SXSW Music 2009

Four Seasons and a Few Others

Photo Gallery Wednesday

Started the day at KGSR's morning concert series at the Four Seasons where The Greencards started it off at 7:00 AM while it was still dark outside!

If you want a good seat for these FS shows, you really need to be there by 6:00. I was up around 3:00 (couldn't sleep!) and at the Park'n'Ride bus stop in time for the 5:30 bus, so it worked great. There's a $5 charge for the Four Seasons shows but that covers an all-you-can-eat continental breakfast: orange juice, coffee, tea, wonderful pastries, breakfast tacos, etc. After The Greencards, there was Matt Morris, My Jerusalem, Charlie Mars, Shawn Sahm (Doug's son) and The Gourds. The bands only play 2 songs apiece, but it's still a fun way to see them.

After going home for a short nap, MrB (who had to work the morning) and I headed back out on the bus again. We are now BIG fans of the city busses for events like these. What were we ever thinking trying to deal with parking issues? First stop was 6th Street, Radio Room, for the first Paste Magazine party. No free beer (!) but we did get to see one of the hot new Austin transplant bands: The Heartless Bastards (pictured, from Ohio). They are a hard-rockin' band and that's the best way I can think of to describe them.

After Radio Room, we went over to Red River to the Mohawk, but it was just way too packed so we ditched that, hopped on another bus and went to the Pop Culture Press party at the Dog and Duck. As you can see, there is no duck, but there are dogs a-plenty on the patio, and a few remnants of the St. Patty's Day party they held the previous day. It was a lot less crowded than last year, but the lack of crowd was a relief. No free beer, but there was a table to set it on, and a chair to sit in - also room to walk around and the volume was just right. Check out the Photo Gallery for the Handsome Family, and Future Clouds and Radar, an Austin band with a bit of buzz.

After Future Clouds, we got back on the bus and headed to SoCo, where we saw friends at Jo's but really didn't listen to any more music.

All over the map

Photo Gallery Thursday

Morning (which starts at noon this time) was a little disjointed - went to 6th Street to Maggie Mae's Gibson Guitar Room where we'd planned to see a whole bunch of our local favorites as well as enjoy some free refreshment, but after riding the bus downtown, then walking 6 blocks to the venue, we were told that the party was for badges only - so we and some wristbanded folks were turned away. Oh well... considered the NPR party with Blitzen Trapper at the Parish but the line was *very* long waiting to get in... there were plenty more parties going on but nothing caught our interest so we hiked it back to the bus stop and went over to Whole Foods. They had Australian singer-songwriters playing by the main entrance, and that was not the only live music going on there. In the picture is a band playing at another entrance, right by the stacks of canned green beans and the shopping carts. Here are a couple of cute dogs that were on the patio. We chilled there a short while and had some healthy nourishment, and got back on the bus for South Congress.

After grabbing a free brewski at Yard Dog (Schuba's party) and watching a good band called Sleepercar, we went back to Jo's Coffee. Ben Sollee [listen] was playing there at 3:00PM, and we were so charmed by him that we bought a CD. He is sooo talented - wonderful cello player with a beautiful, soulful voice.After Ben, our options were open so walked south through the shopping district, where you can find stuff you didn't even know you needed.One of the many people playing music on South Congress:Fran's Hamburger's was having a music party, and offering up free beer from Santa Fe (plus free hamburgers, which we don't eat). Saw 3 pretty good bands there (The Motion Sick from Boston, Static of the Gods, and Aimee Bobruk), enjoyed our beers with some excellent onion rings, and headed south toward the ME TX studios to catch a live taping. On the way there we ran across Peelander-Z (pictured) playing outside Trophy's andthere were absolutely the biggest hoot of the week. They're a Japanese punk-rock band, and you don't even have to like punk music to enjoy the hell out them and their crazy antics, like climbing up into the trees. For their finale they took their instruments out into the middle of S. Congress and played there with cars going by on both sides. I caught it on video. The crowd is clanging some pots and pans that they handed out earlier, and it's muffled here and there when large objects passed in front (like cars for instance). It was a blast!!

Finished up the day at the ME Television Studios (Austin's own little version of MTV) where they had tapings all week, with the public invited. We got there in plenty of time, and enjoyed some free beverages (German Warsteiner Beer and a selection of wines served by a woman we knew from the wine tastings at the grocery store every week, plus soft drinks were available) and went in to watch Gomez from the UK. It was air-conditioned and had optimum sound quality in the studio. Really a treat. Walked outside and got on the bus right around sunset, got home to cranky cats and hurting feet, but a great day of music.

West Coast and Jayhawk Goodness

Photo Gallery Friday

On the bus again today. At noon, started the day at Threadgill's, where they were actually having 2 parties, one indoors and one out. We watched Ray Bonneville indoors while waiting for them to cook up a Garden Burger with fries to go (outside). He's a Canadian singer-songwriter who lives in Austin sometimes, and I sure don't blame him for choosing Austin right now with this gorgeous weather we are having.Outdoors was a west coast band I found some time back on MySpace and liked their sound: Or, The Whale. They put on a fantastic show, and another west coast band followed called Blind Pilot. Blind Pilot brought some chuckles to the crowd by thanking everyone for coming out on such a hot day. It was maybe 80°, Spring weather here, not considered hot at all. Then they explained by saying they'd been traveling up north where it was freezing, etc. Anyway, both bands were really fantastic and I'd love to see them again. Not sure how often they make to these parts though. In between the sets on the main Threadgill's stage were short acoustic sets that were from Jackie Bristow and Audrey Auld. Jackie is an Austin transplant from New Zealand and Audrey is an Aussie. Both were very good. Threadgill's (outdoor garden) is an extremely pleasant place to go and hear music - food, drinks, sun, shade trees, fried okra. We hung around just long enough to see Wavy Gravy come in. He's in town for the World Premiere of Saint Misbehavin', a documentary about him. We got our picture taken with him. The woman taking the picture at first was using her own camera, and of course, we made her use ours - and during this process Wavy said "This woman has photos hanging in the Smithsonian." And sure enough, her name was Lisa Law, and this is her site, do check it out.

On to Jo's Coffee, South by San Jose!

Jo's is a really nice place to be anytime. Normally the back lot is parking for the San Jose Hotel next door, but they have music and movie events there regularly, including music parties during SXSW. There were also cool kiosk shops set up, selling t-shirts and stuff, like the one pictured. At 4pm there was a band from the UK called Wild Beasts, and they had a good sound. One of the things I love about this festival is that a lot of the musicians playing don't really get to the States much at all, and lots of them had never been here before, (although not saying this is the case with this band) and Austin (during south-by) is their first impression of an American town. Also you hear a lot more accents on the streets from all over the world and are just as likely to meet people from Sweden or Belgium as Illinois. Jo's had the volume and the subwoofer cranked to an unreasonable level (my gauge for that is whether it still hurts when my earplugs are in) for the next 2 bands: Hill Country Revue and The Mother Hips. Hill Country Revue had a real strong Allman Brothers vibe, but what made them stand out was the washboard plugged into the pedal board. Never heard anything like that in my life. Amazing. But very, very loud.

Our main focus for the day was to see Gary Louris and Mark Olson (Jayhawks) at 7, followed by the Alejandro Escovedo at 8. Alejandro’s show involved his 16 (give or take) piece orchestra, and was a pretty big media event, being filmed. He’s one of the most popular local musicians (and by that I mean popular in Austin) and his shows will always sell out quickly – plus he’s had a lot of success with his latest record, and frequently sharing the stage lately with Bruce Springsteen never hurts… plus this being a free show the crowd was packed in pretty good. I like Alejandro quite a bit, but we LOVE The Jayhawks. I would pick this show by Louris and Olson as the highlight of the week. The Jayhawks have been officially broken up for a few years, but these two and their harmonies are the essence of them. Gives me chills. We took some video, click for “Over My Shoulder” from the Jayhawks 1995 release Tomorrow The Green Grass. No earplugs needed.

Mean Mojo Party

Photo Gallery Saturday

The Mean-Eyed Cat is a really funky little bar and music venue. It used to be a chainsaw repair shop and is located by the railroad tracks - and it looks great as a bar with its Johnny Cash motif. It used to fit in with the surrounding places until the 5th Street Commons wiped out everything nearby and all but swallowed the Cat with sterile-looking new construction. The condos share a patio with the Cat, and they go together like pickled beets and popsicles. Anyway, we finished the week at Mojo Magazine’s party at the Mean-Eyed Cat. First up was David Thomas Broughton, who is described as having "his own unique blend of off-kilter folk"... to say the least, yes. I might describe him as how I would imagine Crispin Glover if he took up being a singer-songwriter... as different as he could be and made us laugh out loud quite a few times. He was a hoot. Make it two hoots. And a holler. The Proclaimers are a duo of identical twin brothers from Scotland. They had kind of an early 60s folk-pop sound that I liked.

OK, (of course) I have not only heard of the Black Keys but have heard nothing but raves about them - but I admit that really wasn't familiar with the music. This was a HUGE treat to see Dan Auerbach (half of the Black Keys, pictured), especially at such close range and in a cool little venue rather than on a big festival stage or amphitheatre. Wow. I wish that we'd taken video, but you can listen at the (myspace) link above. Shearwater, one of my new favorite local bands. This is Rooks. I also recorded Hail, Mary that preceded it, but Google Video is being uncooperative (it's too big for Youtube). This is from their bio and does a much better job of describing them than I can do with my quaint writing style:

Hailed as "almost impossibly majestic and beautiful" (NPR), Shearwater's Palo Santo (2007, Matador), a suite of ethereal but oddly disquieting art-rock songs loosely centered around the life and death of singer Christa Paffgen (aka Nico), marked the Texan quartet's debut on the national stage. The New York Times named the album one of the year's very best, and the band's singular combination of sonic abandon and restraint, spun around the soaring, otherworldly voice of part-time ornithologist Jonathan Meiburg - drew comparisons to late-period Talk Talk and both the lovely and anxious moments of Eno's early solo work.

OK, I am hooked on their sound, but new to them nonetheless, and didn't yet realize that Palo Santo was partly about Nico. I loved Nico - I loved her deep voice, and thought she was incredibly beautiful.The Mojo party finished us up for the festival, and we left soon after Shearwater played. Eventually I will have a lot more photos of all 4 days posted on my website. We had a great time. The only disappointments have to do with not being able to be in multiple places at once - such as watching The Decembrists AND getting a couple of hours of sleep.