My New Year's Eve tradition

I'm blessed to live in Austin, Texas. I've been here since '95 and have no plans on leaving anytime soon. One of the many things I love about Austin is obviously the live music scene. More importantly to me, the Latin music scene we have here. Despite my love for the incredible and amazing Maneja Beto and David Garza, Grupo Fantasma has ruled the scene for ten years now. I have zero problem with that. No one smashes harder than Grupo.

For the past few years, it has become a tradition for Grupo Fantasma to play here on New Year's Eve. Last year they performed at Mohawk and the at The Parish the year before. This year, Grupo's show is even bigger as it is at La Zona Rosa and with Austin's hip happening soul band, Black Joe & The Honeybears. I have my tickets thank goodness, as it is probably sold out by now. I hope you got your tickets.

Even if you missed out on your chance to spend NYE with Grupo, you should be at one of the many other great live shows happening here in Austin. Cake is at The Austin Music Hall. The Sword, the world's best metal band not named Metallica, will be ripping faces off at Mohawk. Cheer Up Charlie's has a great local band showcase that gives you the most bang for your buck. Oh, and Lady Tron will be at Seaholm Power Plant. That's just to name a few. My friends at Do512 have a great list for you here if you still have no idea what to do tomorrow night.

Anyway...Happy New Year to all of you! It's time for me to party and enjoy my life before getting back to work on Monday.

I can't post the new video for "I'm Broke" by Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears

Today I just realized that I have never blogged about one of my favorite local Austin based groups, Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears. Seriously folks, I'm embarrassed by it. Black Joe is amazing, funky, soulful, you name it. There's nothing bad that can be said about these dudes.

Here in Austin especially, they cross over into every genre of music fans, from indie rockers to funksters. Even hardcore fans such as myself get down to Black Joe. They should be even bigger now thanks to recently opening for Austin's indie mega stars, Spoon. This past Friday on YouTube, their label put out their new video for "I'm Broke" off thier album Tell Em What Your Name Is!

This is the part where I'd usually post the video, but it has been disabled by request on YouTube. I hate when labels, bands, artists do that. Why even bother to put it on YouTube? I know the answer, it's exposure. People search YouTube all the time and it will get views. As a fan with a blog, Myspace page, etc I'd like to post it and share it with people. Viewing it on YouTube is free. Watching the YouTube videos are free. The average person can't rip the videos anyway. Even someone who could with a YouTube downloader, could they also edit the video? Those people are slimmer by the number. Would they do it to this video? Not likely. The same thing happened when they put "Sugarfoot" on YouTube. That pisses me off.

Unleash the reigns there suits and watch the views increase greatly! Watch as they sell more albums and downloads. Watch more people buy tickets to their shows in Austin and out of Austin. Why cheat the band out of that? Embrace web 2.0 and social media. When done right, it does wonders for bands.

Click on the album cover to check out the video for "I'm Broke". It's funky. If you are new to Black Joe Lewis & The Honey bears, check out the video for Sugarfoot as well. You'll enjoy that as well.