…Plus a few random things…it calls for two posts in one day.
A couple of days ago my friend Stefanie told me about a free show at The Beauty Bar with FREE 3 Olives Vodka pouring from 10-11. SCORE. So I took the bus and went. Austin Public Transportation is NEVER on time…ahhh..
Black Joe Lewis and the Honey Bears were playing a free show at The Beauty Bar too, so that was cool. Ben Kweller and BJL shared a manager for a long time, but I’ve never seen them live and it was a real treat. They are an Austin band that have reached a level that I hope I can help take Drew Smith to in the coming year. BJLTH is kind of like retro rock and roll/ blues/ soul music. I don’t really listen to this kinda of genre but working with Drew has made me more aware of the genre and its history. I love learning about music history from bands because musicians are the most passionate about talking about the history of music, since what they listened to in the past greatly influences what they play and create in the present. This is sad, but I learned about Tom Petty, Neil Young, and Hendrix on a tour bus with Ben Kweller. Our bassist and drummer taught me about modern Jazz and what to listen for in a good bass line. I really had the best teachers. I didn’t need to learn this stuff in a classroom (my college was a business school anyways so I had no choice ha). My parents never really listened to music. The only time I listened to music was on the radio on the way to and from school and my mom only listened to Vietnamese music. I don’t know how I love music so much- maybe being deprived of it made me seek out what I was missing.
The show was great! I was just genuinely impressed by their stage performance. You can tell he has a pretty passionate band and I love that. Anyways, check it out! Something different than the Drew Smith/Ben/Kweller Electro-dance music I’ve been listening to on repeat these past couple of weeks.
The aftershow part was pretty rad too. I felt like I was back in the cool NYC scene because all the cool Austinites seemed to be at this party. The ‘in-crowd’ is definately different than the NYC ‘in-crowd.’ The Austin scene is more laid back, they still care if you know who they are associated with, but are less in your face about it. They’re older, more seasoned, and are more confident because they are older and seasoned as opposed to the NYC scene kids who are overly confident to make up for their youth- though the NYC scenesters (or scene stealers) are almost as well credentialed. The music that NYC scene people work with are more youth oriented and sometimes more fleeting than these Austin scene people who work with bands that have longevity. But again, music is subjective so in 10 years, I wonder what music will be more relevant. I met some producers, I chatted with Spoon’s drummer, Jim Eno, for what seemed to be forever (and it kinda was like 45 min). He used to be a semiconductor chip designer? Random! I met managers, tour managers..a lot of people…in one night. My head was exploding. In a good way.
In NYC, the people I met made my head explode as well, but I was more intimidated by it then. Now, I actually have something to offer, I actually know the same people they know so I can actually participate in conversations! When you lay down the six degrees of seperation now days, I can really see how small the music industry really is and how lucky I am to still be involved in it because I’m pretty sure I’m seperated by one or two degrees from everyone. Goal 2009. Meet a Beatle..
