Culture Greyhound

Anyone who’s followed the blog/my life knows I’m a big fan of lists/countdowns/theme mixes, so it should come as no shock to most that I’m in love with the list mashup phenom Girl Talk (aka Greg Gillis) has shared in celebration of the beginning of summer 2011.  Speaking with Vulture (where you can find the entire list and accompanying YouTube videos), Gillis explains the overall feel of the mix and its rise-and-chill vibe, an argument I’m inclined to agree with:

“Over half of these songs you would like to party to, and the other half are songs you relax to. That’s the essence of summertime– you can be sitting around drinking beer outside or you can be up celebrating.”

Peep the list here.  Let the summer begin.

Probably more than any other election, your vote as a responsible Austinite for the three city council places up for grabs really does count.  Apparently hardly anyone votes in it, which is a shame, because we all are affected by the decisions these people make, from our taxes, to our zoning, to parking meters issues, etc.

As with every citizen, I find particular issues to be of more importance than others, but I feel it is vital for Austinites to pick the candidates of their choice and get out there this Saturday, May 14th, and vote!  Go here for voting info, including the candidates in each Place, and your particular polling location.

I live in East Austin, walking distance from downtown, and as most twentysomethings in Austin like to do, I enjoy taking in the essence of the Live Music Capital of the World.  I feel the current city council hasn’t done enough to protect the unique identity of Austin, its culture, and its entrepreneurial spirit, the reasons I chose to move here.  I am concerned the new parking meter weekend regulations will affect the downtown scene, and I feel more creative ideas can be kicked around to help deal with traffic congestion other than the expensive, archaic light rail plan currently being talked about.

I am for a single member district in Austin, and, most importantly, I am for city council members responsibly finding a balance with music venues and residents, so we can continue to have a thriving, vibrant music community.  Supporting artists and musicians is a high priority, as well as dealing with noise ordinance issues that could hurt the spirit and hipness of Austin.  I am for proper zoning that helps, not hurts, the bars and venues that make Austin awesome.

Finally, I want city council members to find ways to curtail the trend of the skyrocketing cost of living in the city, which has become frankly ridiculous, and has caused an unprecedented amount of gentrification on the East and South sides, while high-dollar development condo projects continue to be built downtown at unreasonably high rental rates.  I fear if we don’t elect new blood to the city council, Austin will slowly become what I fear the most – just another Texas city like Houston or, even worse, Dallas.

So, without more ado, here are my picks for Saturday’s election.  I encourage you to find your picks, or, even better, just go cast your vote for mine. 🙂

Place 1: Josiah Ingalls

Ingalls is running on a platform of “more transparency” in our local government, which I’m all for, as this has become an issue recently due to some discovered “closed-door meetings” that took place. While I don’t necessarily consider myself a “fiscal conservative,” per se, I do approve of a candidate that takes into account the need to round up spending on projects that the community doesn’t really care about, and Ingalls declares his passion for this more straightforwardly than the other candidates in this Place.

Place 3: Max Nofziger

Always great to see an Austin musician supporting the rights of his fellow artists, and fighting for their voice in this unique city. Cutting the budget is Max’s top priority, and he’s got some creative ideas for making Austin the Electric Vehicle Capital of the World, as well as a frontrunner on solar energy use. He’s got years of experience on getting our local economy and budget under control, and he firmly supports a single member district for better representation for Austinites. And as a bonus, he’s got the most badass moustache in town.

Place 4: Toby Ryan

Far and away my favorite candidate, Toby Ryan has no political background and doesn’t really want one. He’s a DJ at 101X, which is obviously a plus for a radio guy like me, and he wants to represent the people that actually make Austin what it is – the people in the service industries, the artists, and the thriving, but lately neglected, music scene. He has attended zero city council debates for this election, because he feels (rightly so) that it’s unnecessary if you want to work for the people who don’t vote, the other 90% of the city. He’s running on a platform to protect the interests of Austin music, and fighting the ridiculous sound ordinances and zoning issues that have come up recently because of incumbent Laura Morrison. More than any other candidate, Ryan is working to keep Austin’s unique identity, to keep us from becoming a boring hot Texas town, to Save Austin Music, and to bring a little common sense to City Hall.

Read a Q&A with Toby here.

SNL hiphop trio the Lonely Island haven’t exactly hit gold yet with the leaked tracks from their upcoming sophomore release Turtleneck and Chain (the title track featuring Snoop Dogg has been the best, though the joke grows stale by the second verse). Where, you might be wondering, are the “I’m On a Boat”s or the “Jizz In My Pants”s or even the “Dick In a Box”s?

Well, never fear – Samberg and Co. haven’t lost their touch, especially when recruiting pop icon Michael Bolton. This one’s funny for sure, and it features one of Bolton’s trademark “big, sexy hooks.”

The Obama Administration has (wisely) decided not to release a photo of the body of Osama Bin Laden.

A slew of artists came together for a badass upcoming tribute album to Buddy Holly. Listen to the Black Keys’ contribution here.

In what will hopefully be a shakedown to reform for college football, the Justice Department is demanding the NCAA explain the good of the BCS system.

Anyone that knows me knows I am a man of impeccable taste and opinion. Also: humble. So when many things all at once are on my mind, and the 140-character beauty of Twitter just isn’t doing it for me, I will take to the blog to sing my praises and wag my finger.

Rant: Austin City Limits Music Festival

I have ranted about this fest before. Major fests just aren’t my bag for a number of reasons. However, correct me if I’m wrong, but does any other major fest sell out three-day passes (or for that matter, even have them on sale) before the official lineup is announced? Probably more than any other fest, ACL seems to have a loyal gathering of people who decide they’re going every year, even before they find out the horrible, dreadful, increasingly worse list of bands playing. Or maybe C3 just doesn’t have a clue what they’re doing in regards to scalpers. I mean, if I really wanted to go to ACL, I could find tickets in Austin pretty easily via Craigslist/word of mouth. But it’s a matter of principle, and convenience, to buy them directly from the festival itself.

Rant: Who Gets Credit for Killing Osama Bin Laden?

It didn’t even take 12 hours for the Beltway and nonstop news cycle to ask the question: who gets credit for the execution of Bin Laden? And now, two days after Obama’s prime time announcement Sunday, they won’t shut up about it. MSNBC’s drinking the Obama Kool-Aid, and Fox News makes sure to mention every five minutes they think the Bush administration deserves a lot of kudos for this (they actually do deserve credit for the initial launch of the intelligence mission, though it was Obama who made it his #1 national security priority, and, of course, he was the President to sign off on the raid and watch it via a live video feed). And then there’s CNN, who are amping up the “retaliation” speculation, as they are wont to do in order to boost their god-awful ratings. How about we just wave our flags and chant a little more? This is a win not for Obama, or Bush, but for our entire country. You know who deserves the MOST credit for killing Osama? The heroes that did it.

Rave: Z-Trip Beastie Boys Mega-Mix

A career spanning mix of new and old Beastie tracks, from one of the best mashup artists out there. Check it.

The New Yorker – Obama and Osama

The New Yorker – Notes of the Death of Osama bin Laden

Huffington Post – Curtains For bin Laden’s Freak Show

The Onion AV Club Review – The Office: “Goodbye Michael”

Slate – Steve Carell’s Achievement

Rolling Stone – Steve Carell Has Left the Building

Today, Transmission Entertainment announced they are moving Fun Fun Fun Fest, after five awesome years, from Waterloo Park to Auditorium Shores. I am not crazy thrilled about the move, frankly, and it isn’t because this past year I could walk to the park from my Central East Austin home (the walk will obviously be much farther this time around). No my complaint is intimacy. I don’t blame Transmission for wanting to earn more greenbacks; hell, a festival is a giant endeavor to partake. I really doubt the fest has turned a profit, even with a sold-out crowd last year. So selling more tickets (Waterloo Park’s full after 10,000 – Auditorium Shores can hold 30,000) will probably help turn the event out of the red.

And kudos to the FFF organizers for realizing the fest is growing and actually dealing with that. ACL is an overcrowded mess at Zilker Park, and will continue to be so until C3 does something about it. Auditorium Shores can accomodate for this smaller scale festival well.

But increased attendance is the problem. When I watched the Strokes play the Shores during SXSW, it was not an intimate experience. Simply put, there were too many fucking people there. And if that’s what Fun Fun Fun Fest is going to be like now, I’m afraid the festival’s best days are behind it. We all loved FFF because of a stellar lineup that we could actually see….we could get up close and watch the band and dance and hear the music, we could have quick access to bathroom facilities without walking a mile and a half. We could quickly grab a beer and get back to the show without falling over dickheads in patio chairs.

So I ask Transmission – is the new location gonna kill the Fun Fun Fun vibe? The fest I remember wasn’t even a smaller scale ACL (which is basically what a show at the Shores is like), it was an intimate experience with awesome bands on a completely different level. It was a stroll away from the afterparties on Red River. It was incredible. The Strokes show was fun, yeah, but, like ACL, I felt like I should have showed up an hour earlier if I wanted to actually see it without looking at the big screen. And if there’s a big screen, that means there’s likely little intimacy.

I’m not saying I won’t go. I go every year, and I’m curious to see what changes will be made in light of this location change. I’m just saying I’m not expecting much….and depending on how it goes this time around, this may be my last year at Fun Fun Fun. Maybe by then the Waller Creek Project will be taken care of and another fest can start up in Waterloo, where the real fun fun fun is.

And who knows? Maybe once November comes and goes, I will be eating these words/this post. I certainly hope so.

Today is They Might Be Giants Awareness Day! If you don’t know who They Might Be Giants are, a couple of things:

1) They are one of the most aweseomest bands on the planet.
2) Where have you been, dude? They’ve been around since, like, the early ’80s!

So anyway, get educated! Stream the new Join Us EP over at Spinner, and peep the videos below. And if you know about TMBG, spread the word! Today’s the day!
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This is the new album cover. There are no words.