Cory Graves
Start The Fire With B.J. Novak.
Did you let 311 Day sneak up on you once again? Whoops.
While it's probably too late to make it to New Orleans for the 311's marathon, 70-or-so-song-long set tonight, hey, there's always next year.
In the meantime, there are tons of other places to get blazed and spend money on things you'd prefer not to tell your friends about. And live music!
Gary Numan at Granada Theater
Before Grandaddy came along, it was Gary Numan that had the “music for sad robots” genre cornered. Unlike that band, though, Numan never went away. In fact, his recently released 20th studio album was his highest-charting release since the '80s — back when he was putting out songs like “Cars” and “Are Friends Electric?” The fact that his most recent batch of material sounds like it could soundtrack a reenactment of Trent Reznor going through a midlife crisis is probably something that many an industrial music fan will find all too pleasing. — Cory Graves
Experience Hendrix at Verizon Theatre
For his upcoming role in the biopic Jimi Hendrix: All By My Side Andre 3000 spent up to six hours a day taking guitar lessons in order to re-learn the guitar left-handed. It's a move that, by all accounts from critics who've seen early copies, paid off in abundance for the rapper. Of course, that's something the rest of us will have to wait to judge until the film officially premieres tomorrow at SXSW. Before that, noted noodlers Billy Cox, Buddy Guy, Zakk Wylde, Jonny Lang, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Dweezil Zappa, Eric Johnson, Doyle Bramhall II, Chris Layton (of Double Trouble) and Eric Gales will all do their best to emulate the legendary shredder out in the 'burbs tonight. — CG
B.J. Novak: “Crafting Comedy” at Horchow Auditorium (Sold Out)
While Novak is best known for his role as the temp (Ryan Hamilton in The Office), he also actually played a big hand in writing that show during its nine-season run. His Arts & Letters talk tonight will be culled from his recent book debut, One More Thing: Stories and Other Stories, a collection of short stories that's already drawn comparisons to Woody Allen and David Sedaris. — CG
King Buzzo at Dada
In a somewhat surprising career move King Buzzo of Melvins fame has recently taken a break from his 30 years of making sludge rock to embark on a solo acoustic tour in support of a solo record he plans on releasing sometime around June. While he likes to refer to his new material as “molk” — as in not quite metal, not quite folk — it's really more like acoustic Melvins. That's to be expected, though, as Buzzo has been responsible for most of that outfit's songwriting over the years anyway. — CG
Wreckmeister Harmonies at Crown and Harp
Besides getting to see acts you'd rarely get to otherwise — or multiple headline-quality acts on the same bill — the biggest indicator you've got a spillover lineup on your hands is bills with five or more acts for a ticket price that would be considered absurdly low 50 other weeks out of the year. As such, you've got the chance to catch Chicago visual artist J.R. Robinson's drone-heavy noise project Wreckmeister Harmonies at this one along with openers Nite, The Terror Pigeon Dance Revolt, Ryley Walker and Please the Trees all for just $7. — CG
Pujol at Double Wide
A handful of the garage-leaning acts that performed at Fort Worth venue The Where House yesterday will kill some more time on their meandering trek to Austin by repeating the feat tonight in Dallas along with a handful of similar-sounding acts. Like last night, Nashville punks Pujol will headline, this time with support from Nightmare Boyzzz, The Longshots, Cobalt Cranes, Communist Daughter, Great American Canyon Band and Douglas & The Firs. — CG
The Kickback at The Prophet Bar
Tomorrow evening, the Chicago-by-way-of-South-Dakota indie-rockers will make their third official SXSW appearance in a row. This is in spite of the fact that the band's only released a couple of EPs and a live recording to date. And while they've been spending time in Austin recording their debut LP with Spoon's Jim Eno of late, you'll have to rely on their reputation as an explosive live act in the interim. — CG
Rathborne at Three Links This show has been canceled. — CG
The young New Yorker — who previously billed himself using his full name, Luke Rathborne, prior to the release of September's Soft debut LP — finds himself taking up residence near the tract of land where Americana and garage rock briefly intersect. To that end, fans of early R.E.M. (or modern-day Daniel Markham) will have no trouble latching onto Rathborne's sound. Streets of Lardeo and J.D. Wilkes & The Dirts Daubers open.
Stardeath & White Dwarfs, Blackstone Rangers, Dead Leaf Echo and Ice Eater at Lola's
A part of us wonders what folks like Jakob Dylan and Julian Lennon think of a band like Stardeath & White Dwarfs. On the one hand, we're sure they can relate to the whole having-a-successful-relative-in-the-biz thing, as the band's Dennis Coyne is the nephew of Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne. But, on the other hand, the fact that Dennis isn't of Wayne's direct lineage probably helps Stardeath avoid some of that unfair criticism that comes along with not living up to one's already-legendary father. That being said, Stardeath's brand of psych rock is quite good on its own, Flaming Lips notwithstanding. — CG
To find out what else is going on today, this week and beyond, check out our events page.
