@ZackTeibloom Not everything exciting that happens in Texas goes down in Austin. Houston’s Free Press Summer Fest has a monster line-up headlined by Ween and Weezer and all kinds of goodies in the middle from Big Boi to Yeasayer and Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings. Want to know who else to check out? You know about Ani DiFranco’s dick, right? No? You’ve come to the right place…
Follow along hour by hour with Caitlin’s guide on Austin Writes Music and let us know if you have any more favorites we should be sure to see. See you in Houston, soon.
LISTEN HERE <—click on Audio M4A button on the Podbean site.
@ZackTeibloom The 2012 Coachella music festival will be held over two weekends! Wait a minute…it’s the same bands both weekends? What the deuce? Why? That takes any plan of going to both right out the window unless you want to read a bizarro re-creation of the first weekend. OK, on second thought, that could be kind of incredible. Every tough decision you make the first weekend can be corrected. You’ll have hindsight. Would you be able to have the perfect fest the second time or would the random elements make that impossible? Would bands use the same banter? Would they play the same sets? How can they get all these bands to commit to being there two weeks in a row? My head is spinning. My first thought is that I hate it. Now, I kinda wanna find a way to go for both weekends. I don’t know if there’s a precedence for this. Jazz Fest has two weekends, but 95% different artists. So far reaction on Coachella’s Facebook page is negative. We’ll see how it plays out. I’m wildly curious. Here’s the press release: 
@ZackTeibloom I grill Andy on what his first Prince experience was like. In short, not as purple as you’d expect, every bit as incredible, with a splash of confetti . The long version? Listen to find out. After Andy breaks down the show, we spin off into talking about Andy’s favorite shows all time and where this ranks. It’s a nice little chat. Enjoy.
@ZackTeibloom Today is my dad’s 64th birthday. He’s been looking forward to this one for a while. Most people look forward to/regret turning 65 for the benefits/stigma of being a senior citizen. Only a cool dad like mine would look forward to his “When I’m 64″ Beatles birthday. The song is about a younger man thinking about his future and wondering if he’ll still be cared for as he gets older, “Will you still need me, will you still feed me?” I can say, unequivocally, that Suzy and I, and all your friends and family, need you more than ever. And we’ll happily feed you. Portillos, Sammy’s, fruit cocktail and everything else in your wheelhouse. Thankfully, unlike the 64 year-old in the song, you’re not losing your hair. There’s no grandchildren to bounce on your knee yet, but I think that’s a good thing. Little Royal will have to wait. I can’t wait to see you this weekend. And like the song says, a birthday greeting and bottle of wine (and some pictures) are coming. Love always.
@ZackTeibloom We knew Arcade Fire was coming. We were pretty sure about Kanye and Stevie, but Coldplay was a wildcard. Will we even see them? Not if Kanye has anything to say about it. And Kanye always has something to say about things. Well, so do we. I open up about the C3 ban and what it means for the future of crashes, we compare ACL to Lolla and pick our favorite day. Who does Andy really want to see that would surprise you? And most importantly, why will someone get pregnant if Andy goes to a show? 
@ZackTeibloom Kanye West. Arcade Fire. Stevie Wonder. Either SPIN printed it wrong, or these are your 2011 ACL Headliners. Get excited. Each of these three pack a world-class performance. All are in the mid-high 9 range when they bring their A-game. The only relative wildcard is Kanye, and he’s been on point lately. We know Arcade Fire are headlining for a fact, as they were the first name on the scratch off tickets, Kanye has been heavily rumored and is no stranger to Austin and there have been rumblings of Stevie. In my book, this tops Lollapalooza for best headliners of the summer. I texted Andy to tell him and he just wrote back, “Sick.” We’ll drop a podcrash on you Tuesday when it’s official, with the rest of the names, but for now, I’ll be going to bed dreaming of these three. Oh, and My Morning Jacket, Chromeo, Cee-Lo, Fleet Foxes, Fitz and The Tantrums and everyone else already confirmed. C3- you know how to get a damn good line-up together. Even if we’re not besties anymore. See you in the dust bowl AKA ACL.
@ZackTeibloom We always kind of feared this would happen. When we were first starting out in February 2008, Andy didn’t want us to advertise that we crashed festivals for this very reason. He fought me on having a tab on the site dedicated to crashing. Over the last couple years, he’s come around on crashing and even done a few himself. The crashing tab is now the third highest traffic getter in the history of the site, only behind the home page and the festivals tab. It’s a pretty big part of the site, but more than anything, we’re about the music. We always have been. We never thought anyone would actually care that much about the crashing. We’re a small Web site covering festivals the best we can and sharing our love with other fans. We didn’t think anyone paid us any mind. That’s why today’s call from Fresh and Clean Media/C3 Presents was so surprising. 
@ZackTeibloom I had no intention of crying at the Arcade Fire show. Even as tears were streaming down my face, only a song into their set, I didn’t know why I was doing it. There were enormous expectations for the night. Was it the hours and hours of build up coming out in a moment of pure ecstacy? Was it Win coming into the crowd? I’ve always had a thing for singers coming into the crowd and getting right in my face. Was I just that enchanted by Win and Regine and Will? I know this ranks right up there in the 9.7-9.8 range with LCD at Stubbs and Phoenix at La Zona Rosa, for truly pantheon Austin performances at our biggest venues, but why did it resonate more than any others? I’ll start at the beginning and try to figure it out.
