Too broke to go to Austin? Can’t get out of work? Hate dealing with traffic and large crowds? Maybe just too lazy to release yourself from the couch’s sweet sweet embrace? Have we got good news for you! Couch By Couchwest is the online music festival that takes place the same week as that other (couch deficient) music festival you may have heard of, you know the one.
Musicians: Please upload your unique to CXCW 2012 video (i.e. for the CXCW festival) to YouTube or Vimeo and send the link to us via the below form or to cxcwest at gmail dot com.
Those in the crowd: we want to see how you spend the CXCW festival! Send us pics of your CXCW festivities, taco and nacho recipes, haikus, lazy dogs and cats, avant garde performance art, etc… via twitter, facebook or email (cxcwest at gmail dot com)!
A few of my favorite videos and photos from CXCW 2011:
Adam Remnant of Southeast Engine from Athens, Ohio, performs the old-time song "Cripple Creek."
Max in Italy says: "joining the party from Italy #CXCW not #SXSW" Is there anything sweeter than singing to your baby? Unlike SXSW, children and pets are allowed at CXCW.
Matt Woods of Knoxville, Tennessee, does an original song called "Deuces."
Haley and friend from Denver,Colorado, doing some serious CXCW-ing.
Damn. You know you are getting old when your teenage crushes start passing away. I was totally into The Monkees in the mid-80s revival aired by MTV. I listened to their music endlessly on my Sony Walkman cassette player. Gawd was I cool. Singer Davy Jones passed away today at age 66 from a massive heart attack. Say what you will about the cheesiness of the Monkees television show, their pop songs were pure gold. Plus, they had great songwriters like Neil Diamond and Carole King pen some of their early work.
Is there anyone cooler than Chuck Prophet? OK, maybe Tom Waits, Paul Westerberg, and a few others, but he's easily in the Top 10 of rock star cool. And he consistently releases killer, albeit under-appreciated, rock albums. His latest release Temple Beautiful is no different. Prophet's twelfth studio album since the breakup of Green on Red in 1990 is an homage to his home town of San Francisco. Prophet said (from his label, Yep Roc), "The record's an unsentimental (though loving) tour of San Francisco. Made in San Francisco by San Franciscans about San Francisco. My effort to tap into the history, the weirdness, the energy and spontaneity that brought me here in the first place." The title track comes from a now defunct San Francisco punk club. You can guess by the title "Willie Mays Is Up At Bat" that the song is about the baseball Giants. Check out the video for "White Night Big City" below:
A description of the video from Prophet's label, Yep Roc:
The video is a tribute to San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone, who were assassinated in City Hall by ex-Supervisor Dan White, on November 27, 1978. The White Night Riots erupted when White's conviction was announced. Instead of first degree murder, he was found guilty of voluntary manslaughter. And if that gets a little heavy for you, try to spot Chuck dressed up as a cheesy, seventies-era newscaster and bartender.
"San Francisco. It's a great place to come and wave your freak flag or whatever you want to call it. It can suck you under. That first hit. It really does a whammy to you. And if you're like me you can find yourself chasing the San Francisco dragon for the rest of your life. That's what the record is about," Prophet concludes. This album is a really solid rock and roll album, which I highly recommend that you listen to (it's on Spotify). His upcoming tour dates are mostly in the western US and Europe. I am guessing that he will have more North American dates this summer.
Here's a fun article from the SF Weekly blog where Prophet, in celebration of the release of Temple Beautiful, takes a bunch of fans on a bus tour of San Francisco, followed by him and some guests playing the new album at a release party.
Sure....the one night that I don't watch Saturday Night Live is the one night where they rip on every bit of music pop culture. No one is safe in this skit: hip-hop, pop, country, alternative rock, and celebrity in general all get skewered.
As my friend @curtsgianthead once said, "When you're hot you're hot, and when you're not you spend a lot of evenings on the internets." So I was at my computer last night, watching my twitter feed out of the corner of my eyeball, and saw Justin Vernon, Mr. Bon Iver himself, tweet some gold.
@blobtower: holy shit, i was just watching SNL and JT did a Bon Iver hilarious thing! Also, Maya Rudolph saying "bon iver" is enough. I can die now!!!
@blobtower: JT! SNL peeps… that was hilarious. Armisen as Prince… Also, i WISH i looked that good bald. That was it… the most surreal thing! ever!
@blobtower: my texts is blowin' up!!!
@blobtower: JT was playing that guitar part well! I was red-face-embarrassed but laughing my ass off the whole time! I'm by myself out here people! #!
@blobtower: to all the folks racing to our defense right now…i assure you… ITS ALL GOOD! #NobodyBeatUsUp #IsToTakeOurLivesLessSeriously #LaughingIsGood
"@TaylorFails: @blobtower I never thought I would hear so many people on television pronounce Bon Iver correctly." THAT WAS THE SHIT!
At the end of the show Timberlake held up a sign that said, "I <3 Bon Iver."
Imagine just hanging out on a Saturday night, watching a little TV, when all of a sudden Maya Rudolph, Jay Pharoah, and Justin Timberlake start making fun of you on live national television. Awesome! My favorite line, "Oh no. Bon Iver just put himself to sleep." That's something that I would say!
I have to admit that I am not crazy about Mr. Vernon's music, but after seeing him be so genuine and humble during his Grammy speech (not to mention a shout out to my home state of Wisconsin!), and take the SNL ribbing in stride (seriously, how cool is it to be made fun of by Justin freakin' Timberlake?), I kind of like the guy. I want to share a few Leinenkugel's with him.
