Me: "I really enjoyed your show last night, you guys sounded really good."
Carl: "It was rubbish."
Me: "The only problem was that you guys started really late."
Carl: "That's not my fault."
Me: "I didn't say it was."
Popped across the street to catch the tail end of Dr. Dog who might have tied the record for playing the most shows this festival with Tapes 'N Tapes. If you didn't even accidentally see either one of these bands this week you weren't really there.
By now it was late night and we headed to the DKNY party where the Secret Machines were playing. This point of the evening was sort of a blur to me, but I do remember at one point my pants fell down. All I know was that I was really tired walking into it, but the party somehow re-energized me. Everyone was in a good mood and wasted. Look at these guys.
Also the party was a haven for random celeb sightings. We saw Luke Wilson and his brother, Futureman. Also, walking into the party I saw the dude who I thought might have been the giant from "Big Fish" but he just turned out to be some cool random local musician who was unbelievably tall.
"Let's stand fattest to skinniest and show our nipples."
Rumors that the Beastie Boys might be playing this party turned out to be false but in my drunken stupor, I really enjoyed the Diamond Smugglers, a Neil Diamond cover band who were funny as hell.
FRIDAY, MARCH 17
Woke up late, at about noon and checked out a bit of Flatstock at the convention center. Every gig poster artist from across the country seemed to be at this thing and it was amazing and overwhelming at the same time. I finally settled on this really cool Yo La Tengo poster. We ate somewhere where I can't recall right now and headed over to Pok-e-Jo's for the Merge/Subpop showcase. I missed the Brunettes, who's CD I really like but was able to catch a bit of Eugene Mirman followed by A Band of Horses who were good, but had some problems with the PA. Essex Green was up next- nice 'n poppy, but I was too distracted by running into old school friends and the free beer line to really pay that close attention. Britt Daniel came up afterwards to do a short, but sweet four song acoustic set. I will watch this guy play anytime he is around. Scored a cab over to Stubbs right in time to catch the Charlatans with a bunch of drunken British hooligans and some chicks that looked like they had stepped out of a Darkness video. The guys were great and tore through a couple new songs before treating us to "Weirdo," "One to Another," and "The Only One I Know."
The Charlatans
"Dude, he was totally beat after that Voxtrot set"
Next stop was over to Beauty Bar to see Nada Surf who were wonderful as always. We had a nice crew in the house and it was time for some bro-in down.
Food over at Angie's was a treat then we made our move over to catch singer-songwriter, Bill Ricchini, who played a nice set and even let my brother make a special request. His new album sounds like its worth checking out. Made a move to catch Apollo Sunshine in a really cool room at Habana Calle 6 (get the Cuban sandwich) and everyone seemed to really enjoy their brand of music. It's like they can't quite decide which genre they fit into so they keep it interesting by not sticking to one sound. There was talk of a Jane's Addiction set at Music Hall and with Perry Farrell in town it could have been possible. I got on the horn to my boy who denied such rumors but said if we hurried there was no line at La Zona Rosa to catch the Arctic Monkeys. We took his advice and despite an obnoxious start, I really enjoyed their show. I thought they sounded great and "Fake Tales of San Francisco" has to be one of my new favorite songs. A solid day overall.
SATURDAY MARCH 18
Random highlights:
Crazy right-wingers telling us we're all going to hell. Thanks buddy, we already know.
Sam Champion: Top of the Pops!
Art Brut: Top of the Pops!
King of France: Top of the Pops!
Rach with Romeo from the Magic Numbers: he promised me that he wouldn't eat her
We ran around a bit and saw Jose Gonzalez and the Joggers and a bit of Foreign Born before heading to more late night parties. Seeing Gang of Four on the roof of a parking garage at midnight was easily a top moment of the weekend for me. I had so much tequilla coursing through my body that I was in danger of hurling myself off the roof which would have been a shame 'cos they sounded awesome. At one point in my spazzing out, I managed to jump up and land on Har Mar Superstar's foot. He howled in pain. I apologized and went back to jamming out. I was too far gone at that point to really care. Late night we made it to the Vice party in the middle of nowhere to catch Wolfmother who rocked my fuckin socks off.
Thank you SXSW.
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