​Add Burlesque to the mounting list of local artists and musicians who are making the trek down to Austin, Texas next week to perform at an unofficial day party. In addition to planning their third annual SXSW day party (info in the flyer above), the Burlesque crew is also preparing a new compilation, Do It To It III, which you can sample in the streaming player below.
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​ Radar Eyes: State your name and purpose...

Brian Turner: Brian Turner, WFMU Music Director, Jersey City

RE: What are you wearing?

BT: A Sir Mix-A-Lot promotional construction hardhat and my Rusted Shut black tee.

RE:Rubber dress or leather dress?

BT: Michelin man tire suit.

RE: No panties please!!!! So what's going on with the station right now?

BT: Wow, well, we are raising funds to keep going another year. It's the 2010 Marathon. Two weeks, ending March 14. completely nonprofit here. No underwriting, money tied to the man with strings attached.

RE: We do this every year, and it's what keeps us going.

BT: It's a crazy two weeks. Lots of tag-team DJs, prizes, we have a ton of swag. KISS' manager just pulled up this morning and brought a big box of coffee table books and signed stuff... In fact, he loves the station!

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We are now sitting on 11 days and counting until Rocks Off's home away from becomes a hotel room off 4th Street and our stomachs become lined with breakfast tacos and free beer. Officially, SXSW's music segment starts on March 17 and we are now standing down the barrel of the final weeks before the storm hits. Or should we say, we drive right into the storm.

In the past week we learned influential power pop group Big Star will be making an appearance at the festival. Just this past year the band's early seminal works were reissued, including No. 1 Record and Radio City. If it wasn't for Alex Chilton and Big Star, we probably wouldn't have had things like the Replacements or even the Jonas Brothers. We are only half-kidding about the J-Bros.

Aside from Big Star, this week SXSW also announced plenty of other biggies to the showcase roster. "Queen Of Rockabilly" Wanda Jackson is headlining an Oklahoma-centric showcase over at The Copa. Jackson just finished work this past fall on a comeback record of sorts with none other than Jack White. It's said to be a return to her rocking roots, and the first fruits of their work together have already been released on a 7" on White's Third Man label.

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DD/MM/YYYY, one of the 22 bands to play the Ballistic Missile and Parade of Flesh unofficial SXSW day party.

​Yet another local booking company gives a reason not to shell out $750 for a music festival badge.

Local booking maestro Parade of Flesh and Hot Springs, Arkansas's Ballistic Missile have teamed up to create a free day party in Austin Saturday, March 20, in the midst of SXSW festivities. The party brings DD/MM/YYYY, Munch Munch, Juarez, Chinese Stars, True Widow and many more to Club Primos (1700 E. 6th St.).

The two-stage affair is free and requires no badge, wristband or RSVP. Best of all, the event is being announced with refreshing humility: "Two ingenious independent bookers join forces to create the most diverse and momentous line-up..." begins the press release touting the party.

Full line-up is after the jump.
 
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I've been behind local metal band Hemoptysis since I reviewed their debut EP nearly a year ago. In fact, I picked the neo-thrashers as our automatic bid to South By Southwest this year, and am happy to report the band is playing a showcase at Soho Lounge on Friday, March 19.

While Hemoptysis wait for the chance to impress industry types in Austin they're trying to win the Metal Insider No Label Needed Contest. You can vote once a day here through March 8.

Also, check out the above video, which chronicles the making of a video for the band's song "Shadow Of Death." That video should be out within a week or two, by the way, so check back here for an update.

ZOMG Psychedelic summer camp! Texas Psychedelic Rock invites you to the 2010 Memorial Day Cosmic Campout, featuring George Kinney of Austin '60s psych band Golden Dawn. Tickets start at $50 a person, but oddly enough, the event is in Arizona, not Texas. Still looks fun.

As The Smiths would say, we started something with our music writers' meet-up story. Members of Hands Up Houston respond in two separate threads.

Bands and music-lovers alike are gearing up for SXSW. Here's a very brief list of some musicians who will be Twittering from the festival.

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​Seems that the local music bloggers and party-starters of DayBowBow got together with No Words, Zorch, TapeBombs and Covert Curiosity and asked themselves: How can we get a party going in Austin during SXSW?

Of course, the answer is simple: Andrew W.K.

Andrew W.K.'s 3 a.m. set caps South By South Mess, a full day of music beginning at 4 p.m. Friday, March 19, at the 21st St. Co-Op (707 West 21st St., Austin). It comes just three days after his March 16 show at the Fillmore NYC, which will be W.K.'s first concert in five years following the time he took off music for a career in motivational speaking. The return to music coincides with the March 23 release of Close Calls With Brick Walls & Mother of Mankind, a double album including his "lost third album" and a B-sides/rarities collection.

Other highlights include Philadelphia's Pattern Is Movement and A Sunny Day in Glasgow, Toronto's DD/MM//YYYY and Chicago's Maps And Atlases.

Locals or locally linked acts joining the party are Denton's Matthew And The Arrogant Sea and Austin's Daniel Francis Doyle, formerly of Plano's Early Lines.

Best of all, the event--an unofficial SXSW day party--is free and open to the non-wristbanded, un-badged public. The full schedule is after the jump.
 
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Let it be known that today that is first day we groaned when we saw a new glut of SXSW missives end up in our inbox. Gone are the bright-eyed days of early January when we welcomed each SXSW e-mail like a homebound war-weary soldier. Now when we see something with "showcase" in the heading, we just glance the through the copy for the promise of free booze. We still can't wait to hit Austin, but dang, it's getting taxing just thinking about we all need to see.

After missing Tuesday night's Buxton show with Warpaint, we now have strict marching orders to check out the latter group. The all-female band had the Houston interwebs aflutter before their set was even over, making closers Akron/Family an afterthought for some. Most of the boys at the show fell in love with the gals in Warpaint as well, so don't be alarmed if you get light-headed watching the above clip. You are not alone.

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​Think MtyMx, the polyglot, three-day, late March music festival Todd Patrick has planned for Monterrey, Mexico, is for you, Brooklyn Hipster? Think again. "We're not banking on a huge amount of, let's say, gringos, crossing the border," Patrick told WNYU on Monday. "It's a festival in Mexico, and it's for Mexicans." And though he's been coy about it, MtyMx is indeed SXSW counter-programming--the festivals, which will take place on opposite sides of the border, share the weekend of March 20-21. "I kind of got wind that South by Southwest was planning devious things to stymie us this year. And so I decided why give them the pleasure of that, and instead started thinking about something better," he told the radio station. "The South By people routinely, let's just say, inform the authorities in Austin about things that they think are of dubious legality."

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​Oh, the places you'll go. Namely Buffalo Billiards (Das Racist! Andrew W.K.!), La Zona Rosa (Chamillionaire and Paul Wall!), Stubb's (Broken Social Scene!), Aces Lounge (Solange Knowles!), and so forth. Have fun, but don't forget about the Voice's own fete, featuring Surfer Blood, Superchunk, the Pains of Being Pure at Heart, and the xx. Be sure and tell us all about it.