Today it was supposed to rain...and it didn't. Yay! (I wonder how much weathermen get paid, because I'd like a piece of that action.) And even though it didn't rain today, the effects of yesterday's continuous onslaught were felt by EVERYONE by way of 5" deep mud...everywhere! It was so slippery I'm surprised that more people didn't fall.
Here are my shoes after being there for 15 minutes.
I started off seeing the B-52s today. Classic, retro and just plain fun. They sounded great, looked great and had a huge crowd too.
I was really looking forward to my next band White Lies who are from London. I recently became aware of this band through my friend Tim. (who incidentally has brilliant taste in music) I was so excited that they were playing ACL and they blew me away! Definitely one of my favorite new bands of 2009.
...and later I got a chance to meet them and chat a bit about their tour with Kings of Leon. They are definitely a band to watch out for...plus they are really sweet.
Arctic Monkeys were next and I hate to say it, but were kinda blah. Just sort of got up there and played...not a lot of energy or excitement. The crowd up front seemed to get into it, but you have to figure they are the real die hard fans, so I'm glad at least they liked it. Now, don't get me wrong, I really like this band normally, I was just a bit disappointed in their live act.
So next was Passion Pit, but I was in need of some major change of clothes so I decided to dash home, take a quick shower and then return...so I missed them. I did get to hear them play as I was walking back which was very cool.
Next up was Girl Talk. Now I've never heard of this band & didn't know anything about what I was about to witness. But as I moved towards the area of the stage realized that a TON of other people must have known, so I figured I was in for a treat.
First off, Girl Talk is a one man DJ operation, with just a table on stage featuring his equipment. But don't let that fool you. As he took the stage the audience in the front erupted, and as the music started so did the thumping, dancing and jumping up & down. I had never really seen anything like it ever. He was mixing hip hop, with 80's tunes, R & B with pop music. It was insane. I don't think I am exaggerating when I say that there were at least 40,000 people in attendance of that show.
Here's the best shot I could get from where I was...
Now this was after he allowed like 50 kids on stage to dance with him the entire time. It looked like so much fun!!!
I decided to head over to see where I could post up for Pearl Jam who were this year's headliners. By the time I got over to that side of the park it was mostly full. Now I could have walked myself through the thick mud & muck in the dark to get closer, but I decided that after 3 days of music, I was happy where I was. Unfortunately once they started the sound was not good. I figured that I could hear it better from outside the park, so after about 4 - 5 songs I decided to make my trek home. They sounded great and how cool that they were back on the road and made time for little 'ole Austin. ;)
All in all, this was such a fantastic ACL festival for me. I got a chance to really just meander and see what I wanted. I ran into several friends there so I had a chance to hang out with them too...I am tired, to say the least, but really inspired by all of the kindness of the people at this festival. It was nice to be a part of something so huge that happens here in Austin.
I would be crazy not to say thank you to my sister, Annie, for being so generous on my birthday this year and getting me my ticket. So big hugs & a HUGE thanks for making this event happen for me.
Today was one of the rainiest days I've ever seen. Not a crazy thunderstorm, winds whipping, crazy sideways rain type of days...but just the longest, most continuous, not stopping until it soaks everything & everyone type of rain. Through all of this thousands of people still enjoyed hanging out and listening to live music. I've never seen anything like it...like everyone rallied together and just dealt with it.
I had planned on seeing a few more bands than I did today, but the ones I wanted to see were all spread out time-wise. Which would have had me at the park from about 1pm - 10pm...just a little too long seeing as I still have lots of bands I want to see tomorrow.
So I saw Citizen Cope & Ghostland Observatory. I've seen both bands a few times, so I pretty much knew what to expect. Great music, solid performances and with Ghostland I even got a kick ass laser light show. Cool!
The rains came down steady before, during and after the hour long set by Cope. He played mostly songs I already knew with a few new ones peppered in. Alice Smith even joined him at the end to help with vocals. Nice.
I didn't take my phone or camera today, so this stock photo will have to do...
Ghostland Observatory, well, how on earth do you describe their awesomeness? Just very unique, electronic, dance, rock goodness. They hit the stage and didn't stop rocking for 90 minutes. I danced the entire time. At one point they even brought on the University of Texas marching band...a la circuit 1979 Fleetwood Mac's "Tusk". The crowd went wild. The laser show was great, they kept throwing out glow sticks & glow jewelry so everyone in the front was loaded with neon bling. It looked really cool.
Here is a pic of singer Aaron Behrens who is one amazing performer.
Tomorrow's line up for me: B-52's, White Lies, Arctic Monkeys, Passion Pit, The Dead Weather, (Girl Talk - maybe) & Pearl Jam. It's supposed to rain again all day tomorrow so I'm planning on fashioning a sassy outfit out of garbage bags. ;)
After Phoenix I walked back home to grab a bite to eat and to change into some jeans. Luckily the weather this year is much cooler than in previous years, so I thought I would take advantage of it.
The next band I went to see was Them Crooked Vultures. Now most people probably haven't heard of them since they don't have an album out yet and have only played a few shows. This is a band comprised of Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age, Kyuss & others), Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters, & a little band called Nirvana) & John Paul Jones (uh, Led Zepplin ring a bell?)
So here are these three heavy hitters all doing what they do best and doing it well. The show started out gripping the crowd with tons of energy and never let go. I was pretty far back to start and since I'm somewhat vertically challenged was getting frustrated that I couldn't see much. This was such a unique & rare experience and well, since I'm the type of person that likes to seize the moment during times like these, I decided to work my way up a little closer. So smiling, and excusing myself politely got me pretty far...uh, actually all the way to the front! I really channeled my best friend Caroline (who couldn't be there with me) and feel like that was what made me go all the way up there.
I was so excited to be so close to such greatness. Dave Grohl was a blur of long dark hair and heavy hitting beats. Josh & John Paul were just rockin' it too. It seemed like such a surreal experience. I was about 20 feet from them! If I had a better camera my shots wouldn't have been so blurry...but I did get some pretty good ones. I just wanted to enjoy the show and not worry so much about grabbing a photo.
This one is for my friend Caroline:
The last show that I saw were the Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs. Karen O. is by far one of the most expressive people I've ever watched on stage. She personifies coolness & creativity. A true pioneer... She was clad in a wildly printed body suit with amazing fish net stockings & accessorized with this cool neon orange fringe necklace, belt & wristband ensemble. Sometimes with a cool cape, sometimes with her signature zippered leather jacket...that girl sure does know how to work a microphone too. Just a force of energy and you could tell how much she loved doing it. She mentioned how much she loved Austin which is cool too.
I was pretty far back so the best pics I could get were on the jumbo tron. Here she is singing "Maps" which was heart-wrenching and so soulful you could feel her pain.
So its raining all day today...just a gentle, soft soaking type of rain that will make the experience all that more exciting. :)
Today I'll see: Mute Math, Citizen Cope, Mos Def, STS9, & Ghostland Observatory. At least that's the plan...it will be interesting to see how people deal with the rain. I'm just planning on wearing a poncho and toughing it out. We'll see how that goes.
Wow! I don't know if I have the words to describe how great the first day of the 2009 ACL festival was for me. There were several bands that I wanted to see, however, with the way my day went and with the timing of things I ended up three amazing shows today. I cannot begin to write about them all on one post...so here's part 1, band 1.
Phoenix: I got there about an hour early so that I could get a good spot. I was going to see The Walkmen, but realized that if I wanted to procure a sweet spot for Phoenix, I would have to just listen to them instead. No problem.
I was about 20 yards from the stage which was the perfect spot not to have to see over too many heads. :) They were about 3 songs in when the singer Thomas Mars stated that this was the biggest crowd they'd ever played for. You could tell by the look on the band's faces that they were amazed at the energy being thrown at them during each song. On the jumbo screens to the sides of the stage they would flash up shots of the crowd...I didn't realize how many people were there until I saw it for myself. I felt very fortunate to be standing where I was! My estimate would have to be about 25,000 people, and that is probably on the conservative side. Here's a bit of video so you could see them in action. (There is no sound because I took it from my digital camera, so sorry about that)
It was such a rush of energy...the music was great, the crowd was great and it started my whole festival experience off on a wonderful note.
Part 2: Them Crooked Vultures: Uh, front row? Why yes I was. More later....
So brilliant in this age of modern technology that the ACL festival has developed an iPhone application complete with syncing schedules, maps and more. God I love it!
It's been a few years since I've attended the ACL festival for the full 3 days and I'm so excited about it.
This is the first time I've attended it by myself, and I must say I'm pretty happy about that. I get to see who I want, when I want, without having to compromise my taste in music.
Tomorrow I am slated to see: The Walkmen, Phoenix, Them Crooked Vultures (and if you don't know who these guys are, step out from under your rock..think Foo Fighters meet Queens of the Stone Age meet Led Zepplin. omg) and the Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs. Kings of Leon are playing at the same time but I've already seen them and Karen O. is just the coolest, so I'd like to see her rock it out.
I'm actually the most excited about seeing Phoenix since I started listening to them I think they are très chouette.
There are tons of other shows going on tomorrow, but if I'm going to do this thing for 3 days I've got to pace myself. One of the greatest aspects that I might have left out is the fact that I live in the neighborhood of the festival. I mean like so close that I can hear the music if I open my windows. I get to actually walk there. I love that. It's quite awesome in the fact that the aggregate attendance from last year was 218,000 people. This event is nothing less than awesome.
So stay tuned...I will be taking photos and updating the blog as much as I can. If you follow me on twitter (username: tastydiane) then you will probably get more info than you care to...I just wonder how the reception will be out there. In the past, it's been not so great, but I will do my best to update as much as I can.
So, for now...I'm off to get my beauty rest so that I can rock out.
It's been awhile since I've done a large magnet blitz. I've been using such fine jewelry techniques lately that my hands have just about had it. So I needed to do something a little, say, "less tedious" on my digits.
So its off to glue up a whole mess of magnets today. Here they are in their glory...(or at least whilst they dry.)
I still have a whole line of rock n' roll graphics that I'm going to be featuring soon; guitars, drums, keyboards, bass guitars, headphones, turntables etc... They will be on sale here in Austin at Parts & Labour during the ACL festival weekend for sure.
If you know anything about music, you've probably heard of the Austin City Limits music festival that happens around this time every year. Its a three day musical extravaganza featuring some of the hottest names in music today. Click on the image below for more information. There are still one day tickets available for today & Sunday.
Speaking of Sunday....
I am SOOOOOOO looking forward to seeing the Foo Fighters again. It's been way too long since I've seen them. As a matter of fact, the last time I did was when they were playing much smaller venues like the Riviera, & the Aragon Ballroom both in Chicago. I just wish my friend and fellow Foo-lover Caroline was here to go with me. I'm happy that they moved it back one week from past years. Septembers in Austin are pretty hot and spending all day out in the sun doesn't leave you with much energy for the headlining show at the end of the night. But this year's weather is shaping up to be nothing less than perfect. Warm, sunny days and cool, dry nights. Mmmmmm.
So rock on all you ACL festival goers. Maybe I'll see you there!
i've been busy working on making these new square glass pendants. i do all the artwork myself on my trusty mac, then print out the images and seal them under a piece of hand cut square glass. i couldn't find the right bales to use (most of them WAY too expensive) so i decided to make them myself. bales are the metal finding that you attach to a pendant to allow it to hang on a piece of cord or chain. often times when i can't find just the right finding, i figure out a way to create it on my own. i think that also keeps my pieces truly like no other.
here are a few pics to see just how many of these i've made.
the most popular designs i have right now are the owls (which i also drew myself!)
austin is gearing up for its 7th annual austin city limits music festival happening sept 26th - 28th. if you EVER get a chance to come down here for it, do. you won't be dissapointed. the foo fighters are headlining this year as well as beck, robert plant & allison krause, david byrne, the raconteurs, gnarls barkley, vampire weekend, hot chip and many more.
parts & labour is a store where i sell my work and they are going to have a booth setup at the festival. i will be showcasing funky bauble magnet sets and these fabulous square pendant necklaces. you can find the bird designs here and the graphic designs here.
oh, and i don't want to forget to say that i got a blog mention on the fabulous purplepinkandorange blog yesterday. amy is so creative and generous. you MUST go check out her blog and see what's happening in the indie world.
