[Dixielandjazz] Where is the Music Going? SXSW?

Thu Mar 15 21:41:32 PDT 2007

Hi Dan and all:

There is a perfectly good albeit unpopular reason that there is not an 
OKO(M band in that group of winners:))

None even bothered to enter or compete for it,  you know the type 
"Ya'll wouldn't wanna hear no Dixieland Band would ya ?  naw didn't 
think so  sorry to ask ?

The big winner Asleep at the Wheel happens to be a fantastic group with 
a very long history of success, and Big Ray Benson is every bit as good 
as Texas Legend George Strait.  Ray has run a great band for decades 
and has been very very successful as a performer and also in solid 
record sales.   Being the winner is a great honor for him, especially 
when you look at all the new kids trying to unseat him and his fine 
band.   I booked them when they first started and made money with them 
and for them every time, proving that there is indeed always a market 
and good money for GOOD acts no matter what the genre is because it is 
indeed SBKOM  ( somebody's kind of music)

They play as good a Country Jazz as anybody, put em on a show with 
Igor's Jazz Cowboys and see if the audience does not get up out of 
their seats and dance.   Just don't Fence 'em in.  :))   But hey a lot 
of folks didn't like Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys for the same 
reason, and if you really wanna hear some good country Jazz find a copy 
of Ray Pennington's music and give it a listen.

OKOM is a lot bigger than Dixieland guys and there indeed is more than 
Country & Western music too.

Cheers,

Tom  Wiggins

-----Original Message-----
From: ds.augustine at mail.utexas.edu
To: dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com
Sent: Thu, 15 Mar 2007 8:29 AM
Subject: [Dixielandjazz] Where is the Music Going?  SXSW?

   Where is the music going? Nowhere near OKOM. 
    Here's the list of performers who won at the Austin Music Awards 
(http://www.austin360.com/calendar/content/events/stories/2007/03/15award
winners.html). Note that the winner under Jazz was Blaze (who/whatever 
that is) and that the closest any group came to OKOM is under Novelty, 
with the White Ghost Shivers (http://www.whiteghostshivers.com/ ) 
winning (actually, somewhat of an achievement even in that category). 
    As a friend of mine explained, all of these bands and categories 
carry the invisible label of "guitar-based". Thus the answer is clear: 
play an electric guitar (and maybe also for good measure, an electric 
bass) in your OKOM band, even to get noticed by anyone in this crowd. 
Y'all also need to let your hair (if you have any left) grow, or maybe 
comb your eyebrows up over your bald head . . . 

 Band of the Year: Asleep at the Wheel 
 Musician of the Year: Patrice Pike 
 Best New Band: Band of Heathens 
 Rock: Patrice Pike 
 Punk: Riverboat Gamblers 
 Metal: Powderburn 
 Industrial/Goth: Lucid Dementia 
 DJ: DJ Mel 
 Indie: the Octopus Project 
 Jazz: Blaze 
 Blues: Gary Clark Jr. 
 Hip Hop: Overlord 
 Instrumental: the Octopus Project 
 Experimental: the Octopus Project 
 Country: Asleep at the Wheel 
 Bluegrass: South Austin Jug Band 
 Roots Rock: Mother Truckers 
 Folk: the Hudsons 
 Latin Traditional: Del Castillo 
 Latin Contemporary: Grupo Fantasma 
 World Music: Tea Merchants 
 Cover Band: Skyrocket 
 Kid Band: Sara Jarosz 
 Novelty: White Ghost Shivers 
 None of the Above: Brobdingnagian Bards 

   Dan 
 --------------------------------------------------------------- 
 >Date: Thu, 15 Mar 2007 11:06:36 -0400 
 >From: Steve Barbone <barbonestreet at earthlink.net> 
 >To: DJML <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com> 
 >Subject: [Dixielandjazz] Where is the Music Going? SXSW? 
 > 
 >Here's the ultimate in "free music" showcases. 
 > 
 >Cheers, 
 >Steve Barbone 
 > 
 >MAR. 14 - By JON PARELES - NY TIMES 
 >South by Southwest Festival: March 14 - 18 
 > 
  >The South by Southwest Festival is being held this year in venues 
around 
  >Austin, Texas. The lineup includes the Rapture, the Bravery, Lily 
Allen, Ben 
  >Jelen and Alejandro Escovedo. Check back for frequent updates 
throughout the 
 >days and nights of the festival. 
 > 
  >Maybe there was a time when being a music talent scout had a louche 
glamor. 
  >A rare cassette or demo disc, or maybe an ephemeral radio broadcast, 
would 
  >reach a sympathetic ear, to be followed by a visit to some obscure 
club and 
  >a make-or-break audition. Now, with mp3 songs stashed in every recess 
of the 
  >internet, being an A&R guy (it stands for artist and repertoire) is 
more 
 >about mouse clicks than road trips. 
 > 
 >For a good chunk of the past week, I've been doing 21st-century A&R 
  >myself--attempting to plan for South by Southwest by listening to the 
mp3s 
  >posted by most of the bands playing here over the next four days and 
nights. 
 >You can do it too, at http://www.sxsw.com under "bands." 
 > 
  >At the moment, my potential schedule holds three to five bands per 
hourly 
 >segment, most of them now a vague memory and an mp3 on my player. I'm 
  >skipping some of the sure things I've already heard in New York -- 
like the 
  >Pipettes, a cheerfully retro girl group, and Peter, Bjorn and John, 
who are 
 >beloved by so many music blogs there's already a backlash. 
 > 
  >My list includes a band from China, some Canadian eccentrics, my 
annual SxSW 
  >dose of cute Japanese noise bands and dozens of peppy, sullen, 
computerized, 
 >hands-on, earnest, ironic, intricate, rudimentary, literary-minded, 
 >foul-mouthed and (mostly intentionally) funny bands and songwriters. 
 > 
  >One irrelevant observation: the days of full geographical disclosure 
are 
 >over. Boston was from Boston, Chicago was from Chicago, but at SxSW, 
 >geography is perjury: Tulsa is not from Tulsa, Illinois is not from 
 >Illinois, and there are a dozen other imposters. 
 > 
  >All my planning is bound to evaporate in the rush of club sets, day 
parties 
  >and perhaps even a panel or two. In between, I'll be jotting some 
reactions 
  >here. And just to get it out of the way now, here is my obligatory 
SxSW 
 >mention of barbecue. 
 > 
 >MAR. 14 | 1:40 PM 'South By' Kicks Off By JEFF LEEDS 
 > 
  >CD sales are falling off a cliff. Pink slips are replacing platinum 
records 
  >in record-label suites. In fact, the very financial structure of the 
music 
  >business is verging on collapse. What better time, then, for 
executives to 
  >skip out of the office for a few days, chew on some Texas barbecue, 
and 
  >party into the wee hours while watching unproven rock bands? Well, 
the 
  >industry does treasure its traditions - and South by Southwest, the 
Austin 
 >music festival that marks its 20th anniversary this week, qualifies. 
 > 
  >Regarded once as a talent bazaar where labels vacuumed up new artists 
to add 
  >to their rosters, SXSW (that's the abbreviation, but the clubbiest of 
the 
  >clubby refer to it as "South By") has morphed into something else. 
Nowadays, 
  >and for the past several years, it has become a place where labels 
come to 
  >showcase talent they've already discovered to the assembled hordes of 
music 
  >critics, booking agents, music-publishers, sponsors and anyone else 
they 
 >might be able to enlist in their drive for sales. 
 > 
  >And if the showcase doesn't sell you on a band, they'll invite you 
over to 
  >the Four Seasons bar for a few shots of persuasion. But even as the 
festival 
  >has become a schmooze-athon, it is seen by many as a beacon of 
credibility 
  >amid a wasteland of overexposed acts and broken marketing machinery. 
(It is, 
  >of course, brought to you by Verizon, Miller Lite, the IFC channel, 
and 
  >Yaris). So break out the BBQ bibs and fire up the echo chamber, SXSW 
is 
 >under way. 
 > 
  >Jeff Leeds, a staff reporter based in Los Angeles, writes about the 
business 
 >and culture of music for The New York Times. 

  -- 
**--------------------------------------------------------------------** 

 ** Dan Augustine -- Austin, Texas -- ds.augustine at mail.utexas.edu 
  ** "I am sitting in the smallest room in the house. I have your ** 
review in front of me. Soon it will be behind me." ** -- Max Reger 
(1873-1916) to a music critic 
**--------------------------------------------------------------------** 

 _______________________________________________ 
 Dixielandjazz mailing list 
 Dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com 
 http://ml.islandnet.com/mailman/listinfo/dixielandjazz 

________________________________________________________________________
AOL now offers free email to everyone.  Find out more about what's free 
from AOL at AOL.com.
=0