Mess With Texas during SXSW last year was a huge hit in the cozy confines of Red 7 and MWT2 promises to be an even bigger bash with a wide variety of musical acts and comedians on tap. Waterloo Park is the host this year and this year’s free, all ages show kicks off at noon on Saturday the 15th. But of course there are so many other day shows, parties, and what not going on in the town that the sponsors (including Forcefield PR, Record Store Day, JetBlue Entertainment, Fuel TV, SuperDeluxe.com, and Garnier Fructis) want to give you V.I.P. treatment if you can write a witty piece of prose. As has been the case with other stellar Waterloo Park shows, local entity Transmission Entertainment has helped organize this brouhaha....

The relevance of a 7" originally pressed in 1987 (two years after the band broke) being reissued now, in 2008, speaks volumes about a band with impact beyond its lifespan, beyond its then-insular and divided scene, and beyond our own expectations. In 1985, the punk scene in D.C. revolved around a sort of Machiavellian machismo which turned many punks into disgruntled outsiders at their own shows. Rites of Spring retaliated (even before Fugazi did), with unapologetically emotional lyrics about friendship, love and (oh my god hardcore scene) personal issues and groundbreaking song structures that took the hardcore scene by storm. ...

[Ed.Note: Nick Courtright is a local poet and writer-at-large who took some time to share his thoughts on Akron/Family's latest release. We hope to be hearing more from him soon.] Bookended by tunes ripened on that great commune in the sky—a place where it's a good idea to feature the word "love" three times in a song title— Love Is Simple finds its true footing, and its ultimate salvation, in the middle. Powerhouse rock-out "Ed......