Good news for imp: We launched The Austin Chronicle Media Taster for a special sxsw edition.

Sam and I drove down from Minneapolis on Wednesday morning getting there early Thursday. The drive wasn't too bad and pretty uneventful, other than the 'on the hour every hour' dance party. No tickets, no accidents, no road kill. I finished my book and Sam contemplated the feasibility of creating a utopic city completely run on green energy.

We had the great fortune of starting every morning (noon) off with wonderful up-beat music to help us get ready for the long day ahead.

•Thursday we caught the always terrific, InRadio 4.6 featured artist, Matt & Kim. If you read what I wrote on our website you'd know that they are fantastic live and they easily got all the hung-over hipsters bobbing their heads and stomping their feet.

•Friday we were graced with another 4.6 artist, Macromantics, who with her DJ Amy brought energy and life to our morning.

•On Saturday, our partner Snocap kicked off their day party with The Trucks. A group I had heard about but never seen and they were fabulous.



•Saturday night we hung out with our friends at Bust and Kill Rock Stars and enjoyed their showcase.

The Disappointment:

We went to a party at The Blue Genie on Friday where I was very excited to hear InRadio 5.1 artist, Bonde Do Role. Unfortunately the Police had other thoughts in mind and shut down the party. I was sad but felt worse for I Heart Comix and Mad Decent who had put a lot of time and effort into organizing it.

On Sunday we got back on I-35 and headed home. The drive back was a little rougher than the drive down but all in all it was a great week for imp, InRadio and me. -alice-

Welcome to March, home to InRadio 4.6: Moments In Movement. It's snowing in Minneapolis today so I thought I'd highlight a label whose home is experiencing very different, 86 degree weather.

About a mile from the Guatemalan border and five-minutes from the ancient Mayan ruins of Xunantunich is Benqe Viejo a small town in Belize that houses the Country's first recording studio and Stonetree Records. Stonetree is dedicated to actively promoting the region's unique musical styles and encouraging the preservation of Belize's tradition music: including that of the Garifuna, Creole, Maya, and Mestizo cultures.

Formerly the colony of British Honduras, Belize was fought over by Spain, Britain and Guatemala before it gained independence in 1981. One Stonetree artist, Andy Palacio and the Garifuna Collective, have just released 'Wátina', a stunning new album featuring an all-star, multigenerational lineup of Garifuna musicians from Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras.

The Garifuna people originated when two large Spanish ships, filled with a delivery of West African slaves, sunk off the coast of the Caribbean island of St. Vincent in 1635. Half of the Africans survived and intermingled with the indigenous Caribs of the region, creating a new hybrid culture. Fiercely independent, the Garifuna community resisted European colonization, and were forcibly exiled to the Caribbean coast of Central America.

Andy Palacio sites a visit to Nicaragua in the 80s as an important moment in shaping his desires to play Garifuna music. He was on his way to serve in a literacy campaign when a storm forced his boat to change direction and stop at a nearby village. It was here that he met a Garifuna man who could not believe that Palacio could speak Garifuna, for the old man believed that the language would perish with him. 'From that day I realized that what was happening in Nicaragua, the disappearance of Garifuna culture, foreshadowed what was going to happen in Belize less than a generation down the road,' recalls Palacio. 'I decided to follow my passion and focus more on performing Garifuna music as a way to keep the traditions alive long into the future.'





If you like what you hear help Stonetree and Andy continue with their mission and purchase a cd from their website. And don't be surprised if these voices sound familiar when listening to upcoming InRadio cd's, I have a hunch that at least Andy will make his way onto our compilations.