journal

17 march 2006

sxsw, redux

friday

elise, kenny, and julie zee of montreal at the beauty bar of montreal at the beauty bar wyatt watching mates of state at the beauty bar damian from ok go andrew kenny from AmAnSet and ira from nada surf elise interviewing nada surf elise interviewing nada surf elise interviewing nada surf

julie and i were both surprised and impressed by the lack of hangovers in the morning (well, noon, really, was when we got up). we started our day at the jane magazine party, which was at the beauty bar. we arrived in time to see what made milwaukee famous, a band one of my listeners turned me onto just recently from austin. they sounded really great ...the stage was outside in a back yard area behind the bar, but the stage and sound were surprisingly good. the M's were up next, and i was curious to see them as jeff spinto had recommended them really highly... i liked them, but i didn't form any real opinion about them in that first hearing. i'd like to hear their record, see how it is. then film school went on (so we got to see them twice while we were there!) and played an excellent set (it's always good to see your old friends from home doing well...). i ran into my friend andrew kenny (from the american analog set), very much to my surprise, as he'd told me a couple of weeks previous that he wouldn't be at sxsw this year... but i guess arts and crafts (the label that put out the last AmAnSet record) asked him to play in their showcase at the last minute. so i got to hang out with him and watch film school, yay! :) after film school was of montreal. but julie and i had gone into the bar area to pee and get drinks and dance to the she wants revenge and vhs or beta dj set... and for some reason, the intensely stupid security guys decided they'd reached capacity in the outside area (can you reach capacity in a yard? i mean, really...), and they were letting people come into the bar, but not back out into the yard (so if you'd reached capacity and couldn't let anyone else into a venue, when 30 people leave, shouldn't you be able to let 30 people in? apparently math wasn't their strong point). so, julie and i were stuck standing in line, inside the bar, where we couldn't even hear of montreal, because of the djs inside. unbelievable. finally, they let us out, and we got to see the last two of montreal songs (yay!), and they were really great. i was incredibly mad i didn't get to see more, but happy to at least see the two songs. i'd seen of montreal years before at the cafe du nord, and it was a truly awful show... so i hadn't tried to see them since. but i'd heard from listeners around the country recently that they were really fantastic on the current tour, so i was eager to see them again. it was actually hard to believe it was the same band i saw years ago, it was such a different experience. julie met jamie from the band after their set and spent the next hour huddled up and chatting with him - i think she's in love. :) mates of state went on, and my friend wyatt cusack snuck up and surprised me shortly before they started. he's been living in sweden for the past year or so, so it'd been a long time since i'd seen him. he came over to the states to tour with +/- and then record with the aisler's set again, yay! mates of state were wonderful. their sound has evolved a bit, which is exciting... i was really sorry when they moved away from san francisco, because i used to get to see them all the time, but i think it'd been a couple of years since i saw them last. they're still as cute as ever. the back gate guy at the party was really nice to me, and let me zip in and out of the venue, so i was able to get a quick station id from mates of state, and i met this funny and nice guy damian from the band ok go, just because i liked his suit and tie (notice the double windsor knot). the last band for the jane party was nada surf, who i love. i got to meet them several months ago when they were in SF playing at bimbo's 365 club, and then again when they came through on tour (with my favorite bay area band, rogue wave). i found ira out back before they went on, and got him to come in with me to meet andrew kenny, because i think they look so much alike (and kenny said that he'd been mistaken for ira a few times that afternoon). what do you think? nada surf played a great set, and then did a fun little interview for me, so nice. they weren't even mad that julie and i ate all their hummus when they last played in san francisco (er, out of their backstage room, and while they were on stage. we're classy ladies.)

the editors at blender bar on the ritz the editors at blender bar on the ritz chris from the editors and elise chris from the editors (wearing julie's scarf) and elise

we headed out toward sixth street, which is the main strip in downtown austin for sxsw, to look for some kind of food that we could actually sit down to eat... but on our way, we passed a little bar with a band playing in the open window that sounded really good, so we swung in to listen and have (yet another) beer. they were called blood on the tracks, and they were from san jose, hah. we then grabbed a quick slice of pizza (the first thing we'd eaten all day, oops), and got in line to get into the second bbc showcase (we were really into the british bands this year, i guess!), where we saw the kooks, jim noir, and the editors. the kooks were new to me, but i really liked them...until i suddenly got so tired that i just had to sit down immediately. i sat down in a chair and passed out for a few minutes, then i woke up and grabbed another beer to try to wake up, and headed up to the front where julie was, with a stair to sit on. i sat during all of jim noir's set... the bass player came up to us afterwards after smiling at us during their entire set to say hi - it must be nice to look down whie you're playing a see a couple of cute girls. :) the editors came out, and i finally stood up... they played such a great set, i was bouncing around, despite having been so tired. we left the venue and ran around back to get a station id when they were done, and julie got the guitarist, chris, to put on her scarf. it was hard to say who it looked cuter on.

we thought about going to see animal collective or snow patrol, because it was only a little after midnight, but i was just too damn hungry and tired, so instead we got a sandwich and then went home.

total bands seen: ten