I was trying to see a band at the Karma Lounge but couldn't get in because the verification unit was not reading my ID. And it was just my ID, everyone else's worked. So to prove to the person checking IDs that mine was legitimate, I went to another club, took a picture of them verifying my ID, went back and showed the lady the photo on my iPhone. It worked! I got into see the band Bloodgroup, which was surprisingly good.
Holy fuck. Black Diamond Bay rocked my socks off. They were stunning. Lead singer/guitarist Patrick was great. The song Blue Mace is beautiful. And I don't know the name of the last song they played but he and the drummer just went ape shit. Best show I saw at SXSW, not by much though.
Say Hi (to Your Mom) were a bit disappointing. Their recorded stuff is way better. Though the song Northwestern Girls was pulled off pretty well. I think if they got a synth played up on stage they'd be much more interesting to listen too. The club was great though, had an amazing light show.
Ironworks BBQ was delicious. I got a huge plate of ribs, beans, and egg salad. Topped it off with some rootbeer and I was a complete man. Sat out on the porch overlooking a small creek. I would definitely eat here again.
This guy from the band Bloodgroup used lit drumsticks to hit his drum pad. Pretty cool.
Another Bloodgroup shot.
The Cedar Street Courtyard was prettiest venue at SXSW. Basically a courtyard opening to 4th street with a bunch of leaves growing on the walls and a canopy over the band and upper deck. Trees were in the courtyard. It was difficult to get a good picture of it all. Best check it out if your in Austin though.
Some guy, pretty much how I felt in the Hilton accross from the Convention Center.
Flatstock 20. I bought a great poster for Kate but I lost the damn thing. FUCK.
Sabine St.
Daytime 6th St. The Street with all the clubs.
John and Karolin? at the SxSeattle showcase. I was so tired yesterday.
More SxSeattle showcase. I left early, last day of volunteering. I just needed to get out of there.
Hey Marseilles, band from Seattle. I actually took some poetry courses with the lead singer Matt Bishop. Very good show, they were the first to go on that day at 12:30pm.
Back entrance to the Palm Door, the venue for SxSeattle.
Cedar Street Courtyard photo. I could probably get this to look better with photoshop, but I don't have that on this puter.
Sitting on the ground at Cedar Street with Lee, Joe, Chad, and Suzy (from left to right).
People resting on 6th.
Another shot of Black Diamond Bay at El Sol y La Luna.
From left to right, Suzy, Lee, Chad, Joe. I had a great time at Cedar street with these folks. I talked a bit about these folks in my last entry. They are awesome people and I hope to keep in touch with at least Lee and Joe. I owe you some drinks Lee!
Lee and Joseph at Cedar St.
Volunteers at the Convention Center. The woman in the red jacket was Erin, my crew chief. All others were minions.
A guy from Northern Canada playing slide dobro at the convention center. Bad ass.
A group from Memphis at the Convention center playing strange zydeco sounding stuff. Sounded great.
Luke Temple with Here We Go Magic from Brooklyn. There seems to be a lot of good music coming from that region these days. Unfortuneatly, the venue they were playing at this night was shitty. Basically a school bus, as Jon from Iceland described it. A tunnel with a lot of feedback problems. Some really good songs I think, just a shitty venue.
The Tallest Man on Earth was erie. He would look straight into people's eyes for long periods of time as he played. His first song he did this to me and all I did was smile back at him. But he was inpenetrable. From the recorded material he had changed a bit, he was more dynamic with his rhythm and enunciation. I hate it when musicians do this. A little bit of a disappointment, but this guy has some amazing songs. Check out "The Gardener".
Justin Townes Earle at Antone's may have been my favorite performance, I'd say tied with Black Diamond Bay. Everything about this guy's show was spot on. He started before the background music had stopped playing with a side man, Charlie that played mandolin and harmonica. He began with my favorite tune he does, a cover, "John Henry". So good.
Some posters on the wall at Antone's, Muddy Waters, Jimmy Vaughn to name a few.
Jimmy Vaughn at Antone's. Classic americana with some fine musicians. These guys were definitely greased lighting.
Quincy Jones, producer of Michael Jackson among others walking around the arteries of the tradeshow.
A band checking in at Artist Check-in. Note the trendy shoes.
Someone at the Volunteer lunch was having a lot of fun. Nice. Batman is a bad ass.
Sprengjuhollin from Iceland. These guys were pretty entertaining. Sadly they were a bit far away from the main action over on 6th. But the show in the Opal Divine was a nice way to kick off the festival for me. The song "Worry till Spring" was stuck in my head for the next few days. I was also listening to it quite a bit on myspace, though.
An art shot. Band inside, people outside. I should be a photographer. Not!
Great shot of the big silver building in the center of town. Some traffic in Austin.
Justin (left) and John at the convention center. Justin was cool, he just bought a house in Austin and is into real estate. John works at Dell.
Aliya. Cool volunteer, didn't get to know her too well, but she can talk your ear off. Great girl.
Zoey. She's got some interesting taste in music I remember. I think she was going to see the Starfuckers the last time I saw her. Go Zoey!
Artist check-in line. There were thousands. Really quite amazing.
BEES!
Austin skyline from South First St. SoCo district. Good place for shopping.
A South Austin neighborhood, nearby Karen's house.
First morning of SXSW Music, at the bus stop. There were so many birds and the sound was amazing. Flapping wings and chirping. Beautiful way to start the day.
So that was SXSW music according to Rich. Today (the 22nd) is the last day technically, but I'm just so exhausted and I need to get stuff ready for my drive out to New Orleans tomorrow. I'm going to take a shower here in a sec and get going on some laundry. Also, I talked to a musician at the SxSeattle show who said this was the place to go to for old blues--Preservation Hall, in New Orleans that is. I think I'll check it out.
I am having the time of my life, and thinking of folks back in Seattle. Will try to get some mp3 links to songs at some point. Thanks for reading!
