@ZackTeibloom This is a win-win in my book. We help festival guru Big Bri get to North Coast on Sunday and bring his fiancée since they have to miss Saturday for someone else’s wedding. He has agreed to bring bacon pancakes for the first 50 people he runs into going to the fest on Sunday, so even more win! Betsy may not bring bacon pancakes (and I may have made up the part about Big Bri bringing them as well) but she has Umph love from way back and we respect that. And she asked nicely.

Winner #1: Big Bri

This has been my first festival-less summer since I hit Bonnaroo 2003.  When I first heard about North Coast, I had to change my pants (twice).  Some of my favorite bands in my hometown.  The best mix of jambands and electronica (do people still say electronica?) I’ve seen put together.  What could possibly go wrong? Read the rest of this entry »

@ZackTeibloom Our friends at North Coast Must Festival (Labor Day Weekend in Chicago) have given us a pair of tickets to give away for Saturday and another pair to give away for Sunday. Andy and I discussed the festival in our new Podcrash and gave you a little guide for what shows to see and why it seems like the fest was made just for us. I mean, Umphrey’s McGee (our favorite prog-rock jam band), Grace Potter (our favorite female-led band) and Lupe (our hometown hero)? Too. Much. Fun.

If you want a pair of tickets for Saturday or Sunday, you’re gonna have to drop some knowledge on us. You have two options. As always, the most creative answer wins: Read the rest of this entry »

@ZackTeibloom To celebrate Cinco De Mayo, we’re gonna give away a bunch of product to help you mix some delicious drinks. When I moved down to Austin I got really into lime beer salt. Apparently True Lemon makes a bunch of flavors. Just tweet a link to our Jazz Fest coverage and True Lemon’s Web site.

Here’s the contest:

Tweet: This is True Lemon: http://bit.ly/KemrY. This is not: http://bit.ly/9DH5rj @festivalcrasher #jazzfest

We’ll select two winners at 3 p.m. central time today randomly from who has tweeted. You’ll win three boxes of True Lemon including lemon, lime and orange. It’s a total of 96 packets of flavor. If you don’t have Twitter, you can make it your Facebook status, just let us know so we can check it out and add you to the random drawing.  Read the rest of this entry »

@ZackTeibloom Never underestimate my Jack White obsession. Why would you? We ran a contest to see how much I’d end up seeing of The Dead Weather show despite the intriguing Van Morrison conflict. Van was scheduled to start at 3:35. Jack, I mean The Dead Weather, at 3:45. Two stages on the complete opposite side of the festival with a swarming crowd. And it had just started to rain.

Either way, I was wearing White Stripes hunting tartan socks*. I was going to catch some Jack. It was just a matter of how much. My biggest fear was Van running late, but he was off and running by 3:32. Well, off and something. I knew I’d be able to tell after a few songs whether we were in store for a classic set or a nostalgia one. By the time “Brown Eyed Girl” was over, I knew. Read the rest of this entry »

@ZackTeibloom The Van Morrison- Dead Weather conflict has been keeping me up at night. I’ve always wanted to see Van. I can’t miss Jack White picking up a guitar for almost any reason. Even if he only plays it once or twice. Bryn will kill me if I can’t report fully on Van. I’ll kill myself to know Jack is performing on the other side of the field and I’m not there. It’s Van! It’s Jack! It’s time for a contest.

How long will I spend at The Dead Weather show? Whoever gets closest wins a “Die by the Drop” 7″ vinyl 45 courtesy of our friends at Filter. Here’s how the contest works: Read the rest of this entry »

@ZackTeibloom Our winning entry comes from Shelley, a Chicago-Austin transplant like me, who had an even more interesting chain of events on her drive than I did. All I had to put up with was a blizzard and frozen highway that almost killed me and stopped my dream of having Reverend Al Green take me to church. Shelley captures the dichotomy of emotions in the song in her vivid description of her inner monologue on her journey.

As well as she captures the moment in her words, it’s the constant use of ellipsis that drives this entry home. The feeling of continuation. It’s not one moment. It’s a moment leading up to many others. Congrats on the signed poster, Shelley. Here’s her entry:

My “Sweet Disposition moment:” in a nutshell driving cross country alone from Chicago to Austin this Summer. Read the rest of this entry »

@ZackTeibloom SXSW and Coachella and right around the corner, so we thought we’d have a contest with one of the bands. We’ve got a signed Temper Trap poster to give away. They’re one of those bands that you’ve heard before, but you may not even know it. Their single “Sweet Disposition” was featured in 500 Days of Summer, a Chrysler commercial and a Rhapsody commercial. I listed them in my “Heard OF them, haven’t heard them” category in my listing of bands on the initial SXSW announcement. Temper Trap is my favorite band on that list.

Want their signed poster? Here’s the deal: Read the rest of this entry »

@ZackTeibloom Two years of doing this contest and twice it’s ended in a tie. Last year we pitted Chris Brown and Rihanna against each other before that whole mess went down. Can we hope that The Baha Men and Usher, Lil Jon and Ludacris somehow get into a brawl this year? I think that would be asking a bit too much. Anyway, J. Ho and Zelin made their choices. Zelin was back and forth between “99 Problems” and “Yeah” (Did he peak in high school?) and J.Ho went with “Who Let The Dogs Out” (Did she peak in middle school?) We let them argue their case and we’ll let you vote until Friday at 5 p.m. central. What was the catchiest song of the decade? For the record, Andy and I both went with “Hey Ya!”  Read the rest of this entry »

@ZackTeibloom The only one who could beat Lady Gaga this year was Lady Gaga. Not even Miley could make it close. It’s “Pokerface” for the win. What that means for the contest is that Zelin and J.Ho are tied for the best bracket. For anyone scoring at home, that’s back-to-back championships for Zelin but he’s not there yet. “You wanna crown em?” You can’t crown him yet.They say a tie is like kissing your sister, but what if it’s a tie with your fellow SIT? You have to break the tie. “It ain’t over till it’s over.” ”You play to win the game.”  Playoffs? You wanna talk about playoffs? We’re just trying to win a game. Playoffs*? OK it’s time for the playoff game. Read the rest of this entry »

@ZackTeibloom It’s all led up to this. Miley. Gaga. The teen queen (Destiny Hope Cyrus) and the “Lady” (Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta*) take their bizarre made-up names and over-produced pop sensations into the finals. I’m proud to say I predicted this finals, but wish I could swap out my choice after seeing Gaga steamroll her way through the bracket. I think it’s going to come down to which of our contest entrants hypes up their song best. As we said in the wrap-up, Abby N. wins if Miley does and Zelin and J.Ho will have a tie-breaker if Gaga wins. Let’s get it on. Read the rest of this entry »