With Speeding Motorcycle, Zach Scott Theater has delivered a solid product. The basic story is simple—boy meets girl; boy becomes obsessed with girl; boy really, really can’t let go. The show also deals with Johnston’s stint inside the mental hospital system. we’d recommend it for any Johnston fan, but unlike most of Zach’s offerings, bringing your granny, your momma or your baby sister might be a little problematic.
Speeding Motorcycle Hits the Boards at Zach
Austinist Show Preview: Speeding Motorcycle @ ZACH
Infernal Bridegroom Productions and Zachary Scott Theatre Center have teamed up to bring Austin the Daniel Johnston inspired Speeding Motorcycle rock opera, starting on Valentine’s Day on the Kleberg Stage at the ZACH. The show runs until mid-April. Wednesday evening shows can be attended for a special price of $15 while discounts for seniors, students, and groups of eight or more are also available.
Austinist Festival Giveaway: Fun Fun Fun with Of Montreal
Fun Fun Fun Fest is just around the corner and today we feature Kevin Barnes and his merry gang of electro-pop connoisseurs that comprise Of Montreal. Barnes has garnered infamy this year thanks to his shenanigans, but synth-powered melodies and instantly catchy chorus’ remain his focal outlet. The wonderful folk at Polyvinyl Record Co. have provided us with the band’s brand new video, “Gronlandic Edit” off this year’s Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?...
Break Out the Polka Dot Underwear
Just how much do you know about local artist Daniel Johnston? Enough to play Captain America or Joe the Boxer on stage? Convincingly? If you happen to have two Johnston pieces in your repertoire, check out this little gem we spotted in the current issue of the Austin Chronicle: "After two wildly successful runs at Houston's Axiom last year, Jason Nodler's original rock opera Speeding Motorcycle, based on the life and music of Daniel Johnston,...
Austinist Show Preview: Of Montreal At Emo's
Of Montreal, unlike what seems to be the case with most great bands recently, is not a group from Montreal. They're from Athens, Georgia, home of the now legendary Elephant Six collective. Along with that distinction comes the obligatory psychedelic noodling and Beatles-in-the-wood-chopper homages, yet they have remained a singular and most impressive voice in the realm of Indie-dom. On their most recent release, Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? lead singer Kevin Barnes...
The Beer's Free, and the Questions Deep
One of the more intriguing panels during SXSW Interactive isn't even part of the official conference: 20x2 assembles twenty interesting individuals from the creative industry -- "writers, musicians, filmmakers, web geeks and other bon vivants" -- and poses a broad, abstract question that each must answer in two minutes. Having been around since 2001, questions presented at 20x2s past have included "Who Are You?", "What's the Word?", and "What's the Big Idea?". Abstract, indeed. This...
New Release Tuesday: January 23, 2007
Welcome back kiddos, the year is kicking off with a shotgun bang. Head over to Waterloo or End of an Ear and ask for these albums: as far as we can tell, it's hard to go wrong this week. The Shins Wincing the Night Away (Sub Pop) Well, they're definitely stretching, and they're definitely getting more and more familiar with the studio, as "Phantom Limb" demonstrates: James Mercer is still having trouble falling asleep,...
Austinist's Top 15 Albums Of 2006
15. Mogwai - Mr. Beast (Matador) As ever, Mogwai manage to blend unadulterated post-rock weight to their shoegazer tendencies with tracks like "Glasgow Mega Snake" and "Folk Death 95," showcasing their ability to create anthems with no words. This is where Mr. Beast really shines, in between blistering chord progressions and gradual swings into corybantic climaxes. In some ways a throwback to earlier (and heavier) Mogwai material, Mr. Beast isn't merely a rock album....
Austinist Album Reviews: Graham Coxon and The Datsuns
Believe it or not, Love Travels At Illegal Speeds is former Blur guitarist Graham Coxon’s sixth solo record. His third since leaving the band, LTAIS boasts crunching guitar hooks and sparkling pop-rock along with a plethora of downtrodden, forlorn ballads. As the title of the album suggests, Coxon tackles the fluctuating fortunes of love and the struggles of being smitten. Lyrics like "When I saw you / my life turned so beautiful / I never met no one like you before” in “Tell It Like It Is” lead to “You came into my life and then you disappear / And when I reach out ‘cause I want to hold you near / There’s nobody here” later in the song, seemingly summing up the gist of Coxon’s laments.
Austinist Interview: The Devil and Daniel Johnston Director, Jeff Feuerzeig
You are a self-professed Daniel Johnston obsessive. Can you remember when you first heard about Daniel Johnston? I was a college radio DJ [in New Jersey], and word was trickling up from Austin, Texas, through this underground network of people--before there was an internet—through fanzine culture. I was reading a lot of fanzines, which was an underground publishing network. Word was trickling up through this network of a few hundred people around the country from...

