ACL After-Parties

Alright kids, today is the day if you want to buy yourself tickets to OFFICIAL ACL after-shows this year. Tickets went on sale this morning at 10am Austin time, so if you wanted to catch David Byrne at the Paramount Theatre...you're too late. That's right the box office has been open an hour, which means the hottest tickets are all gone, or close to it.

I spent a bunch of money but I bought a ticket for all the shows I was even mildly interested in seeing. Except for Black Keys tickets, I didn't buy any for that show 'cause I bought a ticket for the Conor Oberst, M. Ward and Jenny Lewis show, which is on the same night, on the other side of town. I did, however, pick up a ticket for the Gnarls Barkley/CSS show AND a ticket for Jamie Lidell with Black Joe Lewis and the Honey Bears. Even though those shows are on the same night. Their start times are two hours apart and the venues are pretty close to each other so I'm hoping it all works out nicely.

If you didn't know anything about ACL after parties I recommend you click this link.


Don't worry if you didn't get tickets to any after parties, you can still buy tickets for the actual Austin City Limits fest for a mere $80/day. Also, I expect a lot more after-parties. None of the official parties are at Transmission Entertainment events, which means you can expect a wave of blog-sponsored parties at the Mohawk, Club DeVille and others. In fact I know for sure that Sunset Rubdown will be doing a show at the Mohawk the Saturday night of ACL fest. Technically Sunset Rubdown isn't even playing ACL so I guess it's not really an after show...but you get the point.

Oh and by the way one of my favorites of the year, Cut Copy will be playing Emo's the Monday after ACL.

Woo Hoo am I excited or what? And I'm not even going to the official ACL festival haha.


Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band - Souled Out video via YouTube


Jamie Lidell - Figured Me Out Live on Jimmy Kimmel video via YouTube


CSS - Left Behind video via YouTube

Okkervil River's Stand-Ins

It looks like we'll get a chance to hear a new Okkervil River LP next month. It's been just about a year since I was in Maine trying to locate The Stage Names at a crappy Strawberries Music store. Just for the record, they didn't have the album and if they did it would have cost $18. No, I had to travel 45 miles to a Bull Moose Music. But I digress, because now I am in Austin, home to Okkervil River...sort of. I actually read that Sheff and Co. are spending their off-time in the post-millenial Seattle aka Brooklyn. Don't worry hipsters Brooklyn is safe for skinny jeans and guyliner.

In any case, I'm pretty psyched about a new Okkervil River disc. It's due out on September 9th and the band is due to appear here in Austin for the Austin City Limits Fest. It hasn't been confirmed but they are also rumored to be appearing at Stubb's on the Saturday night of ACL for an after-party with the Black Keys AND the Black Angels.

Okkervil's label has made a song available for download from the new LP already...

Okkervil River - Lost Coastlines


For those of you who aren't already familiar with Okkervil River, they do dramatic, folk/indie pop. There songs are quite literate like the Decemberists with lots of stringy, harmonious arrangements ala Arcade Fire.

Here's some video and Mp3's from earlier releases. All links courtesy of JagJaguar, the bands official label.

Okkervil River - Our Life is Not a Movie, or Maybe
Okkervil River - The President's Dead
Okkervil River - No Key, No Plan
Okkervil River - Black

Here's a video for Our Life is Not a Movie or Maybe in .MOV format.

There it is via YouTube

By the way if you want to catch Okkervil live you can check their tourdates here.

Last minute update. Apparanently the Okkervil River ACL aftershow is happening at Emo's with Man Man and Crooked Fingers. The Black Angels, Black Keys show will be at Stubb's..still.

BJ Lewis

One of my favorite things about living in Austin, is the way everything seems to be small and inter-connected. Sure it's a city, but I see all the same people at the shows, and everyone knows everyone else. It's for this reason that there always tends to be a bit of music gossip in the air.

Well the other day I was at work chatting about an ACL after-show I'm excited about. I don't want to give too many details yet because it will decrease my chances of getting a ticket. In any case I mentioned local-band, Black Joe Lewis and the Honey Bears who I saw during SXSW, and how they are awesome and I can't wait to see them at this after-party. To which one of my co-workers responds, "Oh that's my friends roommate". He then proceeded to give me a little insider info that I hadn't heard yet.

Apparently the Honey Bears have been signed to Lost Highway Records, they were given a bonus to get all new music and recording equipment. This doesn't really surprise me since they were called out early in the year as being one of the breakout acts of 2008. But to share a label with fellow Austinite, Willie Nelson must be pretty exciting. Lost Highway is a country or alt-country label home to Ryan Adams, Lucinda Williams and now Black Joe Lewis and the Honey Bears.

Black Joe Lewis and the Honey Bears - Gunpowder

I definitely wouldn't call Black Joe's music country but it certainly has a throwback funk/soul/blues vibe. All right, I have to tell you now. The after party is Black Joe Lewis sharing a ticket with Jamie Lidell! Maybe this doesn't excite you but I really hope Jamie Lidell borrows some Honey Bears to give his act some extra live instrumentation. I'm not telling you where it is yet. That will be in a future post.

In any case if you weren't at Lollapalooza and you want to check out Black Joe Lewis and the Honey Bears you might want to check their MySpace because they are currently touring with locals, What Made Milwaukee Famous then they are touring with more locals, Okkervil River.

Damn, I guess it's easier to claw your way to the top when you are managed by C3 entertainment. The people who book Lollapalooza, Austin City Limits Festival, Coachella and others. But then again, that's another reason why bands move to Austin. Oh and by the way it's not like easy to get noticed by C3 ask the hundreds of Austin bands who don't get to play ACL fest...YET.


Black Joe Lewis and the Honey Bears - Live in Dallas video via YouTube

Here's an interview:

Black Joe Lewis interview with Quinnstorm video via YouTube

BTW
Another co-worker went on a date with Joe Lewis, he took her "dancing at the Continental Club" *sigh* how dreamy.