Incase

Soooooooooo…. about a month ago we sponsored FYF Fest Production’s CMJ showcase at Cake Shop in New York. Crystal Antlers. Male Bonding. Let’s Wrestle. Ninjasonik. As part of our sweet coverage of the showcase, we also sponsored Michael Reich’s (a/k/a Videothing.com) documentation of the night.

Per usual, Reich captured all the fearsome fun. From the footage you’ll gather it was a real sweat lodge. Go to videothing to see his frequent video coverage of underground shows happening all over the US.

DFA Records & Incase Present:
THE JUAN MACLEAN
DJ Set at Mezzanine
San Francisco, CA
Friday, November 20th

We’d like to give our condolences to the friends and family of drummer Jerry Fuchs. He died tragically last weekend in Brooklyn, NY. To those who loved his music, Jerry was an incredibly talented musician and an absolute joy to watch. From his work in The Juan MacLean to Turing Machine, Maserati, !!! (Chk Chk Chk) and beyond, Fuchs was the consummate drummer’s drummer. He brought richness, humility, friendship, and passion to every project. Jerry was a good friend to many within the tightly knit independent music community, his playing and his life shall be sorely missed and immensely celebrated.

If you’re in the Bay Area on Friday night, November 20th, this is the show you ought to be at. These folks are gonna be serious about getting bodies on the dance floor. And while you’re at Mezzanine, raise a toast to Jerry. Proceeds of this event will go to benefit the Gerhardt Fuchs family. He truly was one of the good ones.

This past weekend, Transmission Entertainment produced Austin’s finest outdoor music event of the year. If you’re the sort of person who loves independent music festivals, the 4th Annual FUNFUNFUNfest delivered it all: four stages + 90 artists + street meat & taco trucks + GZA’s Liquid Swords + Destroyer + All Leather + Les Savy Fav + hot chocolate chip cookies + hotter antelope/jackrabbit sausages from Frank Grocery + mini ramp + stand-up comedy + The Jesus Lizard + Growing + Health + extreme weather.

After three days of preproduction, Saturday gave us brilliant blue skies and perfect 78-degree weather. Real nice. We watched bands, ate sausages, shot photos, shot the breeze, skated a wildly sloping half-pipe, and gave away almost 5,000 iPhone & iPod cases, and doled out enormous boxes of Incase products to a wide variety of performing artists.

If day one was sunny and idyllic in every way, then let’s say day two was interesting. That’s if you consider TORRENTIAL RAINS interesting. Fortunately, we do. From 11AM to midnight, first a drizzle and then a downpour.

After this 13-hour pummeling Waterloo Park was a mud pit and everyone in attendance was soaked to the bone. Several wore garbage bags and walked around in socks. Just straight up threw their shoes away. Incredibly, the bands played on and the crowd stuck it out for Danzig’s headliner set. Understandably so. This was Glen’s first time in town in 15 years. Did not disappoint either. 100% awesome/hilarious.

Austin, Texas is a special place full of fantastic music, people, and food. We’d like to thank the city of Austin and everyone affiliated with Transmission Entertainment. Graham, Brendan, Rosa, Michael, Cory, Fish, and Daniel… thanks to all of you for a truly exceptional visit. We’ll see y’all in the Spring. Enjoy our Flickr photo set.

We could say so much about Vice’s 15th anniversary bash. Happy to report a fair amount of noteworthy shenaniganery went down with the hard workin’ Mr. Dank & Christopher Roberts and their sundry cohorts. Exhilarating and fun? Yes and yes. Exhausting and idiotic? Yes and definitely. Which is exactly the way Vice likes a rollick to roll. This was easily the most raging Halloween/Birthday lurk in the NYC area. By far and away.

We could tell you about the mega square-foot warehouse space and its two floors oozing in mystery liquids; we could describe the inventive costumes, the sketchy lighting (i.e. none), the head crushing sound system, and the beautifully built (but quickly useless) booze-soaked mini-ramp.

We could gush endlessly about The Jesus Lizard’s genuinely mind-blowing performance. We could tell you about the overzealous security guards nearly shutting down the Bad Brains’ set. THE BAD BRAINS! We could say so much. But the Flickr photos show it all so much better.

Costumed party-goers waited an average of two hours just to get into the party. On a cold, drizzly night! Why? It was an honest to God blowout. Right after this we packed up and headed to Austin, Texas for the 4th Annual Fun Fun Fun Fest. It’s been a real whirlwind two weeks here at Incase Music & Events. Happy Boo(!)rthday Vice!

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, DANZIG is headlining. So random.

Bring earplugs and comfortable shoes. Take a road trip, this one is not to be missed.

According to Graham Williams at Transmission Entertainment there could’ve been no better way to kick off Austin’s 4th Annual FUN FUN FUN Fest than with the 1st Annual Scavenger Hunt around town. AT NIGHT!

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.

HAPPY (HALLOWEEN) BIRTHDAY VICE!

FYFest Productions, Videothing.com & Incase Present:
Crystal Antlers, Male Bonding, Let’s Wrestle, & Ninja Sonik
Cake Shop 152 Ludlow Street, NYC, 10002
Friday, October 23rd
12:30AM-4AM

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!