The Armadillo Podcast

Episode 19: Jade Day

Our next guest, Jade Day, is an Austin singer-songwriter who’s compelling songwriting, fierce falsetto, and dynamic stage presence have helped him stand out in a town over run with singer-songwriters.

Jade was recently on quite a tear during SXSW, playing three showcases and one radio station, supporting his new EP, Chimera.  Click on this iTunes button to sample and dowload a little Jade into to your iPod:   

If you caught Jade playing live at any of these showcases, send us an email and tell us what you thought.  If all that music wasn't quite enough to turn you into a Dead Head for Jade, (a Jade Head?), there are two more chances to catch Jade tonight: 

•   Sunday March 19th- Beck's: 6pm 
•   Sunday March 19th- Flipnotics: 9pm (1/2 hour showcase)

Still need more persuasion to devote your life to following Jade from gig to gig?  Take a listen to our interview with Jade and you'll sell everything you own and start living out of an old Volkswagen van.

Click here to listen to our Jade Day interview: Download ArmadilloPodcast19.mp3

Jade also has some free music from his previous album, In Absense or Abuse, available on his MySpace page. Word of warning:  Jade's song "Leaving" will break your heart.  It's not recommended listening for anyone suffering through depression.

Oh, and click here to read what Jade's hometown newspaper wrote about him.

(Photo above by Erica Lange.)

Free SXSW MP3 Downloads

Don't have a SXSW wrist band?  Don't worry.

The folks at CNET have some SXSW goodness for you, available in free MP3 downloads.

And they have lots of music from bands you've actually heard of, not just the wannabe's and the never-heard-of's. 

Morrisey, Echo and the Bunnymen, And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead, Rosanne Cash, The Greencards, Jessi Colter, Kris Kristofferson, Neko Case, Spoon and many, many more are there for your downloading pleasure.

Link: South By Southwest 2006 - Free Music Downloads - MP3 Downloads - Download.com Music.

SXSW column from a grumpy local: Please yell "Freebird" at every opportunity

Know what really, really gets a wanna-be rock star mad?  Yell a request for "FREEBIRD" during a quiet moment.

The Wall Street Journal reports on the front page this morning, that nothing sets off American Idol hopefuls like a shouted reference to an old Lynyrd Skynyrd tune.  See "Rock's Oldest Joke: Yelling 'Freebird!' In a Crowded Theater." 

Apparently it's such a cliche that Modest Mouse's Isaac Brock says that "if this were the Make-a-Wish Foundation, and you were going to die in 20 minutes -- just long enough to play 'Freebird' -- we still wouldn't play it."

According to the Journal, this urban legend-ish war cry began in Chicago:

Kevin Matthews is a Chicago radio personality who has exhorted his fans -- the KevHeads -- to yell "Freebird" for years, and claims to have originated the tradition in the late 1980s, when he says he hit upon it as a way to torment Florence Henderson of "Brady Bunch" fame, who was giving a concert. He figured somebody should yell something at her "to break up the monotony." The longtime Skynyrd fan settled on "Freebird," saying the epic song "just popped into my head."

Mr. Matthews says the call was heeded, inspiring him to go down the listings of coming area shows, looking for entertainers who deserved a "Freebird" and encouraging the KevHeads to make it happen.

But he bemoans the decline of "Freebird" etiquette. "It was never meant to be yelled at a cool concert -- it was meant to be yelled at someone really lame," he says. "If you're going to yell 'Freebird,' yell 'Freebird' at a Jim Nabors concert."

As a native Austinite, this is my personal plea for every SXSW attendee to yell out a request for Freebird at every SXSW show. 

I don't care that the influx of a thousand musicians and ten music label guys brings X million dollars to the Austin economy.

I just want just want a smooth commute to downtown and it pains me that the locals are tossed aside every March when the SXSW trots out the old guy we should lionize and the new guys we should adore soon. (This year the old guy is Billy Idol Ray Davies I haven't really paid attention enough to see who the new people are.  I hear that hip hop stuff really sells, though.)

Full disclosure: I lost way too many dates to Austin musicians while growing up here. I know I should be over it by now.  But I'm not.

(Originally published March 17, 2005 -- Had to do it again: Locals loved it and the little band guys wearing that shaggy haircut I wore in 1978 sent in a lot of hate mail.  **Snicker**)

More SXSW guidelines.

Ben Brown (Sell Out)

SXSW 2006 (Monday), originally uploaded by Laughing Squid.

We interviewed this guy back in Episode 11 (before he sold out).

A bit about Jade Day

The Austin Chronicle had this to say about Jade Day, our next guest:

"Jeff Buckley's ghost has invaded this Coloradoan's body, and he's screaming - alto growl to über-falsetto in one second. From Damien Rice to Jeremy Enigk, he hits every note" - Darcie Stevens, Austin Chronicle 9/04

Here's more praise:

"...ethereal falsettos in a Jeff Buckley-Thom Yorke mode, floating toward the clouds before you can grab them" - Chuck Eddy, Village Voice 8/05

  "...an intoxicating album that sounds poetic without the schmaltz. Day's structural subtleties are hypnotic, especially when they rise to full-throated climaxes. Keep an ear on them." - Michael Barnes, Austin American-Statesman/XL 1/06  (We interviewed Michael in Episode 17.)

Chimera, Jade's new EP is available on iTunes, of course, and you can sample every song here:

There are many opportunities to catch Jade at SXSW and all the details are here  in a previous post.

Or, you can join the Jade Day Army on his MySpace page.

What Smart People Will be Doing During SXSW

Win two free tickets to see the Texas Rollergirls special SXSW bout at the Austin Music Hall simply by sending me an email.  The first person to send me a note that says "Gimme those tickets," will get to see both the Hell Marys and the Hustlers battle it out against the Assassination City Derby and Dallas Derby Devils on Saturday, March 18, 1:30-4:00 p.m.

Just click here and send in the winning email.

Did I mention that The Spits from Seattle and The Motels will be playing?

Win Free Tickets to See the Texas Rollergirls

Guess what?

Courtesy of Austin's favorite roller derby league, the Texas Rollergirls, we have six free tickets to give away to their special SXSW bout, Saturday the 18th at the Austin Music Hall.

This Saturday afternoon from 1:30 to 4:00 PM, you can watch visiting squads Assassination City Derby and Dallas Derby Devils knock heads in the first bout.  In the second bout, the hometown heroines, the Hustlers and the Hell Marys will then put the hurt on each other. The winners of each bout will then challenge each other for the TX by TX Crown.  (My bet: If her knee is up to it, Dynah-Mite and the Hustlers will take the crown.)

Tickets are still available right here, or you can enter our contest.

We will give away two tickets to the first three people who can answer the following Texas Rollergirl trivia question:

edgeio-key: 89d83a817a637148e1f2d8fa9ce1b730e1e238ba

Meet Hydra, Texas Rollergirl and Miss March

Starting this month, The Armadillo Podcast is proud to announce a new feature: The Texas Rollergirl of the Month.

Meet Hydra, Miss March, and No. 4 of the Hotrod Honeys.

Hydra captained the Texas Rollergirls to the first national flat track roller derby championship title in February when they soundly whooped up on every team in the country, winning all seven bouts.

Come back soon to hear our interview Hydra where she'll tell us about being a hydrologist by day, Texas Rollergirl by night and a national champion.

You can also catch the Hydra and all the Texas Rollergirls at a special SXSW bout, Saturday the 18th at the Austin Music Hall.  The Assassination City Derby and Dallas Derby Devils will battle it out first, then your hometown Hustlers and Hell Marys will go helmet-to-helmet. The winners of each bout will then challenge each other for the TX by TX Crown.

These are afternoon bouts from 1:30 - 4:00 p.m. and you can still get tickets here.

Also note that it's just a coincidence that we've interviewed two Hotrod Honeys in a row. (Listen to our previous interview with Melicious by clicking here.)  We promise for next month that Miss April will be from one of the other three teams in the league.

Sample and subscribe to thousands of free podcasts at the iTunes Music Store.

Next Guest: Jade Day, Singer-Songwriter

In Austin, you can swing a stick in any direction and you'd hit a singer-songwriter.  Recently I met one of these folks and he helped me rethink my desire to hit singer-songwriters with a stick.

Jade Day will be our next guest on The Armadillo Podcast and if you'll take the time to listen to this upcoming episode, you too will probably give up the once-popular sport of swatting at singer-songwriters.  Like the clubbing of baby seals, this practice has got to stop.

In all seriousness, you owe it to yourself to give this guy a listen.  His latest EP, Chimera, is available on iTunes and you can always listen to a sample of his work before purchasing.  Click here to check out the four songs on Chimera:      

If you're struggling with your calendar during SXSW, listening to Jade's songs should help you make up your mind about at least one artist you can't afford to miss.

You catch Jade Day at several showcases during SXSW:

• Tuesday March 14th- El Mercado "Writers Who Rock" showcase: 9:30pm
• Thursday March 16th- Live performance on 93.7 KLBJ: 10a.m.
• Thursday March 16th- BMI Showcase @ Austin-Bergstrom International Airport: 4:15pm
• Thursday March 16th- South by Southwest showcase: Creekside at Capitol Place: 8pm
• Sunday March 19th- Beck's: 6pm
• Sunday March 19th- Flipnotics: 9pm (1/2 hour showcase)

Also come back soon to hear our interview with Jade and remember only you can prevent singer-songwriter clubbing.

Photo above by Melissa Champion.

A Kinky Reality Show?

"A cross between Groucho Marx and Don Quixote."

That's what producer David Steinbrenner calls Kinky Friedman.  Steinbrenner will be producing two pilot shows on CMT surrounding the Kinkster's run for Texas Governor.  Complete story here.

Sounds like a fascinating character for a TV show.  However, I'm not certain that Texas is ready for such complexity in the governor's mansion. 

We'll be posting our interview with Kinky later on today.  This interview was recorded two weeks ago and when we caught Kinky out at his Hill Country ranch, he seemed a somber man with serious ideas for the fate of Texas.

It was our intention to post his interview with the headline:  "It's Time to Take a Man Named Kinky Seriously."

Now he's signed on for a  reality show? On CMT?