The Village Voice Media SXSW Showdown rocked hard into the wee hours of this morning, thanks to the Wu-Tang clan, who left the stage right around 2 a.m. and passed the torch to Erykah Badu. Check out the story of the show over at Rocks Off, the music blog for our sister paper the Houston Press.
Free song downloads are sweet, but 140 of them is a hell of a lot sweeter. Thanks to Spinner, you can grab yourself a free three-part MP3 download of more than 140 tracks from bands that will be at this year's South by Southwest music festival. And because the deadline has passed to register for the event, it will have to do in place of getting there yourself.
In an effort to raise enough money to pull off the two-day Kansas City showcase extravaganza at South by Southwest this year, the MidCoast Takeover (which recently added local juggernauts the Republic Tigers and Beautiful Bodies to their lineup) is hosting a series of benefit shows featuring the local acts that will be traveling to Austin with them. Tonight, the first of the events rolls out at the Riot Room and features Vertigone & Trystyl, Sons of Great Dane, Walking Oceans, Waiting for Signal (who's rumored to be playing a string of new songs after a bit of a hiatus), and Heroes + Villains. The show starts at 9 p.m. and costs $10.
Every year, Kansas City serves a pit stop on many bands' paths to Austin's South by Southwest festival. Check out shots of a few of the rising buzz bands that played on their way down south: Fang Island, Chinese Stars, Past Lives, Quasi, Sisters, So Cow, Think About Life, and Tiger City.
Expect crazy amounts of SXSW coverage, as we catch up with all the local artists down there. First up is this video from James Christos. He's playing tomorrow night at 9:00 p.m. as part of the Midwasteland Takeover. As you'll see in the video, you'll probably be able to spot him working the promo tip down 6th Street, as well.
As our local bands journey southward for SXSW, Kansas City's home-away-from-home down in Austin is already making its mark. Here's a video from showcasing band member and organizer Steve Tulipana of our Kansas City brethren cloaking their building with a giant banner in Austin in preparation for the Midwasteland Takeover.
Jason Barr: artist, podcaster, provocateur. In addition to his duties with the Asteroid Head Art Club, Barr does the A.D.D. podcast for Lawrence.com. He has recently added "protest artist" to his resume, having been taken in by the Lawrence police department on suspicion of being responsible for the "SHOUT PEACE" tag on the Oread Hotel.
Barr, and the rest of the Asteroid Head crew, will be headed down to SXSW this week to do an installation at the Okay Mountain art gallery in Austin. They're presenting new works on paper, memorabilia, and an installation called "Heavens Treasures: Good, Wholesome Works from Kansas."
The details are as follows:
It's going to be more of a 2D installation...adding felt/spraypaint/junk to the walls around a lot of framed works. We're also camping in official Asteroid Head maroon tents with logos printed on them. We're camping behind the gallery in their fenced-in back yard. And, we all have the same everything: Asteroid Head-issued tooth brushes and tooth paste, one maroon sweat suit, issued wig, glasses if needed, and soon-to-be-created "heaven's treasures."
What will Mr. Barr be imbibing while in the midst of all this artistic chaos?
Lately my fave drink is organic loose leaf Yerba Mateeeeeee with the fancy Bombadillo (gourd cup) and strainer/spoon! It keeps me from boozin' when I'm printing during print parties at Wonder Fair! And there's nothing in my Mate but love!
The Asteroid Head Art Club arrives in Austin on March 18 to blow the minds of SXSW denizens. You'll be able to follow the goings-on via Barr's VERY frequently updated Twitter feed, @BARRR.
We sat down over the weekend with Josh Martinez, the main organizer of Kansas City's newest SXSW showcase: Midwasteland Takeover.
The project is the brainchild of Martinez (who runs the Gusto Lounge), Czar Bar's Billy Smith and Steve Tulipana of the RecordBar, working with the Midwest Music Foundation and various other musicians and music heads. For its maiden voyage, Midwasteland Takeover hits Austin this week with 32 local acts. Over a cup of coffee, Martinez talked about his vision for Midwasteland Takeover as well as his encounters with Outkast's Big Boi and how to scrape by SXSW on almost no cash.
The Pitch: What are your expectations for the Midwasteland Takeover?
Martinez: I hope that one of these bands will break out this year, and that good things will come for them. I don't want to show favoritism to anyone, but two bands that I am in total love with -- and would push so hard for them to do good things -- are Capybara and Olympic Size. I will do everything in my power to put them in front of people. Capybara has four showcases that they're playing down there, and they're hoping for a fifth. They'll play anywhere. They'll play in somebody's basement. They'll play on the street. They'll play on top of a car, whatever it takes to get somebody to notice them. They have a very can-do attitude. Olympic Size -- it showcases everybody amazing in this town in a sort-of super group of sorts from Kansas City. It's beautiful music. It's music to make love to, to break up to. It's good stuff. I'm trying my hardest to make sure that certain people will be there, at certain times, to make sure that people hear this stuff. Ultimately this is giving us a little bit of validity, and we hope that South By Southwest will invite us next year as an official showcase. It's guerilla marketing. It's getting out there and pushing yourself. You make people notice you, and they have no choice but to invite you in. If you can't knock on the front door, go ahead and smash the front door in.
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