The South By Southwest (SXSW) festival is days away and downtown Austin, TX will become the center of music, art, and film hysteria for more than a week. There will be hundreds of bands to watch, movies to see, types of food to eat and more.
The list of bands at SXSW. Image via Fused Mag.
Navigating through the many bars and venues in downtown Austin can be mind-blowing.. Here then, in no particular order, is a list of my recommendations of showcases and venues to check out at SXSW.
And there are thousands of Chivas fans at the Omnilife Stadium right this minute welcoming Johan Cruyff to the organization as the team’s new advisor. The move comes after a 3 – 0 loss against Velez Sarsfield in a Copa Libertadores match this past Wednesday, leaving the team with a win-less streak of 13 games. The club hired a new coach, Ignacio Ambriz, last month and now adds Cruyff to the roster to pull the team out of its slump.
Cruyff, born Hendrik Johannes Cruijiff, is a famous footballer who was incredibly successful as a striker and, later, as a manager. His career began with Dutch team AFC Ajax where he was a star player thanks to his mastery of Total Football under the guidance of manager Rinus Michels. His influence in the Netherlands international team was such that the team never lost a match he scored in.
He then played for FC Barcelona where he scored his most famous goal, known as “The Phantom Goal” and “Cruyff’s Impossible Goal,” during a match against Atletico Madrid:
Cruyff retired from football as an athlete in 1984 and began his career as a coach with the same team he started his career as a player, Ajax, before coaching Barcelona in 1988. He led the team to many championship wins and also trained/mentored a young Josep Guardiola.
Only time will tell how his role will help Guadalajara but a little Dutch influence never hurt any other team.
Right around the time they were finishing their last album Und Die Scheiße Ändert Sich Immer, they both fell ill and were diagnosed with serious diseases. Alderete discovered he had polycythemia vera, a rare bone marrow disease where the body produces too many blood cells, while Papineau was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. “The bottom fell out,” says Papineau. “In the midst of this juncture, Juan dreamed a song, woke up, recorded it and emailed it to me in Paris. He said, ‘I know it may be corny to say this, but from now on everything we do really has to make a difference … even if only to us … there’s no point any more to do less.'”
With Jotdog, we’re doing this for the right reasons.The right reasons to be in a group, for us, aren’t money or fame. The right reasons to be in a group, mainly, are to have a good time.Every time you write a song, you need to enjoy yourself. Every time you go on tour, you need to enjoy yourself. When you write a song with the mentality of writing a hit to make millions, you’ve lost the purpose of songwriting.
“Once the Latin Grammys happened,” he continues, “I thought ‘well, that’s it for this record cycle. Let’s go focus on Mexico and launch the album down there.'” He cut those plans short in December when, while sitting in traffic, he received a ton of tweets congratulating him. He had no idea what for; when he found out he was nominated alongside huge acts like Mana and Calle 13, he thought there must have been a mistake.
Spanish magistrate Baltasar Garzón continues to sit on the opposite side of the bench inside Spain’s supreme court. Garzón, lauded globally as a defender of human rights, is currently defending himself in his second trial where he is accused of breaking an amnesty law passed in 1977, two years after dictator Francisco Franco’s death, that prevents any probe into Franco-era crimes via a general pardon.
Baltasar Garzón. Photographer unknown.
Judge Garzón launched a probe in 2008 into the disappearances of over 100,000 persons while Franco was in power. Family members of the victims have spent years, some even decades, trying to discover where their loved ones were buried.
The first witness, Maria Martin, recalled how in 1936 when she was just six, her mother was one of three women and 27 men shot dead and their corpses dumped into a mass grave on the side of a road.
Supported by a Zimmer-frame and speaking in a voice cracked with emotion, the 81-year-old said her family had fought to recover the remains of her mother for a proper burial ever since.
“Until the day he died in 1977 my father wrote to the local authorities to try to recover the body. They told him: ‘Go away, leave us in peace or we will do to you what we did to her’,” she told the Supreme Court.
Garzón first appeared in court last week to defend himself from allegations that he’d overstepped his jurisdiction when he authorized police to wiretap conversations between lawyers and their clients in what’s known as the Gürtel case. The case involves charges of corruption against members of the Partido Popular, which currently holds power in Spain.
A date for the third case, which centers around allegations that Garzón dropped an investigation against the president of Banco Santander in exchange for payments for a course sponsored by the bank at New York University, has not been set yet.
Garzón became famous worldwide in 1998 when he ordered the arrest of Chile’s former dictator Augusto Pinochet for crimes against humanity. Pinochet was extradited from London to Santiago, Chile where he lived under house arrest during his trial. The arrest led to “the Garzón effect” throughout Latin America.
That was just the first in a number of high-profile cases he led including:
the conviction of former Interior Minister José Barrionuevo Peña for leading state-terrorist group Grupos Antiterroristas de Liberación (GAL)
many cases against members of Basque separatist group Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA)
an investigation into whether the Bush Six ( Alberto Gonzales, John Yoo, Douglas Feith, William Haynes II, Jay Bybee, and David Addington) violated international law by justifying the use of torture at Guantanamo Bay
Garzón risks losing his role as Investigative Magistrate for up to 20 years if he is convicted in any of the trials.
Below is a lengthy interview Garzón gave to Democracy Now:
DJ/producer Mexican Dubwiser poked his head out of the production studio last week long enough to spin some latin, cumbiatronica jams. He was special guest at Subsuelo, a monthly party at L.A.’s Eastside Luv, “the Mecca of beautiful Hispanic women” as one of my friends described it.
Mexican Dubwiser – “Revolution Radio”
Mexican Dubwiser – “Cumbia Of The Great” (2008 version)
Dubwiser hails from Monterrey, Mexico, an area where lots of great music has been and continues to be created. He currently lives in LA so, hopefully, there’ll be more Dubwiser DJ sets in town (residency, anyone?).
Check out the full set of photos on my Flickr account.
It’s only the second week of the new year and already there have been a number of huge announcements/developments in the music world. Goldenvoice announced the Coachella 2012 lineup, a little-known rock group reunited, and Remezcla published two of my interviews:
Was the music scene going off there during that time?
Luis: Oh yeah, it still is. There’s a scene for anything. It’s the biggest city in the world and there’s all kinds of people so…we got there and people, when we got on stage, we were opening for this well-known band called San Pascualito Rey and everyone was yelling “Pascual! Pascual!” They wanted us to get off the stage and at the end of our set, they were yelling “Otra! Otra!” Going from “get off the stage” to asking for an encore was really interesting and everywhere we would play, it would be like that. People didn’t really know who we were but they started liking it. We’re like “well, if we keep doing this for a longer period of time then we can build it up and probably do this for a little longer.”
Julian: Also, we’re a band that sings in Spanish.
Rafa: The main music industry is still in Mexico City. Even Spanish or Argentine artists always want to go to Mexico and work their way out of there. It makes total sense for us to be there right now. It’s like for movies, it’d be Hollywood or for theater, it’s New York.
It’s refreshing to hear these songs we already know, and suddenly there‘s a sitar solo in the middle. It’s like, “Whoa, what is this?!”
Exactly, I had to! I wasn’t going to play them the same. No way. It was a very different process for both of us to play the solos. I come from the rock side so I normally make the solos and then, once I nail them, I record them. For this album, it was very much on the spot. I was with my engineer and we had already gone to Cuba and had all the background music so it was literally playing around and saying, “Ok, I like this take here.” It was pretty much like that. That’s why I don’t even remember what I did but I listened to it and I really liked it.
Yeah, the introduction to “Anuman” is totally different.
I hope people understand that this is not our new direction but, I think it’s an interesting enough project to support, play a few shows with and we hope people enjoy it as much as we did. When I listen to the album now, for me, it’s like a different band. It’s not like listening to my own albums because I don’t even do that. I don’t go back and listen to the new albums because I’m very judgmental with what we did and I want to change things here and there. For this album, I can just go back, relax and listen to it. There are so many things going on and so many musicians on there that I’m not focused on what I’m doing so I really enjoy listening to it, which is a good thing.
My work there continues to expose me to many artists I would never hear of otherwise, such as Quiero Club whose song, “Dias Perfectos,” is my favorite of 2011:
My last interview of 2011 (with Rodrigo of Rodrigo y Gabriela) will be my first published interview in 2012. It can only get better from here!
Sargent House is an artist management company (don’t call it a record label!) in L.A. that is home to the types of bands larger labels are too timid to promote.
2011 was a busy year for everyone involved with SH. Every band on the roster toured at some point. Le Butcherettes, Omar Rodriguez-Lopez Group, And So I Watch You From Afar, Zechs Marquise, Hella, Gypsyblood and others released an album (two in the case of Boris). Big Sir, Fang Island, This Town Needs Guns and others spent the year working on new material.
One of the highlights of the year was the company’s SXSW showcase, which featured the U.S. debut of Adebisi Shank. This leads to point three…
You always remember your first! I traveled to Austin, TX for my first SXSW experience. My trip there was brief (two days/two nights) but memorable and fun thanks to the new friends and contacts I met and all the great music that surrounded me.
Just one of many "entrances" to SXSW.
I was really struck by the diversity of genres and styles represented by the performers at the festival. I remember turning a corner and hearing a country band perform in the patio. Two doors down, an indie-rock band had people dancing while, next door, an independent hip-hop artist made some new fans. By the time I hit the other end of the street, I’d heard punk, metal and latin music as well.
2) Spain
Festival de San Fermin (Running of the Bulls)
This was another “first” for me: my first time in Europe and Spain. I lived/studied in Valladolid for the month of July and visited Pamplona, Salamanca, Segovia, Santander and San Sebastian (mostly north/central Spain). I hope to return and visit the coastal areas.
1) My niece
I returned home from Spain to be greeted by my newborn baby niece:
I’ve recently fallen in love with Mexico City-based Rock/Pop/Jazz trio MINK thanks to a friend of mine who gave me a copy of their full-length album Camino.
MINK - Carla Villagran & Alex Sanchez
The trio, consisting of vocalist Carol Villagrán, guitarist Alex Sanchez and drummer bassist Adrian Paz, released an acoustic version of one of their hits, “Dejame Salir,” yesterday for Acústica Sesión, a production of Art En Stock and Tricyclo Music:
MINK formed in Mexico City in early 2007 months after Villagrán and Sanchez won a contest which led to a performance in Tokyo’s Asia Club. They released their debut, self-titled ep in 2009 recorded with the help of producer Tweety González.
MINK released Camino, also produced by González, the following year to positive reviews. It’s a great Pop record with touches of Rock, Jazz and a few dashes of Electronic music. And for those who noticed, yes, Villagrán does have a timbre similar to Ximena Sariñana.
No word yet on MINK’s plans for 2012 but I hope it includes a tour of the U.S.
This Saturday’s match between FC Barcelona (Barça) and Real Madrid (Los Blancos) will mark the 216th/241st (official/friendly match tally) time the Spanish teams have faced each other on the field. The game is known as El Clásico (The Classic) or El Derbi Español and has grown to become the most watched, most anticipated and most intense rivalry in sports today.
More than just a game...
The rivalry exists thanks to a number of cultural, historical, and political reasons.
Real Madrid has always been seen as a symbol of Spanish pride and nationalism. Most Madridistas in Spain are Castilians who share relatively conservative political and social views. Most Real Madrid fans in Spain are loyal to the monarchy and continue to value monarchical traditions.
…
Culés {fans of Barcelona – Afro.} are very much opposite in political and social viewpoints. Most Catalans will never acknowledge that the city of Barcelona and all of the land that “was” Catalonia is Spain. Catalans prefer democracy to any kind of monarchical rule. They have more liberal political and social views; they see Catalonia as an unrecognized country.
Madrid is the capital of both Spain and the autonomous region of the Community of Madrid (Comunidad de Madrid) and holds the honor of being the country’s largest city. It became the capital in 1561 after Philip II moved the seat of the court from Seville to Madrid. Barcelona, Spain’s second largest city, is the capital of the autonomous region of Catalonia (Catalunya) in northeastern Spain.
Catalonia has a long history of defending itself against the suppression of its autonomy and its culture from monarchic forces beginning with the rise of the Kingdom of Spain in the 13th century culminating with the fall of Barcelona on September 11, 1714.
The 20th century saw a number of major developments in politics and sports in the country. FC Barcelona was established in 1899 (yes, technically that’s the 19th century but we’ll give it some leeway) and Real Madrid in 1902. King Alfonso XIII assumed power in 1902 and the Copa Del Rey (The King’s Cup) was established to celebrate his coronation. It was in this tournament that both teams met for the first time.
This will make more sense a few paragraphs from now
Afroxander (aka Iván Fernández) 