We have an amazing lineup of shows for you during South by Southwest in Austin next month. For the first time ever, we’ve curated and will be hosting an official showcase.
“But Bill! Does that mean I need a badge and wristband?” you say, weirdly angry.
“No, it doesn’t,” I respond, calming you down with a little typical dad hand gesture. “It’s official but it’s also free and open to the public! How cool is that?”
Okay, don’t know how I ended up doing a whole dialogue thing there.
Anyway, with our good friends at our flagship station KUTX, on Thursday, March 18, from 3 to 7 pm, we’re presenting Rock the Shores at Auditorium Shores (Fun Fun Fun Fest RIP). Evoking the spirit of our Rock the Park series, we’ve got a whole afternoon/early evening of family friendly fun, starting with family acts and transitioning to more grown-up (but still kid-friendly!) stuff.
It’s continuing our string of themed shows, with this year being ska-themed. That’s right, every act will do at least one song from the long ska tradition. Performing: Lucky Diaz, Mega Ran, Smith & Yarn, SaulPaul, Jonny Langford & the Silver Sands Roustabouts, Rosie Flores, and Thao! That’s a wildly great show.
And then on Saturday, March 18, we’re partnering with our friends at Captain Quackenbush’s to present Rock It To Outer Space, featuring Red Yarn, Stacy Gray, Strawbitty Tops, and Andy Sprouts! This is a big ol’ day of activities, from 11 am to 5 pm. Tickets for that party are available at the SoundSpace website!
I can’t wait to be back in Austin for a week of fun, and to see all y’all!
A year ago at this time, I was in Duluth, Minnesota, reeling from the unexpected death of our friend Jon Western. I was raised United Methodist, and to the extent I’m anything, I guess I’m that, but I think I was doing whatever my equivalent of sitting shiva is. I rented a little place on Park Point and spent a good bit of time looking at the lake and sitting with my grief.
I’m back here again after a year of deaths, some I guess expected and a lot not. There was Jon, but there was also Morgan, (another) Jon, Jeffrey, Mark, Alan, Art, Nancy. Our friend Erik died in 2020 but his celebration of life was in 2022 due to the pandemic.
I’m 51, and I know that some of this is just what happens. But half of those are my contemporaries and it seems too soon.
Anyway. Like I said, I’m back here and I’m trying to process. For me, a lot of processing stuff is music, and a lot of it is walking. So this morning I went for a walk from my place on one of Duluth’s many wonderful walking paths, and I wanted something familiar. So I put on Frank Turner’s album from a few years ago, Be More Kind.
Ella and I saw Frank open for The Hold Steady in December 2017 (here they are together, there are swears), so we got to hear one or two of the songs from that album early—I mostly remember him doing “Make America Great Again” (which isn’t what you might think it is).
“Don’t Worry” had honestly never made much of an impression on me other than as a pleasant album opener, one I’ve heard dozens (hundreds?) of times. But this time, walking with Lake Superior perhaps 1,000 feet to my left, avoiding slipping on the ice, it resonated.
Don’t worry if you don’t know what to do I’ve spent a little time in worried shoes I wore them out through walking It wasn’t any use Don’t worry if you don’t know what to do
Don’t give up if you just can’t get away Don’t listen to the bitter things they say Put those thoughts behind you Tomorrow’s a new day Don’t give up if you just can’t get away
And:
Don’t let your heart get hardened into stone Or lose yourself in looking at your phone So many so-called friends And still you feel alone You should spend more time With the do’s than with the don’ts
Gosh. Yes.
I’m trying on all of this. Trying. But it’s nice to be reminded that it’s okay to sometimes not be able to get away.
My mom pointed out that part of me knowing a lot of people who died is me knowing a lot of people, and that’s definitely true, and it is, absolutely, true and a good thing. But Frank’s right: it’s easy to still feel alone.
We’ve all changed a ton, obviously, except that I still wear a lot of Hold Steady shirts. Frank still seems to be kind and generous and thoughtful.
But, to steal from another one of Frank’s songs—this one featured today on a fantastic teaser for Ted Lasso, Season 3, that I saw right when I got back from that walk:
I still believe in the need For guitars and drums and desperate poetry And I still believe that everyone Can find a song for every time they’ve lost And every time they’ve won So just remember, folks, we’re not just saving lives, we’re saving souls And we’re having fun
Somehow I knew that Be More Kind was the record, and “Don’t Worry” the song, for this particular time I’ve lost.
