Pop Culture Press Party

Pop Culture Press Party
Where: The Dog & Duck Pub
406 W. 17th St., Austin TX (512) 479-0598

When: SATURDAY, March 19, 2005 12 noon to 7 pm

The line-up:

noon The Lackloves (Milwaukee, WI) (Rainbow Quartz) www.lackloves.com

The Lackloves are a terrific pop/rock band modeled on great bands like The Kinks, The Who, and the Beatles. Their last two albums are among the best indie rock releases of recent years. Formed from the ashes of power pop band The Blow Pops, they’re becoming known as one of the best bands around.

12:35p Craig Marshall (Austin, TX) www.craigmarshall.com

For years Craig Marshall has been the frontman for Austin’s Lucky Strikes. This year he releases his second solo album Before the Fade Away, firmly in the power pop genre, and already it’s become one of the favorites this year around the PCP offices. One track is the lead-off cut on our March 2005 issue sampler.

1pm The Great Lines (Gillingham, UK) (unsigned) www.thegreatlines.co.uk

The Great Lines are a new band formed by Mark Matthews and Robert Collins of The Dentists, a band who’ve been described as being ‘the first great Britpop band.’ The Dentists’ last show at SXSW seven years ago was a packed event that some still remember as the best live show ever at SXSW, and we’re proud to present a fantastic exclusive track by them on our new sampler.

1:35p Susan Cowsill & the Mid-City Ministers (New Orleans, LA) www.susancowsill.com Susan Cowsill is a long-time favorite of ours. In the past, she’s been part of the family band, The Cowsills, sang with Twilley for a decade, and was a lynchpin of the Continental Drifters for another decade. She’s currently shopping her first solo album Just Believe It, backed by an all-star band of New Orleans’ finest, and is veering into some alt.country and outright hard rockin’, in addition to her usual folk/pop repertoire. Along the way, she’s become one of the finest new songwriters around.

2pm The Golden Apples (Austin, TX) (Golden Apples Records) www.thegoldenapples.com The Golden Apples, whose members have previously played in The Texas Instruments, Tyrant Swing, and Jet Jaguar, have become the finest pop group out of Austin since Cotton Mather. Their second album, Cooler Jets Will Prevail, finds them rockin’ harder than ever, although the pop hooks still abound.

2:35p Ron Flynt & Steve Allen, w/special guest Dwight Twilley (Austin, Nashville, Tulsa). www.dwighttwilley.com Flynt and Allen have been playing together for over 25 years as the frontmen for 20/20, who scored several major label hits in the late ’70s/early ’80s. This is a special, rare acoustic performance, during which they’ll be joined by Dwight Twilley, who preceded them to LA (and major chart success in 1974. Flynt’s promoting his new song cycle about the 20/20 years in LA, titled L.A. Story, which features Allen on lead guitars and harmonies. Twilley’s promoting his new album, 47 Moons (DMI), his finest work in decades

3pm The Grip Weeds (Highland Park, NJ) (Rainbow Quartz) www.gripweeds.com

The Grip Weeds live are like a made-in-heaven combination of Moby Grape, The Move, The Buffalo Springfield, and The Who. And if that sounds like high praise, it’s not far off the mark. Over the past few years, they’ve made three excellent albums, and this marks their second visit to Austin for SXSW.

3:35p Amy Rigby (Nashville, Tn) www.amyrigby.com

Amy Rigby became justly acclaimed after the release of her landmark album Diary of a Mod Housewife several years back. With her witty but biting lyrics, and engaging onstage personality, she’s become of favorite of audiences wherever she plays. She’s just released a new collection of rare live tracks to accompany her last solo album Til The Wheels Fall Off (Signature) and her anthology 19 Again (Koch). She’ll be doing two short sets for us.

4pm Steve Wynn (New York, NY) (Golden Apples Records) www.stevewynn.net

Since founding the Dream Syndicate, one of L.A.’s most beloved Paisley Underground bands during the early ’80s, Steve Wynn has become known as one of the finest songwriters around. He’s just released a new anthology of his best solo material, including work with his excellent band, The Miracle Three.

4:35p Amy Rigby (again)

5pm The Fire Marshals of Bethlehem (Austin, TX) www.thefmob.com

The Fire Marshals aren’t yet a household name (in spite of their amusingly titled debut CD, Songs for Housework), but they have a well-known member, noted producer and ex-Zeitgeist/Reivers frontman John Croslin, who’s produced albums by Guided by Voices, Pavement, and Waylon Jennings. With lead singer Julie Lowery, and Kevin Carney & Hunter Darby of Austin’s beloved Wannabes, along with Javelin Boot’s David Midor on drums and violinist Jenny Smith, the Fire Marshals are a songwriter’s collective making a mega-rare live appearance especially for us. Their CD, by the way, is one of the finest records to come out of Austin in a decade.

5:45p Dan Israel (Minneapolis, MN) www.thecultivators.com

We knew Dan Israel in his Austin days, but now he’s returned to his hometown of Minneapolis, where he received a 2004 Minnesota Music Award for Best Folk/Acoustic Artist. Over the years, he’s released seven fine solo albums, and is becoming nationally recognized as a major songwriting talent.

6pm Mary Lou Lord with Emergency Music (Salem, MA) (Rubric Records) www.maryloulord.com

Mary Lou Lord is a SXSW fixture, famed for busking outside the Driskell, and giving her guitar to anyone brave enough to sing a song. Last spring’s Baby Blue was a brilliant album, recorded with her long-time songwriting partner/producer/guitarist Nick Solomon (Bevis Frond). For this show, Mary Lou will be presenting a new band she’s signed to her label, Emergency Music, who will perform a brief set, then back her for more to close out our party. www.emergencymusic.com

Pop Culture Press is based in Austin, Texas, and was founded in 1987. We’ve been championing independent music for more than 15 years, and our circulation has increased steadily over the last few years. We?re distributed nationally and internationally through Borders Books & Music, Tower Records, Books-A-Million, and countless independent mom-and-pop book and record stores nationwide. Our fall 2004 issue is on stands now, with cover act Robyn Hitchcock. Our spring issue hits streets this March, featuring a cover story on Mercury Rev, and great artists like the Ani DiFranco and Dwight Twilley, and an exclusive track by the Great Lines featured on our CD sampler.

For more information, contact Kent Benjamin at kent.benjamin@tlc.state.tx.us, or Luke Torn at pcp@grandecom.net. www.popculturepress.com