Artist of the Day - TBT - Tampa Bay, FL
A really nice write up by Aaron from our conversation a few days ago. Really getting psyched for the show on Saturday even more!
http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/soundcheck/content/artist-day-spiller
2 Nights From Tonight!
In just 2 short nights from tonight my band Spiller will be rocking with 2 other great bands at the New World Brewery in Ybor City. I think we've got a 12 song setlist, a few surprises and hopefully a ton of friends make it out to enjoy the evening.
Creative Loafing in Tampa has a nice little preview of our show.
SXSW by Joran
A nice write-up by my friend Joran from Creative Loafing in Tampa. I know I still owe everyone a write up about the music part of my trip, so I'll try to get to that this week.
The One - Spiller
Previously unreleased!
One week from tonight!
One week from tonight my band, Spiller will be playing for the first time about 10 years! Really excited to see a lot of friends that we haven't seen in a while, and to play songs that we hold near and dear to our heart. Hope to see you, one week from tonight, at the New World Brewery in Tampa!
SXSW Indieball Writeup
I submitted a brief wrapup story to Indieball for the music part of my SXSW experience. You can read it here:
SXSW 2012 Interactive
Greetings all! I'm still catching up with all the photos that I took while I was in Austin for the SXSW Interactive/Film/Music festival. It was the first time I've done the full duration, 10 days. Typically I'm just in town for music, but this year the lovely, kind, generous folks at work decided that I couldn't do too much harm to the company image by being a part of the Interative part of the festival, and well, I'm glad they did because it was a really rewarding experience.
There were some amazing sports technology panels about the future of sports data hosted by Jimmy Fallon, and eye-opening presentations about the future of sports apps. But, the best panel I saw was "Jeffery Tambor's Acting Workshop" in which he took 2 actors that he had just met and coached them through a script, and through their life with the tact and wisdom only someone that really adores he craft could do. Incredibly powerful, touching, and inspiring for everyone that was involved. So many gems. So many quotes.
"This is your life. What are you doing? This is it."
"Enjoy everything. Adore everything."
Another fantastic panel, hosted by Austin Kleon, featuring Kirby Ferguson was called "Everything is a remix, so Steal Like an Artist." It was an all-too-brief hour of inspiration and discussion about the art of borrowing to improve. Fantastic.
In the evenings there were quite a few tech parties, but for the most part I chose to check out the fantastic lineup of podcasts that were being recorded at Esther's Follies, including Marc Maron's WTF?, You Made it Weird, and a special presentation of the cast of Bob's Burgers.
Spiller returns in 2 weeks!
Ray from Creative Loafing in Tampa gave my band, Spiller a nice mention in last week's Music Monday column!
Recovering
I'm still recovering from SXSW, but expect some pictures from the event soon!
In the Studio with Supervisor of the Loveless Average
We headed back into the studio last night to continue working on our new EP. We layed down basic tracks for The Letter S, and For Her Again. Here's a couple of shots and fun video below.
Dirty Ghosts
Here's a little write up from Indieball that yours truly did for the new Dirty Ghosts' record. They were one of the most rocking bands I got to see out in Texas last week.
http://www.indieball.com/2012/03/12/dirty-ghosts/
SXSW Day 9
I can't think of a year when the last day of the festival has been the most fun, but that was definitely the case today. I explored the city, made a few new friends and connections and had the best hamburger ever. Jalapeño and cheese bun with jalapeños, pepper jack cheese and bacon. Ridiculous. I shot Youth Lagoon and Nada Surf today, both excellent, and wrapped up the day with the fantastic, and I'm not just saying that because we're friends, New Granada Records showcase and a solo set by Tim Fite. I ended the night with a walk down 6th street, and I can honestly say I've never seen it so crowded. Ok, that's it for me. I'm up and out early. I'll post a ton of photos from my trip, but until then here's some shots to keep you current.
SXSW Day 8
My feet hurt. Tons of panels, tons of music. 'nuff said. 1 more day of the festival and it's back to reality.
SXSW Day 7
I barely know where to start. Before 1pm I had seen Bruce Springsteen, sat in a panel with members of Superchunk, Nada Surf, The Blake Babies, Bob Mould and more, and ate my full of breakfast tacos from Cedar Street. Next up was the Granada Records' day party, and I wrapped up the night with an epic show from The Jesus and Mary Chain. My ears will be ringing for a week, and I was wearing ear plugs.
SXSW Day 6
The first day of the official music festival has arrived! I caught some good, early panels around publishing ad then spent the rest of the day catching music and chatting up new friends. Highlights? Quite a few. Bahamas was amazing. Jason Tait from the Weakerthans was on drums! Fun. Fiona Apple was incredible. Sharon Van Etten! The Alabama Shakes! Dan Deacon! The Drums blew the lid off the place. Lil' L dislocated his knee on stage. Good times. I'm tired, good night.
SXSW Day 5
This is the first year that I've been to the interactive part of the festival, and it was a very rewarding experience. One that I plan on doing in the future. I met some great people, and I absorbed a ton of information that I looking forward to putting into use back at the office.
Yesterday was the last day of panels, and they were all great ones, and as the talks wound down folks filtered out to several closing parties that were so jammed that it was silly. So, a few of us went to see the bats, have some drinks and caught some bands.
Walking through the convention center a little later in the evening it was fun to see the convention flip over from business cards to guitar picks as the calling card of choice. Plastic black frame glasses were being replaced by plastic white frame sunglasses as the beards quickly doubled in length.
SXSW Day 4
Today was the first beautiful day of festival, so I hopped on one of the free bikes offered here and did a quick ride around town. Gorgeous. After that it was more panels, the trade show and lots of networking. Also, I saw John Hodgman play a uke.
SXSW Day 3
Today was a perfect example of why I love SXSW. Every hour presented itself as a new adventure. Fantastic panels, celebrities, delicious food and drinks, and would you believe it, the sun made its first appearance all week. I got to photograph Jimmy Fallon, Jeffrey Tambor, Marc Maron, and more! WTF?! New friends, good times and bats! I even managed to destroy the air conditioner in my room.
SXSW Day 2
Today, like yesterday was wet and wild. Almost constant rain, wind and thunder were making folks scramble from building to building. I created a new hashtag, #SXSWet. I got to hang with some work folks, get up close with Rainn Wilson and I ate a ton of pure Texas BBQ. Saw a few basketball related talks and ended the evening south of the river at the Frog party. Fun times.
SXSW Day 1
Wow, the weather doesn't get much worse than this. Almost freezing rain, high winds and lightning was happening for most of the day and into the night. But, despite the weather I had some great BBQ, saw a few great panels (the Movember one being my favorite) and got to kick around the city a little before grabbing dinner and calling it a night incredibly early. It's supposed to be chilly tomorrow, but after that we're talking 80 degrees for the rest of the week!