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!