SXSW Music 2011

We actually started out on Tuesday night at the jazz club, the Elephant Room, to see Chris Maresh play standup bass with a jazz quartet. On Wednesday we hit the bus stop early and ended up first in line for the Paste party, which is always a good bet.

Like always, we don't necessarily know much about the bands we are going to see. I try to listen ahead of time but trying to cover all the options gets frenzied. At Paste, we saw Ponderosa, Futurebirds, The Civil Wars, and Trampled by Turtles. Enjoyed them all. Paste does a good job in their lineups.

The Civil Wars were a band that I'd heard on the radio just a few days previous, and had one of those moments where I HAVE to stop and make note of who that was... so I was glad that we got to see them. [video] They are absolutely enchanting... their voices, songwriting, charisma. The novelty aspect of them (and I know that novelty should not be important, but in fact, it does help with the success of a band - that's just cold reality) is that JP White, the male singer, looks almost exactly like Johnny Depp. A dead ringer. We bought their CD and it is gorgeous.

By this time, every place up and down the street is blaring with live music. Trampled by Turtles, this is what I would call a progressive high-energy band with a bluegrass vibe. There is probably not a turtle in the world that could keep up with them. We headed out after TBT, had a fantastic vegan lunch at Koriente, and walked 6th street to get to the bus stop. Austin's Quiet Company was giving out free hugs. Yes, I got mine!! BD Riley's had a great Texas band called Seryn and we watched them from the street through the open window. It's pronounced "sah-WREN," and that is per a band member.

Went down to South Congress where Jo's was kicking off their daily parties* with an all-day Beatle song event. It's advertised as The Eggmen (a local Beatles cover band) plus ukulele. That part was true, except that they were bringing in multiple bands, one after the other, to play a couple of Beatle tunes each. This is Tornado Rider which features a wild-ass cello. Wow!!! I'd been wanting to see them anyway and this appearance was a complete surprise for me.

We watched a few bands playing Beatle songs, including The Kin from Australia, and walked down the road to Guero's Taco Bar courtyard* to see Monahans. This is how they describe themselves (so much easier than me coming up with a description in this case):

Austin-based band Monahans (not "The Monahans"), named for the desolate West Texas sand hills, balances thundering rhythms and atmospheric "landscape rock" with urgent pop anthems and spiritual campfire balladry (think Explosions In the Sky + R.E.M + Neil Young)

Had been wanting to see them for awhile and finally got our chance. There was a good vibe at Guero's, and I won some 'house concert' tickets in a raffle.

I recommend every band I've mentioned here. If I don't really care for somebody, I tend to just not even mention them. I am not a music critic, and almost nothing gets ugly faster than repercussions over the "that band sucked" type of postings. The weather was absolutely gorgeous. Temps in the high 70s and a bit overcast. There was a strong wind blowing, but sometimes that feels good too.

* The parties at Jo's Coffee are called "South by San Jose" or SXSJ. At Guero's they are "Comboplate, South by SoupFest" and benefit a homeless shelter.

The Legends and the Famous. I Get Star-Struck

I had heard about the surprise parking lot appearance by Jack White the day before, so I was really hoping to be able to locate his 'debuted at SXSW' Third Man Rolling Record Store somewhere. When we were getting close to downtown on the bus, looked what rolled past us!

My little heart was going pit-a-pat as I was wondering where it was headed and how could we get there ASAP. We hopped out on 6th (as originally planned) and saw it go West on that street — I figured the only likely destination would be Waterloo Records, so we started walking as fast as my legs would go (which is not very impressive) — 10 blocks! Sure enough. There it was and there was a line of people waiting for it.

He was spinning some records and talking from behind the big glass window, and they were making a big pile of money selling merch just inches away from him, MrB got a shirt and I got a sticker plus this photo of Jack White and a pile of money (including some of ours).

The Greenhornes were about to play (and if I had realized that the Greenhornes were on the Third Man record label and playing at a record store with Jack White in town with his own record store, it would have been 2+2 to figure out this appearance beforehand), and most people were wondering if he was going to do a cameo stage appearance with them, especially after he emerged from the truck and watched backstage.

He didn't play (so I have still not seen him play) but were fully expecting him to cameo with Wanda Jackson later in the afternoon, and/or at other Wanda Jackson shows during the week, as he has played with her at a number of shows elsewhere.

After the record store morning and lunch, we headed back down to Jo's Coffee (SXSJ) and saw, among others, The Cave Singers, and would like to see them again sometime.

Rockabilly Queen Wanda Jackson was due to play there at 8PM and we had a good spot for that. She said that Jack White had already left town, but I was still really glad to see her. In all my years I don't remember ever seeing her live show, even though she plays across the street (at the Continental Club) every year when the owner of the club throws her a birthday bash, and more. I think she's 75 years old. That's his daughter on stage with Wanda in the last pic.

Another day done, and 2 more to go.

The Beautiful Boy and his Beautiful Lady

Started the day on Friday at the Hilton Hotel lobby for KUT radio's morning live broadcasts. We were the first people there and because of that we got to sit in the only padded armchairs available. That was the payback for the 5AM alarm. We were mainly there to see Old 97s who played an acoustic version of their high-energy cowpunk rock or whatever you want to call it. Also saw Bobby Long and Tristen, didn't know either of them, they were good too. We were expecting to see Middle Brother there but there had been a schedule change. We ended up not seeing Middle Brother at all this week. It's really hard to see everyone you want to see.

After the Austin radio broadcast, we went to a high-end bicycle shop called "Mellow Johnny's" for Seattle's KEXP live broadcast of Steve Wynn & The Miracle 3. We really like Steve Wynn and band, but the inside of that bike shop was a terrible music venue IMO. Acoustics were bad (which I guess doesn't matter on the radio, it's only the soundboard that matters) and there was no elevated stage so you couldn't see the whole band at once unless you were a photographer. Mellow Johnny's had a patio outside that was party-ready, and might have been a better spot for it.

The highlight of the day, without a doubt, was the lawn party at the French Legation Museum. I had never been there before and was trying to imagine it based on Google satellite and street views. As it turned out, it was just as imagined... green grass lawn, a few shade trees... picturesque. The stage was a foot-tall platform with a cloth canopy and handmade flag banners made from scraps.

John Vanderslice played shortly after we got there, and we really liked him but want to see him another time when the sound conditions are better. The sun was starting to beat down hard on us so we moved right up next to the stage to be in the shade of the speakers so we got sub-woofed pretty bad but the shade and the breeze were glorious. Despite the thump, we completely enjoyed seeing Sean Lennon and Charlotte Kemp Muhl (a.k.a. Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger). Sean, of course, strongly resembles his father, and I must say that I'm not sure I've ever seen a more attractive woman (in person) than Charlotte (Kemp Muhl) who is a model as well as a musician. Also... Yoko Ono was there. She was standing a mere few feet away from us and watching her son play. [video]

Someone was handing out sampler CDs from Sean's label (Chimera) so we were able to get one signed by them (not Yoko, though). We liked the music a lot (I would describe it as melodic, jazzy, sweet, pop and/or eclectic but never as rock 'n' roll), and were absolutely enchanted by the whole experience.

We walked to Koriente after their show, and had another wonderful (late) lunch in a restaurant which not only has the framed Rolling Stone cover of naked John with Yoko, but also a mural of it on the wall. It was all a little surreal, almost dreamlike.

Some more sights on 6th Street on the way to the bus stop.

3 days down, 1 to go.

Started out on Red River where I figured Rachael Ray's party would be impossibly crowded at Stubb's, she always has a great lineup and goes all out to serve delicious food (all free) not to mention the free beer, margaritas, vodka+tea combo drinks, bottled tea and soft drinks. As it turned out, the place we were headed to try and see Okkervil River (a block away) was the one with the line going for a mile so we went to Rachael's where Bob Schnieder was already playing. You could actually walk around freely there, I was amazed! Even though she probably had a veggie offering, we passed on the long food line to take in some music. Charlie Mars played on the indoor stage (there were 3 stages) [video]. She is a big music fan and stood stageside for every band, enjoying them and taking pictures.

It was time to hike about a mile over to the bus stop to head down to Jo's Coffee where we saw Menomena and our headliner for the day, Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears. His band plays high-energy rockin' funky soul, guitars, horn section, and if that wasn't enough he adds in a gospel-style vocal group.

There's been a theme running through the news coverage, post-festival, about all the out-of-control issues — fights, tasing, fence-busting, pepper spraying, and one so-called riot that included all of the above... I've been wondering where the tipping point for these free parties was going to be and it just might be here.

Some examples with videos (and there's one thing that's going to be true, from now on and forever, and that is that events are going to caught on camera... multiple times!)
[sour notes] [video, tasing on 6th] [Beauty Bar 'riot']

This thing has been growing steadily and evolving into a bigger and bigger party monster. We only do the daytime stuff, and it might get rowdy and nutty but hasn't been scary. Of course, we're in it together. We'll get back on the ride next year, if possible.

A quick note on these journals: I am going to be putting in a lot fewer band website links in these journals, as it is too hard to keep making sure year after year that they are all valid and active. I highly recommend the reader using 'the google' to find bands and venues.