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Day 5: South By Southwest 2011

FNL’s The Landing Strip. It’s REAL. Driving to dinner on my last evening in Austin, I am trying to navigate the side streets outside the downtown core in my car, the GPS taking me to parts of the Texas capital I haven’t seen before. Specifically, near the airport. And that’s when I see her. Suddenly, I drive by a gentleman’s club called Landing Strip. Not just any strip club. But the strip club from one of the best, if not THE best television shows of all time and surely the best show about Texas ever, Friday Night Lights. It’s almost

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Day 4, part 2: South By Southwest 2011

After recharging on on some delectable Indian food at G Raj Mahal (say it fast…), we head to the Dangerbird Records showcase to check out The Dears once more after telling my friend how much they kicked ass a few nights before. There we catch Los Angeles-hipsters The One A.M. Radio plying their delicately cool vibes. Their sound is pretty, like a quieter Stars or a dreamier version of Junior Boys. While it might be nice to listen to, say, on your iPod while on an airplane or maybe over dinner at a swanky restaurant, it’s not very rock ‘n

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Day 5: South By Southwest 2011 – DFA 1979 Madness

Day 4, part 2 recaps and a full day of Day 5 recaps and interviews are on the way, but first, I have to sum up what had to be the craziest end to a South By Southwest festival I’ve ever witnessed. It starts when a journalist friend, Dave Jaffer of Montreal’s The Hour, hears legendary Toronto indie-electro-punk duo Death From Above 1979 is playing its first reunion show in half a decade at Beauty Bar. We literally run to the venue in an attempt to get into the 225-capacity space. What we find is a crowd of at least

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Day 2: South By Southwest 2011

Walking down the street after parking about a mile and a half away from downtown, we run into In-Flight Safety’s John Mullane, wandering the streets, unable to find his hotel. This pretty much sums up the South By Southwest experience. John Mullane of IFS talks SXSW The sheer immensity of this festival, the amount of bands playing at any given time, and the many options across an area of a few square miles can leave one a little dazed and confused. That brings up a quote from that famous Austin-shot, 1993 movie, Dazed and Confused. To paraphrase, sitting at the

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Day 1: South By Southwest 2011

Friends, warm weather, great food and (free) drinks in mid-March. Sounds like a trip to Cuba, right? Throw in 2000 bands playing over a five-day span and 130,000 music fans roaming the greater downtown area of Austin, Texas and you get the audiophile’s version of Spring Break. It’s time again for South By Southwest, the […]

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Go To The Seahorse Tonight

We’ve already trumpeted news of this event a few times, but it bears repeating: there’s a mighty fine SXSW sendoff show going on tonight with your favorite bands – Dog Day, Duzheknew, Secret Colours and Cousins. There is a suggested $10 donation at the door to help the bands allay their travel costs, and you […]

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In-Flight Safety sign with Conehead, head to SXSW

beldar say: EXCELLENT NEWS In-Flight Safety have joined Cousins, Duzheknew and Long Long Long as part of the Halifax contingent headed to SXSW in mid-March. They’ve folded the Austin dates into a mega-tour through Europe that ends April 15 back in Charlottetown. As the cherry on the fun-cake, the band has signed with the UK label Conehead. Well good on you, boyees! The band plays the Paragon on March 4. Below, in no particular order, my favorite photo of the band (by Jule Malet-Veale) a photo of some tacos, and a recipe for fish tacos that someone sent me on

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