SXSW Interactive

Jemina Kiss
taps into
SXSW
and the
future.




SOURCES: SXSW2008, The Guardian

Idaho spells relief

Perhaps one can trace the proliferation of what's been dubbed sadcore to the imminence of the millennium, the bleak consensus that the twentysomething generation is destined to be worse off than its predecessors or the technology-accelerated breakdown in interpersonal communication. More likely, this oh-so-Caucasian progeny of the blues has found its niche because the only thing that feels better than complaining about your lot in life is hearing someone else grieve about the things that make his or her existence even worse than that. [READ MORE]

SOURCE: The Trouser Press,
IdahoMusic.com

Say hello to artist Joe Concra

Joe Concra
Inside the Kingdom
74" x 82" oil on canvas

From an article on the artist that ran in Chronogram magazine:

One Fine Day

…You never start with a good idea. You just start with working. The idea comes later. There's never a finished painting that doesn't have four or five paintings underneath it that were complete failures. If I hit one out of 75, I'm really happy.

SOURCES: JoeConcra.com, Chronogram

Of migraines and things…

Shaking It Off
By Jeff Tweedy

Jeff Tweedy is primarily known as the lyricist, lead singer and guitarist of Wilco, one of America’s most popular and critically successful rock bands. He is also a lifelong migraine sufferer whose headaches were for decades compounded by bouts of depression and panic disorder. In 2004, Tweedy suffered a collapse and entered a rehabilitation clinic in Chicago to treat his conditions and a resulting addiction to prescription painkillers. In Tweedy’s estimation, his new found ability to treat and manage his depression and panic has helped him to remain migraine-free for the past four years. [READ MORE]

SOURCE: NYT

BarCamp Orlando vision

Annual 3 Day A Cappella Music Festival

RESTON, VA – March 7, 8, 9, 2008 – Over 100 of the best professional a cappella singers from Germany, Austria, Canada and the United States will take the stage at South Lakes High School for the annual 3 day a cappella music festival, “CASA’s East Coast A cappella Summit” from March 7 to 9, 2008. The a cappella groups will use only their voices to perform leads, harmonies and to vocally imitate a virtual orchestra of sounds – including jazz trumpet, classical strings, distorted electric guitar and a full drum set. [READ MORE]

SOURCE: MMDNewsWire.com

Boy band mogul admits to being an idiot

Lou Pearlman, the man behind boy bands 'N Sync and the Backstreet Boys, is set to plead guilty to a $300m fraud scheme, prosecutors have said. In a plea agreement, the music mogul has admitted running scams that defrauded investors and major banks for more than 20 years. Mr Pearlman entered a not guilty plea last year, but is scheduled to reverse that in court in Florida on Thursday. [READ MORE]

SOURCE: BBC News

FROM PAZZ & JOP 2007: Grow Up Like a Rock Star

The "rock star," as we traditionally think of it, is scarce on this year's Pazz & Jop ballots. The mega-famous icon clutching a guitar and singing about heartache or fucking or partying or escape or revolution; the prophet whom we come to for concrete answers instead of riddles and viral videos and cryptic website codes. Maybe there's a dearth this year, given the lack of new offerings from Dylan, Beck, Green Day, System of a Down, U2, or Johnny Cash. Or maybe we're prisoners of our own self-awareness. [READ MORE]

— Christopher R. Weingarten

SOURCE: Village Voice/Pazz&Jop 2007

Roger Black

SOURCE: RogerBlack.com

Kelefa Sanneh, Ariel Levy Join New Yorker

New York Times music critic Kelefa Sanneh is leaving the newspaper to become a staff writer at The New Yorker, according to an internal memo distributed yesterday. (Radar had reported a rumor to this effect.) Also heading over to 4 Times Square is New York Magazine contributing editor and writer Ariel Levy, who has already posted the news to her personal web site.

SOURCE: The New York Observer

Bjork makes 'free Tibet' gesture

Bjork has a track record of courting controversy and surprising her fans The Icelandic singer, Bjork, has caused controversy among fans in China by shouting "Tibet! Tibet!" at the end of a concert in Shanghai. The cry followed a powerful performance of her song Declare Independence. Talk of Tibetan independence is considered taboo in China, which has ruled the territory since 1951. [READ MORE]

SOURCE: BBC News

Blues guitarist Jeff Healey dies at 41

Legendary blues and jazz guitarist Jeff Healey has died, his publicist said Sunday. The Canadian musician had battled cancer his entire life."It was something he fought with considerable bravery," his publicist, Richard Flohil, told Newsnet late Sunday.
Healey, 41, had lost his eyesight to a rare form of the disease, Retinoblastoma, at the age of one. [READ MORE]

SOURCE: CTV.ca

Definitely NSFW

SOURCE: Murdog via YouTube.com

Where are they now?

Tyler Gray,
Senior Editor,
Radar Online

Had just been hired as a Contributing Editor at Radar 2.0 when it folded.

Straight.

Freelanced at US Weekly until Maer rescued him for Radar 3.0.

Wrote the "Is Your Baby Gay?" article in the new issue of Radar.

Oversees much of the website content. Rumored to be behind the Corynne Steindler hit and the open letter to Stephen Colbert about the gay baby article.

Wrote a column about dating ("Draw the Line on Matchmaking Mom," "Just Don't Call It A Mingle for Singles," etc.) for the Orlando Sentinel, after being a beat reporter.

Became outdoors editor at Men's Fitness in August 2004.

SOURCE: Gawker.com

Introducing Daytrotter (in their own words)

These fine people — as they’re traveling through America’s heartland — take two hours out of their travels between shows to stop in for a Daytrotter Session at Futureappletree Studio One in downtown Rock Island, Ill. The name of the city is not ironic. They use borrowed instruments, play with their touring mates, utilize an often unkempt toilet, eat some food and then cram back into their vans for the last half of the drive. What they leave behind is a pile of ashes, sometimes a forgotten stocking hat and four absolutely collectible songs that often impart on whomever listens to them the true intensity that these musicians put into their art, sometimes with more clarity than they do when they have months to tinker with overdubs and experiments. These songs are them as they are on that particular day, on that particular tour — dirty and alive. We want you to make this your new home as it is ours. We promise that you will love it here.

SOURCE: Daytrotter.com

Ooops!

NEW YORK — Maxim magazine has apologized for publishing a negative review of the Black Crowes' new album by a writer who hadn't listened to the whole CD. The review in Maxim's March issue gives the Crowes' "Warpaint" a rating of two-and-a-half stars out of five. The band posted an exasperated statement on its Web site last week saying the Maxim writer hadn't heard the entire album because advance copies weren't available. The Crowes' manager, Pete Angelus, said the magazine explained that its review was an "educated guess."
[READ MORE]

SOURCE: YahooNews

William F. Buckley Jr. Is Dead at 82

William F. Buckley Jr., who marshaled polysyllabic exuberance, famously arched eyebrows and a refined, perspicacious mind to elevate conservatism to the center of American political discourse, died Wednesday at his home in Stamford, Conn. [READ MORE]

SOURCE: New York Times

Participation

Have you ever seen night going? Very few people even become aware of things which are happening every day. Have you ever seen the evening coming? The midnight and its song? The sunrise and its beauty?

We are behaving almost like blind people. In such a beautiful world we are living in small ponds of our own misery. It is familiar, so even if somebody wants to pull you out, you struggle. You don't want to be pulled out of your misery, of your suffering. Otherwise there is so much joy all around, you have just to be aware of it and to become a participant, not a spectator.

Osho Zen: The Miracle Chapter 2

SOURCE: OSHO Zen Tarot

The History of Black History

Americans have recognized black history annually since 1926, first as "Negro History Week" and later as "Black History Month." What you might not know is that black history had barely begun to be studied-or even documented-when the tradition originated. Although blacks have been in America at least as far back as colonial times, it was not until the 20th century that they gained a respectable presence in the history books. [READ MORE] —Elissa Haney

SOURCE: InfoPlease.com

Let go my ECO

SOURCE: EcoFoot.org