SXSW

It feels like Sunday because we've been partying all week!

Bernadette's

Sun 3/11: We kicked off the festival performing at Bernadette's and that show was a blast. Co-sponsored by The Austin Gay & Lesbian Alliance and The Gay Place (column in the Chronicle), "Hellloooo Sailor, Are You in Town For A Conference" was a great way to start off the week. Bernadette's is on Airport Blvd, in a nondescript building behind another nondescript building. Finding it takes effort, but so worth it. Bring cash though.

Jendayi & Zoe Kravitz

Wed 3/14 (Jendayi turned 14!): Jendayi was Smart Girls At The Party's official correspondant for the day. We started off at a private party in Clarksville where we heard great music, ate fantastic barbecue, and Jendayi interviewed Haroula Rose a singer-songwriter from LA, and Gyasi met They Grey Area as blues-rock duo from DC. We then headed to East Side Tone to catch a quick taping of Schmillion before heading over to the French Legation to hangout with and interview Amy Miles, Zoe Kravitz, and The Citizen's Band.

Haroula Rose

Amy Miles & Zoe Kravitz

The Grey Area

Fri 3/16: Our biggest day yet. Charlie Belle performed back-to-back. We started out at our favorite venue in Austin, The Whip In. "No one comes out to 11am shows except your parents" but that wasn't true on Friday. A bunch of our friends from school came out early and watched us perform. The Whip In is newly remodeled, and the food is still great. After our set, we ate and got to catch The Rubies from Japan who were one of the best shows we've ever seen! Seriously. After they blew our minds at noon, we raced to the Girls Rock Day Party, and they were running over, so we only got to play 4 songs (bummer). Our last stop was at Zen on Guadalupe where we played our entire set (and an encore) for a group of parents and students from The Griffin School. So tired. Ice cream, pizza, DVD, and bedtime ended the day.

The Rubies

The Rubies

Charlie Belle

Sat 3/17: You may find us at the annual BYOC, and later at Jo's SXSan Jose.

Sun 3/18: Smart Girls At The Party is turning the cameras on us. We'll update about their filming of Charlie Belle's set at Mom's Rock 11am at Happy Salon & Spa. But if you come out, you'll know all about it as it happening!

This is the busiest time of the year for us. Gearing up for SXSW, recording our first EP, collaborating with Smart Girls At The Party...whew.

SXSW: Our SXSW dates have been posted on our site. We love it when our fans come out to our shows and this year we have some VERY family friendly shows, like Girls Rock Austin at Cherrywood Coffee House on Friday March 16th and TX M.I.L.K. where mom's (and Charlie Belle) will take over the stage and rock on Sunday March 18th.

Recording: Fans of Charlie Belle remember when we recorded a rough track of Wish You Could Understand in Studio 1A at the legendary KUT a year or so ago. It was the version that used to stream from our website. Well we went back into the studio a short time ago and recorded 7 tracks at Ohm Recording Facility. Bryan Nelson was our recording engineer, and Chico Jones did all the mixing. We are working to put this together to make our first EP, which we hope to sell during SXSW, but in the meantime, you can hear both Six and Wish You Could Understand stream from our site.

Free Music: Our new single is available for free (name your own price). It's called "Six" and is the newest original song in our catalog. We will be performing it live in front of audiences during SXSW this year. While Jendayi was in the process of writing the song, her parents posted an acoustic unfinished video on YouTube of the song. If you want to see a song in process, it's great. (FYI: When Jendayi is looking up and smiling, it's because her mom is sobbing her eyes out listening to the song for the first time.)

Smart Girls At The Party: A few years ago, Smart Girls At The Party got in touch with Jendayi and asked her to film a postcard to Austin. That collaboration opened the door for Jendayi becoming an official correspondent for SGTP during SXSW. Jendayi will be a roving reporter, attending shows and interviewing bands (and some famous special quests). A Charlie Belle performance will be recorded for their show and we will be interviewed by a very famous celebrity. We're very excited, and stay tuned for more updates.

Maliblue- by Darius

French Techno band with only one song.
Shame.
Truly magnificent.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntoMKM0ToP0

Music Review

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lp1fQ51YZMM
This is a song that comes from one of the Arctic Monkeys older albums (Whatever People Say I am, That’s What I’m Not) called Mardy Bum. The band’s older songs show a bit of immaturity considering the songwriting-a lot of them were extremely loud and energetic, and had fantastic parts in them that didn’t sound like they should be together- but This one I think is a hint of what their music is today.

Esme Barrera - R.I.P.

On New Year's eve, one of the Girls Rock Austin volunteers was murdered in her home. We are all very very sad. We knew Esme and would see her at Waterloo Records and Wheatsville Food Co-op. She was so nice and friendly and we will miss her so much.

Summer is almost over......OH NO!

Our fans know that we typically take the summer off and this summer was no exception. It is HOT HOT HOT here in Texas with less than 1 month to go until we head back to school. We have one more vacation (to Florida!) and then....back to class. That's bad news, but the good news is Charlie Belle will start gigging around town again. We've posted our first fall date in September, and it's a good one. We also have plans to record a few more songs, which we'll make available to our fans. Visit our website to stay informed about upcoming shows and all things Charlie Belle. Back to rehearsal.

Summertime

At the beginning of the summer, right after we get out of school, our mom celebrates by playing us summertime songs. She plays, Summertime from an Ella Fitzgerald CD, Summertime by Will Smith, Happiness by Dead Prez, School's Out by Alice Cooper, Hot Fun in the Summertime by Sly and the Family Stone, and Vacation by the Go Go's. I know there are probably a lot of summertime songs, but these are the ones played at our house. As the summer goes on, our mom and dad, usually sing Too Hot. by Kool and the Gang because we're all still getting used to how hot it is in Austin. I thinking we're not the only family with this tradition.