-studio performance.

SXSW starts...

Posted at 10:10 AM on March 15, 2007 by Stephanie Curtis

Peter Bjorn and John just arrived. Their bass was stolen last night...so they are trying to make do with two guitars.

The Prototypes

Posted at 11:46 AM on March 15, 2007 by Stephanie Curtis (1 Comments)

The Prototypes are soundchecking right now...Peter Bjorn and John have left the building. They were a great kickoff.

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We made it

Posted at 12:30 PM on March 15, 2007 by Ali Lozoff

Ohmygosh what a crazy morning! Peter Bjorn and John were awesome and played to a packed house. The Prototypes are now rocking the rafters of Buffalo Billiards and people are loving their French accents and fashions. Singer Isabelle is wearing sassy black shorts over a red t-shirt and tights combo, and with her red hair she fits right in with the festive, brightly colored interior of our home away from home.

Already we've run into old friends from home, met people from around the country we've only talked to via email before now, and made a bunch of new fans too, and it's barely noon! Even as I am typing, the Young Knives are walking in the door with their guitars and drums, looking very dapper and ready to rock. more soon....

Austin's Mayor plus Minneapolis people

Posted at 12:45 PM on March 15, 2007 by Christina Schmitt

Being at SXSW is like some weird fantasy world. I just got back from a brunch Spin sponsored at Austin City Hall on the Mayor's balcony. Met the mayor (!), the music director from KPFA Pacifica Radio, SPIN's publisher and a woman who works on trying to get health benefits for musicians and artists in Austin. I asked her if she could set up a branch in the Twin Cities--that would be fantastic.

Our broadcast is crazy busy here at Buffalo Billiards, and in addition to all the new folks, it's fun to see the peeps from the Twin Cities. Just saw Ryan, booker at Turf Club/Big Vs, and Tom from Modern Radio, and Eric from the Varsity Theater and the Cloud Cult kids. Okay, now the Young Knives are getting set to play, so I'll check back in with you in a bit....

Money Making, Money Money Making...

Posted at 1:23 PM on March 15, 2007 by Ali Lozoff (4 Comments)

Wow, I just randomly began a conversation with a nice looking gent and it turned out to be Money Mark! I love SXSW! He's coming up on our broadcast around 3:30 with Mary Lucia, but he's hanging out now, watching the Young Knives - who are very funny and are charming the audience with their tales of merry old England. The Sights are up next, and then The 4th Beastie Boy himself. He's very up on Minnesota politics, believe it or not. A super nice guy.... tune in for that interview; I think he and Mary are really going to hit it off.

It's a balmy 75 degrees outside.... about 82 inside the club, but we're eating all the chips and salsa we can possibly cram into our mouths in between band load in, set up, interviews, photo taking, blogging, and handing out our little oval window clings....

Oh boy, lunch is here! I'll let you know how the chicken tenders are in Texas....

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That guitar is HOT

Posted at 1:57 PM on March 15, 2007 by Christina Schmitt

The Young Knives guitarist plays a Burns guitar. Look it up when you get a chance. That guitar is HOT! Andy Gill from the Gang of Four produced The Young Knives new record. Double HOT!

It's A Party Now...

Posted at 4:02 PM on March 15, 2007 by Ali Lozoff (2 Comments)

Slug from Atmosphere just popped into our broadcast... which I think means Brother Ali isn't far behind. It's a full fledged party when Slug is on the scene. He just informed me he's calling the Brother Ali car to find out how far out they are... they had a little delay in Houston but are charging through. Most of the streets around here are blocked off, so I imagine traffic into the area is a nightmare. But those intrepid Minnesotans will make it, I'm convinced. There is a HUGE amount of buzz about Ali downn here, so we expect a big crowd.

We are 60% of the way through our first day and it's going great, but man I can't believe how much work we've already done and how much more there is to do! Our engineers Sam, Josh and Michael are the unsung heroes of this endeavor. You have no idea what it takes to load in, soundcheck, broadcast, record, mix and humor 7 bands a day, in front of a live audience, while operating from a van parked in front of the venue. It's nuts, and we wouldn't be able to do any of this without them, so please, take a second to say a silent "thank you" to those guys for doing what they do.

More when Ali arrives...

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Texas heat

Posted at 5:17 PM on March 15, 2007 by Christina Schmitt

Brother Ali just wrapped up playing to a full house here at Buffalo Billiards. I am feeling overheated, which is just fine by me. Brother Ali was a little late because they had to drive from Houston this morning, but they were in top form during their set. Mary Lucia is in top form, too, so make sure to keep listening.

Sondre Lerche is doing a line check right now and should be on in a few minutes. Sondre Lerche has a silver sparkly guitar strap that I'm coveting.

Hope You're Enjoying This As Much As Us

Posted at 5:45 PM on March 15, 2007 by Ali Lozoff (4 Comments)

Hey folks, it's Seel here blogging under Ali's name (can't seem to get the ol' login to work). Sorry I'm so late in checking in with ya from down here in Austin ... but it's been a crazy-wondeful time so far.

It-band of the moment, Peter Bjorn and John, got us off to an absolutely tremendous start this morning. A TON of folks must have battled their hangovers to amble down here at 11am for what was, unsurprisingly, an awesome set -- if anybody had been torn about tearing themselves out of bed to go see a radio broadcast, I'm sure those folks realized the wisdom of their decision by the time the Swedish band started serving up their sweetly wistful brand of of pop to a very receptive crowd, many of those in attendance sitting cross-legged on the floor as if they watched and listened. Then, the power to the building went out. Woo hoo! But our intrepid sound-god Josh was down in the bar's breaker-room and had us back up and running within about two minutes flat. (Wasn't our fault. But hey, by-gones are by-gones). The Swedes were back on the air in no-time and we finished out with two more songs and much hilarious conversation. I can't wait to here it again when we get it up online for ya -- stay tuned for that. More to come!

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