My poetry is featured in the Summer '09 issue of the Merge Poetry Journal.

What do you get with a week of seemingly endless film screenings, a wealth of schmoozy industry chatter, and a constant stream of free alcohol? Tired, very tired.

The first week of the annual Edinburgh International Film Festival is over and I'm back in Glasgow, finished with my interview piece for the Statesman and slowly returning to reality — that is, work on my dissertation, which is due in just over a month (gulp).

Here's a collage of photos from the festival: an overall tremendous and journalistically rejuvenating experience.

Austin filmmaker Bob Byington and myself enjoying some coffee at the Filmhouse.


Andrew, Bob's cousin, from Manhattan, hanging with Chris from Dundee.


Outside the Delegate Center Lounge.


Posing with a complete stranger.


Bob, myself, and Nick at the Homecoming Scotland Celebration.
We were enjoying "stovies," or meat stew.


Nick and myself at the "Turn It Loose" party.


Alissa and Jamie watching breakdancing clips from "Turn It Loose"


Edinburgh Castle from the Grassmarket.

Wednesday, 17 June marks the advent of the 2009 Edinburgh Film Festival and I will be there for every cinematic blow, on assignment for the Statesman, interviewing the Austin filmmaker Bob Byington.

Byington will be in Scotland promoting his newest film "Harmony and Me," of which has garnered much buzz between Glasgow and Edinburgh and stars Bishop Allen frontman Justin Rice ("Mutual Appreciation," "Funny Ha Ha") and Kevin Corrigan ("Pineapple Express," "Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist," "Superbad," "The Departed").

Other highlights of the festival include a Roger Corman retrospective that includes a live chat with the 83-year-old B-movie legend, as well as a screening of gems such as "The Pit and the Pendulum," "House of Usher," and "The Raven — three Vincent Price classics!

Another point of interest among attendees is a discussion with director Darren Aronofsky ("The Wrestler," "Requiem For a Dream"), of which Nick is wetting his pants to see, and Gael Garcia Bernal's newest venture "Rudo and Cursi."

Tune in next week for updates, photos, and tales from the road — or rather the train tracks.

Compose - Vox

The EIFF runs 17 through 28 June

Originally featured in the Austin American-Statesman

From grand influence, a grand sound

If West Texas had a soundtrack, Balmorhea, with its vast and explosive emotion, would play it

By Shannon McGarvey
SPECIAL TO THE AMERICAN-STATESMAN
Thursday, May 21, 2009

GLASGOW, Scotland — Outside the tiny Soviet-inspired Bar Bloc, it was a typical spring night in Glasgow: A humid chill swaddled the city and rain spat on sideways as the sun receded behind the brown tenements and a kaleidoscope of gray filled the sky. Inside, wooden tables outnumbered warm bodies and framed a path to a small stage where the Austin-based instrumental sextet Balmorhea played, silhouetted by red light and evoking a cinematic soundscape that moved the listener from a cold, nearly empty bar in Scotland to the epic pastorals of West Texas.

The narrative symphonic elements of Balmorhea, paired with the experimental and folk music influences of co-founders Michael Muller and Rob Lowe, have garnered comparisons to Glaswegian post-rock icons Mogwai and celebrated cinematic composers Max Richter ('Waltz With Bashir') and Yann Tiersen ('Amelie').

Although the complex sound of a band like Balmorhea typically avoids genre classification by nature, Lowe says, such comparisons aren't off the mark. The 'cinematic' band recently has been hired by French writer-director Kim Chapiron to score the film 'Dog Pound,' which is set to be released in France next spring.

In light of this professional accomplishment, Muller conceded that the band's fan base in Europe is 'way more than America' and even credited a theater performance in the coastal Italian town of Rimini as having been 'the best concert (the band) ever played.' Lowe added that some fans traveled almost the width of Italy to attend their most obscure shows, while in larger cities such as London and Glasgow, most fans simply failed to show up at all.

'It's hard to gauge why people come to your shows,' Lowe said about sparse attendance at U.K. dates. 'I don't know if it's actually a good barometer to tell how many fans you have in a city.'

The May 6 performance at Bar Bloc marked the two-thirds point of a one-month tour in support of Balmorhea's fourth release, 'All Is Wild, All Is Silent.'

The venue, outfitted in an ironic sickle and hammer aesthetic, modern art and wood-slatted walls, was unequipped to handle the size or sound of the band. Low ceilings and a tiny stage forced the classically trained Lowe to forgo the use of his electric piano, which shot holes in their intended set, Muller said.

Some of the piano-driven highlights from 'All Is Wild,' such as the layered and crescendoed 'Harm and Boon,' as well as the somber dialogue of 'Truth,' were replaced with the string-based tracks from the band's repertoire.

The standout was 'Remembrance,' a nostalgic and despairing tune that opened with the sparse rhythm of Muller's acoustic guitar, layered with the respective picking of Lowe on banjo, Aisha Burns on violin and Travis Chapman on double bass. Slowly, as the song inched forward, the whine of Burns' violin led the listener further inside the musical narrator, marrying the deep mournful hum of Nicole Kern's cello to the rattle and eventual release of Bruce Blay's explosive percussion. At the close, the song doubled back with the return of the banjo and a final, haunting exchange between the violin and a lone melodica.

The diversity of the band is showcased not only within the menagerie of instruments or the raw, creative talent of its members, but also in the emotional and narrative variety of their music. At one moment, the band captures the listener in a bittersweet and tortured requiem, such as 'Remembrance,' and in another, the listener is again captive, a witness to the hope and happiness of wide open spaces and impending change, such as within the Texas-inspired 'Coahuila.'

This diversity and artistry is what propels the popularity of Balmorhea and ensures the longevity of its members' respective careers — be it in film score, within a groundbreaking neoclassical rock band, or straddling the fence between both.

My best friend Loren is visiting from Austin in three weeks!

I've missed her SOOOOO much. If ever I've had a hetero life-partner, soul mate, or generally creepy companion  — she is it. Granted, Loren's only staying for a fortnight but within those brief two weeks, we're going to hit this island HARD. And still have time for a trip to Paris.

This adventure is going to be LEGENDARY!

Best friends.

The first week of every year, the Red River District turns into a veritable cornucopia of free local music performances. Every major and minor venue — Mohawk, Beerland, Room 710, Emo's — opens their doors to hordes of music-loving Austinites for night after night of rock'n'roll madness.

Unfortunately, I'll be in San Antonio and, eventually, in Glasgow by the time Free Week wraps up. Fortunately, I was present for the first Friday of the annual unofficial festival and got to see two of my friends' bands: Gobi and Pataphysics — and a lot of innocuous faces from my past, none of which are featured below.

Enjoy the last photos from my wild and wooly Austin vacation. I'll miss my town!

This is one of my best friends Phil.
He and another of my good friends, Dillon, are in a band called Gobi.


This is Silver Pines.
Loren, Reed, and I went swimming with vocalist Stefanie the week before I moved to Glasgow.
She's has a Jack Russell Terrier and she's really nice.


My friend Dirk (in the sunglasses on the left) is in this really awesome band called Pataphysics. He's a genius.
I've told him this a million times but I don't know if he believes me yet.




  "How do you fit an elephant inside a Safeway bag, Shannon?"
"I don't get it, Reed!"

My best friend Loren has a blog. It's called Cat Tush.