The 4th Annual FUN FUN FUN fest
Presented by Transmission Entertainment & Incase
November 7-8th, 2009
Waterloo Park
Austin, TX
THE. BEST. FEST. EVER. Were it not for the fact that it happens in November, FUNFUNFUNfest would be the best/last outdoor independent music festival of the 2009 summer season.
Austin’s vibe is always easy breezy and positive. It takes place in beautiful, relaxing Waterloo Park mere blocks from the heart of town. You just sort of walk everywhere, graze restaurants and street vendors, watch rock shows, and stumble into pals. Totally early 90s Dazed and Confused-style.
As for the line-up, FUNFUNFUN’s roster is comprised of a veritable who’s who of the bands, comedians, and djs lurking on the summer outdoor festival circuit—Fucked Up, Crystal Castles, Kid Sister, Jesus Lizard, Cool Kids, Destroyer, No Age and dozens more. And, yes, most importantly, DANZIGis headlining. So random.
Bring earplugs and comfortable shoes. Take a road trip, this one is not to be missed.
More than 200 hunters comprising some 46 teams (that’s right, forty-six) took to the streets in search of several easy to find (and some not so easy) scavenger items. From all reports it was a rock solid primer for the FUNFUNFUNfest yet to come, Nov. 7th & 8Th. It’s not too late to fire up that last minute road trip to Austin. Enjoy more Flickr photos.
If you’ve ever been to NYC’s CMJ Music Marathon, then you know how frenzied it can be. New York’s fall weather is notoriously unpredictable. If it isn’t raining or freezing then its a heat wave. Nevertheless, come slush or hot garbage, the devoted will do whatever it takes to see their favorite bands play exceedingly short sweaty sets. As the unofficial indie rock right of passage, everybody plays CMJ at least once.
This year we decided to partner up with our friends at FYFFest Productions on their showcase at Cake Shop. Of late, they’ve been on a role with great music & charity events around the country. According to Sean Carlson, FYF’s resident Willy Wonka, “It was at capacity [400 people!] the entire night, from 12 midnight til 4AM. It was GREAT!” And with that, we say enjoy the photos. See you next year!
Vice & Incase Present
The Vice 15th Anniversary Party
Halloween, October 31st
Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY
With live performances by:
Bad Brains
The Jesus Lizard
Dave 1 (of Chromeo)
Peanut Butter Wolf
Titus Andronicus
+ Special Guests
Hard to believe but this Halloween our pals at Vice turn 15 years old. Time flies when you’re laughing into the heart of darkness. Psyche! According to the event planners, all party-goers must attend in 1994-inspired costumes.
To put this tall order/no-brainer in perspective, 1994 gave the world Netscape Navigator, the Wonderbra, Tonya Harding & Nancy Kerrigan, the Death of Grunge, the Birth of Dakota Fanning, NAFTA, Viva Zapatista, Lucite Platform Shoes, O.J. Simpson, Prozac, Whitewater, et cetera…
To say the costume options are nearly endless would be gross understatement. Stay tuned for our photo recap in a couple of weeks. We’re anticipating some mega Dos & Don’ts action. And yes, both The Jesus Lizard and Bad Brains are playing. Crazed. Guaranteed to be fantastically funny + deeply weird + painfully fun.
The annual CMJ Music Marathon touches down in New York City this week, Oct 20-24th. Within a few short days thousands of bands, fans, and djs will be lurking elbow to elbow in every dank club and hipster hole throughout the city. As always, guaranteed to be mega spastic. Adding to the mayhem, Incase is sponsoring the FYFest Productions showcase at Cake Shop with Crystal Antlers, Male Bonding, Let’s Wrestle, and Ninja Sonik. Bring ear plugs and a change of shirt. GO!
MusicFest Northwest (a/k/a MFNW) is one of those regional music festivals that just sort of sneaks up and blows your mind. Sure, you could miss it and think to yourself, “No biggie.” But you’d be wrong. Yes, you could pass it by in favor of some mega-fest somewhere. But that’d just be unwise. While the faithful horde busily attended, recapped, lauded and/or guffawed their way through several of spring and summer 09’s biggest events, MFNW 2009 quietly shaped itself into one of the best booked independent music festivals of the season. For the third year in a row, (and for almost a week straight!), promoter Trevor Solomon and the Willamette Week newspaper hosted 25,000 attendees and more than 100 national and local performing artists around the greater Portland area. Logistically, my friends, this was no small fete.
On any given night at any one of the fest’s 18 participating venues, you could see artists like Om, Eluvium, Chairlift, Bad Brains, Avi Buffalo, Brother Reade, Modest Mouse, Dirty Three, Beach House, Explosions In The Sky, Love As Laughter, as well as the recently reunited Sunny Day Real Estate and the mighty Team Dresch… to name but a few…. As a principle sponsor of MFNW 2009, Incase hand-delivered product requests to participating festival artists and MFNW community participants (Hi Fasil!). As well, we sponsored the stage at The Holocene and community radio station KEXP’s remote broadcasts from the stage at The Doug Fir.
From the city’s coffee shops to its dedicated bike lanes to its positive neighborhood vibes to its great food and vital independent music scene, Portland always feels like a home away from home.Trevor, thanks again for putting on yet another great music festival. You and everyone involved with MusicFest NW should be proud. See you again next year. Enjoy the photos!
For the second year in a row Incase is sponsoring Portland, Oregon’s MusicFest NW.
That Trevor Solomon puts on one helluva festival. Though I can’t quite recall the exact figure, he’s booked somewhere in the realm of 200 bands to perform at roughly 18 venues around the Rose City.
Last year’s standouts included sets by Awesome Color, TV On The Radio, Red Fang, Love As Laughter, and the reunited Polvo. This year? God only knows.
But this much we do know, the Bad Brains will be strappin’ it back on, which is more than enough reason to go. As well, you can see Dillinger Four, Frightened Rabbit, Frank Black, Avi Buffalo, Brother Reade, Crom (holy crap!), Eluvium, Om, Team Dresch (wow!), and dozens more.
FYeahFest Productions & Incase Present “Save Our State Parks” Outdoor Music Festival
Saturday, Sept. 5th, 2009
LA Historic Park, Los Angeles, CA
Despite the ominous cloud of smoke and ash rising out of the Angeles National Forest just seven miles north; despite the sun’s punishing rays and dust bowl winds; despite the long waits at the ticket window and food court; despite an extremely limited advertising budget and few sponsors; and despite the naysayers and the haters, the FYF production duo of Sean Carlson and Phil Hoelting ONCE AGAIN pulled off the seemingly impossible. This past Saturday, Sept. 5th, our friends produced arguably one of the best independent music festivals of the summer. From 1PM to 1AM, with performances by more than 30 acts spread across three stages, FYF’s Save Our State Parks outdoor concert at LA Historic Park quickly turned into the event of the city’s Labor Day Weekend.
Though they’d long crossed their fingers and hoped for 6,000 attendees, by the end of the night the box office had doled out more than 10,000 tickets. Think about that for a second and then think about how much loot goes into advertising other music festivals and sub-cultural gatherings. 10,000 people at a homegrown, independent punk fest supporting state parks? Seriously. Given that most people learned of it via word of mouth, (and Sean wearing a sandwich board at local shows, I am not kidding) this was a major and most unexpected coup. From the bands to the fans to the stage crews to the bartenders and production volunteers, Save Our State Parks came together through true community effort. As a principle sponsor of FYF, we are very proud of our friends and our community. Thanks to everyone who volunteered, attended and spread the word. And thanks most of all to the California State Parks Department for having faith in FYF’s vision for the event. A day spent inside LA’s Chinatown to Downtown corridor never felt so good. See you next year.
Well, friends, if your bicycle event is gonna get upstaged, at least be glad its Mother Nature doing the upstaging and not some dude poppin’ wheelies on a lame sport bike, wearing one of them full-face helmets with a purple mohawk. What? Exactly. As some of you may be aware, in the last few days the raging Angeles National Forest fires have shrouded the entire northeastern portion of Los Angeles County in a haze of smoke.
From Incase’s distro center in Irwindale/Azusa to our homes in Echo Park and beyond, the air is ashen and the daytime sky has taken on an ominous orange tint. The State of California & City of Los Angeles have both issued public service announcements telling citizens to not to breathe when they’re outside. Good luck with that! No sports, no jogging, no dodge ball. It is SKETCHY out there.
Why are we telling you all of this? Keep reading, here’s why!
This past Wednesday, on the eve of the calamity, the Bicycle Film Fest held its much anticipated Bikes Rock event in the quaint little foothills neighborhood of Eagle Rock. [To give you some geographic context, this is less than 3-miles (as the crow flies) from the impending chaos]. Upon arrival I spied a mega-herd of bikes locked to the racks and railings of the Eagle Rock Center. Good sign! I even saw a few homemade bicycle/motorcycles and motorized scooters.
Live music sets were provided by experimental crooners Blank Blue, afro-poppers Extra Golden, and the deep dark garage drones of Deerhunter at its most lugubrious. Keith Morris of the Circle Jerks & Black Flag played intermission DJ sets while Sir David Scott Stone delivered ambient blips & bloops on his mighty Moog synth. It was by any measure a perfect show. The line up was rad, the venue was beautiful, the turnout was mighty and the assembled audience was excited. Nevertheless, it all had a really weird, subdued vibe. Like, a sleepy vibe. Even the photos say so.
The whole night just sort of felt calm. And not calm as in boring, but calm as in ‘calm before the storm’ calm. Despite being a nice summer night, few pedestrians walked the hood and even fewer cars cruised Colorado Blvd. The streets were dead, the air was humid and still. And then, as I departed the show, it hit me—I noticed a windshield in the Bank of America parking lot accumulating a thin film of greasy ash. Spooky. It was the sort of calm that comes before a 160,000 acre raging fire storm.
Thanks to the BFF for hosting the evening’s musical score for catastrophe! And remember, for the next several days if you’re gonna ride your bike—wear a mask or a bandana over your face. You do not wanna get this stuff down your lungs!
We’ve got a real doozy of an announcement to make today. Being late summer, if you live in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles and…
love punk rock
enjoy stand-up comedy
just like lurking around community-based independent music festivals
or all of the above
…you’re probably thinking to yourself, “Hey, isn’t F Yeah Fest # 6 supposed to be happening soon?” Yes, you’d be right.
Indeed, if you’re in one of hundreds of bands from around the world that has played FYFest over the years, you’re probably wondering, “What has that wily Sean Carlson conjured up this time? And, will I be roped into playing it?” Yes, you probably will be.
At 23 years old, to already have six festivals under his belt is either a testament to Carlson’s vague genius and gargantuan will power or its an ode to our collective powers of mass amnesia. Every year he manages to add more bands, more venues, more comedians, more contests and more mayhem… and yet, he always pulls it off. Everyone goes away having had a great time and at least one transcendent musical moment— if not five—if not fifty.
So, after many months of planning, Incase Music & Events is very excited to announce we’ve come aboard as the main sponsor of this year’s F Yeah Fest. However, things are waaaay different this time around. Instead of simply throwing an indie music fest here in the hood, Sean and his cohort Phil Hoelting (tour manager/Crystal Antlers) have decided to make F Yeah Fest a celebration with a purpose. Namely, drawing attention to Govenor Schwarzenegger’s multi-million-dollar budget cut to the California State Parks Department. In a show of solidarity, FYFest is gonna spend the day outside!
Renamed Save Our State Parks, the fest happens Sept. 5th at the beautiful Los Angeles State Historic Park situated between Chinatown and Downtown LA. This all-day concert will feature more than 25 independent bands on two massive stages, loads of stand-up comedians, endless trailers of taco carts & other food vendors, and thousands of indie rockers & hipster lurk-logz all coming out to enjoy music and celebrate California’s beloved State Parks.
Bands not to miss: F*cked Up, Black Lips, Lightning Bolt, No Age, Glass Candy, and Cold Cave. More to be announced in coming days! Guaranteed to be a good time for a great cause. *And we haven’t even mentioned FYF’s upcoming Walk-a-thon for Charity (Sept 19th), the Annual LA Scavenger Hunt (Sept 26th!) or the Fall ‘09 FYF Tour across North America and Iceland. So much music & events, our heads are caving in.
FYF & Incase Present:
‘SAVE OUR STATE PARKS’
Outdoor Concert & FunFest
Los Angeles State Historic Park
Sept 5th, 2009
