Author: michael

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Featured News

One Year at the Moody Theater

This month Austin City Limits celebrates one year of production at ACL Live at The Moody Theater. Last year on February 26, we taped the Steve Miller Band, the first taping of Season 37 and the first in our new home.

It wasn’t an easy decision to move from the comfy confines of KLRU’s Studio 6A, but it was a necessary one: the growth of the show over the years meant the outgrowth of that 320-seat space. But we worked closely with Stratus Properties on the design of our new digs, and The Moody Theater is all we ever dreamed of as a venue – the space, the sound, the lights, the multiple bathrooms on the same floors as the seats.

Of course, The Moody isn’t just a television studio. It’s also a concert hall, with a huge variety of artists coming through and a growing reputation as a first-class room. It says a lot that folks like Santana and Diana Ross who could’ve played in much bigger halls, but instead chose to come to The Moody Theater instead. Indeed, Pollstar awarded The Moody Theater Best New Major Concert Venue at the 23rd annual Pollstar Concert Industry Awards. Plus the entire Block 21 complex has received LEED Silver Certification from Austin Energy’s Green Building program for commitment to sustainability.

Thanks for sticking with us through some major changes — we hope you love the new digs as much as we do. We look forward to bringing you more excellent music for many years to come!

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Featured Taping Announcement

The Shins tape ACL on 3/18

Back in Season 30, we presented an episode  with the highly-praised indie pop band the Shins, then riding the wave of acclaim accompanying their Chutes Too Narrow LP.  It’s been a while, then, but we’re pleased to welcome the band back on March 18 in anticipation of their new album Port of Morrow (which comes out a couple of days later). Leader James Mercer’s smart songs and well-rounded guitar pop have always sounded good to us, and we’re sure they ring true in The Moody Theater.

Keep an eye on the blog, our Facebook pageand Twitter feed regularly for news on the public ticket giveaway.

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Featured Taping Announcement

Bon Iver tapes Austin City Limits 4/25

Winning two Grammy awards (including Best New Artist and Best Alternative Music Album) and carrying around enough critical acclaim to throw a gorilla’s back out, Bon Iver is on top of the rock world right now. So we’re pleased to invite singer/songwriter Justin Vernon and his crew to The Moody Theater on April 25 to tape their first episode of Austin City Limits. Bon Iver’s atmospheric indie pop has been taking the alt.rock world by storm since his beloved debut For Emma, Forever Ago, and we’re happy that we get to add songs from it and its Grammy-nominated successor Bon Iver, Bon Iver to the annals of ACL.

As always there will be a public giveaway.  Check our Facebook and Twitter pages – and, of course, the blog – regularly for information on how you can be a part of the action.

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Featured News

Congratulations to the 2011 Grammy winners!

The 54th annual Grammys ceremony has come and gone. While we were particularly excited this year because our own Terry Lickona co-produced the broadcast, we’d be remiss in not congratulating the winners, including upcoming ACL performers the Civil Wars, who took home trophies for Best Country Duo/Group Performance and Best Folk Album, ACL veterans Alison Krauss & Union Station, who won Best Bluegrass Album, Season 32 performer Corinne Bailey Rae, who earned Best R&B Vocal, and Season 34 alumni Foo Fighters, who swept the rock categories in the same way Adele swept the pop headings. Congratulations also to Coldplay, Wilco, the Decemberists, Mumford & Sons and Raphael Saadiq, who may not have won anything, but in a field as crowded as today’s music world, it really is an honor just to be nominated.

Looking for a complete list of winners and nominees? The Grammy website has you covered – go here for the details.

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News

This weekend on Austin City Limits: Jimmy Cliff

When it comes to reggae, Jimmy Cliff whose episode of Austin City Limits encores this Saturday, 2/11, is indistiputably one of the greats. He first found fame as a teenager, with a string of hit singles in his native Jamaica. By the late 60s, reggae was spreading beyond Jamaica’s borders and Cliff became one of its first international stars with “Wonderful World, Beautiful People” and “Vietnam,” which Bob Dylan called “the best protest song I’ve ever heard.” In 1972 Cliff starred in the acclaimed film The Harder They Come, writing and singing the hit title song. Other Cliff compositions like “Many Rivers to Cross” and “You Can Get It If You Really Want” have also become often-covered, much-loved reggae standards. Cliff continues to record and tour all over the world, collaborating with Sting, the Clash’s Joe Strummer, Kool & the Gang, Wyclef Jean and the Rolling Stones along the way. As popular now as he ever was, Jimmy Cliff is the face of reggae, as you’ll see for yourself this Saturday – check your local PBS listings for the broadcast time and channel.

Jimmy Cliff at ACL: Behind The Scenes from Jonathan Jackson on Vimeo.

Head over to theepisode page for more information and some cool photos. Don’t forget to visit us regularly on Facebook, Twitter and this very blog for the latest and greatest ACL news, and check our excellent Tumblr blog for some cool photographic blasts from the past. Next week: Steve Martin & the Steep Canyon Rangers, followed by hometown heroine Sarah Jarosz.

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ACL @ the Alamo News

Reel Rarities: The Flaming Lips and The Shins

If you’ve ever visited the original Austin City Limits studio and wondered why you can still find pieces of confetti in the rafters, there’s a good explanation. On September 21, 2004, the Flaming Lips brought their infamously colorful stage show to the ACL stage, and we’re bringing this excellent episode to the big screen on February 20 at the Alamo Drafthouse Ritz.

Taped during the tour for Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, the show features all the balloons, animal costumes, white suits, fake blood and little bits of colored paper you can imagine. And music, of course, including Lips classics “Race For the Prize” and “She Don’t Use Jelly,” a special version of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” with Lips multi-instrumentalist Steven Drozd’s father Vernon on sax and Wayne Coyne’s infamous duet with Cat Power on “War Pigs.”

The Lips were paired with the Shins, who were in top form while on the tour in support of their acclaimed Chutes Too Narrow LP.

We’re proud to present this night of indie rock heaven at the Alamo Ritz on February 20 as the latest installment of Reel Rarities. We’ll have trivia and prizes to give away, as well as a preview of the new Shins album. You can find details on the screening here. Tickets will go on sale a week prior to the date.

Reel Rarities: Handpicked Gems from the ACL Vault is an ongoing series at the Alamo Drafthouse. Tickets are $5 and the sales benefit our friends at the Health Alliance for Austin Musicians.