Chris Koza to release "Patterns" Saturday night at the Turf Club

Chris Koza - Photo by David de Young

HowWasTheShow will be on hand at the Turf Club Saturday night, April 1st for the long-awaited release of Chris Koza's CD Patterns. (Chances are good you've been hearing selections from the new album on 89.3 "The Current." ) My preview copy of the new disc is my most-frequently played disc so far in 2006, including the nationally released albums which have come across my desk. Not only did Koza's second album leave me with a serious reaction of "Wow" to its songwriting and presentation, it's just damn enjoyable to listen to.

You will probably like it too.

HowWasTheShow will issue a full report from the Turf after the weekend. Fitzgerald and Coach Said Not To open. Doors at the now smoke-free club are at 9PM.

Get Koza's autograph soon (see the Star Tribune link below) while the lines are still short.

Selected recent press about Koza and the new disc:

• Article/Interview with Chris Riemenschneider in the Star Tribune.
• Article by Rob Van Alstyne in the Pulse

Turf Club gets website makeover

Remember the old Turf Club website, where the calendar defaulted to about five months ago, and even if you managed to scroll forward to more recent history or the current month there were only two or three shows per week filled in?

Well, today the Turf Club announced a website makeover. Check out http://www.turfclub.net for their new website done by web designer by Don Vu.

Speaking of the Turf, smoke 'em if you got 'em while you can. The St. Paul music club goes smoke free on Thursday March 30th. Chooglin', Bridge Club and Cockfight play the club's first smoke-free show.

Kate Galloway's final report from SXSW

Here is Kate Galloway's final report from SXSW 2006:

"Finally, I'm home. Although the most crowded I've ever seen it, the 20th Annual SXSW Music Festival was smashing. I've heard reports that there were 8,000+ attendees, which sounds about right. The final day kicked off at 4:00 pm with finding out about a "secret" (yes, that word again) Clap Your Hands Say Yeah show which we got in to quite easily, and there were only a couple hundred there at best.

Saturday also seemed to be a big day for day parties. I ended up going over to the RajiWorld party in the afternoon, just as I did last year, hosted again by groupie extraordinaire, Pamela Des Barres. It's a good place for me to catch up with old friends, and see one of my favorites, Steve Poltz. Steve brought a couple friends to play with him. Billy Harvey (please go to his website, it's great www.billyharveymusic.com) and A.J. Croce, son of Jim Croce. Craig, Aubry, and a whole bunch of other people went to the Vitriol Radio party, which was delayed by the rain. What are you going to do? That's how festivals go...

Had to rush across town to catch Dressy Bessy, but when I got there, I couldn't get in! Sometimes, even when you have a badge it doesn't matter because of capacity issues. It was evident that the place was a bit too small to host Dressy Bessy, and they could've played somewhere that had double the capacity. I was able to squeeze in during the last two songs though.

We were able to rush over to see the last 3 songs of the Deaths for their performance and Nuno's upstairs. Ran into a few MN people including Dave Campbell, Ross Raihala and Adam Turman.

We ran over to catch the 88 one more time before heading out. This time, there weren't any more myspace "grinding dancers". But it was definitely in some sort of college bar. After that, I ran down to see The Bedroom Walls and The Owls at the same place Dressy Bessy had performed. This time, we got in ok, but there was still a very healthy crowd. It was obvious that The Owls certainly have drawn attention outside of Minneapolis. There were many people singing along to the tunes.

Earlier in the day we'd been invited to go to a party hosted by Kimberly Gottshalk, formerly of Sue McLean & Associates. It was a very nice little party on the patio at the Driskill, with free booze. Lots of free booze. I was able to finally pull myself away from the dancing and drinking to go to the final event of the night, Jucifer, which could be heard from 4 blocks away. Needless to say, it was as impressive as always. Saw a couple of Minneapolis folks there too, which was nice.

Luckily, we were able to get some breakfast at the famous Magnolia Cafe Sunday before getting on the road. We also picked up a stray, Sam Keenan, to join us on the ride back. My brain and body are fried, but of course I have great memories that help alleviate the negatives."

Kate Galloway's report from Day #3 of SXSW

Ladies and gentlemen, Kate Galloway with her third SXSW report of 2006.


The Deaths at SXSW - Photo by Kate Galloway

More photos added here.

"St Patty's Day? What? It never fails. I always forget that St. Patrick's Day is almost always celebrated during the course of SXSW. Being a cultural mutt with little to no Irish heritage, I couldn't care less about the holiday, and can't stand the frat party antics that go on with it. I'm classy like that! Tonight's SXSW crowd was double, but in a very bad way. Walking down 6th Street was more difficult than usual... but I digress.

I started out my day heading over to the convention center to check out Flatstock, the event that celebrates cool concert posters of all kinds. I was happy to run into my friend Adam Turman, and got to meet the fine David Witt whose designs I've been admiring for a long time. Seeing them along side poster designers from around the world made me realize that we are very lucky to have such great creative people working in all aspects of local music. I suggest that everyone take a look at their websites and support the great and vital thing they do. www.adamturman.com and www.dwitt.com

I was really excited to go check out 89.3 The Current's live broadcast of We Are Scientists with Mary Lucia on the 18th floor of Capitol Place. I was surprised to see only 20-30 people there, which is too bad because it was so much fun. When I first heard the buzz about this band, I wasn't really sold on the record, but then seeing them live made it clear why people talk about them. I don't know if they're doing any streaming on the Current website, but I think everyone should listen to it. They're incredibly nice guys too, which is always refreshing. Sam Keenan was engineering, and was really exhausted from all the work he's put in the past few days for the live broadcasts. Luckily, the We Are Scientists one was the last, and he could finally go out and enjoy SXSW.

A quick stop to the Driskill to meet up with a colleague was the next item on the list. As soon as I walked into the lobby, I remembered that the hotel is the hotbed of industry activity. A hint to anyone that's looking to network - that's one of the best places to be. It's probably even worth the ridiculously expensive cocktails.

Text messaging is the greatest thing ever!! I don't know what I'd do without it, or what people did without it before. I got a text reminder to check out a band called The Picture from New York. They had some problems when the mics and one of the guitars lost sound, but were complete pros and just played it cool. We quickly stopped by Nuno's to check out Goldrush on our way to Bourbon Rocks to see The Lovetones from Australia and one of our clients, Hopewell, from New York. Structurally, Bourbon Rocks is ok, with a lot of great sight lines. The bad thing is that in-between bands was a painfully annoying Top-40ish nightclub DJ talking to the crowd. What's worse is that he was trying to play "indie" music, obviously NOT what they're used to playing there. His version of indie music was The Strokes and Beck. Not that there's anything wrong with them, but in the context of what was going on, it was just sad.

I got to see one of my favorite band from SXSW 2004, The 88. They were playing an unofficial show at The Drink upstairs. The crowd was small, and there was an unusually high amount of "myspace whores" who probably found the 88 through their myspace page and songs featured on the O.C. The funniest part was when two girls started grinding on each other. In front of The 88. Yeah, weirdest thing I've seen yet.

I rounded out my night with a stop at the Atmosphere show at Emo's and making a stop to pick up a surprise for my husband. I even have pictures, but I can't say what it is because he's probably reading this as we speak. I can't let the internet ruin everything!!"

Kate Galloway's Report from Day #2 of SXSW

Report number 2 from Kate. I was one of the lucky folks who got a live text message as she was rocking out to the Beastie Boys last night.


Mark Mallman and Kate Galloway

See dozens more brand new (and exclusive) photos here.

"It seems like an entire week has gone by already. 6-7 hours of sleep sounds like a lot, but doesn't seem like much. In general, I'm really impressed with this year's festival. I'm not sure what's different, exactly, but it seems like it might be better organized. At any rate, I'm happy with everything so far.

Thursday was full of fun surprises for the lucky badge holders at SXSW. First, there was a secret, (I knew about it Tuesday), then not-so-secret Beastie Boys show at Stubb's on Thursday night at 7:15pm. The rumor was that it was supposed to be badges only, but when I got there they let about 100 lucky people with wristbands in. One guy came running in and was freaking out so much that he nearly knocked me over. But then we became buddies. That's just kind of how it goes around here. I was in a really bad mood up to that point. The Beastie Boys, even with the rough spots, was the best thing I'd seen yet. I was giddily dancing and taking endless photos, mini-videos, and haphazardly leaving voicemails to people, including my best friend from high school who I know is the only person in the world who totally gets why the Beasties were so important to me growing up. It was a hard act to follow.

The second "secret" that buzzed about was the appearance of The Flaming Lips at the Clap Your Hands Say Yeah show. Whenever you see "Special Guest" on an empty slot in the schedule, you can pretty much figure it's going to be someone totally awesome. The show was at Eternal on 6th Street, Aubry and Craig guesstimate the capacity at 600-700. Craig and Aubry even met Alec Ounsworth, the lead singer of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, and there's a great picture too.

Perry Farrell apparently showed up somewhere and sang "Mountain Song" solo acoustic, which is sparking the next rumor that Jane's Addiction is supposed to play at some point too. No one has confirmed sightings of the rest of the band though.

Morrissey and Neil Young were the big draws at the Convention Center today.
People waited for 3.5 hours to get a good seat for the rare Neil Young interview. Morrissey wasn't quite as long of a wait. Our friend from New York, Matt Rocker, took a couple of great shots of Young getting interviewed outside of a hotel.

I was able to fit quite a few shows in and really didn't have the urge to go to any of the day parties. A fun stop in the middle of all the debauchery was the annual Minnesota Happy Hour at the Intercontinental Hotel. All sorts of people showed up and it was a nice intimate crowd. Always nice to see familiar faces and compare notes as to how the festival is going.

Mark Mallman put on a great show, of course. This time it was right where all the action was, and he was on the same bill as Eagles of Death Metal. Some of the acts I caught were Mates of State, Aqueduct, Rocky Votolato and Dresden Dolls. More to come tomorrow!!"

Kate Galloway's report from Day #1 of SXSW

Here's the first of Kate (Vamp Music Source) Galloway's reports from the SXSW festival in Austin. Stay tuned for more. (Photos will be gathered here.)


Miles Shrewsbery (drummer for Dave Stringer), Aubry Walch, Kate Galloway and Dave Stringer

"This is Vamp Music Source's third year attending as a company, and we've added one more agent to the staff which brings us to four (Kate Galloway, Craig Grossman, Charles Gehr and Aubry Walch). The 20th Annual SXSW Music Conference started like most all of them do for me. Exhausting, but exciting. We drove the 20 hours to get here, but were wise to leave early Tuesday morning so we could stay a night in Dallas before making the final leg of the trip to Austin. It was worth it.

Upon arriving to our digs, (courtesy of Matthew Odam, Editor of The Austinist www.austinist.com), we quickly readied ourselves physically and mentally to go to the convention center for check in. Last year was a disaster. I heard it was because of some computer mishap, but all I know is that I had to wait in line for over 2 hours. It was horrible. Not sure what they did this year, but I was in and out with virtually no wait. Kudos to them for getting that figured out. This year, they offered the option to upload your photo prior to your arrival, so you wouldn't have to get your photo done there. I ended up forgetting to to that, and was dreading the line I'd have to get it to have the photo done. But, to my surprise, the woman at the check in said they had my picture. What? I was so confused. Then she said, "Oh, it's your photo from last year." Damn, those crafty bastards. The technology upgrades are certainly a plus. But, are they turning into the CIA?

Off to the panels... went to a pretty good booking and touring panel first, then a couple hours later went to see the Beastie Boys interview. It was pretty cool, they were really funny. Seemed a bit tired, like the rest of us. But it's obviously a great opportunity to get to see these people speak in person (Kris Kristopherson, Neil Young, The Pretenders, et al). Of course, the panels are just one part of the perks for us badge holders... the best part is the music!

Aubry and I headed off to an unofficial (and maybe illegal too) party hosted by the Austinist behind a bar called Red 6. We caught one band called Asobi Seksu from New York. They were a good indie rock band, with a bit of synth pop mixed in. I'm pretty sure the lead singer was singing in Japanese. I can't say for sure since a makeshift party held out on a back patio is bound to have sound issues. Vocals being the biggest one.

As 8pm (official start time of the music showcases) crept near, we made our way to Redrum to see a band called New London Fire (Eyeball Records). Aubry was really into them, and I thought they were good, but just a bit too clean for my taste. I prefer things a little dirty. Great vibe though, 6 people on stage at once is pretty fun. I had to run out though to catch Aberdeen City from Boston for their 8:30pm slot as part of the ASCAP showcase. I'd heard these guys about 2 years ago and have slowly seen them get picked up by the radar, which is great because their music is quite amazing. Always good to see a band pull it off live too.

Next, I walked down the street to catch one of my all-time favorites, David Mead. I remember seeing him 3 or 4 years ago with 20 other people at the 400 bar. He used to be signed to RCA and has a much bigger following in the UK than here. Not only is he an amazing pop singer/songwriter, but he couldn't be a nicer guy. I ran into my friends Lou and Rain who host house concerts at their place in New Jersey and was so happy to hear they were going to have him in a couple weeks. I wish I knew more about people that might be hosting house concerts around the Twin Cities. It would be a blast to see someone like David Mead in a setting like that.

At 9:15pm I rolled in to see Dan Israel & the Cultivators with Randy Casey on electric guitar. It's always so fun to see Dan here. There were plenty of Minneapolis folks in the house to lend support. Funny, didn't see Raihala! But I see he got some photos of the show... sneaky Ross.

Shockingly, I had not much to do at 10pm, so I followed Craig and Aubry to go see Oranger... but we were aurally seduced while walking past Stubb's to go in and see the New Pornographers. Normally, I steer clear of the "big" shows, but I couldn't help myself. They were playing my favorite song!! The line was pretty obnoxious. I'd have to guess that the people with wristbands (about 100 or them) were waiting for over an hour, only to be told that the place was at capacity. The badge line was close to one of the longest I'd been in, but it only took about 20 minutes to finally get in. I was happy. My husband was happy I went too. He thought I was crazy that I wasn't even considering seeing Belle & Sebastian at first. I saw about three songs but had to go to get to the next place. I probably would've stayed longer had it not been for the obnoxiously drunk Irish and British people I seemed to find myself standing next to - two different groups in two different spots. Nothing kills a show better than annoying people.

At 11:30pm I had to haul ass to get over to see one of Vamp's bands, Moth. I was half-way there when I got a text message that another one of our clients, Dave Stringer, was there and looking for us. Stopped at Bourbon Rocks and met with him and brought him around for the rest of our adventures, even though he didn't have a badge or wristband. There are ways to get around those things at SXSW if you're crafty. Moth rocked our faces off for a bit, ran into Sean Hoffman, Kat Hixon and Ryan Smith at that show. But we had to GO!! Willie Wisely was playing with none other than Andy Dick!! Walked at least 10 blocks only to find out Andy Dick decided to cancel. The good news was that the venue was right next to Katz's deli and we were hungry. Finally rolled into be about 3:30am.

That was pretty much the night! There were fun and funny things that happened at every spot, wish I had the time to get into them. I did find out about a secret show that I'll write about tomorrow! And the Minneapolis meet and greet is this afternoon so I'm sure I'll have stories from that too."

HowWasTheSnow? Any show cancellations?

The Blind Boys of Alabama show, scheduled for tonight (3/13/06) at the Guthrie, has been cancelled after the band was unable to make the journey from Cincinnati to Minneapolis due to the inclement weather.

If you have word on any other cancellations, please share them in the comments or in this forum thread.

More Tour Dates: Eclectone Records announces Spring Tour

Below are the dates for the Eclectone spring tour with Martin Devaney, Charlie Parr, and Big Ditch Road.

March 18th
pre-tour show
Big Ditch Road
Martin Devaney
Bob McCreedy
The Rox--St. Cloud, MN

Mar 23 2006 8:00P
Green Lantern Winona, MN
Mar 24 2006 8:00P
Dukum Inn Kirksville, MO
Mar 25 2006 8:00P
Davey's Uptown Kansas City, MO
Mar 26 2006 8:00P
The Show Room Oklahoma City, OK
Mar 27 2006 8:00P
The Show Room Oklahoma City, OK
Mar 28 2006 8:00P
Hole In the Wall Austin, TX
Mar 29 2006 8:00P
Room 710 Austin, TX
Mar 30 2006 8:00P
Dan's Silver Leaf Lounge Denton, TX
Mar 31 2006 8:00P
Replay Lounge Lawrence, KS
Apr 1 2006 8:00P
Off Broadway St. Louis, MO
Apr 2 2006 8:00P
The Subterannean Chicago, IL

Tapes 'n Tapes "No Laziness"

No Laziness indeed! (I know Pitchfork already put this on their front page. But I myself was lazy and they beat me to it.)


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tapes 'n Tapes are proud to announce their "No Laziness in the '06 Tour"

3/10/06 Gorilla vs Bear Showcase The Cavern, Dallas, TX #$
3/13/06 Blacklion, San Antonio, TX #%
3/14/06 Superhappyfunland, Houston, TX ^
3/15/06 SXSW Levis/Fader Party, Levis/Fader Trading Post
3/15/06 SXSW Live on KEXP, Austin City Limits Stage
3/15/06 SXSW Blender/VH1 Party, Guerrero Produce Warehouse
3/16/06 SXSW Schubas Roundup, Yard Dog Art Gallery
3/16/06 SXSW Team Clermont/Echo Party, Red 7
3/17/06 SXSW Spaceland/Echo Party, Antone's
3/17/06 SXSW Showcase, Latitude 30
3/18/06 SXSW NY2LON, The Velvet Spade
3/21/06 AlterKnit Lounge, Los Angeles, CA *
3/22/06 Spaceland, Los Angeles, CA &
3/23/06 Cafe du Nord, San Francisco, CA &
3/24/06 Dante's, Portland, OR @
3/25/06 Sunset Tavern, Seattle, WA @

# with Birdmonster
$ with Seventeen Evergreen and Bill from Sound Team
% with Dimes
^ with Dr Dog, Hudson Bell and The New Flesh
* with Cold War Kids
& with Blackbud
@ with The Double and Mazarin