Donald Trump for President!
Donald Trump is running for president, which is AMAZING. Maybe the most amazing thing to happen to me all year because I adore Donald Trump. Well, I adore Donald Trump the Character, not so much [...]
Articles by Merideth C
New track from Led Zeppelin
That is a straight-up lie; I’m sorry. There are no new tracks from Led Zeppelin. I am a horrible person. However, the “new” track “Sugar Mama,” which will be included on the upcoming Coda [...]
Review: Brandi Carlile @ Stubb’s
Yes, Brandi Carlile killed it at Stubb’s on Saturday. She slayed it. Completely pulverized all artists before and after her at the outdoor stage. Side note: Fuuuuuuuuck the outdoor stage at [...]
The Led Zeppelin Experience, to be experienced at later date
I was pretty psyched because tonight I had tickets to see the Led Zeppelin Experience – a Zepp cover band that automatically beats all other Zepp cover bands because the drummer is Jason Bonham. [...]
Review: Inside Sufjan Stevens (a tiny little seahorse)
Sufjan Stevens’ new album Carrie & Lowell is his best album yet, unequivocally. Yes, better than Illinois (I KNOW! I’m talking crazy here). It’s just a super good album is all, and perhaps [...]
Review: Stephin Merritt + Sam Davol + Ukulele + Metronome
I feel Stephin Merritt with the passion of a thousand jilted lovers. I adore his sappy yet laugh-out-loud funny lyrics and effortlessly catchy hooks. I love his warbling bass voice. I find his [...]
Joni Mitchell — my favorite covers
Joni Mitchell’s medical status is still a little dicey — a couple of days ago it was reported that she’s in a coma, but today it’s being reported that she’s not and in [...]
Record Store Day (Austin 2015)
Dudes, I was SO THRILLED when a record shop opened up in Shanghai (What up, Uptown Records! Hope you’re still around). And I was also really psyched when they started recognizing Record Store Day, [...]
10 Things I learned at SXSW 2015
Was it your first SXSW? Yeah, me too. Here’s what we learned: Please note I did not attend any actual “workshops” or “panels” or “educational opportunities.” These are lessons from the [...]
Googly eyes on heavy metal albums
I don’t know who started this; I don’t know where it came from; I don’t know what any this means. All I know is that a friend told me to search “googly eyes on heavy metal [...]
Songs I’ve Shazammed
It’s hard to remember life before Shazam. Never again will I furiously try to jot down lyrics when I hear a song in order to Google it later or have the two-hour “What song is this? I know this [...]
McDonald’s comes to SXSW and acts like a corporation (UPDATED)
A couple of days ago I wrote about the love/hate relationship musicians and Austinites have with SXSW, touching on the fact that while the conference has become more commercialized and grown in [...]
The ritual exhaustion of SXSW
Austin is known for its music festivals and the top one is still no doubt South by Southwest. For those cave-dwellers among us, SXSW is a huge music/film/interactive festival and conference that runs [...]
The Starship returneth
There was this rumor floating around a while back, connected to the rumor that Led Zeppelin would be reuniting and going on a limited tour again. The follow-up rumor was that the person who was [...]
Review: Jenny Lewis travels with balloons
I was a big Rilo Kiley fan (RIP) back in the day mostly because of Jenny Lewis.* I liked her simple, slightly twangy and talky singing style. I liked the straightforwardness of the lyrics. I think [...]
Review: Strange, creative pop (aka tUnE-yArDs)
Of all three performers on for the KUTX birthday bash, I was most excited to see tUnE-yArDs. I’d heard some really good things about them live, plus, I’d been listening to their albums – [...]
Review: Yes, I finally saw Shakey Graves so please stop asking
Shakey Graves is the guy everyone in Austin has a story about – how they used to see him at this tiny place back in the day that you’ve never heard of; how he totally played a house party they [...]
Review: The best of Rufus Wainwright (maybe)
I think Rufus Wainwright is the artist I’ve seen perform live the most – maybe 9 or 10 times? I mean, I don’t follow him around the country or anything (yet), but if he’s playing within a [...]
Awesome Music Tattoos
I am seriously considering turning this into a completely music tattoo-based blog. For realz. It was slightly harder to find good band tattoos than bad ones. Who would’ve thought? The Clash Van [...]
Questionable Music Tattoos
Music tattoos aren’t always terrible. I mean, usually they are, but sometimes there are tattoos that for certain reasons — maybe their subject matter, their composition, their art — [...]
Terrible Music Tattoos
If I got every tattoo I wanted to get, I’d be covered in nothing but Morrissey lyrics from head to toe. Either that, or every member of New Kids on the Block, because that was the age at which [...]
Songs to break your heart
God, I love to wallow. Mostly in misery and the realization that the world is void of affection and nothing is fair and no one will ever love me. Or whatever. And sometimes, when I’m wallowing, [...]
Review: Reservations (bad name, good band)
I went out last Friday to see Elaine Greer, a singer/songwriter formally of Austin who now lives in Nashville. She was hyped up to me by a friend but doesn’t get around to these parts too often [...]
Review: Led Zeppelin, Part 2
Now, I’m not going to come right out and say that I moved to Austin because Robert Plant lives in Austin. But I’m not not saying that, you know what I mean? It’s a coincidence that [...]
Review: Old Crow Medicine Show, slightly delayed
I’m regularly amazed how fast time goes. For something that is steadfastly regular on an atomic level, it’s strange how sometimes entire weeks will fly by, like most of this summer, but [...]
Review: Americana for the win
I’ve been pretty stingy with my pennies ever since coming Austin, partly because I’m cheap frugal, and partly because I’m ever-so-gainfully unemployed. There’s tons of good [...]
Brass for people who don’t like brass
Have you recently heard a brass band? You know, a band with…nothing but brass. Trumpets, trombones, sousaphones, French horns, mellophones, tubas, and — if we’re being a little [...]
Hello, Austin
It’s hard to decide where to go after Shanghai. It’s hard to decide to go anywhere, ever, actually, but eventually you can no longer live out of a suitcase or on couches (or with your [...]
Goodbye, Shanghai. It’s been real.
Today I’m leaving Shanghai. FOREVER! I’ve been saying it’s my last year in Shanghai every year since I got here — 5 years ago — but when it came to ACTUALLY doing it; to [...]
The Mongolian Invasion (less blood, more music)
Folk music has not just had a boom in the West in the past decade. It’s happened in China as well. Case in point: widely popular Mongolian/Chinese folk band Hanggai, who played in Shanghai on [...]
Smack Madness 