SPEAK

In case you aren't aware by all the Christmas lights around town, Christmas is coming (in exactly one week in fact)! And several Austin bands have released Christmas tunes to bring in that holiday cheer.

I haven't listened to that many Christmas tunes this year, because I, for one, am tired of Christmas music. It's a result when your former boss kept her radio on all day to whatever station plays Christmas tunes 24/7 from the Monday after Thanksgiving to Christmas day. There's only much Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston and Christina Aguilera trying to outdiva each other a girl can take, you know what I'm saying?

But these Christmas tunes prevent me from acting like Scrooge.

First up is Little Lo's "Toyland" as part of Skank Family Collective & Chinquapin Records Presents: A Holiday Charity Jungler). Vocalist/guitarist Ryan McGill takes a step back as vocalist/keyboardist Bailey Glover takes over lead vocal duties in this dreamy lullaby. Makes me want to break out the eggnog and yearn for snow.

I love this Zorch interpretation of "Last Christmas." This song, originally written and performed by '80s duo Wham!, is usually covered in the pop world (Glee, Ashley Tisdale, etc.), but Zorch brings in their interesting style. This may be the best version ever, at least in my opinion.

Kris Keyz, professional pianist (you can see him perform with Tje Austin), released "Kris KeyZ Productions Presents: This Christmas" with 10 tracks of traditional Christmas tunes sung by local musicians.
Edited: The album was free to stream and download for a limited time. Contact Kris if you would like a copy.

Speaking of Tje Austin, he will perform with Nakia at 8:30 p.m. on Dec. 22 at Zilker Park's Hillside Theatre. They will perform Christmas songs at this FREE show.

And SPEAK released an interactive SPEAKMAS card. So break out the artistic skills and doodle away here. It's in realtime too.

They are also selling a limited edition SPEAKMAS Singing Greeting Card which plays a SPEAK rendition of "O Holy Night," and the cover was drawn by guitarist Nick Hurt himself.

See? Isn't that cute?

I don't have a tune to share, but The Shears posted on Facebook on Dec. 11 that they are working on a Christmas tune. Come on guys and gal, stop the teasin' and get to releasin'. There's not much time left!

Added: A little bit after I posted this blog post, I got an email from Mobley with a Christmas tune of their own. Here's a video with 2/3 of the band, Anthony Watkins and Tim Shelburne, performing Wham!'s "Last Christmas." You can download a copy of the single here.

I can’t believe 2011 is already coming to an end. Where does the time go? 2011 was an interesting year for sure. I’m not a fan of top 10 lists, mainly because it’s hard for me to rank anything, so instead here are some highlights.

Bittersweet goodbye: SPEAK for a Year
Yep, the project that took over my life in 2010 is finally over. And it’s weird. On one hand, I’m sad. It’s like an end of an era. When I held that issue in my hands for the first time, I felt like I had just given birth and then gave the baby up for adoption. I put so much into this project that now that it’s done, I don’t know what to do with myself. On the other hand, I’m happy it’s done. I finally got to show the result of all that hard work and now I can move on. Although, who are we kidding? I will never move on from this band.

But I’ve been thinking about this… those that know me know that whenever I discovered a new-ish local band, I tend to cling to them and basically become their biggest cheerleader. It usually starts with an interview. Then I get the CD and that CD just becomes a drug that I can’t get enough of. Then I start going to as many shows as I can.

This has happened on many occasions with Firekills, The Drawing Board, Bankrupt and the Borrowers, Fireants, Oliver Future and most recently, SPEAK.

You can tell who my latest “baby band” is, which I mean in the most endearing way possible, by the sheer fact that I won’t shut up about them. Could be worse. If it weren’t for these bands, I would probably annoy my friends with conversations about Hanson and Glee (although, this season of Glee has been very hit or miss).

So basically what I’m saying is that since I’ve cover the local music beat for almost nine years (geezus), I’ve seen a lot of bands’ first shows, gotten their first EPs and full-lengths and gave them their first interviews. I’ve kept up with their growth afterwards.

SPEAK for a Year was the first time I documented this trend of mine extensively. Yeah, it’s over and I’ll still attend SPEAK shows when I can and turn into a fangirl whenever they release anything new, but there will always be a new band that grabs my attention.

On that note…

Best band discovery: Equals
As I mentioned in my post about them here, I was not expecting much from this assignment. I thought it was going to be in and out. I interview the band. I write the story. I move on.

Instead, I found myself listening to the album a lot. I hung out with the members a couple of times (of course, it didn’t help that the drummer ended up in one of my classes). And I ended up going to a lot of their shows. It felt like I was slowly starting Equals for a Year, because after all, that’s how SPEAK for a Year started, but I’m not. Though who knows… 2012 hasn’t started yet.

But all this was a complete surprise to me. It wouldn’t have happened if they didn’t create such damn good music and gave me one of the most entertaining interviews I did this year. This instrumental band won over a generally pop-centric music fan. That’s a big deal, y’all.

Getting my associate degree
I also didn’t expect to say I’m an ACC graduate this year. Hell, I didn’t expect to say I’m a college graduate, period. But I am and I’m the first in my dad’s immediate family to do so. It’s a pretty good feeling.

This only happened because always-curious me happened to glance at my degree audit and saw that I only needed one class to get a degree. Shoot, I’ve come this far, might as well go all the way.

I went to advising to see what I needed to take. I applied for graduation and now I have an actual college diploma. It’s insane to think I finally have a degree. Better late than never, right?

My family didn’t get to celebrate this achievement as much as we would have liked because immediately afterwards, I had to pack before I left for PCF11 the next day.

PCF11
When one door closes, another one opens. I applied for TCCJA’s Journalist of the Year award towards the end of the spring semester. The chosen one receives a 10-week paid summer internship for the Corpus Christi’s Caller Times. And I was devastated when I didn’t win.

But weeks later, I discovered I was one of the 30 journalism college students picked to study at Poynter Institute’s 2011 College Fellowship (PCF11) in St. Petersburg, FL. Whoa. I still remember when I got the email. I was waiting at the bus stop to start my day of interviews when my phone informed me “You got mail.”

I was in shock that I just put my phone back in my purse and told myself I’ll deal with this later. My main concern was figuring how on earth was I going to pay for this fellowship. It was a lot of money. But thanks to the support of my family and friends, I got there and had enough money to take care of all my expenses.

But we all know the rest of the story. I met 21 BFFs for life and spent two of the best weeks of my life. I’m ready to go back. I definitely miss the fellows and free coffee.

But mostly the fellows.

Backbeat Magazine
Being an editor for Backbeat Magazine was… an experience, but I learned from that experience, and it was nice to hold that debut issue in my hand knowing I had a huge part in putting that together. Not many people can say that.

Plus it came out sooooo pretty!

Good job team.

NBC’s The Voice
I briefly watched the first season of American Idol with Kelly Clarkson, but that’s where it ended with singing competitions for me. So when I found out my then-roommate, Tje Austin, was going to be on NBC’s The Voice, I tuned in to see him. Of course, the moment Karissa found out, I was assigned to write a story. Tje welcomed the opportunity.

Once the show started, I found myself immersed it. Because there were other Austin contestants, it seemed that a lot of people were talking about the show too. Tje and I would have intellectual conversations (and sometimes debates) after each episode, and we became more than just roommates. We became good friends. Aww.

Through him I interviewed other contestants, including the winner himself, Javier Colon, who by the way is one of the nicest guys ever. My favorite memory from that interview was watching him catch up with Tje on the phone.

I witnessed how this show affected Tje and his music career and yes, an article is coming about that. Mainly because I’ve had to tell the same story over and over again when people find out. “Your roommate was on The Voice!?! What was it like?” It was pretty awesome.

Becoming a Bobcat again
So I’ll be honest. I was not supposed to start at Texas State this semester. I hadn’t applied for financial aid, because I was still waiting for the school to accept me back. ACC took forever to send my transcript. I made them wait until my final grade came in after graduation in May, but still I think it took over a month for Texas State to get my transcript and process it.

As soon as I got accepted, I rushed through the financial aid, advising AND registration process. Luckily, they still had money so close to the first day of classes to cover my tuition. The catch was that I had to enroll in a minimum of 12 hours, which I hadn’t done in a very long time.

Needless to say, I didn’t get much sleep this semester and pushed my coffee addiction to the limit that I might seriously need to enroll in CA, but I adjusted accordingly.

Meeting Jason Dohring
I MET JASON DOHRING! And his face was super close to mine! Ah-maz-ing.

That weekend was seriously the best weekend of my life for sure. I don’t need to rehash that here though. You can read my nerdy blog post here.

Hanson

Yes, I finally saw Hanson perform live at this year’s SXSW, which you can read here. Fifteen-year-old Sarah is very happy about that.

Page One: Inside the New York Times

I can’t believe I almost forgot to include this movie on this list. I freaking love this movie. I first saw it during SXSW and seem to watch it every chance I get. A lot of journalists’ dream is to write for the New York Times. I know it’s one of mine. It’s the freaking New York Times.

And watching this movie gave me hope for the future of journalism during its current state of evolution. Journalists aren’t one-trick ponies anymore. We have to know how to do more than just write an article, thanks to the Internet. So this film gave me some hope.

But seriously, any journalism nerd will love this movie. I love getting that peek behind the curtain, seeing the reporters conduct interviews just like I do: waiting for sources to call back, trying to get them to open up, balancing the phone between their ear and shoulder while they type their notes as quickly as they can (spelling errors and all) during phone interviews.

They’re people just like us. The difference here is that they work for the New York Times.

Albums of the Year (in no particular order):
Mother Falcon “Alhambra”
Sphynx “Human Beast”
SPEAK “I Believe in Everything”
Equals "Equals”
Marmalakes “Even Clothed”
Final Exam “Final Exam”
Payne “Late Night Thoughts”
Quiet Company “We Are All Where We Belong”
The Couch “Old and Touchin’ Blue”
The Nouns “Party With The Nouns” (This also wins Best Album Cover.)

The final chapter of SPEAK for a Year was published in UWeekly yesterday. It feels surreal, because now it's officially over. Granted I still have a lot of material from the interview that could still be used, so maybe it'll see the light of day eventually, but SPEAK for a Year is officially over. What do I do now?

Click here to read it at UWeekly.

Here's the video for "81" that was mentioned in the article. You can't see me (but you can hear my camera beep in the beginning), but I was standing on the left side of the camera getting eaten by ants while they filmed the performance part. The things I do for a story.

Here are the links to all the blog posts for SPEAK for a Year:
January through April
May
June and July
August
September
October
November
December
2010 in Review: SPEAK
SPEAK for a Year is over. Why am I here?

Or go through this timeline with all the blog posts, articles, photos and videos.

Again, special thanks to SPEAK for letting me do this project. It's definitely one that will define my writing career.

This is why I love SPEAK. At their last Austin show, the guys teamed up with orchestral rockers Mother Falcon and revamped their cover of Britney Spears' "Toxic." As I told Jake (SPEAK's drummer) before the show, they appeal to the band nerd in me.

Like I need to explain it to you people. I did follow them for a year. Just watch the video.

SPEAK and Mother Falcon covering "Toxic" from Sarah Vasquez on Vimeo.

I don't know what's up with the blogosphere world but there is a lot of high quality writing going on out there. It's about time. People are using facts, coherent sentences and wittiness to express their thoughts. A new world has been brought upon us! Merry!

So here are some new blog posts that have grabbed my attention as of late:

I heart In the Pink blog. I've never been one for politics, because frankly, it bores me. However, I know it's important to know what our elected officials (no matter how crazy they are) are doing with their positions, so Eileen Smith keeps it real for me. Her entire blog is worth adding to the RSS reader.
"That said, I remain quite optimistic about 2011. I was inspired by The Fighter, which I saw yesterday, because if an emaciated Christian Bale can kick his crack habit long enough to help his baby brother in the ring, well then surely I can stand up to a few cedar trees. Hey—I’m a survivor."
It Depends on What Your Definition of “Issa” Is

"A message to today's children: mixes weren't always made by iTunes based on MATH. We had to work for these."
11 Nostalgic Activities Today's Kids Will Never Experience

Now that social media is the norm and everyone uses it either for personal use or for business use, the problem is now that there is a lot of fake bullshit out there and less genuine tweets. I highly recommend this read to keep yourself in check. Because coming from a journalist's perspective, fake crap generally turns me away.
"People can get turned off really easily if you're coming across as inauthentic or self-serving," she says. "Pause before you post and be mindful about how you're coming across to others."
How to network without being fake, cheesy, pushy or smarmy

SPEAK started a blog of their own (god, this band is taking over my life). But instead of self-serving posts about themselves and how awesome they are, they're focusing on reviews. They write reviews on various things: gadgets, coffee, music, etc. It's pretty new so there aren't a lot of posts on it, nevertheless, I like where it's going.
"With that in mind, I can at least explain my indifference when Nick inevitably shows up to rehearsal with a Trenta-sized Chai latte. I may even encourage this behavior: Pre-Coffee Nick is a dreadful grouch and the Trenta might be just the remedy he needs."
Starbucks Trenta

I love that Joey compared music to food. I wrote a similar post comparing musical taste to political parties (to be released soon).
"Here’s my take. Pop music is your hamburger or your pizza. Could be drive-through or Yuppie style, it doesn’t really matter. On the other hand, Classical music is more of your Mousseline of pattes rouges crayfish with morel mushroom infusion (this came up when I Googled ‘fanciest dish in the world’)."
Pop v. Classical

"You do realize that most of the bands playing this thing have day jobs, right? Did you think they just lived off drink tickets and applause? The Creationists’ Marc Dautreuil works as a line cook, getting hassled all day by The Man so he can bring you the rock at night, and you’re going to whine about a cushy desk job with free Internet? Besides, when you walk into the office with bloodshot eyes and 30 purple stamps on your hands, that hangover will feel like a badge of honor"
“I’m Broke,” and other lame excuses for missing Free Week

And last but not least, this is a new favorite blog of mine. Amber draws whatever happens in her life. They are hilarious. Sometimes, I draw in my planner when I'm bored. However, her stuff is way better.
Passive? Aggressive!

WTF SPEAK? SPEAK for a Year is over. We had a deal guys. After December, we were supposed to go our separate ways and let this project end.

Of course that didn't happen. A week ago, I got a Facebook invite for a show SPEAK was playing at Progress Coffee. Even though it was a free show, I wasn't going to go. I wanted to purposely avoid the show to show people (and I really mean my skeptic friends) that I wasn't a SPEAK fangirl and could cut myself from this band. SPEAK for a Year was just a project and that's it.

But the moment I read on that Facebook invite that they were going to "perform string quartet arrangements of Speak songs," I hung my head in shame. I know I'm gonna be at that show. I'm going to go because once upon a time during my Southwest Texas days, I used to hang out at the Coffee Pot on Tuesday nights to watch my friends play impromptu jazz. I would attend my music major friends' recitals and concerts. I carried sheet music in my backpack with a flute case in hand since I was in the 6th grade. I sang in the choir for most of my life.

I am a former band nerd. Of course, I was going to be at that show.

The show was great. The coffee shop was packed but luckily, I arrived early so I got a good seat to enjoy this low key set.

I can read music and I can play music, but I've always been jealous of those that can rearrange music to their instrument with no trouble at all. I've tried it before and it was too time consuming for me. Of course, my music major friends saw what I was doing and was like "Oh, why don't you just write it in that key?" Jerks.

Anyway, the man behind the arrangements Maurice Chammah did a great job turning SPEAK's cotton candy pop rock into subtle orchestral compositions. So all those people that immediate hate on SPEAK because it's a "boy band" and "pop music" can finally get their chance to enjoy the tunes without jeopardizing their credibility. Hello hipster fanbase.

SPEAK performing at Progress Coffee from Sarah Vasquez on Vimeo.

Watching the show made me realized how much I miss performing. I was inspired to go home and start playing my flute again. But let's be real here, people. It's been over five years since I last put that flute to my mouth and the last time I did, I sounded like a 6th grader all over again. My tone was fuzzy. My fingers played sloppy. All those years of leaving my flute in the closet has caught up with me.

I no longer sound like this girl...

The flute player in that song is me when I was a 19-year-old SWT college student.

Back to the original topic, it felt pretty wierd being at a SPEAK show after the year was up. I know I wasn't obligated to see this show. I know no one was expecting me to write a review on it (although, here I am anyway), but a part of me just couldn't resist.

A friend of mine Chris Snyder, who recently finished his year project of recording a song a day, (and here we thought seeing SPEAK for a year was insane), posted a blog post about how he missed it. I have to say I can agree. When you pursue something like this, it eventually becomes a routine.

It’s been a while since I’ve posted here, and I’ll be honest with you — I miss it. Over the course of 2010, this project became not just a routine, but a structure. Routines are habits; they can mean something, or not. For the most part, routines don’t really mean anything. In fact, it’s quite common to complain about our routinized lives. But my routine — songwriting, recording, posting — was different. It was something I poured myself into. It was a journal, of sorts, of my physical and mental state. I wrote songs in odd places: on an Amtrak train, on a plane to Denver, in a cab in Queens, in a hotel in Toronto, on a beach on Long Island, at my childhood home in Los Angeles. (I’m probably forgetting a place or two.) I wrote songs when I was tired, buzzed, and caffeinated. I wrote some of them with a clear idea of what I wanted, and I wrote others with no premeditation at all.

But now, for what has felt like a very long stretch of 21 days, I haven’t written a damn thing.

This was, in part, deliberate. I needed a break. I needed some sleep. I needed to see friends and watch movies and catch up on Mad Men. I needed to spend some quality time with my wife-in-training, for pete’s sake. I also needed to get some space from the project, to reflect on what I’d done, to figure out what comes next.

But now, three weeks into 2011, the absence of the daily song is starting to gnaw at me. No no, I’m not going to start in again with some all-consuming musical experiment. But I think the quiescent period is over. It’s time to get back to work. After all, I have EPs to release and shows to play…

By the way, you can download two of his EPs with some of the songs from his project here.

As for SPEAK continuing in this type of string adventure, I really do hope they release an album or play more shows like this. I think they have something here people other than teenager girls would really enjoy.

This is just one post in my wrap up of the year 2010. If you would like to read the rest, click here to the main post.

I was really surprised when I asked some of the editors back in October 2009 who was going to take over the Life & Arts Editor position when the then-editor was leaving. They suggested me. I never thought I had editorial qualities in me but I ended up having more than most so I got hired as the Campus Editor starting in January 2010. I'll spare the long story about how I ended up with that position instead but that position ended up working for me in the end.

I had to learn pretty quickly how to plan and deal with reporters for each issue. And what I learned from that experience is that no matter how much coffee you drink or how much sleep you sacrifice, something is inevitably going to go wrong. A flakey writer forgetting deadline, a difficult writer submitting an article a day before deadline that require a long editing session, a photo that doesn't relate to the story, or a space that needs to be fill in the layout due to bad planning on my end. The possibilities are endless.

This year brought on more stress than anything I have ever done in my life, but I can honestly say I enjoyed it. The fact that I came back every week to put myself back in that situation tells me this is what I want to do. Whenever our adviser Matt would tell us the issue is done at the end of the night and to go home, I left with a worn smile on my face, ready to climb into bed, only to sleep in until 11 a.m. the next morning, and head to Rio Grande Campus to start planning for the next issue. Seeing the final product in newsstands and in people's hands around campus is what made it worth it.

While having an editor's position makes me miss being just a freelancer sometimes, I do enjoy the perks of being an editor. You get first dibs on the cool stories. No more news briefs or rehash of press releases for me! Sometimes the perks were forced on me, but I did get to cover some assignments that were outside my usual comfort level. And you know what, it was awesome.

In 2009, I got a SXSW wristband for Accent Newspaper and in 2010, I was rewarded with an actual badge (which got me on the cover of the newspaper). Sweet. Granted I didn't do as much as I would have liked, but if I get another badge this year, I'm taking full advantage.

Then for the first issue as Life & Arts Editor in the Fall 2010, I applied to cover Fantastic Fest for another writer, but I was rewarded the badge instead. Yay? Not at first. I didnt want to cover the festival, but I had no choice.

It was a fustrating learning experience because I didn't like the way the tickets were handled. How it works is that you have to show up when the Alamo Drafthouse opens the day of the movie to grab your tickets. The place usually opens at 10 a.m., but the seats are first come, first serve. So people were waiting in line as early as 7 or 8 in the morning every day. That's dedication. Unfortunately, I didn't have that dedication because of work and school so I missed out on a lot of movies because I didn't camp out at the Drafthouse.

But I did interview some cool people involved at the festival. The one interview that made me extremely nervous but was actually one of the highlights of my life (which also includes Ryan Reynolds making eye contact with me) was interviewing the cast and director of Hatchet 2. I saw the first Hatchet during one of my horror movie marathons and loved it. It's a hilarious throwback to those '80s slasher films so getting to interview the director was a treat. Kane Hodder plays the killer and also sat in the interview, and even though he is like 10 feet tall and could crush my skull with his weak hand, he was really nice.

Meeting Danielle Harris, though, was a dream come true. It's no secret that I love horror films and the Halloween series is my all-time favorite in horror films. So meeting Jamie Lloyd and Annie in the Rob Zombie remake was crazy. That only happened because of my job.

Of course, I got the fangirl comment out of the way before we started the interview and I think that helped set the mood of the interview. It was basically 20 minutes with the four of us geeking out on horror films and what it was like making Hatchet 2.

By the way, that movie is awesome. Definitely watch it if you're a big horror movie buff or you just like blood and guts thrown everywhere. There's plenty of it.

The same badge situation happened with the Austin Film Festival. I honestly didn't want to do the assignment because it was too time consuming, but I made do with what I could. I ended up seeing great films from independent filmmakers that ooze with potential and sat down with some of them for interviews.

One of my favorite parts of the film festival was sitting in some panels with big names in film like Robert Rodriguez. I learned a lot on story telling which is all very helpful in my career. Because that's what journalists do, we tell stories.

After covering these two film festivals, I realized that those were the break I needed from music and I learned that film publicists stick to their schedules. I got a call from one publicist 10 minutes before our scheduled interview to make sure I could still meet at the designated time we had set. That's impressive. That never happens in the music world. I'm happy if the band shows up.

When Fun Fun Fun Fest came around, I was starting to feel exhausted from covering a festival every weekend and I got sick more often than usual because my body was so worn out. So when I got the email during the Saturday of the festival that I was approved to cover the upcoming Comic Con, I was a little annoyed. I started ranting in the photo pit about how all I wanted to do was relax. I didn't want to cover another assignment.

But one of my reporter friends brought it to both our attention that we are at a great music festival for free, hanging out in the media area with the bands and fellow journalists, and taking photos in the photo pit, and yet we're bitching about how we have to cover Comic Con for free the next weekend with some great celebrities in attendance because we're tired. World first problems.

So I laughed and realized that should be grateful that this is my job, even though it meant I was giving up my social life and sleep and developing a major coffee addiction.

So all in all, I love working for a newspaper. Even though it's a student-run newspaper, it still feels like a professional newspaper (we do win awards after all) and gives me great practice for whenever I enter the "real world." I can't stress enough how important it is, especially if you're a journalism major, to get involved in your school paper.

I took a copy editing class in the Spring 2010 semester and I made an A because everything I needed to know to pass my tests was learned in the newsroom, not a textbook. Journalism isn't taught in the classroom. It's taught through actual experience.

Memorable stories I've did with Accent (in no order):

1. Free Speech Zones

This story gave me a crash course in public relations politics. Yuck.

2. Riverbat coverage

ACC got a mascot this year. I was on the skeptic side asking why on earth does this school need a mascot? We're already having a hard time being taking seriously as a community college. "Go to a real school." You don't know how many times I've heard that out of people's mouth. Joking or not, it's offensive.

But the mascot happened and I was one the lucky journalists to cover the last of the revealing process. I filmed the event when the actual mascot made his first appearance. After editing the video, I'm so sick of looking at anything in purple.

3. Aeropress

I got an email trying to convince me to review this simple coffee maker that is supposed to be great for students. I didn't have to hear more. They had me at "coffee." The company shipped a machine and I got to review it. Another perk of the job.

4. Comic Con

I covered the first Comic Con in Austin. I have to say, it was kind of depressing. ...at first. I got there early on Friday and the moment I walked in, all the celebrities were just sitting there looking bored behind their booth staring at their cell phones. Yikes.

But everyone was approachable and once you mentioned you were press, they let you take photos of them for free (they were charging for photos otherwise). I ended up meeting a lot of celebrities like Ernie Hudson! and that guy who plays Xander on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Actually when the actor Nicholas Brendon introduced himself as Nicky, I got really confused because I was honestly expecting him to introduce himself as Xander.

And when I mean I met these celebrities, I mean I geeked out on them.

5. Fun Fun Fun Fest

6. College Sound

As Life & Arts Editor, I wanted to feature musicians and bands that were also students at ACC. With the 44,000+ students enrolled, you would think it would be easy, right? Nope. That's disappointing. It's free press, people. I know what I'm doing as a journalist (or I like to think). If you're an ACC student and play music, contact me.

Anyway, I did fulfill in finding someone to interview for each issue. I'm relieved that I didn't cover the same type of band. Each College Sound article featured someone in different genres, and two of them aren't musicians but they so involved in the music somehow that it was hard to deny them.

The Steps
Ross DuBois
Avy Gonzalez
Rally Rally
Zoe Cordes Selbin
Pro-Gres

7. We Are The Lottery League

8. SPEAK

This is just one post in my wrap up of the year 2010. If you would like to read the rest, click here to the main post.

January: Free Week
I went to Free Week just to watch some great bands for free and hang out with friends. If a band caught my attention, I would keep them in mind for future coverage. So I had no intentions of actually working with shooting photos, writing reviews, etc.

But after the week was over, I realized I saw a lot of bands that should be shared so I wrote up this quick post with my debut of Twitter-style reviews. Writing a review in 140 characters or less is a great writing exercise I recommend for any writer. You have to be to the point and consise.

February: 200 music interviews
I have an excel sheet that I use to keep track of all the coverage I've done. Yep, I can be that anal retentive. Unfortunately, it hasn't been updated since I've posted this blog about reaching 200 interviews. I'm sure if I update it now, I'll be pretty freaking close to 300 if I haven't already hit that mark yet. What can I say? I get around.

March: The Dig performing "I Just Wanna Talk to You"
I fell in love with The Dig the moment I interviewed them. The first thing I heard out of one of their mouths that wasn't "Are you Sarah?" was "There are cute girls over there." See, our interview was at the Parish hours before their show and there were already teenagers lined up at the door.

During their set, I happened to pull out my Flip cam right before they played this song which is one of my favorites. I knew I was in for a treat when band members of the other two bands hopped on stage with them. Such a good song.

April: SPEAK covers "Toxic"
I was trying to refrain from including any SPEAK posts in this but this band affected a big chunk of my year that it was hard to resist. It was this post when I decided that I was actually going to go through with SPEAK for a Year. As I was writing for it, I kept debating in my head if I should just go ahead and announce it or wait until I've covered more shows. I must have click the preview button like 5 times before I decided that yes, I was going to go through with the crazy project.

It was published right before the April show so after the set, some of the guys asked me what was this project I was going to announced. Once they all showed they were ok with it, it motivated me to go home and write up the first post for SPEAK for a Year. I ended up staying up until 2 in the morning getting it all ready.

May: In-depth We Are the Lottery League
This was a fun assignment. It was my first time doing a story like this when I was just a fly on the wall, covering this type of event from beginning to end. I didn't know what to expect, but it came out pretty well.

June: Good in the Sack interview
One of my favorite bands during the APR days was Good in the Sack. Since I worked at a childcare center, I could never wear their shirts at work but man, I loved this band. It's pop punk with tongue-in-cheek lyrics about breakups, drinking, etc. Wow, I just made them sound like Blink 182, but rest assure, they weren't.

The moment drummer Jorge announced the band's return during this year's SXSW, I informed him we were doing a reunion interview. Of course, the band was all in (who could say no to this face?) and after their set, we walked towards the back of the bar and chatted just like old times. Only this time, some of us had less hair and more weight as before.

July: Giant Steps interview
I interviewed James through email to promote his SXSW showcase but once I took on the Spinner job, my time was very limited. Hey, I got paid for Spinner though. I felt bad I didn't get the interview out but once he announced his anniversary show, it saw the light of day.

August: Art vs. Industry interview and Love at 20 interview
I had two interviews published in August and I liked both of them so I'm choosing both.

Art Vs. Industry were some of the nicest guys I've ever met and very knowledgeable on not only music in general but also where they stand with their genre of music. I felt so out of place at Elysium where I interviewed them but they treated me like anyone else even though I was wearing pastels.

With Love at 20, Mike and I met for coffee and just ended up having a very long conversation about music. The man knows what he wants and has planned his way to get it. Why can't more bands be like that?

September: SPEAK
October: SPEAK at ACL
I only posted one thing during September and October and they both have to do with SPEAK. September was a fun one because I got to make fun of dude bros and my October post was about my experience with SPEAK at ACL.

November: NaNoWriMo
I wrote a novel this year.
I. Wrote. A. Novel. This. Year.

It blows my mind that I went through with NaNoWriMo this year and actually made the word count. I've been editing the novel when I'm not watching Veronica Mars or posting things for Red River Noise. I have a long way to go before anyone reads the finish product.

December: Zlam Dunk
Besides the obvious posts with SPEAK singing at my birthday party or the 2010 review for December, this was a fun post to write. I interviewed the band during Wild Frontier Fest in September but only used two lines from it in my article for Accent.

Since we spent most of the brief interview talking about recording, I figured it was time to bring it out for Zlam Dunk's CD release show.

This is just one post in my wrap up of the year 2010. If you would like to read the rest, click here to the main post.

I didn't have much time to write reviews this year. It's not a bad thing but there were a lot of great albums that came out. So now that I have some time, I finally sat down and got to writing. I'm completely rusty so a lot of these reviews make me sound like a fangirl but you know what? This is my blog and these albums are good.

I just wished I had more time to go more in-depth or review more albums more often. Maybe that should be my resolution for 2011.

By the way, these are in no particular order.

SPEAK "Here Here"

This EP came out in February 2010 and I still can't stop listening it. It gives me the same cravings as those red sour belt candies where no matter how much I eat them, I just can't seem to get enough. I always want more and when I'm not eating one, I'm thinking about how I'm gonna get more. SPEAK's EP gives me that same kind of addiction.

It seems that once the last song "I'd Rather Lie" is over, I'm ready to hit the play button (if I haven't already done it) so I can listen to the five songs all over again. And yet almost a year later, the songs haven't lost its charm on me.

Quiet Company "Songs for Staying In"

I've been waiting for this EP ever since Taylor Muse mentioned during our April 2009 interview that this was in the works. I discovered this band last year and left such an impression to be included in my best of 2009 post last year.

I was hooked the moment I heard the first single "How Do You Do It?" and apparently so was the rest of Austin. I guess someone took note when I posted in my Best of 2009 post, "Pay attention to this band ya, I expect 2010 to be the year for them," because they gathered a pretty big following with radio airplay and playing some gigs with big headliners.

I've probably said it before and I'll say it again, but vocalist and main songwriter Muse has perfected the skill of writing enchanting lyrics about falling and being in love. What girl wouldn't want a guy to sing out to them "I just want to see your smile in the morning. I just want to wake up next to you, love?"

Swoon.

Ghostland Observatory "Codename: Hondo"

Ah Ghostland Observatory, one of our hometown heroes. I hopped on this train later than most people but man, these guys are great. This is one of those bands that presents the complete package. Sure, the music could be called the run-of-the-mill electro rock that everyone seems to be playing nowaday, but these guys have been around since 2004 so they know how to do it well. Add a cape and pigtails and you got yourself a show.

Zlam Dunk "Noble Ancestry"

Every hear an album that affects you so much that once you hear one note from that album, it's stuck in your head? So now you have to hear it. That's what Zlam Dunk's Noble Ancestry does to me and it drives me insane, but in a good way.

The band is all in their early 20s which is a little obvious when reading their song titles and lyrics. "Castle Beyond the Goblin City?" A song about Shark Week and the '80s movie Top Gun? Really guys? But it's also that youthful spirit that reminds me of that age before I had to start worrying about mortages, paying bills, getting a "real job" that isn't in retail. It's the time when it's about having a good time and sometimes I just need a reminder.

And that's what Zlam Dunk accomplishes. They have fun, they cut loose and every show brings a good time. Not many bands can do that.

AutoVaughn "Science of Our Time"

I met these guys during SXSW in 2006 or 2007 (it's been so long that I can't remember) and my my, how much they have changed. For the better, of course. The album they released this year Science of Our Time went beyond my expectations.

I have to be honest. During the first listen, I was put off by it. It didn't sound like them. It sounded like an overproduced version of AutoVaughn. That Nashville edge they had was blurred. There was hints of it throughout the album, but I guess when you win Fender Road Worn competition and tag along with Cage the Elephant, it was bound to happen.

Granted, I haven't seen this album performed live, which is where it's at, so I don't know if this is just studio magic or the commercialized route they're heading. Either way, this album is still great and full of catchy hooks.

Through the Trees "Dig It Up"

Through the Trees' Dig It Up blew me away this year. After hearing so much indie blogger bullshit for the past three years, I loved that this band brought it back with their straight-to-the-point rock and roll. Just good old school rock music. There is no pretentiousness here. And that is no surprise that the band is extremely talented given that they've been playing music way before most of these blogger bands were born.

L.A.X. "The A EP"

Can you believe I didn't want to like this album? For reasons unknown to me, I honestly thought I wouldn't like it. After a couple of listens though, this album grew on me.

It reminds me of the days when my dad was a DJ and listened to a lot of electronica dance music in my house. Sadly L.A.X. is a niche band. A lot of people aren't going to give them a chance because of their genre alone. But for what they are, they're pretty good.

My only pet peeve is with the song "Don't Push Me." I rolled my eyes when I heard the lyrics "Don't push me. I'm close to the edge. I'm trying not to lose my head." I can name three songs off the top of my head with those direct words. How many times do those lyrics need to make an appearance in a song? Seriously. Bands, don't do that.

I don't think L.A.X. is there yet but I like what I've heard so far and the vocal stylings of Erin Jantzen and Yadira Brown are the right fit for this.

The Dig "Electric Toys"

I've said what I already wanted to say about this band in my interview with The Dig. So I'll just rehash it...

"I've been thinking for days on how to describe New York quartet The Dig without sounding like a complete fangirl, but the bottom line is this: This band is freaking awesome. Whether it's a straightforward indie-pop song such as "You're Already Gone" or a moody alt-rock tune like "She's Gonna Kill That Boy," or even a mixture of the two as in "He's a Woman," these guys just nail it every time. And when they perform these songs live, it's even better."

This is just one post in my wrap up of the year 2010. If you would like to read the rest, click here to the main post.

If I could sum up 2010 in one word, the obvious answer would be the one word SPEAK. Of course, right? I dedicated the entire year to going to a SPEAK show once a month. During my ordeal, I ended up witnessing a local band from Austin become that band no one knew grow into one of the most talked about bands now (especially in the Austin press).

They're not exactly there yet, but I have a feeling the full length album they've been keeping to themselves will be that final step to take them to that level. That may sound cheesy while you're roll your eyes as you read this but that's just what I think. The girls already loved them. They've performed at major music festivals. I can't wait to see what happens next. I invested too much time in this band to see them fail.

Ah, the Accent article that started it all. I'm so glad that I got to interview 3/4 of the band when I did. Once the EP release show was announced, it gave me an excuse to finally use that interview and save me some time since I already had all the research I needed. After the article and the EP were both released, SPEAK for a Year took off quickly afterwards.

Because of that SPEAK for a Year, I spend over 12 months hanging out with SPEAK. Girls, if that's not an incentive to become a music journalist, I don't know what is.

I forced myself to leave my house and see a SPEAK show every month regardless of how exhausted I was from whatever happened during the day (and something ALWAYS did), how far the show was, how much the cover was or what the weather conditions were that night. And because of my dedication, I was definitely lucky and appreciative to tag along with the guys for my first ACL "guest" experience. I had been to the festival before but nothing could compared to this year.

With my camera in hand, I snapped photos throughout the day but right before they got on stage, I decided to film some behind-the-scene footage. I never released any of it but today is your lucky day!

Here it is. SPEAK's first year performing at Austin City Limits.

Here are the links all the actual posts I wrote during SPEAK for a Year:
December 2009 - April 2010
May 2010
June and July 2010
August 2010
September 2010
October 2010
November 2010
December 2010