The Current Music Blog: March 18, 2007 Archive

Land of 10,000 Graffiti Artists..

Posted at 2:45 PM on March 18, 2007 by Danny Sigelman (1 Comments)

It may have been a bit cool outside but the sun was out this weekend and made for perfect strolling around the neighborhood type weather. After a bit of record shopping, I was able to take in a bit of the Will Work For Food art show.

This was a collection of local visual artists all on display in the now empty Theater Antiques space in Uptown. It is often pretty mindboggling how much creative talent there is in these parts, musically or visually, and often both at the same time.

For the past few years Uptown has been hit by an artist who goes by the name "27". His early pieces tended to be fish or strange men with moustaches. Lately he has been throwing up all sort of odd looking creatures all in his signature style.

He had his first "proper" show this past Fall at the SooVac Gallery in Uptown but it appears he is blowing up all over New York now and is planning on hitting the West Coast this summer.

I suppose I had that much energy too when I was 21!

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Camp SXSW over for another year...

Posted at 3:57 PM on March 18, 2007 by Ali Lozoff (2 Comments)

So that's that. The SXSW Music Fest has officially come to an end. Most of my coworkers have already made it home, and Melanie, Christina and I are at the airport waiting to hear those lovely words, "Now boarding for Minneapolis/St. Paul". As much fun as we've had, it will be sooooo good to be home.

Being at this event really is like being at camp. Except for the bunk buds and mosquitos, of course. But we are all thrown together in a short, intense environment where we have to bond together to acheive some goals, and you hang out with people you ordinarily wouldn't get a chance to spend much time with. You're away from the parents and have to rely on each other for survival, and then you get back home and go back to your normal lives, with these fond memories and a scrap book and a bunch of stories that drive your other friends crazy.

We had a really great time at our live broadcast from Buffalo Billiards, and we captured some amazing performances and interviews. The Brother Ali interview and performance might go down as my favorite of the weekend. And not just because our names are spelled the same or because we live in the same area code. He and Mary had a great conversation, and the live version of "Truth Is" rocked even harder than the recording. And the crowd loved him. Last year Tapes 'n Tapes were the Minnesota band with the most buzz at the fest, but this year I'm pretty sure that title goes to Ali.

Outside of our broadcast, I also had a few other super fun festival moments. We all stopped in to the Eclectone / Green Room showcast to support our other Minnesota pals Ruby Isle, Martin Devaney, The Honeydogs, Melismatics and others. It's always fun to root for your home team at an away game.

I also watched Badly Drawn Boy while outside under the starry skies at Stubb's. They played the full band version of Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" and the gazillions of indie rockers, industry folks and music lovers went crazy. People leapt to their feet and sang along at the top of their lungs. It was awsome. They were followed by The Good, The Bad and The Queen, and by squinting really hard, standing on tip toe and concentrating with all my might, I swear I could make out Paul Simonon's cheek bones from where I was standing. Oh, and they sounded pretty good too. Since I am a huge Clash fan, any chance to see some of those guys live appeals to me, and I've liked Damon Albarn's projects for a long time, too. But TGTB&TQ are so far only kinda so-so for me. I respect what they're doing, but it hasn't completely won me over yet. Still fun to see them on that big outdoor stage though.

Seeing the 15 bands on our stage was more than enough for me, so I didn't hit the rest of the fest as hard as I could have. But sitting in a room with 200 other people watching Tom Morello channel Woody Guthrie is pretty freaking cool, so I don't feel like I mised out on anything. Plus I got to experience one of my favorite aspects of SXSW, the Flatstock poster convention, which showcases seemingly hundreds of the best poster artists in the country. I spent a little money and came back with some new art for my walls, which I'm super excited about. It's also another arena in which our local talent shines, as Aesthetic Apparatus, Miss Amy Jo, Burlesque and some other Minnesotans display their wares at the event. Honestly, I ran into more people that I know in Austin this weekend than I ever do going to shows in Minneapolis. It always takes a second to put people into the right context when you run into them 2,000 miles away from home, but there you are just walking down the middle of 6th street with 10,000 other people, and suddenly you're talking to the guys from Little Man and Ol' Yeller. Go figure.

Okay, well, I'm officially signing off on my SXSW blogging. It's been real, truly it has, but I am one tired little gal with some barking dogs on the end of my legs. If you've missed anything, don't despair - all of the interviews are archived on our site, and we'll have some more photos from the event posted in the next day or so. Plus we'll be airing our Best Of special at 6:00 this evening, and we'll have that up on the web tomorrow too. Thanks to everyone who made this whole endeavor possible... from our crew who went down to Texas to those who held down the fort in Minneapolis to all the bands who made time to come by and chat with us to all of the people who stopped by the broadcast. More than a few current and ex-Minneapolitans stopped in to wish us well, including a couple of our volunteers who are always spreading the word about The Current and promoting what we do. A Texas-sized "thankyouverymuch" to all of you.

Camp closed until next year!

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