#Austin

SXSW 2012: Third Man Records Showcase w/ Jack White & more

 Their is a line that goes something like “People will amaze you with what they are capable of, once they abandon dignity” –
Let me be clear – I abandoned ALL dignity to see this show and I’m not ashamed. Well maybe just a little.

6:30 pm

Though its early and I was buzzed and dehydrated within an inch of my life – I left Stubb’s to go find the venue for tonight’s Third Man Records Showcase – It was not hard to find as all I had to look for was the Third Man Rolling Record Store – a giant yellow ambulance – that doubles as a mobile record store a la fireworks stand.

For those that do not know, the label and all its quirky ambition is lead by Jack White.

Though I was on the guest list and he wasn’t going on till 11pm, I wasn’t taking any chances.
Doors were supposed to open at 7pm and it already looked like the apocalypse outside – I’m not kidding between the customers buying records to the baffling three line system of badges, wristbands, and guest lists/etc it looked like the entire festival was here trying to get in. I started to fear for the other acts, that suddenly the rest of the city was a ghost town and when Eminem and 50 Cent arrive at their showcase to an empty house, the festival organizers have to answer to drawn guns that they made the mistake of scheduling them opposite of the great one.

So after spending waaaay too much money on records and running them to my car I get back to my place in line and here is where shit is going to get really confusing –
When I return the organizers decided to unite two of the lines and so the one I’m in is now expected to snake around to the other one retaining its same formation to varying degrees of success. While in line I meet some pretty cool people – who proved that while holding my place in line while I ran to get smokes.
I was talking to this girl who had come all the way from Denver with her husband just to see this – I was impressed but she started weirding me out with alot of talk about Jack White chat rooms and message boards and couldn’t even get out the sentence “Do you think we will get in?” without starting to cry. Ok – so I guess I’m not his biggest fan.
This dude in front of her notices that I do not have a badge or a wristband (because all that shit is a total scam) and it appears you need clearance from the FBI just to talk to the door guy, and asks how I plan to get in, when I tell him that I am on the guest list. He informs me that the guest list line is where they just had us snake from – So I return and ask the security guy that told us to do the initial snaking if this was the guest list area, which was directly being the record store truck, now totally roped off with an air of seclusion.

He lets me under the ropes and I’m now in this little area that again is hidden between the record store truck and the wall of the venue.
Also this venue, The Stage on 6th looked really cool and I’m sure it was no coincidence that Jack had picked this place to play.
Very country with Willie Nelson murals on the wall – but it didn’t help the crush or control of the crowd because their were several open air windows that allowed you to see directly in without ever entering the place, and everyone on the other side of truck was jockeying for position.

As I enter this weird roped off area on the sidewalk for guest list people, for a about one full minute I’m the only one there, before two people come out with the lists – one female – one male.
We are gonna call the male Brad, and the female Nadia – I approach Nadia because a) she’s cute – b) Brad had this real Abercrombie & Fitch snobby thing happening as he was being totally shitty with the first guest that approached him – giving her the bad news and in no uncertain terms telling her to return from the direction from which she came.
Nadia was really friendly, I told her my name, she checked me off her list and told me to stand against this wall with a line that was forming of other people she had checked off her list.
Ok cool – now we just have to wait to go in – I start to relax and have a cigarette. And we wait and wait and wait – I realize that I’ve been in these series of lines for an hour and a half.

8:00 pm

To makes matters even more infuriating as its totally unclear what we are waiting on to be told we can leave our little queue and go in, the entire time Brad and Nadia are greeting people they clearly know and/or were expecting and without even looking at the list wave them on through. To illustrate the military like approach this event in order to gain access (from our area) either Brad or Nadia had to give the nod for you to two security guards who then had to walk you to two SXSW officiates who would suit you up and then you go in.
Fucking ridiculous. Over the course of more waiting, one by one between Nadia and Brad they have told everyone but me oddly to leave, as in not go in, but leave this area and go back from whence you came, but Nadia told me to stay – but still not the go ahead to go in. What the fuck is going on?

9:00pm

I start to get a whiff of what’s up when I overhear a conversation between Brad and a gentlemen we will call Patrick –
Patrick is easy to spot as a member of the organization as Jack White always has his roadies/staffers not in the usual jeans and wifebeaters but dressed similar to him – in 3-piece suits and bowler hats – I’m sure they are wonderfully comfortable to do heavy lifting in.
He’s outside complaining/co-miserating to Brad about the first band that is currently on that apparently isn’t a part of the showcase, as they are going over their time – Obviously unimpressed with the band’s lack of status, Patrick establishes himself instantly as a right asshole as he cuts them into pieces and is threating to pull them off stage if they play one more note.
Where this conversation become informative to my situation is that Brad and Patrick, obviously working on the same team. Brad says to Patrick “Hey while I got you here, I wanted to tell you that we have alot of people coming up to us who are on Reggie Watt’s list, and we still don’t have his” –
Patrick who is completely unsympathetic to this, and apparently Mr. Watts isn’t one of the acts at his charge, Patrick declares his only concerns are those pertaining to the acts he’s responsible for and makes a cruel joke at the expense of any poor bastard who just happens to be on Reggie Watt’s guest list, as he alludes to whom might be responsible for its dismissal.

The puzzle is coming together now as I suspect Nadia knows this and doesn’t want to tell me yet, just have me hang out till the list arrives or in the case that all of her guests have arrived than only then will she permit my entry. I have an existential crisis that I’ve made decisions that has landed me on a sidewalk for hours awaiting the go ahead from some 90 lb unpaid intern to tell me that I can go have fun.

For a good stretch its just Brad, Nadia and I, sans for the occasional hopeful who has entered our little space to petition the guest list only to be given the bad news and directions to return back under the rope. During this time, I try to make conversation and appear cool while smoking. Not in an ass-kissy way, but definitely in a display that showed me as being patient, appreciative and the furthest thing from harassing. Nadia is avoiding me like I have the 10th Plague, conversation with Brad is not much easier – I learn in our few brief exchanges that (he claims) to work as part of the team that manages Jack White.

I’m still leaning against the wall, trying not to draw his ire, when he is clearly tired of my presence – when behind the other side of the rope, suddenly Sam appears with 12 of his friends he’s hoping that I can get them into the show, shouting my name loudly. Bad timing Sam, and I’m normally very patient with him, but I just had to look at him and shrug him off, but he’s insistent – Bad timing Sam.
This gets Brad’s attention and so he walks up to me – and unbeknown to me he had no idea why I’ve been standing here for so long – and here is where I could have pulled a fast one -and I might have if I had understood the hierarchy a little better at that moment.
Brad says to me “Hey I know Nadia already checked you off her list, so what’s the deal? , you waiting for someone? –
Right then I could have lied my ass off and said, “Yeah, I was, but I’m tired of waiting so I’m just gonna go ahead on go on in now” – And in hindsight I could have with no problem – but my need to be honest, actually alerted him to my situation!
I didn’t wanna be sheisty, or suffer the embarrassment of Nadia saying “Wait a minute he’s not clear to go in yet” – and I didn’t wanna be there under some false shit, so as I’m trying to explain that Nadia checked me off the list but for reasons that are unclear she told me to wait, to this already established asshole, here comes Sam, sensing my conversation with Brad was his only chance for entry ambushes me, and that was all Brad needed to tell me that I needed to wait on the other side of the rope with everyone else and he escorts Sam and I back to the land of the rejects, after all that waiting. Thanks Sam haha

As I’m trying to explain to Sam that I am busy and we would have to talk later, he’s trying to introduce me to his friends. I don’t want to be impolite but this could quickly turn into a case of disqualification by association, by occupying this little space with an agenda unbecoming of its intent. So as I’m trying to escape this, I actually see Reggie Watts come out and hand a couple of passes to some people in front of me that were stranded for the same reasons as I. By the time I got Sam and his friends on their way, Watts was too far out of reach, and yelling out to him and jumping up and down and waving my arms like an air traffic controller that has to piss real bad was one final indignity that I was not going to suffer. Bad timing Sammy.

9:30pm

Out of desperation and my limit of humiliation had been reached and wanted to salvage my investment, I make my move.
I see a tall, buff gentlemen in his late 40’s come out periodically that thanks to my powers of observation is clearly the boss to Brad and Nadia, who seems totally cool. Isn’t it always the case that those who are actually the boss are usually pretty relaxed, where as those that are pretending to be the boss are the uptight assholes that wanna push people around. I can always detect these parasites like a fart in a car. Still on the other side of the ropes I can tell my new found brethren are dead and have no chance of getting in, and I’m about to break away from the pack.
The older gentlemen we will call Martin – I get Martin’s attention, still in a dignified manner and articulate to him, who I am, what I do and what the situation is. He perks right up and whispers to me what I already know, that the Reggie Watts list turned into a fiasco.
He also tells me that Third Man had 650 people on their guest list – for a venue that holds 700. And that’s what they never tell you –
Their are literally at least a thousand people trying to get into this thing and they would never admit that they were only going to let 50 people that are not on the guest list, and all of those will surely be badges. I wanted to go tell the people with wristbands to enjoy themselves elsewhere and never buy one of these again. If you want to get into anything at this festival, more often than not, you have to be on a band’s guest list – those badges and wristbands are not worth the paper they are printed on.
Martin was totally cool, familiar with my company and assured me that he would get me in – he just asked me to be patient. Not to rock the boat but I felt compelled to tell him that I’d been waiting for quite awhile. I didn’t want to embarrass myself by telling him just how long I had actually been waiting, and feared that it could potentially dissuade him from wanting to help me.
I decide to roll a cigarette and if Martin doesn’t return by the time I’m finished smoking I’ll have to raise the white flag.
He returns almost immediately, though making a beeline for me he is looking at everything but me, but when we make eye contact, it appears that him memory was triggered or I’m just reading way too much into it.
Martin walks right up to me, but now the rapport is very different, but he is there to deliver good news:
“I’m going to go ahead and walk you in, since its gonna be quite awhile before they start letting people in again” –
Fucking victory – but he seems put out by me now for some reason, like the security guards let him in on how long I’d been there, or he was just taking on the cadence that comes when someone wants to remind you that they are helping you – whatever.
He lifts the rope inviting me, seems super annoyed by my cigarette, tells me to put it out and to follow him – he secures my entry – I thank him intensely and make a genuine offer to repay the favor – he yeah yeahs me, seemingly simply satisfied that I was now in his debt.
Whatever the case, I was crossing the threshold, passing the security guards that seemed to be actually rooting for me at this point, and now I was in – fucking victory – Total wait time: 3 hrs 15 mins

Ok so now I’m scanning the scene and realize just how small this place is – Its perfect for this – I see that their is a permanent stage inside that is small, in the corner and the one I”m praying that he is going to play on (I’m sure the people outside were praying for this as well) – Their was another temporary erected tent/stage in the open air large courtyard in the back. Reggie Watts is winding down on the front stage and I catch the end of his act:

He was really funny as always and now I had some to time to roam the grounds in the back. I was amazed at just how NOT sardines-like it was in here and was grateful for that. I go outside and I spot someone that I know to be a part of this production, because I would see her periodically come outside to check on/chat with Nadia during my life-sucking wait.
She sees me and smiles, clearly recognizing me from before – she’s friendly, introduces herself – we will call her Laura – and makes an earnest, non-sarcastic platitude of my entry. We are chatting and both being charming when she informs me of her contribution to this soirée, one for which she was eager to announce, was that of publicist. Not ot mention but at one of the most prestigious boutique firms in the biz – Nasty Little Man
Some of you may know this little factoid – the Beastie Boys have an album called Hello Nasty, and what its referencing is their publicity firm – Nasty Little Man and in 1998, NLM had 200 active clients and were so busy that when they would answer the phone, they would just say “Hello, Nasty” –
Ok, so I’ve got Laura so charmed that when suddenly we are approached by the president of the fucking company, who is one of the kings of NYC, that she eagerly introduces me to him – who we will call Steve –
A nice introduction is made, however with a slightly inaccurate mention of my position for which I quickly recant for her. Now I wasn’t falling all over this guy, but in my experience in NYC, often my politeness and Southern manners are often mistaken for eagerness or even sometimes weakness. So, with my genuine enthusiasm for meeting Steve as well as the self-imposed demotion of my status, she seemed to regret the whole thing before I had even finished saying “Pleased to meet you” – Ok.
She bails, leaving Steve and I alone – I make informative strides at conversation and he is polite and responds, but he offers little else to the point where after the fourth exchange, though he is never rude, that this is a one-sided conversation and he is showing zero interest in me and this is not a conversation but a Q & A with the dude from Nasty Little Man – Ok.
I follow up with suggesting that I need a drink and would he like one as well – This he seemed impressed by but also declined as it appeared that he feared that by accepting my offer would mean he would be stuck with me for the rest of the night.
I get a beer from just a few feet away but taking the hint I don’t return to the land of Hello Nasty.

Ok, so how about some music? In the back tent, the all-female band the Black Belles were setting up, who were all dressed up like the Wicked Witch of the West – The band is lead by Olivia Jean – If you saw any of the shows Jack White did with Wanda Jackson she was that smoking hot bass player, they were also on an episode of The Colbert Report.
Cool look and with a heavy sound I was looking forward to seeing them, but I’m afraid to say that I was very underwhelmed. The sound in that tent was horrendous but I’m not sure I can let them off that easy. I was watching in the back, so I thought I would snap a quick picture, when my hands hadn’t even been fully lowered before this junkyard dog of a security guy aggressively grabbed my arm, and threatened to toss me if I didn’t delete the pic right then and there – More on this in a bit

 

I was obviously super excited to be there but the vibe of this whole thing, not to mention the sting of what had taken place in my three hours outside was just not what I had in mind, and I’m sure I’m projecting idealism here, but not what I would think Jack White would want it to be either.
I know that actor John C. Reilly is going to perform next on the smaller indoor stage so I go in there to check it out. What a weird dude and one of my favorite actors –

 

You might remember he played a farceful character, Dewey Cox in the movie by the same name and actually went on tour as that character so I knew he was an actual performer but I didn’t know what he would be performing besides the two singles he did for Third Man. It was some really slow and very quiet bluegrass music that was not very entertaining. He did start things off with a joke that befits him: “Knock knock – (crowd) Who’s there? – See mop – See mop who (crowd) – Ha! I just got everyone to say see my poo –

Up next on that same stage was Jack White’s (most recent) ex-wife Karen Elson – have you ever seen a guy get along better with his ex-wife’s than Jack White?

She was really good, I really liked her voice, she sounded alot like Loretta Lynn and she is also really beautiful.

Ok we were now getting down to the moment of truth (or so we thought) – After Elson, we all knew it was now time for the main event and the man of the hour would soon be taking the stage. (Editor’s Note: I had not seen his appearance on Saturday Night Live yet, and it seemed that most others in attendance had not either as the speculation of just what he was going to do was completely in the air)

The whole place, indoor and outdoor began to make that nervous lunge forward to the tiny indoor stage in the corner. I have to say that what looked the apocalypse happening outside and no one else getting in, it really wasn’t that tight inside and in some places actually roomy. So I was happy in that regard that it really wasn’t that uncomfortable, I was about to find my discomfort elsewhere.

On the way to the indoor stage, I passed Nadia who was now inside the venue, to let her know that I finally made it in and to thank her for her patience (when perhaps maybe it should have been her thanking me for how infinite mine appeared) – She wanted nothing to do with me and seemed resentful that I went over her head to solve the problem. Whatever.

Ok, so I make my way to about the halfway mark, about 10 feet from the stage, still being mindful that I’m taller than most here to not get too close. You would think that after all the waiting I had done tonight that I could withstand anything. The wait at the Department of Motor Vehicles would seem like a moving sidewalk compared to what I’ve been through tonight but oh no –

As I mentioned earlier, now matter how impractical, Mr. White has his stagehands dressed alike in probably the most restrictive formal wear imaginable, and maybe that was the culprit, but it took six fucking guys to set up a simple 3-piece drum set, one guitar and two mics over a fucking hour to strike that fucking stage. The people around me were insufferable and this one dude to my left I could already was gonna be a real problem. By the time Mr. White finally took the stage, I was murderous.

Patrick, the patriarch asshole from before finally takes the stage to make the formal introduction – Remember about me attempting to snap a photo of the Black Belles earlier? – Well Patrick actually said something profound and not only cool but made me feel a bit of a hypocrite, but not really 🙂 – He declared that no photography would be allowed – period -and the penalty would be your personal removal. It was his explanation for this that I cheered – He said that they wanted to play to the people, not a wall of cellphones – that your memories should live in your memory not on Facebook, and it would be prettier than some shitty Iphone picture – a total indictment of our current culture that is paralyzed by their goddamn cellphone – an indictment that I support completely – This was their statement – All right Patrick, your not so bad.

At long last – you could hear the cheers coming from outside as he entered the building at walked up to the stage, flanked by six females, all dressed in white, that were reminiscent of the sirens from Homer’s Odyssey.

Dressed very Grand Old Opry he gets right to business and starts the set with the White Stripes’ Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground and the place and I completely explode – There was the vibe that anything could happen, what was he gonna play??

He followed that with a couple of quiet new songs from upcoming solo record, before returning the Stripes’ catalog with Hotel Yorba – One problem, my prophecy about the gentlemen to my left was coming true immediately, hell we were all excited but this guy’s reaction, was that of a guy watching Black Sabbath in 1975, and mimicking Ozzy’s non-stop, two-fisted long-stroke to the sky – however with such wild abandon in such a tight space, this presented a problem – fueling this was, I don’t know what this guy was on, but he wasn’t just excited, he was like rabid, crazy – even kinda scary. He keep elbowing people with these thrusts, some even to the face without a care in the world, and perhaps not out of rudeness, but just out of the fact that he was so fucked up he was completely unaware.
Well with that elbow now constantly being a distraction and grazing my cheek a couple of times, and that he was screaming so loud maniacal to this quiet music that making him aware was now my duty.
Right before Hotel Yorba – I got his attention, which was not easy, he either proved my theory that he was in a world all of his own, or he knew exactly what he was doing and thought if he ignored me he wouldn’t have to answer for it. I finally grabbed him and said: “Hey brother, I want you to have a good time but when your arms are constantly in my face and I can’t see and your hitting people” –
He just nodded and went right back to what he was doing, with the full support of couple of other assholes behind him.
This proceeded and he actually hit the guy with his elbow in the face several times and when the guy told him to knock it off he just kept going. I spent the next two songs dodging this guy’s elbow and when he finally hit me with it, fueled by the baffling aggravation of the evening’s proceedings, I grabbed him a second time and said this: “Motherfucker they will drag me out of here in handcuffs before that fucking arm hits my face again!!” –
He moves over a couple of feet, but he’s right back at it doing it to somebody else, so when they move he find himself right next to me once more, and god help us if Mr. White plays a song this dude knows because then the screaming and elbow flying really takes off.
Here I am, 10 feet from Jack White, my hero, actually hoping that he doesn’t play any familiar songs because of this and the two dudes behind us let the guy know that I start any shit that its gonna the three of them against me.
Fuck this – this isn’t worth it – I came here to enjoy this, so I surrendered my up close position to retreat to the back, where I discover it was roomy, and I could actually hear and see better. I hadn’t been in my new comfortable space for one entire song before he declares that they are gonna take a short break – What? – A short break? After all this waiting? – Again I hadn’t seen SNL so I wasn’t privy to his plan.

Female Set – 

Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground (White Stripes song)
Missing Pieces
Sixteen Saltines
Hotel Yorba (White Stripes song)
Love Interruption
Weep Themselves to Sleep
You Know That I Know
Freedom At 21
Hypocritical Kiss
I’m Slowly Turning Into You (White Stripes song)

I go out to the patio for a welcome sit-down and a smoke, still pretty furious, but pretty jacked about how good the set was, but still a bit quiet with new songs that I don’t know -and sure that’s what we are here for.

I go the bathroom and when I come out I see Jack White – he points to the Van Halen belt-buckle I’m wearing, he doesn’t give me the nod or even a smile, but still a clear acknowledgment of approval , hey enough for me, then he starts talking to John C. Reilly as Bill Murray comes walking up to them. Bill Murray sightings at SXSW are becoming less rare these days and it seems he shows up every year and gives everyone a good story to tell.

Surreal just the same – I’m standing behind this but I’m not gonna approach anybody – I see David Fricke from Rolling Stone Magazine, one of the world’s authorities on music walking up with rock royalty, Scott Asheton, the drummer for the Stooges. He I speak with and he’s actually happy for the recognition and we have a nice talk. I notice that Jack has left, and Fricke knows Reilly and Murray, so we sorta combine our conversations.
I’m getting a kick out of this when suddenly, Jack returns from behind us, now dressed in all black, is all business and strides back to the stage with an urgency that was downright scary (and totally awesome) – He came to play, and this time he brought an all male backing group with him, grabbed his custom guitar and tore right into the Stripes’ My Doorbell.

 

Talking to Fricke paid off cause now the four of us are heading side-stage and I can’t fucking believe what’s happening. He fires up my favorite song, Hello Operator like he’s picking a fight in an alley – just ferocious – and it only builds from there. It was like I wrote the set-list – what followed was a mind-boggling career spanning set that included songs from every entity practically that he has been a part of, I was beside myself. It was so strange to hear these White Stripes songs with a full-band and they sounded massive.

This went from being one of the most aggravating evenings ever, to like seriously one of the best nights of my life – everyone felt it, strangers in disbelief were talking to me and each other about how this was like the greatest thing they had ever seen.
How does he take it farther? – I know that’s like the cool indie-rock thing to do to ignore your hit song if you have one, but Jack White is not concerned with that bullshit, but it still seemed a little out of the question if he would do Seven Nation Army –
He starts the song with a slight different instrumentation but when it starts to build and everyone starts to recognize it, as dramatic as it sounds it created a unification of everyone actually singing the bass riff that lifted me off the ground. He walks to the outdoor window and leads the thousands that had gathered outside in a sing-along that you could hear inside even over the amps –

Suddenly hot bartenders are Coyote Ugly-ing their way on top of the bar, even Bill Murray gets in on the action and is dancing on top of the bar, the whole place just shook and when he led us through the sing-along I’m not ashamed to tell you that I was actually crying.
It was a beautiful moment, and a crescendo to a magical evening that I’m still in disbelief that I was fortunate to witness.
To end the set, he cooled the crowd off with another sing-along – the perfect coda of Leadbelly‘s Goodnight Irene – the perfect touch of class to a stupefying set of raw power – Strangers were hugging me and everyone else in gratitude and in song.
An absolute perfect moment – I grew an inch taller.

Male Set – 

My Doorbell (White Stripes song)
Hello Operator (White Stripes song)
I Cut Like A Buffalo (Dead Weather song)
Two Against One (Rome song)
The Hardest Button to Button (White Stripes song)
Steady, As She Goes (The Raconteurs song)
Top Yourself (The Raconteurs song)
Ball and Biscuit (White Stripes song)
Seven Nation Army (White Stripes song)
Goodnight Irene (Leadbelly cover)

As I exited the venue stunned, one of the security guards saw me and grabbed me and said: “Oh my gawd, you finally made it in, we saw you passing back and forth for three hours, congratulations mate!” (he was British) –

SXSW 2012: Fiona Apple, The Sword meet Anthony Bourdain & more

I will give you the most basic of rundowns: SXSW is a 3 week festival covering Interactive Media – Film and Music with a entire week dedicated to each field, some usually overlapping – that takes place in Austin, TX in March – that completely takes over the town a la Mardi Gras that falls during Spring Break, that will showcase thousands of bands attended by 10s of thousands of registrants.
ok? OK –

Day 1 – March 14th

I learned alot last year about throwing a showcase – I learned alot about what to do and what NOT to do. For all the success and press we got out of that little shindig last year, clearly ALOT of mistakes were made

I had people coming up to me the entire festival asking me if I was “that dude that threw that boxing ring thing last year” constantly – Easily 10x as many people that were actually there – That’s something that I’m very proud of – I wanted to do something different – Something people would remember and knowing that I accomplished that makes me happy –

After that I ran over to Stubb’s to try to catch Fiona Apple. I’ve never seen her like most people, due to her neurosis that keeps her from touring, or even speaking properly has eluded most people from seeing her perform.  I get a hero’s welcome when I go to Stubb’s, so thankfully their was no line or any other indignity suffered (I would save that for the rest of the week) – I get in and go right up to the side of the stage that my friends and kind staff of Stubb’s afforded me.

Very grateful too, as like I said, not only had I not ever seen her, this was one of the most anticipated shows of the festival with a total shitshow outside trying to get in. She has another show tomorrow but this was her first show outside of Los Angeles in five years and would be playing new music for the first time in over seven (though I did hear later that at the second show she added her cover of Across the Universe)
I was most certainly looking forward to hearing some new tunes, but since I’ve never got to see any of her material live before I was hoping to hear a few tracks off her 2nd LP When The Pawn – It holds a special place for me as it always transports me back to a special time.
I got my wish and I got in early, it was almost like she was making up for not touring that record as the first four songs were from that LP.She still looks really good, and she sounded good too, but at times her intensity just over rode everything and she would shout the verses or change them up completely to account for her sudden thrusts of anger. I had always wondered how legit all this was, cause admittedly it can be a  bit much. Like how much of this is manufactured and I gotta tell you that being this close to it, made me a believer.
I’m not saying that it wasn’t ridiculous that she required two handlers to get her on and off stage – who she kept looking over to for approval/reassurance. Or how they would have to come out and remind her to drink the tea on her piano, or when she would look lost to offer her a towel. It was all a bit much, but her elusiveness has reached such legendary heights over the years that it was thrill just to even see her, let alone this close and see her perform. The new songs were really good too.
Setlist: Fast as You Can
On the Bound
Paper Bag
A Mistake
Anything We Want (New Song)
Valentine (New Song)
Sleep to Dream
Extraordinary Machine
Every Single Night (New Song)
Carrion
Criminal

After she finished, I stuck around to see Sharon Van Etten, another songstress that I was recently turned on to. Her stuff was a little quiet for the cavernous Stubb’s as well as first day excitement, but she got a great reception from the crowd and I thought she sounded great.

After that, I walked around Stubb’s to meet up with my friend Lena – A talented artist and a total babe – She’s a great writer and has a new musical project that she will be debuting later this year – you can check that out here –

We talked a caught up a bit but then she was leaving so I grabbed another beer and while waiting for Dan Deacon to start his set.
Though I am not even remotely Deacon’s demographic – nerdy-teenage-smartass hipsters in bright clothing – He has always been entertaining in the few times I’ve seen him perform.
Deacon is also likable for his slacker appearance – He’s overweight, balding and the last person you would think could lead 2k people in a dance freak-out, so his improbability gives him that underdog factor.
However he is also from D.C./Maryland and has that zero bullshit quality as well – Without being dickish he exchanged words with the stage hands that were growing impatient with his setup time and his equipment failure. At one point he even said into the mic, “We got it, and you don’t need to speak to us like we are children” – later for which he apologized on the mic for and even lead the crowd to show appreciation for the crew who I think took it as sarcasm but it still seemed genuine to me.

Its unclear to me exactly what Deacon is performing, as it seems like he just hitting a bunch of sound effect with a propulsive dance looped beat. This time he had a full band with him, but other than Maestro, I’m not sure what his contributions actually are.
Known for snarky impromptu, he then started a parlor game among the 2k in attendance and created a giant dance circle while he was giving direction via a megaphone. Good times –
And now for something totally different, I left there to go over to the building that used to be called Emo’s to see the Sword. A local Austin band that has reached global success, especially with a high-[profile tour as the opening slot for Metallica recently.
Trickykid alumni Never Got Caught along with Clutch toured with them as well,so I’ve gotten friendly with them over the years as well as they have become one of my favorite bands. So I was excited when they invited me over to their showcase.
I get there, and suddenly I see a familiar face onstage while they are getting setup – Their is a camera crew filming this for a show and its host – Anthony Bourdain who’s career is a constant reference at my mother and sister’s homes. I even took them to see him on his tour last year.
The guys in the Sword were so busy with all of this, I didn’t even have the chance to really even let them know that I was here, or express my gratitude for their invitation.
In what seemed like a millenia to get properly sound-checked, the bass player knew he was holding up the party, and finally threw his hands up after shouts of “Goddamn, it doesn’t have to be perfect” started emitting from the crowd- and got the show started.

They were fucking deadly as always and they played like 8 new songs. The newer stuff sounded more straight up rock which is direction that I’m happy that they are increasingly headed in. Starting with Black Sabbath’s Children of the Grave and ending with their hit Freya that’s also become a staple of Guitar Hero – with all new stuff in between.Ok, wanna get even heavier? – Where could this night take us now, How about across the street where Corrosion of Conformity were playing a dive bar for $5.00? – Perfect.

A brief history lesson of C.O.C. – For the first ten years of their existence their were a three-piece (sometimes four) punk juggernaut with a blistering sound and a downright frightening image. They were ones of the bands when you were younger that you actually feared.
In the early 1990’s they acquired new member Pepper Keenan, who not only took over on vocals but on the later albums, his taste/persona seemed to take over the would band. His first record with them, Blind turned them into a straight up Heavy Metal band and then with the next three (and finally commercial success) they became this southern fried, blues-y Pantera-ish entity that made them completely unrecognizable from the former years, especially after drummer Reed Mullin left the band.
For most people this was their first time hearing the band and thought they were like this new Southern Rock band, which you can imagine completely alienated, their former punk rock faithful.
If I was being truthful, even though the purest will condemn this, when I want to listen to C.O.C. its those three southern rock albums I like the best, and probably haven’t purposely listened to those early records since I first heard them as a kid.
Well for this tour, Pepper Keenan is absent, (actually in the band Down with Pantera member Phil Anselmo) – Reed Mullin is back, C.O.C. are once again a three piece, just released a new album that’s a complete return to its punk rock roots and this tour they will be playing that stuff and only that stuff to celebrate its full-circle return.

Though the sound in this place is dismal, they still kicked severe ass – Though I totally miss Pepper, I can’t deny that Mike Dean is actually better suited as a front man than him. He’s more engaging, more menacing, and has the between song banter down flat, something that Keenan has always suffered with. I saw the show in Dallas a few days prior and both of these shows were just brutal and way exceeded my expectations.Setlist:

Bottom Feeder
Psychic Vampire
Loss for Words
Vote With a Bullet
Mad World
Consumed
Seven Days
Your Tomorrow
The Doom
The Snake Has No Head
The Moneychangers
Deliverance
Rat City
Holier
Hungry Child
Leeches
Technocracy

What else is left? How much further can this night go? – Now I had to go get my car and head over to Lustre Pearl (which was easier said than done) to end this first night with Mobb Deep.


I was also their to meet up with my buddy Matt, who I would be staying with on this trip. My man loves that gangster shit, and now that it was almost 2am and we hadn’t seen each other in a year, I got a drunken hero’s welcome haha.We left there to get some late-night drive thru before heading to his place. I hadn’t seen his new place since he moved in and their I was introduced to his roommates’ sister and her boyfriend as well as the couch I would be living on for the next week.Stay tuned for more…..Photos –

Roy Turner
Eric Danton
Chris Ellis

SXSW 2011: TrickyKid Brawl for All w/ The Death Set in a boxing ring!

The first people to arrive is the Here Holy Spain crew so Erin and I take them across the street to a Mexican restaurant and treat them to dinner, hoping Randy and the boys would be gone when we returned. Having Mr. Palmer drunkenly supervise my event was not part of the deal. This was our place for the evening per the agreement but that didn’t stop his pride from dictating that this was his place and he calls the shots.

Matt arrives, and despite Robyn asking me not to officially announce the showcase (or namely the Death Set’s involvement) until a few days before for fearing that it could compromise their position at an official showcase, I hand him a list of RSVPs that total close to 2k.

We finally open the doors, equipment is in place inside the ring – I get in, make a few announcements, wish Erica, HHS bass player a Happy Birthday and the show begins.

They kicked ass as I knew they would, their were only about 60 people thru the doors by the time they finished playing, but it was a great start and was so glad to have them.

Next up was the Blind Pets,  By the time they started the place had almost tripled in attendance.

Now pay close attention cause this is where all hell breaks loose. After the Blind Pets had played their equipment remained in the ring as I had worked it out with them and the Death Set that the DS was just gonna show up and plug in as they were coming straight from another show to play ours and everyone was in agreement that the Death Set would just play on their equipment. The spot was about to be blown up – here’s how:

I had a million people a second stopping me to talk to me or somebody needed something or my supervision, so much so that I didn’t even recognize Robyn when she came in with the band until she grabs me and I snap out of it and start directing them where to load in.

They blew the spot up and insisted on using a mixtape they had just released over the PA (that meant thankfully no more DJ Randy Palmer) Their were now noticeably even more people there to see the Death Set. I could sense Josh’s pride/ego ticking away like a timebomb. Here was a band playing his town on his equipment and I could feel his who-the-fuck-do-they-think-they-are vibe so when the Death Set were not happy that all we had was beer and asked for champagne I thought he was gonna spontaneously combust.

Once again, my team to the rescue, I told her what I needed and again in a flash, they returned with the bottles of champagne I had asked for, and sadly didn’t even get to partake in any of it or even the toast that she deserved to be a part of, for they had to return to immediately assist the bartender.

Ok, ring the bell son, the Death Set are climbing in and here we go – just as I had anticipated/wanted – the band instructs the crowd to get into the ring with them and go freaking nuts, and that’s exactly what happened.

It was all happening, my dream was coming true, my vision was being realized, it looked exactly as I thought/hoped it would.
All for about 40 mins that is –
Here is how it went down –

The Death Set start playing and of course as expected/encouraged, they invite the entire crowd on the floor to join them in the boxing ring for a crazy, memorable time. Mr. Palmer, apparently forgets the conversations we had about this and starts losing his mind. He is in the back on a mic, shouting for people to get out of the ring – ummm..hello? Mr. Palmer, this is why we are here, this is what we came to do, this is why I was willing to have the showcase two miles from downtown – to give people a reason to come and do something different and awesome. Seeing that crowd run into that ring was such an awesome rush and I couldn’t have been happier. Mr. Palmer sends Josh in to do damage control, who is all too happy to bust them up. He makes the crowd leave the ring, but not before stealing the mic Kanye style and bellowing out this gem:

“This is a BOXING RING, not a fucking BOOT RING!! everyone get the fuck out of this ring right now!!”

It was cringe inducing, (no boots in Texas?) and since we live in the information age, something that tasty will not go without its own little meme.

Here is a video someone made of the incident labeling Josh with the new moniker of Boot Nazi –

I’m hearing this from outside as I’m dealing with another crisis – Before I walk in Josh comes running out to find me and starts screaming at the top of his lungs of his desire to smack the singer in the mouth. Apparently Johnny had told him to fuck off or something, or whatever it was etc.
I go back in and reach an agreement that if they take their shoes off, everyone can go back in.
The show resumes for about 20 more minutes.
During that entire time, Josh and company are having full blown anxiety that the band/crowd are harming/potentially harming their equipment etc.
Personally I was standing on the steps of the ring in front of the equipment and saw zero signs of impending doom or I would have seen it and done something about it.
Suddenly power is cut (during Negative Thinking no less) to all of our surprise –

Alot had been said about this, online and in the press and in several interviews I’ve given about the event, about what really went down, and let me set the record straight. I didn’t learn (though I had a sneaking suspicion) till weeks later, that Justin, the Blind Pets bass player was behind the ring where the power source was and he cut the power at Josh’s direction. There you have it – plain and simple.
The Blind Pets did not like the Death Set – resented sharing their equipment with them/the Death Set being the bigger draw/ and a cultural clash of North vs South attitudes.
The ring was not being torn up nor was their equipment in danger or being abused – it was simply ego/attitude/pride.

I jumped in immediately to try to restore order, but by that time the band was just exhausted (this was their third show of the day and their 10th in three days) and this was the last one before they got to go home, so they weren’t really in the mood to fight over it and said fuck it. I do not blame them.

The Death Set and Robyn were nothing but courteous to me and thanked us for having them and we all agreed to laugh about it over a drink next week in NYC. I got a car service to take them straight to the airport, and thanked them for stepping literally in the ring with us.

Sadly this created a vibe that the whole event was over, so I scrambled to get on the mic and remind people that we still had three more bands and as many kegs to consume and this seemed to surge the crowd a bit. The House Harkonnen were up next.

This is a band that I greatly admire, who I feel is ready for national stardom if they want it and are about as good as it gets. Their were alot of people there to see them and I myself was excited and have been championing this band for weeks. Tonight there was a certain swagger that I felt was completely circumstantial of the events of the evening. Like their was something like, “this whole thing is fucked, so we are gonna go down swinging and tear this fucking place apart” . Like the agenda had changed from to entertain to downright maim.
This was evident in the size and volume of power they brought with them – that they used with wild abandon. They weren’t gonna mess with the boxing ring shenanigans and started setting up enough amps to rock a stadium. This picture with the sound guy says it all –

They hadn’t gotten two songs in where they were so loud people were fleeing outside, and with the people gathering outside and the traffic of the door it attracted the attention of some inspectors in the area that jumped on us like white on rice. They talk to Mr. Palmer first, who was totally inebriated and then they came found me. I showed them the permits that I had secured which they went over with a fine tooth comb, and finally gave up and left. Somebody (Randy?) said something to them they didn’t like as they were leaving. I had a feeling that this wasn’t gonna be the last of them and I was right.

The band keeps rocking but their are more people outside than in, all with open containers and the band is so loud the walls are breathing, and about 10 mins after the inspectors left, here come the police. Several people immediately bail and the police run me through the whole procedure again, while telling the band to stop playing. I show them the same permits, but they don’t seem to care. They seem to especially have a problem with Mr. Palmer, who was cool with them, but it wasn’t enough to salvage the evening.Threats of issuing expensive tickets are made and that was enough to permanently end the evening.

I felt the most for Wildstreet, who traveled the furthest, and who are my com-padres back in NYC. Who had come all this way, just to play this show. Thankfully they were able to get some pickup dates and get introduced to the festival, so it wasn’t a total loss, but this was supposed to be the crown jewel and their were alot of people their interested in them.

One of my favorite lines of the evening came from Matt (who has Motley Crue lyrics tattooed on his body) when the Wildstreet guys were coming in, he looks at me and says “Dude who the fuck are these guys? they look like something I’m gonna enjoy”.
Too bad he didn’t get that chance.

I woke up the next day and we are all over the press – the freaking Village Voice listed us in their Top 10 events of the festival just under Kanye and Jay-Z (hey we’ll take it).

Thanks again everybody, we will be back next year with something even more irresistible to the police.

Motorhead Day in Austin w/ Clutch & more (March/2011)

Motorhead & Clutch – Stubb’s BBQ – Austin, TX – March 8th

So how do we conclude Birthday Week? By going to see two of my all-time favorite bands, in one of my favorite cities, at one of my favorite venues. I couldn’t have been more looking forward to this.
And this was no ordinary tour stop – something the breathes the very essence of Austin, TX – was the day before, the Mayor had actually (and officially) declared today – to be Motorhead day in Austin – as in like no shit – with an official proclamation – 

So they spelled Lemmy‘s name wrong, (which I heard him laugh at later) but never let it be said that Austin doesn’t have some truly metal moments from time to time.
My history with Clutch both personally and professionally is long lineage that has been well-documented/over-explained in this blog so no need to reiterate that, other than to say, that their invitation as a b-day gift was truly awesome as their Tour Manager Oscar, knows that I’m a huge Motorhead fan.
By the time we got to Austin, parked, got our passes from Will Call and got inside we had missed the first band Valient Thor, which would have been cool to see, but I was so jazzed about seeing Motorhead, it honestly didn’t matter.

Out comes Maryland’s finest

 


 

Their set was freaking awesome as always and they even debuted a new song that sounded really cool. Neil said it was just a work in progress but it sure sounded great.
Setlist :

Gravel Rd.
Child of the City
Nuevo Riffs
50,000 Unstoppable Watts
Struck Down
Cypress Grove
Hobgoblins (new song)
Open up the Border
The Soapmakers
Immortal

Then here comes the bloodstorm that is Motorhead – One of the things that I really appreciate about Austin (especially after living in NYC) is that crowds are fanatical some of the best fans in the world no matter what band it is.
For a band that is known for their sheer power and volume, you could hear the crowd almost as loud.
Starting perfectly with We Are Motorhead it just set the pace and never let up.

 

 

 

Setlist :

We Are Motörhead
Stay Clean
Get Back In Line
Metropolis
I Got Mine
Over the Top
The Chase Is Better Than the Catch
Rock Out
I Know How to Die
In the Name of Tragedy
Just ‘Cos You Got the Power
Killed by Death
Going to Brazil
Ace of Spades

Encore:

Overkill

After the show we head backstage to say hello and thanks to Oscar and the Clutch guys. As we are being let in through the fence, right behind us are three hottie little groupie chicks (not counting the one on my arm) but security is giving static to one of them, so I do my best to rescue her and it actually worked. They were looking at me like “All right cool, who is our new friend here?” but little did they know I was as surprised as them that it worked 🙂
We find Oscar, and of course our smartass rapport ensues instantly – and I thank him for having us – good times.
We go into the hospitality area where Lemmy and Micky Dee are sitting and Lemmy has the proclamation sitting in his lap laughing in disbelief but genuinely flattered at the gesture.
We weren’t in there 2 mins before they are clearing us out. We go out back and the three rocker chicks are still out there and they come to thank me, and ask if we will be here for SXSW.
Before I can get it out about our showcase in the boxing ring, they all three already knew about it and were freaking out excited about it.
Word was starting to spread.

Photos –

Roy Turner
Trent Lesikar

SXSW 2010 w/ Man or Astroman? Les Savy Fav, Andrew W.K. & more (March/2010)

Sun: March 14th –

No rest for the wicked as they say, after recovering from the Flaming Lips blowout just the night before in Denton, I was now on my way to Austin. Now normally I don’t go quite this early as the music part of the conference doesn’t officially begin till this Wednesday and that’s when I normally get here. However their’s always stuff going on throughout and my reason for coming this early was: If you had to ask me out of all the bands I love that have broken up who would I most cherish see getting back together (within reason) who would it be? Well I have been very blessed in the last few years as the impossible happened with the Police reuniting and then the ultimate hell freezing over of Van Halen reuniting with David Lee Roth. So who’s left? Well, if the Pixies can do it, so can anyone right (except probably the Talking Heads). Well one of my all-time faves and perhaps my favorite band of the 1990s, Man or Astroman were reforming and even though they were scheduled to play two more times, I didn’t wanna miss the first (or any) show.
Besides a few warmup shows in their hometown of Birmingham, AL this was their first shows as MOA since the legendary Day of All Human Reckoning event they staged ironically here in Austin almost ten years ago (I attended that shit too)
So I don’t know the reason behind the reunion other than maybe just a desire to play, but didn’t really care as this was a chance to be a fan for once and have a good time.
I finally roll into town and am starving so I park next to the Mohawk where the show is happening and walk to find some food (and I see a line already forming around the building) and go to the burrito truck next to the Red-Eyed Fly. I grab some food and sit at the picnic table and immediately start chatting with the dude sitting next to me. As fate would have it, he was Kurt from Flosstradamus, we knew some of the same people and he was performing at the Mohawk right after MOA. We became fast friends and he walked me in so I wouldn’t have to deal with the line (thanks Kurt).

Austin’s The Octopus Project were opening, and they are pretty interesting. Their singer, who’s babe-ship has clearly come in, her act seemed persnickety and contrived however. I was ready to flame out fucking fanboy style for the Astro as I had already bought a t-shirt before they even came on.
The show starts and I’m clearly not the only one that was anticipating this, this much.

 I was freaking out and the crowd was right with it. The brought up the before-mentioned singer for the Octopus Project and Coco joked about being upstaged by her till he did this:

I was pissing myself, it was so awesome! So glad to have them back. One criticism I could offer however is that they said it was the original lineup, but I don’t remember what Birdstuff (drummer) looked like, nor do I remember him doing this: – this show was awesome but about every third song the drummer would come out from the kit, totally break character, commandeer the mic from the singer (much to the singer’s surprise and seemingly embarrassment) and launch into some pompous, mean-spirited blip directed at anybody’s guess, that sounded like two dude’s at Pitchfork arguing over who is more vegan. Sometimes it was funny but overall he just looked like a dickhead begging for attention.
Kurt from earlier was so cool, that though I was tired and had a long week ahead, I was totally gonna check his show out, and I’m glad I did. I have my own little DJ act and so I’m interested regardless and felt like I learned alot by watching. These guys were incredible.
Afterwards I was still pretty wired so I walked over to the Geobash and to familiarize myself with this year’s Pure Volume House. I may look back one day on the flyer below and regret not staying but for now, I had already had a long weekend, a long day, and one hell of a week to come.

Wed Mar 17th –

So I sleep pretty late when I should have got up earlier to hit registration. After leaving the Convention Center I swung by Emo’s to check out the first of many Brooklyn Vegan parties, this one with Fucked Up and the GZA. As I mentioned in a previous blog about my previous trials with the GZA this was yet another entry as their was a sign on the door saying “GZA has canceled”. Their was still a line out the door but now I was annoyed and a bit hungry. I hook up with Sarah as I had an invite to something that contained to of my deepest passions: crawfish and hip-hop – It was a free crawfish boil that was hosted by J Boogie (DJ-The Jungle Brothers). And I was in a hip-hop vibe in anticipation for the GZA before his bullshit canceled. It was a bit far, we had to drive, so we head on over and the shit was on. In maybe not the most practical locations but the food was fantastic and J was rawking some deep reggae stuff and their was some local micro-brewery getting everbody green beer (it was St. Patrick’s Day). It was a blast, we left with our ears ringing and a good late afternoon beer buzz, but what we didn’t leave with was our stomachs full, as good as the food was their wasn’t enough of it, so we were still hungry and hungry for more of the same.
Luckily we were in Austin as I’ve written before a destination for me that I try to hit on every visit to Austin is the Boiling Pot on 6th St right by I35. The shit is to die for! So I said let’s finish what we started and we went and ate till we could barely walk!
I knew I was missing a little mini 80’s hair metal festival (you know how I love those) up the street with Faster Pussycat, L.A. Guns, and the Lynch Mob – but I had a feeling I would see those bands again (more on this later 🙂 but I wanted to get there in time to see Razr 13. I would have totally overlooked the name and might have even left if I had gone earlier after the Lynch Mob, only to kick myself later as I was reading in the Austin Chronicle that Razr 13 was the new project from Doug Pinnick from King’s X. Doug is one of my all-time inspirations so I was eager to check this out, so we finally finished eating and headed over there.
This was part of a week-long thing called the Texas Rockfest that I had also booked some Trickykid bands to play as well the next day so I also wanted to check out the grounds.
We get there after they had already started and keep in mind I knew nothing about this band other than Doug was in the band. The songs weren’t bad if a bit amateurish as compared to the musicianship one normally equates with Pinnick, but even more striking was the how they looked. I didn’t get the greatest shot but one dude looks like he just got out of the penn after 30 years, covered in scary biker tattoos and one other dude looked like a rocker version of King Kong Bundy.
The sound was more of an updated neu-metal sound that wasn’t bad but seemed like a step back for Doug instead of step forward.

  It was around this time I was informed that I had just missed Motorhead again. They were playing about two miles away and normally I am on top of these things but how could I have let this slip by? I knew that they shows were in promotion on a documentary about their infamous singer, simply titled Lemmy. 
This was also one of those nights were, no matter what you do or who you are, their will be one night during SXSW where you just can’t get into anything.
Sadly this was the first night and it seemed like this was gonna be one of those nights. Their was a killer showcase at Stubb’s with Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings and Broken Bells – no dice – then we wandered over to Red 7 to see the comedian Brian Posehn and Voivod – same shit.
Its not like this a dead town or a dead festival, usually you have to choose between awesome stuff, and this was no exception as we headed to the IAMSound Records party for a great show with Salem and Sleigh Bells, as well as Little Boots was DJ’n. This is always one of the better parties and I try not to miss it each year. I have been wanting to see Salem for two years, after I stumbled upon their album in a record store in Canada, it was called Yes, I Smoke Crack – Clearly the band for me. And they did not disappoint, just so fucking weird and dark. It reminded me of this dude Odd Nosdam, that Mike Patton collaborated with recently.

For me, besides business, the real deal is to catch the newer, younger bands. Its cool, going to see your favorites but I would rather gamble on going to see some bands I haven’t seen yet, and this one paid off. Both bands were really great and I wanted to try to catch them again during the festival. Afterwards we swung by the Pure Volume House since we were close to find out who the “Special 3am Guest” was. It looked like a warzone by the door and someone said the guest was Jakob Dylan – all this for that dude? Didn’t something happen? Did he come out or something? Was he gonna do a duet with Lance Bass? I wasn’t sticking around to find out so if my predictions came true, please email me to tell me that I am truly a prophet.Thurs Mar 18th – Day 5

So after another full morning of meetings on no sleep, my usual prioritizing of food over music was taking hold once again. However I wasn’t gonna miss Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings again, so I opted to go to Kabobalicious or whatever its called and actually while standing in line to see them at the Mohawk. How’s that for multi-tasking? – Sharon and the gang were the shit as usual – who cares that it was 3pm and like 1000 degrees outside, she brings it everytime, just the real deal in every sense.

  I had taken refuge like I usually do at the Levi’s Fader Fort. Sucks that its been across the freeway the last few years, but its worth the walk as you can depend on it as a place where you can sit down, grab a free beer, use the bathroom in reasonable time, and they even have a free internet café and reading room with obviously free copies of the Fader. When you have all of this going on, this is a god-send that I take full advantage of every year.
After these two sets I grabbed a beer and sat down and checked email for a bit when holy shit, sitting right across from me was Doug Pinnick. As I previously mentioned I had seen Razr 13 just the night before and he and I spoke briefly (he and I have been friendly over the years, but I’m still a total King’s X fag). I never fan-out and still didn’t this time but it was so cool to be able to speak with someone you have admired so highly for so long and be very frank and candid with them. We even talked business and the possibility of King’s X doing some shows with one of our bands, I was literally shitting myself. He informed me that their was another Razr 13 show that night and personally invited me. For me that’s about as cool as it gets.
I leave the Fort and walk across the street to the Sweet Leaf Party as the GZA was scheduled to go on at 7pm. I knew this idiot was gonna be late and I don’t even know why I bother with this clown, and frankly since it was across the street was probably what got me there.
I get over there and 7pm becomes 8pm and then we start hearing that he had canceled another show at the Iheartcomix Party earlier that day. Is this loser even in Austin? That’s two cancellations so far, but the guy over the PA is assuring us that he is coming. While I’m waiting I also learn that the surprise guest at the IFC House is the Sword and I’m fucking missing them yet again! It would have taken too long to get over there and since I had already waited an hour for the GZA I was determined to see it through.
Finally after a 90 min. delay, the hypemen come out to start the show. However one of them is plugging some solo LP of his coming out and he was straight up whack, just awful. How dare the GZA after all he just put us through make us sit thru a 3-song set of this trash? I was gonna shit in my hand and sling it at this guy. Finally the GZA walks out and starts with Life of a Drug Dealer and the place goes off. However, again the energy peaked around this first song. I guess since this was a free show, (I’m sure HE was still getting paid) he just didn’t give a fuck. He would rhyme a couple of lines and then go hang by the DJ while the hypemen (who sucked) would lead the show, you could even see him back there checking his Blackberry, during the songs!
One cool thing happened was I was at least fortunate to be standing side-stage and I look over and out to the crowd and realize that Bill Murray has been standing next to me this whole time. I’m not one of those Wes Anderson fags, but Bill Murray is still rad and despite already knowing of their pairing in Coffee and Cigarettes how cool is this that he’s checking this out? Would you expect anything less from him? I wonder if he was thinking that this was the worst performance he’s ever seen as well?

So how do I follow that up? By going to see Man or Astroman again – That’s what’s so great about this festival, its just the best of everything, and I love having a few days where the only real decisions that I have that are pressing is BBQ or music? – Do I wanna dance or do I wanna rawk? – Onward.
I get over to Club Deville which is right next door to the Mohawk where it sounded like the GZA was taking his next bow of shame followed by the most hyped band of the conference; the XX. Everytime I turned around their they were – they were everywhere! So the line stretched into the line I was in for MOA.
I finally get inside and after several delays – the transmission begins –
This show had a completely different feel to it than Sunday’s. This one was dirty – I don’t know if it was the crowd or the venue or the late hour (almost 1am) but it was just rowdy- violent almost. Their were several stop-starts, and system malfunctions. They never lost the crowd but these people just seemed to be looking for a fight, that was only exacerbated by once again the drummer, frequently coming out behind the drums to talk shit (about whom was unclear) only to leave their singer to disclaim with apologies right after. Still a great performance and I loved every second of it, but after I felt like I had just seen the Ramones, instead of Man or Astroman.
So now with the late hour approaching everybody was looking for the party. You could feel it in the air, not so much the need to see a specific band as much as a need just to keep the party going (at all costs). Prime example would be that when I got to the Pure Volume House, you would have thought that the Smiths had reformed and the only thing was inside was freaking Andrew W.K. (who..let’s be fair throws quite the party as I was soon to find out…which is perfect for people…like I said..that were looking to party).
I’m not kidding, I had never seen such chaos, apparently their was some confusion with which passes were good for which night, that the door people didn’t even know so the bouncers were just letting the girls they liked in. Just total clusterfuck. I didn’t care enough so I walked down the alley looking for something else, when I see an old acquaintance who is actually working the show (lucky break) and he’s walking Walter Schrefels from Rival Schools (who are about to go on and my reason for going there) in through the back and waves me over to join. Nice one Hank- Much appreciated.
So I poke my head out from the little make-shift backstage thing and see there’s no one really at the party and that’s when I hear the story that explains why soooo many people were outside: Apparently dude from Gym Class Heroes was DJ’n on stage and invited a bunch of people to come dance and the stage collapsed and so they had to evacuate. I’m a lucky dude for missing all that shit, but like I said earlier, their was something hostile in the air all night everywhere.
So Rival School just said fuck it and played on the floor while the drummer and the amps were still on the broken parts:

  That hostile vibe was still rawking – maybe it was the free Taco Bell? – but I went out to the side patio to have a smoke and I run into my buddy Nate, and as we are talking, the table next to us is being overturned by some huge fight that just broke out – what the fuck is going on tonight??
We needed some positivity, we needed to get a party started, conveniently, Andrew W.K. came to our rescue.

Fri Mar 19th – Day 6

I had some time to kill and didn’t feel like walking back across and again my beloved Fader Fort was next door, so I went over there where I could get something to drink and better phone reception. I was undertaking the task of securing equipment for my Ween hermano Claude Coleman Jr, in time for his impending arrival with his solo outfit, Trickykid artists – Amandla, in a few days. While there I got to check out a bit of Marina & the Diamonds, who I actually really enjoyed. (and not just because she is like crazy, stupid, oh my gawd hot).

They were running waaay behind so I decided to go ahead and check out what was sure to be the cluster of all fucks of the conference, as every year (usually on the Friday) they always have a hugely popular band play at Stubb’s (last year they had Metallica for christsakes) and this year it was Muse.
And I see Mischa Barton.

 Headed back across the freeway for my third Man or Astroman show of the week. This was the best of the three. I guess they hit a stride from playing all week and/or wanted to go out with a bang as it were, but this was the most inspired of the three. It still didn’t exclude the pudgy drummer from trying to derail things with his silly, confrontational rants. If this tub of shit came at me I would just hurl powdered donuts at him:

But the other guys came to play and put on a great show, and when it ended I felt sad, now not having the comfort of knowing if and when I would see them again.
So this long day was believe it or not still had about eight more hours to go and it was after 10pm already. The endurance trial that is SXSW, but think of all I’ve already seen and now the countdown to Les Savy Fav later that night was just beginning. I still had some time and since I’ve been kinda staying at one place most of the week, this was my night to bounce around.
Then I shot over to where the old Fader Fort used to be to catch the end of particularly rowdy set from the Death Set. There shows are always nuts, just a great bunch of young guys that don’t give a fuck. They kinda hit my anti-hipster buttons at times, but they are so raw and have been consistently good everytime I’ve seen them.
And nowwww, it was time to get serious – seriously fucking crazy, it was time for the mighty Les Savy Fav and of course of all the venues in Austin, they were befittingly playing this seedy back patio joint that you had to enter through this gross alley to get to. For me, the anticipation was high, I should have felt burnt out by the events of the day, but I was totally energized and I wasn’t alone. You could feel the buildup as people started making their way to the front, and pretty soon, you couldn’t even move your feet and this was before they had even played a note. Now, you probably know the drill, or have seen the band, or if you read this blog heard me lament their legendary live show time and again, and its always this: How are they gonna top that shit I saw last time? – and the answer in its simplest form is that it always does and it usually reveals itself in the first ten minutes. The pressure is so large and looming you actually feel it yourself and are convinced that frontman Tim Harrington must be feeling it too, and if he is, he uses it as motivation because I’ve seen them alot of times and this was, even by their standards one of their most unique shows. I’m certain that Harrington hadn’t planned any of this it just fucking happens, and it happens everytime.
Harrington came out to check his microphone and wound up staying on stage to just chat with the audience. At first he told us how his dad suggested a joke to open the set with: “down here you guys have longhorns (makes UT hand sign), but up in NYC we have a unicorn (flips off audience).” Then he poked fun at the industry-nature of SXSW by rattling off a list of fake places they were going to play later in the week and imploring us to come see them again because they felt certain they were “really about to break.” After a few more minutes of poking fun at everything from himself to the long list of sponsors on the SXSW banner (“We’re really thrilled to have Chevy involved in this…”) he launches into the opening parts of In these Woods and then the band kicks in and the place fucking EXPLODES!!
Harrington was all over the place as usual, and fucking with anything that came in his path, and really the only thing there was to fuck with was the lights that flanked each side of the stage. It didn’t take long for him to realize that they could be easily unplugged and that’s when inspiration truly struck. He was fending off his bandmates who were looking on in horror telling them to “relax..let’s take our time, I have a mood to create” haha
Things were about to get really crazy – Once the lights were out, a few fans threw glow sticks on stage, which Tim promptly picked them up, tore them open with his mouth and naturally dumped its contents all over himself – he could NOT have planned this!

They made it through a few more songs, including new material from the their forthcoming new LP Root for Ruin, as well as a Silver Jews cover. From memory I remember:

In these Woods
Pills
The Equestrian
Patty Lee
Raging in the Plague Age
Yawn Yawn Yawn

And as if shit couldn’t get any crazier (or weirder) it takes the lights off again, this time leaving the place in total darkness to finish with the most fuck-shit-up version of The Sweat Descends. You couldn’t see your hand in front of your face and just had to rely on the energy of the movement and the insanity that was happening on stage. One of the wildest and weirdest nights from one of the wildest and weirdest bands.

You would think that would be the end, but Harrington comes back out (its now like five minutes to 2am) and tries to get something going but the venue cuts his mic, so he improvises by leading the crowd in an accapella version of One Way Window before it seemed like everyone (including the band) was asked to leave. Just fucking epic.
Ok, so now if you are reading this, are you like “Roy, go the fuck home already” ? I would be too, but alas I was in the mood to take it as far as I could.
As I had mentioned earlier, as this time of the night people are dying to get there hands on anything to keep the party going and they also seek exclusivity. It seems to make them feel special somehow, like everyone else has to follow the 2am curfew but we however are cool enough to be above that. So if you throw something exclusive, after-hours and reputable at them? Holy shit, you will have a riot on your hands, and that’s just what I was walking into.
First of all, I was so hyped from the Les Savy Fav show, I had the bright idea to walk the 15 or so blocks over to the campus where this party was happening at some hippie co-op joint that could only exist in Austin, that was promising an unthinkable 3am set from Andrew W.K.
Fuck it, let’s do it – I wish I had better photos of this because I can’t even begin to illustrate the carnage that besieged this apartment complex. Apparently there was this recreational style room upstairs that could hold about 400 people and that’s where the show was gonna go down. All it did was just illuminate the inner narcissist of everyone there. People were fighting, scraping, even taking huge safety risks in scaling this building to get up there…all not to see the show, but to be able to say they saw the show. It was ridiculous and they only thing I can think of as to why I stuck around was because I had walked so far and was mesmerized by the shallowness. There is alot more to say as people were at serious risk, as there were fights everywhere, and people throwing beer bottles down on to the people below. Those few that lived there that deemed themselves in charge were just as laughable. Just like the cop that’s never had any authority was now gonna abuse it. This coming from these silly hippies that would be the first to tell you how much they hate cops were acting just like one by getting off on telling people who could come up and who couldn’t like some velvet rope for Hare Krishnas.

I’m embarrassed to tell you that one of these fucks actually recognized me from being part of the Ween crew and welcomed me with open arms and started singing Ocean Man loudly in my ear. How fucking embarrassing –  I just smiled and said thanks as I breezed past these people that were literally begging me to take me with them upstairs.
3am became 4am and finally as I was gonna leave around 430am here comes Andrew W.K. – I can’t even tell you how weird, but yet awesome this was. This was the real deal, off the beaten path and legit as fuck. The sound was about as shitty as if they were playing the toy aisle with equipment they sold there at Toys R Us, and also maybe because I think that this was like Andrew’s freaking fifth show that day – but he didn’t show any signs of fatigue, nor did the crowd as they lost their shit, and their was a vibe of “I’m at the party everyone will be talking about tomorrow feel”. I could give a shit about stuff like that but I was feeding of the crowd and how liberating the whole thing felt. But I was still smart to hang in the back 🙂

 The set was only 30 mins but that was more than enough, it was like a firecracker that keep exploding for thirty straight minutes. This time I wised up, grabbed a cab and headed to my hotel.

Sat Mar 20th –

So after the unmatched insanity of last night, I slept as long as I could. I had some more things to do to get ready for Trickykid Day at Cheapodiscs the next day so I kinda ran out of the shower and off I went. Now, when I left I noticed that it felt significantly colder than it did just yesterday or what it would normally be. Usually its already sweltering, and so naturally I didn’t pack anything that would really combat this issue. By the time I got downtown, I was freezing, and I noticed something that I have never seen in Austin, TX before: snow and ice – can you believe it? In Austin, in March? Apparently it had snowed that morning and it was around 4pm and the temperature had dropped to 19 degrees. Now I know I live in NYC, but I HATE cold, despise it with every fiber in my being. And if my hotel wasn’t so far away, I would have just gone back to bed and said fuck it. Sucks that this was happening on the last day of the festival. Even more depressing was that everything I had planned for the day was outside – there was no escape from it.
After my meetings the first thing I did was go over to Rachael Ray‘s party – to accomplish two things: a) to eat that good food – b) to be just another dork there to gawk at Zooey Deschanel and her band She & Him. I DJ’d Rachael’s party a few years back and I know that if you want to eat you gotta get there early, but the cold had a hand in the attendance so there was plenty of food for me when I got there.
Poor Zooey, you could tell that she wasn’t (like me) prepared for this unbearable cold and she would candidly between songs say “My god, its freezing”
Hey at least she looked good:)

…and sadly that’s all she could do, and thank goodness she has her acting and modeling career, and good for her for trying, but music just isn’t gonna be her thing. It was probably exactly what you were expecting – high profile actress using her connections to play a huge venue to sensitive indie-rock guys and girls that quote Rushmore that will claim the music was brilliant. It was not brilliant – it was as about as flaccid and uninteresting as it could be. She sings nice, and it’s a pleasant affair, but its nothing anyone should take seriously. It will get way more attention that it deserves and for all the wrong reasons.
So I leave there and it looks like I’m basically following Andrew W.K. around or vice versa (and not with much luck so its good that I wasn’t) cause I just missed him before She & Him and as I walk back across the freeway I just missed him again. This guy was everywhere.
The main thing I was missing was my jacket and pretty soon my will to live, it was so cold! – I’m not ashamed to admit this but there was nowhere to hide so I went into survival mode and actually took a couple of long spells hiding in the Port-a-Shitters just to stay warm and to block the wind. Yes, I would rather smell copious amounts of other people’s shit than be this cold.
I should have just gone back to the hotel…and what? miss GWAR? Not a chance – Like this week couldn’t have gotten any crazier 🙂 I haven’t seen GWAR since I was a teenager, and its a great show, but for me, it gets old quick. Like the fourth time I’m hit with fake blood, I’ve had my fill, but who can’t get it up for GWAR? I know I can.
I just wish they were passing out blankets and cocoa, instead of fake dismemberments. It really is a site that even if you have seen it before is still pretty staggering to see, not to mention freaking awesome.
It was funny because as they were pummeling the crowd with the music and the blood the wind would sweep through and blow the blood back on to them.
They did the bit about making fun of the music industry (naturally) that ended with the sacrifice of Lady Gaga. It really had to be seen to be believed.

 

So I think by choosing this over the Perez Hilton party (like there was any doubt) I believe I made the right choice haha. This was confirmed as after this I walked by that party and the line seemed to stretch to Louisiana. I was on my way to something that I had been anticipating all week (and sadly it was outside too, and it was actually getting COLDER). The Red Bull Hip-Hop party with some of my all-time favorite DJ’s and MCs. I get there in time to see the end of the Juan Maclean
and up next is Cut Chemist from the J5 crew. Straight up, I’m a total hip-hop guy, surely not of the baggy pants, sports jersey, pimp swagger foolishness, but I love this shit and primarily the old school guys and the real deal DJs. CC is an amazing performer and his set was mind-boggling. I was so cold, I wanted to dance to warm up, but I could barely move. They had this great projection screen setup with super close camera angles so you could really see what he was doing, and with these kinda DJs that’s what you want really.

 

Up next was one of the baddest DJs to ever to do it and one of the main reasons why I started, DJ Jazzy Jeff. Cmon..you know this dude, you could sing the theme to Fresh Prince of Bel Air right now, no problem. Jeff is the man, in my mind he, Kool Herc and Jam-Master-Jay started turntablism. So I was super pumped about getting to see him in action. My man was so cold, he kept rubbing his hands together between scratches to stay warm. This was a full-on party. He played all the old school joints you wanted to hear and presented them in an entirely new way. Exactly what a DJ is supposed to do.

 

I went to the back in hopes that the bodies in front of me would block the deadly wind. It was fucking freezing, but it really was a beautiful night, and Jazzy was so great I actually forgot I was cold for a sec and took in the scene.

 

   Now another amazing DJ, Z-Trip was supposed to close and I know that he had to cancel so I thought that Jazzy was the last to go on, but then we realize that Z-Trip’s replacement is freaking Mos Def. This guy has a swagger that is his, and his alone. I’ve had many candid experiences with Mos Def in recent years and he’s always on, always funny, and has an air of confidence that is piercing. Not douchy like Kanye, more like Ali, with not as much bragging.
From the opening line of the way he spoke-not shouted “How yall feeling this evening?” it was suddenly his show. In recent years he’s becoming as known for his humor as much as his music, and you could tell this was very last minute, off-the-cuff style as it just seemed like he found an hour ago that he was gonna be performing, but instead of looking or seeming unprofessional or unprepared, the spontaneity was the charm of the show. He talked alot, and fucked with the crowd a bunch, and mainly stuck to recent songs, but it felt intimate and was really fun.

 

It was now after 1am and what you ask, what could you possibly have let to do sir? Well it was technically the last night so would there be a better way to go out with a bang than to head to Vice‘s annual conference closing party, headlined by Les Savy Fav (and did I mention it was indoors, and only two blocks away?).
I get there and the line is already formed and its not moving. You never know at this party who is going on when, so I just wanted to get in and get settled. The cold made me impatient, so I became one of those leeches that just kinda hangs by the front door, thinking this is gonna get you in faster, and I would never endorse this, but my friend from Vice spots me (and she wouldn’t have in my previous location) whispers in my ear that they are at capacity and not letting anyone else in, probably for the rest of the night, and to follow her. Perfect timing cause as soon as I grabbed a drink and went to the bathroom the Fav were setting up.
Now I knew that this was not their show, so it would be an abbreviated version, but we are taking about Les Savy Fav, hell the Dwarves can accomplish in 15 mins what most bands can’t in two hours.
Tim Harrington comes out wearing an evil-grinning rabbit mask, which, he explained, belonged to the US government and had been given to him by a guy from NASA who was interviewing rock bands about the moon, as the band launches into Pills. This show got rowdy in a hurry – the set was almost identical as last night’s except a new song Let’s Get Out of Here – and this time they played their legendary show-closing anthem Who Rocks the Party? and as you can imagine, the place totally lost their shit, as I did right along with them. Harrington losing the mic after the first verse, then dragging a table into the crowd and singing from atop it with the crowd a total dancing shouting mess at this point. And like last night, he led the crowd to the opening rap of One Way Window before they cut his mic. Just freaking incredible.

 

Between sets this great DJ, Jason Toubin, was spinning all these great obscure soul jams from an impressive collection of 45s he had, that turned the place into a dancing speakeasy right out of Dirty Dancing. I stayed and danced for a bit, but it was now close to 4am so I head for the door. Something funny happened as I was waiting for a cab (they are not easy to catch at 4am like they are in NYC…I was about to co-miserate this fact with some familiar faces) as I’m standing there I can hear voices behind me and realize that Tim and the gang are now competing with me for a cab. I thought I was having trouble, Tim is not only a portly, balding weirdo, but he’s wearing this hideous (on purpose) all-over shaw that even he can barely keep a straight face while wearing. I concede as the next cab pulls up as their are five of them and one of I, but not before we all had some fun, lamenting the lack of public transportation in this town.

Austin City Limits Fest 2009

Wed Sept 30th

Made my way to Dallas and out to Fort Worth to catch the Amtrak train to Austin, TX for this year’s big 3 day Austin City Limits Festival. It didn’t start till Friday but I got there a few days early because Them Crooked Vultures were doing a couple of special shows prior to the festival. If you don’t already know (see the August/Lollapalooza entry below for more) that they are a three-piece comprised of Josh Homme (Kyuss/QOTSA), Dave Grohl and freaking John Paul Jones.
The first show was a taping for the legendary TV show (and the festival’s namesake) Austin City Limits. I’ve always wanted to attend one of these unforgettable performances that I’ve always admired no matter who was playing, but this was not to be believed. (thank you Leslie for the hookup).

  I was surprised that alot of people expected them to actually do songs from their other respective bands, and were disappointed when they didn’t. This was a new band making a new statement (their record wasn’t even out yet) and some people still just wanted to hear the same ol, same ol.

Thurs Oct 1st

Back for round two (three if you count Chicago) as now Them Crooked Vultures were doing a public show at Stubb’s as a warmup to their big coming out at the festival on Friday. This was a fun show and a testament to the legendary careers that all three have had, cause no one had even heard a note of this new music and the show sold out in minutes based upon the member’s collective reputations. That was a neat thing to witness and be a part of. Unbearably packed (but thankfully well mannered) and hot in there, the anticipation was huge and when they took the stage the noise was deafening.
This show was identical to the first show in Chicago.

 A big difference and nothing against Chicago but this crowd was so appreciative that it made you proud to be there. Homme who is known for his quips had a great line when JPJ changed from bass to keytar ” Only John Paul Jones could make the keytar look badass”. Here is the set-list from the show:

Fri Oct 2nd

The first day of the festival was here and I tried to prepare myself for the heat and the crowds. I had a late night the night before as after the TCV show at Stubb’s I went to a party at the Beauty Bar which is basically across the street. Made it downtown to Artist Pickup and got my wristbands and finally got to the festival a little after 5pm.

  This was my third year to attend the festival but strangely the first time in five years. Since then I had been to all of the Coachellas and a few of the Lollapalooza‘s and Bonnaroos, but this is a really nice one to attend. Its put on by C3presents (the same company that does Lollapalooza) and its in Austin and who doesn’t love Austin, Texas?
The Artist van drops me off in front of the artists lounge and the great people that do the nationwide free ice cream campaign are the first people I see with their truck parked right at the front of the lounge. Some of the best people you will ever meet, check out his site, its so awesome – icecreamman.com

  So after getting settled and embarrassing myself with a few rounds of the new Beatles Rock Band, I meet a rad local girl (who ironically was the singer in my newly formed fab four) and we head out to see our first band of the day, Thievery Corporation.

They were really good and I had always wanted to see them. Now some will fault me as the festival started at 11am and I didn’t see a band till 630pm but it was hot and admittedly more comfortable in the back with the free food so sue me 🙂
As soon as they ended we had our shuttle driver haul ass to the other side of the festival to see (you guessed it) Them Crooked Vultures. How’s this for obsessive? – This was only their fourth show in the US ever at this point and at that time I had seen ALL of them and three times in as many days. All of those shows had been club shows or other special events but this really the FIRST show in front of a huge crowd and it had that feel to it. If I had had thought the crowd was loud the night before, it paled in comparison to this ovation. It was interesting to see the appeal that John Paul Jones had on the crowd. Though the majority of the this crowd was the young and hip culture that Austin is known for, it was neat to see that some people had come to see JPJ solely and actually didn’t know who the other two people in the band were. That’s dedication.

    This show was identical to the television taping just a few days prior. Though I had it pretty much down at this point, this is a great new exciting thing that must be witnessed.
My new Austin friend was chomping at the bit to see the Yeah Yeah Yeahs who were thankfully playing on the adjacent stage right after. We scrambled around to watch from backstage but couldn’t really see anything so we got as close as we could up front. Now I don’t really have anything to add to my previous and recent description of their performance at Lollapalooza (see previous entry) and I’m of course biased.
But they were replacing the Beastie Boys again just like this past August but this time they didn’t make the nod to them like that show. They did however put on a very powerful and visually entertaining show as always.
 So after they played my new friend and I walk out of Zilker Park and you can see that this festival has just taken over the whole town. This city is always alive with young, progressive people, but this was total meltdown and all the vendors had lined the streets with tents selling their wares, apparently the demographic is alot of tie-dye and bong hits. Good times though as we danced in the streets with everyone else and made our way to get something to eat.
Her and I had different agendas however as she had a birthday to attend so I had her drop me off at Emo’s where some friends of mine from Brooklyn,  !!! (pronounced chk chk chk) where doing a warm up gig of their own before playing the festival tomorrow. For those not familiar, they are one of the most fun and energetic live shows you will ever witness. They have reached beloved status because of their legendary live show and when they hit stage around midnight people were ready to get down!
I have seen a half a dozen of theirs shows or so and I say this every time I see them but this was one of the best ever. The energy and momentum is incomparable. (Editor’s Note: Since this time and now drummer Jerry Fuchs died in a freak accident in Brooklyn- We miss you Jerry R.I.P.)

 I danced my ass off and had a great time as the ended with the one-two punch of Intensify and Heart of Hearts. Got out of the show around 2am and waited to meet a friend who was coming from Round Rock to have a late night meal with me. She finally shows up around 3am and we go to Austin staple Kerbey Lane by the University. A bit of a wait even at this late hour because of the festival so after we eat and talk and she drops me off its after 6am.

Sat Oct 3rd

The night before Nic (chk chk chk) said that since they are going on at 2pm that if I came to the Emo’s gig I didn’t have to show up early. I wanted to prove him wrong but alas I didn’t get into bed until 7am. I didn’t even wake up till after 2pm and when I did it was really gross and rainy outside. Not the ideal setting for a mass outdoor event (more on this later).
I met up and had lunch with Nic and Paul from (chk chk chk) and I asked them how their set was despite the gross conditions and early start time. Those guys could throw a party anywhere.
Then I ventured out to catch the last half of Trail of Dead, another Austin mainstay that are always great live. It wasn’t just raining, it was a freaking buzzkill. Lightening and misery just made everyone and everything seem gross. I did stick it out to see the first couple of songs from Mos Def, who seemed totally unaffected by the rain and brought a huge posse of dancers and a live band. This would have killed in a club and I was disappointed that the conditions made me just want to be a big wuss and retreat to the comfort in the Artists Lounge.

  One of the things I was most looking forward to today was the arrival of my oldest friend Chris Todd and his wife Tammy. They weren’t getting in till after Day 2 of music was over so I promised him I would check out Devotchka. I know I sound so spoiled but wait till you see the pics of the fucking mudpeople, I hold no since of nostalgia for Woodstock nor a need to recreate it, but I kept my word and checked out a bit of their set, and I’m glad I did, they were fantastic.

Now that the rain had cleared and it was night-time (always a bit of an incentive as far as mood goes) I was ready to experience another Austin export that I’ve hearing about from everywhere, Ghostland Observatory. The cool thing about this was that I literally had NO idea what they were about period. Even based on what I heard they were totally (and refreshingly) different. I thought I was gonna be in for like a Radiohead clone (to illustrate just how removed I was from them) but just as I got up to the scaffolding side stage, these two freaks (that being a Texas native, these two could ONLY have come from the Lone Star State) come walking out, one wearing a Tron/Dr. Who looking electric cape and the other was a cross between Richard Petty and any cast member of Easy Rider. So what is THIS gonna sound like? The crowd is already going crazy and then here it comes: This dancy wailing banshee freak show complete with laser light show, just fucking awesome. It occurred to me however what a feat that they had brought this to such a high-profile level, cause being in this business as long as I have and being from Texas I could easily see this just being something that 50 people in Austin care about (but those 50 would REALLY freaking care).  From my perspective I was able to get a small shot of Mos Def who was dancing a jig behind the drum riser that was completely obscured to the audience.

Then has the show had reached such a high momentum, they did a fun smart thing, that dials right into that Texas local pride by bringing out the UT Austin Longhorns Marching Band to join them for a few songs.

Sun Oct 4th

No sleeping in today, as it was the last day of the festival, and I had to meet with my com padres Clutch who got a shitty time slot of 2pm. However the weather did take a nice sunny turn, but when I got to the site, holy shit, yesterday’s monsoon had just the sheer power of the foot traffic had turned the general population area into mushy peat bog about a foot deep. You could literally smell the ooze in the air, probably because as always there are some good-natured folks who embrace this sort of thing and can’t resist saying “fuck it, let’s become Swamp Thing“.

   So after hitting the Lounge for an early lunch I went to meet up with Clutch, whom I’ve had a long history with throughout the years. It was cool watching them rehearse out in the open and so early in the day down beneath the stage. Now it was showtime and they were all business, so I bid them a good show and took my place sidestage. Obviously given the short set-time they wanted to showcase their newest record Strange Cousins from the West as seven of their nine songs were from that record. For a band I’ve come to know so well, it was great to see them so out of their element which is completely what they strive for and deliver every time.

    

   Next up was time for some other old friends of mine from Fort Worth, the Toadies.  Hadn’t seen them since London over the Summer. They are like the equivalent of Classic Rock in Texas, just perfect for a sunny day in Austin who gave them a hero’s welcome. They played exactly what you would expect in a festival set, right to the hits, no bullshit, and then whipped out Got a Heart, which was a nice surprise.

        After their set I hung out with Mark (drummer) and his wife for a bit catching up and debating if we all wanted to eat or go see the Dirty Projectors. The heat was taking its toll, so food it is (Nourishment 1 – Indie – Trust Fund Rock 0) but the shuttles were so congested we had to wait forever for one (which became the theme of the day,so it made the decision of how bad you wanted something interesting), so we just split up and met back up in the catering tent.
Their merch guy Tony used to be in a Dallas band Hagfish, along with their new bass player Donni Blair and his brother Zach who is now in Rise Against, who joined us for lunch but I don’t know if he was playing that day or not. After eating I took as much juice/soda/water I can carry out to the general population to find Chris and his wife and some other friends of mine to offer them something that no doubt being overcharged for, when I made it about 5 yards in and I literally started to sink. I felt guilty about it but I was getting the fuck out of that mess!
   Now it was time for something I was greatly anticipating, The Dead Weather. To know me is to know my complete and utter devotion to the music of Jack White, and now that would take on yet a different form as he has yet another new band where this time he is playing drums. Another cool thing (and a testament to our friendship) is that although Chris and I haven’t any contact whatsoever is over five years, during that time he had developed a similar obsession, so it was great to share this excitement with him.
Besides Jack White the band is rounded out by Alison Mosshart ( The Kills) , Dean Fertita (Queens of the Stone Age) Jack Lawrence who is White’s partner in crime in his other band The Raconteurs.
This is designed to go down in a small, dark, smokey club around 1am but they killed! My fave set all weekend and perhaps one of the best of the year.

    Now this next part requires a little bit of explaining and a backstory if you like. I was prepared to make an effort right after the Dead Weather finished to go to the other side of the festival to see Girl Talk. As a DJ and a fan of music and a marveler of mashups and as someone who is pretty dialed in to popular culture this was something intriguing to me. I’ve heard everyone back in Brooklyn talking about him, I’ve heard and downloaded his stuff and was very impressed, enjoyed the backstory of this guy being some mad scientist who quit his career as a bio-mechanics engineer to rock the house etc.. I bought it, I was in, let’s go.
Now for this space I’m not gonna lead a pretentious type of discussion about what is truly a DJ, should they be looked at as musicians etc…all that crap you have heard before. I have my own ideas about all of that, none probably original so I’ll spare you and just talk about the experience.
The shuttle driver drops me off behind the stage where there is already a mob of people trying to get a glimpse. I had seen pictures of his performances and it looks like New Year’s Eve everytime so I get the hype. He’s got his finger on the pulse of that FIT, NYLON Magazine reading, 18-20 female crowd, that brings dudes of all ages around as well, so he really can’t do no wrong here.
However, what I witnessed was absolute shit. Call me an old curmudgeon who’s lost the plot but this whole thing had no place for me and I can’t help but feel all the better for it.  As so super lame as it sounds and I hate it myself when I hear people say this, but the entire time I was witnessing it I could hear a little voice of reason saying “This is exactly what’s wrong with everything, this is the defining example of where everything went to shit”.
Now having said that, he played, people danced and smiled (a few even got naked) and I’m sure a majority of people left that with a feeling of a good time and that’s great they should. My problem lies not in the absurdity of its popularity but its power. From behind the stage I could hear people chanting stuff in unison but didn’t know what was leading the charge. I learned later it was the screen they were facing (that I was behind) and all of the requests no matter how preposterous (like…”throw money in mud” ..and a few questionable ones)  were fulfilled.
As I watched this from sidestage, all these people were onstage dancing with him to make it a party, and everyone else was trying to get onstage to join them.  And the admittance regardless of credentials was some super lame velvet rope thing a la Studio 54, with some intern in shades (it was 8pm at night) making the selection. “what the fuck am I doing here?” I exclaimed and the problems only begin with the social aspects of this travesty.
Now again, if you go to FIT, read NYLON and you are reading this you will probably say “Dude, relax and dance” and you will probably be right and if you are everyone else you should criticize me for having waaay too much to say on something so insignificant.

      Now another surprise came but this time from some familiar faces. In the early 90’s I got to experience as a very young person, the great boom of new music that came out of Seattle, that everyone still talks about and makes silly claims about its importance or non-importance. Great time to be a young person and I was right in the middle of it, but because of my punk/metal/thrash tastes at the time I had to be a convert. I liked the heaviness of Nirvana and Soundgarden and my age would dictate that I enjoyed belonging to the something from its beginning. You really couldn’t be into just one of these bands, even though they were sold separately, they may as well just bundled them because once you had Nevermind or Badmotorfinger surely you had to buy Ten to complete the set.  Much like growing up in the 80’s you were surely into G.I. Joe , Transformers, and He-Man, but someone had to be number three.
For me, this is where Pearl Jam has always stood. I really enjoyed them, think they are an incredible band, one of the best live bands I still have ever seen to this day (hell I even worked at Stone Gossard‘s label Loosegroove for a period) but the interest somehow didn’t come as natural after somewhere around that third record.  Working in music I was aware of their subsequent releases, and even if you didn’t who could forget their headline-grabbing (and at times…temple-scratching) decisions like battling Ticketmaster and releasing their entire tours live to diffuse the bootleggers of their profit.
Since I was caring less about the music I was caring less about the cause so eventually I tuned out completely. So that’s why although their popularity hasn’t waned, I really had no idea that since 1996 when I last gave a fuck that this band had become this generation’s Grateful Dead.  Seems that everyone I spoke to only came on Sunday and only to see them. Everywhere you looked on Sunday it was the Pearl Jam nation.
So I thought I should check some of this out, and what followed was a two hour + marathon that would make anyone a believer. I knew that this was a high-profile gig and it has that potential of something special happening, but it was so effortless that it gave me the impression that this is what happens at all of their gigs, hence the cult like following.
I saw Perry Farrell backstage shortly before they hit stage, struck by inspiration going on about how he wanted to get up and do his own band’s Mountain Song and how unforgettable it would be.
Here is the setlist and pics from the show: (including a great pic of when Eddie Vedder joined the mud-people)

 

Setlist –
   1.Why Go
2.Corduroy
3.Got Some
4.Not For You
5.Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town
6.Given To Fly
7.World Wide Suicide
8.Even Flow
9.Unthought Known
10.Daughter
11.Hail Hail
12.Insignificance
13.Present Tense
14.State Of Love And Trust
15.The Fixer
16.GoEncore:17.Jazz Odyssey
18.Red Mosquito (with Ben Harper)
19.Do The Evolution
20.The Real Me (The Who cover)
21.AliveEncore 2:22.Mountain Song (Jane’s Addiction cover w/ Perry Farrell)
23.Rockin’ in the Free World (Neil Young cover)
   I mean fan or not who could fuck with this?, my goodness. What other band could put an exclamation point on the weekend as being the last band on the last day in this fashion? Now I get it, fucking legendary.
I made my way back to the Lounge to catch the shuttle back to downtown. Chris and his wife had made an early exit to get cleaned up from all of the mud and we had planned to meet up a bit later to go to another party. The next two hours became very social, I don’t because if it was the end but everyone was talking to everybody. I first ran into my good friend Sam from LA (who was working the event and ironically was my assigned shuttle driver) as I was taking the golf cart back to pickup I rode with this couple who were on something of a third date and I turned on the cut-through-the-bullshit mode that I’m known for and started asking questions that clearly they were both afraid to ask each other. An hour later they came to find me to tell me that they had decided to make their relationship official and it was because of what I said and they were thanking me profusely. Good times.
As I was walking out some of the guys in Pearl Jam were coming in namely Jeff Ament, and behind him I see Doug Pinnick (King’s X)  & he came up and we had a nice chat.  I knew that he had some correlation to Jeff Ament as its seems every interview I’ve read over the years Jeff has found someone way to talk about King’s X and I think they are working on a project together, so it wasn’t a surprise to see him hanging with PJ, but as any performer who is not scheduled to play its surprising and exciting to see them.
So after I talked to Doug for awhile, Sam told me the van was ready and it was time to go. So I and a few of the performers climbed into the van, and here is where things come full circle. I was to be the last stop as I was going to the farthest and so I could hang with Sam for a bit, and the last two people were me and this other dude who were both going to the same place (Beauty Bar) and as we are talking its starting to occur to me that this is the Girl Talk dude. Greg I believe his name was, was totally cool and really funny and I kinda felt bad for talking shit earlier (but not really haha). He’s telling me that he wants to do a gig right now at the Beauty Bar since no one knows anything about it. All I can think of is the walls caving in with throngs of girls from American Apparel ads (not such a bad thought) besieging the place as their cool status couldn’t sustain the notion of missing something so hush hush once word got around.
I thought now to have Sam take me somewhere else but this is where I was to meet Chris and his wife and my oldest friends works here too who I hadn’t had the chance to say hello to yet. Girl Talk dude and I go into the Beauty Bar and within minutes I’m hearing that the place is not prepared for the headache of what would happen once word got out, so they put the kibosh on it and I saw him leave shortly after.
Two girls from San Francisco were chatting me up and dancing and as the place was closing they asked if I knew of any other after-parties.
I had heard that something was going on at the Congress Bridge, but those things usually get busted and in a hurry, but these girls were anxious to make their last night continue, so into a cab and off to the bridge we go. As we walk up their is Greg Girl Talk dude…again (someone is following somebody).  I had to admire him for wanting to rawk it here as this was about as real deal as it gets, open and to the public.
As expected, he hadn’t got two bars into the first track and here come the police: