SXSW - Saturday and slog home report

What? You are back for more? Well, I'll make it worth your while. Start with this video that Tim put together from clips recorded on his digie point and shoot---pretty swank, eh? I love the Guy Ritchie feel like he is introducing us to a motley cast of characters before the heist... Kudos to Krings, though much of the stuff in the first half were things that I was not yet in Austin to see...

But I was there on Saturday to see:

We started the day at South by Seattle---a day party put on by folks from the northwest, complete with free food, liquor, coffee, and gift bags! (Good vittles too, by the way---some of the only veggies I ate all weekend and even some salmon!) Oh and they had music too:

Throw Me the Statue started the day with pleasant high energy power pop.

They were followed with a band with some sort of nautical theme. They were bad. We left...(after eating more and kibitzing with random Seattlites.)

Off to another day party---a Lounge named after a certain local computer maker and Paste Magazine. More free food and gift bag (but we paid exorbitant prices for our Dos Equis breakfast beers). Even better---a great lineup. Each band was introduced by Tim Fite, who cracks me up...he was all dudded up in pastels and suspenders, which was odd. Hey, these folks were there too:

High Places...again...some bands seem to play 50 times over the weekend.

Blitzen Trapper (pictured above), who put out one of my favorite albums of last year, put on the sort of great quirky, all over the board show that you would expect. They are tight live and their quirky backwoods pop works really well in person.

LA sorta punk duo No Age had the weekend's best on stage banter. And their set was very strong. This is another hype band that I did not quite get---but the set made a believer out of me. The album is getting another shot at heavy rotation in my MP3 player this week.

We left the lounge for Antone's and caught American Graveyard, a local neo-honky tonk / power revival band. I've caught them before and been unimpressed. But they have really grown as a band---solid players with real stage presence. Crowded house with lots of happy fans.

On to the Lucky Lounge for a few songs from last year's hype band, Cloud Cult from Minneapolis. I was unimpressed. We left...

On the streets I started talking to a band that I thought was Miko Mika (who I had not seen). It turned out to be Los Campesinos and apparently I had had a lot of beer by afternoon...

Knowing I had an early morning flight, I slowed down quick.

I feel like I missed a couple bands in the photo list...cuz next I had dinner at Iron Works, the barbecue restaurant that I have visited every year in Austin. Had the beef ribs that look oh so attractive in the first post...maybe that is why I awoke with a spinning stomach later in the night. While waiting to get in, some Canadians explained why you have to water roofs in Texas... I had no idea. Apparently hot metal roofs are appropriate in 100 degree temperatures...preferable even...but you better do something to stop combustion.

First evening show, Deer Tick. Unremarkable, poppy alt country, though the drummer was doing something crazy with his bass drum (a full kit) to make the beats come out super fast.

Tim dragged me to see the former singer of Gris Gris playing solo. He was boring. And worse, when he brought a band up with him, his bassist played the first song completely out of tune and then was unable to tune his own instrument.

Pathetic.

Though it probably made me look like less of a piker player to Tim...

Next band, Ponytail, was a revelation.

They looked twelve. But, wow... Two guitarists playing incredible interlacing parts with a solid rhythm background. Sort of serpentine spazz pop. Speaking of spazz, they had a 4 foot tall girl in the "lead singer" role, but she just bounced up and down while making guttural noises...

They are great now, if they learn to actually write songs, they will be unstoppable.

We went inside next to see Tim's friend's brother's girlfriend...in the unfortunately named Minneapolis band Best Friends Forever. They were much better than you would expect from a band with a name that horribly lame. And I'll say this for Tim's friend's brother's girlfriend, she is a 10X bassist than I will ever be---very impressive!

But I left after a while...unfortunately, not before the creepy Hermann Dune puppet showed up again...

Outside, an odd English dance guy who kept claiming to love Chicago. Also, an even odder hard rock band with a guitarist who looked a lot like the wood chipper bad guy in Fargo (no idea why he is wearing a fur and shorts).

Since that stuff was not happening, I went next door to the Ubiquity Records showcase and lucked into a set from Brownout. I had downloaded tracks and thought that the neo-blaxploitation sound was great. I was close. Turns out they are from Austin and called their sound Mexploitation...

And then suddenly, the fest was over... At 1:00 we had hoped to end with Black Moth Super Rainbow, but the tiny room they were playing in was so packed that we could not even get the door to open. Same for White Denim. And another band that escapes me...

...so we wandered back to the hotel room giggling like fools. What a blast...

...too bad I had to get up three hours later for an unpleasant 6:25 a.m. flight out...

It was 90 on Friday. 75 or 80 on Saturday.

Today it was 30 degrees and tomorrow it will...snizzle (since when in Snoop Dogg a meteorologist?). March in Chicago?

I am ready to go back to Austin...