what's in a name?

at 1:30 am on tuesday morning, i left chico, ca and began the 10-hour drive home to salt lake because i had to work the cafe for the weatherbox/jet lag gemini show. they brought along a songwriter that travels by the name of snuffaluffagus. stop: we agree, a suspect name, but portland-based songwriter chris braciszewski makes up for it as soon as he begins singing. it's one of those deals where the music is so good it doesn't matter what you call it.

snuffiq is in the vein of beirut, devendra banhart or castanets: soulful lyrics sung with original style. some of you may be deterred by those comparisons, but snuffiq's delivery is on pitch without compromising on the creativity.

unfortunately, the blizzard of wednesday night destroyed the show. all the bands were good sports to still play the the meager crowd (and cheers to the crowd that still came out and lent support).

the week of music...

monday: hung out in the studio with brighten (who work with jeff schneeweis of number one gun) and listened to them work on their new ep.
tuesday: surrogate show (magic, magic).
wednesday: weatherbox and jet lag gemini at the cafe.
thursday: the new frontiers and atherton at the cafe (you are dumb if you miss this show).
friday: swans of never and emme packer show at the cafe.

if you like music, that's a good week.

sxiw (south by intermountain west)

the released the "official" SXSW list yesterday (whatever that means)...it's huge and there are bands from all over the world. like most of you, we're not traveling to the lone start state in march, so here's the next best thing: the cafe is bringing SXSW bands to you next week.

wednesday, february 13th: jet lag gemini. jlg just released fire the cannons, their debut cd on doghouse records. i'm not quite sure how pop-punk gets onto the SXSW bill, but jet lag gemini are good at it. you can easily see a crowd of kids bobbing their heads to jlg. whether that will happen remains to be seen. they play the cafe with weatherbox (doghouse) and locals larusso and the trademark.

thursday, february 14th: the new frontiers. if you read the blog you know we're trying to date the new frontiers. they're quite incredible at music-making and niceness too. their debut cd mending is sort of released (you can buy it on itunes) and is easily the best cd of 2008 thus far. catch them thursday with local alt-country darlings atherton (who we'd try to date too, but we're classy and don't want to double time anyone). atherton should be playing SXSW also to be really honest. they are the type of band i think of when i think about SXSW. also on the bill are this is anfield, dan cutrtis and travis van hoff.

friday, february 15th: swans of never. matt nane's is not going to SXSW. he's not playing it. we like him quite a bit though. his rugged artistic style represents a passion for his art that attracts an audience. matt openly bares his soul for anyone willing to listen, like a voice in the wilderness. he's leaving on tour (as guitarist for bradley hathaway). he'll feature a full band for the first time at the cafe (featuring guys from the almost).

so join us next week at the cafe for SXSW week on wednesday, thursday and friday. or book a flight to austin. if you do, let us know so we can hire you to write some articles for the ship. you'll of course get paid as much as we all do!

This "Is nice"

Weatherbox is a very lovely band composed of Brian Warren, Lowell Heflin, Dave Silverman, and Cory Stier. These San Diego boys are a part of Doghouse Records which includes bands like Meg and Dia, The All-American Rejects, and Say Anything. Impresive, yes? I would most definitely like to think so. What is also impressive is the music. I'm not quite sure how to describe it in any other way than a little different with a little of the normal. But, like many things, different and normal in very good ways. Brian Warren's vocals are, thankfully, not like everyone elses, and they hold your attention. The instruments work with his voice and each other to create a (can i say it?) catchy sound that actually sort of reminds me of The Early November. Maybe I'm all wrong here but with two EPs and one LP, I'd say they are on their way. But if you MUST decide for yourself you should check them out at the cafe tomorrow evening (Tuesday November, 27) with Get Back Loretta, The Lauderdale, and Paxtin. OH yes, how is that for promotion?

P&L sexys.