Diatribes by Joah

On the Cusp with The Soldier Thread

Austin is America's live music capital.

If you were here in March for South by Southwest or you plan to be here for the Austin City Limits Festival in October, you probably already know that. But it's not the major festivals that merits Austin such high praise. In fact, Austin earns its designation as the mecca of live music in the U.S. because bands like Scorpion Child, T-Bird and the Breaks and The Always Already who play shows at places like Club DeVille, Beauty Bar and Emo's, venues that typically host local bands for local fans.

The Soldier Thread, perhaps more than any other band in Austin, represents why Austin beats out San Francisco, New York, Minneapolis and other cities with strong local music scenes. After moving back to Austin early this winter, I quicky hooked on to The Soldier Thread and now 10 to 12 shows later am convinced they are the most signable band in this city.

With influences such as Radiohead and Death Cab for Cutie, I'd be lying if I said their sound was entirely new. But new doesn't always mean better and The Soldier Thread's best qualities are the facts that a) you probably already like the kind of music they play and b) they aren't Radiohead or Death Cab so you don't have to pay $40-$200 to see them live. And, truth be told, they always leave me with the feeling that I'm going to see their next show no matter what the door price is.

The band consists of a female lead vocalist/violist Patricia Lynn, and four highly-talented musicians in Justin McHugh (piano, songwriting, vocals) and Todd Abels (lead guitar, vocals), Drew Van Diver (drums), and Chance Gilmore (bass). Outside of Scorpion Child, I'd be hard pressed to find a harder working band in Austin. They play often, they play their hearts out and they play better every time I see them. And they're using Facebook, MySpace and Twitter the way any smart local band should.

Seeing The Soldier Thread, as I did last night at The Parish, is seeing Austin's music scene unfold wonderfully not simply because they sound like some of the bands on your iPod, but because they sound destined to leave Austin and go on to bigger and better things in the music world. If there was one band I could put Bob Lefsetz up on, it would be this band.

On their album, Shapes, the sweet strength in Patricia's voice is matched only by the almost-orchestral breadth of the band's instrumentation. It's no wonder the band has been plucked for shows on MTV, been deemed an up-and-comer by Spin magazine, and left Lollapalooza founder Perry Farrell saying, "Patient in the arrangement, yet still displaying strong emotions." The strongest track, "Run, Run", demonstrates the refined, yet boundless power exuded by the combination of Patricia's talents as a vocalist and violist and the guys' ability to merge within a record without breaking it. Maybe it's the sound guy, but that may be giving too little credit to the musicians on stage.

They are signed to local label Sea Change Records, but for all intensive purposes the band remains unsigned to the kind of major label that could take them to the levels that Vampire Weekend got to in '08 or Phoenix this year.

Although most of local bands like The Soldier Thread never break into the mainstream - for every Spoon there are three thousand indie bands here in Austin - many of them are every bit as good as the bands you hear on the radio or see at those major music festivals. Only they're like those now-popular bands when they were still on the cusp, rather than riding the crest.

Austin's latest music phenom, Black Joe Lewis, has caught fire and is primed to surge even further into the mainstream once he rocks ACL Fest. He's on a relatively small lable, so maybe major isn't the way to go, maybe the David Geffen's of the world will hear them virally.

Either way, The Soldier Thread is on the cusp of something much bigger than The Parish. And Austin. So for now it's a real treat to watch them get better with time and build their fan base one convincing show after another. Last night, some of my friends heard them for the first time and all I heard after was "I love this band!" and "I am sooo glad I came out tonight!"

A dozen or shows in, I feel the exact same way.

The Long Awaited Trip to Brasil!!!

I am less than 10 days away from the biggest trip of my life. By biggest, I mean longest, furthest, most amazing trip ever in my life! Next Friday, I'll be traveling to Buenos Aires (that's in Argentina) and then onto Rio de Janeiro (yep, in Brasil) to broaden my horizons!

Is it un-American to point out that they beat us at soccer and a few other things...

I know most of my readers are either a) from families that allowed them to explore the world as students or b) studied abroad (I guess a and b are the same), but I'm a whole different story. I worked non-stop (well, I took the summer before college off) from age 11 through college and never took a backpacking trip to Europe or a family trip to Belize or learned how to speak Japanese by spending a semester in Osaka. The longest trip I have ever taken my entire life is five days. And that was my trip to Seattle and Vancouver last year.

So let's just say this is a long time coming. I've wanted to go to Brasil since college and I've been planning to go for four years. Finally, it's just around the corner. The only thing holding me back at this point is an outbreak of the H1N1 Virus in Argentina or a Visa denial from the Consulate of Brasil. [Pretty please let me in...]

Otherwise, this time less than two weeks from now I'll be doing the following:

1. Hitting the beach at Ipanema

2. Seeing the beautiful Christ the Redeemer statue

3. Checking out Sugar Loaf, one of the most famous sights in Brasil

4. Avoiding the neighborhood where City of God was filmed (although I've been told I could pass for a Brasilian)

5. Going skydiving (again)

6. Enjoying 75-degree weather in the winter

7. Eating fruit like crazy...now this is my kind of country!

8. Checking out apartments

9. Looking for a job

10. Sending letters to you all with my new home address and phone number!

A saying I really hate

You know that saying, "good things come to those who wait"? I hate it.

It's the most nonsensical saying someone could ever say, especially to me. Why, you ask? Because waiting around is absolutely the most ridiculous advice you could ever give someone. Waiting is for people who don't have anything better to do. Which should mean no one. Waiting is for people who don't have the ambition, balls, commitment, dedication, energy, and the alphabet long list of other qualities people should be encouraged to attain.

But waiting? Why the hell are people encouraging young people to wait around for anything. We'd all be better off if we were instead told to rush through everything...at least it wouldn't take us the majority of our adult lives to figure out a) there has to be something better than this, b) we are failures or c) if we want to succeed, we should change course.

I don't know, maybe I'm too young to be writing this. I'm only 26. That's right, only 26. I hate those women who cry about approaching their late 20s unmarried. Why? Because they're still waiting to get married! It's a trainwreck of a relationship waiting for them, that's for sure, if all you're doing is waiting around. Hell, be aggressive, ask a guy on a date, get a phone number, do SOMETHING...waiting around for Mr. Right is about as smart as waiting for the pounds to fall off or waiting for Keith Richards to die of an overdose. Good luck.

In all honesty, I guess what I'm trying to say is even simpler than all this ranting. I'm really just proposing a small change of verbiage.

Why not say this: good things come to those who deserve it, but only after patiently working hard to get it.

That's far more accurate from what I've seen. And, to answer your question, yes, I am an impatient person.

Friday Jam: Benga & Coki

For those of you that don't know, this is a dubstep classic.

One of these will be next...

Seriously...be very very quiet

Taken while driving...setting sun

And a view of the UT Tower.

CPR fails to revive Michael Jackson

When Luther Vandross died of a heart attack at age 54, I was troubled but not troubled in the way that makes me want to take a hot bath. But this morning, I took one.

I know that plenty of bloggers, commentators and networks are covering the death of Michael Jackson, but I'm not piggybacking on the death of a legend for readership. I'm writing about how it feels to lose a true source of inspiration for me personally.

The other day, I wrote about my dad and how I never really grew up respecting men because of his absence. Well, I lied. I meant that I often find it difficult to respect any man who is supposed to be a source of inspiration for me (a father, a boss, a teacher). Michael Jackson was different.

He was inspiring millions long before I was born the year Thriller came out so my passion for that glittery glove, those white socks and that high-pitched voice wasn't based on his earlier, childhood and teenaged success. Instead, my appreciation of all things Michael was based in a ceaseless respect for a man who looked at the world from the top, but seemed to constantly seek approval from those supporting him from below. He represented Democracy for all its worth. Born in poverty and abuse, pulled himself (and his family) up by their bootstraps (and his penny loafers), and famous far beyond his peers, namely Prince and Madonna.

This may have been his greatest weakness of course, his undying need for acceptance and validation: first by white America (having grown up a poor Black boy in the 60s), then by children (having missed his own while leading the Jackson 5) and then by music fans (having made his last great album in the '80s).

But for a man with so much greatness, one must expect his life's curtain to hide so much weakness as well. And the older Michael got, the more see-through the curtain became. To the point that his final years were not of a star shining bright, but of an icon widely exposed to flashing lights.

As Bob Leftsetz wrote yesterday, "Michael Jackson never had a chance.  He had to succeed for his family, his parents' dreams were dependent upon him. And a boy with that much pressure delivers.  He works truly hard, so he will be loved.  That's all Michael Jackson was looking for, love. He wanted to be accepted.  Wanted to be so good that he couldn't be denied.  But you can't change family history, and the public no longer treats you as human, as an equal, once you break through.  People want to rip you off or tear you down, or shower you in faux love that's more about their unfulfilled desires than yours."

The paparazzi were nothing compared to the doubts that Michael surely noticed from music fans and critics alike as the '90s passed by with no groundbreaking material from the man who gave us "Rock With You", "Beat It" and "Bad". And these were the same people who supported him for three decades of his life. Only the hard cores...the crying, fainting, glove-wearing fans remained. The rest was a silent majority and silence to a man like Michael can be even worse than criticism.

Perhaps fittingly, Michael died of cardiac arrest, a medical condition that occurs when blood suddenly stops circulating due to heart failure. The first way to begin treating this condition is with CPR.

Michael's heart - his music - failed years ago. Because of his iconic status it took longer than usual, but eventually the people who were charged with giving him CPR - his fans - could no longer get his blood flowing.

Regardless of what the autopsy shows, Michael's body of work was beyond categorization. They call him the King of Pop, but to me he was an inspiration. He taught us how to walk on the moon.