Despite the fact that I still like- nay love- soft rock, and my opinions about music lean acoustic/country/lyric/melody-driven/organic and I didn't actually attend anything official SXSW (to my knowledge), some have asked- nay begged- for a recount of my SXSW experience this year, so I have obliged, but you should know first that massive amounts of people give me the heebie jeebies. And I over-commit to everything all the time. Enter overwhelming nausea that crashed over me in apprehension of SXSW a couple of weeks ago.
Let the jokes commence... skinny jeans blah blah blah... hipsters blah blah blah. Oh, yes. I let a few snide comments fly. After 13 years in the boondocks, I have a hard enough time trying to park downtown on a regular day/night let alone with an extra 40% of the population (according to this news clip, but don't watch it, it's like 8 minutes long, I'm just trying to be a responsible cite-quoting bloggetter).
So since I had plenty to do, I planned to rise above SXSW... shun the fun... what have you. But Tuesday, the Austin Songwriter's Group was hosting a showcase at Threadgill's which was free and well, these are MY people, so I figured, free show, free parking, friends... it doesn't really count. I watched as Tracie Lynn, Marvin Dykhuis, Joe Manuel, Dave Halley, Rick Busby, Sonny Throckmorton, Teresa Neal, Will Sexton, Lee Duffy, Christy and Jimmy Joe (not in that order, but give me a break, I'm trying to remember this all a week later). It was relaxing, uncrowded, full of wonderful fun people, and if my camera took decent pictures at night, I would have more to show, but here's one of Sonny... Good times.
Well, I was just so proud of myself at that point, to have witnessed a good 4 hours of music before the true madness began, and I fully expected to spend the rest of the week at home, over-working on other stuff I had over-committed to. And I did just that. On Wednesday.
But then Thursday came around, and I had RSVPed to Rachael Ray's Feedback at the Greenhouse party (there's a million free things you can go to if you just give people your email address), and well, darnit, there was free Kind bars and free Deep Eddy sweet tea vodka and free beer and free music and I thought it would just be stupid not to at least check out a few things, so I cruised around the south end of town and managed to find a free parking spot about 1 block and a half away. I met up with some friends and saw The Civil Wars which were pretty darn good: www.thecivilwars.com despite the lead singers kind of fairy-like, borderline-creepy stage presence. She has a kick butt voice, as does he, and their harmonies are tight... beautiful music indeed. Definitely an act I would see again.
After The Civil Wars I saw Sean Rowe http://www.myspace.com/sea
Well, despite having a few girlfriends there, I am just bound to wander, so off I went to meet another friend at Jo's where I parked only a few blocks away and saw a band I didn't care for called Hacienda. They had some cool classic (Jerry Lee Lewis classic not Eagles classic) rock sounds, and it may have just been the sound engineer, but I was not impressed with all the distortion. We went to mosey across the street to Home Slice Pizza, but on the way, we were captivated by this horrible band which can only be described as Beijing Blondie and I will just let them remain nameless for their own good. BUT, in their defense, I can say that her watch is quite possibly the 8th or 9th wonder of the world, and I'm not sure if you can see it, but she's wearing red spandex pants which in and of itself is notable.
Across the street, I saw the last few songs of Ivan and Alyosha http://ivanandalyosha.com/media
who are self-described as 'Folk Pop Indie Rock' but what the hell is that??!! Great harmonies, interesting lyrics, good music. Check 'em out! I also saw the Great Lake Swimmers www.greatlakeswimmers.com who were excellent musicians, lyricists, etc. but VERY serious... good zone out and listen music, but not very good stay the hell awake music.
Wanderlust struck again, so after wolfing down a meatball sandwich sans the wich, I headed to G&S to see a couple more friends: Craig Marshall http://www.craigmarshall.com/ (a great, versatile songwriter whose voice almost has an Elvis Costello quality); Michael Fracasso www.michaelfracasso.com (a fabulous folk singer gone rock in his latest CD that has a Rodney Crowell vibe to it to me); and the ever lovely Betty Soo with Doug Cox in their duo Across the Borderline http://www.acrosstheborderline.org/, http://www.bettysoo.com/.
I'll continue with Friday and Saturday soon, but as you can see, there's a lot of beautiful, wonderful music in Austin during SXSW whether you dish out loads of dough for a wristband or badge or whether you just approach it all with total disdain and then get swept up in all the amazing goodness around you because you just can't help it because you love music so much... and free beer.
xo,
TT
Let the jokes commence... skinny jeans blah blah blah... hipsters blah blah blah. Oh, yes. I let a few snide comments fly. After 13 years in the boondocks, I have a hard enough time trying to park downtown on a regular day/night let alone with an extra 40% of the population (according to this news clip, but don't watch it, it's like 8 minutes long, I'm just trying to be a responsible cite-quoting bloggetter).
So since I had plenty to do, I planned to rise above SXSW... shun the fun... what have you. But Tuesday, the Austin Songwriter's Group was hosting a showcase at Threadgill's which was free and well, these are MY people, so I figured, free show, free parking, friends... it doesn't really count. I watched as Tracie Lynn, Marvin Dykhuis, Joe Manuel, Dave Halley, Rick Busby, Sonny Throckmorton, Teresa Neal, Will Sexton, Lee Duffy, Christy and Jimmy Joe (not in that order, but give me a break, I'm trying to remember this all a week later). It was relaxing, uncrowded, full of wonderful fun people, and if my camera took decent pictures at night, I would have more to show, but here's one of Sonny... Good times.
Well, I was just so proud of myself at that point, to have witnessed a good 4 hours of music before the true madness began, and I fully expected to spend the rest of the week at home, over-working on other stuff I had over-committed to. And I did just that. On Wednesday.
After The Civil Wars I saw Sean Rowe http://www.myspace.com/sea
Well, despite having a few girlfriends there, I am just bound to wander, so off I went to meet another friend at Jo's where I parked only a few blocks away and saw a band I didn't care for called Hacienda. They had some cool classic (Jerry Lee Lewis classic not Eagles classic) rock sounds, and it may have just been the sound engineer, but I was not impressed with all the distortion. We went to mosey across the street to Home Slice Pizza, but on the way, we were captivated by this horrible band which can only be described as Beijing Blondie and I will just let them remain nameless for their own good. BUT, in their defense, I can say that her watch is quite possibly the 8th or 9th wonder of the world, and I'm not sure if you can see it, but she's wearing red spandex pants which in and of itself is notable.
Across the street, I saw the last few songs of Ivan and Alyosha http://ivanandalyosha.com/media
who are self-described as 'Folk Pop Indie Rock' but what the hell is that??!! Great harmonies, interesting lyrics, good music. Check 'em out! I also saw the Great Lake Swimmers www.greatlakeswimmers.com who were excellent musicians, lyricists, etc. but VERY serious... good zone out and listen music, but not very good stay the hell awake music.
Wanderlust struck again, so after wolfing down a meatball sandwich sans the wich, I headed to G&S to see a couple more friends: Craig Marshall http://www.craigmarshall.com/ (a great, versatile songwriter whose voice almost has an Elvis Costello quality); Michael Fracasso www.michaelfracasso.com (a fabulous folk singer gone rock in his latest CD that has a Rodney Crowell vibe to it to me); and the ever lovely Betty Soo with Doug Cox in their duo Across the Borderline http://www.acrosstheborderline.org/, http://www.bettysoo.com/.
I'll continue with Friday and Saturday soon, but as you can see, there's a lot of beautiful, wonderful music in Austin during SXSW whether you dish out loads of dough for a wristband or badge or whether you just approach it all with total disdain and then get swept up in all the amazing goodness around you because you just can't help it because you love music so much... and free beer.
xo,
TT