PART TWO:
IN SEARCH OF LOU |
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Thursday, March 17, 2005 - After spending Wednesday quietly recovering
from the effects of Thursday's foray into the excesses of SXSW that
culminated with a tenuous bus ride back to the east side the next
morning, Chris and I made plans to catch Lou Barlow's free day show
behind Yard Dog. Without an announced lineup to follow, we made
plans to meet around 2. That gave me time to shoot down to
David
Eliot's home and studio in South Austin. I met David for the
first time at Chicken George's show, he accepted my invitation to my
studio a few weeks later and it was now time to return the favor.
|
'Little City' by David Elliott |
He had set up a bunch of his paintings
throughout his house, and we talked for a while, checked out his
workspace, and continued to look at his art. His paintings
slowly revealed themselves to you, nouns slowly emerge from the
worked and reworked lines and scratches of paint that cover his
muted canvases. Overall, his experience, work and history was
pretty inspiring and I left a couple hours later impressed with a
whole new rich set of imagery planted in my head. |
| Of course, I didn't get over to Yard
Dog until 3 or so, and Chris and his brother hadn't arrived too much
earlier, so we all missed Lou's set. However, none of us were
too bothered - there was way too much people watching to ignore, and
the free beer on tap made it feel a bit more like Patty's Day (for
Kelly and I anyway). With the crowd at full force, we talked
about french nails on toenails, the origins of the term 'bitch
hole', and anyone else who walked past us and caught our fancy.
We sauntered on over to Jovitas, where we had already given up hope
of catching Colexico, and instead grabbed Paul and we headed towards
Emo's to make the day complete. On foot we retraced our steps
from Tuesday, and as we were headed into Emo's, Chris received a
phone call from home that started with the ominous phrase, "I hope
you are having fun.' The wife was home alone with a crying
baby, two screaming children and a ringing fire alarm for good
measure. |
Where does one get hair like that? |
Still, we caught some of American Analag Set, a bunch of wusses who
formed a band and caught a fair amount of attention. I was getting
a bit ornery without beer, so after polishing off a couple tall boys,
Chris headed home, and after two seconds of debate, Kelly, Paul and I
found ourselves hunkered around a bunch of empty pitchers at Casino.
The night got fuzzy for me sometime at Lovejoy's and I soon found myself
separated from the lads somewhere west of Congress, and caught a bus to
Laura's house. On the ride home, I had the pleasure of catching
other failed mayoral cross-dressing candidate
Jennifer Gale. While nowhere near as entertaining, visible or
notorious as
Leslie, our woman Jennifer was politicking on the bus once again -
about how she was going to provide education and social services for all
of Austin. Pressed by the redneck man in a Budweiser cap on how
she was going to do this, Ms. Gale replied with a hippyeasque, "I can do
it. I know how things work." She got off at Oltorf,
exhorting the masses one last time to remember to vote for her in the
next election. Ah, Austin...
Music Reviews:
SCHLIEFKEVISION had neither a wristband nor fancy hookups to
all the hip invite-only parties, but has connections
nonetheless: Here's a rundown of bands
that played SXSW compiled and commented on by local hipster and music aficionado, Dr.
Awesome, using his patented five star ratings system:
|
STARS |
Band, comments |
|
4 |
The Comedians of
Comedy
Brian Posehn, Patton Oswalt, and others, not music but funny
as all get out. As per David Cross, comedy is the new punk
rock. |
|
4 |
The Natural
History
Solid rock set from these New Yorkers. |
|
4 |
Zykos
Local heros put on a good show and hopefully impress
visiting A&R folks. |
|
3 |
Jupiter and
Teardrop
Pleasant Scottish pop. |
|
3 |
Army of Me
Old acquaintances from back east, when they were called, ick,
Cactus Patch, appear ready for the big time. Also had a nice
chat with singer's proud mom, which I enjoyed as much as the
show. |
|
4 |
Evil Nine
Fun, infectious and danceable electronica/rap. |
|
1 |
The Album Leaf
Squandered a plum showcase spot with their boringness and
whale-like epic synth tunes. Actually got less dull when
they stopped mid-set to fix an organ with a screwdriver for
10 minutes. Asked the packed house, "What are you doing here
seeing us, when Billy Idol is right over there?"
Self-deprecation only fueled the crowds loathing for them
and anticipation for Sleater-Kinney. |
|
2 |
DJ Logic
Took 20 minutes to set up only to fail to impress with his
remaining time. |
|
5 |
Sleater-Kinney
Once again earn their legendary status with stunning
musicianship and relentlessly powerful delivery, rendering
girls vs. boys arguments in rock irrelevant and stupid. |
|
3 |
Ske
Fun Icelandic pop. Sort of like Magnetic Fields with a Bjork
look and sound-alike thrown in. Is that what everyone looks
like over there? |
|
3 |
Electrocute
Fun german electoclash, despite repeatedly taunting the
audience for not dancing enough. Play a better song, and
we'll dance I say. |
|
5 |
Z-Trip,
featuring Busdriver
Best DJ in the world? Stunningly imaginative mash-ups and
beat juggling done on the fly with records and turntables,
no computers in sight, old skool. Busdriver also impressed
with his smooth, rapid-fire delivery. |
|
3 |
Ratatat
Interesting guitar harmonies over programmed beats,
reminding of queen's Brian May
|
|
5 |
MIA
Just off the plane from London, pint-sized Sri Lankan rapper
delighted the crowd with unbelievable flow and swagger over
infectious dance beats. The album is super-hyped and I'm
buying it.
|
|
1 |
Graham Coxon
Boring undistinguished rock from former Blur guitarist. |
|
2 |
Fatboy Slim
Disappoints a bit after Z-Trip, with annoying and hackneyed
stage antics that fail to draw attention from the fact that
he's only playing records. |
|
3 |
The Arm
Austin locals, good punk/dance songs but too cool and
humorless for their own good |
|
5 |
The Futureheads
Really, really great show from these Brit rockers, can't
wait to hear the album. |
|
5 |
Bloc Party
Saw three times...my favorite new band of the festival and
likely future superstars. Remind of The Alarm, Echo and the
Bunnymen, The Fixx, and others as preformed by the cast of a
United Colors of Benetton advertisement. Great look, songs,
and sound. I'd so see them again right now. |
|
5 |
Kaiser Chiefs
Really tight, hooky british post-punk. I will buy their
album. |
|
3 |
World/Inferno
Friendship Society
Weird cult-like collective, too close to ska for my tastes,
and show marred by single pudgy slam-dancing super-fan dork
who probably smells like a 9 year old boy's hamper, but some
very strong songs |
|
3 |
The Pillows
Excellent japanese rock that at least some people in the
crowd seemed to know and love. |
|
2 |
Steve Malkmus
Not Pavement, a little cerebral and dull, but, hey, he was
in Pavement. |
|
3 |
Pretty Girls
Make Graves
Solid with some cool music. I was too tired for their show
to register with me in any lasting way. |
|
3 |
The Ditty-Bops
Hot club country jazz largely ignored by Industry party
crowd. |
|
2 |
Aqualung
I was actually disappointed they sounded nothing like Jethro
Tull when I heard that they actually sounded like whiney,
completely undistinguished piano ballads. Seemed like nice
guys though so I'll give them 2 stars. |
|
5 |
The Raveonettes
Super cool sound, drenched in reverb and surf guitar, I
already have their old album and will get the new one. |
|
4 |
Kings of
Convenience
Very pretty, quiet acoustic twee, managing to captivate a
packed house at Antone's. |
|
4 |
Diamond Nights
Actually pull off the 70s hard rock sound, getting the VICE
party crowd to pump fists and bang heads as if to say "YES,
YES, YES, KEEP ON-A ROCKIN!" |
|
3 |
L-D Section - I,
formerly Lansing Dreiden
Awful sound at first, but won me over by the end of their
set...stately and vaguely germanic metal-tinged dirges. Duel
vocalists bring Siouxsie and Nico to mind. |
|
5 |
The Go! Team
Fun as can be from Britain, a highly anticipated festival
highlight that lived up to the hype. Cute kids that held the
crowd in the palm of their collective hand of
super-happy-dance rock. |
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Continue on through the entire week of SXSW 2005: |
Comments?
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