The visuals are complemented by a passage from Le Paysan de Paris (Paris Peasant) by Louis Aragon, one of André’s favorite authors, read by actress and singer Adele Jacques. The accompanying music, an original arrangement of Serge Gainsbourg’s “L’alcool”, is performed by Matthew Banks and also draws from André’s tastes.

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.

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!

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!

As if managing a zillion bands (including DANZIG!) on four stages in front of an estimated 16,000-to-20,000 fans for two days straight wasn’t already enough of a challenge, the folks at Austin’s Transmission Entertainment have decided to add yet another piece to the ever expanding FUNFUNFUNfest puzzle—A SCAVENGER HUNT to benefit the non-profit organization Caritas of Austin.

But this will not be any old hunt. They’ve brought in Sean Carlson to run it. Bonkers. If this one is anything like Sean’s annual LA Scavenger Hunt, it’ll be total insanity and extremely funny. If your team wins, you’ll score all sorts of legit prizes, including tickets to FUNFUNFUNfest on November 7 & 8th + a box of Incase gear with your name on it awaiting pick up in the VIP lurker lounge. Good luck. We’ll see you in Austin!

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!

Angelo Logan, the Grand Poobah behind Solediction, has a great review of the Skate Pack LX from the Paul Rodriguez collection.

Coincidentally, Paul has an interview in issue #67 of The Skateboard Mag.

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!

Well, 6 days and 5 nights in Tokyo…it was really fun. It took me 4 days to come down from the trip. I feel like I have to wrap up the CMWC before it’s too late, but there is so much more from Tokyo that I have to share. So, what did I get from Tokyo? Let see: 2 pairs of Japanese natural indigo dyed denim pants, two Japanese chambray shirts, hundreds of new friends, and proof of true love. (Yes, I asked, and she said yes.)

Though I had been to Tokyo numerous times, this trip was the first time I traveled through the city by bicycle. Was it easy? Yes! Tokyo streets are perfect for city riding. I’m no city planner, but it was very easy to navigate around and change lanes and directions, even though they drive on the left. The roads are in top condition: smooth, not bumpy with potholes like San Francisco. Cars know how to share the road with bicycles. My lady had never ridden a bike in city traffic, but she had no problem splitting lanes between cars and trucks going 40 km/hr.

Oh I almost forgot—CMWC results!!! Well, the organizer only had a chance to announce the first 3 men’s and women’s finishers for the main race.

Here the breakdown: out of 380 racers that came for qualification, 60 men and 10 women were in the main race.

Main Race: Men’s

1. Juri (Tokyo)
2. Shino (Tokyo)
3. Stevie (Zurich)

Main Race: Women’s

1. JoJo (Stockholm)
2. Yuki (Tokyo)
3. Christina (Chicago)

Fixie King: Jumbo (Copenhagen)

Sprint: Men’s: Alex Forolettii (Canada?)

Sprint: Women’s: Alex’s girlfriend (forgot her name)

Skid: Men’s: Jumbo (Copenhagen)

Skid: Women’s: Sarah Murder (San Francisco)

Backwards Circle: Daz (149 ROUNDS!!!)

Track Stand: I don’t know. Someone needs to fill me in on this. I left when the organizer decided not to let both men and women compete at the same time.

How about the two people that I followed throughout the event? Both qualified for the final. Fergus came in 15th, and Mr. Chas was DQed because he can’t read the rules. Actually, he finished the race, but had 3 packages left in his bag, so he was disqualified. :(

But you know what? Everyone was a winner.

CMWC Tokyo was well organized, perhaps a little too well organized for my tastes. I thank them for taking the time to organize the event. Turnout at the race venue was in the thousands each day. Bottom line is, I had a hell of a lot of fun. Thank you to Incase for all the Japanese denim garments I bought, thank you to all the friends that let me take pictures of you doing nasty move and funny faces. Thank you to my lady Jassy for booking the room, helping carrying camera equipment and being the prettiest girl in the show. I love you.

Next year: CMWC 2010 Guatemala—I’m going!!!!

Check out the entire CMWC 2009 Flickr set.

Previous CMWC posts:

• Trick Comp and CMWC Qualifications
• CMWC Arrival and Registration
• Incase Sponsored Riders at CMWC Tokyo