Modern Skirts Play For Skateboarders in a Cement Pond

Though Decatur, GA, and big sister city, Atlanta, can’t compare to Manhattan, we have some pretty special concert venues within “The 404”—The EARL, Eddie’s Attic, Smith’s Olde Bar, CW Midtown Complex, The Drunken Unicorn, and Variety Playhouse (conveniently in walking distance from my apartment), just to name a few. Yet when it comes to planning events here in Atlanta, I seem to strike out about 50% of the time with finding a venue to use.  Atlanta city ordinances make outdoor events difficult, too.  That might explain why I recently had a dream concerning this predicament.  Commence Dream Sequence… Paste was...  read more

Robyn Hitchcock’s Purple Sunglasses

Robyn Hitchcock performing with the Venus 3; photo by Carina Jirsch OK, I promise I will finish blogging SXSW very soon (after all, I have all the YouTube videos from Days 3 and 4 uploaded and posted) but first, a quick one about meeting a hero of my youth. In the spring of 1989, I had one of my best jobs ever (at least before arriving at Paste), making deliveries for a florist in suburban Columbia, S.C. The job was great because I was on my own, in a car (not in a warehouse with a watchful boss) and people...  read more

Albert Hammond Jr. For Sale?

Marketing gal that I am, my job is to both protect and promote the Paste brand.  But even after the 9 to 5, I love studying marketing… I find it all fascinating, especially with our ever-changing business and cultural landscapes. My most recent rock dream proves what a marketing geek I really am.  And I’m not ashammed to admit it. The dream—inspired by the Albert Hammond Jr. show at the Blender Bar for SXSW—goes like this… I’m in a warehouse space, where lots of folding chairs are set-up.  It feels like a Town Hall meeting.  There is a podium and...  read more

SXSW - Too much?

(Above, Julian Lowin, Paste ad sales director (L), and Josh Jackson, Paste editor-in-chief, tape up a poster to the door of Maggie Mae’s prior to our party on Friday.) One of the most notable aspects of SXSW, which has only gotten worse over my past three years of attendance, is the sheer overwhelming quality of not only the offiicial program, but all the marketing and unofficial events that assault the senses of the attendees. (Though sometimes piling on is a good thing—check out this family bluegrass band I just stumbled into on Wednesday night): Bluegrass band And of course, the...  read more

SXSW Marathon Finish

Two years ago, I set a personal record for number of acts to catch in a day at SXSW. I’d seen 19 bands when I got shut out of Shonen Knife at 1:50 a.m. The band didn’t stop playing for 15 minutes, and my friends were all inside listening to Japan’s female answer to The Ramones, and I was trying to coerce a 5’6”, 350-pound tattooed bouncer that the bar wasn’t closing for another 10 minutes. But I wasn’t done, and by 2:30, I had stumbled upon a talented singer/songwriter we’d just covered in the magazine busking to a...  read more

The Dream That Started It All: Josh Ritter Catastrophe at SXSW

Just returned from Austin, where the annual South By Southwest conferences and music festival are held.  Hard to believe that a year has passed since I was last in Austin.  Last year was my first SXSW experience and I was lucky to catch some great shows, including the 2006 Paste SXSW Party where Josh Ritter, Alejandro Escovedo, Manchester Orchestra, Over the Rhine, Jamie Cullum, Modern Skirts and Midlake graced us with wonderful performances. Reminiscing about this on the plane ride back to Atlanta made me recall the first indie-inspired dream I ever had.  It’s too good not to document, so...  read more

SXSW Day 2: Can ya dig it?

After being embarrassed into it by Jason Killingsworth, Paste’s music editor (whose out-of-office messages deserve coffee-table book treatment), I’m hereby retiring my tired colloquialism for SXSW: “Music Industry Spring Break” Instead, I’ll be using one sure to be just as tired very soon, but as a pastor’s kid it resonates with me—“Church Camp For Music Geeks.” And for the third year straight, “camp” continued on a high note. (Though the day was darkened by the news that Rodrigo Sanchez, of up-and-coming ATO duo Rodrigo y Gabriela, had been held up at the Mexican border by U.S. Homeland Security, since his...  read more

PB&JxSxSW

I love Peter Bjorn and John. Jason, Jared and I caught them at the Rhapsody tent on Saturday--I already loved the record, but I was blown away all over again by the energy of the live show. Everyone knows that PB&J is Drew Barrymore’s favorite band, and I was hesitant for a while to hop on the movie-star-endorsed-buzz-band train, but the truth is, girl knows her music. Yesterday was Paste Fun Day, with our party in the afternoon and our official showcase at night. Dension Witmer + Rosie Thomas, Badly Drawn Boy and Eisley played lovely sets. There was a...  read more

Just another Wednesday at SXSW

There’s always a tension at SXSW between the people who want to hear the quiet artist and the people who want to chatter near the stage where the quiet artist is playing. This tension came to such a head a few years ago when Rosie Thomas and Iron & Wine played Tambeleo that I thought punches were going to be thrown. But I calmed down. (Just kidding. I wasn’t the one about to come to blows, but I wasn’t going to defend the noisy people either). On Wednesday, the first day of SXSW Music 2007, that tension surfaced by the...  read more

And…we’re off!

How’s this for an auspicious start? Newly badged, I walk toward the convention center on the hunt for Pete Townshend‘s keynote address, when I see a familiar-looking person exit the convention center, walk to a bicycle and begin unchaining it. Naturally, it’s David Byrne, who proceeds to don a helmet and pedal past me on the sidewalk. Somewhat awestruck, I can’t muster up the will to strike up a conversation. (At that particular moment, it may have been something like this: “Remember when you were in the Talking Heads?!? Man, that was awesome.") As you can see, though, I did...  read more

My SXSW Initiation, Vol. 1

Having only recently taken up the editorial reigns at PasteMagazine.com, I had never made the much-talked-about trip to SXSW. For my first year, I was honestly not too excited until we got on the plane and flew to Houston. There was just too much to do. But after piling out of the plane and into the state where everything is supposedly bigger, then climbing into our rental van (dubbed “Little Miss SXSW” by Paste contributor Tim Basham), it all started to sink in. And once we checked into our hotel (where a woman’s introductory words to me were, “Are you...  read more

First!

In the less civilized regions of the blogosphere, the exclamation “first” would be followed by a epithet, rhyming with “riches.” But we don’t do that here. So yes, tomorrow begins SXSW in Austin, Tex., an event so overwhelming that there’s a schedule making website, broken down by hour and venue, plus a listing of unofficial day events so thick, you could wrap a binding around it and sell it. My Converses have yet to hit the pavement of E. 6th St., and already I’m overwhelmed. So I’m battling back with a personal schedule that tells me where I have to...  read more