South By Southwest Music 2010

Another year has passed and with it another South By Southwest music festival. Taking place in Austin, TX, it's possibly the best perk of my job and I look forward to it every year. This year was Schubas (and now Lincoln Hall's) 14th party and Matt and I agreed that this was the best party either of us had been a part of. This all went down from March 17 - March 20 and in true Stiles fashion, I'm getting these pictures up a month and a half later.

Some set up the morning of our party at Yard Dog

Matt and Megan 

Me with the merch

The Threadless prize dice. They were a sponsor and gave away all sort of fun stuff to attendees

The Rural Alberta Advantage

Dan O'Conor and Hannah

The Hood Internet

We Are Scientists

Japandroids

this year's poster designed by Spike Press

Threadless throwing t-shirts into the crowd

Born Ruffians

Once again we had the honor of housing Chris aka Bald E for a couple nights. He was confined to the corner and kept under quarantine, but he made us laugh and played the latest remixes while we got ready.

Broken Bells

Hannah and I watch lots of Current TV. This is Douglas Caballero and he hosts a music show we like. Anyway, she and Casey hung out with this dude while Matt and I saw Broken Bells and watched 3-D TV at the C3 party. He was very nice and I'm sure everyone was well behaved.

Local Natives

Casey, James Mercer from The Shins and Broken Bells,  Hannah

and again

We rented bikes this year. I'd say it was a great move.  A minor hassle at times, but that was outweighed by the ability to get anywhere in Austin in minutes. I'd definitely recommend it.

I've never had so much difficulty using an ATM.

Sharon Jones and The Dap Kings

Since everyone down there had an iPhone it took forever to load up anything online. Instead of going online I took a screenshot of party schedules and would just refer to my photos.

Here's a full list of all the acts I came across this year...
Keepaway
Here We Go Magic
Jokes of the Scene
Hey Champ
The Smith Westerns
The Rural Alberta Advantage
We Are Scientists
Japandroids
Born Ruffians
The Hood Internet
Freelance Whales
We Were Promised Jetpacks
Maps and Atlases
Rogue Wave
Local Natives
Miike Snow
Broken Bells
Washed Out
Dam Funk
Best Coast
Harlem
Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings
Free Energy
Marina and the Diamonds
Hudson Mowhawke
Tanlines
Delorean
Fool's Gold
Fang Island
L-vis 1990
Willy Joy
The Antlers
Frightened Rabbit
Arms
The Growlers
James Messersmith
Radio Radio
Bonjay
Craze
Treasure Fingers
Flosstradamus

This place has some damn fine street food.

The Zero Gravity machine at the Mad Decent party. It was the longest ride I've ever riden. Seriously, we were on that thing a good five minutes.

Frightened Rabbit at the IFC House. I can't seem to find it online, but I think they play it on TV in between movies.

The Growlers

Fun with duct tape

Radio Radio at the Pop Montreal party

One of the last shows we saw was at a church. Just about anything can be a venue during SXSW.  Here's Jeremy Messersmith.

There's really not too much to say about the music. Some I loved, some I hated, some were completely unmemorable. Check out the links of the bands above if you want to explore. The trip itself was awesome and I look forward to next year.

Hannah and I put this video together. Enjoy.

Planet Money // Teen Wolf Screening

I've been digging the Planet Money podcast for about a year now. It's a bit NPR/This American Life-ish, but they do a great job of explaining often complex financial matters in a way I can understand. Their latest episode explains exactly what's in, and what's missing from, the newly passes Health Care Reform bill.

Check out that story here.

If they're not focusing on the latest financial news they'll sometimes put a human face on a financial matter. In this episode they talk with a collections agent. In this one they talk with an "efficiency expert."

Additionally, each episode is only about 20 minutes long so you don't get burned out on the jargon. Anyway, it's a great podcast.

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This Tuesday we're showing Teen Wolf at Lincoln Hall. It's part of the series called "The 3 Penny Was Here", a shout out to the former business on that particular plot of land. Time Out says it's better than Brew 'n View. It's free, there are beer and vodka specials as well as $3 brisquit sliders. Also, there's a 220" screen and an HD projector. I made this poster promoting it. Come by. Oh, Fletch is playing also.

Thanksgiving Staycation

Yes, stay-cation is a totally lame, played-out buzzword. Regardless, that was the goal for the last 4.5 days for Hannah and I. Having been to St. Louis twice in the last month, plus a weekend at the Wisconsin Dells, there was little interest or motivation in another journey down south for Thanksgiving. Couple that with the fact that I haven't had 4 days of true down time in Chicago and you can understand why I was so excited about this local R & R. I kept track of most everything we did using my iPhone camera. Here's how it went down...

Wednesday night: Kid Sister w/ Flosstradamus show at House Of Blues. Super fun all around, although I wish the crowd would have been bigger and the show later. All in time, I'm sure.

Here's Genevieve and Marah sporting their light-up pro nails. They got a shout out from the stage for those.

A rainy and cold Chicago night on a lit-up Michigan Ave.

Matt, Steve, Hannah and I hit Boston Blackies for a late dinner (their burgers live up to the hype) and some stupid fun with our phones.

Thursday: Slept in for the first of many days. The only thing on the docket was Thanksgiving dinner at Julie's parents' house in Joliet. The day had all the right pieces in place: great food, mild family tension, wacky grandma, gossip about the neighbors, naps. It was a lovely evening and we were glad to be included. Thanks Julie!

Julie decided to take an old painting from Joliet to Chicago in the back of her pick-up. After a few minutes on the highway we noticed it was catching the wind and close to flying out on to traffic, so we pulled off to a gas station to better secure it. It was quite a little MacGyver operation, but the painting didn't fly out the rest of the way home, so I guess it was a success.

Friday: That afternoon we checked out a new coffee shop in our hood. It's called Global Coffee and Cargo. They are a non-profit affiliated with the "church"/A.A. support group/halfway house upstairs. They serve cheap, good coffee (Intelligentsia), a pretty full food menu, it's comfortable enough, they have decent hours and it's quiet as can be. No one seems to know the place exists, probably because they have essentially zero online presence. Hopefully that will change and they'll stick around. I couldn't even find a Google Maps listing. Anyway, check it out if you live in the square. On Armitage just east of Humboldt.

Since Hannah didn't have work that day and didn't have to get to her Schubas shift until late, we decided to find out what Critical Mass is like on a chilly night. Turns out it's pretty great. There are probably a tenth of the number of bikers you'd see on a summer ride, so we pissed off drivers less than usual (they didn't have to wait long for us to pass by). Since it was "Black Friday" we had plenty of shoppers downtown to high-five and wave to. It was Hannah's first Critical Mass and a particularly unique one for me, so I'm happy we decided to brave the cold. Fun stuff. Happy Friday.

Later on I went up to Lincoln Hall to meet some friends and check the the Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros show. It was sold out and, in my opinion, the best show yet at Lincoln Hall.

There are eleven people in the band and the main dude looks like a mix between my friend Jason and Russell Brand. It was kind of cultish in the best way possible. They all went into the audience and the crowd was singing along. The album is excellent and so is the live show.

"Party Boy" Dave, Matt, Hannah and I met later at Smartbar where LA Riots were DJing. I saw a fight almost happen on the street between two guys coming out of another bar. They looked like the grown up version of these guys. It was hilarious.

Saturday: Brunch at Lula. Always a guaranteed great meal, be it brunch or dinner. Kristen's BF, Steve, was cooking. I had an omelet full of braised duck, dates, arugula, and feta.

The rest of the day was spent cleaning house and reorganizing.

Around 10, Fauzia came over for a couple hours before the three of us went out dancing. Here she is fixing up Hannah's nail-polishing attempt.

Hideout dance party was awesome. LDW with DJ sets from Bald E, Mother Hubbard and Sparkletone (who killed it - so much fun). On the way home I got an excellent Chicago style hotdog from the cleanest, most organized street vendor. This at 3 AM, no less. Thanks for all the driving Fauzia!

Sunday: Very productive. Grocery pickup at Trader Joes.

I put in some serious bathroom cleaning time. It's sparkling.

Hannah did some more cleanup/organizing and the place looks awesome.

Moved this thing into the other bedroom.

Now that we have a dinning room table (chairs coming soon) we had a proper meal consisting of Hannah's turkey chili and half a baked potato.

All in all, the long weekend was a total success. I'm very well rested and fed, got a decent amount done and I'm enjoying our home more than ever. Sorry for the cheesy "Tim and Hannah" post, but that's how it went down this weekend. She's on the couch next to me crying to an awful romantic comedy (Bride Wars), although I'm ashamed to say how much I'm enjoying it too. I missed my usual family Thanksgiving in St Louis, but we definitely made the right choice staying in town.

So, how was YOUR weekend?