bittersweet good-southby, pt. ii

picking up on friday morning, it's only appropriate that i dragged out this second post by so many days, as that's what getting up and going friday morning felt like. thursday was epic in a sense that though we called it a fairly early night by austin standards, it was a day that seemed like it would never end, and we never really wanted it to.



i like the above picture because it kind of captures lorne, roni, and i each in our most natural element of the weekend. it was also taken on saturday, so each of us had definitely built a healthy resume by this point of what our weekend m.o. was and we were comfortable in it.

friday morning was actually pretty unique for me, as i was asked by my friend samantha to come be in a little indie flick a couple of british guys named ed and jay were filming while in town for the week. i went and shot early in the morning around 8, which was good, because i was to be playing a skeezy prostitute solicitor coming out of a gas station bathroom who looked ragged and a bit hungover. let's just say i didn't have to go to make-up. i found out the guys were also following around a little band called viking moses! who oddly enough i had actually heard of. they told me he was playing at a monkeywrench books off north loop and 53rd st. at noon, so i went to check him out to start the day. pretty unique little sx experience, as i watched this guy wailing on an electric with a girl on keys with about 6 others in a bookstore no bigger than my kitchen.

then it was back into town where i met ronnie the bear and went to emos to catch the pains of being pure at heart. there was a healthy little buzz about these kids, and that's just what they were, and it was a nice, tight set considering listening to a band at emos inside is like being trapped inside the drum monitor. i had to find a place to sit afterward though, and the back porch seemed like as good an idea as any, where another band was playing. i didn't bother to write down who it was. besides, it was time to get to the levis/fader fort.

now, the thing about the fader fort is, well, a lot of things. see, what happens is, levis and fader magazine get together and this fort is built on east 5th street and they have all kinds of free and promotional stuff going on all day, every day, including tons of music, photo booths, merch, blogger lounge, and of course, free southern comfort and budweiser. all you can drink. of course. why not. why would you not serve free southern comfort and budweiser all day every day for four days to a bunch of crazy, young music fans from all over the world? naturally, this was the thing to do. all it took to gain access was a simple rsvp online days before the festivities and standing in an unnecessarily long line to pick up the wrist band, and you're in. this actually happens at sxsw a lot more than one might imagine is reasonable. at any rate, this location was a total success. after getting there around 4:00 to camp out for the impending free peter bjorn & john show later that evening, we caught a slew of reasonably talented musicians while enjoying friends and atmosphere. then pb&j came on, and all the world seemed right. of course they came out for the encore, and played a smashing rendition of young folks (this is from 2007 at mohawk. no 09 clips available). it was all in all another totally brilliant day.

saturday.

oh saturday. this is all i will say about the music on saturday. i saw these people in order at halcyon on a 2' tall stage standing 6' away from the artists.
the dashing suns
lou barlow
m. ward
will scheff

think about that. think about why those guys were playing a mid-saturday afternoon free showcase in a tiny coffee shop off 4th street. i know. i can't make sense of it either. but it was the perfect cap to an essentially perfect sxsw. it didn't even matter that we saw thao nguyen (who i developed an immediate crush on, let's just be honest) again and then later saw bun b, kanye west, and common. by then, it was just all icing.

really though, the main thing that made sxsw 2009 what it was, was the people. so many of our new york friends came down, put together the showcase paul played in, worked, and hung out. we had quote from nashville crashing with us for the week, where the poet matthew king taught me how to make a hookah bowl using an apple and some scotch tape. friends from houston, san diego, and dc, and made new friends with people from madison and manchester. we saw bands from portland, chicago, london, and jönköping, sweden. i unexpectedly ran into an old flame and gladly got to spend some quality time with a new one. we made new lifelong connections and played witness to art in creation. we sang and danced and drank merrily as the lord intended. it was so.



(the essence -- me, jules, & jesus)

bittersweet good-southby, pt. i

there is no way to know where to even begin to start thinking about what just happened.

i will attempt to recap a south by southwest experience in a more painless fashion than what my body experienced and still feels a solid 3 days removed from the final act.

sxsw in its fullness is a gargantuan task not to be taken on by the faint of heart. just when you think you've got time to rest and recover, you realize it's thursday morning, and it's time to get up and go stand in line again. in a way, it's like disney world for hipsters.

after bearing witness to 28 live shows, walking at least a marathon, standing for no less than 10 hours a day, housing musicians from nashville, industry friends from new york, and drinking my weight in free southern comfort, white russians, and pabst blue ribbon, all in the span of 4 days, i feel like it is safe to say i am now a sxsw veteran and part of some sort of elitist hip club where i get to talk in vague generalities about musical genius and the transcendent nature of independent craftsmanship.

but all that aside, i did see/hear some really outstanding acts and there were very few moments in the 4 days of euphoria/masochism where i was left feeling any version of disappointment.

i kicked off the week on monday morning standing in line at waterloo records for a limited give-away of tickets for a private decemberists w/ gomez show. i arrived around 8:40 am. after i reached the door to the store at 10:25, i was left 5 patrons short of a ticket. while i guess i should've felt really upset, instead i ended up making great friends with a guy from wisconsin and his girlfriend while standing in line. they were down for their first sxsw and i was able to give them a few pointers and then send them my email list of rsvp events to guide them on some cool places to go. also, i randomly ended up standing in line with a guy whom i worked with at club deville last year during the event who had been growing a recession beard, which was wildly out of control and horribly unattractive. but since when i originally met him he had pink hair hanging down in his face, i'm guessing attractive wasn't what he was going for.

wednesday: i brushed off the bad luck with the decemberists ticket and got out early to see a swedish band i first saw open for andrew bird at the paramount theater called 'loney dear'. their traditional scandinavian sound blends well a mix of jens lekman and sigur ros with a folksy undertone. i would catch them again at the flamingo cantina on thursday where they played an energized afternoon set.

wednesday afternoon brought a stage-front view (which would become a common theme for the week) of elvis perkins in dearland, one of my absolute favorites, at the mohawk party (click the link to see the black cab sessions blog with photo from show). afterward was akron family, a nice little hodge-podge of sound. that's enough for wednesday.

thursday: all i can say is, there was a choice to be made thursday morning between the paste magazine party at the radio room and the npr party at the parish; we chose the latter, and we chose wisely.

kick it off with a bag of swag and a few free pbr's then:

thao nguyen and the get down stay down -- gem of the week. my favorite new act.
blind pilot -- came highly recommended and did not disappoint.
blk jks -- system of a down meets tv on the radio and the roots.
k'naan -- where did this guy come from? answer: heaven. tears in our eyes.
the dirty projectors -- music from the future. no basis for comparison.
blitzen trapper -- sub pop band makes us feel good again and again.

emerging from the parish in the middle of the day after spending 5 hours in a dark theater listening to a brilliantly cast eclectic mix of superb musicianship was slightly less than desirable, but it led to more adventures like kebabilicious, a $5 cab ride and the cold war kids at auditorium shores. we then braved the walk back downtown to fado where we showed just in time to see paul banks and the carousels play the set of their life followed up by a nice little solo set by chicago artist joe pug. it had been a full day at that point, and time to get home, rehydrate, and get some sleep.