Officials with the South By Southwest (SXSW) Music Conference scheduled for March 12 through March 16 at the Austin Convention Center recently announced Lou Reed will be the keynote speaker for 2008.
Reed’s speech will coincide with a special screening of Julian Schnabel’s film “Lou Reed’s ‘Berlin,” which documents a recent performance of the landmark 1973 album. Reed rose to fame as a member of the rock band Velvet Underground, then enjoyed a successful solo career. His music has been heralded as inventive and ahead of its time, often exploring new territory in rock and roll. Reed will speak at the Austin Convention Center on March 13 as the kickoff of the 22nd annual SXSW Music Conference.
In addition to Reed’s appearance, the conference presents interviews with a number of featured speakers. Daryl Hall is just one of many artists who will speak and give a series of interviews, and he will perform a SXSW showcase. Hall is best known for penning such classic hits as “Sara Smile” and “Rich Girl” with his partner John Oates. In addition to Hall and Oates, Hall has enjoyed a prolific solo career both as a songwriter and as an artist. Country legend Dolly Parton also is scheduled to make her first SXSW appearance March 14 to promote her upcoming CD “Backwoods Barbie.”
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Recently, a two-DVD set featuring the best of the Johnny Cash TV shows was released by Columbia Legacy. Fans of the ground breaking series had waited more than three decades for this footage to be made available. While Sony owns the rights to the video footage, an interview I had with John Carter Cash a few months ago indicated that he owns the audio tapes to all the TV shows. He hinted that he would be releasing audio CD’s from various shows and he made good on his word. On Jan. 8, CBS Legacy gave us a “Best Of” audio CD that collects 16 tracks from the hit TV show. Johnny opens the set with his hit “I Walk the Line,” before going into “Flesh and Blood,” a No. 1 hit for Cash in the late 1960s. The audio CD includes live performances by such artists as George Jones, Bobby Bare, Ray Charles, Roy Orbison, Waylon Jennings and James Taylor, to name a few. Many of these tracks were not included on the two-DVD set and are heard here for the first time. One listen to this exciting collection will prove just how important Cash’s TV show was to history of country music. Now let’s hope John Carter Cash will open the vaults again to release many more hours of this incredible music.
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Although he has only one Texas date left on his current tour, George Strait proves that at age 55, he still can deliver the goods. His recent show in Austin clocked in at 110 minutes and had the Texas icon belting out 29 songs. With his stage set up “in-the-round” with microphones placed at all four corners, Strait casually strolled around to sing a few songs at each one. This allowed for all the seats in the Frank Erwin Center to be sold and offered a great view for all fans. He mixed in old hits along with the new ones, even throwing in a rousing version of the Johnny Cash classic “Folsom Prison Blues” as part of his three-song encore.
As of Tuesday evening, the only other Texas date is a March 7 show in Lubbock, but there are rumors of another leg of the tour to kick off this summer that will hopefully hit a few more cities in the Lone Star State.
Shows this week
Adobe Verde in Gruene
Thu. - Blake & Fallon
Fri. - Brent & Dave
Sat. - Scott Rotge
Sun. - Stephanie Briggs
Gruene Hall
Wed. - Zack Walther & the Cronkites
Thu. - Gurf Morlix / Sam Baker
Fri. - South Austin Jug Band
Sat. - Cary Swinney / Two Tons of Steel
Sun. - Nathan Hamilton / Larry Lange & his Lonely Knights
Riley’s Tavern
Today - River City Ramblers
Thu. - The Skeletons
Fri. - Chadd Thomas & the Crazy Kings
Sat. - The Stepsiders
Tavern in the Gruene
Today - Scott Wiggins Band
Thu. - Kyle Stephens / Brett Mouton
Fri. - Stephanie Briggs
Sat. - Zack Walther & the Cronkites
Uptown Piano Bar
Today - Paul Schaffenberger
Thu. - Luvine Elias, Jr.
Fri. - Paul Schaffenberger
Sat. - Dave Madden
Sun. - Dave Madden
Cheatham St. Warehouse - San Marcos
Today - Kent Finlay Songwriters Night
Thu. - Ryan Turner
Fri. - Zack Walther & the Cronkites
Sat. - Gary P. Nunn
Lucy’s on the Square - San Marcos
Fri. - Grupo Fantasma
Please send upcoming live music info to: dale(at)martinsmusic.com
