The SXSW Journals: Part I

Wednesday, March 18 – Waffle House in Norman, OK, stopped by Blackwatch Studio to visit Cedar Avenue drummer, Shawn Burtis. Heard a couple of the rough tracks they just recorded, which sounded great. Toured the studio.

That night we rolled into Austin around 7:30, changed out of our traveling scrubs and into our going out gear. Walked from the RV parking spot (a shady little street corner sandwiched between a psychiatric facility and a construction site; one of our crew had secured us a great parking space with access to electricity, and while I can’t complain about the parking space - who doesn’t love going to sleep every night thinking Texas Chainsaw Massacre? - without electricity, we were constantly lugging our phone chargers and laptops around with hopes of finding a power source everywhere we went. Made blogging a bit of a challenge during the week).

Once ready to hit downtown Austin, we walked through a park to get to Sixth Street, stumbling upon a near-naked man who was also stumbling. Welcome to Austin.

Sixth Street is like Music Row and Bourbon Street rolled into one. Nearly every venue on the strip had live music flowing out of it and many had lines of people waiting to get in. Hot dog vendors peppered the pedestrian-covered street, and there was sickly sweet smell in the air only comparable to that of the Minnesota State Fair: fried food, booze, and urine. Fliers, posters, and business cards tiled the road and made me sad that so much paper had been wasted on that type of promotion, even though I know it had to be done in order for any event to compete with another.

Our crew decided on a sit-down dinner and found a rooftop restaurant called the Iron Cactus, which served Tex-Mex and killer margaritas, and a specialty blended drink called Cactus Juice, which tastes a little like gummi worms, but is apparently loaded with Everclear.

After dinner we met up with some more Minneapolis folk who had made the trek down to Austin. Somehow “let’s find some good music” led us a to a DJ dance party. Not exactly what I meant by good music. I convinced everyone to pound their drinks so we could move on down the road. I’d heard that the PureVolume party was THE party to attend. Unfortunately, after a few drinks, waiting in line for an hour to get into a party where we’ll wait in line for more free drinks didn’t appeal to me, so Night #1 in Austin ended on the early side. Got back to the RV (our “tour bus”) and was sweating bullets in my sleeping bag by about 1am.

Thursday, March 19 – Woke up at 2, 3, and 4am when the rest of our crew crawled back into the RV after a night of partying. Woke up for real around 10 to work out our plan for the day. I hoped it would involve showering…I met up with an old college friend and her girlfriend for lunch at a great little [mostly] organic coffee/sandwich just under the freeway on the East side. It’s called Progress and truly was progressive with their biodegradable plastic cups and containers. My sandwich had smoked turkey, cream cheese and habanero jelly and made my day.

After lunch I got in the huge line outside the Levi’s Fader Fort to pick up my official wristband. The outdoor “venue” was essentially a few shacks strung along a chain link fence, but everything inside was super-produced. There was Levi’s jeans store, two open bars, a “music tree” that had headphones hanging from it so you could walk up to a branch, put them on, and check out some new tunes. Then there was a stage built at another end with a dirt-floored open pit area partially-covered by a tent. After I finally showed my ID to prove that I had indeed RSVP’ed to this series of events, I wandered in, grabbed a local beer – Lone Star – and made my way over to the stage where the Handsome Furs had just started their set. I heard a couple songs, was impressed by the energy of the duo (especially in the heat), but not overall impressed enough to stick around. I slammed my beer and headed back toward Sixth.

Along the way I spotted a schedule on the door of a tiny venue and noticed that the Modern Skirts were about to start a short set, so I popped in there for a song. I really dig their song “Soft Pedals” so I was hoping to hear that one, but instead it was an ditty that involved all band members playing a percussive instrument. Interesting, but not interesting enough for me to stick around. I continued down Sixth toward the action.

While in queue outside Peckerheads on the corner of Sixth and Trinity, I spotted another Minnesota friend, Matt, mowing a Best Wurst bratwurst and called him over to join me in line. He called it the best bratwurst he’d ever eaten. I imagine that may have had a little to do with it being the first thing he’d eaten all day and it being near 2:30 in the afternoon, but it did look tasty. We made it into Peckerheads after a short wait, and up the stairs we found ourselves some free Red Stripe and caught the tail end of the Port O’Brien show. The towheaded lead singer was sweating bullets by that point, but they got the crowd involved on the last song to end with a bang.

I was giddy after Port O’ Brien, and a few of us excitedly scurried down Sixth to meet up with friends Roster McCabe to hear their set at The Belmont. They’d played a show the previous day, but when someone dropped out, they were called to fill in some extra sets. The Belmont is owned by the same folks who own Stella’s Fish Café in Uptown Minneapolis, and you can sort of tell. They’ve got the dimly-lit trendy bar area, but, like Stella’s, the outdoor seating is tops – literally. They have an upper deck area that looks down onto the open air stage. This stage was sponsored by Ustream.tv and they were broadcasting all the shows live on the Internet. Roster played a decent set, but like most gigs at SXSW, it was short and didn’t really give the audience the full scope of what the band is capable of.

After Roster McCabe, the small crew of us ran back to Peckerheads to see Megafaun. They threw down a solid set of songs. I think Peckerheads is just a good space in general for emerging bands. It seems like there’s a million people in there because the two stages are in adjacent rooms and people are packed wall-to-wall simply thanks to the location of the bar and staircase. I was standing next to some people my parents’ age who were totally digging it, which made the experience all the more amusing. It also made me hungry, so we walked outside to grab some pizza slices, and then across the street to The Aquarium to get a few beers and take a short break from standing. The intention after beers was to get over to Cold War Kids and then to see Silverlake, Cali. band Castledoor, the band that changed my life in the summer of 2006 when I randomly took in their set in Chula Vista while attending a Trevor Davis concert. Unfortunately, the venue was not accurately displayed on the official SXSW map, so by the time Krista and I accidentally located it, we had already made other plans and were annoyed by the $8 cover for non-badge holders. I thought about sneaking in, but the door man looked batty. Not huge and scary – just crazy. Sadly, we opted out and crossed back under the freeway to the West side, where we met up with Gabe (of 4 on the Floor), Drew (of Roster McCabe), and Sara (of BeeTour Photography). Needing a pick-me-up after a day walking around in the sun, I sipped on a Red Bull/vodka (they have Red Bull on tap!), and then the herd took photos on the giant Jackalope outside the bar. Next on the agenda was to roll back over to The Belmont, where Drew promised he could hook us up with a place to charge our dead phones, and maybe some free beer, which he was indeed able to secure for us.

We hung out in the “green room,” which was really a tented area of the back patio that was blocked off with a really intimidating free standing sign that said “Private Party” in cursive font. And then there was a keg. We shot the breeze with the rest of the Roster McCabe guys (sans Mike who was practicing guitar), who were vegging before their next set at 11:45pm. We lounged on the wicker furniture, and I had a long conversation with a guy from the band Speakeasy, his name or the content which I don’t remember.

Our group decided to stick around, so we ended up catching this really bizarre local act, Mandy lauderdale, backed by a fantastic jazz band, which was interesting. The star of the self-proclaimed cabaret show, donned a black mini dress with a collar and a short top hat. She came down the deck stairs in a spotlight, singing into a wireless mic, carrying a tray of homemade cookies. Once on the garden level in front of the stage, she slammed a wine glass down onto the cement. I think it was to prove a point. Like that she wasn’t kidding around, or that she may look sweet and innocent but is really in actuality pretty into S&M. Either way, the action shot a several shards of glass at stage left and one directly into Krista’s shin, which ended up bleeding nonstop for the next few hours. No apologies from the star, who didn’t notice, and continued her show, which basically involved taping men’s mouths shut and making them perform sensual acts on her (like paint her toenails) in front of their wives, while she serenaded them in the spotlight.

Before the set ended, she’d brought a kissing booth up onstage, littered the stage with feathers and sexy lingerie, and literally got naked with a male audience member (behind a dressing wall, which showed her tiny silhouette). Those of us backstage, however, got the real deal – I saw butt cheeks, people. The whole show was an entertaining event, but had me wondering the entire time whether this “beating up the boys” theme had a deeper point than making people uncomfortable or stirring up rifts between the couples attending the show, namely the women whose husbands were gawking at her from the beginning of her set to the end. Nonetheless, it was an unforgettable show…

And then Roster McCabe had to follow THAT. Of course, they put on a great show for the folks who remained, and it was even better than the afternoon set, as this is a group whose stage energy increases the darker the venue, the later the hour.
After a Jimmy Johns run, I met up with my friend Skyler Stonestreet, who was in town for a gig earlier that day. We only chatted for a few moments before everyone had to bounce, but I was left by all my RV friends and ended up going on a late night excursion to IHop with three of the four 4 on the Floor dudes. After hassling our soft-spoken, high school aged waiter, Michael, and eating less than half a fudge sundae, I made the guys walk me past the sketch area to the RV, where they dropped me off and I sent them off into the dark night, without a map or directions, to find their van. I slept in an arm chair that night. Slept, might be stretching it.

Friday, March 20 – It’s the day of the show, y’all! The CashMoneyapolis show, that is, booked by Brian McDonough of the Uptown Bar. Sara and I ventured East, ran into a cute book shop, got lost at a park, and then finally found the Iron Gate Lounge and caught the last few songs of KaiserCartel’s set. While part of my dis-satisfaction with their performance can be blamed on the lack of appropriate stage lighting and awkwardly low ceilings of the bar, I think I basically just realized I’m over how cutesy they are. To the best of my knowledge, the duo is a hetero-married couple, who folk-pop songs are co-written as they traverse the nation in their thrift-shop dress with their vintage suitcases. Their songs are simple and universal, and impressive, even (they play guitar while keeping time with the kick drum). But there’s something affected about their stage presence. It’s too precious for me to enjoy it because it’s nearly smug. And even my favorite tune, “Season Song,” which includes whistling in perfect tune, is just a little too pretentious for me. Their songs and sound may be original, but the attitude is formulaic and I’m bored with it.

After KaiserCartel hurriedly packed up their gear and took off (probably for another gig), Romantica took the stage. I’d sat down for a few minutes with Ben Kyle during the previous set. He was drinking tea and seemed a little worn down, but as soon as they hit the un-elevated performance area, his energy, and the rest of the band, picked up and they played a tight set, including some new songs. I’d recently heard several of their new tunes at the Cedar Cultural Center show in Minneapolis on February 21, and was elated to hear them again. The last song about "Baby" killing "Bobby" was raw and dirty, and had a harder sound than most of what we usually hear from Romantica. But this was in the best way possible. It shows Ben’s songwriting and vocal range, and the band’s ability to move in new directions, while maintaining the quality, originality, and earnestness of their previous records. After the set, drummer Jim Orvis told me that we can expect a new album out in September or October of this year.

We ditched the rest of the Cashmoneyapolis party to check out some non-local bands. We didn’t come all the way to Austin see live music was can regularly check out at home. Even though Minneapolis DOES possess some of the most talented and hardworking independent bands in the business today. At 2:00pm on a Friday, though, it was 5’o’clock somewhere, so Sara and I cruised through the Levi’s Fader Fort to get some free SoCo, which went bottoms up almost immediately, and we made our way back to the West side to Mohawk’s where we used Sara’s monster camera and multiple lenses to legitimize our barging our way to the front of the outdoor stage. Lucky us, we made it in time for Port O’ Brien’s finale, which involved not only call and response crowd-participation, but also involved passing out pots and pans and silver spoons to help out the percussion section. It was one of the best live concert moments of the entire festival. It’s the simple things in life and live music that please me. Like banging metal on metal to the beat of a drinking song.

We had originally come to Mohawk’s to see Alela Diane, but her set was inside and nearly done by the time we arrived…so we just remained outside, front and center stage, for The Rosebuds. This was my first time seeing them live, and I didn’t realize how incredibly attractive their current drummer is until that moment they took the stage. Normally I spend a lot of time dropping my jaw at lead singers and guitarists because those are the two things that I try to do, but can’t yet do well. This time, however, I was so struck by this guy’s focused, but not too-into-his-own-world presence. He was making eye contact, and smiling and really enjoying the show, too. It was like all the band members (including Brad Cook from Megafaun, who played bass guitar), we just having a grand old time up there, and thus the audience was totally captivated. For the last song, they all came down into the crowd and played acoustically a tune that involved taking steps and bowing “to the middle.” People were singing along and dancing and then…it was over. Oh, and Kelly Crisp, who sings and plays keys, was totally rocking Minnetonka Moccasins, which I commended her for and she confirmed how comfortable they are. Minnesota wins again.

Next up on the Mohawk’s outdoor stage: The Delta Spirit. So we stuck around for another set. I’d been listening to their songs on Sirius XMU satellite radio for the past few months, and was super glad I randomly stayed to hear them play. They’ve already got quite a following, as I witnessed firsthand by the crowd suddenly getting tighter and the dude next to me singing along the whole time. They get super into their shows and played really hard, but I think they’re on the edge of stardom, so I hope they keep their heads on straight. From simple observation of stage presence (a mix of graciousness, yet expectation) I think it could really go either way for them.

By this point, Josh and another really nice Minneapolis dude whose name I’m blanking on had met up with us, and we all were a little tired of standing and in need of something in our bellies. We started walking back toward Sixth in search of a good restaurant, but instead stopped by the stage next door and lo and behold, The Hold Steady were just finishing up their last couple of songs, so I weaved my way closer to the stage. The Hold Steady is another one of those bands that I really thought I would have seen by now, since they play in Minneapolis every few months, and I’ve been a Lifter Puller fan since a way long time ago, but this was my first live listen. It wasn’t a religious experience or anything because it was outdoors and people were chatting and I was at the back of the crowd, but they sounded good, and now more than ever I want to make a point to check them out next time I get the chance.

Dinner at a Cuban Restaurant called Habana - consumed the only real Sangria I've ever had, and it was amazing. Complete with real fruit floating around in it. Ate a tasty tamal and empanada. Post-dinner, walked back to the RV for a costume change and to make a plan for the rest of the evening...

* * * More to come...including Shiny Toy Guns, Josiah Wordsworth, White Light Riot, The Alarmists, Manchester Orchestra, and Kanye West's 20-minute concert...