For the past few years MWTX has taken place in Downtown Austin’s beautiful Waterloo Park. This year, however, MWTX is moving to 1001 E. Sixth Street to accommodate the party’s two-day run. With more than 40 bands, two stages, and 7,500 patrons per day, MWTX is quickly shaping up to be the biggest and best FREE ALL-AGES OUTDOOR MUSIC EVENT of the entire week.

Located just five blocks from the Convention Center, here’s the short list of what you’ll find at this year’s MWTX Party:

• Free Admission
• Free Bike Valet
• Free Incase Snap & Slider Cases for iPhone
• Delicious Smoothies
• Glorious Shade
• Cheap Beer & Booze
• Gourmet Hot Dogs c/o Frank Grocery
• Food Vendors (BBQ! Vegan Burritos! Churros!)
• No lines to get in
• All-Ages & Open to the Public
• Benefit fundraiser for Marbridge.org

While so many other conference attendees will be stuck lurking in dank clubs, waving laminates, and begging for overpriced water… if you know what’s good for you, you’ll be frolicking footloose and fancy free with us as we watch GWAR (not kidding), Andrew WK, F*cked Up, BILLY BRAGG, Yacht, OFF! (featuring members of Circle Jerks, Red Kross, & Earthless), Neon Indian, The Soft Pack, Crystal Antlers, Avi Buffalo, and Big Freedia “The Queen of New Orleans Bounce,” and others as they kick it outside BLASTING JOYFUL NOISE throughout the weekend.

Via the Incase grabbelton bins, we’ll be on hand with lots of free product for your iPhone & MacBook. Yes, FREE. No hard sells, no blah blah blah…. Just you, MWTX, and Incase having a fine time in the sun. We hope to see you there!

*A portion of our MWTX sponsorship funds to benefit the Marbridge. Established in 1953, Marbridge works to protect and improve the safety, well-being, and happiness of adults with cognitive challenges.

FYF Fest Productions, FUN FUN FUN Fest & Incase Present: MWTX Party
Friday & Saturday, March 19 & 20th, 2010
FREE! ALL AGES!
12-9PM

All that said, for our first sponsorship of the 2010 events season we’re gonna keep things close to home and dear to our hearts. Our friend Matt Goldman, (mastermind behind MFG Productions), is about to launch a new apparel line called Chambers. The party takes place at Las Perlas in Downtown LA and will feature dj sets from Mike B of Camoufos, Boom Bip of Neon Neon, and Bobby Evans of Brother Reade. Should be a real nice time with a few hundred sweaty, happy people. And yes, Mike the Cobrasnake will be on hand to blind you with his camera flash. RSVP only. Make it happen. Congratulations Matt, you’ve earned it.

Incase & MFG Productions Presents:
Dance Party + Launch of Chambers Apparel
Wednesday, March 17th @ 10PM
Las Perlas: 107 E. Sixth St. in Downtown Los Angeles
RSVP at Chambersclothing

Triumph Over Tragedy, Take One

For those of you familiar with the goincase blog’s music coverage, you’ll no doubt recognize the name Brother Reade, Los Angeles by way of North Carolina’s hardest working rapper/dj duo. While on tour this summer DJ Bobby Evans ran over his Incase backpack with the tour van. Prior to this the pack had looked rather nice, we’d just given it to him in Portland during MFNW. But more importantly, the pack had Evan’s MacBook Pro in it. You know— the computer with all the songs, beats, contacts, and contracts for their tour. Woof. Incredibly, Brother Reade’s Jams F. Kennedy claims this story has a happy ending. Read on:

On our recent tour with Girl Talk, we were lucky enough to have a short run of exhilarating shows that were all packed with wild and receptive crowds. We went through the Northwest, where each different city is beautiful and lush, and has its own distinct flavor. We felt on top of the world, able to treat ourselves to regional food and drink that we only hear about in legends down in Los Angeles, and we were extremely pumped for the crisp weather and copious amounts of roadside thrift shops teeming with secondhand wool. Our days were filled with excellent meals and good weather, and our nights were full of febrile dance parties. Everything was perfect. Except that time we ran over DJ Bobby Evans’ laptop with the tour vehicle.

A little back story: Bobby Evans is the DJ/Producer for Brother Reade. I should also mention that for one reason or another, he’d had the same record bag for far too long. So you can imagine, that when Incase contacted us and wanted to furnish us with some pieces of theirs he was elated and couldn’t wait to use their products to organize his road gear and dispense with the (let’s be honest, somewhat tattered) bags he had been using to date. We picked up the Incase shipment at our show at MusicFest Northwest (MFNW) and were truly psyched to get it (very infrequently do the right pairings happen in the world of artist gifting/sponsorship, but those guys over there seem to be on to something).

Now, after MFNW our next show was at the Showbox SoDo in Seattle, where Mr. Evans finally got around to switching out his gear into the new bags. We somewhat ceremoniously trashed the old bags, packed up the rest of our things, and pulled out of the parking lot. And we heard a dragging sound. Everyone’s first thought in the car was that we were dragging the old bags. The old bags had been left outside, not thrown in the dumpster, and were being dragged by the car. We all believed this. So we pulled further out of the parking lot, when it hit us. Oh snap. We’re driving with one of the NEW bags under the tire of the car. The one with the laptop in it. The laptop with all the songs for our set, that we can’t play without. In the middle, not the end of the tour. Uh oh.

So we did the obvious thing, stopping the car, retrieving the laptop, assessing the damage, and something like a small miracle happened. I can’t stretch the truth to say that the laptop or the bag weren’t at all damaged, but I can say that they weren’t damaged beyond repair, and we were able to link the laptop to another computer and retrieve all of the songs we needed to off of it. AND after minor repairs the computer is fine, still in working order, due in no small part to the design of the bookbag, which we can now firmly endorse and attest to, in a true and completely sincere way, devoid of any of the usual cheesiness/self interest that normally lurks behind such sentiments. Now if you come see Brother Reade play a show, it’s likely you’re watching Bobby Evans DJ off of a laptop that HAS BEEN RUN OVER BY A CAR AND STILL WORKS. You might also see him carrying it around in a bookbag with roadrash and the tags still on it. We got lucky, don’t try this at home.

Love,

Jimmy Jams of Brother Reade

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.

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 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!

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!