St. Vincent (MORE)

At first I thouht this might be a 'too many cooks in the kitchen' situation. Then I freaked out a little when I found out there was an RSVP, and that it wasn't working that well. Well, it ends up that the Hot Freaks ACL (unofficial) (Dell Lounge-sponsored) (blogger) afterparties that I got myself involved in, were not only completely fun and total successes, we were able to accomodate anyone that wanted to get in to the FREE shows - stupid wristbands or not. Thanks other bloggers.

The Rosebuds (MORE)

St. Vincent re-confirmed her extreme talent on Saturday night, and Sparrow House proved that though shy, he is also very talented. Grizzly Bear played an as-always beautiful set with added breathtaking pretty-colored-lights-against-rocks-with-added-outdoor visuals (courtesy of our video team from Super Alright!). Art Brut rocked for the 15th-millionth time, and The Rosebuds turned the Mohawak (or was it Club Deville - I couldn't keep track - the party was at both places, and they're next-door to each other) into a proper dance party. The most fun I had during my entire Austin City Limits 2007 experience was during the Rosebuds actually. Even with an injured knee, Ivan (with the help of Kelly and drummer) mananged to keep it going - always high-energy, and with plenty of audience participation. It was actually only the second time I saw them - the first was at Bowery Ballroom when I fell in love - and the next will be at Bowery again (thank you so much Rosebuds for agreeing to play the Austin show and the CMJ show!) (tickets are on sale). More links, and photos by Hot Freaks-cohost Frank of Chromewaves, below....

Continue reading "ACL Hot Freaks! afterparty recaps - Thanks all!"

This September I'll be returning to Austin for my first-ever visit to the annual three-day Austin City Limits Festival (see previous post for talk of the lineup). While I'm there, I also hope to catch at least one episode-taping for the 33rd season of the associated PBS series with the same name (Austin City Limits). Arcade Fire, Crowded House, Wilco, Bloc Party, Regina Spektor, and Lucinda Williams will all be there to play the festival, and to tape a show.

Then there are the afterparties - official and unofficial. Official afterparties (or aftershows as they call them) feature many of the same bands playing the festival. They happen at night at one of the various venues around Austin - Stubb's, La Zona Rosa, The Parish, Emo's and Antone's to be exact. Anyone can buy tickets to the aftershows. They've got Spoon, The White Stripes (sold out), Common, Blonde Redhead, The National, etc..

I actually know very little about the unofficial afterparties, except that I helped put one together. It was a team effort between myself and the "Hot Freaks" otherwise known as an aquarium drunkard, la blogothèque, chromewaves, gorilla vs bear, my old kentucky blog, and you ain't no picasso. This group of 'Hot Freaks' worked together before - at SXSW. For ACL they asked if I felt like getting freaky, I said 'yes', and the rest is history.

Our parties take place at the Mohawk and at the adjoining Club Deville, on both Friday and Saturday after ACL. The shows are FREE (w/ some RSVP thing that's going to be available after Labor Day), and all of our artists are NOT also playing ACL. We have Art Brut, Grizzly Bear, St. Vincent, The Rosebuds, Yellow Fever, Sparrow House (Jared from Voxtrot), and more. More details below....

Continue reading "ACL, tapings & Brooklyn Vegan afterparties (sort of)"