Tom Petty: Yer (were not) So Bad
This one hits hard, for sure. I could never pick a favorite song when it comes to Tom Petty; not even a favorite album. I’ll leave you with his criminally underrated “Yer So Bad” [...]
Articles by Merideth C
Let’s Rename Robert E Lee Road to Robert Plant Road
If you don’t think this is the best idea you’ve ever heard of, you’re a racist. Or anti-Zepplinist. Or both, which makes you twice as bad. #robertplantrd [...]
Submit now for the Austin Music Video Festival – June 8th deadline!
The Austin Music Video Festival isn’t happening until September, but right now is the time to submit if you’re a musician or director and have a banging video you want to enter. You can win cash [...]
The Octopus Project’s ‘Memory Mirror’ Multi-sensory Menagerie…thing
The Octopus Project is a really cool, really experimental band banging around Austin. They’re described as an “indietronic” band, which, alright, that’s a thing. I’d call them a mix of [...]
RIP Chris Cornell
From theatlantic.com: Chris Cornell, perhaps best known as the lead singer of Soundgarden, one of the bands that defined the grunge sound of the ’90s, has died at the age of 52. In a statement, [...]
Completely Unsubstantiated Led Zeppelin Reunion Rumors
I get a Led Zeppelin Google alert, because I am a huge nerd. When I woke up today my news feed was filled with stories of a cryptic message on Robert Plant’s website. Yes, just that. [...]
ACL Lineup – 2017
So, the ACL Festival lineup is out, and it’s…fine. Yeah, I’m okay with it. To be honest, I was more psyched about the fake lineup that was “leaked” a few days ago [...]
Make Way for the SXSWers
South by Southwest 2017 starts in fewer than 48 hrs. YES, 48 hrs! I know this because I set an countdown timer as to when I need to leave the city. Like all Austinites, I have a love/hate [...]
Hey, It’s Shakey Graves Day
Today is Shakey Graves Day. Shakey Graves (a “gentleman from Texas”) is a local musician with a national following because he is wildly talented, insufferably good-looking, and somehow [...]
Sofar Sounds Austin: You Need to Get in on This (Fans AND Musicians)
I am currently obsessed with Sofar Sounds. It’s just a super cool, super neat concert series that is cool and neat for both the fans AND the musicians. First, read an interview I did with the [...]
Review: That time Robert Plant sang an entire show dedicated to me
I was born about 40 years too late to get on the original Led Zeppelin train, but that’s never stopped me from being a huge fan. HUGE. But because I’ll never see Led Zepp together and [...]
Leonard Cohen has died
I couldn’t really sum up how much Leonard Cohen has influenced, inspired, and impacted me or music as a whole in any sort of concise way. So I’ll leave this here: I did my best, it [...]
Bob Dylan wins a Nobel Prize
Lyrics are literature. Bob Dylan has been awarded the 2016 Nobel Prize for Literature, becoming the first songwriter to win the prestigious award. Good choice, based on his strong poetic style (the [...]
Review: James Blake @ The Moody Theater
Many years ago (2013) I was living in a strange and distant place (Shanghai) and heard the news that James Blake, singer of a song that still gives me chills to this day (“Retrograde“) [...]
Ray LaMontagne cancels show due to Texas’ Campus Carry law
Last week, musician Ray LaMontagne decided to cancel a show at the Bass Concert Hall, located on the University of Texas at Austin campus. The reason he gave on Facebook was due to the recently [...]
Alternatives to the ACL Festival
Hey, do you hate ACL as much as I do? (jk jk jk I love u ACL please continue to give me press access). But big festivals like Austin City Limits aren’t for everyone, it’s true. The [...]
The Austin Music Video Festival 2016
Today, Sept 7th, through Saturday, Sept 10th, is the 2nd annual Austin Music Video Festival. Get ready for 4 days of videos, virtual reality, concerts, panels, parties and an awards show, spread out [...]
Hear Led Zeppelin’s previously unreleased song “Sunshine Woman”
September 16th will see the release of Led Zeppelin’s The Complete BBC Sessions (originally put together in 1997 but now expanded). The recordings come from a session recorded for Alexis [...]
ACL Festival Late Night Shows announced
Hey, it’s the best time of year for those of us who hate festivals but love music: the ACL Festival Late Night Show lineup. Many of the most popular artists who play at ACL during the day also [...]
Review: Frank Turner is everything I ever want to be
I am not ashamed to admit I adore everything about Frank Turner. He’s one of the rare (perhaps only) artists I ever saw multiple times in Shanghai (twice!), so already I appreciate the wits of [...]
Review: My last trip to Stubb’s, ever. For real this time.
Here’s the thing about Stubb’s: the main venue is outdoors. Inside, it’s a decent BBQ joint. Inside, it has a couple of intimate-ish performance areas with air-con. Indoors, it has [...]
Austin then & now
I’m in love with this post from do512 that compares Austin from back in the day to the modern city. Here are some of my favorites: The University of Texas at Austin Tower Congress Avenue I-35 [...]
The custody battle over Kurt Cobain’s most famous guitar
So here’s a little bit of gossip that’s been making the music rounds lately: there’s a custody battle over a guitar once owned by the late Kurt Cobain, one that was once insured for [...]
Review: Flight of the Conchords @ Bass Concert Hall
Is it harder to write 5 minutes of stand up, or a 5 minute comedy song? There’s a fairly standard rule that you need 4-6 laughs per minute in a stand-up routine in order to keep people engaged. [...]
Lawyer who sued Led Zeppelin suspended from practicing law
Well, this is an interesting turn of events. Francis Malofiy, the lawyer who represented the songwriter for the band Spirit but still failed to persuade an LA court that Led Zeppelin stole the [...]
Required Reading: 7 reasons why no one’s coming to your shows
If you’re a musician, please please please check out this excellent article by Ari Herstand about why no one is coming to your shows. Poor attendance is the perennial problem for new bands (and [...]
Lady Gaga is banned in China. Join the club!
Lady Gaga has been banned in China after meeting with the Dalai Lama before he presented the keynote address at the annual United States Conference of Mayors in Indianapolis on Sunday. She has now [...]
Led Zeppelin did not plagiarize “Stairway to Heaven”
So says the legal system. According to The Washington Post: Led Zeppelin’s guitar wizard Jimmy Page and charismatic lead singer Robert Plant both claimed that they hadn’t ever heard “Taurus” [...]
Free stuff from Tickemaster! But not free stuff you want.
Hey, remember that whole Ticketmaster fiasco from, like, 13 years ago? Yeah yeah, you remember…from The Washington Post: In 2003, two men purchased tickets to a Wilco show and — like many [...]
I’m not sure what to make of this
Sean Lennon and Les Claypool are currently collaborating as the Claypool Lennon Delirium, and they’ve got a new album out right now called Monolith of Phobos (2016). It’s trippy and [...]
Smack Madness 