Last night’s Ray LaMontagne show leads me on a hilarious and exciting adventure of the “yesman” variety.

With my date canceling only an hour before the show, as I’m enjoying happy hour with my friend, John, I have limited time and resources to line up a new concert mate. Unfortunately, my drinking buddy has serious plans for sleep already lined up and the few other folks I can think of last minute are also preoccupied. So I enjoy a final pre-show drink with Mel and Nichole, who have 2 seats on the floor, before I head over to the venue to begin my short lived ticket-selling career.

“If you’re reselling tickets, you must be outside the marquee.” Really? I’m not sure I want to compete with big, silent man selling “$60 for front row” with a sign, so I crouch towards the opposite side of the street. This isn’t too tricky, except suddenly I’m aware of who I don’t want to sit next to. On my 4th day of non-smoking, I bum a cigarette from two girls and it works. I’m suddenly relaxed and a gentleman promises me he’ll buy the ticket … his friend wants one for his girlfriend. Plus, he’s friends with the drummer, so this can be my “in” to an after show party. (They still happen, right?)

Fun stuff at Outside Lands: we got to make our own “mixed tapes.” Check it out.

Time confuses me. After 3 days of energetic music, I can barely remember who I’ve seen. (Luckily, I snapped some photos.) My legs are jello and my eyelids are locked. A dream already, fragments of the music float by, in no particular order. You can also check out more acts and photos over at StereoGum, where my cousin’s old collage mate, Heather, snapped some amazing photos. (Note to self: work on getting a photo pass to the next festival!)

Miles: ~5,800
Place: New Orleans, French Quarter hotel
Note: Dutch boys, Maurice and Sander, love electronica, hence our late swing through gay dance club. Gorgeous man with diamonds sprinkling his skull, like Britney Spears in “Toxic,” loves my hair. Sparkleboy’s boyfriend hand crafted his own strikingly sexy white suit, expertly paired to the boyfriend’s own 70’s inspired ‘fro. 

Music:

• DJ Tiesto + Ferry Corsten
• Armin v Buuren
• Daft Punk

Movies:

• Oldboy
• Tale of two sisters (Janghwa, Hongryeon)
• House of flying daggers (Shi mian mai fu)
• Goodbye Lennin

Drunk recommendation:

• Kung Pao - can’t figure out what movie this would be after multiple searches on IMDB

Yay! This Friday marks the date of my housemate’s first solo/one-man show @ the Launchpad gallery. For those of you in Portland, go check it out. If you haven’t seen his band play, then show up at 6pm. In addition to Jaik’s good looks and good licks on the guitar, Michelle brings a woman’s touch and white girl rhythm to the drums and Joel’s moves and bass lines lead this trio to triumphant sound.

I hate to rant too much on how much I rock, but I can’t help it … and the Bloody Mary’s are kicking in. Check it out: Best Dressed, SXSW 2008.

It was funny being approached by someone with a camera, considering that’s what I’d been doing all trip. Now I definitely don’t mind complimenting people, as it feels soo good!

http://www.styledash.com/photos/south-by-best-dressed-tuesday/706353/

Simply put, it rocks - like the music at SXSW. Of the 15,000 folks at the festival, around 100 entered a softball tourney, the entertainment for the close out BBQ. Those braves played their hearts out on dusty fields after 4 days of continuous drinking, partying and little sleep. And some of us won.

I wrangled the Ausie’s into signing up for a team and w00t, can Cricket players hit a ball! We all caught on quickly to win 2 games and advance to the championship game. It was looking meek when we were down 0-9 at the bottom of the first inning, but in what was hailed as the comeback of the century, we rallied to win at the bottom of the 7th and final inning 17-16. Nothing bonds people like winning together.

At the start, I wasn’t sure we were going to figure out how to function as a team. We were disorganized and at a slight disadvantage with a quarter of us unfamiliar with technicalities, like rules. I’d like to think that my chatty instigations and cheer leading helped pull us together … at least everyone knew my name. And by the final game, even though I sat out after the first inning with a smashed toe, everyone knew everyone and cheered everyone on. (Note to self for future games: catch the ball first, then tag the runner to avoid a stomping at home plate.)

I could go on about how much it rocked to play, and especially to win, but I’ve got a championship dinner at the Salt Lick to attend. Larry the Lawyer says it’s the best Texan BBQ in town.

In what was *the* show at SXSW (pronounced “South By”), Tom Morello led a star studded symphony of musicians in support for a new documentary, out today in Austin, Body of War. Despite his work and dedication to the project, Eddie Vedder (the billed “special guest”) wasn’t able to make it out.

Personally, I’ve never been a big fan of Tom Morello, but he won me over last night with his charisma and fantastic arrangement of Woodie Guthrie’s “This Land is Your Land.” Aside from Ben Harper, who went missing for the grand finale, everyone who played earlier joined in, including Billy Bragg, Serj Tankian and Mason Jennings. Every fantastic show is not without it’s climax. And so this tribute concert ended with an entire see of people as waves of jumping bodies, all bellowing the final and potent refrain.

I didn’t think the day could get any better, until I decided to catch Billy Bragg’s solo show. Always a fan, but never a fanatic, I wasn’t sure what to expect. And I certainly didn’t expect to find a chatty and witty man looking much younger than his folk wisdom and baritone voice let on. With quips in between each song, my favorite segment started with a vote of which artist he would cover: Bob Dylan or the Carpenters. Ah, democracy.

It’s affirmative. Nashville is a rockin’ city, even for non country die-hards like myself. I want to drink more Jack Daniels and expect to see live music in every venue, for free, with dancing groupies collecting tips for the band. Among my favorites (and ones I can remember):

• Jypsi :: extremely sexy, with style to match their admirable and versatile sound
• Shawn Mayer :: an iowa girl sharing her hypnotizing voice with Nashville. We caught her at the Cadillac Ranch, where she sings nearly any song on request, even Alabama’s “I’m in a Hurry” despite never having played/sang it before.

Chicago Indie Rock
Turns out my childhood-high school friend, Megan’s, husband is in an indie rock band, The Bandages, and they’re good. As I listen to their first song on MySpace, “The Chemistry”, I think of McGnarly’s Rant, a Vancouver BC band who used to play at Biddy McGraw’s in Portland, who now call themselves RantMusic. (I think it’s the “Celtic guitar”, for lack of a better word, in their first song that immediately has me transported back in time.) I enjoy a more pop beat in their second song, and an off-beat, minor bass/keyboard line that pays tribute to Fiona Apple. And then some jazz infusion in the third. Yay! I can’t wait to listen to their full-length CD, Breakup, which sports some killer cover artwork. Hanging from an old ceiling light fixture is an etched heart (think of an illustration from a 19th century medical journal), decorated in thorns and deadly arrows from Cupid in the distance. All this is in front of a cemetery silhouetted against the Chicago skyline.

Omaha
Yesterday, as I’m kicking off an early morning, I hear the Chicago morning news team give a shout out to an old favorite band of mine, Tilly and the Wall, and play a snippet of their new video for the new single “Beat Control.” The news team chuckles at the retro beat and fashion, “It’s like Tron meets Milli Vanilli [...] and they’re from Omaha.” In trying to find the video, I find some others worth checking out. And it’s worth noting that in place of a drummer, they simply have a tap dancer.

• Beat Control Video (IndieBlogHeaven)
• Zombies in Chicago’s Wicker Park (YouTube)
• Emulating the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s (Pitchfork)

Speaking of Omaha, last week I was lucky to stumble across a fabulous show, after deciding to check out the Slow Down, a bar slash music venue opened last year or so by the guys at Saddle Creek Records. Neva Dinova is their name and I’m in love. Not with any particular person, as they’re a little out of my age range, but the versatile group had, at minimum 4 guys on stage and sometimes 7 or 8. A few times I saw three guitars going, along w/the bass and drum. The drummer struck me as someone who grew up playing jazz and the lead singer could have been Will Oldham’s brother, or my brother in 20 years. The harmony singer friend did a great job, though I sensed he hadn’t practiced with the band and showed some nervous fidgeting which he soothed with his PBR tall boy. And I especially loved the melodic trumpet song. So, yeah, check ‘em out on MySpace.com/NevaDinova - you won’t be disappointed.