Free Show at Zeppelin’s Underground Draws Few

After meeting with friends at local pub Hemingway’s, three of us headed to the free show around 1130 across the street at Zeppelin’s Underground.
With only 25 to 30 people in attendance, it was hard to believe that a no-cost show would not be bumpin’. Disappointing really, but it was a slow Wednesday night everywhere on Cincinnati, especially Black Market which offers Dollar Well drinks on Wednesdays. Not even the soccer game which had Mexico’s premier teams America v. Cruz Azul battling it out at the Sun Bowl could keep the crowd at the bars afterward. Such a shame, because it really was a good show…and Free! You can’t say no to that!
As soon as we entered, the three of us were enveloped in the music coming from the stage courtesy of San Francisco band The Hundred Days. Consisting of your “normal” set-up, a drummer, guitarist, and bassist, they also had an extra member. This dude was insane and really into the rad music he was projecting from his keyboards and guitar. Yeah, this guy doubled up on instrumentation. Their sound was really good, think The Killers-ish and their lyrics were pretty good too.
Caro bought their cd, which also came with a pre-release new track or something, that according to the keyboard/guitarist, “Jimmychanga” was “hot-off-the-press.” The jury’s still out on the c.d., I have yet to listen to Caro’s copy, but I did hear a few of their tracks online–i really dug ‘Benefactor.’
After their set, we got to meet the guys of The Hundred Days (THD) and found out they’d been on tour which led them through SXSW  and now had them heading through the Sun City on their way back home to the bay area.
They were interested in Cd.Juarez, more particularly in having 3 chaperones take them over there. Yeah right. But the cool thing was that Jon, the singer, was pretty fluent in Spanish. Still didn’t prevent them from attempting to treat us like sleazy groupies. We’re ladies, so none of that.

During The Hundred Days' set

Boston’s Junius played after THD. Though I can’t really say whether they were any good or not because I was outside talking with THD, I will mention that they blew the electric breaker in the middle of their set. We all know only hardcore bands do that, so I’m assuming I missed out. On the upside, being on tour with Junius for all this time,  THD’s drummer and bassist knew the lyrics and were singing along to the muffled sound coming from the inside of Zeppelin’s.
We ended the night shortly before Junius‘ set was over. We left with a promise from THD that they would soon return and romance us with their musings. Won’t hold my breath for that one.

I don't know shim in the pink, but THD is onstage.

(l-r) Val, Jimmychanga(keys/guitar), Caro, Jon (singer/guitarist)

****
A word on Anavan’s surprise show last friday: there wasn’t one. The Dozal Bros were not able to find a venue for the band to play that night. I was stuck at work (how unglamorous, i know) so i wouldn’t have made it out anyway. But Anavan was insane.
Dozal Bros’ Gabe, via the group’s myspace music page, said that Anavan has plans to return in the summer giving them a few months to get a place set up. whoo Anavan!

A Word on Anavan….Just a quick addition….

Anavan will be in El Paso on Friday on their return from SXSW and the band’s looking for somewhere to play….!!!!!
If anyone knows of a house, available club/bar, or warehouse, anything!! contact the Dozal Bros. here.
I’ll update this when I get more info.

Whoooo Anavan!!!

Graduation Alert!

I have some new updates.
I went into the my college dean’s office to see what was going on with my degree re-eval…it wasn’t done! Yeah i should’ve been extremely angry, but the lady was kind enough to get it done while I waited!!! All this time I was thinking that some school officials were lazy and uninterested, but this lady totally went above and beyond and completed the evaluation in less than 15 minutes.
I found out that the Philosophy class I was currently taking was unnecessary, although I spent about 100 dollars on textbooks, was a weight off my shoulders. I dropped the class yesterday,dodging the midterm that I would’ve been crying over today.
With this revised evaluation, I also discovered that one must never underestimate the power of testing. The testing I’m referring to is taking one to get credit for courses. I will be able to apply my knowledge of the Spanish language to my elective credits. Yay!
So now it boils down to a meeting with the department chair to determine what to do about that mingy remaining class I have to take that was not offered this spring or summer. It was offered in the fall of last year, but I was out in D.C. interning for Scripps Howard News Service. I went into his office Monday and today, but he’s been out because he’s sick and today he had a funeral to attend. I have the worst luck sometimes. I have to remain positive though.
***
I will be attending UTEP’s Graduate School Expo on Thursday afternoon and see what my school has to offer me, I suppose. That and I’m waiting on an internship offer that I received a preliminary phone call for yesterday. I don’t want to say with who until I’m sure about it. It’s dealing with electronic media writing, which I’m familiar with, so I’m pretty psyched about it.
***
So Borderzine, I’m still working on a few stories that are on the editor’s desk at the moment. I got an email from source about some mistakes that were published in my last story. I must admit it bothered me considering that I recorded our interview and asked him more than once on one of the “mistakes” I wrote in. But it was fine, I worked with the administrator and the minor adjustments were made.
Working on editing video I took of the XIV Congreso de Literatura Contemporánea Mexicana. I’ll post the link as soon as it goes up. The article I wrote’s in English and the vid is in Spanish (of course!).
More updates soon…

SXSW in El Paso Part Deux

So….
Last time I left off on the  St. Patrick’s tuesday night show. Already Spring Break is over and there are still shows going on around town. It’s pretty awesome.

***
Wednesday night Mar. 18th
Health @ The Black Market
Despite the high school show I experienced the night before which would normally constitute a lame night, Wednesday night was by far one of the worst. I heard that Health was making a stop at the Black Market. I’d heard of them and what I’d heard had only moved me to want to see them for myself. This would be the first time I ever heard their music too, which is a lot of pressure to put on a band who may or may not be on their “A” game. I paid a seven dollar cover charge to watch four half-naked guys jam out and bang on a drum in the center of their set-up and decided after fifteen minutes it was time to leave. The crowd was small and no one seemed really into it, though everyone was huddled around the corner where the L.A. band had set up shop. The next day at work I saw a dude wearing a Health shirt that he said he bought at the show. I asked him what he thought and he said he loved them. Definitely not my cup of tea.

L.A. band Health

 

Health + drum

***
Thursday March 19th
SXDX @ Zeppelin’s Underground (ZU)
Unknown to me, but apparently Zeppelin’s bar has a name for this entire South by Southwest traffic concerts here: Southwest Drive-by (a.k.a. SWDX). Clever, right?
On this night, there were eight bands playing. Two bands would play simultaneously, one upstairs in the recently added portion of the bar/club, and another in the old stage.
I made it in time after work to catch the last of San Franciscan band Excuses For Skipping’s set. Four chicks from San Fran, you do the math. They were good. The braless singer was rightfully hippie-ish and their sound was inspiring. The crowd definitely dug it.
I left for a bit to head over and meet friends for a drink at the Black Market across the street and missed the Shock Deformity set. This one-man electro band is……shocking, to say the least. I’ve only seen him once and that was enough. This guy likes to get naked and dance in the audience. I say, avoid hanging out too close to the stage unless you dig that. Musically average at best, but kudos to him for shaking it and not caring what anyone around thinks.
I caught locals Lusitania. I always see them setting up, or get text messages about their shows, but this was the first I’d actually made it in time to enjoy their set. There were five guys on stage and I know the singer’s girlfriend, Nicole. She does back-up vocals and plays the keys, but wasn’t there that night; could be she was out fronting her own band The Royalty?
Lusitania’s sound is folky, country, electroblahish. Mostly country-sounding in my opinion. It was nice, definitely different than any of the other local bands around.
I joined Love & Co.’s Eldika for the Esperanto! set. Four-member local band…think Cranberries entangled in a romp with Morrissey….I think. I don’t know if that would adequately describe them, but it definitely reminiscent of 90’s rock sounds. It’s lady singer, lady bassist, male guitarist and one fabulous guy drummer. grrr. The crowd was small, a ton of their friends having a good time and enjoying their music. Esperanto! played well into last call; you can bet your bottom-dollar, that half of the people watching were pretty tipsy by then, so dancing was no problem.

Esperanto!

Esperanto! drummer Eric....grrrrr

Lusitania

One Wolf--i didn't catch their set but i saw them starting and had to get this

***
Thursday was the end of my Spring Break, I worked every night of the weekend. Depressing.
More shows every night this week, but I’m really looking forward to this fridays SWDX grand finale which will feature locals Mexicans at Night and Low Luster League.
Tomorrow (Wed. March 25) there will be a free show with San Francisco indie/post-punk band The Hundred Days and Boston indie/progressive band Junius.

El Paso’s Music Scene Reaps the Benefit of I-10

If there ever were such a thing as “The best week to have to spend in El Paso” I would have to say it is this week. It’s spring break time, and many are opting not to go for the vacation. Luckily for those of us stuck here for one reason or another, our location on Interstate 10 allows for some interesting visitors in our city. And these interesting visitors are not always what one might expect (see: dirty truckers, normal truckers, runaway teens, outlaws heading for Mexico). Here in El Paso we have the advantage of being a stop for many a band headed out to play in Austin for the annual South By Southwest (#SXSW) Music Festival. Once a year, El Paso gets a taste of SXSW, allowing for it to become a miniature version of what people who have never gone to the festival might experience on one of those humid Austin nights on 6th street.
So far, I’ve made it to 4 of these installments offered, and I’m glad to say I’ve only been truly disappointed once.
Sunday March 15th @ Black Market
Headlining: Anavan w/ Local bands: Love & Co. and The Dozal Bros.
This show was probably the best of the bunch, at least for me. This was the first time I got to see Love&Co. which is vocally-fronted by my good friend Eldika McFarlane. It is along with Eldika’s jazzy etta james-ish vocals that Fernand Asadi’s intoxicating bass sequences , Albert’s wailing guitar riffs and Wally Byers’ heart-pumping drum-bumpin that took the crowd. If it wasn’t their melody then it definitely must’ve been the singer’s humorously risque comments during the set that landed her a few free drinks and laughs and her mom (who was sitting of to the side) with a minor heartattack.
The Dozal Bros… well…they haven’t let me down since the first time I heard them in ’07 at the Line Bar (r.i.p.) in Juarez, MX. This electro-sexiness band is made up of two brothers which I assume are now both over 21. Need to fact-check on this one, plus there’s been an overwhelming suspicion that the keyboardist has been switched around, prompting a “could no longer be Dozal Bros.” thought. I’ll figure it out and get back to this.
Then Anavan. Wow, Anavan! Guitar, drum, keyboard trio band Anavan was amazing. Hailing from L.A., Anavan had all of us dancing and would not let us stop. I heard this electro-pop band’s for “hipsters” but either way I dug it. Henceforth, does this mean, I, too, am a poser? Whoo Anavan!

Dozal Bros. set

 

Love & Co. singer

Anavan's Keyboardist. Love those rings

 

Anavan's keys

 

 Monday March 16th

Heard there was an awesome show at Zeppelin’s Underground on Mesa, but I opted for a somewhat low-key night at the Air Guitar Tournament at Cincinnati Bar. Luckily, I made it just as it was finishing, but the crowd that gathered for the event was pretty massive. I was surprised that air guitar has a decent following.
Tuesday March 17th @ house show
St. Patty’s Day.
In a make-shift outdoor concert, a few peeps took to a lower valley backyard to listen to a few local bands as well as two out-of-towner ones. Amidst dirt clouds bands played and kids stood around with their tall boys. It was high school deja-vu. These Are Powers, formerly known as The Liars, from Brooklyn, locals Buckeye and Oxidant Phlegm played. Love & Co. again graced the masses. The big let down of the night was when Denver band Sugar Henry apparently spooked by the police department’s cameo, decided to skip.
These Are Powers, TAP as I will from here on refer to them as, an electro-blah band, has been on tour for a bit and along with Sugar Henry headed to Austin. TAP is fronted by a female vocalist/keyboardist who also mans a few of the synths along with drummer and guitarist. Their first song, reminiscent of my personal favorite, Swedish sibling-duo The Knife, to me lacked a little luster. But i love, love, love The Knife so thinking of anyone imitating their sound makes me a little bit defensive.

Doesn't this remind you of those seedy high school shows??

These Are Powers' singer/dancing blur

 

These Are Powers' guitarist + snazzy mic stand

These Are Powers @ backyard show

****

okay enjoy the pics… this entry is To Be Continued. Got more pics, some vid and more about wed and thursday’s music.

Ahhh spring…

I would say this may easily be considered the halfway point of the semester: spring break time.

I feel a tad disappointed that I never got to take that cliched, frivolous trip to the beaches of Mexico or South Padre Island, my friends and I always talked about in high school. I’m not peppy enough for that stuff, and too reserved to be one of those American tourists letting loose in Mexico. Either way, the State Dept. is sending out alerts to the University advising against traveling across the border.
So guess that means that the Spring Break tradition of walking across the bridge to partake in the ultra-classy “$6-dll Drink and Drown” will be postponed until further notice…
***
So let’s see. I’m still waiting on my revised degree evaluation. I would say that it has easily been three weeks. I plan on following up the Monday after Spring Break. The other day I received an email from UTEP that gave the deadlines for graduation applications. I’ve also been getting a ton of notices regarding the “graduation regalia” rentals at the bookstore. Not to mention, letters in the mail regarding graduation announcements. It’s funny, I don’t even know if I’ll be eligible to graduate, and already I have three sources at me and my pocketbook. I’m curious as to why it costs money to graduate; I’m going to ask on Monday too. I’ll pay whatever to be able to get my diploma, but I’m curious as to why after so many years of banking, the university wants a little night cap.
***
I’m working on what will happen after this mystic graduation. Currently, internship opportunities are on the radar, but UTEP is hosting their graduate school fair in two weeks, so I plan on swinging by and looking at options.
Truth is: the plan is to leave El Paso. “Brain Drain” yes… blah blah. I have to remain fresh in perspective, explore new territory, not remain ignorant, and be self-sufficient (if that is the correct term).
A couple of years ago, my destination was Phoenix. I was intent on transferring, universities and part-time job. It didn’t happen for financial reasons, though I was accepted and my job transfer had been approved.
After graduation, it’s blank pages. In that I find something exciting, but overwhelmingly frightening.
***
A few of my stories for Borderzine are up. I’m trying to get the video I filmed and produced for the cycling story approved and up, but it’s been put on the backburner for vacation time. Look for the vid by the end of the month (unfortunately).
Right now I’m putting together a spanish story for the site as well as a video interview to accompany it.

Borderzine.com–check it.
***
Next on the agenda:
The GRE.
oh and that nasty little Philosophy midterm.
In the meantime Feliz Spring Break!

And So It Begins..

I’ve been told that a successful blogger follows one simple rule, “Blog what you know.” But, I’ve also noticed that many bloggers do so without the notion that with writing comes a responsibility. As a journalism student, I understand the responsibility. Everyone seems to be blogging now, it is about time I did too.
I’m not going to try to blog about politics, immigration, or health issues, although I do recognize the likelihood of any of the previously-mentioned issues coming up as I continue to write.
I will be graduating–maybe not today, tomorrow, or even on time as I had previously planned. That is my mission. The fact.
What I project to do with this space is to document  my struggles with the collegiate system as well as those I may have with myself to get through this strange time.

***
Two months in and already there have been changes in the dates I’ve been given to graduate.
First important item of business: The Degree Evaluation. I’d never heard I had to seek one out! Turns out students should get one their junior year, according to the Liberal Arts College secretary. She also said that students go into the office not knowing about the necessity of one quite often, which she speculates is neglect on behalf of the advisors whom “assume the one student they tell will then spread the word.” uhhh…?? Word of mouth? Are you kidding me? Something as important as making sure one is on track with their degree is left to word of mouth?
Good news is I finally received my degree evaluation by snail mail. Took forever but it details the exact track I have taken and…wait…what? Three classes!?? I still have three classes to take before I can get a diploma?
That brings me to the 2nd order of business: Make sure to be evaluated on the correct degree plan year! Something as minor as the year written in can set one back semesters. Take my degree for instance, Print Media. This one major alone has been relaunched about three times since I started at UTEP in the fall of  ’04. I asked the secretary for help in which degree year to select, and she chose the wrong one. I hold on to every registration page, so I was fortunate enough to be able to go back into the office with the correct degree plan to refer to. I am currently waiting on my new degree evaluation which should say I need one more class NOT three.
***
My Major.
As one can tell, I am too far ahead in my degree to consider switching major a great option. The newspaper industry is slowly wilting and all journalists are trying to hold on to dear life.
In an attempt to try to absorb some of the devastation that the flailing job market is having on the press, and consequentially, its students, UTEP’s communication department launched a new online publication, Borderzine.
This semester, I have the privilege of contributing to this publication both in reporting as well as with multimedia options. I know how to use many programs already but this will be the first time I will actually be able to synthesize my writing and graphic skills. Funny thing is that there’s a lot of talk about the term “backpack journalist” and how it is now a requirement to be one, but this will actually be the first time it comes to play. None of the internships I’ve had ever wanted me to take photographs, make videos, or blog even. I like having more creative control, so it does wind up being a win-win.