SXSW - day 7

Okay, I'm back in Maine so it's been two days since I last posted and since the airport made me toss out the newspapers I was bringing home because they say my bag was too heavy (it wasn't too heavy going out) I'm doing this mostly from memory. Well, I'll try to use the SXSW web site and I'm going to see if I can find some other cool stuff for you to look at too.

We decided to start Saturday off with a final movie. So we headed back to the Alamo Downtown for "Reel Paradise." The story of how indie-film producer (successful indie film producer) John Peterson (Pierson?) decided to move his family to Fiji for a year where he bought a movie theater and would show movies for free while they were there. It was a good little documentary with some very thought-provoking moments. It might not be truly great but it sparked some discussion and that's a good thing.

Then it was off to the bands. We bounced from bar to bar until about 8 (which is when the scheduled bands officially start in most places around Austin during the festival). We saw a punk band at Shakespeare's Club and we had a beer in Buffalo Billiards. I think we might have gone somewhere else too but I'm not sure.

Then we got a call from Brendan's dad saying he was on his way into town so we made plans to meet him in line at Antone's for Kings of Convenience. Who knew this band was so popular? The line was the longest I'd seen all week. For anything. So we hoofed back to Emo's main room for a Buck 65 show at 9. We watched a little of the Emo's Jr. stage too, catching a little of both Dirty Americans and Illuminati (neither was particularly worth mentioning though).

Buck 65 came out, drawled his easy Canadian rhymes, tossed some confetti (razzle dazzle) in the air and scratched like a madman. It was really a lot better than I'd expected and I expected great things. Then Saul Williams came out. Now, I knew very little of Saul Williams. Some guy in line told me about what he was about. But we stuck around and the originator of Slam! poetry dropped some serious knowledge. He seems to have taken up where everyone from Langston Hughes to Spike Lee and Gil Scott Heron to Chuck D left off. It's a powerful message.

Then, wanting to see several more bands, we headed back down 6th for pizza. We got pizza and decided to head to Maggie Mae's so we could catch Daniel Johnston at 1 a.m. We get inside and buy a beer and it was like we'd hit a serious wall. Both Brendan and I were almost sleeping on the steps. We managed to stay up though through Ariel Pink and the Nightingales (the Nightingales probably would have seemed a lot better if I wasn't propping my eyelids open). Then the inimitable Daniel Johnston came out. Now I'd never even really heard of this guy but after a week in Austin I felt like he was the most famous guy on Earth. He came out, played his emotionally raw music with very minimalist accompaniment and was done by 1:40.

We went home. Slept for a few hours. And then got up Sunday and caught our plane(s) home. They lost our luggage though.

SXSW - day 6

I'll revise this later when there's a little more time but here's the basic rundown of Friday night.

Candice (R-Bar) singer/songwriter(?) girl with acoustic guitar who messed up a lot and forgot words but in a cute, giggly way. sat by window opened onto 6th street and watched lots and lots of people go by.
Flamingo Cantina line to see The Bus Driver. This is where I left Brendan to go check the line at Exodus.
The Crimea (Exodus) bland. This is where I realized I'd left my ID and ATM card at home. Crap. This severely hampered my options for the evening.
Crown City Rockers (Exodus) The Cure meets U2
Turned away at Soho Lounge for The Silos
Turned away at Friends for ZZZZ
Eilean Rose (B.D. Riley's) acoustic singer/songwriter (kansas/bucknell game too)
Turned away at Elysium for Rezillos/Shonen Knife
Caught a little of the Raveonettes (Emo's main stage) by mistake. They sounded good though.
Exene Cervenka (Emo's Jr.) doesn't look so hot these days but still gets it done onstage. still great. Met this guy and girl so I could get a beer. Turns out girl grew up on L.A.F.B. and we shared an orthodontist. Small world, no?
The Queers (Emo's Jr.) green day ripoff (opened with rock 'n' roll radio) from portsmouth N.H.
Turned away at one door for The Parish to see what I thought was Centro-matic. Made it in through the other door. Turned out to be Pretty Girls Make Graves. Good rocking punk-ish type stuff.
Went to pizza place to get a cheese slice (only had $2.50 in pocket) and Brendan just happened to be there too. Met back up with ease.

SXSW - day 5

On Thursday, Brendan and I took our little festival tour to a downtown club where we had hoped to see MF Doom and (Brendan a lot more than me) Helmet. Well, we missed MF Doom (apparently by a couple of hours) and caught at least some of (if not most of) Helmet. Helmet is not my thing. Too much of a barrage of sound. I feel assaulted by bands like that.

After leaving that club, where, on the way out the door, Brendan scored a little string backpack full of Scion merchandise (the Japanese/Korean/Chinese/whatever car maker was the sponsor for the show and was filming - so look for a very unexcited looking me in the very back of the crowd if you see it on tv) which included a t-shirt, a visor, some wristbands and a CD compilation, we wandered around for a bit. Ducking, for moments at a time, into little and big bars alike and then promptly leaving when we found no real music.

Eventually we made it to Nuno's on 6th where a guy was sitting at a piano and sometimes strumming an acoustic guitar playing a few Little Feat covers and several other classic rock ditties that leant themselves well to his particular style of playing. We had a beer, sat on big plush sofas and waited for a little bit to head back out to the shows.

We got to Elysium at just about the best possible time, snagging like the fifth and sixth spots in the wristband line (we were just in front of these 5 very punkish but also kind of new wave-y and fey British/Scottish/Irish (probably Irish but how do I know?) guys who were not very good at personal space. But we stood in this line so we could see Sri Lankan rapper M.I.A.

First up was Electrocute, and, the fact that they sport a very unoriginal name (The Electrocutes was the first name of the band that became The Donnas), this little girls-dressed-sexy duo backed by a fairly well-programmed drum machine sang little pop/punk tunes that poked fun at just about everything while they insulted the crowd. Not really great but entertaining. No Mark Mallman, but still entertaining.

Next came dj/turntablist Z-Trip. For the first half of his set he mixed and mashed platters seamlessly but, to me at least, it seemed little more than club mixing to get people dancing. Good but not stunning. While I was in the bathroom though, new rapper The Bus Driver (also playing early tonight so I might try to go to that) came out and dropped some knowledge on the crowd. This guy is as good as everyone is saying. I'll definitely be picking up some of his stuff. And this also gave Z-Trip a chance to get down to heavy mixing. And he was good. He put beats together like I used to build with Legos. He used every available piece. And the end of his show was more of the same - minus The Bus Driver. Beats upon beats and some pretty deft scratching.

Next up was some band called Ratatat and, aside from their name logo bearing a striking resemblence to that of 80s hair-metalers Ratt, their show was pretty generic. Actually I guess that logo ripoff is pretty generic too. Two guys - one guitar, one bass - and a guy at the back at the mixing board putting their backing beats in. This band could have had the same sound from a traditional formation - you know, using an actual drummer - but instead they chose to do it this way. Is this what is called electroclash? I'm really asking. If it is, is this simplistic approach the reason it had a such a shortlived shelf-life of hype?

Then M.I.A. came out. I didn't realize she had another girl that rapped along with her but that didn't matter. Diplo was her dj and he spun the records with due diligence (it looked like he was doing stuff but wouldn't you think they'd press that stuff so he didn't have to mix it the same every time?). The skinny little girl took those banghra beats and laid her message on top all while jumping around the stage in some very spangly track pants. Seeing live rap shows is always hard because it's not easy to catch the lyrics when they're muddled with the pants-shaking bass of these clubs' speakers but you could catch a few. It was a very good show.

After this, I took off to head over to the Lava Lounge for Athens, Ga., band Love Tractor. I'm not sure if this was the Athens band I'd wanted to see but they were good enough. Fairly straight up rock with that kind of early Athens vibe. I got a free CD and I'll be playing it on my show so I'll add more to this description later.

The real reason I headed to the Lava Lounge was to see Magnapop. While they never really did have any breakout success, they did enjoy a little fame in the early- to mid-90s and were featured on the soundtrack to the Drew Barrymore/Chris O'Donnel fiasco "Mad Love" along with bands like Seven Year Bitch. This show was just what I expected and the small crowd (like 30 or 40 people) let me get right up to the front for several songs. They may be a little bit older but that doesn't make them any less good. Better than on album and still just a little shy of catchy.

SXSW - day 4

Yesterday (Wednesday) was the first official day of SXSW music in Austin and it was also the highlight of my trip (more later). We made it downtown at around 2:30 or 3 and after checking in at the gate at Stubb's (where we were planning to spend most of the evening), we wandered around the 6th Street area, ate at a Cuban place (Sandwich Cubana and a Mojito, please), put a little more money in the meter and headed to Emo's.

We showed up at Emo's and caught the tail end of a band called Bonk (really the tail end though - like the end of the last song) and then a band called Dropsonic came out. These guys were pretty sure they rocked but I wouldn't say they did anything particularly well or that they were even that good. Next up was a weirdo/showman named Mark Mallman, who, whether riding his electric organ or tying his shoe while still singing and playing piano (and then mentioning it in the song), was wholly electrifying. I'm not sure if his stuff will translate to album form but I'm definitely willing to find out. Following this roucus set, was notable alt-country-ish rockers Cracker. This was a pleasant surprise. And while I've never been a huge fan of Cracker (but I guess I should be since apparently they are made up of members of Camper Van Beethoven? - This is what Brendan said, is it true? - and I do like Camper Van Beethoven so...), I liked what I heard of their alternately acoustic and electric set.

But we ducked out in the middle of Cracker to make our way back over the Stubb's where we would stand for two hours so we could get in to see The Donnas and Billy Idol. We struck up conversations with the people in the line near us and the next thing we knew one guy offered to run to the local liquor store for a sixer (we returned the favor with run No. 2). This made the waiting all that much more bearable. After our two hour sojourn in line (no that line, no this line - Stubb's was pretty unorganized about the whole thing which was surprising after the total organization of the movie part of the festival), we walked down into the Stubb's outdoor pavilion thing. This is a pretty cool way to do shows. All these bars seem to have a front/restaurant or bar section and then you go out back and it's this miniature Great Woods or something.

First up were a band called The Sights who brought a kind of loud but really not that original - or very good - start to the evening. The lead singer/guitarist of this trio (keyboard/organ/piano and drums rounded it out) looked like a more-recently washed combination of Kurt Cobain (the hair especially) and some geek from high school (really, really skinny geek though, so it wasn't me). One of the guys we were sharing beers with in line was there to see The Burden Brothers and I'm not sure why he was willing to pay the $35 "cover" (for those who don't have passes) to see these guys since they were simply everyday noisy punk.

But then, the thing I came down here to see, The Donnas, came out (I saw them while we were in line as they all piled out of a minivan followed by two grown men carrying a little of their luggage and their purses). I've been dying to see The Donnas ever since I was blown away by The Donnas Turn 21 album (which led me to go on to get all of their albums). So after three years of pining for this punk/rock trio, my wait was over. Ripping through a shortened set (damn those earlier bands for going long - the girls get no respect) of stuff from their two most recent albums ("Take It Off" "I Don't Wanna Know (If You Don't Want Me)" and a few others) it was over all too soon. I'm totally going to start posting on their web site that they should include The State Theater in Portland on any tour they plan because those girls seem custom-made for that venue. And then I'll be there with bells on.

Now, I'd come all this way for my beloved rock-chick foursome, but finding out that Billy Idol would be the band following the girls made the night all that much sweeter (despite their short set sandwiched between junk and the rock/punk legend (?)). Billy played a bunch of stuff from his new album (like four or five songs) which wasn't too bad but none of it was as good as anything he did at least 10 years ago and he played the majority of his hits. Everything from Ready, Steady, Go (from the Generation X years) to Eyes Without a Face and Flesh for Fantasy and, apparently, - although I somehow must have missed it or something - Dancing With Myself. He even trotted out Mony Mony (and interjected the cult chorus as well). Billy might be almost 50 but he's still in great form (and great shape too apparently since he repeatedly tore his t-shirts off and was wearing a pair of pants matched in their tightness only by the ones his guitarist was sporting). The sneer remains and so does the ability of his classic songs to whip the crowd into a total, sing-along frenzy.

SXSW - day 3

Okay, so this was a couple of days ago (Tuesday) but it was our big movie day. Five movies starting at about 1:30 or so and going until nearly 2 a.m. I'm not going to do the linking thing because a.) I guess I haven't really figured out how to do it right and b.) it takes too long to do. You can look this all up (and a whole lot more) at http://2005.sxsw.com.

First we saw "Max & Grace" starring Natasha Lyonne ("American Pie") and David Krumholtz ("10 Things I Hate About You"). It was helpful that Krumholtz had shaved off his usually tousled, bushy hair for this part as it served to seperate him from his current TV role on "NUMB3RS." This movie had a lot of elements of everything from "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" to "Mad Love," and it was a dark comedy at heart. Not the best movie we've seen by any stretch but with David Paymer and Lorraine Bracco playing Krumholtz's parents, we were treated to apathetic comedy that made the movie smarter than it tried to be.

Then we moved on to "The Devil and Daniel Johnston." Now, I'd never really heard of Daniel Johnston - man or music - much less heard this much about him but this tortured soul (and that is being nice about it) is touted as an artistic genius. While I don't see the genius in either his songs or his art, it was explained to me, in patronizing ways, that the true appeal of his music (and "art") is the exposure of his vulnerability which was obvious to see in any of the recorded live performances from his early days until the present.

Then it was back to the Alamo Downtown for Mike's (that's pronounced Me-Kay) "City of Lost Souls." I'm not sure what I was expecting but a Japanese gangster film was not really it. It should have been but up until this point I'd only heard of Mike and hadn't seen any of his stuff (I do have a couple in my NetFlix cue though right after all the episodes of "Angel" and "Alias"). While he's no John Woo (and I don't think that's what he was aiming for) he infused all the ruthless Yakuza elements with a number of random bits of chop-socky for a full-throttle Japenese fun ride.

We then returned to the Paramount (where we saw the first two films of the day as well) for "Kung Fu Hustle." I'd been reading about this movie in everything from Premiere and Entertainment Weekly to the AP wire and was particularly excited for this film. I expected less kung-fu and more hustle but I've got to say that I was not disappointed by the best kung-fu I've seen in years. It didn't have the shine or polish of a Jet Li actioner but it did have fantastical chopsocky that had me on the edge of my seat. Best movie I've seen so far. But I'm a bit partial to kung-fu.

Then it was back to the Alamo Downtown (back and forth, back and forth) for "Dead Birds." This horror-er featured Henry Thomas ("E.T.") and Patrick Fugit (I'm not sure but I'm sure you can look it up on imdb.com). It told a frightening tale of, as the director put it, a group robs a bunch of gold and "bad shit happens." The CGI creatures - as well as the disintegration of the group - were well-done and I found myself jumping out of seat (and closing my eyes) on more than one occasion but I am a bit of a sissy and easily scared. But I wasn't the only one and, judging by the number of people who stuck around at 1:30-ish in the morning for the Q&A with the director, it seemed well received.

SXSW - day 2

Today, we saw a few movies and ate at a really neat Moroccan restaurant where I rediscovered my distaste for hummus.

We only saw two movies today though. We were shut out of two others ("The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things" and "The Roost," which was the midnight movie (read: horror - again) at the Alamo).

Two of the

Alamo

movie theaters here - the downtown and the south - are involved in the festival. We've only been to the downtown. We didn't get into "The Fearless Freaks" at the south the other day. This movie theater is pretty cool. I'm not sure it's as cool as the people who work there think it is but it is pretty cool. You go into the theater and it's lines of chairs with sort of bench tables in front of you. You can order food and beer (by the bucket too - woohoo). I'm a big bucket of beer fan. Apparently they also have theme nights which look pretty awesome (Marcia Brady Fetish Night?).

Today's movies:

"

Strange Fruit

" was a fairly shabby documentary. The filmmaker took a very interesting subject and muddled it with not by not really telling his story well enough, not shooting enough footage and with poor choices of music to go along with his images. There were other problems too but suffice it to say that the movie just didn't do the job it set out to do.

Childstar

" was a look at the world of child acting with a movie starring Jennifer Jason Leigh (so nice) and the director and featuring (among others) Eric Stoltz and Dave Foley. It was funny - but not too much - and it was bittersweet - but not too much. All in all though I liked it. It's worth seeing if only to check out Eric Stoltz's awesomely bad band.

SXSW - day 1

Okay, so after a huge air-travel tie-up Saturday into Sunday (Atlanta's Ramada Plaza is pretty nice and has a really good Mexican restaurant which serves THE BIGGEST margaritas I have ever seen and the waitresses were pretty cute too), we made finally made it to Austin. Brendan's parents met us at the airport and brought us back to their house, where I promptly proceeded to take a nap.

Then we got started with the movies and all. Yesterday (Sunday), we saw "

Mutual Appreciation

," ""

Be Here to Love Me: A Film About Townes Van Zandt

" and "

Reeker

." We also tried to see "

The Fearless Freaks

."

I'll start with the one we didn't see. We couldn't get in to see "The Fearless Freaks" - a movie centered around the Flaming Lips - because the movie filled up before they let in people without passes. We knew this was going to happen a few times. We just didn't think it was going to happen so early. But it did and we'll get over it.

"Mutual Appreciation" was a cute, quirky little movie. I found the core cast endearing and the script - while a bit heavy on "intellectual" dialogue - was good and paced well with the film. In black and white and with a minimal cast, it is kind of a band-oriented "Clerks" (or at least that's what Brendan's father alluded to when we talked about the movie afterward) with a little relationship (or at least friendship) drama thrown in.

"Be Here to Love Me" told the story of country singer Townes Van Zandt. Now, either I'm starting to like country more (Kasey Chambers, etc.) or I am just calling something country that is more folk-y. Let's call it alt-ish country. Anyway, I'm a Townes fan now and you can bet I'll be picking up some of his stuff when I get home.

"Reeker" was a horror movie. For those of you who know me, you know I'm not a horror fan. This one starred Devon Gummersall (Brian from "My So-Called Life") and had some funny moments. I got into an argument about the purity of horror films after this one. My view is that all horror movies (or at least the majority) start out being true horror movies and most of the comedy is unintentional (some obviously isn't and this movie had several examples) and when it is it's meant to be but when it isn't it detracts from the actual horror of the movie. This one didn't mean for all the things we (and the audience in general) found funny to be funny. And that somehow made it less horror-y. At least to me.

That's day one. More later. Keep it real fellas (and ladies, cuz I know you're out there).

back to form

Okay, everyone, here I am again. No more experiments, no more coopting sources for my own amusement, no more wicked lame posts involving farts. I aplogize. Don't know what I was thinking.

Let's see. Yes, between work and sleep, I have watched some tv.

I am just about to get to another episode of American Dreams. Now I'm not sure if I've mentioned this or not but even if I have it warrants another mention anyway. I have heard that it might be possible that this show is going to be canceled and I have to tell everyone - yes, everyone - how wrong I think this is. Sure the show stumbles occasionally and sure that Will can be annoying and does anyone really need more Milo Ventimiglia but that is not the whole of the show. The way it portrays a family's problems. The way it makes daily interactions between friends, boyfriends and girlfriends, husbands and wives, business partners and mixes in racial issues, politics, current events and - and not least - pop music via American Bandstand makes the show stand out among a lot of the tired rehashes that populate our schedule these days. If you're not watching this show, you should be.

I am in love with Third Watch (more precisely the women of Third Watch and even more precisely Nia Long although that's no big surprise). But aIso love the way this show hooks you in. I hate Sgt. Cruz but I want to know what she's dying of. That Bosco. How can he ask Faith to do that? And Carlos. Carlos, Carlos, Carlos. When will he learn? And will Ty find out about the baby? I'm riveted. And I love it.

Every episode of Joey I watch makes me like the show more. But could Matt LeBlanc stop making that face where it looks like a.) he is about to poo; or b.) he just ate something very bad; or c.) both? I think everyone knows Joey's (Matt's, whatever) best comedic talent is to take a normal situation and find the absurd in it and at the same time maintain a sweetness that makes you not feel sorry for him but want to explain how that's just not the important part.

I'll write more later. This will be a multi-part post. Multi-part.

Since I've barely had my TV on in the last few weeks

It has come to my personal attention that some of my adventures in e-mailing could make a good post. I'm gonna try it. The names have been abreviated but all you wicked smart people out there might be able to figure a couple of them out.

----

mw: Also, oh TV god, what happened to Veronica Mars and life as we know it?
me: I was just wondering about that life as we know it thing too. And i'm so far behind in TV land, that as far as I know there is still Veronica Mars because there are episodes on top of my TV I haven't seen yet. But I haven't heard anything about either of those shows being shitcanned or anything.

mw: (adding to a Quote of the Week from TVGal) "Marissa and Alex - no longer welcome in the red states." Seth to Ryan on "The O.C." This is my new all-time favorite quote! Do you think I'm too old for Seth? I think it might cause baby mama drama (sorry, I just like that phrase).

----

jm: i just farted
me: oooh...stinky
jm: actually, no, unless it was and drifted away very quickly...weird. i either put out nose burners or scentless gas pockets...notice our conversation went right back to ass activity?

me: (relaying an earlier event)
keith to me: "then we won't have to worry about misspelling assassinated."
me: "how do you misspell that...it's just ass and then ass and then -inated."
keith: (rolls eyes and walks away)

----

jm: (after a work-related reference) ...and Monique, that huge, obnoxious woman who hosts Showtime at the Apollo...
me: that's Mo'Nique, to you. And the next time I go to the city (it will be my third trip there ever), i am so going to the Apollo and no one can stop me (and i'm going to figure out what that bar that Ella Fitzgerald's table is still sitting in the corner is called and go there too).
jm: (makes several references to me being shot)

----

Oh, and there was a story on the wire about how hippos are really dangerous. Remember this.

Hippo kills tourist in Kenya
NAIVASHA, Kenya (AP) — A hippopotamus flipped and trampled an Australian tourist to death at a popular resort in central Kenya, police said Tuesday.
Vicky Elizabeth Bartlett, 50, was with a group of 12 tourists at Lake Naivasha on Monday night when the hippo attacked, said Simon Kiragu, the regional police chief.
“The hippo attacked the woman, flipping her into the air before tossing her on the ground and trampling her,” he said.
Bartlett was rushed to a hospital but died while undergoing treatment. No one else was injured in the attack.
Wilflife experts say hippos can pose extreme danger to humans. The animals come on shore at night to graze and will attack anything that comes between them and the water, where they feel safe.
The attack took place at Fisherman’s Camp, a popular lakeside campground, where signs warn tourists to beware of hippos after dark.
John Mwangi, the group’s tour guide, said the woman had seen a hippo the night before and was going to look for one again without telling him. The group was on its way to the Maasai Mara Game Reserve.

Okay, this little experiment fell very flat. Won't be doing this again. On a scale of one to fun, I'd give it a lamey-lame (except for the hippo story - it's funny because it's true).

I'll be back soon. Promise.