sxsw video montage!

morning man extraordinaire Tad did a nice job piecing together my digital camera video footage of sxsw...if i had know it was going to turn out this well, i would've taken more...i'll be ready next year...enjoy!

pics posted!

check out my groovy sxsw pics here --

http://picasaweb.google.com/jeffscorner/SouthBySouthwest2007

i took some cool videos too on my camera (much less blurry, and the sound's actually not too bad either)...still trying to figure out how to format them so I can post those as well! (probably on Corner website)

night time is the right time...

well, Saturday ended up becoming a half day of rest, as we were all pretty wiped out from the 3 previous late nights...and when I tried to decide what I would go to even if I was up & at 'em and couldn't, that made up my mind to just relax a little and enjoy some pizza and NCAA b'ball with Pete & Lindsay & Drea. Definitely wanted to catch Jandek at the Central Pres. Church at 7pm - it was one of the official SXSW venues. Scads of scruffy rockers were filling in the pews when I got there, and I noticed there was an empty row up close off to the right. He got a bit of a late start, but sure enough, the enigmatic, prolific, and indier-than-just-about-everyone else there Jandek emerged and proceeded to play about 3 songs over the first 40 minutes of his set. I thought it would be great if he only did one and then walked off quietly (esp. when that first one was about 20 minutes long), but he kept playing, for about an hour total. 6 songs in all, I believe I counted. No words at all to the crowd. Normally long, drony songs with off-key singing aren't my bag, but a guy from Columbia, MO helped produce a movie called Jandek on Corwood that I saw a couple years ago, and that piqued my interest - otherwise I would have probably never heard of him. Go to allmusic.com for the full story, but let's just say he puts out very similar sounding albums once a year (sometimes more often), doesn't do interviews, and only recently (about 30 years into his record-making "career") started playing out live. But in these days of interwebs, a story like Jandek's tends to spread. I'm still not sure if it's an elaborate hoax, as some people believe (I think this about Pitchfork media's reviews sometimes - they can't possibly believe so-and-so's album deserves an 8.3! they're just seeing how many people will fall for it!). But I will admit I was rivited to my pew, if not for the quality of the music (which grew on me - or should i say hypnotized me? - a bit over 60 minutes), then to at least see what would happen next, because I had no idea. The most rock'n'roll moment of sxsw for me, I suppose - what the heck is rock'n'roll anymore? Isn't is supposed to stir things up, or at least scare you a little bit? Is it still rock'n'roll if it doesn't? Or is it something else? Not to say that something else is necessarily bad, it's just maybe not rock'n'roll...OK, this is why I should've done this blog 2 days ago. Too much post-fest re-hashing after the fact...sorry bout that.

Anywho, some of my other Missouri friends were at the F by F You fest going on in south Austin, where bands who didn't get into SXSW (and some who did, but wanted to fight the man anyway) played and that certainly sounded more rock'n'roll in the scary sense I was just describing according to the reports I heard later.

Buzzcocks were playing Emo's main room at 8pm, but Jandek going longer than I thought he would kept me from getting a good place in line, which was already down the block by the time I got there. Would've liked to have seen Charles "Express Yourself" Wright at Antone's, but the venue was on the wrong side of 6th St. compared to what I wanted to see later in the evening. Caught a bit of The Budos Band (and Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings right after) from the street to suit my funk needs, however (they played a packed tent that was luckily outdoors, so you could easily see and hear through the fence). Pink Nasty was still playing as I wandered over to Elysium. She's an Austin fixture now - her looks and career kinda compare to Feist. She can do multiple genres well (primarily folkish-country in Pink's case), and sounded great live. Wanted to move along to see how the line at Stubb's was going before the heavy-hitting lineup of Paolo Nutini/Kings of Leon/Spoon/Iggy & the Stooges. Got in fairly easily, as it wasn't yet 9, and I was able to have my 1st Stubb's BBQ of SXSW (how did i wait til Saturday?) while I waited for Paolo to take the stage. He was about what I expected, although the cover of "Rehab" was a nice surprise. Halfway through, I made the executive decision, having seen KofL, Spoon & Iggy (w/ and w/out the Stooges) all within the past couple of years, that it was time to explore new frontiers. Glad I did (made it back within earshot to hear the last notes of KofL's set, same for Spoon, and by the time I wandered back that direction for Iggy, he was already done, although I eventually saw some fantastic pics taken by someone who was in the front row...more on that later). Ventured up to the 18th floor of the Hilton Garden, where Johnette Napolitano from Concrete Blonde was playing basically a very big hotel bar setting. She was great, although when she dedicated a song to her 20-year-old dog that has just passed a few days earlier, I had to move it along for fear of becoming too verklempt to continue (it was only 10:30ish at this point). It was at this point in the evening when I SHOULD have gone to see Golden Dogs, based on a song a friend from Colorado had put on a mix cd for me that I had just gotten in the mail right before I left for TX. Although I got fairly organized on my flight down as to what I wanted to see, I did neglect the final once-over on the "friend recommendation list." So I ended up not being able to get into Detroit Cobras (long line), and the only other things I wanted to see weren't starting til midnight, so I stood in the street, pondering how many cool things I had missed during the week (most of which I didn't even know I was missing), and also thinking of all the cool people and things I had seen, which of course made it all worth it. The Whigs got a late start at the Blender Bar, so I was able to catch another song or 2 by Daniel Johnston playing right before them. Daniel's an Austin legend of sorts, who used Kurt Cobain's fandom among other things to have a few brief moments of MTV fame in the early 90s (and like Jandek, a recent documentary film subject). The crowd was really into it, although with Daniel you're always hoping it's for the right reasons and that they're not just coming to see the freak show. Although at midnight on Saturday of SXSW, everyone in Austin is pretty much a freak, so I guess it all worked out fine. Caught a bit of Amon Tobin doing his DJ thing at the beautiful Parish venue, where I had not been in my previous 2 visits to Austin. Had a speaker right in the middle of the crowd for what his intro said was "7.1 surround sound"... not sure about that, but there were cool visuals too. Apparently his new album (I learned later) is made up almost entirely of whatever you call the sound effects they make especially for use in movies, kinda like that human choir they had on the Oscars this year. Met up with Pete & co. as +/- (the excellent band plus-minus, who happens to be playing C-ville Monday) was finishing, and it was onto Emo's for him to see Turbonegro (I was hoping to make it in later), and it was onto Girl Talk at Elysium for me & Linds & Drea. Turned out to be a pretty righteous party that Pittsburgh DJ known as Girl Talk throws. He made like Danger Mouse and put out a cd with all kinds of uncleared samples last year, and it became all the rage, so at a certain point, with so many people having the cd, I guess no one thought it would be worth the trouble to sue him. He was more punk rock than the usual DJ stuck behind the turntables, as he crowd surfed, jumped around while taking off his hoodie and shirt, and invited a good portion of the crowd up on stage with him about halfway through (I was probably one of the few old enough in the crowd to realize the irony of Iggy playing right down the street at the same time this kid was using the same flooding-the-stage-with-the-crowd technique that Iggy's used for years. Ah well, it was still fun...). Couldn't get in to Turbonegro, and even as people filed out (which usually leads to those waiting in line getting in), they were claiming they were "closed" (it was after 1:40am, so they couldn't serve any more beer). This, even though the band didn't really even start til almost 1:30am, I learned later, talking to a girl from Britain (Brighton, no less, just like Gomez) who was, like me, in line waiting to meet a friend who was inside (she was the great Iggy photographer i referred to earlier). Turned out her friend was a huge Turbonegro fan, and she emerged at what must've been 2:15 or 2:30, with some guy from Austin who had gotten his badge for SXSW for volunteering the first 2 days of the fest. We all stood around talking on the street for almost an hour, as I turned down a ride from Jeff, the Emo's sound guy who had gotten me my wristband. Pete ends up calling me to say he stumbled out the opposite exit and is already halfway back to Lindsey's. My flight was to depart at 730am, so I ended up at Kirby Lane Cafe (can't believe I almost forgot to go there!), and enjoyed a lovely 4am b'fast with 3 people I had just met, who were all hilarious and cool. The very entertaining waitress and the cool tunes on the jukebox added to the good vibes, and as 5am approached, it was time to head to the airport, and sure enough my new pals were willing to give me a ride, as I had neglected to call a cab the previous evening. Chalk it up to southern hospitality I guess, and on my drive back from DC to C-Ville, I happened to see the "Wok and Roll Buffet" and although I didn't eat there, I couldn't resist a picture. My flight back was intentionally early so that I could see Boris Yeltsin (again) and The Cinematics with Dreaming Isabelle at Starr Hill. The rock star-wannabe's adventures never cease....See ya again next year, Austin! THANKS FOR READING!

the goal is soul (or bands on the run)...

(photos are: a restaurant in Austin, not C-Ville! Go Hoos in the Big Dance! Amy Winehouse, The Pierces, and The Good, The Bad & The Queen)

day got off to a surprisingly early start, as i updated the blog, and got a little more into it than i thought i was going to at first, so i missed one of the 2 breakfast things i wanted to get to. by noon, i ended up getting my first free burrito of the fest and a nice watermelon juice concoction that helped with the recovery from the previous night. catfish haven was the first band of the day for me, and i was glad to see this fine chicago band had added an extra guitar player and two very entertaining backup singers (synchronized dance moves!) from the last time i saw them in columbia, mo. spent the afternoon wandering from day party to day party and managed to catch a bunch of great stuff in intimate settings...Pipettes and Marnie Stern at the Pitchfork party - not really down with the "ironic" soul stylings of the Pipettes (British white girls trying to make like the Supremes - also with sychro dance moves - but to my ears anyway they had what Randy from American Idol might call "pitch issues.") Marnie on the other hand was one of those SXSW moments where you see something you had no idea even existed (not being a reader of Pitchfork, really) but that is impressive, esp. in a live environment. Her backing band was contained in her iPod that she wore on her hip, and she proceeded to sing (and wail on guitar) along with it. Apes and Androids were a NYC band that employed kerchiefs, cheezy makeup, headbands, and inflatable aliens to aid their Darkness-meets-Clap Your Hands Say Yeah influenced compositions. Caught the last couple of excellent Snowden songs at the WOXY party, then over to the "little radio" party for a bit of VietNam. Then, Black Lips at the insound party (where i had seen A&A earlier). Repeated attempts to check on "pass" availability for the Spin party at Stubb's where Kings of Leon were playing (and apparently Fratellis were joined by Pete Townshend during their set!) were fruitless. Last year, and 3 years ago when I attended SXSW also, the "pass" for the Spin party was just a matter of walking by Stubb's early enough in the day (some day parties are totally free, others are RSVP beforehand through a website or email), and believe me, I was there earlier than most yesterday. Oh well, will try to see Kings & Fratellis tonight at their "proper" showcases. Back over to the WOXY party for Little Ones from LA - very energetic power pop maybe influenced a little by Modest Mouse. Another good SXSW surprise. Mainly early in the afternoon I was killing time to see one of my favs, Amy Millan from the band Stars, do a solo set (she has her own cracking band) at the Little Radio party. She didn't disappoint, and even informed the crowd that this was her fav SXSW she had been to so far out of her past 6 or 7 visits (also a sometimes member of Broken Social Scene). She even did a countryish cover version of Death Cab's "I Will Follow You into the Dark"...I was too shy to talk to the band after the set, but I managed to run into Amy later in the evening while fellow Canadians The Dears were playing, and I actually gave her my business card and told her if she ever comes to C-Ville, she's more than welcome in the Corner Lounge! Pretty rare even for a cheezy radio DJ to meet the artist who did your co-fav album of the previous year! Rest of afternoon was killing time before the Iggy & the Stooges in-store at Waterloo...managed to catch a bit of Imperial Teen (old pals of Pixies'/Breeders'/Amps' Kim Deal...got a couple compliments on my vintage "Tammy & the Amps" shirt I happened to be wearing this particular day), but Midnight Movies (who I had heard good things about) were taking too long to set up, so across town I ventured, ending up seeing Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly. (who had the unenviable slot pre-Iggy at Waterloo) For crowd control purposes (and believe me there was a crowd! and a tv crew, and police and fire marshals...), Waterloo had to kick out all the "customers" and then allow in all the Iggy fans. As a credit to them, they were very organized about it, and it's about the only way they could do it, but it was a bummer that i got there five minutes after the line was "allowed" to form (430pm) and ended up down the street, around the corner and up the alley. I understand why they didn't do line tickets or anything, but capacity of the store was only a little over 200. Luckily, Iggy being Iggy, he had the door behind the stage opened during the 5-song set, and not only could the crowd assembled OUTside (including me) hear better, but Iggy himself jumped around on the sidewalk for a minute or 2. Shoulda put the camera in movie mode for that, but I kept hitting the off button instead of the shutter button. That's why I'm in radio & not photojournalism, I guess...Met up with my Foundry Field Recordings friends from Missouri (great band, by the way :), and we surveyed the Austin landscape from their 7th floor spot in a downtown parking garage. Onto the purevolume party (where oddly no beverages or food seemed to be available, free or otherwise), where I caught a bit of Eisley. I think they've been around for 4 or 5 years now, but they still looked really young. Pretty talented family, though. walked ALL the way to the convention center (home base for those badge-holders attending the daytime panel discussions and trade shows) and since it's a building that happens to take up a couple blocks of its own, had to walk ALL the way around it to figure out where Brandi Carlile was playing. she was excellent, although she seemed a bit peeved to be cut off before they could do one last song. was expecting a fairly rocking band from her, based on the new single "The Story," but there was no drummer, and she had a cello player in addition to the twin brothers she normally has backing her up. so it was more of an acoustic affair, although she still belted out The Story. after another Naked Cowboy sighting downtown (didn't get the camera ready fast enough), spotted Matt Pinfield (ex-MTV VJ and longtime alternative radio guru) co-hosting the DirecTV SXSW coverage. They've got an obnoxiously brightly lit sound-proof studio right in the center of things on 6th st. throughout the festival. They've also got their own mini-venue in the convention center as well, which is partly what took me song long to get to the Brandi Carlile show, since I had to walk around it. Got a tip from a Missouri friend that the Chicago band Sybris was good at their recent show in Columbia, so I caught their last couple of tunes, which were very good, before heading over to the Amy Winehouse night-time showcase at one of the bigger Austin venues, La Zona Rosa, where the BBC was having a shindig. She had to cancel her Waterloo in-store, and there was speculation that she wouldn't show (i guess she has that reputation for cancelled shows in England), but she seemed very confident and comfortable on stage with a great backup band too. Couldn't understand a word she was saying between songs, though - very thick British accent...turned out the "special guest" following Amy was Razorlight (who I like, but i'll admit i was disappointed it wasn't a bigger name, since Pete Townshend was in town and all...he had joined his wife on stage at the same venue the night before apparently, hyping their "in the attic" website that features cool, stripped down performances at their house). Oh well, that's why I probably shouldn't read the papers the next day to see what i missed...On the long walk back to the main 6th. St. drag, got to catch The Pierces, who oozed confidence, sexiness, and serious musical chops on the rooftop of Maggie Mae's. Might be one of their stumbling blocks to success so far, actually (they've been kinda "lost in the shuffle" record label and genre-wise over the last couple of albums). Sounds kind of silly to say, but they might be TOO attractive. I mean, what girl wants to take their boyfriend/significant other to a show to watch them drooling the whole time? But, I guess guys take their girls to Howie Day and Pete Yorn and (insert your fav hunk here) shows, so we'll see what happens with their new cd. Wanted to catch a bit of Headlights, a Champaign, IL band that was playing the Polyvinyl Records showcase, and their first 2 songs alone gave me the energy to get through the next 2 hours (it was past midnight at this point). Peaches and Faint shows on 6th St. were too packed for me to get into unfortunately (I was surprised to see indie heartthrob Har Mar Superstar at the front of the badge line for the latter and not the former - even HE couldn't get in) and even Sloan playing the Dirty Dog was pretty packed, but luckily I could see a little from the street thanks to the venue's big screen behind the stage. The Good The Bad & the Queen (members of Verve, Clash, Blur) were solid but my interest waned not being very familiar with the record, so it was over to see who the surprise guest was at the Arts & Crafts showcase down the street (turned out to be The Dears), which is where I ended up running into Amy Millan, so I'll chalk that up as one of my best decisions of the fest! Back down to the Polyvinyl showcase to see my Boris Yeltsin pals play their night-time showcase (certainly one of the hallmarks of their young career, esp. being the "headliner"). Talking to a couple guys in line waiting for the GB&Q show, one of whom was from Austin and another from Ohio, it was interesting that they both had heard the "buzz" about the Boris Yeltsin boys...word spreads fast about good music these days, which is exciting, but makes for packed crowds virtually everwhere at something like SXSW. 8 of us packed into a sedan and headed about 20 minutes south of downtown to crash after a lot of standing and walking and listening and just plain fun at sxsw 07! staying in, eating pizza and watching NCCA bball won out for the first part of today, but it's a big night at Stubb's tonight, with Paolo Nutini, Kings of Leon, Spoon, and the Stooges all playing right in a row, and even if the line's too long (i have seen all of those but Paolo before, so i think i'll live), there are plenty of other good options that i'll try to report on before i head out on my 730am flight back to DC!

day 2...

ok, a much shorter post today because I've gotta get going to a couple breakfast/brunch events (up and at em after less than 4 hours sleep!)...yesterday, there was not nearly the selection of free food and beverages at day shows I've become used to my last 2 trips to Austin this time around...plus my timing seemed to be off so I kept getting to places during set changes. I know, boo hoo, but I still got to see lots of cool stuff.
The guy from Super Furry Animals (Griff Rhys?) did a set with a female co-lead vocalist. Even though there first song was mostly in Welsh, the crowd got surprisingly into for that early in the day. off to Stubb's where the Melvins were to play later, and the 3 other bands on the bill were similarly loud and sludgy. We caught Pelican, but with the lack of free food/beverages, the search had to continue elsewhere...tried to get in to a party where entry was allowed only if you had RSVPd, and even though there was only a smattering of folks there because of this fact, we still couldn't sweet talk our way in. But I took a photo of Loney, Dear through the fence that actually turned out well, and not surprisingly, they sounded good. cab across town to Waterloo Records (one of the best record stores in the country), where each day of SXSW they have 4 or 5 in-store performances, and Sparklehorse did their sweet brand of melancholy at 2pm. Followed by Lily Allen at 3pm, and I coulda sworn I kept seeing Lily, but I realized it was just various fans resembling her fashion sense trying to get closer to the stage once Sparklehorse was done. Onto Huts for an "Alan Freed burger" - couldn't resist - and an update on the days' NCAA action. Meet up with more Missouri pals as we watch our friends (and excellent Polyvinyl band) Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin. I happen to be wearing their t-shirt, and I get several comments/questions about it throughout the day. They've got great new songs and have changed up the arrangements on some of the old ones too. I saw Philip from the band en route to my Huts burger before their set and we try to coordinate a Corner Lounge visit for Sunday, when they'll be at Starr Hill in Charlottesville! Not sure if it'll work out schedule-wise, but stay tuned! Also ended up catching Daniel Johnston (nice version of "Come Together" and "Devil Town") and Andrew Bird later in the afternoon, and a session with El-P at an event sponsored by The Current, a cool radio station based in Minneapolis.
Nice Mexican dinner with some record label and AAA radio peeps...that's one of the many great things about this format is the comraderie among your peers in the industry. Lots of music geeks, basically, and pretty personable ones at that!

The evening's shows were a little underwhelming, with Rocky Votolato and Menomena among the Barsuk label artists playing their showcase at the not-nearly-packed-enough for how long they're making people wait in line to get in Buffalo Billiards venue. Thought my highlight going into the evening was going to be Bloc Party, but after wandering around to see other things while they got a later than announced start (including Malajube, who seemed to have a pretty excited crowd and made up a goofy song about Texas on the spot in response), I figured I would end up watching from behind the stage (could hear ok, but not see anything on the street behind the venue). Well, I'm glad I tried a little later, because the badge and wristband lines started moving fairly smoothly, and I got in to see most of the 2nd half of the set. I did leave early because, absent an intense light show with frequent use of the strobes, I was expecting a more raucous stage show from them I guess. Crowd seemed to really dig it, and you can tell they want to be an "arena" type band with the frequent urging of the crowd to clap along by the drummer and the singer. Not sure if there are any "arena" type songs on the new record, though, which could be a problem...still a great band though, and I'm grateful I got to actually see a bit of it, rather than having to picture what it looked like in my mind :) More ping-pong and i-Tunes DJing (by my pals, who were trying - and succeeding -- to impress the "VA DJ").
Will report more before I get back to VA hopefully, and maybe later today I can figure out how to get the pics I've been taking on this here blog thingy. Cheers!

SXSW day 1 recap

ok, i made it! having finally decided to take another trek to Austin only a few weeks ago, most of the flights were already booked up. but i managed to find a 4:10pm Southwest flight out of Dulles in DC that would send me to Chicago, then to Austin, to arrive around 10:15 for the craziness that is SXSW. well, of course, i had to get in on the free online NCAA pools and run around town for a few errands i could've done days ago (except the cleaning of the cat litter - that kinda had to be done last-minute for the benefit of my OUTSTANDING cat sitters, Brad & Melissa - thanks again btw!). long story short, i go to sleep Tuesday night intending to leave town BY 12:30 at the latest! actual C-ville departure time - almost 1:30! make pretty good time though (Dulles is one of the first exits once you hit 66), then i make the mistake of "economy parking." granted, this will save me several $ a day in parking fees, but time is of the essence, and THEN i proceed to get the SLOWEST shuttle driver ever, so I'm pretty much giving up on making my flight in time as 4:00 closes in and I haven't even gotten through security yet...Security thankfully starts a couple of new lines just as I get ready to enter, and after putting my shoes back on and keys back in my pockets, I realize I have NO IDEA where the Southwest terminal is. Just got off at that shuttle stop because the automated info over the shuttle speakers said Southwest was among those airlines on stop #1. Signage in Dulles sucks, so I ask very friendly help desk ladies, also informing them I've probably already missed my flight. Finally make it to the right area ("concourse B") at which point there are STILL NO SIGNS indicating where, among the umpteen airlines in the B area, Southwest might be. Finally see my flight on the departures board (all the other boards I had checked up to this point had NO SW flights on them), and realize B50 is all the way at the END of the rather large concourse. Mind you, it's 4:10 at this point. I do see a plane and a line of people still getting on that plane as I approach the desk, where the SW employee informs me, yes that's my flight (even though the sign above says "Tampa" which I must admit freaked me out for a split second). Final destination, I guess. Like that Wilco song, "Via Chicago," eh? So, apparently there was some bad weather where the plane had previously departed from, so they got a late start, which led to them leaving the gate in DC late, which saved my perpetually late self. No other travel snafus, and after a $23 cab ride from the airport to the convention center ($18 + tip), i pick up my wristband (I'm a roadie for the band O, Beast if anyone asks, and yes, i paid for it) and now i have to figure out which of my missouri friends (a few of whom live here now and the rest who are staying with friends of friends, etc.) is going to put me up for the night.

With my bag on my shoulder and after walking a couple blocks, I hit the main drag, 6th St., and it all comes flooding back to me...I've been here twice before, including last year, where among the highlights were seeing Gang of Four on a hotel rooftop at midnight, and Wolfmother from a few feet away in a warehouse on the outskirts of town. Tonight will be pretty uneventful show-wise, by SXSW standards anyway. My friend Jeff from Missouri who now lives in Austin and does sound for Emo's, one of the primary venues in town, was going to try to pull some strings in case I wasn't able to pick up my wristband, so I could still get into Emo's. Well, I have the wristband, and I give one of the security guys my spiel, but he's not having it, and I have to wait in a fairly long line (there's even a line for the "all-access" badge holders to get in to see The Mountain Goats) just like all the other wristbanders who DON'T know the sound guy. Just as I start to give up hope that I'll get in, the line starts moving, and I do manage to see several Mountain Goats songs and meet up with my Missouri pals Lindsay and Pete. Mountain Goats close their set with a rousing cover of Thin Lizzy's "The Boys are Back in Town" with help from the women of Pony Up, and we wander over to the Emo's Lounge to say hey to Jeff, who is busy setting up for the excellent Kinski. Wanted to see Calla and Blonde Redhead tonight, but time and line constraints see our journey continue over to the Red Eyed Fly, where Les Savy Fav is playing at 1am. Yes, SXSW is all about decisions...you pretty much can't go wrong whichever direction you choose, but deciding WHICH direction can be difficult for the thought of what you might MISS. Red Eyed Fly is only letting people in one door, so we go in the other door which takes you to the bar, where if you stand in the hallway to the bathroom, you can see and hear the stage pretty clearly, although they are pretty hardcore about telling me to not stand there after I got a picture...so, the night ends with a couple games of ping pong and the brilliant idea to stop at Whataburger at about 3am, and turns out Lindsay has extra room at her place (where Pete is also staying), so that's where we crash for the night. SXSW 2007 is off to an auspicious start...gotta go now and check out the free day parties, including Sparklehorse playing an in-store at Waterloo Records! Great night at Stubb's tonight, too with Aqualung, Rodrigo Y Gabriela, The Dears and Bloc Party, and then Lindsay's new fav, Menomena at 1am! Will try to post more later, but I'm not promising anything...stay tuned!