Considering the lightning speed with which our society moves, I am noticing that, oddly, more and more of information is left to the inconsistencies of that most ancient of phenomena: passing along information through the oral tradition. To wit, we have at our disposal all this massive technology at our disposal that allows us to discover new musical artists. Through the years as someone with a broadcasting platform that entitled me to engage in discussions with promo reps from the music industry, I would count on those conversations for most of my information. Not the least of which is how to pronounce an artist’s name. But as more and more of those conversations now happen over email (or in the age of downsizing…not at all). I can’t tell you how long I have the pronunciation of Mum (moom) wrong. And I am still not sure if I’ve got Lykke Li right (it sounds like a great name for an Asian porn star). Actually, I just hopped over to this little thing called Wikipedia, which solves the aforementioned Lykke Li quandary: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lykke_Li which I guess pretty much renders the preceding paragraph suspect at best.
Speaking of Lykke Li, she’ll be in town at Antone’s on February 19. I strongly suggest that you get your tickets now if you wanna go (and whether you know it or not, you DO want to go). Fujiya and Miyagi is another show that will probably sell out in advance. That’s at February 27 Emo’s. Andrew Bird is playing February 12th at the Paramount. Meiko is opening up for Joshua Radin Monday February 9th at The Parish.
Chillville is presenting the Submarines show at Emo’s a week from Tuesday (Feb 3). Their song “Peace and Hate” is one of my all-time favorite Chillville songs.
It was announced this week that Morrissey is coming back to town. He’ll be at the Bass Concert Hall on April 12th. I guess it goes without saying that there are more Mozzer/Smiths fans in Austin than Bass can accommodate. Tickets are $39.50 and $49.50 depending on how intimate you want to find yourself that night (and by now it’s common knowledge…the more Moz ignores you, the closer you should get.
All the television networks seem to be coming out of hibernation. I’m enjoying new episodes of Lost, Battlestar Galactica, Big Love and, of course, Flight Of The Conchords. My favorite “new” show is the United States Of Tara, starring Toni Collette and John Corbin and penned by screenwriter phenom Diablo Cody (Juno). That said, I think I am mainly going to rely on complete season DVD collections to do most of my TV watching moving forward. Everyone keeps telling me that I would really enjoy this show Breaking Bad, but I don’t want to get to the point where I am watching 30 hours of TV a week (which, sadly, would still put me below the average for Americans).
Oscar noms came out this week. I’ve seen most of the major films. Took in Milk this week (Mrs. Raydog liked it more than me…she says it’s a no brainer that Sean Penn should trump Mickey Roarke for Best Actor) and The Reader (and frankly I am sort of amazed that Kate Winslett grabbed a nomination for this instead of Revolutionary Road). I still need to see Benjamin Button, Frost/Nixon, Rachel Getting Married and a couple of others.