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I'm headed out of town, so I won't be on the air tomorrow afternoon. However, Seagulls Over Nashville will be filling in for me, bringing you some new and local tunes to tide you over until next week.
Thanks Seagulls!
Radio Citizen - "Birds"
Shout Out Louds - "Seagull"
"Imagine being 23 years old and hearing the words 'You've got squamous-cell cancer.' Most people I know at that age are just finishing up college, starting their careers, falling in love, buying their first homes, etc. Carolyn Benedict had the world at her fingertips when she was struck with the news, and everything came to a screeching halt."
A bunch of people around town have been buzzing about the F**k Cancer Benefit going down at the Mercy Lounge tonight - and for very good reason, because the show is featuring an extremely kick-ass local lineup: The Features, Ricky Young and the Slow Films, Cassino, Tommy and the Whale and Pico vs. Island Trees. The amazing bill alone should be enough to bring you out for the evening, but a lot of people don't know the story behind the actual benefit - so I did a little digging to figure out what it's all about and found this myspace page.
The story begins with that paragraph I quoted above, and this is what follows:
"In August 2007, Carolyn thought she had a canker sore in her mouth that didn't seem to go away. Realizing this wasn't normal for her, she took the initiative and went to the doctor immediately to get it checked out. The mass in her mouth turned out to be squamous-cell carcinoma. Strange for a girl who was healthy and happy as a clam and never smoked a day in her life. She underwent major surgery on her mouth and on her neck, where the doctors removed her lymph nodes as a precautionary measure. The surgery was a success and they believed they removed all of the cancer cells. Carolyn, her family and her friends were all very excited about this, and we all keep hoping that she remains healthy and cancer-free. The world is at her fingertips once again. The current problem lies in her financial situation."
At the time of her diagnosis, Carolyn was working as a coffee barista at Fido and didn't have health insurance - which means she is currently in a massive amount of medical debt, and the F**k Cancer Benefit hopes to raise money for her medical fund. Admission to the show is a minimum donation of $10, and there will also be a silent auction "full of goodies for people to bid on." But this event isn't just about raising money to help Carolyn - it's also about raising awareness.
"Why is it called F**k Cancer? Because we all need to take charge against this fiendish disease that affects billions of people worldwide. We all need to keep Carolyn and her courageousness in mind, and her quick reaction to something abnormal on her body. This reaction possibly saved her life, and she has set an example that we all need to follow."
The sad news is that in this day and age we all know someone who has been affected by cancer; I personally know someone who lost a loved one specifically because they hesitated to get something checked out until it was already too late. Fortunately, however, more and more of us now know cancer survivors, and that's often because of quick reactions like Carolyn's. Tonight's benefit is about celebrating her and anyone else we know who has conquered cancer, and the American Cancer Society will be there helping us educate ourselves on the differences we can make to beat the disease.
Oh, and like I said, there's a kick-ass local lineup. I'm pretty sure no one who reads this blog still needs me to point them in the direction of The Features, but... I just did. And Pico vs. Island Trees is becoming one of new favorite local acts - they're starting pretty promptly at nine, so make sure you're there on time. Tommy and the Whale, Cassino and Ricky Young & the Slow Films round out the bill. Like I mentioned above, there is a $10 minimum donation at the door.
For more information - visit the F**k Cancer myspace page.
And here's a little something to listen to:
The Features - "Leave It All Behind"
Pico vs. Island Trees - "Open Doors"
Today, Out the Other is three years old. AND this happens to be my 1,000th post. Crazy, huh? Sometimes it's weird to think what life would be like if I hadn't started this blog in the incredibly boring wake of a tonsillectomy. I'd be a different girl, that's for sure.
Blind Melon - "Three Is a Magic Number" (from Schoolhouse Rock! Rocks)
PS - Three years seems like a great time for a face lift. Does anyone want to point me in the direction of someone willing to help me out with a fantastic new banner? My skills are kinda lacking in the design department...
Saturday's show was, as Sean said, a "super extended remix edition" of Out the Other - instead of only one hour, we were on the air for two. And I took the opportunity to feature two different albums - one for each hour. From 1-2 p.m. we got to check out three tracks from Devotchka's excellent A Mad & Faithful Telling, and then during the second hour we heard three tracks from Visiter by The Dodos. Both albums are great and I've been listening to them a TON lately, so it was nice to get the chance to share them with you. Also, both were released last Tuesday, so if you liked what you heard you can run right out and nab a copy of each. Haven't heard the show yet? Unfortunately the first hour wasn't archived, but you can check out the second half:
Stream the March 22 edition of Out the Other
And here's the playlist for both hours, with a few mp3s thrown in since you can't listen to the whole thing online:
1. Devotchka - Basso Profundo (A Mad and Faithful Telling)
2. She & Him - I Should Have Known Better (Volume One) (mp3)
3. Stars - The Night Starts Here (In Our Bedroom After the War)
4. Kelley Stoltz - Your Reverie (Circular Sounds)
5. The Dirtbombs - Indivisible (We Have You Surrounded) (mp3)
6. Devotchka - Comrade Z (A Mad and Faithful Telling)
7. De Novo Dahl - Shakedown (Move Every Muscle, Make Every Sound)
8. The Features - Guillotine (The Contrast EP)
9. Be Your Own Pet - Black Hole (Get Awkward)
10. All We Seabees - Angela (Lady Alaska)
11. Devotchka - Along the Way (A Mad and Faithful Telling) (mp3)
12. The Dodos - Jodi (Visiter)
13. The Kills - Getting Down (Midnight Boom)
14. Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks - Hopscotch Willie (Real Emotional Trash)
15. John Vanderslice - White Dove (Emerald City)
16. The Dodos - Red & Purple (Visiter)
17. She & Him - You Really Got a Hold On Me (Volume One)
18. Elf Power - Spiral Stairs (In a Cave)
19. 13ghosts - Beyond the Door (The Strangest Colored Lights)
20. The Dodos - Fools (Visiter) (mp3)
I'm back on the air tomorrow, and to make up for missing last weekend, Out the Other is actually going to be two hours long. Yup, instead of 2-3 p.m. tomorrow, I'll actually be on from 1-3 p.m., so make sure you tune in an hour early.
I've been out of the loop on the newness a little bit, what with my pilgrimage to Austin and all, so I'm going to do my best to catch up tomorrow. I'm not exactly sure what that means yet though - we will most definitely be taking a look at some of the new releases from last week and this forthcoming Tuesday as well, in addition to checking out the upcoming concert calendar and hearing from a few of those bands. But beyond that, I'm not sure what we'll be doing with the extra time. And I'm not sure about the featured album of the week yet - I'm leaning towards Devotchka's A Mad and Faithful Telling but I'm considering actually doing two featured albums - one for each hour of the show. Hm. At least I have about thirty hours to decide.
Regardless, I promise it will be a great show tomorrow - so tune in at 1!
I woke up this morning feeling a little lousy - not really grumpy or really sick or anything, just with the "blah" feeling that creeps up on you every once in a while, leaving you slightly less than your cheery self and really wanting to crawl back into bed. I still feel behind in absolutely everything after my trip to Austin, I still had two days of work left before the weekend (only one now - hooray), and I have been feeling kinda crappy - I'm fighting a cold or allergies or something and keep waking up not able to breathe. So yeah... overall pretty "blah."
The thing is, ever since I woke up this morning, I feel like the world is conspiring to make me happy. It's nothing big - I didn't win the lotto or hear spectacular news or anything crazy exciting like that, but little thing after cool little thing keeps making me smile. It's silly stuff, really, but seriously every time the "blah" started creeping back in today, I heard a funny joke on the radio, or remembered I had girl scout cookies in my desk, or walked into our cafeteria at work to discover it's completely full of tulips.
And no lie - AS I was writing this post during my lunch break today, my mother, who is a teacher's aide, called me to put me on speaker phone so I could hear her whole class singing "Animal Fair," the song that was my favorite when I was a little girl.
So basically, what started as a "blah" day has actually left me even CHEERIER than my usual cheery self. Since some days feel like the world is out to get you, it's a pretty awesome thing to have a day like this. And I figured I can at least spread a bit of the happiness with some really happy songs:
The Kinks - "Starstruck"
How I Became the Bomb - "Secret Identity"
Beulah - "If We Can Land On the Moon, Surely I Can Win Your Heart"
Josh Rouse - "Feeling No Pain"
The Boy Least Likely To - "Be Gentle With Me"
I've been back in Nashville for two days now and I STILL feel like I could sleep for a week. But I'm at least rested enough to finish running down the rest of what we saw last week:
Thursday night
I already went on and on about the NPR party we caught at the Parish - suffice it to say it was amazing. Afterward, Becky and I caught up with Ryan from Muzzle of Bees and his friend Jake, and the four of us headed over to the Rio early to catch MGMT's official showcase. The setting was definitely bizarre - the Rio is a Mexican/margarita joint, and they had turned what felt like a little tiled indoor patio area into the stage and dance floor, complete with adjacent fountain. The first two acts on the bill were Florence & the Machine (pretty powerful female vocals - they opened up with a Cold War Kids cover which was kinda bizarre and cool) and Wild Light (I completely honestly do not remember much about them at all). MGMT was good in a really crazy way - I haven't listened to them that much and their stuff was way more psychedelic and proggy than I expected, with vocals that kept reminding me of Rush, but people were going berserk during the more rock-out parts of the set and there was even some moshing. I think if I wasn't experiencing a beast of a midnight hangover (drinking all day + stopping drinking + beer and strawberry margaritas = feeling awfully crappy) I would have loved it a hell of a lot more, but as it was the band left me vaguely impressed and vaguely bewildered. Our attempts to get into the Wombats showcase afterward were foiled, so we went to bed.
Friday
If Thursday was the best day of the festival, Friday was the absolutely marathon. The day started off HOT - the first show we hit was White Williams in a parking lot at the Free Yr Radio stage, and even at 11 a.m. it was sweltering. Just the fact that a week prior we had snow in Nashville and now I was experiencing 95 degree temperatures was pretty ridiculous. White Williams sounded pretty good, although they're probably more 11 p.m. music than 11 a.m. I think the other 10 people who were in attendance probably would have agreed.
Becky and I pretty much decided to lay off the booze until late afternoon and hit up the a/c as much as possible, and we started off with The Dodos and Ola Podrida at Hot Freaks. Both were excellent, although The Dodos were a bit less engaging than I expected; while they sounded great they were pretty stationary on the stage (the lead singer was sitting with his guitar). I love Ola Podrida's album and it was great to hear some of the songs live; I would love to see the band come to Nashville and play somewhere like the Basement.
The Wombats were our next target, so we hustled off to the Cedar Street Courtyard for the Filter Party, where we found out that the schedule had been shuffled a bit and the band was in a later slot. So it was off to the Next Big Nashville party across the street to cool off and catch a great set by our very own local boys Pico vs. Island Trees. I'm becoming bigger and bigger fans of theirs, and hopefully I'm going to get them on the show sometime soon.
Back at Filter, we got to see a bit of The Pigeon Detectives (who I had embarrassed myself in front of at SXSW last year) while we were waiting for the Wombats to take the stage. THAT's when I saw a familiar face next to us in the bar, and after two quickly-pounded drinks and a lot of freaking out, Becky and I finally approached our favorite helicopter pilot. Pretty. Damn. Awesome. The only thing that could have topped that was a ridiculously long overdue and rockin' set by The Wombats, which was exactly what we saw next. I saw a lot of great bands last week but The Wombats were probably the most fun - and I'm so glad I finally got to track them down.
The rest of the late afternoon/early evening was Nashvilletastic - a set by American Bang at Next Big Nashville, then dinner with my friend Michael from Yewknee and his friend Jamie at a white tablecloth-ed restaurant that made me feel like the dirtiest festival-goer ever. The setting was weird, but the crepes were delicious.
With Vampire Weekend, Jens Lekman, White Williams and Frightened Rabbit all checked off of my "must see" list, that just left White Rabbits. So Becky and I paid our way into their official showcase at Club de Ville, and decided to wait it out until the band took the stage at midnight. I'll admit I was struggling for the first part of the night - booze and a long day of fresh air had me ready for a nap - and The Builders & the Butchers and Bobby Bare Jr. didn't do much to wake me up. But Langhorne Slim was a completely unexpected surprise - for some reason I expected his set to be a snoozer (is a lot of his recorded stuff kinda slow, or did I imagine that?), but instead it bordered on being a crazy party. The other thing that helped me wake the hell up was that as Becky and I were sitting there, I saw someone short and dark-headed walk into the crowd and stand directly in front of me. Frodo freaking Baggins. Yup - Elijah Wood is apparently Langhorne Slim's #1 fan, and he rocked out for the duration of the set. We didn't want to interrupt his rocking and he booked during the last song (when half the audience was invited onto the stage) so we didn't get to say hi, but I was still thisclose to a HOBBIT. Damn.
White Rabbits were next and they ABSOLUTELY exceeded my expectations - which were even higher than they usually are for a new-ish band I love, since I've been dying to see them for almost a year now. Which means I'm already crossing my fingers for a Nashville date, because I'd love to see them again pretty much immediately. I would also love to describe their set with terminology that goes beyond "awesome," but looking back I think I was pretty drunk. White Denim wrapped up the showcase, and their stuff is well-suited to drunkenness - it's insane and messy and rock of the face-melting variety. It was an excellent way to wrap up 14+ hours of live music.
Saturday
Saturday was pretty much the day when my body really decided to hate me. Becky and I were trapped in our parking garage by shitty traffic until 3:30 or something ridiculous like that, which put bedtime somewhere in the realm of 4:30 - and despite the fact that it was the last day of the festival, we really couldn't suck it up and get out of bed before 11:30 a.m. Instead of heading immediately downtown, we decided to head to the UT campus to check out Tacks, The Boy Disaster at a KVRX show, which was a perfect and soothing way to start off the day - with sunshine, a cool breeze, pretty phenomenal acoustics for an outdoor concrete courtyard, and a set of songs that sounded even better than they did when I caught Tacks at Grimey's last year. Please come back to Nashville, boys. Please.
Oh, and while strolling around that neighborhood, we even saw some protesters in front of the Church of Scientology. Apparently they were part of a global picket, and while they were initially kinda intimidating (they were all wearing some scary masks) they were actually pretty entertaining and got WAY psyched when people honked as they were driving by.
We took it easy for the rest of the afternoon, and cabbed it downtown around the time most of the day parties were ending. Then Becky and I met up with Lee and Tracy from the Scene for what Becky dubbed "Meatfest 2008" - the second-best meal I ate this year in Austin (sorry, the chicken-fried avocado was totally #1). There's nothing like four girls putting away a ridiculous amount of ribs. And almost dying in a pedicab on the way there.
For the very last show of SXSW, Becky and I decided to hit up Buffalo Billiards to see Delta Spirit. We also saw Oh No! Oh My! (I've seen them before, they were okay this time but we were pretty far back for their set) and Tally Hall (they were all over the place and kinda meh, although they played a crazy cover of "Praise You," the Fatboy Slim track, that was kinda fun). Delta Spirit, who I got to see open for Cold War Kids last year, were officially my final band of SXSW. I've been listening to their album Ode to Sunshine more and more lately, and definitely falling in love with the band. While their set wasn't the crazy packed, sweaty jam that the Mercy Lounge show was, it was absolutely the perfect note to end the festival on.
Remember, more pictures are over on my Flickr.
I gushed a bit about this show while I was still in Austin, but now that I've been home for a little bit and look over the entirety of last week at SXSW, the NPR Music day show at the Parish - Music For the Right Side of the Brain - remains the best show I saw during the festival. Like I said before, it had absolutely the best lineup - Shout Out Louds, Jens Lekman, A.A. Bondy, Yeasayer, Bon Iver and Vampire Weekend - not to mention excellent sound, free Lone Star (and then Shiner), free food, super accessible and relatively clean bathrooms (this is a big, big deal) and a cheerful and enthusiastic audience. All in all, pretty kick ass. And today, stuck back in my cubicle and kinda wishing I were still in bed, it's been amazing being able to relive the afternoon by streaming all of that afternoon's sets online. Here you go:
Stream the Shout Out Louds set
Stream the Vampire Weekend set
Jens Lekman and Vampire Weekend were hands-down the best two of the afternoon, but that's like saying they were the most delicious pieces of chocolate in a shiny gold box of Godiva - all six of the acts were pretty phenomenal. I've told you many times before how much I love Shout Out Louds, and they sounded particularly perfect as we walked into the dark venue (to the shouts of "free Lone Star!" coming from the bartender - gotta love that). A.A. Bondy was quiet and subdued and definitely faced a challenge following the uber-charming Jens Lekman, but I enjoyed his set that day and I'm enjoying the recording of it even more. Yeasayer was actually one of my biggest surprises of the festival - I was somewhat familiar with their stuff before we headed to Austin but live they sounded incredible, and I'll definitely be digging back into their album soon. Bon Iver also sounded breathtakingly gorgeous in the Parish, and while we used the duration of the set to kind of chill out, I will forever associate his music with the blissed-out feeling of perfection I had on that afternoon.
Sorry no pictures - but hopefully NPR will send me a few so I can post them!
I spent almost all of yesterday either cleaning, doing laundry or napping, so when it came time to sit down and get to business on the computer, I was just about ready to call it a night. Organizing and uploading my photos alone took quite a bit of time, so I don't have any additional recaps to post (although I've at least started working on them).
But, at least now you can check out my SXSW 2008 photoset - it's not really a complete record of our adventures (I tend to take a bunch of pictures and then completely forget about my camera), but I think it'll indicate how much fun we had. I included two of my favorites here - up above is Phosphorescent at The Mohawk, and down below is a picture of Becky, our new friend Angus and me (I'm the blurry one).
I'm finally home - and I'm exhausted, sore, completely sick of the car and not sure how much of my liver is left. BUT, I'm also ridiculously happy - because Becky and I just had an amazing week in Austin.
I have all of tomorrow to put my life back in order (I took tomorrow off from work too), so you have to wait another day for more recappage. In the meantime, I'm just going to leave you with that BEAUTIFUL picture above.
