on the road to SXSW

Back in San Francisco

Mon, 30 Mar 2009 20:00:00 -0700

We arrived back in San Francisco, will post more in the next few days after sorting through the 40 gigs of photos and videos we shot.

One thing we learned was sadly internet radio in the car isn’t ready for prime time in many parts of the country- there just isn’t reliable mobile internet service in many locations still.

However, on the big interstates, we did have nearly continuous coverage, which was pretty cool. But the smaller Interstate highways, like many parts of I40, didn’t have continuous coverage and hence weren’t too useful for internet radio.

Zion National Park

Fri, 27 Mar 2009 09:00:00 -0700

We went to Zion National Park yesterday, and spent the night there. Playing Drone Zone and watched the sun set over the rocks. Today, we’re going to hike a few miles around to see the “must see” sights and take a bunch of pictures. Then hit the road again.

Very little internet connectivity in Zion; took an hour just to download email in the lobby of the Zion lodge; iPhone has no service at all, so we couldn’t listen to SomaFM live and had to use a pre-recorded set from the iPod.

Lake Powell

Thu, 26 Mar 2009 13:33:37 -0700

Lake Powell

Monument Valley and Page, Arizona

Thu, 26 Mar 2009 11:20:36 -0700

Last night we arrived in Page, AZ, on the shores of Lake Powell. We arrived here for sunset Wednesday night after driving much of the day from Farmington.

We made several stops: Four Corners and a detour through the dirt road that goes through the bottom of Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park, which straddles Utah and Arizona. It’s pretty awe inspiring to be underneath these thousand foot high sandstone buttes.

Love the local FM station here in Page: free “classifieds” they read over the air every hour. You can either call them or “drop by the station” if you have something you want them to broadcast. That station is truly what a local radio station should be.

Next big stop: Zion National Park.

Four Corners of the US. Where Arizona, Utah, New Mexico and...

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 12:26:54 -0700

Four Corners of the US. Where Arizona, Utah, New Mexico and Colorado meet.

Farmington, NM

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 22:05:00 -0700

There is something cool about seeing towns you never even knew existed. Last night we ended up in a place called Farmington, New Mexico which is the first of the “middle of nowhere” places we’ve been to that is thriving, even with the somewhat recent addition of 2 Walmarts on either end of tiwn!

This is a small low-rise city full of wacky (and/or unique) small businesses (e.g. an optical place had two 20-foot tall palm trees made of christmas lights as decorations out front) as well as a moderate number of chain stores (Home Depot, Safeway, Lowes) all existing in harmony, and all seeming to flourish.

Apparently this is a big center for “the oil and gas industry” as the man at the motel told us, incredulous at our ignorance. That also explains all the people asking where the Chevron meeting was taking place.

We had dinner at Three Rivers Brewing Company downtown. 10+ microbrews, great food. And they also own a Pizza place next door. Maybe we’ll go there for breakfast tomorrow?

On the way to Farmington, NM.

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 17:06:00 -0700

On the way to Farmington, NM.

After leaving Santa Fe, we went north on some small roads to...

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 14:00:00 -0700

After leaving Santa Fe, we went north on some small roads to Abiquiu, where the artist Georgia O’Keefe lived for a while. It was a super small town. Barely a town, but in a nice setting - the mountains were nice and colorful. We found her house after some sleuthing by Merin (“near the cemetery”) but of course it was all chained off and guided tours only so we couldn’t go in.

From there we went 15 miles north to where she lived for longer at a place called Ghost Ranch. There the scenery was AMAZING. You can’t tell from this photo but it was great. It was really isolated, surrounded on all sides by hills / mesas / land masses.

"Back on historic Route 66, spending the night in Santa Fe, NM."

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 21:04:04 -0700

“Back on historic Route 66, spending the night in Santa Fe, NM.”

Sudan, Texas. Some ruined houses around, including this one with...

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 15:00:00 -0700

Sudan, Texas. Some ruined houses around, including this one with a pink room that gives us the creeps for some reason.

Successfully made it out of Texas with only one brush with state...

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 11:50:42 -0700

Successfully made it out of Texas with only one brush with state troopers resulting in a stern warning.

Highway 84 west about 45 miles out of Lubbock, TX.

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 10:05:03 -0700

Highway 84 west about 45 miles out of Lubbock, TX.

Lubbock, TX

Sun, 22 Mar 2009 21:00:00 -0700

We departed Austin this morning, drove most of the day until we made it to Lubbock, TX. Not much going on here in the birthplace of Buddy Holly. Tomorrow we head to Santa Fe, NM, and after that a detour to Bryce Canyon, Utah.

"One final night of SXSW Music. We depart Austin tomorrow."

Sat, 21 Mar 2009 17:44:31 -0700

“One final night of SXSW Music. We depart Austin tomorrow.”

Saturday Night Picks

Sat, 21 Mar 2009 13:10:23 -0700

Rusty’s picks for this evening at SXSW:

8pm Nosaj Thing at Speakeasy (Congress between 4th and 5th)

9pm Machinedrum at Speakeasy

9:30pm Dieselboy at La Zona Rosa (Big venue, probably packed, 4th and Rio Grande)

10pm Felix Cartal at Radio Room Patio (on Sixth)

10pm Yelle at Emo’s Main Room (sneak in through Emo’s Jr if the line is long)

11pm Longview at Cedar Street Courtyard (with Ulrich Schnauss on Keyboards) (208 W 4th St near Colorado)

11:20pm The Crystal Method at La Zona Rosa

1am MSTRKRFT at Radio Room Patio

Great panel on music licensing

Sat, 21 Mar 2009 12:31:09 -0700

I’m in the “Is Collective Licensing for P2P File Sharing a Future Source of Income for the Music Industry?” panel at SXSW. It’s a great panel - huge amounts of intelligent debate and opinions - I’m loving it. Sandy Pearlman, a professor at McGill University, is great; Jim Griffin (who runs the Pho list and is a digital media consultant to Warner and other large labels). Rick Carnes from the Songwriters Guild of America has a lot of really valid points he’s making about the rights of creators while also balancing the rights of fans and ‘consumers of music’.

There are also a lot of industry heavyweights in the audience, including John Simson from SoundExchange, Jay Rosenthal from NMPA, and Ken Freundlic, founder of Royalty Logic (a group that is trying to compete with SoundExchange), and more.

I’ll post some audio bits from it later on my Rusty on Radio blog a little later; it’s incredible educational and really drives the point down about how complex digital copyright issues are; and how many diverging issues there are.

The Scene on Sixth Street. The city closes much of Sixth to...

Fri, 20 Mar 2009 16:00:00 -0700

The Scene on Sixth Street. The city closes much of Sixth to traffic, as well as the adjacent blocks of some of the intersecting streets.

Tori Amos preforming Thursday night, March 19th, at the...

Fri, 20 Mar 2009 02:40:00 -0700

Tori Amos preforming Thursday night, March 19th, at the SoundExchange party at La Zona Rosa during SXSW.

Ulrich Schnauss performing at Elysium

Thu, 19 Mar 2009 19:00:00 -0700

Ulrich Schnauss brought out two guitarists for his “Laptop” performance, which really added a great dimension. Since he often uses abstract guitar samples, the live guitarists blended nicely with the music.

Most of crew that put on the Bay Area Takeover even at SXSW09 at...

Thu, 19 Mar 2009 18:30:00 -0700

Most of crew that put on the Bay Area Takeover even at SXSW09 at Beauty Bar in Austin, during SXSW.