#SXSW

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: MTVu Woodie Awards, Girl Talk Rocks Nike + Tenacious D & more

Ok, so after just a few hours sleep, it was time to get back out there. This is how it goes during SXSW – no sleep, steady diet of booze and BBQ, few showers, lots of walking and impulsive behavior.
First thing on the agenda was taking Matt to work but he had some errands he needed me to take him on first, so I thought we would grab lunch as well. Matt is all about the Thai food and I wanted to show some gratitude for his hospitality.
Over lunch he completely fucked my head up by dropping some personal bombs on me that were nuclear. I left there stunned after dropping him off and headed on take on the day –

Day 2 – March 15th

So after a few meetings and other loose ends I went over to the site where they were holding this year’s MTVu Woodie Awards –
I went last year, and it was a total red-carpet, star-studded affair with big names like the Foo Fighters etc. This year was going to be a little different as it was going to be outdoors and preceded by a little mini-festival called the Woodie Fest that was open to the public.
Not as elite and guarded as last year seemed more like the Grammys, so I was happy that it was going to be a more relaxed fair.
I get over there first for Woodie Fest to see ASAP Rocky –

 

 

It really seems like hip-hop mixtapes are the new indie-rock – Because the only press that picks up on them are the blogosphere and its readership is made up of usually white, 30-something nerdy obsessives – and at the Hip-Hop shows I saw this week that’s what made up mostly its entire audience – those people think that being in on something first is currency and since street lingo seems to change weekly, being on the ground floor of breaking hip-hop artists is tailor-made for this demographic. ASAP Rocky is perfect example of this, and to a lesser extent the act that followed – Machine Gun Kelly

 

Not bad but def more hype than skill –

The entire environment surrounding this event is drenched in douchebaggery – Their are amazing hot girls every where I look, but its those really hot girls that seem to date the worst dudes, with shitty tattoos – The obnoxious hipster set in colorful clothing, the fratty drunken shirtless dudes and their female counterparts, and I – the lone wolf walking alone amongst them in an hopelessly corporate parade of absurd proportions.
Who am I to complain? They really knew how to pander to this crowd – My wristband came with attached drink tickets – far too many for one person, and for THIS one person – Their were endless “lounges” hosted by a global entity –
For example, one could stroll along and visit the Reeses Lounge and help themselves to an endless supply of chocolate –
Go next door for the free BBQ and booze, and then walk down to the Good Humor booth for free dessert –

All of this and now the awards show is beginning that is hosted by one of those Jersey Shore dudes –
Again, who am I to complain? The girls are hot and everything in site is free, but their is a looming feeling that I completely do not belong here.
After some dubious awards are given to people that I have never heard of or have no interest in, my mood does turn cheery (free beer & BBQ does that to a man) with the anticipation of seeing Santigold –

 

She only did two numbers, but I think she is fantastic and I’m really looking forward to her show at the Spin Party tomorrow.
The actor/comedian dude Donald Glover from that show Community has a band called Childish Gambino that I saw at Fun Fun Fun Fest the last time I was in Austin last Fall, that were actually really good and they were supposed to perform next but apparently Glover fractured his foot and they had to cancel.
Instead we got another white-mediocre-over-hyped rapper,Mac Miller, who also won a bunch of these silly awards (if only contrivity and manufactured good were rewarded….wait…they are!)

 

Last but not least was probably the most unnecessary – They saved the biggest clown shoe for last, and is their really anybody with a more punchable face than Steve Aoki? – The lameness of his grand entrance of streaming above the crowd in an inflatable raft was completely lost on everyone here – He might as well of just had his limo parked onstage –

And for the next 20 mins or so he did his Aoki thing with huge gestures and insufferable mixes while Lil Jon and some dude in a colorful jacket he will one day regret wearing on television, pandered to the crowd as if they were selling hot dogs at a ball game.
I at least found some like-minded people as we had a mini-pot going guessing the amount Mr. Aoki was paid for 20 mins of his services for this thing – We dropped it as it was too depressing to think about.

Suddenly, a giant cake is produced for reasons that are unclear, I don’t know if or whose birthday it was or the occasion, but it did also produce perhaps one of the most irritating photos I’ve ever seen that makes my case solid –

 

However, I am so super happy to report that seconds after this little look at what a walking party I am pose – fortune smiled down on us all as Aoki lost his footing and fell off the stage with cake in tow, head-first as he actually pie-to-the-face himself. He was not injured so I can make fun of him. A fitting end to a super cheesy event.

So now I head from there over to this little joint called Haven, to see the mighty Tenacious D – Oddly enough, the only other time I have ever seen them live (and had not a clue who they were at the time like most people) was also here at SXSW, 12 freaking years ago.
I remember we went to see the Delta 72 and Modest Mouse, and after the Mouse had played, suddenly these two fat dudes come out and all 5k people at Austin Music Hall started freaking out and knew who these guys were (except us) – This was a bit before Jack Black’s film career took off.
I’m sorry to say that I missed openers Riverboat Gamblers – One of the best live bands you will ever see – Their singer Mike is an old friend and we used to work at the same record store several lifetimes ago.
But out comes the D and the place explodes –

 

Now, as funny and entertaining I find Jack Black and I do find some of their songs fun, I don’t count myself as a member of the tribe. That over-the-top sorta comedy has never done it for me – I have never found Jim Carrey or Will Ferrel funny in the least, though I’m sure they are both really funny men. They do it in a way that can entertain me for a bit, but its like being at a GWAR show, I can get excited, but after having blood squirted on me the 4th time, I’m usually over it.

I was scheduled to meet up with some suits after this for some drinks and where we were meeting caused me to pass by the Girl Talk party. I honestly also don’t give a fuck about Girl Talk or his annoying fanbase, but that motherfucker does throw one hell of a party, and I figured at SXSW it would probably be worth checking out. I also know that every person under 25 in a 10 mile radius would be trying to get in, and when I walked by the line, that was certainly confirmed.

 

I meet with the corporate folks and as we are about to wrap, I mentioned something about the ridiculous line at Girl Talk, (not realizing that I was talking to the sponsors of the event) cause they mentioned they were heading over there. That’s when they told me they were sponsors and asked me if I wanted to join them. Ok sure –

This is the essence of this conference – one minute I’m having drinks discussing sponsorship opportunities, the next I’m in a hollowed out Spaghetti Warehouse watching an unfathomably popular mash-up DJ, turning the place out like its Mardi Gras/NYE/4th of July combined, with free booze, covered in confetti, with the room all losing their shit.

 

Stay tuned for Day 3!!

Photos –

Roy Turner
Zachary Strain
Nate “Igor” Smith
Adam Sweeney
Karla Esquivel
John Davisson

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: The Parties – Perez Hilton, Village Voice, Fader, Spin & Vice Bring the Noise

So now getting into my fourth day at SXSW and its usually around this time that I’ve only slept for a few hours a day and surviving on free bbq and beer, and with constant ringing in my ear, my ability to absorb much more becomes a bit cynical haha.

 

Perez Hilton One Night In Austin

Celebrity blogger Perez Hilton drew a huge crowd for his annual SXSW show at the new ACL Live venue Saturday night.
I was here for one reason only & that was to se Taylor Momsen & the Pretty Reckless. I had caught her live a few times already and she is the real deal. Forget all that shit about her being an actress that is trying to sing, this is where she belongs & will be so from now on.

Taylor Momsen

Village Voice Showcase – Austin Music Hall

I got there pretty early (around 7pm) and the place was already a madhouse of people swarming to get in. This was one of the most anticipated showcases of the entire festival. I go up and get my credentials that thankfully (and I don’t care about being pampered and all that shit) gave me access to a private room with a nice bathroom, couches, earplugs and free booze, cause this place was like the fraternity in Animal House.

After taking advantage of that situation I went out to the main room to check out Wild Flag that couldn’t possible have lived up to their hype. The band is made up of key members of Sleater-Kinney and the Jicks, and while I’m a fan of both of those bands, and clearly I’m not the only one feeling the absence of SK, but you would think that Led Zeppelin had re-formed with the press they have been getting. So, either their following was far more dedicated than I realized, or they have a killer PR team – and with singer Carrie Brownstein post SK foray into journalism, I’m thinking that she knows just how to get it done.
Regardless, they were pretty good and exactly what you think it would sound like, the songs that Brownstein sung for SK, not an antithesis of Black Flag.

Wild Flag

 

–  Fishbone who was up next (and probably the act I was looking the most to seeing)  probably played for less time than it took to set up all their horns and the Theramin-in-a-suitcase. Lead singer Angelo Moore, was behind the stacks wearing an Andy Warhol wig and practicing his cartwheels, so this was gonna be as nuts as he is and I was getting excited but were taking forever. 
With the crowd getting antsy, they sent out comedian Donald Glover (who I had just seen last night host the MTVu Woodie Awards) to do a brief set as his rapper alter ego, Childish Gambino – it felt planned, but it gave the party an awesome burst of spontaneity and he was super entertaining that you had already forgotten the shittiness of the previous two acts and did exactly what it was designed to do, get you hyped and keep you entertained.

Fishbone finally takes the stage and shit gets real weird/awesome real quick –

 

Their shit was so great, how are you gonna top that? Well again I’m a hip-hop fanatic and a huge Wu-Tang Clan fan, but if you have read this blog or had the misfortune of trying to see any of them in concert, individually or collectively in the last 5 years, you don’t know what to  expect, which is half the fun/misery, but I’ve learned sadly, not to expect much.
Having said that, they still managed to greatly disappoint with their shenanigans they just keeps lowering their stock and legacy, who but me will still keep putting up with their shit?
Their was literally over 90 mins after Fishbone finished before they finally got their asses onstage – and during that time, I had personally seen two dudes piss themselves, three get escorted out of the music hall, and the bartenders had basically given up trying to keep service in order. It was that kind of party – As always, when its billed as Wu-Tang, their shit is so dysfunctional, the thing you do is try to guess/hope who is actually going to show up. For those who have been down this road a few times, you know to automatically dismiss the notion of the RZA and while your at Method-Man. It’s like you have to go “Ok, which ones’ career is suffering the most right now?” and that’s how you can guess accurately of who your gonna get.
After all that wait, only four of the nine members showed –
The GZA
U-God
Inspectah Deck
..and surprisingly – Ghostface Killah

 

They did their run of the “classics” with irritating mic problems the whole show (hey guys, with all the people onstage with wireless mics, that might be your problem?) that lasted about an hour. The best thing about the show was their joined by Erykah Badu for the last couple of tunes. Even with the feedback problems she still sounded great as always.
Around 2 a.m., Wu-Tang Clan called it a night and turned the party over to Badu, who switched to her other identity, DJ Lo Down Loretta Brown and played a great set of vintage dance tunes and modern hip hop for the stragglers who had made it through the night.

Next Day….

Spin Magazine Party – Stubb’s BBQ
   We get down there around 4pm and get checking in and take time to say hello to some of the staff that are friends of mine before heading toward the stage. The Spin Magazine party used to be the premier party during SXSW before turning into a day thing at Stubb’s a few years ago, and its still cool and always one to look forward to. One of the things you survive on during this festival is the free boze/soda/food – and its almost always not what your first choice would be, as anything free usually isn’t. It’s most likely something you have never tried/seen before because the sponsors use the festival as a test market, so you will find yourself drinking chocolate flavored water and chewing fish flavored gum.
Today, we each grabbed a tall can of this lemonade drink – that’s kinda like Sparks – and though I know I’m a serious lightweight when it comes to drinking and it was early in the day, I swear we both were shitfaced after three sips of this poison.
With my new drunk induced inflated ego, I seriously almost punched this total asshole that was being insufferable as the Killls were starting their set.
They were having serious sound issues – so much so that I thought they were actually doing a soundcheck onstage, because they were stopping and starting literally dozens of times – it wasn’t until singer Alison Moyer – finally relented and quietly made a few apologies.
I can’t make my mind up about her – I like the Kills and I’m all about the Dead Weather, her voice and image and super-cool swagger is totally hot. However sometimes I see pictures of her and I’m kinda like – meh – and sometimes she seems a little too cool. But hey she probably is – they finally got it together and turned in a decent set.As always they had DJ’s playing between sets and between these two acts, Skrillex (didn’t I tell you this guy was freaking everywhere) doing a set –  His extremely punchable hipster face is enough to make me want to take him out, but holding him responsible for the rise of dubstep is truly worthy of ball-kicking trespass –
Up next was TV on the Radio who has just attacked this festival – usually a band with their visibility comes here to do one high-profile show and doesn’t really have to slog through multiple-show days like the smaller bands unless they just want to, but TVOTR I think had like 8 gigs this week. Like I said earlier, Jah from The Death Set is playing drums for them now and he couldn’t have been more excited.
(Check out the awesome Clutch sticker hanging there in the back)

 

This show was really good and they are an incredible live band – sadly however this was one of the last performances with bassist Gerard Smith as he died just a few weeks later of lung cancer.

 The Fader Fort Party –

After TV on the Radio finished at Stubb’s we ran across the freeway over to the Fader Fort (running from show to show is a time honored tradition at SXSW) As a testament of how busy I’ve been this week, this was my first (and only) sojourn over to the Fort this year. This place is usually a destination for me and last year I practically lived there all week. Where else in the world let alone at SXSW can you go to a place for free, drink free booze and soda all day, get fed, free clothes, free internet, free magazines and get entertained by the best at that time? – The place is a goddamn utopia and my greatest dream of a totalitarian state come to life, and this year didn’t disappoint either.
Remember my earlier post about open RSVPs? – The Fader Fort is the most popular of them , (see above description as to why) and if you just do the open RSVP you have little or no chance of getting in – those public wristbands are worthless, you gotta go the extra mile if you wanna get in – thankfully I had an advantage – and we were ushered right in – I’m not talking about some elitist, velvet rope Studio 54 bullshit, I’m just giving a tip, that its best to contact someone involved ahead of time so that you don’t waste your time standing in line when you could be doing other rad shit.

As we are heading backstage, we are finally seeing Odd Future and what all the hype is about as they are causing a literal riot with them as the aggressors. Various members would either flat out threaten photographers in the photo pit and others would challenge the entire crowd to a water bottle fight. Debris, empty bottles, clothing and other general garbage started flying during every song –

Near the end of their set, the group prompted the entire audience to chant “Fuck tha police!” – Together, they are truly aggressive to the point of intimidation. Though I appreciate how youthful and overflowing with energy they are, I have to admit, instead of just having some good fun, it really seemed like they are assholes, going out of their way to be bigger assholes.

Speaking of overflowing energy, (but used for something COMPLETELY different) it was after 7pm and somehow I had gone all day without seeing Matt & Kim (something I had yet to do all week) so here they come and the crowd greeted them ecstatically.
Toward the end of their set, making her second cameo of the festival,  they were briefly joined by Erykah Badu who I saw strolling around backstage.
…and not to be outdone by the previous antics of Odd Future, what is normally a staple of their live show, this time Kim’s bootie dance atop the crowd seemed to have an added interference.

The Vice Party –

The Vice Party has replaced what the Spin Magazine party used to be: a last night of the festival blowout in some hidden/non-obvious location that you wouldn’t think/know about till the night of, where doors don’t even open till midnight and it goes all night, way past 2am and this one was listed as going till 6am.
This time it was at the Starr Building, some non-descript place you would imagine holding law firms not some crazy party and the bands that were set to play were Keith Morris’ (Black Flag, Circle Jerks) new band Off! and one last detonation from Odd Future who has literally stunned this festival. You couldn’t go anywhere without people talking about them and having some story involving carnage in their wake. I personally have already seen two partial performances this week and I think tonight was something like their 12th show of the week, (and third of the day).

 

We get there and of course the entry to get in looks like Tienanmen Square – just complete and utter chaos. You would think people’s infant children were trapped inside the way they were rabid to get in. The hype of Odd Future plus the exclusivity and free booze in an environment that craves such things? It was 1984 and this was the only place that had Cabbage Patch Dolls.
I’ve been around this stuff for over 10 years and it even frightened me a bit, and poor Erin has never seen shit like this before, but suddenly a knight in shining armor arrived.
Eric and Kim Castillo, a couple from Houston that are good friends of mine and who I stay with when I have the misfortune of being in Houston, arrive.
Eric is a professional DJ, who goes by Ceeplus Badknives and has been on the scene for a long time, and we have done gigs together in Houston and during SXSW for the last several years. His wife Kim is the salt of the earth and one of my favorite peoples.
Though we all had invites they were at capacity but Eric had the juice and got us in no problem and ironically said that they had just been talking about me and was hoping to see me. Boy were we glad to see them.

We get in and the four of us grab some of the free booze and this place just looks dangerous – like total lawlessness.
Perfect for a punk legend to fuck shit up – and that’s exactly what Off! proceeded to do:

 

They were crazy, unreal loud – and it had that feel that it should – volatile punk band playing at 2 in the morning in some abandoned building. Totally brown –
Outside I could only imagine what people were dealing with to get in to catch the Odd Future 3am slot – the hype was off the charts – this was their last show of the festival and given the late hour probably the last show of the festival, its 3am and its gotta top all of the other ones, so this was the one to catch according to the hype. Matt was texting me from outside so I told him to go around back and I had security let him in.

Going from Hardcore Punk to Hardcore Rap seamlessly is what makes an event like this so memorable and fun to attend. It’s 3am and here comes Odd Future:

 

Their show was as violent as the punk of Off! but I have to say I was more impressed with the intensity as well as the crowd as compared to any real musical gratification. In fact I would have to say, it was so super sloppy, it never seemed like the show ever actually started. It just seemed like Tyler the Creator and company, came out, got the crowd worked up, complained/cursed alot, and seemed to go out of their way to be destructive assholes.

 

Now I’m not exactly old, just a bit older, but I will be the first to admit, that this probably has something to do with why I just simply can’t relate to these guys. In a generation of constant self-promotion and being ruthlessly crass breeds huge rewards by your peers, that’s something I will never identify with. But as a life-long student of Hip-Hop, it really wasn’t that good – I was super excited about seeming them, and I loved their story. Totally all about their DIY punk ambition and did all of it themselves. Some young guys looking like the next Wu-Tang Clan, but I just didn’t get it. They def got some talent, but instead of showcasing that, or even having some knucklehead fun a la Beastie Boys cira License to Ill era, instead that appear as actual dickheads.

I didn’t sweat it though, the spectacle still provided weird entertainment on what had to be one of the weirdest nights of my life.

After they played, the whole place turned into a dance party, with these two DJs playing all this great 60s garage soul music that was fantastic and it 4am in the morning.

 

We shook our asses in celebration of a long week, and a day that felt just as long, and I just couldn’t leave – I just had to keep going somehow. Finally after the clock struck 5am, people really started to clear out and we danced the last song, to finally put this year’s SXSW to rest.

 

Photos –

Roy Turner
Nate “Igor” Smith
Brenna Rushing
Todd Seelie
Heather Browne
Joe Gall
Max Blau
Samantha Marble

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.

SXSW 2011 w/ Jack White, QOTSA & more

March 16th (Wed) – The official start of the music

So after a long morning of meetings and filling out endless forms, by noon I was already sick of the biz aspect, and decided to walk down Congress and get something to eat. I hadn’t walked 100 ft, when I turn the corner to see a sizable crowd forming around this yellow truck, that if I hadn’t looked twice, I would have mistaken for a school bus. What got my attention besides the crowd was a logo that I’m very familiar with, (and have flirted with the idea of it being my next tattoo) the Third Man Records logo – As a subscriber to its Vault Series, and dedicated fan of everything Jack White blesses, you could say it had my undivided attention.
As I got closer, before the crowd really started to build, I recognize two people right by the door of the bus, Alison Mosshart (the Kills/Dead Weather) –

Something is about to go down, you could feel that everyone was waiting on who was coming off this fucking bus next, and I had heard about a rolling record store, so this must be what I had been hearing about. Then the bus door flies open, and the Captain himself, Jack White steps off, sets up a microphone, and immediately goes into Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground –
Right there, out of nowhere, in a freaking parking lot at noon on a Wed, one of the most memorable, musical moments of my life just went down. If you know anything about Jack White and his style, then you have heard about during the White Stripes days, where they would do impromptu shows on city buses etc. and here it was happening to me, so completely unexpectedly.
He did one more song, Buddy Holly‘s Not Fade Away – before making a short announcement about the record store and introducing the next singer. Had I been hungry 5 mins later, I would have someone telling me this story instead getting to experience it firsthand.
Not a bad way, to start the first official day of music.

I get there early before the insanity, and I go around back and the first person I see is Hutch, Queens’ long-time soundman. The jokes start immediately and he walks me in so I don’t have to deal with the bullshit around front. I let him get back to work, and when I walk into the backstage bar area, that is doubling as a interview/photo op for Rolling Stone  (they were the hosts of the party)- I approach the bar, and suddenly I’m surrounded by one of the most surreal scenes I can ever remember. I take my beer and sit down at the only seat available, and its at round table that is being occupied by, Duff Mckagan, J Mascis (who had just performed) Dale Earnhardt Jr., a few members of the Strokes and someone’s grandmother. I heard Jack White was hanging around too, but I didn’t see him till near the end of the show, standing behind the soundboard.

Shortly after midnight, the show starts and you could feel the anticipation in the air. I heard that the line outside was stretched for six blocks.

First U.S. gig in three years What better way to remind people who you are, than playing your debut LP in it’s entirety, during the week of it’s re-release?
Of the current QOTSA line-up, Josh Homme is the only one who played on the debut. Drummer Joey Castillo has now been in QOTSA since 2002, and is a totally solid drummer in his own right, but former Kyuss drummer Alfredo Hernandez’s style really gave that first record its unique shape, so I was interested in seeing how this would be duplicated.
Josh looks as if he has bounced back from his recent health scare, guzzling Ketel One onstage and smoking cigs during and in between songs. He was his usual sarcastic and randy self with the crowd, at one point remarking that the band had “the only Mexican drummer in town.” He also swatted down the stringent “no photos” rule at the door,
halfway through the show

Setlist –

the Self-Titled LP

Regular John
Avon
If Only
Walkin’ on the Sidewalks
You Would Know
How to Handle a Rope
Mexicola
Hispanic Impressions
The Bronze
Give the Mule What He Wants
I Was a Teenage Hand Model
You Can’t Quit Me Baby

ENCORE –

Turnin’ On The Screw
Misfit Love
Make It Wit Chu
Little Sister
Tangled Up In Plaid
Go With The Flow

March 17th
We finally find the Ginger Man, only to be told that we had missed Mike Watt by a couple of hours and now we had like two hours to kill before their was something worthy of us walking all the way back to 6th St for. So we just chilled at the place and relaxed for a little over an hour before heading back down.
We get to this shithole, appropriately named the Dirty Dog, for what promised to be a double-bill of crushing metal with Saint Vitus and Helmet. I figured we would catch the last half of Saint Vitus and be all primed for Helmet, one of my all-time favorite bands.
When we got there, they had switched set-times with Saint Vitus and were already 40 mins into their hour long time slot. While I was reading Field and Stream in a mock-speakeasy, they were well into doing all of Aftertaste.
Damn the luck, first Watt, now this? My only reprieve is that the sound was so incredibly shitty that if this is what it sounded like the whole time, I may have done us a favor.

SXSW 2011: Foo Fighters premier Back & Forth w/ Secret Show

March 15th (Tues)

After a full day of meetings, filling out forms, permits etc – I took a break to have lunch right off Congress Ave.  I check to see what’s going on – and I had heard the rumblings of this since I got here so it didn’t come as a complete surprise, but the Foo Fighters were in town to attend the premier of a new documentary on them called The Foo Fighters: Back and Forth – (keep in mind this is still the film period as music doesn’t officially start till tomorrow) – ok, so with all of the Foos in town, to promote a movie and a new record called Wasting Light, you know these dudes are gonna do a show, the only thing is finding out when/where/how to get in – a band that big I would think Stubb’s would be the logical choice – so I checked to see if their was any of that SXSW-TBA-“secret guest” action going on at Stubb’s that night, and sure enough there was,so I called by buddy that works there and he confirmed it.
When this sorta thing happens, the entire festival goes into Lord of the Flies mode, as even non- Foo Fighters fans couldn’t bare, not getting into something so exclusive – so everyone freaks out.
But I stayed calm – and first the premier –
So I hear that the premier of the movie is happening in like 15 mins about 3 blocks away – their is no way I’m gonna get in – I don’t even have a music badge, let alone a film one – and the line must be around the corner by now right?
But since I was so close I had to go have a look – and as I turned the corner, out front of the Paramount Theater, I saw the limo with the FF logo on the side (for the first single, White Limo, the video features a funny car chase with limo driver being Lemmy respectively) –

 And yes, the line was almost to the goddamn freeway, but remember what I said about staying calm? – I don’t know what came over me – but I just walked up to the front, in the opposite direction of the line, walked into the front door, past security, past the ticket takers and up the stairs I went – nobody asked me shit, I had no credentials of any kind around my neck, nothing – either I just looked like I belonged, or they were too busy to notice, but I got my ass out there and quickly found a seat.

The Foos did a quick introduction with the director before the show started and then the film began.  I loved it, I thought it was excellent and very well made. It picks up right after the death of Kurt Cobain, and covers literally everything, no matter how insignificant from that fateful day in 1994, till the present day if it involved the life of Dave Grohl – (except oddly, for a film that clearly prides itself on completest, for some reason, the Them Crooked Vultures project featuring Josh Homme and John Paul Jones was omitted entirely, weird) – even if you are not a fan of the Foos/Nirvana or whatever, and I admittedly really haven’t kept up that much since the first record came out, way back when, but this movie is done so well, its easy to enjoy. Not to mention the perfect thing to get you pumped up a little bit, knowing your gonna see them in a few hours in a venue that is about a fifth of the size that they could sell out.

So, after the movie, and since I already ate, I thought it would be best to just get over to Stubb’s and get my ass in there.
When I got there, word had spread pretty quickly that the “special guest” was the Foo Fighters and a significant line had already formed but no one was allowed in yet.
Thankfully Stubb’s staff recognize me & quickly escort me in, always grateful for their hospitality.
I couldn’t resist eating again at Stubb’s, so I got a to-go order, ate it outside and shortly after the show started. I didn’t realize that the blue wrist band they gave me would actually allow me to watch side-stage, until I saw some people up there with them on, so I quickly jumped up there as the show was starting.

 

It was cool seeing them in such a smaller venue than the last few times I’ve seen them, but keep in mind, they were here to play you the entire new record – that’s 11 songs in a row, that you have never heard, that you are about to hear for the first time in a packed live setting. So that can be taxing, but people do it with the hopes that after the agenda has been reached, all bets will be off and they can launch into whatever song they are hoping to hear.
And lucky for them, Grohl, is one of the coolest people there is, and he knows this, so after playing the entire new record – they came back out and did a second greatest hits sets of 10 more songs –

Setlist – 

Wasting Light –

Bridge Burning
Rope
Dear Rosemary
White Limo
Arlandria
These Days
Back & Forth
A Matter of Time
Miss The Misery
I Should Have Known
Walk

Encore:

All My Life
Times Like These
My Hero
Learn to Fly
The Pretender
Stacked Actors
Monkey Wrench
Everlong
Best of You
This is a Call

..

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.

SXSW 2009: Playboy Party w/ Jane’ Addiction + Tricky & more

Ok so every year, I like others who work in the Music Industry or just simply those that are into absorbing ALOT of music, free booze and food for a week, descend upon Austin, TX like white on rice. Nothing attracts a crowd, like a bigger crowd and every year their’s always some big promise of seeing a huge band in some impossibly small setting, or catching the next big thing. I’ve seen this festival change and grow over the years. Purists cry fowl and want it to remain smaller and intimate and resemble its original intentions of small band getting exposure on a national or international level, others embrace its steady growth every year. Whatever your take this festival does get bigger and more insane every year and this year was no different.

Day 1: The Official Start of the Music


Time to get slightly Metal, as I made my way to the Paramount Theatre to see Flight 666: The Story of Iron Maiden. I try to see a few films every year (usually documentaries) and this was the one I really wanted to see. I will watch a good documentary on just about anything if its done well. I had seen the director’s of this film, Scott Mcfayden and Sam Dunn, previous entry in 2006, Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey, and though it may sound like I making one of my regular jokes with that title, the movie was nothing short of fascinating. Totally cerebral (the filmmakers are credited Anthropologists), and yes as you can imagine, totally nerdy. I’m not an apologist about this side of my personality. Something about Metal culture is just so fun, and non-casual to me. I love how into it and dedicated they are. When I passed by the theatre earlier in the day, their were fans in Iron Maiden shirts, already lined up in like 85 degree weather. Now I realize what an easy target this makes them for the cool kids to laugh and sneer at, but I was more interested in seeing this first hand.

And again, casual they were not, as silly as it sounds, it was awesome seeing these people freak out, even in a movie theatre! Their were dude-bros in the FRONT ROW with their shirts off and swinging them over their heads! Great stuff. The movie followed with a brief Q&A with the directors.

So it was now officially time for the afterparties. I gave my wonderful hosts passes to the Red Bull Moontower Party, and they were already there, so I hopped into (yet another) cab and took the trek down Cesar Chavez. When you arrive your greeted by what looks like a spaceship landing and since the party stretched till Saturday, instead of giving you four different invites (or maybe just a wristband like the Fader Party) they apply temporary tattoos, that are supposed to survive your schedule (that apparently doesn’t include showering) for the next four days.

This party was a little boring at first. The band with the most lethal name in history, I love you but I’ve Chosen Darkness, failed to make good on their potential. It looked great though, free booze, great setup, a photo booth, and a very lavish, futuristic looking stage. Next was Shephard Fairey, who I knew was gonna be there, but I just didn’t know at what capacity. Regardless I knew because of his involvement that it would prove to be interesting at least. He performed a pretty solid DJ set, with a great visual accompaniment of a flash show if his graphic design. I’ve always found him interesting, despite his recent high-profile criticisms, but I was surprised to learn that most people there didn’t recognize the name, until I mentioned these. Even my hosts didn’t know and when I elaborated, even they responded with “You mean that plagiarist?”.

But he got everyone dancing, and I was near this group of rowdy but fun kids that were just going crazy, that you couldn’t help but go crazy with them.

After that it was time to get some more drinks, pay a visit to the fun little photo booth they had set up and get ready for Monotonix, in the best manner that one would prepare for such a thing.

It now being 330am what could wake up more than some crazy Isaraeli’s playing from inside the crowd while the singer, clad in short shorts, was singing from a trash can on top of it.
I’ve seen numerous Monotonix shows, and I know they had several shows booked, but some of those were at like noon for 20 min. This show was designed for their element. Super late, super drunk, outdoors so as to minimize potentially burning the place down. With all of the photographers, from a distance all you could see was flashes, and people scrambling for position. It looked like when Britney Spears goes shopping. Then the singer emerges on top of the crowd and proceeded to destroy everything in his wake, until the powers that be finally killed the power sometime after 4am.

 

Day 3 – The Craziness continues + Playboy Party

I knew that this was going to be a really long day so I did my best to pace myself. After getting in from the previous nights’ Red Bull party at 6am and having my first meeting at 10am, I chilled and didn’t get started on the music until about 3pm. Grabbed some food and headed to Mohawk’s for the Rhapsody Rocks Party. First band I saw was Glasvegas, whom despite the hype, I thought were really lame. I can’t tell you how many times I have that same schtick. The singer with his indecipherable Scottish accent and drunk afflections totally bored me. The place was packed beyond belief (methinks the open bar may have been a factor) and they had this awesome “white trash snack bar” , with pop tarts, chips, candy and ramen noodles.
Next up was hometown gang Trail of Dead, who were totally great as always. I’ve seen probably a dozen of their shows over the years (including an infamous one at Red Eyed Fly years ago that ended with the singer throwing the bass drum…and almost the drummer in the revine behind the club) and this time their was no infighting, just rocking.

Glasvegas

Trail of Dead

I ran into some friends from NYC and from Austin towards the end and hung out for a bit before going over to Beauty Bar to see Mike Relm. I’ve been friendly with Relm since seeing him perform a few times in the last few years. First time was with Peeping Tom in Brooklyn, and last year I saw him open for the GZA in Manhattan and it was incredible. He’s one of only a few turntablist I’ve seen to use the video outputs on his Serato interface, to create, manipulate, and basically “remix” visual images, to really create a unique performance. Pioneered by DJ Spooky, I was ready to see Relm take the shit higher, but when I got there, I was told by my friend that works there, and a few of his own people from San Francisco, that he didn’t like the setup and felt it would compromise the performance and threw some diva fit and pulled out. Another cancellation!

At least now I had time to get some more food and head to the Levi’s Fader fort again. Although it was across 5th st this year, I was totally excited about seeing Tricky (especially after Martina cancelled). I get there and see one of those Mexican Lunch Trucks, selling some BBQ across the street from the kids in line. I get in line (for food) and realize that the shirtless patron in front of me, is also the musician I have come to patronize. Seems Tricky was eager to repair his past diva persona, and have some BBQ with the commonfolk. We talked for a bit and ate our rib sandwhiches, as just two hungry people, shooting the shit. His accent was a bit much to understand so I did alot of nodding.
I was early enough to see a bit of Late of the Pier, whom I had seen this past October at CMJ. This set was even better, very energetic, great sound, and the crowd was very responsive.

I took advantage of the free booze, to wash down my just bought BBQ and chilled for a bit. They had an internet lounge set up with couches and free copies of the Fader, always one of my favorite parties.  Caught the end of Lissie Trullie , and prepared for Tricky. I had just seen Tricky perform a pickup date on Monday in Dallas , and it was the first time I had seen him perform since May ’99, and it was the first time he had performed anywhere in the U.S. besides the shows he did in LA and NYC last year, since opening for Tool in 2001. I skipped that show back then as I didn’t see the worth of seeming him perform in a huge arena to an assuming, uninterested crowd, for 30 min. I had already learned my lesson by buying an expensive ticket to just see the opening band at a Tool show earlier that year, to see Tomahawk, thinking that their crowd might be a bit receptive to something new. WRONG! Gotta hand it to those Tool guys, they always seem to take out my favorite bands, regardless of genre, I also missed shows by the Melvins and the Cows because of this.
Perfect placing as the sun was setting and you could feel the crowd get closer. The band takes their places and then we see Tricky and Francesca Belmont emerge to their respective microphones. Besides Martina (of course) I think Francesca is my favorite of all of his many (usually female) collaborators. She is just fucking intoxicating! So talented, so sultry, and so devastatingly beautiful. Tricky is hard to upstage, but I found it near impossible to look away from her every move. Few performers have the ability to entrance at that level. She has a solo record coming out and it deserves to be huge. Starting with “Past Mistake” off last year’s Knowle West Boy, his first record in five years, the show kept soaring, largely with the help of a great backing band and Belmont’s presence and voice. One of the great things about seeing Tricky live is that you will hear unreleased material, and or completely different takes on exisitng songs that maybe only performed that way, that one time, creating a very unique experience. An example of this was the show closer, an almost Metal take on “Trickykid” (how appropriate for this site eh?) that had this infectious little staccato guitar riff, that helped Tricky charge right into the crowd, where he stayed till the lights came on.

Tricky

Setlist:

1) Past Mistake
2) Black Steel
3) Puppy Toy
4) Girls
5) ‘Tricky & Francesca’s Rap’
6) Overcome
7) Council Estate
8) Vent
9) Tricky Kid

 
So now I was headed back to the Beauty Bar to see the Death Set. One of my favorite new bands and perhaps my fave of the festival. I had seen them open for Matt & Kim in Brooklyn last year and was very excited to see them again. They had already played once today while I was in a meeting. The line to get in was annoying as thankfully my friend Matt relieved one of the door guys and I was then ushered in. This band is so the real deal. Total energy, great fun, just everything that a young band should be, original, energetic, genuine enthusiasm, and a freaking blast. They were all over the place and the crowd was singing every word. It was so charmingly chaotic.

From there it was time to head over the waaayy over-hyped Playboy Magazine Party. Every year at this festival (and many others like it) their is the always ultra-exclusive hot-shit  party that everyone wants to go to just because they hear its the hardest one to get into. Nothing attracts a crowd like a crowd right? These parties couldn’t possibly live up their expectations and its seems the attraction is all about elitism than the actual party itself. In years past at first it was the Spin Magazine Party when it was super secret late night affair, until turning into a boringly predictable afternoon thang now usually held at Stubb’s on the Friday afternoon (stay tuned ha ha). What gives the hype its power is that sometimes the party does reach some pretty amazing heights. For example in addition to the ultra-strict invite list for Playboy, everyone as heard somone talk about last year’s party, that was freaking awesome!! So those two things combine create something mythical that the cool kids gotta see for themselves. They even hold them at non-traditional venues located off the beaten path just to keep out the so-called rif raff.
This year it was held (for you Austin locals) at the old Safeway across I-35 on 12th st. Adding to the mystic is that wave their money around by always having some really big band perform that otherwise would never be playing to a crowd that small, or exclusive or that ungodly hour. To prove that the attraction was mainly in the admittance, I asked everyone around me who was playing ( it was one of the worst kept secrets, but I kept hearing conflicting reports that it was Motley Crue) and NOT ONE PERSON could tell me or had any idea.
After a brief mix up at Will Call, I finally secured my bracelet and went inside. Not before I saw half the music industry trying to get into this thing. It was like a reunion, I ran into everybody it seemed. I saw my old buddy Erv (Idol Records), Michael and Tony from BMG, and Errol, my old boss at Astralwerks. As you entered you were checked three times for your bracelet (I was momentarily derailed as I came in like a loser with my backpack which they didn’t allow, so I had to hail a cab and drop it off and then return, thankfully I was only staying a few blocks away).
Then you were greeted by the obligatory Playboy Bunnies, who are gorgeous but I still felt a little embarrassed (especially when my friends insisted I take some photos with them, with their cheesy cell phone no less) then you were given a small gift bag, that had a few promotional items as well as the first season of Afro Samurai on Blu-Ray DVD, which for a super-nerd like me, I was as excited about as the surgically enhanced barbi-doll in a rabbit outfit that gave it to me.

An impressive spread of free food and Jack Daniels abound, I had just finished eating and put a few back before the start of the evening’s main attraction: Jane’s Addiction. Now I haven’t seen Jane’s since High School, and to be honest I think their great, but I was never fanatical about them like most people were and to an extent still are. I was kinda taken aback (yet thoroughly enjoyed) by the crowd’s enthusiasm, yet I just still don’t see their relevance. They looked and sounded great however, and even at the late hour after a very long day, the crowd was all theirs. I’ve just never been around anyone, let alone a gathering of people that excited about Jane’s Addiction, usually I just hear Perry Farrell used as a punchline, so it was unique to see for sure, and the show was great.

Setlist:

3 Days
Ain’t No Right
Whores
Shower
Ted
Stealing
Hadadad
Mountain
Ocean Size
Stop

They finished just after 3am, and the party was scheduled to continue ’till 5am, with a DJ set from A-Trak. However by 315am the place had cleared like a bomb scare, I mean the place was dead. As much as I enjoyed seeing Jane’s, I was in contempt in spite of myself for having gave into the same hype I criticized, while most of my friends were across town at the KVRX Explosion watching a no doubt full-scale riot of Monotonix, The Death Set, and Ninjasonik. They were seeing the real deal, while I schmoozed with fucking hipsters. However in my defense I had already seen Monotonix this festival and had seen the Death Set that day, and I see Ninjasonik all the time in Brooklyn. However, this was NOT a legendary party, this was a Jane’s Addiction concert with a velvet rope.
Soooo you would think, I would be done for the evening (for those that don’t know me, I don’t ingest cocaine) but people were texting me from the Red Bull party that the Riverboat Gamblers were killing it and Lady Sovereign was next. So I hailed a cab and back down Cesar Chavez I went for the second night in a row. I arrive just before 4am, in time to say hi to the Gamblers, grab a drink, and get ready to shake a little ass. Now I spin Ladysov all the time when I’m DJ’n but I had yet to see her perform. I know that she likes to work her bratty schtick, but she came out bitching and whining and didn’t let up. (I would learn later that this was par for the course as far as her live shows are concerned….assuming she shows up at all…stay tuned) She starts with the first song off her new record Jigsaw, called “Let’s Be Mates”, that gets things off and running, but she kills any and momentum by creating a tense vibe by openly insulting the sound guy, and just fucking complaining in general. She clearly didn’t want to be there and after about 20 mins, neither did I. She had the chance to really make a fun party that was so way more happening than that Playboy shit I just left, even greater, but instead she just kinda brought everybody down. Lame.

Photos –

Roy Turner