(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!
