ACL Festival Austin Kiddie Limits 2011 Preview

Longtime readers will know that we're longtime attenders of the Austin City Limits Festival.

Well, our streak of attendance ends this year at four, but that doesn't mean we still won't be sad to miss the shows, both on the main stages (Stevie Wonder, Arcade Fire, Randy Newman, Alison Krauss) and, of course, the Austin Kiddie Limits stage.

Here are the details then on the AKL stage schedule and some tips:

Friday, Sept. 16
School of Rock: 11:30-11:55
Heidi Swedberg: 12:30-12:55
Mariana Iranzi: 1:30-1:55
Sara Hickman: 2:30-2:55
Special Guest: 3:15-3:30
Brady Rymer: 3:30-4:00

The School of Rock used to be known as "The Paul Green School of Rock Music," and they've played at AKL for many years. Teenagers playing songs written before they were born and, in some cases, before their parents were born. This will be the hardest music you hear from the Austin Kiddie Limits Stage all weekend. Here a band from the NYC outpost plays the Kindiefest showcase in 2009:

Yes, Heidi Swedberg used to play George Costanza's doomed fiance on Seinfeld. Now that we've got that out of the way, go not for the gawking factor, but because Swedberg has a hypnotic voice and a band that has a lot of fun backing up her ukulele tunes. Here's the band from this spring in NYC:

Women who know their way around a guitar solo are a popular thing these days, and Mariana Iranzi is kindie's contribution. (OK, yes, she plays the bass. Details, details.) She plays Spanish-language music that rocks. Again, from the 2009 Kindiefest:

Saturday, Sept. 17
Heidi Swedberg: 11:30-11:55
Brady Rymer: 12:30-12:55
Sara Hickman: 1:30-1:55
Quinn Sullivan: 2:30-2:55
Recess Monkey: 3:30-4:00

Brady Rymer plays roots rock and his band, The Little Band That Could, is one of the best-sounding bands in the kids music business. (It just plain sounds good.) Again, from NYC in 2009 (a good year for picking AKL 2011 acts, apparently).

There's typically at least one local band at the AKL stage each year, and this year local favorite (and current Texas State Musician) Sara Hickman represents. She's there with her relatively new band Family Time Rocks!, so expect fun banter and a pretty interactive show. Here Hickman and the band play an FTR! song earlier this summer:

Quinn Sullivan drew the largest crowd of anybody playing a set at the 2009 Austin Kiddie Limits stage. He's 12 and plays guitar so well you'd think he'd been taking lessons shortly after leaving the delivery room after his birth. He will be playing these kinds of festivals (and not on the kids' stage) for many years to come.

Sunday, Sept. 18
Mariana Iranzi: 11:30-11:55
Quinn Sullivan: 12:30-12:55
Recess Monkey: 1:30-1:55
The Q Brothers: 2:30-2:55
Peter DiStefano & Tor: 3:15-3:45
Paul Green's School of Rock: 4:05-4:30

Recess Monkey play pure pop-rock for pure pop-rock kids. Or something like that. Seriously, the trio's a hoot and I'm expecting that they will be rockin' matching outfits. Whether the outfits are as stylish as those they're rockin' back in 2010, who knows?

As for the rest of the Sunday schedule, the Q Brothers and Peter DiStefano and Tor (that's Tor Hyams, producer of the stage) appear at AKL (and Kidzapalooza) every year. They're perfectly fine (kids'll get to go on stage during the latter set), but I've seen them, well, at least 4 times and so I have nothing creative to say about them.

Have fun, stay hydrated, and enjoy the comparatively unused bathrooms!

Austin Kiddie Limits 2011 Lineup Announced

The lineup for the 2011 edition of the Austin City Limits Festival (September 16-18, ugh, the humidity!) was announced this morning and, yeah, that top of the bill is pretty darn good. Stevie Wonder! Arcade Fire! Alison Krauss! Kanye West! My Morning Jacket! I've run out of exclamation points! (OK, now I have.)

Still, scroll down a bit and you'll find the lineup for the Austin Kiddie Limits stage, not in a particularly friendly way, but the brainy among us can figure it out. As with the Kidzapalooza lineup, you can split the AKL lineup into 2 basic divisions. The first are the folks you'd most typically find here at this site...

Sara Hickman
Heidi Swedberg
Mariana Iranzi
Brady Rymer
Recess Monkey

That's a good lineup (heck, I've put on shows featuring three of 'em), and I think they're all a good fit for the AKL stage.

Beyond that we have The Paul Green School of Rock, Q Brothers, Peter DiStefano & Tor, the Barton Hills Choir, and Quinn Sullivan, all making return appearances to the AKL stage. (Sullivan's performance may very well be the most crowded the stage gets all weekend.) So, in other words, while first-timers may find these performances worth sticking around for (and I think even I could be tempted to see the Barton Hills Choir), should we make the trip down to Austin again, I think it'll be an opportunity to broaden some of the kids' musical horizons... time to camp out in the gospel tent or catch Abigail Washburn.

Austin Kiddie Limits (ACL Music Festival) 2010: Day 3 Report and Final Thoughts

Day 3s of music festivals, be it of the 2010 Austin City Limits Music Festival or something, tend to be be a little more laid back, if only because everybody's so d*** tired. Nothing against Day 1 and Day 2, of course, but being anywhere with 65,000 or more other folks for 8 hours at a time will tend to leave you a little tired.

In addition, because most of the acts at the AKL stage play two sets, if you've been there Friday and Saturday, you've seen most if not all of the acts perform once already. So you might be tempted to wander around a little bit more.

Unless, of course, your kids still want to play at the AKL stage. And, er, Elizabeth Mitchell is playing again. That was all perfectly fine by me. One of the advantages of Mitchell's comparatively deep catalog of music is that multiple sets don't have to be the same. She did play a couple new songs compared to her set on Saturday, and she also sang more in Spanish, certainly reflecting her excitement over her forthcoming album with Suni Paz. I also need to give special props to daughter Storey. During "School Days," you could hear another band's soundcheck coming through (presumably) the wireless mikes. It was totally odd and threw most of us in the audience for a loop. But Storey just kept on singing, seemingly unperturbed. It was interesting to me (as a parent) seeing her be so unflappable on stage and later on (and on Saturday) being like most other 9-year-olds, eagerly waiting her turn to sing at the video karaoke stage.
Next up were the Okee Dokee Brothers, who provided another energetic set. By Sunday, the AKL stage was drawing what might have been their best crowds ever aside from special guests, and I think that definitely helped bands like the Okee Dokees for whom crowd participation and dancing are a vital part of the experience. (That photo on the left from the Brothers' soundcheck, by the way, is courtesy of Little Boy Blue, who was the unofficial Zooglobble photographer on Sunday.)

A brief word on the Q Brothers (this is not them). I've been to AKL for 4 years now. I had zero reason to see them again, because they have, like, one album, and I've heard all the songs. I'd planned to leave during their set (Dawes was playing), but the schedule got rearranged a bit, and so I found myself watching them. So maybe it's just a low-expectations thing, but we dug 'em this time. The highlight was probably when they were asked to make up a couple raps based on suggestions thrown out by the crowd. One of them was "corn" and "Star Wars." The result, using the Star Wars theme as the basis for the chorus, was pretty close to inspired.

Frances England came back with another fun set, somewhat duplicating her Saturday set, but also with at least a couple new tracks. They brought out the red hats for Jacques Cousteau, they kept the crowd engaged, and it was fun. She also brought Elizabeth Mitchell (and Storey) onstage with her to perform "That's What Friends are For" from the Many Hands CD. Very sweet.

Robert Earl Keen was next up on the stage, and since it was a last-minute thing, it wasn't as packed perhaps as other guest sets have been. Unlike many of the AKL guest artists, he didn't treat it with respect for the sanctity of childhood. This was a refreshing thing after spending 3 days at AKL. Whereas other artists in the past sent beach balls or egg shakers into the crowd, Keen threw a whole bunch of beer koozies emblazoned with his name into the crowd. (I'm sorry, they were foam string can phone components.) Anyway, the three song set (including "Farm Fresh Onions," a very old song of his) was certainly a nice change of pace.

The Verve Pipe wrapped up the festival. To Tor Hyams' credit, he told the large crowd that had gathered (just like Friday) straight up that the band wasn't going to play their hits for adults. He pointed out that they'd done other shows for adults (like on Friday night) and this was a purely-for-kids set. That cleared out a healthy amount of curiosity gawkers, and some more folks gradually peeled away during their set, it was a more... pleasant experience than their set on Friday.

And, yeah, I know I'm spoiling the surprise by publishing this photo, but you don't know what song it's for, so I'm not totally ruining it.

Let's just say that Brian Vander Ark puts his all in performing his set...

And with that, it was time for our family to put an end to Austin Kiddie Limits 2010. Miss Mary Mack, Little Boy Blue, and I walked through Zilker Park to the shuttle line, headed back to Republic Square, and I went back home to an Austin suburb to have dinner with the Official Mom, Brother, and Nephew of Zooglobble, tired but happy.

Summary Thoughts and Suggestions

First, this edition of Austin Kiddie Limits was definitely the best we've attended. That's not specifically referring to the music, but rather to the experience as a whole. That's not to say the music wasn't excellent, but how do you compare Lunch Money, Secret Agent 23 Skidoo, and Ralph's World to Elizabeth Mitchell, Frances England, and the Verve Pipe? It comes down to personal taste, I suppose, but top-to-bottom, the 2010 lineup was very solid.

But, as I said, it's the experience as a whole that matters, and for whatever reason, it definitely worked this year. There were more booths for the kids to try stuff out. Having the Remo drum stuff available throughout the day rather than just at the end of the day, was a good switch. The volume on the between-set music/dance stuff was further reduced so that families didn't feel like they had to leave the area to preserve their hearing. And while the folks at C3 can't be the sole reason for the increased crowds at the Kiddie Limits stage, the area had more energy this year, which made hanging around that much easier to do. So kudos to Tor and Sarah for putting together a top-quality experience.

When I was thinking about suggestions for improvements, I was struck by how trivial they were, which also goes to show how well the area worked this year. I mean, when you're suggesting that the H.E.B. snack area should have a protein-based snack so you don't have to walk around to the food court if you don't want, you know you've tackled the low-hanging fruit long ago. It would be nice if the family section of the beach area under the tent would once again have a view of the stage, I suppose. And a certain parent (OK, it was Bill) suggested -- and I agree -- that it might be nice to have a few minutes of silence between sets. I obviously don't know the logistical problems of extending the time AKL is "open," but squishing an extra 15 minutes of silence (or 10 minutes of silence, with an extra 5 minutes for music) between the 5 sets would only push the closing time back an hour, and I think families would stick around. (And while other folks complained about the crowds, I didn't really notice much of a difference compared to prior years, though keep in mind I spend far more time at AKL than most folks.)

The only other suggestion I have is one that I can do nothing about and that's the return to a mid-September weekend. The prospect of tromping around Zilker Park in mid-September heat is not a pleasant one in my mind.

But this particular October weekend was nice all around. If you find yourself in Texas next mid-September (and plan ahead) and you like music of just about any type, you could do much, much worse than enjoy music with your family (both at and away from) the Austin Kiddie Limits stage.

Disclosure notice: As in past years, I received a press pass to attend the festival. Transportation and lodging were, also as in past years, entirely my responsibility.

Austin Kiddie Limits (ACL Music Festival) 2010: Day 2 Report

Waking up for Day 2 of the 2010 Austin City Limits Music Festival, I was really sore, stiff from the large amount of walking I did on Day 1. I mean, I normally walk a lot at ACL, but Friday's walking seemed... longer. Maybe it was the crowds, who knows, but that's advice number #1 for parents at ACL: stretch.

Anyway, my primary goal on Day 2 at the Austin Kiddie Limits stage was to get there in time to see Elizabeth Mitchell and Frances England. We caught the very last song of the Jellydots' set, then settled in. The kids, having been fortified with Cheetos at the media area, angled for the kefir at the Lifeway Kefir booth (because for them, flavored kefir = flavored yogurt = treat). And we were eager to hear Mitchell, whom we'd never seen in concert before and who'd been a part of our family's lives since Miss Mary Mack was still crawling around on the floor.

Elizabeth Mitchell's set was reasonably mellow, but not overly so. The crowd, which seemed reasonably full on Friday, was more so on Day 2 as people brought their kids on the weekend, and it brought an energy to artists' sets on the weekend.

I hadn't appreciated how much Mitchell's and husband Daniel Littleton's daughter Storey is now a part of the set. She sang on most (all?) of the songs, sometime taking lead. I wouldn't call her a pro -- that's actually praise from my perspective -- but she was poised. Ella Childs joined them for the Japanese song "The Chestnut Tree," and as I looked around, I was pleasantly surprised to see how many parents were joining along with their kids on the hand motions Mitchell, Storey, and Ella led them in or how many were attempting the Spanish-language version of "John the Rabbit" Mitchell tried out.

We had to miss Tom Freund's set on Friday, so after grabbing some lunch at the food court, we dashed back to see him play. He was a nice fit between Mitchell and England -- his fun Hug Trees album is a low-key disk for the most part. He was joined here in Austin by Abra Moore, who appeared with Freund on his album as well.

Moore had by far the most distinctive performance outfit of the AKL stage (sorry Verve Pipe guys all wearing ties) -- leis, big glasses, and a whole bunch of purple balloons, which she sported while bouncing on a big ol' pink exercise ball. By comparison, Freund (also sporting a collared shirt and tie) looked positively restrained. There was nothing revelatory about the set, but like I said, Hug Trees is fun, and so I enjoyed getting to hear the roots-pop songs live.

Next up Frances England. England (as well as Mitchell and her family) hung out a lot at the AKL stage for the weekend, seeing the other performers. In fact, generally, it was a much greater social gathering than I recall previous AKL stages being. For whatever reason, it just seemed like the performers hung out a lot more front stage (as opposed to backstage) listening to the other acts -- the Okee Dokee Brothers wanted to see Elizabeth Mitchell, for example, while Mitchell wanted to catch England's set. It was a very family vibe.

England's set was a little less of a surprise for me because I'd seen her in Brooklyn and so I knew she and her band would deliver a solid indie-folk set. England's husband, bassist John Funke, got down from the stage to lead the kids in some movement activities on one of the quieter songs, and by this point there were a fair number of kids to be led.

The special guest for Saturday was Peter DiStefano playing with AKL producer Tor Hyams. DiStefano was the guitarist with Perry Farrell in Porno for Pyros, and so, as he'd done in guest sets at Kidzapalooza, DiStefano and Tor played PFP's big hit "Pets" as well as "Sympathy for the Devil." While the renditions definitely rocked from an adult perspective, it's not entirely clear what kids get out of those songs -- between "Sympathy" and the School of Rock kids, sometimes it feels like the AKL stage is both the youngest and oldest stage at ACL. But they did do the undeniably cool thing of having a bunch of kids get up on stage to strum DiStefano's guitar and then hang out on stage while they were playing. It was fun to see a bit of the controlled chaos of the crowd/AKL area make it up there.

The final act of the day was Sugar Free Allstars. Again, I'd seen them in Brooklyn, but of course my kids hadn't, so it was a chance for my kids (or at least Little Boy Blue) to get up and dance. Perhaps more than any other AKL act, SFA worked hard at trying to get the kids in the crowd to interact -- not that the other acts ignored the kids, just that Chris Wiser and Dr. Rock have a lot of energy on stage that they're trying to transfer to the audience.

We went offsite for dinner, and the kids went back home, but I was determined to come back and see LCD Soundsystem who I also saw here back in 2007 (and who also had one of my favorite all-time quotations). I saw about 75% of James Murphy et al's set back then and the last 25% in 2010. Maybe one of these days I'll see a complete set. While his new album This Is Happening doesn't hit me quite as much as its predecessor Sound of Silver, it's still pretty darn good. And I can't stress how great they are live.

After that I sampled from various acts -- Ozomatli had a party going on under the Clear 4G tent, while Matt and Kim were incredibly hyper (which I gather is normal for them in their sets). Also, I've never seen a band pander as much to the crowd the duo did -- really, it's OK, just chill a bit. Still, they were on fire -- Kim is a toddler, energy-wise, on the drums. And I wrapped it up with 3 songs from Muse (my neighbor would have been very disappointed in me if I hadn't seen just a little bit of their act). I totally get why their live show is sometimes called the best rock show in the world right now. It had lasers, a video show, bombasticity -- like U2, except if that band had a dystopian rather than utopian bent.

But after another full day of music, it was time to head back home to recover and see my kids. So I made my way back through the Muse crowds, waited for what seemed way too long at 8:45 to catch the shuttle bus back to Republic Square, and headed home.

Austin Kiddie Limits (ACL Music Festival) 2010: Day 1 Report

Much of the anticipation regarding the 2010 Austin City Limits Music Festival revolved around the weather. After years of dust storms, high heat and humidity, and last year's mudbath, the forecast was for clear weather in the mid-80s. Gradually moving the festival back into the month of October paid off as the forecast was dead-on. I personally would've been glad to see it 10 degrees cooler and with a few clouds (I loved 2009's Friday), but it was pretty nice...

So here we were, set to make a fourth visit to the ACL Festival, and the Austin Kiddie Limits stage in particular. The first clue that things would be a little more crowded this year was that by the time we got to "our" parking lot northwest of Republic Square in downtown, it was already full by 11 AM. But after finding a spot a couple blocks away, catching the bus to Zilker Park, checking in (including fortifying myself, Miss Mary Mack, and Little Boy Blue with snacks of various sorts), we finally made our way to the secluded nook of the AKL area.

One of the problems, of course, with ACL is that you're bound to walk past something that piques your interest while being unable to stop. I would've gladly hung around the Honda stage right next to AKL to catch more of GIVERS' set, but my kids, so close to the AKL area, just wanted to go in. I needed to save parental vetoes, so in we went. First up? The Jellydots. This particular iteration of Doug Snyder's band was more muscular-sounding than the last time I caught them here 3 years ago. (Or maybe all those acoustic Snyder solo sets are clouding my memory.) Anyway, it was a nice selection of tunes as Doug bounced from lead singer to guitarist/singer to (even) backup singer/drummer.
After the Jellydots' set, things slowly got more crowded as we left for a brief trip to the fabulous AKL food court (all local vendors!)

And more crowded.

And more crowded, to the point that it was more crowded than I'd ever seen the Kiddie Limits area. Lots of folks without kids, even. And, of course, I knew it was for The Verve Pipe, whose page on the ACL website suggested that nearly 2,000 fans were planning on seeing this particular set early on a Friday afternoon. Folks, there is not room for 2,000 fans in that area -- there's barely enough room for maybe 200 right around the stage -- but the people kept coming.

I wanted to shout, "They're not going to play 'The Freshmen'!," but I didn't. Which is really too bad, because the band really works to entertain the audience, but it was an audience that kept waiting for the "adult" hits that never came. (The closest was when they ended with the Beatles' "All You Need Is Love.") I did finally get to see "Cereal" live, which did get a rise out of the crowd.

After the Verve Pipe we wandered around a bit in the AKL area, Little Boy Blue particularly taken by the Remo drum circle that was pretty much ongoing between sets. Next up were the Okee Dokee Brothers, who served up a fine slice of bluegrass-inflected pop. Joe and Justin are energetic and their whole band looked like they were having fun up on the stage (as were the kids down below).

All I really wanted to see at ACL (non-kids-division) was Spoon, my favorite band, hands down. I think they're merely just very good live, but they're getting better, better than they were three years ago), though maybe that was just because I was even more familiar with their music. They brought a horn section, an additional instrumentalist, a guest vocalist, and they destroyed a piano at the end of my favorite Spoon song, "The Underdog." Great set. (Also, one of my favorite memories: seeing some kids -- presumably of band members -- sitting down in front of the gear cases at the back of the stage. Absolutely charmed members of the crowd every time the video screens flashed a shot of them.)

After that, I was beginning to wear down and I was hoping to spend some time with, you know, my family, so I caught a couple songs of Sonic Youth (a surprisingly small crowd), one of Vampire Weekend (whose crowd at the same time as SY totally overwhelmed theirs), and then caught the bus home. The Strokes (and Phish) would have to wait for another time. Maybe the AKL stage wouldn't be quite so crowded tomorrow...