AustinSurreal

New Podcast! Hosted by DJ's Eva & Elena!Giving Thanks atEnchanted Rock!

2009-12-01T00:15:00.004-06:00

Oh Okay now for real this week man, for real, it really went down!

In so many ways, but the real reason for this post tonight is THE LATEST PODCAST! Yeah, I got Eva and Elena to sit in on this one, selecting music, talking on the mic, we just went in and knocked it out. Warning, this is not a hip-hop podcast IT'S A WORLD MUSIC PODCAST. AustinSurreal.com World Music Podcast #5 I think.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE PODCAST!

And here's the track list. Me, Eva and Elena presenting the jams.

Grimy Styles - Spectre (Austin, TX)
Tuh-nie & Gnaws - Numbla (Austin, TX)
Oy - Positivili (Ghana / Berlin, Germany)
Oy - Snake (Ghana / Berlin, Germany)
Anti-Pop Consortium - Lay Me Down (New York, NY)
Joe Gideon & The Shark - Civilization (London, UK)
When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth - Conjirin (Austin, TX)
Melt Banana - Loop Nebula (Tokyo, Japan)
Maruosa - Death Stretch (東京都, Japan)
Maruosa - Muscle Spark (東京都, Japan)
Brownout - Slinky (Austin, TX)
Snapline - Jenny (Beijing, China)
Tone/Kristian Ravn-Ellestad - I Am Long (Denmark)
White - Conch Crunch (Beijing, China)
Stereo Heroes - Kick It (France)
Future Blondes - (Houston, TX)

Anyway yeah it went down I hope you enjoy it. I found my new co hosts.

And this past Thanksgiving we took the quick one and a half hour drive out to Enchanted Rock. Left at 8:30 and arrived at 10 a.m. Drove right in, parked, and as we were walking to the base of the trail we looked back and the entrance was 30 deep with cars. The park ranger told us it started filling up after 10 a.m. on Thanksgiving. We made it just in time.

(From the website linked above: "It is one of the largest batholiths (underground rock formation uncovered by erosion) in the United States.")

It's really not a hard hike at all, and what a view when you get to the top.

The walk up is quite interesting as well.

And you can take a break whenever.

As evidenced by this photo.

It's a quick trip from Austin or San Antonio, and a beautiful experience. And it's just outside Fredericksburg, one of my favorite little old towns in Texas. Maybe cuz they have such nice Bier Gartens and such.

Had a Texas Schnitzel (Deep fried pork cutlet with melted cheese, sour cream, guacamole and ranchero sauce on top), saurkraut, German potato salad, and a magnificent potato soup at the Auslander. But neglected to take a photo.

But we took some photos in the city square where they had recently unveiled this pyramid, made specially for the city by some folks in Germany. I don't know the whole story but the thing is really cool.

So yeah I guess it's Christmas.

Holiday Jams Podcast Volume 1 Coming Soon.

More Hip-Hop Shows In Austin This Week Than Maybe Anywhere Else On The Planet

2009-11-30T14:43:00.011-06:00

Which is or is not a good look, I am not sure. Some good shit coming through tho for sure.

And all this is happening in the city that just lost its main "urban" radio station two weeks ago. Seriously, Hot 93 just disappeared into thin air. Not sure why, no one seems to know why, but it's not cuz there's no fans of "urban" music here.

Maybe they should have played more real hip-hop. Anyhoo, I don't know, but check this shit out. Click each flyer to see it full size.

Del the Funky Homosapien Dec. 1 at Aces

Young Buck Dec. 1st at Fuze

SEA Nominee Party Dec. 2 at Firehouse

Dorrough Dec. 3 at Aces

Aesop Rock Dec. 4 at Mohawk

Curren$y Dec. 4 at Aces

Dubb Sicks CD Release party with C-Rayz Wallz and more at The Scoot Inn!

Gorilla Zoe Dec. 6 at Aces

I mean seriously. I guess because of the position I am in, I hear a lot of talk about hip-hop in Austin and what it is and what it isn't. But real talk, it's pretty freakin' vibrant. New York City probably doesn't have as many hip-hop shows per year as we do, and I am not exaggerating. Per capita, that's for sure, but I am thinking real numbers here. It's always goin' down around these parts. I probably missed something in this post even, and we aren't even mentioning the weekly club nights.

Anyway, hope y'all can get out and about this week and support some of these shows!

Crossing Border Festival 2009!Viva Den Haag!

2009-11-25T20:02:00.006-06:00

Yeah man it's the Viva Den Haag edition of AustinSurreal!

So get hype for real cuz seriously it really went down over there. For real.

Last week I had the good fortune of being able to attend the Crossing Border Festival in Den Haag, The Netherlands. A city most people know as the place where they try the big war criminals. The BIG ones. But man it's so much more.

I lived in Amsterdam for most of 1996, and I really fell in love with Holland. I never got to spend too much time in Den Haag, but the two times I went were pretty incredible. First was to the North Sea Jazz Festival which was just over the top, and second was to Crossing Border with Charles Gayle and Rashied Ali, who were backing a reading by Henry Rollins. All I really remembered, besides how much I loved the shows, was how much I loved the Surinamese food.

But this time I really got to walk the streets, meet some people, see some bands, and yeah man, Den Haag is live. Forgive me for tripping on the city I love, but Den Haag is like a cleaner, even more laid back, Amsterdam. It's got a bunch of incredible museums, architechture ranges from old as can be to futuristic. It really goes down around there for real. Here's some photos. And a bit of a story.

Well actually first, lemme back up. I boarded the plane in Austin at 4 p.m. last Tuesday with Audra Schroeder, music editor of the Austin Chronicle, headed for Memphis. En Route to the Hague.

We stopped in Memphis, both were fortunate enough to have empty seats next to us for the 9.5 hour flight, and landed in Amsterdam at 10:40 Wednesday morning. We had to check out a bit of Amsterdam, so we took a train to the Central Station and walked out that mug to seriously 35 mile per hour wind. It was pretty insane. But we hit the streets, hit a coffee shop, got a broodje, and visited one of my best friends in the world, Flavia Roncelli, and well did the Amsterdam thing.

As it stormed like hell outside.

MC Melodee and I.N.T. came through. I was on a panel with Melodee at CMJ and we all got up in their town at Flavias. Check out their group La Melodia. Dope music and they do great work in the community.

In Flavias.

With Flavia. Mi Amiga from Italia.

So we spent a quick afternoon in Amsterdam, then fought sleep on the train to Den Haag, as the sun went down like 4:30 and shit, and for us I don't know, it was like our 24th hour.

Cuz I simply can't sleep on planes.

Anyway, on our first night, Crossing Border and Walk the Line presented the six bands who will represent Den Haag at SXSW 2010. All real cool young talent.

NiCad

Woot

More Woot

John Dear Mowing Club

Which I was really quite into

And will have to procure some music from.

So What

And The Deaf

A raucous explosion of raw energy rhythm & blues rock.

Rebelle, also quite the rock explosion!

Anyway all six of these bands will be in Austin in March and it's really goin' down.

This is the square by the hotel that we hath dubbed the "smoking room." It is my opinion that all hotels in Holland should at the very least have a smoking floor. If not, they should have a beautiful open square with a fountain, just outside the door.

Not even tripping off the whipping winds.

Not even if we are down to the beach, in November, in Holland.

Straight up though we had lunch at the West Wind, on the beach, in November in Holland.

And passed this strange partial head sculpture.

Michel and Louis Behre. A father and son team behind the Crossing Border Festival. Now in it's 18th Year. Celebrating Music, Art, Literature and the good life in the City of Den Haag.

Then we went outside to smoke weed.

Then that night we attended a cocktail party, and a conversation with authors Nicolai Lilin and Sandro Veronesi in a discussion about the power of literature and the value of free speech, that started out with a news clip of an execution style murder in Italy outside a convenience store, and ended with someone saying "O.k., o.k., it's going too long wrap it up." Or something.

Which isn't to say it was boring, just maybe a little long. Both authors have delivered tales of Italy's seedy underbelly, and I am all for discussing the topic of free speech and how it relates to these stories of crime that for some are everyday life.

So here's Audra at the first thing that night.

And here we all are walking through the Dutch Parliament yard I guess, a courtyard of sorts.

Thinking to myself, "Man this is where them fools decided we can't smoke inside coffee shops any more. What shite."

But I mean, that's really my only complaint. Well I mean that and Zwarte Piet, but I dunno.

Anyway said walk lead us to the Crossing Border opening party at Galerie Lumen Travo.

Where they had a camp fire, music, readings and an art show.

Richard Milward...

Reads from his book, Apples.

A very round house.

Also got to hang with Kevin Cummins a bit. His book Manchester: Looking for the Light through the Pouring Rain is a stark document of a revolutionary moment in music in a monumental town. I "nicked" the promo poster with his photo of Morrissey.

Of course I did.

The official poster and magazine art by Kathe Burkhart / Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Lumen Travo. Hysteria: from the Liz Taylor Series (Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?) -- from www.crossingborder.nl

You can download the official program/magazine here in pdf form.

Yeah.

Jim White performing by the fire at the Crossing Border opening party at Galerie Quartair with his wife Robin.

There's ol' Kevin Cummins!

Kathe Burkhart reading haikus...

Jim White and his wife Robin.

Michel, Richard, James Kelman and Louis

Same as above with Audra and I

Lots of cool art around Den Haag.

Talm bout?

This is the oldest Indonesian Restaurant in Den Haag, Garoeda.

And well here I had...

The best meal I have had in a year at least.

Just amazing.

Louis and Ernst, preparing their hand signs for Austin.

Audra, Mirko, Louis

These BEANS!

Den Haag Crossing Border Posse (not to be confused with the Crips, who I am told, also exist in Den Haag)

Richard Milward later interviewed Sonic Boom from Spacemen 3

One of the greatest bands of all time of course. Live on stage.

And then we saw Stephen Malkimus in a room of like 100 maybe 150 people, and it was magical.

Dude was hilarious too.

Hats off to an incredible festival.

Felt so at home.

Eva Longoria hawking ice cream in front of my favorite automatieek food stand. FEBO!

Oh yeah also all of Holland was all Christmassed out. I mean Sinter Klaussed out. But yeah man, I was shocked.

Austin seems to be waiting till this weekend for the most part.

But yeah Sinter Klauss is in full effect.

And Zwarte Piet, I mean, I don't know... It's a long standing thing in Holland, but it's white people running around in Black face. Hello? Wikipedia says "Zwarte Piet is black because he has to climb down the chimeys with the presents for the children."

But I mean, it's white people in Black face.

And we avoided the Politie. The End.

I mean, we flew out of Schipol, and it was all Christmassed out too.

But we weren't trippinG. Happy Holidaze.

The view from my window in Den Haag Tonight

2009-11-19T19:06:00.001-06:00

Full run down thus far of the Crossing Border Festival in the morning...

My Past Coupla DazeBavu Blakes Going Away PartyY MAS!

2009-11-10T22:37:00.008-06:00

Wait, this is more than my past coupla daze, I have some LA pics at the end and well, yeah, it's been one big haze as of late. A lot of travel, events, good peoples, things of this nature and such. And here we sit.

Sunday I went to Fun Fun Fun Fest but it rained so much I was afraid to take my camera out and honestly, I think I got some water inside that thang so I am going to have to figure this out. But yeah, Sunday night it WENT DOWN!

My bro Bavu Blakes is moving to LA and as much as I hate to see him leave, I wish him all the best. He really put it down at the party.

Aaaand the homey Kid Sister showed up!

And Blaxsmith kilt it.

As did Crew 54 of course.

But we had to leave in the middle for a lil bit to see EASY ACTION at Beerland. WOW!

The mic was not working. The soundman was scrambling trying to get it up, but them boys just went on and played, and funny thing is, the voicals were not as loud as they should be, but even in the back you could still hear John Brannon screaming. MY LORD. It was insane.

Tony

Harald

Matt

EASY ACTION!

Anyway yeah, the show was great, but then we headed back to Ace's for Bavu's party and $1 Lone Stars on a Sunday night.

Word to Dubb Sicks

Also Gerald and Ric.

And Nick Nack and Wes Sanders

And Ricki Tiki Tavi

Reggie Coby! Man the League of Extraordinary G'z killed it too!

THE HEADLINERS AND SUCH!

I shoulda been in bed by this point. But fuck it, they jammed.

Then Monday night I drove to Houston to see Melt Banana (and Melt Banana Lite) at Walter's on Washington.

It was wild. The best Melt Banana show I have ever seen, and then I started wondering if it was the best show I have ever seen. The raw power just slays me.

And straight up, they rule. When they started the song "Shield for your eyes, a beast in the well on your hand" this dude got on stage, a light skinned gay dude in a tight shirt and tight pants and he seriously got up and vogued to the rhythm of the intro to that song. Also took his shirt off to show his ripped abs. The band was just kinda looking at him making crazy faces. It was both funy and annoying at the same time. Then he did the WEAKEST stage dive ever, and the security dude grabbed him by the head and kicked him out. Was weird. But whatever I AM GLAD TO SEE THAT PEOPLE ARE AS EXCITED ABOUT MELT BANANA AS I AM! I almost shed my shirt as well.

OK Yeah, so last week I was in LA for work and it was a great trip, but my main highlight was attending Dam Funk's Monday night event that has been going for years and I keep hearing about. It is all that mayne, Funkosphere I think, I dunno, it was dope.

Here is Dam Funk killing it.

Here is Dam Funk with Havana Joe.

And here is my Super Brrrooooo Keith Plocek, now based in LA. Based as in living there, not BASED as in the Lil B sense of the word. Well, actually I mean, maybe he is straight BASED. I dunno man. Was good to see him though.

Anyway I gotta go to work.

Fun Fun Fun Fest 2009 - Day 1!

2009-11-08T12:42:00.000-06:00

OMG! It Went Down!

As one might expect, yeah, it really went down yesterday at Waterloo Park. The good folks at Transmission Entertainment and everyone behind this most fun, Fun Fun Fun Fest, should be commended.

Firstly for bringing my favorite band EVER.

Yeah man, Melt Banana from Japan. You may have seen them on this blog before.

Me obsessing and such.

But yeah, Eva and I hit the festival midday, after a hearty lunch at Dan's, an Austin institution, and honestly we were just kind of ambling around for an hour. I wasn't really able to get my head around any of the bands before Melt Banana, all I wanted to see was them. Eva was immediately bored and annoyed and I started to worry that she wasn't gonna make it. But as soon as Melt Banana hit the stage, that frown was turned upside down and all was well.

Seriously, I love that my daughter is into great music. And no, I don't know why I always do animated Gifs of this band. It just works out that way.

We went to the stage when they finished in hopes of getting some candid shots, and well, we did.

In fact, Eva took this one. Ha.

On the stage next to Melt Banana (this is a great thing about FFFFest, they have dual stages so groups can go on literally back to back), 7 Seconds hit the ground running so hard, I wasn't sure that it was actually them. I remembered them being more, um, well, for lack of a better word, emo, back in them days. I wasn't a huge fan, but never hated them. Last night they came out raging and it was really dope.

Thie festival just takes me back.

Anyway yeah, takes me back. Like this takes me back, the boy Ceeplus.

Seen here with Allen Chen and Craig McCullough, But Cee and I came up together back in them early 90's when we started a weekly club night in Houston called the Hip Hop Coffee Shop. It was an open mic spot that attracted MC's from all over the city and it lasted for 2 years and it was dope. Word to the Psycho Ward (nee, The Niyat).

Seen here with one of the Cool Kids

And then of course seen here with Astronautilus

And then of course Clara and Liz were in the place.

And then of course here is me and my date, Eva.

Checked out the Cool Kids for a minute

And ran into Terp2It

But again, my mind was on something else completely...

That JESUS LIZARD!

Duane Denison!

MAYNE HOL UP!

David Yow and David Wm. Sims!

MAC MCNEILLY!

Man they tore shit up, I have WAY MORE pics of them man, I should post them all... maybe.

3/4ths of The Pharcyde were in foool effect wreckin' all the hits. Including "Pass the Pipe," which is and always has been, my jam.

Killer crowd.

But yeah, that was that for the fest. I went home for a bit, lil pitstop with the babies and Melissa, and then went back out to the after party at Red 7. Walked in as Christ on Parade was on stage. They were killing it for real, but for some reason I didn't take any photos of them.

I did however get this EXXXXCLUSIVE SHOT of two punk rock legends. Musical legends of rock. Icons in fact. John Brannon of Negative Approach/Laughing Hyenas/Easy Action, and Tim Kerr of Big Boys/Poison 13/Bad Mutha Goose/Lord High Fixers y mas, also banjo.

I have not been to a show this raging in years. I mean seriously, it's almost 30 years later and Negative Approach does not miss a beat. I mean seriously, the RAGE was there.

The pain of anger and such. There was a real pit, saw John Brannon take a kick to the face and keep rockin' shit. Man, seriously.

Shit was raw as fuck.

Austin is punk rock heaven this weekend for real.

Tonight after the fest meet me at Ace's Lounge for Bavu Blakes going away party, and then possibly catch me up in that Beer Mug to see Easy Action!

Anyway lemme get my shit together, we need to go back downtown for Day 2. DANZIG FOOL!

R.I.P. N-Sane of Gang Society!

2009-11-08T12:36:00.002-06:00

Got a message from Carlos Garza, aka DJ Styles of the Odd Squad, and he forwarded me a message from Mark Lerch - the man who put out the first Gang Society album on New Style Records with Doug King.

"William Joseph DeRoussell, Jr. aka NSane - Sept. 3, 1973 - Nov. 1, 2009, R.I.P. NSane formerly of the Hip-Hop group Gang Society.

He passed away Saturday 11/01/09 from a motor vehicle accident."

"Billy Boy is what we called him. He was a wonderful person that would give you the shirt off his back. He was always looking to help others in music or anything that a person could ask for. The song "G's Till We Die" was one song that was true to Billy's heart. We will miss him and his want to be a great rapper. We say to Billy's family - He was great in more ways than just music. He was a person that gave to not want something back. We say to his family - Billy was as great as they come. From HP Carter High School to New Style Records. To his own barber shop. To the hundreds of young rappers that Billy inspired and touched. He will be missed, but never forgotten."

Mark Lerch

---- Back in the early 90's I wrote a lot of the bios and press releases for New Style Records. Their groups were Gang Society, Sylk n Smooth (sp?) and the K-Otix. I will never forget when Gang Society did SXSW in I think 1995, and they came out dressed like Grim Reapers. Shit was out of control and they really were a great, however underground, group.

Anyway thought I would pass that on to y'all.

Not sure if this is proper but you can find one of their albums here: http://str8gangstamacshit.blogspot.com

I have a feeling that shit is not available anyplace else these days. But yeah, sucks.

Click here to see his obituary.

Bavu Blakes is Moving to Los Angeles!Farewell Party This Sunday Night at Aces!

2009-11-06T11:45:00.007-06:00

I'd like to say it isn't so, as I hate to see one of my best friends in this city leave, but alas, greener pastures call. Yeah man, Bavu Blakes and his wife Tifani are moving to Los Angeles.

The farewell party happens this Sunday night, Nov. 8th at Ace's Lounge. There's a grown folks celebration from 6 - 10 p.m. and a young bucks party from 10 p.m. - 2 a.m. Some of Austin's finest hip-hop and soul talent will be performing and of course you gone see the man Bavu Blakes wreck one last time before he leaves us.

I have really mixed feelings about this whole thing. I've known Bavu since I guess 1995. I had moved to Austin and was doing this thing called The Hip Hop Coffee Shop at Ruta Maya, when it was on 4th Street. We would have people sign up to get on the open mic, and he signed up and I said his name wrong so he rapped in my face for a couple minutes about how wack it was that I said his name wrong. I could tell that dude could rap, but I was kind of just looking at him like, "Who the fuck is this dude and why?"

Then we became great friends. Dude is a serious talent, one of the best MC's I know and definitely in my opinion, the best live performer in hip-hop. Don't take those words lightly, cuz he is. Dude kills it every time and puts a lot of thought into his shows. Always respected that about him. he is an all around hustler and my dude fo life, but alas, I actually think that him moving to LA is a good thing for his musical career.

That's not to say you can't make it in Austin, but dude has been putting it down for so long, I think it's time for a change. And it's time to let them folks out on the West Coast see how he does it. My only hope is that the Too Selfish album comes out next year sometime and that he comes to SXSW AT LEAST!

Gonna miss the man, but yeah, I don't blame him.

If you love hip-hop, you should be at Ace's this Sunday night to send off our cities brightest musical talent.

From Bavu:

hosted by Shorti C of Diasporic/Neckbone/Extra Plairs

6 - 10p
performances by Gidon, Blacklisted Individuals, D-Kutz
and me (9p)

10p - 2a
performances by League of Extraordinary G'z, Crew 54, Blaxsmith, Kevin Jack
and me and NickNack (12a)

dj'ed by Dynamic Duo (DJ Knowledge & Wes Sanders)

also an exclusive listening session of unreleased beats and songs by Reelaktz '97-99

...and last but not least, Tony-C is singing the national anthem!

Also check out this piece from the latest Austin Chronicle on the man.

Doc Mindbender aka D-Ology of The Niyat - "Us" VideoDirected by Wriathe - Kinetic Cinematix

2009-11-05T23:37:00.002-06:00

MAN ALIVE! One of the heaviest Houston lyricists, if not the heaviest, D-Ology, nee, Doc Mindbender. This is off that Nayat mixtape Raxus Prime. I played the song "Ain'tcha" on my last podcast. That featured D-Ology, Snap and K-Rino and is on the same mixtape as this one.

The Niyat - "Us" from kinetikcinematix on Vimeo.

And you can download the whole mixtape here. And I suggest that you do. Reality Rap Is Not Dead.

More Fun Fun Fun Fest Info!Afterparties and Early Ticket Pick Up!

2009-11-05T15:00:00.002-06:00

Going thru some old emails over here and just found the Fun Fun Fun Fest after party info. I knew Negative Approach and Easy Action were doing some shit, but didn't know when and where, well, all of that is below. Saturday night SEE YOU AT RED 7! YIKES!

And another dope thing about this festival is they are allowing people to pick up tickets early. What a great thing. Last year I almost had a heart attack waiting in line for my passes I thought I heard Dengue Fever starting up and I was like OOOOOOHHHH NOOOOOO as that was THE band I wanted to see last year. And well, it worked out fine, but I tend to worry. Anyway read on, I just cut and pasted all this:

In addition to the Fun Fun Fun Festival itself, held on Nov. 7 and 8 in Austin at Waterloo park, there will be three nights of official Fun Fun Fun approved events around town, with a launch party Friday night and a slew of after parties on Sat. and Sun. night. Here is your handy clip-and-save guide to all of these events

FRIDAY NIGHT LAUNCH PARTIES
LMIS Presented by Austinist - FREE Shows at Club Deville and The Mohawk!

CLUB DEVILLE

The Authors
Black Before Red
Beautiful Supermachines
The Low Lows

MOHAWK INSIDE
My Milkyway Arms
Silent Land Time Machine
Air Traffic Controllers
Watch Out for Rockets

MOHAWK OUTSIDE
Minor Mishap Marching Band
Manikin
Distant Seconds
International Waters
TV Torso

BEAUTY BAR
(NO Cover!, 21+, 10PM)
Antics/Toyota Matrix and Learning Secrets presents
Yeasayer DJ Set
Learning Secrets DJs
plus live sets by:
Totally Michael (Iheartcomix)
Best Fwends
Missions (ex-clap clap)

BEERLAND
(No cover!, 21+, 10PM)
Broken Gold
December Boys
Failure's Union
Cheap Girls

RED 7 WRECK ROOM
(No cover!, All Ages, 10PM)
F***ed Up DJ Set

RED 7
($10)
Fu Manchu
ASG
It's Casual

SATURDAY NIGHT AFTER PARTIES

MOHAWK OUTSIDE

Voxtrot
Ocotopus Project
Twin Tigers

MOHAWK INSIDE
The Coathangers
Jazzus Lizard (Jesus Lizard jazz tribute band!!!)
Walter Schriefels band

RED 7
($13, 10PM)
Negative Approach
Christ On Parade
Trash Talk
Naw Dude
You People

CLUB DEVILLE
($10, 10PM)
Soul Clap Dance Party w/ DJs Johnathan Toubin & Ian Svenonius
Brownout

BEAUTY BAR
($10PM, $5 before midnight, $10 after)
DJ Mel
The Cool Kids DJ Set

BEERLAND
($10, 10PM)
Jack Oblivian
John Paul Keith and the 145s
Lovvers (UK)
Fleshlights

ALAMO DRAFT HOUSE RITZ
(10:15pm)
Youth Brigade hosts "Let Them Know: The Story Behind Youth Brigade and BYO Records" Screening
MC Chris hosts a midnight screening of "Gremlins"

SUNDAY NIGHT AFTER PARTIES

MOHAWK OUTSIDE
($13, 9:30PM)

And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead…
Dark Meat
An Albatross

MOHAWK INSIDE
($13, 9:30PM)
AU
Free Moral Agents (featuring Ikey Owens of The Mars Volta
Zechs Marquise (featuring Marcel Rodriguez Lopez of The Mars Volta

RED 7 WRECK ROOM
(No cover!, All Ages, 10PM)
Karaoke Apocalypse
RnR and punk karaoke all night with a live band!

RED 7
($10, 10PM)
Toys That Kill
The Forgetters (Black Schwarzenbach of Jawbreaker/Jets To Brazil, Kevin of Against Me!, Caroline Bitchin'
Ghost Knife
Smalltown (Sweden)

BEAUTY BAR
DJ Mixhell

BEERLAND
($8, 10PM)
Easy Action
Black Tusk
Eagle Claw
and Special Guest!

ALAMO DRAFT HOUSE RITZ
(10:15PM)
Mission of Burma hosts "Not A Photograph" Screening

Also this:

EARLY WILL-CALL PICK UP INFO!

To help you easily breeze into the festival this year, we’re offering early will-call ticket pickup Wednesday, Thursday and Friday evenings this week. We’ll be conveniently located at the Club De Ville parking lot from 5pm – 11pm so come on down and grab your tickets.

If you haven’t gotten your Fun Fun Fun tickets yet, now’s the time. Come purchase tickets at the current prices during early bird pickup times ($53.61 for 1 day passes and $89.36 for weekend passes). Prices will change the day of the festival so take advantage of this great opportunity!

WHEN: Wednesday November 4th – Friday November 6th, 2009.

WHERE: Club De Ville / 900 Red River St. / Austin, TX / 78701

TIMES: 5:00 pm – 11:00 pm

TICKET PURCHASE PRICES: $53.61 for a single day ticket. $89.36 for a weekend ticket.

WHAT DO I NEED TO CLAIM MY TICKETS?: A photo identification matching the purchase or billing name.

WHAT IF I'M COMING TO BUY A TICKET?: Cash or Credit Card.
If you plan to pay by credit card please bring a valid photo identification. The name on the card must match the name on your photo ID.

Please note: We retain the right to refuse service to anyone.

Austin's KAZI Now Streaming Online!Help Save Dirty South Radio!

2009-11-05T12:45:00.003-06:00

Yo seriously this is some great news, the voice and soul of Austin - KAZI - is now streaming online!

It's been a long time coming but its finally here.

They bring so much to the city every day. Killer reggae shows, old school soul, Democracy Now, City Council stuff, and BAVU'S REVUE! The weekly show hosted by the one Bavu Blakes.

Bavu brings you soul, progressive hip-hop, funk, and basically, well lets just call it what it is, soul music from all over the diaspora. Some Latin, some whatever, it's a great mix and this dude needs to be heard far and wide.

Every Wednesday from 3-5 pm Central Time.

KAZI is also the only station in town that plays LOCAL hip-hop and r&b from the community. So yeah man, you wanna know more about Austin, the side you don't see when you just hang out on 6th Street? Tune in today!

Click here to listen now! And check out their website for the full schedule and event info and all that. KAZI has been the heart and soul of this city for many years. So happy to see this happen!

------------

OK So that's some really great news, but here's the bad news. We are at risk of losing DIRTYSOUTHRADIOONLINE.COM!

These dudes were really the first ones to bring Dirty South music to the internet "airwaves" and have been going strong for 8 years now! I remember when they started in 2001 and when DJ Hollywood came to Houston to visit my radio show, Damage Control. It was a really exciting time in internet history. I hate to see them go away. Not to mention that they have the weekly show with DJ Knowledge and Checkmate reppin' Texas to the fullest, man come on now, help these folks stay online. Its a real service to our community. Here's what DJ Hollywood just hit me with:

"Help save dirty south radio! Don't let us go off the air! We need to raise $800 dollars A.S.A.P to stay online. Here is the doantions link http://dirtysouthradio.chipin.com/we-need-2-raise-800-dollars-2-keep-servers-online Please donate $5.00, $10.00 help us stay alive and bring you good music thanks for you support."

Every label who has ever benefited from this station needs to come with it. 8 labels at $100 a piece could save one of the only true outlets for real independent down south rap music online.

WWW.DIRTYSOUTHRADIOONLINE.COM

CORRECTION TO THE POST BELOW ON FUN FUN FUN FEST

2009-11-04T21:00:00.002-06:00

I done told you I been out the loop. Seems as though Flipper has broken up and will not be on the Fun Fun Fun Fest line up and have been replaced by The Sword.

Flosstradamus is also NOT playing the festival. Whoops. I fixed the post below and wanted to add this to make sure you know. Keep the rhyming Tweets a coming!

Fun Fun Fun Fest Preview!Yeah It's This Coming Weekend!WIN TICKETS HERE AND NOW!

2009-11-01T12:17:00.012-06:00

Oh my, dare I say it? Yeah, it's really about to really go down.

And YOU can win yourself a 2 day pass to Fun Fun Fun Fest RIGHT HERE on AustinSurreal.com

I have Two 2-Day Passes to give away. I been thinking about how I should do this, if I should give away the pair or if I should just give away one to each winner. And I decided that yeah, we are gonna have 2 winners, 1 ticket a piece. If yuhave friends with good taste in music, you will have people to hang with there.

SO Without further ado, this is how we are gonna do this. I am about to board a plane from LAX to Austin right now. While I am in the air I'ma let y'all duke it out on TWITTER. That's right, Twitter. All you have to do to win these tickets is TWEET me a rhyme about FUN to www.twitter.com/pushermania

Yeah, I am @pushermania on the Tweeter and I need YOU to send me a message with your best 140 charecter rhyme about FUN. That's all, tweet me TODAY and I will decide a winner tonight.

Yeah, no science here, my favorite 2 Tweets win. I'll contact you back via Twitter and we will go from there.

And for the rest of you... GET YOUR TICKETS NOW BY CLICKING HERE. Seriously y'all, it's only $75 for the two day ticket. $75 to see this many incredible bands? Are you kidding me? That's a steal and a deal. Less than $1 per band!

Anyway I been promising you a preview post forever. Well, my home computer had a virus and I have been traveling a lot anyway and have not had the time or the mind to do anytyhing all that poignant, so below please find my picks for the festival this weekend, ALL OF THESE ACTS ARE NOT TO BE MISSED. So don't even be trippinG. I am posting YouTubes rather than rants because well a photo is worth a thousand words and a video is like what, a million?

Here's my picks in alphabetical order. Go to www.funfunfunfest.com for the schedule and all details.

Astronautalis
Space age fun fun fun hop!

Broadcast
Weirdos with attitude.

Buraka Som Sistema
The men responsible for one of my favorite albums this year. Some serious world music. Forward thinking jams that span the diaspora. We love to jam them in the car as a family, wonder what it'll be like live.

Car Stereo (Wars)
FunFunFun DJ's! (See comments section, I am obviously missing something. Saw Car Stereo (Wars) twice in varying drunken states, in a rowdy Beauty Bar, so maybe I got it all wrong.

Cedric Burnside & Lightnin' Malcolm
From their bio:
CEDRIC BURNSIDE, grandson of the legendary R.L. Burnside, son of drummer great Calvin Jackson, is widely regarded as one of the best drummers in the world. Growing up at his grandfather's side, he began touring at age 13, playing drums for "Big Daddy" on stages around the globe. Cedric was born in 1978 and raised around Holly Springs, Miss., and has been playing music all his life, developing a relentless, highly rhythmic charged style with strong hip-hop and funk influences.

Bluesman LIGHTNIN' MALCOLM is one of the leading, younger generation artists on the scene today. Born in rural Missouri, Malcolm enjoyed the freedom of country life, quickly learning to entertain himself and others around him. Growing up in a little village called Burgess in a country house next to the KCS Railroad that ran from Kansas City to New Orleans, the train has always been a theme in Malcolm's music, as well as the inspiration for the steady, insistent bass rhythms of rural dance music.

The Cool Kids
Fun fun fun outfits!

Danzig
Oh man seriously, this dude. Seriously. I was at one of the first Danzig shows, dude is quite the figure in this shit. Actually excited to see him, but also, not excited. I cannot explain the feelings I am having right now about seeing Danzig this here weekend.

Death
Punk before punk was punk, and they are black, adding more proof to the theory that whitey has indeed yes, stolen everything.

DJ Numark
One of the men behidn the decks for Jurrassic 5, and one hell of a dude on them decks.

D.R.I.
Houston's finest, real talk, before they crossed all the way over to metal, they were a raging fireball of hardcore realness. I saw 'em once at Fitzgeralds in Houston, like 1987 I guess, and MAN that shit was nuts. Saw a skinhead dive from the balcony and land face first on the floor, cuz the heshers just weren't having that skinhead shit back then.

Jesus Lizard
The band I am second most excited to see. Man they have rocked my head like 20 times live in the past, can't wait to see how it's goin' down now. One of the wildest and best live bands you will ever see.

Kid Sister
Another great homey from Chicago. Kid Sister is one unique voice in this hip-hop shit. Bringing the classic Chicago club sound to the masses. Girl can rock a show too.

King Khan & BBQ Show
Fun fun fun jams! + BBQ!

LAX
One of my favorite local acts, which is strange cuz what they do is not generally up my alley but for some reason I like how they do it and I think they have serious gumption, which goes a long way in this town.l Check em for sure especially if you are coming from out of town.

Melt Banana
See below, I'ma probably go see them in Houston as well on Monday night. I LOVE THEM FOR REAL. Like real, genuine love.

Mika Miko
Fun fun fun and SEXY JAMS.

Mission of Burma
That's when I reach for my revolver. Yeah man, that was the fuckin' jam.

Pharcyde
LEGENDARY MAN! LEGENDARY. One of the greatest hip-hop quartets EVER. Hope they are all there.

Ratatat
Man they done remixed Bun B and Devin the Dude songs. This is my shit.

Whitest Kids U Know
Not 100% sure if I am a fan of these dudes or not. Seen their show a few times and sometimes I LOL, sometimes I SMH. But I'ma go see 'em live and see what it do.

Youth Brigade
I was never a huge west coast punk fan, but I was also never against it. I had my groups of course but I really didn't sit around jammin' the BYO Records catalog all the time. I did however watch the film Another State of Mind at least 5,000 times. It was a Night Flight classic (you don't have to understand), and once I committed it to VHS, it became one of the few films that I watched over and over and over again. It chronicles a tour that Youth Brigade and Social Distrotion set out on in I guess 1981, film came out in 1982, and it pretty much laid a distinct blueprint for any punk rockers looking to set out on the road and do it the way they wanna do it.

D.I.Y. is the mantra to this day.

Check out - the Crystal Ship - marlanembutol's Channel
on YouTube - she's got ther whole film uploaded there - or go order the dvd here asap and see how you too can make a career for yourself on the road. As much as people say the music business has changed... some things on some levels remain the same.

This film inspired me to do what I do today, and Shawn Stern and Youth Brigade helped show me how much was possible with a little heart and gumption. See the band at Fun Fun Fun Fest, and see the movie Another State of Mind. K?

Anyway FunFunFunFest is like somebody cut open my heart and picked all my favorite bands and put them on one festival in a month where the weather is nice and nothing else I wanna do is really going on and well, it's pretty perfect. Please hit me pon di Tweeter and win these tickets and have some beers with me this weekend. I think I may do a FFFFest pt 2 post as well.

Also I hope to see you at the Tech N9ne show tonight! ATX STAND UP!

7 Years Later: RIP Jam Master Jay

2009-10-30T15:06:00.001-05:00

Still hard to believe...

Check out this piece I wrote on the man just days after he passed.

We miss you JAY!

Reality Rap Is Not Dead: New Video!Southbound feat. Mr. Greezo of Da C.O.D."That Ain't Right"

2009-10-30T12:58:00.002-05:00

Seriously. Directed by my man OG at Luxury Mindz. These dudes is serious and I love this song.

I say click it twice so you can see it in full form, not all squished up on this here blog.

Special Post: 1 Week Till Fun Fun Fun Fest!SPOTLIGHT ON MELT BANANA!

2009-10-30T11:52:00.004-05:00

I'm working on this whole Fun Fun Fun Fest Preview Post and plan to have it up by tomorrow, in addition to a ticket giveaway and such, but I just decided that Melt Banana deserve their own post.

This is a photo, or series of photos I took at Walter's On Washington a few years back in Houston.

Melt Banana are a band from Japan, they were championed by John Peel who once declared them his favorite band. Whether or not that has anything to do with me declaring them my favorite band of all time is irrelevant, cuz they are and it's very real. If I am in love with a band in this world, it is Melt Banana, and I will forever stay faithful.

No one does it the way they do it. It's Super Rock way past 11, and cannot be stopped. Peep the videos below, some live, one official, and some made by fans. And then do some Googling or whatever, and watch more videos, and listen to more songs and maybe go out and buy some albums and pray that one day they make a 2XL t-shirt so that I can wear it and let everybody know, just what the fuck I am talking about.

Melt Banana plays Fun Fun Fun Fest at Waterloo Park Saturday Nov. 7th at 5:15 p.m. on the Black Stage. Then on Monday Nov. 9th at Walter's on Washington in Houston. And yeah, I plan to make that trek to Houston. I feel as though, I have to. I must. They are in my state. Also probably be the last time I get to go to Walter's before they close and Washington Ave is renamed Douche Bag Lane.

This is and has been their official website for ages. http://www1.parkcity.ne.jp/mltbanan - yes I agree, they need to step their net game up just a tad.

Anyhoo, this first video is the greatest song ever written.

Melt Banana - Shield for your eyes, A Beast in the Well On Your Hand

Follow along with the lyrics:

A shield for your eyes,
a beast in the well on your hand

Catch the man beast
In the well in the hell on the back
Watch out! You've got no shield
Break up! He's got no peace
Breath deep
in the shade in the fade of the luck
Watch out! You've got no light!
No pure cell can live

Shoot the first head
Shoot the first hand
Press the "Greed".
Get the pale shield for your eyes
Shoot the third eye
Shoot the third line
Press the "Blood".
Watch out for the beam
Shoot the first head
Shoot the last tail
Press the "Risk".
Get the hale shield for your eyes
I just need to hit to kick the dead eye
Press the next eye

I can get so...
Liquid eye, Sticky eye, Tricky eye
How to fake to steal?
Your heart's got cracked!

Get the new toy, it's falling in 50 parts
Break Up! You've got no paste
Throw out! It's biting your fate like a bait like a sweet dust
You've got no hand
and no pure cell can cross

Shoot the first head
Shoot the first hand
Press the "Greed".
Get the pale shield for your eyes
Shoot the third eye
Shoot the third line
Press the "Blood".
Watch out for the beam
Shoot the first head
Shoot the last tail
Press the "Risk".
Get the hale shield for your eyes
I just hate to say to pay the dead eye
Press the next light

I can get so...
Liquid eye, Sticky eye
Tricky eye, Flashy eye
How to fake?
How to make 50 times
more eyes to get cracked?
Your hearts got plastic

Catch the man beast
in the well on your hand on your left
Wake up! You've got no fist
Look up! No peace will be seen
in your hand in the shade of your mind
Watch out! You've got no right
Your pure cell can't spark

I can get so...
Liquid eye. Sticky eye.
Tricky eye
Where to fake?
Where to make?
One step more to get my shot

Melt Banana - Lost Parts Stinging Me So Cold

Melt Banana - Cat Brain Land

Melt Banana - Sick Zip Everywhere - OFFICIAL VIDEO!

This one tight too...

Melt Banana - Shoot The Moon

Green Eyed Devil - Melt Banana

Melt Banana - Blank Page of the Blind

Melt Banana - Phantasmagoria

Ok, that's enough. I am really not even trippinG.

CMJ Panel Reviews

2009-10-28T10:59:00.002-05:00

Couple folks done wrote about the panel I was on at CMJ last week. Check it on down:

http://performermag.blogspot.com/2009/10/cmj-report-beats-and-rhymes-panel.h
tml

http://www.cmj.com/relay/?p=8392

And thanks to Fiona Bloom for sending and Amanda Macchia and Marisa Aveling for writing.

VIDEO: League of Extraordinary G'z live at Flamingo Cantina!

2009-10-27T22:24:00.002-05:00

Via sonnyfromda02

D tha Sandman, Lowkey, SB the Bully, Reggie Coby, Lil J, S. Dot, Tuk, #FREEGREEZO

Like that? Tomorrow, Wednesday Oct. 28 at 2 p.m. Central Time, Check out the new video from Southbound, featuring Mr. Greezo of Da C.O.D. "That Ain't Right."

Visit www.ThatAintRightVideo.com

Tweet this all night and all day tomorrow:

@Lowkey512 Wrote:
BREAKING NEWS: Brand new SOUTHBOUND video directed by @LuxuryMindz will debut @ www.ThatAintRightVideo.com this Wed - 10/28 - 2pm

Please? Thank You.

CMJ Last Week! WOW!

2009-10-27T14:35:00.004-05:00

Forgive me for being so slack on the blog as of late. My home computer has some sort of a virus that killed my Malwarebytes program and won't even let me open any websites that have to do with removing spyware and malware. I have my AVG running all the time and it still got me. No idea where it came from but yeah I am about to have to wipe the whole thing. And I am not the organized type that keeps Program discs around. UGH, yeah anyway that's not what you came here to read.

Last week I went up ta New York City for the 29th Annual CMJ Music Marathon and what a whirlwind week it was! SXSW hosted a party, I was on a panel, Invincible did 2 1/2 shows, I saw a lot of bands, drank a decent number of these:

And stayed with our good friends Josh and Liz

in Crown Heights. And yeah they took me to a Beer Garden in Brooklyn to start things off.

Anyway here's some pics and a slight run down.

Senor Kaos from Atlanta was the first artist I saw upon arrival in NY. This is my homey and I didn't even know he was on this show. Was real nice to see the man!

Homeboy Sandman joined him on stage.

As did Von Pea of Tanya Morgan

Homeboy Sandman, Senor Kaos, Von Pea

Cool thing about this show, was it was at Public Assembly in Brooklyn, which is a double venue. So while Invincible, Senor Kaos, DJ Spinna and more rocked in one room, a whole cadre of dope female MC's and DJ's were in the other room. I don't know everyone's names but what I saw was pretty dope.

Zarinah, from Philly, done killed it for real!

But I mean my highlight of course was seeing Invincible on stage with Waajeed of Platinum Pied Pipers, MAYNE HOLD UP! I couldn't ask for much more.

And they rocked the hell out of this show, as evidenced by this piece in the Village Voice Online.

Anyway yeah it was dope.

This woman - Kalae Guevara - and her band were off the chain.

Live painting and such...

So yeah it really went down.

Saw this en route to the next spot on a garage door!

Anyway, I shoulda taken more pics I know, I know. But this is a good one.

DJ CROP DIGGIE ON A ROOF!

And Puja

Wednesday night SXSW hosted a mixer of sorts for our industry friends and it was really nice. Great folks all around. We are also hosting mixers in Los Angeles on Tuesday Nov. 3rd and in Chicago on Tuesday Nov. 10th. I'd love to see you there. Holler at me if you wanna come thru!

Crystal Lee with my man Patrick and the band Francis from Sweden!

Hugh Forrest Director of SXSW Interactive!

Brent Grulke, Jill Bostur (right) and friends

Joshua Asen, director of I Love Hip-Hop In Morrocco, Luann Willams

My boy Leroy, Crystal Lee and friend.

Andy Flynn and Friend

Lynda Pyle with MC Frontalot and Euclides Pereyra

Tierney Stout

Puja, Friend, Melanie Turner

Then we hit up Peter Rosenberg's Noisemakers event with Talib Kweli and J. Period. Could we possibly see a special Noisemakers event at SXSW 2010?

Peter Rosenberg, Talib Kweli

This band played during the intermission, was killer.

And my man Daru Jones rocking the fresh N. Brown Clothing T-Shirt. (That I just so happened to be wearing as well that night!)

Then we headed over to another spot to see Bilal and Shafiq Husein. Shafiq's En Af Reka is my favorite album of the moment, I can't stop jamming it, butthis particular show, I don't know. Sound was really bad. Like I saw backing vocalists singing and did not hear a word they sang! Was way off, but I mean, whatever, the album is killer and I know they will get it together.

The women responsible for my favorite song and video of this year - Invincible and Tiombe Lockhart!

So nice to finally meet Tiombe! WHAT A VOICE!

THEN I was on a panel pertaining to International Hip-Hop thanks to Fiona Bloom! I hope to get the audio from this soon. Was really dope, lots of insights and such. Thanks Fiona and nice to meet you MC Melodee, Dalton Higgins and Magee McIlvaine!

I took this one so no I am not in it, yeah but it went down.

THEN! Hit up the Spectre/Foundation DJ Mixer at Von and man, yeah, saw all my good folks!

From all over the place.

DJ 11, Jessica Weber, Kunal Merchant. If you haven't heard Kunal's remix of Jay Z's American Gangster - HINDUSTANI GANGSTER - click here to DL now cuz it is amazing. Rattles the trunk and such. So dope!

Our panel manager Angela came with us to the party, seen here with my girl Quinn from Montreal/Brazil!

Me and DJ Crop Diggie used to live in Brooklyn together, this was in 1994. Spent more time with him this past week than we have in the past year. Real cool man!

Edan played mostly psych rock, which I didn't mind.

Me and JERN EYE!

Jessica, Me and my wife Melissa

Protege and friend

Then after that we went by the crib of the legendary DANTE ROSS. Y'all need to be familiar with this man. he had his hands on a lot of the best hip-hop from the 90's and beyond. Dude has worked with everyone and is a big man on the scene for real. He laced me with the new Bobitto Pro Keds even. And we had dinner at Lil Frankies, work to J Dirrt thats my SPOT!

Saturday was the DJ Hero event. Rain couldn't stop it man, shit was throwed.

J. Period killed it but I missed Z-Trip

Fab 5 Freddy in the spot!

As well as DJ Vlad

My man Paul Stewart with DJ Smiles Davis and Tamir Brown.

Then walked in the rain to see this band from Sweden, Francis, who were pretty killer. Look out for the m in 2010 for sure.

Then later that evening we went to my friend Astra's apartment and were joined by DJ ayres and his lovely wife Veronika and the wonderful baby NINA! So glad to finally meet you Nina.

Camera battery died at this point. Phone died way before that. So we sat in Astra's apt and listened to Funkmaster Flex on Hot 97. I have to say that it was the most disappointing radio show I have ever heard in my life. Here it was Saturday night in the Big Apple and the ONLY New York rapper, in fact only east coast rapper I heard on the radio was Jay Z. The rest was ALL Gucci Man, OJ da Juiceman, Lil Jon, Lil Wayne, I mean seriously, it was ALL Atlanta/SE raps. I don't mind any of those artists, but man, I was in New York, it was Saturday night, I was listening to Funkmaster Flex on Hot 97 and I heard nothing but this shit? Are you fuckin' kidding me? People kept telling me that NY fell off musically, and I never believed them...

And I still don't. New York is still a dynamic city, but like every other city in the world, they have allowed their radio waves to be destroyed by corporate fools who are only out to destroy us.

O.K. I'll stop before I spazz out and write something that I regret or that could put my career in jeopardy. Seriously, tho, I am extremely mad about this shit. I thought AT LEAST New York could hold itself down, but alas, no.

Rappers, think about that shit next time you complain about your local radio station not playing any local/independent artists. They don't even do that shit in New York and its a fucking travesty.

I Still Miss John Peel

2009-10-26T07:58:00.003-05:00

Five years ago this past Saturday, the world lost one of the finest men to ever touch the music game. (I was in New York at CMJ with no internet access as I walked in the rain, so I am two days, late, forgive me John, please).

I've lamented his death before here on AustinSurreal and back on HoustonSoReal of course. He was a radio DJ in England (who actually got his start in radio in Dallas) who played all forms of music and championed many, many underdogs. I'm not going to go way into it here cuz alas, I have to go to work, but facy is, if I have a hero in this world, it was him. Dude put it down like no one else and he will never be replaced.

I mean listen to the radio the world over, there's no one even close.

Check some of these links if you want to know more and I'll be back here later tonight with a full report from CMJ.

John Peel Wikipedia

John Peel on Radio 1

Search John Peel on YouTube if you want to learn what it really takes to keep it real (peel) in the music business.

MOJOE live from Austin on Reality Bites!

2009-10-19T11:40:00.001-05:00

Yep this is Crew 54's new video thang thang! Super dope, just like the 54 Reality Show. These dudes put in A LOT of work for this scene!

This is by no means a complete CMJ Listing

2009-10-18T20:26:00.005-05:00

But it's some stuff that has caught my eye tonight. I'll post more info in the days to come as it comes across my face. But yeah man it's goin' down! CMJ Week is upon us! Here's a few events I'ma try to hit up.

Tuesday Oct. 20th

8 p.m. - papercranes - Living Room, Michael Olatuja - DROM
10:45 p.m. - David Dallas - Red Bull Space
11:00 p.m. - Wiz Khalifa - Southpaw
11:40 p.m. - Puba - Southpaw

and

Wednesday Oct. 21st

8:35 p.m. - Pac Div - DROM
10:30 p.m. - Azeem - The ROse
11 p.m. - The Very Best - Le Pousouine ROuge
11:30 p.m. - Miz Metro - DROM
12 a.m. - David Dallas - The Rose

and

Thursday Oct. 22nd

3:30 – 4:45 p.m. Across Cultures: Beats And Rhymes Worldwide
NYU Kimmel Center, 8th Floor, Shorin, Room 802
This panel explores international hip-hop and picks apart the nuances, subtleties, obstacles, language barriers, cultural innuendos that affect its success in the U.S. market. Panelists will also discuss the flipside of how U.S. hip-hop is heard globally. (I'm on this, more info in a seperate post)

7:20 p.m. - PRGz - S.O.B.'s
7:50 p.m. - Freddie Gibbs - S.O.B.'s
8:15 p.m. - Pill - S.O.B.'s
9 p.m. - Grand Analog - Arlene's Grocery
9 p.m. - Jern Eye - Southpaw
10 p.m. - Finale - Southpaw

and

On Thursday, October 22nd, 2009, many of the World's top battle DJs, turntablists and party rockers will gather on the wheels of steel at BB King Blues Club 237 West 42nd St in Times Square, New York City to celebrate the life and legacy of the late Grand Master Roc Raida!

The Grand Master Roc Raida Tribute at the Tableturns Reunionwill bring together many of the biggest names and crews in the art form of Turntablism including Raida's fellow crew members from the X-Men and the X-ecutioners; fellow World DJ battle champions: Craze, A-Trak, DJ Shiftee plus DJ Scratch, DJ Dummy, DJ I-Dee, The Beat Junkies: Babu, J.Rocc, Shortkut and Rhettmatic; DJ Slyce, Roli Rho, DJ Z-Trip and a very special performance by MC legends: D.I.T.C.! Tickets are $20 in advance at Fat Beats NYC, the BB King Box Office and through ticketmaster, $25 at the door. Doors open at 10:30pm. The show begins at 11:15pm! 100% of the show's proceeds will go to his wife and children.

Tableturns, founded by Doug "Sugarcuts" Cohen, was the World's first open turntable event. It occurred monthly from March, 1997 through March, 1999 at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe in New York City. Not only did it markedly boost the skill level of DJs across the tri-state area, it became an institution!

Since Roc Raida's unexpected passing on Sept. 19th, 2009, at the peak of his career (the 1995 DMC World Champion was DJing for Busta Rhymes) famous friends across the world have organized fundraiser/tributes for his wife and children. The outpouring of sympathy and love has been tremendous! The event on Oct. 22nd will be followed by another star studded fundraiser in NYC on Nov. 25th at Nokia Theater (more info tba). His wife and daughters have also announced that they will continue the very special DJ battle that he created and organized since 2006: Roc Raida's Gong DJ Battle!

Friends who wish to organize a tribute/fundraiser should respectfully seek permission first, from his family, by writing to roc4raida@gmail.com. Friends who want to make a donation can log on to paypal.com and direct funds to the address: ladietye@yahoo.com. Please support a fundraiser near you and stay posted to myspace.com/rocraida for any and all official information released by his family.

Friday October 23rd

8:15 p.m. - Fat Tony - Bowery Poetry Club
11:30 p.m. - The Foreign Exchange with Yazarah
12 a.m. - Bird Peterson - Webster Hall

Saturday Oct. 24th

OMG...

Mayer Hawthorne, Buff 1 & 14kt and MOJOELast Week - REALLY WENT DOWN!

2009-10-18T18:02:00.003-05:00

Man, a week late on this one here. I just haven't had time to sit and resize and blah blah blah blah, I'm gonna try to get some CMJ events up here on the blog tonight as well so check back if you'll be in NYC this week and holler if you wanna link up.

Anyway yeah man, Mojoe went on first last Saturday at Red 7 and straight killed it.

Soulful Texas Hip-Hop Is Not Dead!

Real talk man, an AustinSurreal favorite, from San Antonio - MOJOE!

Friend, X-Man, G-Christ and Nick Nack!

EZ Lee mayne!

Mos of Crew 54 and Bavu Blakes

Tre of MOJOE!

Dirty Genes is out now!

Buff 1 came out and really killed it as well. I am telling you man, this kid has charizma. Michigan is like, seriously producing some of the most engaging MC's in the game right now.

And has been for many years, as you know. I first met Buff 1, and well, Mayer Hawthorne, aka DJ Haircut back in January of 2002. I was in Detroit shooting photos for a piece David Friedman had written for Murder Dog Magazine. I shot photos of literally 40 groups over 3 days. It never got above 10 degrees F. And I shot everything in the streets. One of the last seesions I did was with the Athletic Mic League. I'll never forget it, like 7 or 8 super young dudes showed up. I was a Texan on his third day of freezing for ten hours outside literally. They gave me a CD, I popped it in on the way to the airport. And I was a fan.

I actually didn't realize it was the same people though when I got hipped to Buff 1 and Now On thru Mary Choi and Stephanie at A-Side Recordings.

Anyway yeah, Buff 1 and 14kt, quite a show!

And Mayer just won heart after heart after heart. For real.

A true showman.

Had the people TRIPPIN'!

So yeah that shit really went down.

Then Monday night I was out in Houston and decided to swing by The Flat before heading back to Austin. MAN HOLD UP! This is my favorite club night in Texas. Monday nights at The Flat it really goes down. Cool ass crowd, music is always something perfect, drinks are great - wish I could have stayed longer. Houston is still SoReal. I miss that town!

Chicken George was up in there killin' it in celebration of Fela Kuti's birthday!

Crowd just poppin'.

Bobby Boswell of the WORLD CHAMPION HOUSTON DYNAMOS with DJ Sun, curator of this fine night for many years. Seriously, Sun has DOMINATED Monday nights in Houston for like 10 years easily.

And there he is and there you have it, I'ma try to make heads or tails of what this CMJ week is about to look like! Can't wait!

Also, speaking of San Antonio. Listen to this NPR piece on RAM from San Antonio. A true Texas Music Legend!

Jesus Lizard on the Major Networks#funfunfunfestpreview

2009-10-16T10:17:00.003-05:00

Thanks to my boy Pete Stadtmueller and www.punknews.org for the heads up on this. Getting excited now.

And yo this weekend I'ma try to do a proper Fun Fun Fun Fest preview like how I did last year so y'all know how much it is really goin' down. I just got the after party list and yeah, I'ma be seeing Negative Approach up in the Red 7, are you?

Though I have to admit I was hoping for a Melt Banana DJ set and a Conversation with Glenn Danzig interviewed by Rad Richard on the Mohawk stage or something but oh well I SHOULDA BEEN MORE PROACTIVE!

It's really fuckin' goin' down tho.

Deuce Poppi - My White Friends

2009-10-15T11:22:00.002-05:00

Man I don't usually post things from outside my region, and funny raps usually aren't my favorite thing in the world. But this man Deuce Poppi done did the damn thang for real.

He is one of the funniest people I have ever met in my hip-hop travels. Funny haha, not funny as in "funny." Dude is genuinely hilarious. He has a wry wit that just does not stop. I met him back in 2002 when I was in Miami for Murder Dog, I spent like 5 days there and he pretty much rolled with us for a good amount of the time. Dude cracked me up, and I think also scored me a couple nickle bags. Ha. But yeah man, I remember having a "white friends" talk way back then, and I honestly thought he was about to blow. Always had hope cuz dude is talented and pretty genuine man.

And has a worldly vision beyond a lot of the folks I have met.

I need to get my Miami photos from Murder Dog cuz the ones I took of him were classic. Mainly the ones we took in a backyard by a swamp with some guns. Shit was crazy, I need those photos. I hope this is the song that puts him over the top. Is this something urban radio will play?

I stood up and applauded at the end of this video, watch it and lemme know what you think. He takes it THERE. Doing his own stunts and such. Ha.