By: Stacy Schwartz
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| Stacy's Badge - By Stacy Sandstrom |
5pm: Go to registration & pick up badges for Music Festival portion of SXSW. This takes place at the conference center where you wait in a long line to receive your badge and a packet of random junk mail. Actually, it went pretty quickly—they get your ID, take your photo and about 10 minutes later you’re set. After that we headed downstairs to get our bag o’ crap (or “Big Bag,” as they’re officially known). This bag has CDs (including a Public Enemy CD and a bunch of samplers), some magazines like AMP and Blender, and a random assortment of odd things—a hangover health kit (containing liquefied coffee in a packet [eek] and some aspirin and mouthwash), a voodoo doll, some condoms and some gel tobacco products. Excitement ensues as I first get the bag… then realize I’ll be carrying it for the next nine hours. Instead, 99% of the stuff gets dumped in the trash—bye, bye Hangover Kit, Voodoo Dolls, condoms, most mags and flyers.
6pm: Have been wandering the downtown Austin area for a bit. Traffic seems to be moving pretty easily, although all I can think about is how much road rage I’d have right now with all these people in the street. Neil [Olstad, HWTS contributor], Jim & I happen upon our first impromptu musical performance. It’s The Pasties, a group of folkish-pop hipsters from Olympia, WA. They have the open guitar case, the sad dog and are using an old hard-sided suitcase as a drum. In all honestly they are pretty good. They have an accordion, a snare drum and a cymbal (w/suitcase too), three guitars and a banjo. They sing songs about riding “sexy bicycles” and moving to the city. They are pretty funny, but we decide to move on.
6:30pm: Keynote speaker Pete Townsend of The Who. This is one of the perks of having a badge. You get to attend things like various trades shows, conferences, panels and speakers.
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Emma Pollack - Photo by Stacy Sandstrom
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7:45pm: Ate pizza. I can’t remember where, but it was an outside walk up stand. It was good. Ran into two friends, Alyssa and Sean, talked for a while and went our separate ways.
8:15pm: Maps and Atlases at Emo’s Lounge. This band from Chicago plays a sort of pop/rock that I really haven’t heard too much before. This is mostly because of the way both guitarists & bassist play their instruments—there is a lot of finger-picking and such going on. The sound it creates is amazing. I introduced myself to the lead singer and guitarist, Dave Davison, and found out that Maps and Atlases are playing the Cities’ very own Triple Rock on March 26. It is a show you should check out.
9:10pm: Next up I decide to attempt to beat the rush at Emo’s mainroom so I can see both Beirut and The Mountain Goats. Neil decides to hit up anther show. I get into Emo’s easy peasy thanks to my awesome badge status. I feel powerful and slightly cool as I bypass the two block long line to get into the venue. Hee! When I arrive at Emo’s Emma Pollock, from Glasgow, is on stage. For some reason I’ve had a big fascination with bands from Scotland lately. The Hazey Janes is an alt-country act that’s on my “must see” list for SXSW (they play Friday) and The Frattellis are on there too. What is it about these Scottish bands? At least I’m not out looking for some Bay City Rollers albums right now, or I’d know I have a problem. Miss Pollock is only two songs or so into her set and I end up being extremely happy about that. She has a great voice, can play guitar well and her passion really shows through. She sings solo, but has a band consisting of a bass player, drummer and another member who plays keys and guitar as needed. She tells the crowd she has an album coming out this summer. I decide after her set it will be a “must have” on my album list. She has kind of a Feist-ish rock feel and I find myself saddened when her set ends. She says she has a free download on the SXSW website. You can find it here.
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The Mountain Goats - Photo by Stacy Sandstrom
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Here’s a partial set list:
Postcards from Italy (on accordian instead of ukelele)
Gulag
Sonic World (I can’t read my writing, but I think that’s right)
Someday Smile
Elephant Gun
11pm: The Mountain Goats at Emo’s Mainroom. I wasn’t sure what to expect from The Mountain Goats—I really like a few of their songs, but I hadn’t really gone through a lot of their discography at this point. I was hoping to hear my favorite tune “Woke Up New,” but alas, it was not to be. John Darnielle sings a song called “Half Dead” about “when you find something in a box or a drawer you didn’t expect, and it takes over your whole day… this happens when all you were looking for was a guitar pic or something.” The Mountain Goats end the set by brining up tour mates Pony Up. Darnielle premises the yet-to-be-named song with, “Usually when I say this I’m much crabbier, but … Are you ready to party!?” He then breaks into a cover of Thin Lizzy’s “The Boys are Back in Town.” Awesome.
12:20am: Voxtrot at Emo Jr’s. At this point in the day I am tired. My lower back hurts from standing for hours, attempting to hold down the fort in front of the stage, my feet hurt, and my contacts want to bail ship on my eyes. Yet, I’m off to see Voxtrot. I have a compelling need for something to awaken me and I feel that this band may grant me the relief I am seeking. Voxtrot is from Austin, Tex., so they have a following in this town. However, at 12:10 (scheduled start time 12:20) the venue is about half full, which is nice for me because then I can get closer to the stage. I also want to introduce myself to keyboardist Jared Van Fleet as I’ve been obsessing over his side project Sparrow House lately. I emailed Jared earlier in the week to find out when Sparrow House was playing the festival and was pleasantly surprised to find they play Friday at 2 p.m. I’m there. Voxtrot starts the show off right, creating a happy atmosphere of pop-rock that has my oh-so-tired feet bouncing in my worn-out shoes. They have a new album coming out May 27, 2007, and so they are playing a mix of old and new music at this show. They are playing a few other sets that sound very appealing at SXSW—Thursday they are playing a set outside with a string quartet; and Friday they are playing the new album in its entirety. If I can make either one, I’m there.
Artist Info: Beirut, Emma Pollock, Maps and Atlases, The Mountain Goats, Voxtrot
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