Below is an audio clip provided by local videographer DaveTV of Austin singer/songwriter Davíd Garza getting bitchy on the mic. Some background on DaveTV: The guy has been around the scene for years and was part of the original Austin Music Network (pre-ME Television). He and his crew had been filming Alejandro Escovedo's weekly residency at Continental Club for several weeks now (with Escovedo's permission, of course).

Last week, DaveTV asked Davíd Garza if he could film his set as well, since Garza was scheduled to play immediately after Escovedo. Garza gave his permission, but after the set started DaveTV noticed that Garza seemed uncomfortable with their presence. After the first song, DaveTV and his crew decided to stop filming. They packed up their gear and left the room, but the audio was still recording from the soundboard when Garza made some bitter comments about the video crew. Listen....

A few days later, DaveTV posted the audio clip on Facebook (I added the graphic for YouTube) and it got quite a response, mostly bashing Garza. One person defended Garza, saying it was sarcasm and he was just joking with DaveTV. But I completely disagree. If you're joking with someone, you don't do it behind their back, when you think they're not listening. The only sarcasm I detect is when he says "They were great." Obviously, he thinks they're anything but great. His tone of voice gives it away. What this is is Garza being petty and a diva. He gave permission to film and then acted bitchy afterward. As a videographer myself, that really pisses me off.

I don't know what DaveTV did to annoy Garza. I've seen DaveTV around at shows and he is a low-key presence when he's filming. Sure he's tall, but he just stands there with his camera. He isn't rude as far as I can tell.

Maybe they have a past history; I don't know. But this seems like a really classless move on Garza's part, regardless. It's not a huge deal, but it still caused me to lose some respect for Garza. He's a great musician, but obviously being a great musician doesn't always mean being a decent person. What do y'all think? Is Garza just having fun or does he sound genuinely bitter?

Remember Fun Fun Fun Fest? Of course you do. Ever been to a show at Mohawk? Of course you have. Transmission Entertainment is behind both that festival and that venue (as well as Red 7 and Club de Ville).

Needless to say, Transmission is a huge part of making Austin's independent music scene as vibrant and memorable as it is at the moment. Now, the live-music powerhouse is looking for interns to help the cause. This is an unpaid internship that runs from January to May. Responsibilities, according to Transmission's website, include "assisting the Transmission staff with events, relevant research for events, assisting with managing the street team, designing fliers and posters, occasionally assisting on site at events, helping us update our social networking sites, assisting with sponsorship and sales, responsibilities associated with SXSW, receiving (and reading in full) Graham William's 'People of Wal-Mart' emails, and having a lot of fun."

If you think you're up to the task, send a cover letter and resume to intern coordinator Zoe Cordes Selbin at zoe@transmissionentertainment.com

Here's a link to more info: www.transmissionentertainment.com/entry/streetteamintern/

Don't let the label "world music" scare you or turn you off. The world is big and interesting, and so is the diverse array of sounds that gets thrown into that generic genre label. Take La Guerrilla, for instance. This fusion big band blends a mix of punk, ska, Latin, reggae, and funk music to get its unique and highly energetic sound. Horns, violin, and lots of percussion add layers to the usual rock flavor of guitar/bass/drums.

La Guerrilla plays tonight at 8p at KUT's world music night at Momo's, presented by Bemba Entertainment. Cover is $5, and $3 with a student ID. Click here for the Do512 listing.

 

a bike-riding hipster

I was using the men's room at Hole in the Wall last night and noticed the words FUCK BIKE RIDING HIPSTERS! scrawled violently with marker above the toilet. Now, I knew what it meant. But it took a second of processing because I was confused momentarily by the lack of punctuation.

Punctuation is an important aspect of any style of writing. Whether you're an academic or a journalist, or even just a blogger or restroom-insult-writing rebel, punctuation matters. Punctuation is clarity, and clarity is key in all forms of communication. Writing, quite obviously, is communication.

Why I was confused by the sentence: It has a verb, a compound adjective, and an object. BUT... the verb ("fuck") is also known to be used as a noun from time to time, and can even be used as part of a compound adjective. The word "bike", too, can be used as a noun, verb, and part of a compound adjective. Therefore, punctuation is needed to clarify the role of each word in this sentence.

I'm assuming the pissed patron meant "Fuck bike-riding hipsters." As in, fuck hipsters who ride bikes. But without that crucial hyphen, the sentence could have been read as "Fuck-bike riding hipsters" (as in, there's a "fuck-bike" and it's riding hipsters) or "Fuck-bike-riding hipsters" (as in, hipsters who ride "fuck-bikes") or even "Fuck, bike-riding hipsters" (as in, Fuck, man, here come the bike-riding hipsters). The options are nearly endless. But one well-placed hyphen immediately clarifies the intended meaning of the sentence.

That's why punctuation matters. And that's this week's grammar lesson, courtesy of 'NITES: A blog for Austinites, and hipster-hating drunks everywhere. Cheers!

One of my favorite local bands, Prayer For Animals, played Fox 7's Good Day Austin morning show a few days ago. They play again tonight at the Jon Pettis memorial show at Hole in the Wall. If you don't have plans, definitely check out this show. It's 12 bands playing between 4p and 2a. TONS of local music, featuring The Eastern Sea, The Midgetmen, Follow That Bird!, Frank Smith, and more. Check out the poster for details here. You can watch more Good Day Austin videos here.

This excites me quite a bit. Here's the first preview of the DVD for Psych Fest 2, which took place during South By Southwest this year. It took place at Radio Room, a venue that lasted all of one week on Sixth Street. There's a for-lease sign up on the place now. But the quality of bands at this festival was great. The DVD was produced by AltaReal Pictures. Thanks to Jen Leduc for the heads up on this video.

On Friday, I launched a redesign of this blog and made a post about the change in appearance. But that's not all that's changing. I'm officially changing the content format around. Don't worry; it's nothing drastic. This blog will still focus on local music. I've always wanted this blog to be about the unsigned and unsung independent bands that make up the Austin music scene. That won't ever change on this blog. You can read about your favorite touring band elsewhere. What will change is the features... the way I choose to write about local bands.

Read about the planned changes after the jump.

It's almost a perfect storm for video viralness: Cats. In wigs. Glammed up and posing for photos. This 90-second piece of weird is lighting up the Vimeo world with 2,500 views already (it was only uploaded eight hours ago!). The video, with its fancy photo-friendly felines, is a promo piece for a book called Glamourpuss: The Enchanting World of Kitty Wigs.

Watch the video after the jump.

Hey everybody. I decided to redesign this here blog. I was getting tired of looking at the old design. A new year is approaching, and a new 'NITES awaits it.

What's different? First, the design. I've gone from three columns to two. I've reduced the amount of widgets and gadgets, paring down to only the most essential features. Clutter = bad. Simple = good. Those are the rules of good blog design, if you ask me. I've designed a bunch of arty banners like the one above, which I'll be swapping out how ever often I feel like it.

I'm now using the "after the jump" break for longer posts, which means you'll only see an intro to a blog post on the home page. If you want to read the whole post, you have to click on the headline or on the text reading "after the jump". This was also done with clean, simple design in mind.

I might make a few more tweaks, but this is essentially the finished product. Let me know what you think.

Last week, I posted about my video camera being broken. It's going to cost $350 to fix. Not an earth-shattering amount, but still a hefty chunk of change. Since I do this blog for free out of passion, I figured I'd ask you, my loyal readers, to give to the cause and help me out. Several of you have stepped up and you've gotten me almost halfway there. Surprisingly, most of my contributors have been other bloggers and writers.

I'm making one last pitch, since I'm still about $200 shy of my goal. Anything you can give will help. My smallest donation so far has been $5. The largest was $20. Good times. Thanks everybody!

Click the button below to donate via credit, debit, or PayPal account.

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