I guess a lot of people are hitting this one up right now, because the buffering is killing me. But I think i was able to make out the Justin Timberlake cameo in the beginning. This is why the TV still pwns the Internet.

Check out every artist playing SXSW this year in this unofficial, but pretty badass torrent. 764 artists, 3.5 GB.

I’m going to be perfectly honest here, I haven’t showered in five days, and I stink. I’m usually pretty clean, but there have been a lack of showers so far on this tour. Even if there were a shower somewhere I probably wouldn’t have time to use it. Usually it’s hurry up and wait, but lately it’s been hurry up and hurry some more. I’ve been damn busy now that my workload has doubled, but I’m not complaining, I’m just adjusting. This tour is a different kind of situation. We have an entirely different crew than the last time around, so my time is spent teaching the new guys the routine of everything and trying to remember some things myself. We also have a bus full of people, 13 to be exact, and that is a slightly difficult thing to get used to all in itself. Tonight is the third night of tour, and as of yet, the coldest. It’s around 20 degrees and snowing like crazy here at the infamous Metro in Chicago. I really didn’t get to see much of Nashville or Columbus due to me being busy and tired, and the same will most likely happen again tonight. On top of the previously mentioned excuses, we’re in a slightly ghetto area, about a block away from Wrigley Field, and the only exciting places I’ve seen all day are a Starbucks and a hot dog stand, maybe I’ll get lucky and Steve Albini will come by and want to get a drink and hang out.

Newport Music Hall wall of fame

soundcheck

Meet and greet behind the scenes

Charleston, South Carolina is…. pretty damn nice right now.  I thought I was going to leave my dreary, rainy town of Chico, CA to come to an even rainier, colder and much more depressing place, but I was completely wrong.  This town is amazing.  It’s been sunny and warm; the locals have been out walking the town, enjoying life, not too bad in my book.  When we’re not in downtown Charleston rehearsing we’ve been spending time at a vacationers dream beach house.  I am literally twenty feet from the ocean, and it’s beautiful.  The days have been long, but surprisingly stress free, despite all preparing we need to do.  Besides the flaming amplifier everything has been routine for me.  The band, on the other hand, has decided to practice songs they haven’t played in over year the day before the first show, but everything is sounding great.  I’m sure some sort of last minute detail will need to be worked out, but we’ll tackle that when it comes up.  Tomorrow I get to visit my second home, and the town where my car resides, Nashville, Tennessee.

view from our back porch.

seagull feeding

rehearsal

In honor of Mary-Kate’s loss, here’s a video of Stars’ “Your Ex-Lover is Dead.”

A buddy of mine posted a bulletin with this Stars video this morning, and it reminded me of how much ruleage this band achieves. Just one more reason to love Arts & Crafts Records and Toronto. Enjoy.

The above photo, taken by our homie Mark Ziemke from Ground Control Mag, Why? frontman Yoni Wolf is throwing his hands in the air, as if to say “I’m waving them like I just don’t care.” In actuality, he’s rapping on some wtf shit, all post-coitus and alienation, love-songs-as-suicide-notes, self-conscious braggadocio in grandiose sweeps of the pen. wtf in the best way possible. Why’s forthcoming album, Alopecia (March 11th on Anticon records), delivers the word-smithery over what could only at its loosest be considered hip-hop beats — a mixture of echoing psychedelia and jangle-pop, with ghostly rhythms spliced and diced into wee sounds poems. Yeah, it’s on some other, and it’s definitely worth picking up on. Our other Ground Control homie Aaron Autrand wrote up a review of Why/’s recent show in LA - check it out at Ground Control’s site.

Be sure to check out Why? on tour - dates after the jump:
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