spacekadet blog

I’ve been enjoying David Byrne’s new radio station all afternoon.

Highlights include:

“Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)” - The Arcade Fire
“Staging of the Plaguing” - Cornershop
“Keeping Up” - Arthur Russell

He even includes the classic “You Say He’s Just a Friend” by Biz Markie!

It’s on iTunes Radio under “eclectic”, or link to the stream from his site.

Don’t ever watch the movie, Boxing Helena. There is an obvious reason why this is the only movie that Jennifer (daughter of David) Lynch ever made. It’s awful!

Other than that 107 minute mistake, Easter Sunday has been real. I’m full of veggie chile and feelin’ fine.

We went graffiti hunting this afternoon (see candycorn), then out for some beers, which reminded me that:

You can take the girl out of Austin, but you can’t take the Austin out of the girl.

Or something like that.

It’s hard starting over in a place I’ve already lived. It’s hard coming back to the things I love, only to see them in a new but often heartbreaking light. It’s hard seeing myself from Austin’s shoes, ’cause sometimes I don’t like what I see.

It reminds me that I have a lot of growing up to do, and that’s just a little too much reality for an Easter Sunday!

Also reminds me that beers with friends on an orphan holiday is the best!

New musical discovery today: Sondre Lerche. (Thanks, Steph!)

Also, made my own granola out of

It was mostly successful but a little soft. Note to self: next time, be patient and keep it in the oven extra long!

The first of many adornments to my iBook, a Gama Go sticker:

I started my new job this week at an e-learning power house. I get to call myself a “writer”. I also get to learn Flash and help build websites, something that I’ve always loved. I may even get to do some cool math. The best thing is that I get to be creative! So far, I’ve been hard pressed to find anything wrong with the company or position (aside from the excruciating process of getting settled in). I work with young people who are energetic, creative, and enthusiastic about their jobs. I’m in a great location, walking distance to the capital where I can have picnic lunches and bask in the sun on its wonderfully thick and shorn grasses. The company is growing rapidly, and the electric current of change is like an ionic musk in the air.

Or is that merely the hiss of punctured soda cans?

After all these years of grueling through grad school, tormenting myself over my inability to find a thesis, I finally found something to get excited about. My dwindling enthusiasm had me scared to the point that I’d feel physically ill when asked about my ‘career goals’. It’s good to be confident again. And it’s especially good to be optimistic about the future.

So it looks like I’ll be in Austin for a while then. I can think of far worse fates.

technorati tags: career | jobs

I’ve never been into astrology, but the timeliness of my horoscope according to freewillastronomy.com is uncanny:

“All human beings should try to learn what they are running from, and to, and why,” said James Thurber. Judging from the astrological omens, Cancerian, I think this is the perfect time for you to take his advice very seriously. You’re in position to see things that are normally invisible to you, including secrets you hide from yourself and truths you have studiously avoided knowing. Maybe you don’t think you’re telepathic, but I assure you that right now you at least have the power to read your own deep and mysterious mind.

(Thanks for the link, Marcella!)

technorati tags: astrology | horoscope

So Elizabeth emails me about a blues show at Antone’s on Wednesday night, the first night of SXSW. I told her I’d probably go along, thinking to myself “I’ll go if it’s no more than $15″.

I got to the venue a tad early. Cover was $25. Quite a stretch. Rachel and Dave were talking about seeing the Soul Coughing guy at Buffalo Billiards, so I walked over there and found out that the cover was $10.

My mind was mostly made up, but as I went back to Antone’s to meet Elizabeth, I got a strange feeling that the Antone’s show was going to be pretty good. So I said to Elizabeth,

I’ve never been into blues, but the first set changed my mind. Sean Costello was HOT. People talk about music being “sexy”, and I never knew what they meant until now. He was so passionate. I felt the same way the little girls must have felt when they first saw Elvis’ girations on stage. It really moved me. The way his body swayed and his face contorted was as expressive as the sounds coming out of his mouth and guitar. His original work was excellent, but I’ll tell you this: I never really heard Bob Dylan’s “A Simple Twist of Fate” until I heard Sean sing it last night.

At the end of the set, Antone (THE Antone) came on stage to say “people ask me what’s happening in blues right now, and I say ‘Sean Costello’”.

After Sean’s set, some rearrangement took place. Then Sean returned to play a set with Hubert Sumlin. Sean’s really young. Hubert’s ancient. The juxtoposition was fantastic. Hubert is apparently quite famous, regarded as the best guitarist EVAH by Jimi Hendrix. Even though he was old, he rocked the house. But the best part was how ecstatic Sean was to be playing with such a legend. Sean would occasionally stop playing his guitar to point ecstatically at Hubert while he jammed out a killer guitar solo.

A couple songs into the set, legendary Blues pianist Pinetop Perkins shows up to jam with them. It was great. The guy must have been 85, but he played and sounded like he was 25. Amazing. The energy was wild, but familial, like old friends reunited.

Here’s the kicker: all of the sudden, ELVIS FUCKING COSTELLO shows up on stage to sing a song with the boys. Incredible! And I was maybe 10 feet away. He was so awesome, wearing his scarf and coat like he just popped in. I was so excited I almost peed my pants! THEN Antone comes up and says “thank you Elvis Costello, and thanks also to Robert Plant for coming to see the show!” Yeah, Robert Plant was in the same audience I was in. Fucking CRAZY.

So, like I said, this is what SXSW is all about. And that’s the best damn $25 I’ve ever spent.

Sean Costello’s “Simple Twist of Fate”: [ mp3 ][ stream ]
Hubert Sumlin’s “Look What You’ve Done”: [ mp3 ][ stream ]

Video clips: [ clip 1 ][ clip 2 ][ clip 3 ][ clip 4 ][ clip 5 ][ clip 6 ]

Note: I don’t think Sean and Elvis Costello are genetically related.

Tags: sxsw