Back in contact.

Yes, I'm alive, and blogging about what I can manage to blog about ...


My top 13 must-sees if I were going to SXSW (in alphabetical order):

Airlane: Who knew there was a Gary Numan tribute band? Back in my techno-emo days I spent much time pondering: Are friends electric?

Body of War: Kimya Dawson's in it, which is all I know and all I need to know. Who's got the crack?

Sera Cahoone: Her first release is one of my favorite driving CDs ... an ethereally folksy voice, sadly complacent in her lulling.

Cockcleaner: List says they're punk. I just like the name. (May substitute Gangbang or The Dicks)

Alejandro Escavedo: Got to see him do the last song of his last set at Antone's last fall. A master songwriter.

The Evangelicals: Like a poppier M. Ward (see below).

Christine Fellows: If anyone makes an overdramatized movie version of my life, "Souvenirs" should be the music that swells over the montage scene just before the anticlimactic end.

Janeane Garofalo: She's listed under the genre "chanteuse." The iTunes store offers no proof. But I'd go just to hear her recite her grocery list. Do you think she has a grocery list? Does Janene do her own shopping? Know what -- I bet she does.

Dawn Landes: So I like folksy, yearny, singer-songwriter chicks. Sue me.

Carolyn Mark: She once partnered with Neko Case as The Corn Sisters. Her song "Not Another Other Woman" cracks me up.

The Sadies: Another former Neko collaborator. Think they were her backing band for her cover of Loretta Lynn's "Rated X," which is in my list of Top 10 Songs I Karaoke in the Privacy of My Own Home, Complete With Choreography And Costume Changes All Worked Out In My Head)

She and Him: Zooey Deschanel with M. Ward. Her floaty voice surprisingly substantial, and a great match for his lush orchestration

Yo La Tengo: They're amazingly diverse ... each CD so different from the last. 

Not on the list:

Eagle Seagull: 'Cuz we're lucky enough to be able to see them right here at home.

Tilly and the Wall: Ditto. (Though seeing them at Sokol last summer, surrounded by, oh, I'd guess 13- to 14-year-olds, made me feel Too Damn Old To Do This Shit Anymore.) 

Tia Carerra: Seeing her on the list summoned up that old "Sesame Street" song: "One of these things is not like the other ... which one doesn't belong?"

Sigh ... but you know, despite your friendly hometown newspaper dropping a load of money to send a certain over-the-hill reporter to Austin each year to cover this showcase for new bands, all we'll be fed in GZ is REM and Van Morrison and whatever other aging rockers Le K. can still manage to identify with. (See last year's story on Iggy Pop, 30-some years too late.) Bonus points if L.K. passed said rockers in a hotel lobby once so he can wax on and on about how they're such good ol' friends ...

And, if I hadn't publicly committed myself to buying no new music for two months, these would be mine:

Goldfrapp: I like the new CD, "Seventh Heaven," but think I need "Supernature" more.

She and Him: Volume One. Hm, think maybe it's not out yet, so I'm not yet missing out.

Can I cheat, just a little, and get these in time for the family roadtrip to Lake of the Ozarks at month's end? Think the folks would mind if I popped these in their CD player? You know, in between the barbershop and the Basie???