Awareness Test

Cincinnati Rocks!

At least that is what http://digital.spin.com/spin/200803/ Spin Magazine said. (Go to contents and click on page 118, "Rock City." I have to agree. The music and club scenes are awesome. There are so many bands I haven't seen yet, but they are certainly on my short list...Pearlene, Chocolate Horse, Bad Veins, Kim Taylor, Pernicious Knifs, and many others.

In the meantime I've found a video of The Hiders I want to share. I heard these guys on woxy.com and I searched and searched trying to find their music. It didn't happen. A year or so later, I see The Hiders are playing the Northside 4th of July Rock and Roll Carnival; unfortunately I was in Gatlinburg. My thoughts were how in the hell did they get The Hiders to play? They were a featured artist for a month on NPR!

It wasn't until a few months ago sitting at The Comet I was talking to a couple and the guy, AJ said he played in Seth's band, Pernicious Knifs. The chick next to me looked like a rocker and I asked her if she was in that band. Her response, "No, I'm in The Hiders." Holy shit! I still had no idea at that time The Hiders were from Northside. I gushed on and on about how awesome they are. In the meantime, Beth and I have become pretty good friends.

So here's a video of one of their most awesome songs, or anybody's most awesome songs!



I was perusing youtube; not that you pervs, I've already seen 2 girls 1 cup. But I found this sweet little song by AJ and Beth aka "Delia P."

Check it out:

My SXSW Favorites!

None were disappointing. I had already posted this stuff...it took me 5-6 hours and somehow it got all phucked up. So now, I'm going to try it again, with a fresh start. The problem is I have to go find all of those videos! Hey, I'm taking one for the team! GO TEAM!!!

The Austin performers at the Thursday Day Party were amazing, Austin cranks out some good shit! There were NO disappointments! This is John Blythe, my friend Tim is in the middle playing bass. He let me crash at his place while I was in Austin. Oh, after their set, Amanda Lepre came on and rocked the house. Good shit!

And now, the bands that absolutely turned me on blissfuly!

Wussy, of course. It's been a year or two since I've seen them and they fuckin' ROCK! Can't wait to see them at The Comet, Friday, April 4th. They are a blast and I had so much fun with them on that excruciating road trip. I experienced some of the craziest conversations ever. For instance, how many times a day does the average person fart? We guessed 11.3, but the actual answer is 14 (after Googling it on my cell phone). Too much fun annoying Leslie and Chuck over the walkie talkies (we had two vehicles). Chuck's joke, "What's worse than finding a worm in your burger?" Answer, "The Holocost." Their second CD is spectacular and they are a truly awesome entertaining band live.

Photo is Lisa Walker, Dawn Burman and myself having a beer before their set at Jovita's for Twangfest. Photo from Wussy's blog. Wussy MySpace.

The Raveonettes. Holy shit! I had to stay up very late Thursday to see them, definately worth it. Sleep is overrated at SXSW.

Blitzen Trapper. I had never heard of them and they were great. A very creative band...tons of weird instruments. Two cowbells, some weird little mouth keyboard, a tiny Casio keyboard, marracas and so much more. Fun, fun, fun!

The Watson Twins. An amazing, slow cover of The Cure's, "Just Like Heaven." Very hot!

Tilly and the Wall. I'd never heard of them, but Leslie convinced me I had to go. A chick tap dancing is the percussion. It was like "Lord of the Dance" on steroids! This video is not from SXSW. I could only find one that was 42 seconds long and you can't hear the tap dancing. Awesome fucking awesome! That's all I can say...thank you Leslie, my sister of ROCK!

Sons & Daughters. I've always loved them. I took Tim (my previous computer consultant, ten or so years ago) and asked during the show if he liked them. His answer, "Hell, yeah, I wanna fuck half of them." I guess he was speaking of the two females and not the two males. I caught that same performance on DirecTV this past weekend...simply wonderful. This isn't the performance I saw, but I hung out at The Mohawk most of Friday for the woxy.com sponsored party...saw tons of bands there.

Edited to add: After watching this video, over and over and over again, I think I want to fuck all of them!

Roky Erickson. This dude was arrested on marijuana charges for a single joint in the sixties and institutionalized where they performed electroshock treatment on him. He was fried and is finally getting back to playing again. He won Artist of the Year at the Austin Music Awards Wednesday. The best part of the show was watching Chuck Cleaver dancing around like a happy little kid in a candy store. Very amusing.

The Sountrack of Our Lives. Leslie and I were standing in the impossible line to see The Donnas at Emo's, for some reason; I looked at my schedule and saw I could see Soundtrack at Esther's Follies. I showed Leslie the map for help with the venue location.

She said, "It's across the street."

I responded with, "Where?"

"Across the street, you dumbass."

"I don't see it!"

Leslie: "Can't you see the big, neon letters on the building directly across the street that says, Esther's Follies?"

I couldn't find any videos of them from SXSW. This one is a bit old, but one of my favorite tunes from them.

Another great performance. I hung out with the lead singer for awhile after the show. A perfect way to end this inspiring trip!

Well, that's what I remember. There were plenty of others where I was walking down the street and would peek in for a few minutes. It was an amazing trip and dream come true!

BTW, I wrote my first lyrics last night. Yup, Grandma's on Shrooms, are coming to terrorize you!

The Raveonettes...

...are on Letterman tonight. Definitely one of the best shows I saw at SXSW!

I think I Just Wrote My First Lyrics, Ever!

I need Paul to help and put a tune to it, personally, I think the words are pretty good. I got straight A's in creative writing at Miami University (and UC)!

I'm ready for some music...my own music; no cover tunes allowed here. SXSW inspired me so much and I'm ready to try it! Have to get some new strings for my guitars; or, perhaps, I'll learn the drums?

Yeah, that's the ticket.

Bands I Saw At SXSW

I've tried to recreate what I saw. Thursday night is hard to remember after driving 18 hours straight and drinking on top of the exhaustion and staying out most of the night! That's about 42 hours straight without sleep.

Thursday Day Party With Austin Local Musicians:
John Blythe (my friend Tim plays bass with him)
Amanda Lepre
Some other awesome dude...can't find a listing

Thursday Night:
Li'l Cap'n Travis (Austin)
Wussy (Cincinnati)
San Saba County (Austin)
Several bands (I was lost for an hour or two and ended up in three - four venues)
Syd Straw (Weston, VT)
The Raveonettes (New York)

Friday Day Party:
Nicole Atkins & The Sea (Neptune City, NJ)
The Dodos (San Francisco)
Cadence Weapon (Edmonton, Alberta)
White Denim (Austin)
Blitzen Trapper (Portland)
British Sea Power (Brighton, UK)

Friday Night:
YellowFever (Austin)
The Watson Twins (LA, CA)
Castledoor (LA, CA)
Earlimart (LA, CA)
Be Your Own Pet (Nashville)
J Mascis - just a few minutes (Amherst, MA)
Say Hi (Seattle, WA)
Someone Still Loves You Boris Yelton (Springfield, MO)
Tilly and the Wall (Omaha, NE)

Saturday Day Party - TwangFest
Tommy Womack (Madisonville, KY)
Chuck Prophet (San Francisco)
Waco Brothers (Chicago)
Blue Mountain (Oxford, MS)
Wussy (Cincinnati)

Saturday Night
Sons & Daughters (Glasgow, UK)
Okkervil River (Austin)
Roky Erickson (Austin)
The Sound Track of Our Lives (Gothenburg, Sweden)

That's what I remember for now. Next post will be about my favorites with photos and videos.

Lilly Letting Loose On "America The Beautiful" -- I Think, Or It Could Be Something About My Girl?

She found the lint brush and broke out into a song...I think it was "America the Beautiful." I sang the song and asked if that was what she was singing, and she said, "Yes." I asked who had taught her that song and she answered, "Me" pointing to herself.

On the other hand, it could be something about "Go or Girl, or even "My Girl."

Crazy little critter. She's got some awesome pipes!

Wussy At SXSW

I will be writing soon about the trip with Wussy, but I'm still exhausted and trying to figure out what I saw.

Here is a link to their blog which lists quite a few reviews and photos of the trip.

In the meantime, I found this video from KEXP with Wussy playing possibly one of the greatest rock songs ever. Enjoy, please?

Made It Back From SXSW Austin In One Piece - An Hour Ago

And my "death-shirt" is offically uncursed! At the 2006 Northside Rock-N-Roll Fourth of July Carnival, I helped out and received a staff t-shirt to wear while working in the beer booth. I enjoyed Wussy's set that night, even though they didn't play "Shunt" my favorite tune at that moment. On the way home, I crashed my scooter and broke my hand. This past Thursday, I was standing in an alley with Lisa and Chuck as they were talking about the set list for their SXSW Showcase -- happening in 15 minutes. I asked if they were going to play, "What's His Name" my favorite from their newest disc. They explained it sounds like "ass" live because they can't figure out the tempo that worked in the studio. Well, that broke my heart and asked if they were going to play "Shunt" and they said they hadn't planned on it because they rarely play it. I responded with my "Napolean Dynamite" GOSH.

I went on to jokingly tell them that I crashed because of them skipping my song. Lisa calls Mark and tells him that they have to play "Shunt". Strangely enough, Mark was trying to figure out one more song for their list. Long story short...they played it and dedicated it to me. Rock on!

Here's a link to a short review on the Thursday show from "Spin."

And another link from a Philly reviewer (scroll down close to the bottom).

While packing for this long-ass 18 fuckin' hour each way road trip, I found that dreaded shirt. I bravely took it with me. This morning, er, yesterday morning, while filling the two vehicle's tanks (with much cheaper than Ohio gas, BTW, fuck you Dubbya) I announced to Dawn and Mark that I was wearing the death shirt. Mark's response, "Well that's just great Rochelle, why in the hell do you tell us that when we are starting an 18 hour drive? Couldn't you have saved that info for, oh, I don't know, a trip to the library?" I assured them that it couldn't be cursed anymore since they played "Shunt" at both of their shows...and the curse is over!

On My Way To SXSW!

We are trying to leave by 1:30 pm tomorrow...sure!

So many obstacles before we leave, not to mention 20 hours of straight driving each way.

But, I'll help out and do the driving shit while I'll support one of the greatest bands in the world..."Wussy.)

Gonna be a long, long trip, but I'll also be seeing my computer guru, Tim!!!

Can't wait to hang out!

My Camera Was Dead!

Too much freakin' fun! Rox, Rick and I hung out at a place that doesn't serve booze. So we went to the party wagon and made our own Washington Apples. HeeHee.

Here are a couple of videos that everybody should see. Thank you Jimmy Kimmel!



And, the retort!

Let's Go Hillary!

I've done a lot of soul searching and I have to embrace Hillary as the democrat for president.

I have done so much flip-flopping, but we have to give Hillary the benefit of the doubt. I think some shit is going to hurt Obama and Hillary does not need to concede before the ugly facts come out!

Rock on Hillary...I'm with you Tuesday!

Dandy Warhols - Not If You Were The Last Junkie On Earth

Just watched "Dig" again! It's coming your way Beth!