SXSW 2006 Recap

posted Mar 25, 06:44 PM by Rick Webb

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Rick’s SXSW Wrap-up, all 5,000 words of it, plus a hundred or so photos.

(re-posted on 3/23/07)

The Interactive Festival – This was my first year at the interactive festival, and I didn’t really know what to expect. Trade shows and conventions, as a rule, suck. Cannes is useful for it’s alcohol, and MacWorld is useful cuz you get to touch new products and be near Steve Jobs. But in general, I avoid trade shows, and even more so, I avoid panels. But this one had a different vibe. It was good. It was geeky. It was… well, a bit too bloggy, and a bit too obsessed with trends, but all in all, there was a nice vibe of people who knew what they were talking about. Still though, in my job as an abstraction layer between the geeks and the ad people, there are similarities. This year, the geeks are all about AJAX and Tagging and user generated content and whatnot. This means the ad people will be all about this in 18 months. It’s interesting the way viral came from the geeks, and two years later it’s back to the geeks, having passed through the ad world and been changed by it.

I’d go back. I’m not the sort of networker who walks up to the people who he is interested in, introduces himself, and works with it, but.. I’m impressed people like Bruce Sterling, Craig Newmark, the Wikipedia dude, etc are there. it makes me happy. Still, though, I did manage to meet some people from 43things, Technorati, Blogads, Greenpeace and more. And I think over the years, this would be more interesting, more fun, and over time and will turn into a good band camp for the internet. Someone said “yeah, it’s the only place where the people who are actually building the shit come and gather,” and I think that pretty much sums it up. I probably should get Toby and the gang to go too.

Anyway, yes, very interesting. I’m psyched it worked out, I’m pleased we went, and if I go again, I’d like to a) go the whole time, and b) not be working all day.

Sunday – Got to texas at like 10 AM. Couldn’t get into my Hotel Room until 3 so I wandered around the Drag for a bit. Hit Baja fresh, bought shorts and changed into them because it was so Freakin hot. Bought sunglasses. Then I bussed it downtown and met Megan at the convention center, got my badge and my swag bags. Wandered the trade show floor a bit, and then went to El Camino for food. Went back to the Convention center and ran into Amanda and the Goobdy gang and Justin and the Apple posse. Made plans. Went to the hotel, checked in, napped, and then back to the convention center to meet Stacey and Megan and my other panelists to make a plan for the panel on monday. Then me, Schmeg and the Goodby gang went to the SXSW awards show, which was sorta funny. Technorati won something. Lots of moderately funny sites and moderately funny presentations. We apparently had a site in the awards show – Comcastic – which did not win. It lost to Timberland. Hrm. Then we went out drinking – first to Headhunter where Harry and his posse were at. He introduced me to buster mcleod. He slapped me in introduction. I took his drink out of his hand and drank it.

Me, the Goodby peeps and apple peeps then left because it was like.. crowded. Where did we go next? Umm.. somewhere too crowded. OH right. We went to DeVille but it was packed for some party (Yahoo?) and you couldn’t get a drink. So we went to BeerLand. There was a cover. We viewed it as a “don’t stand in line tax” and payed it gladly. We drank there until we couldn’t take it anymore, and went back to DeVille, where it had thinned out, and drank a lot for a really long time. Me and John really hit it off and talked a lot about Teenage Fanclub, Primal Scream, banking, audit firms, apple and umm… factory records. We hit it off. Drank very long, went to bed late and very drunk.

Monday – Woke up and worked for a while. Met up with Megan (aka Miss Lunarkitty), and then with Stacey and my other panelists. Went to the green room and prepped for the panel. Ran into Jeff. ha. always funny. Did the panel, which was really fun and seemed to go well. Monkeys always work. No, seriously, the panel was really fun. I was happy.

Then me and Stacey and Megan went to a really yummy mexican restaurant on congress. Then we went to the SXSW tent and had some beers and then we walked to the Hyatt, by way of the four seasons and the lake, and looked at the bats. Met with Justin, J Max and John and cabbed it to the Peacock, arriving exactly in sync with Amanda. The Peacock was hosting the party for the new movie LOL and for Box Magazine. It was a really good time. Finally got to see Charlotte and Tara and fun was had by all. Caitlin joined us as she had just arrived in town. Me, Caitlin, Justin, JMax, John and Ryan headed over to DeVille after the party and drank more. Harry and Dens and some of the Google guys joined us, but I didn’t get to talk to them much cuz I was pretty drunk. Caitlin’s director (Sean?) was there as well, as he had a film in the film festival. All I remember is doing double shots of makers with John, who is Irish and had never tried it. He was very excited about it. I remember little. I don’t remember how I got home. Cab, I think.

Tuesday – Umm.. Tuesday. Wow. That was so long ago. Okay, woke up and worked lots, as I always do. Worked all day in my hotel room, and then cabbed up to Ryan’s for a Box Magazine meeting. That was fun. Then I went to the SXSW Interactive closing party @ The Foundation and met up with Harry and his posse. Then Ryan came and met us. Then we all tried to go to the Red Bull house but couldn’t get in because we didn’t have a “key.” The guy said that each night it would get harder to get in throughout the week. See more on this ridiculousness below. Of course, by the end of the week the Red Bull house was ridiculously easy to get into, but who knows what was the motivator of getting a key during the interactive festival. I probably had to go sign up for Yahoo! music or something. Harry and his posse were undaunted and snuck in the back door (which later in the week I realized was pretty freakin’ easy), but me and Ryan went to go meet John, Justin and J Max, who had just got out of the Strokes show at Stubbs. And just like that, out of the blue, the interactive festival was gone in a buff of smoke, all the geeks were gone, and Club DeVille was filled up with brits and rockers. Seriously. It was like… snap that.

The Music Festival – Some of the most ridiculous haircuts I’ve ever seen. Grown men un-ironically wearing Suits in 80 degree weather, shades indoors at night, and channelling the love child of rod stewart and Simon LeBon for hair inspiration. Commercialization everywhere. More day parties than you could possibly ever attend. I saw 40 bands in 4 days and feel like I only barely dipped in. Secret shows that aren’t secret. Exclusive showcases that you can walk right into. I could have gone to that same festival 5 times and had totally different experiences. I missed Superchunk, Susannah Hoffs, Clap Your Hands, Editors, I love you but…, and tons of other bands I like, but I still feel like it was fun and worth it.

Still, though, the music industry. man, it’s… it’s nuts. I was thinking about it and I realized why it’s so big. It’s because many americans are inherently well educated in it ever since they are kids. They learn about the bands and labels and managers and rock and roll and gigs and what a record is and a studio and a radio station and a blog. There’s no learning curve to a career in rock and roll. it seems easy and glamorous. And because it’s both easy and glamorous, it’s gonna pay shit. And because it pays shit, free beer is the ultimate holy grail. If you ever go to SXSW, pay for your drinks. You’ll be a lot happier.

There’s also this angle where the media machine just needs content. Good band, bad band, it doesn’t matter. give it the look and a modicum of hype, and you’re good to go, because we need something to put in those 200 music pubs and 10 channels MTV is programming.

Then there’s the whole “next big thing” syndrome. People are obsessed with it. The Stolen Transmission party was PACKED of course, because Sarah (aka Ultragrrl) is so well known at picking the next big thing. Everyone wants to be there. It almost doesn’t matter whether it’s good or not.

And fashion. Fashion needs to go. Kill fashion. We um… we need a new Grunge. It’s time.

Anyway. I had fun. I drank too much. Rock and Roll is pretty awesome but man, it’s pretty infantile.

Wednesday – Work Work Work and I finally got out of the hotel room at, like, um, six or something. I headed straight to the Matador showcase, and saw the whole thing. Right as Jennifer O’Connor was finishing, I ran into my friend Cliff – apparently he’s been going every year for the last five years. His friends and my friends both weren’t going to this show, and it was good to run into him. We sat through Brightblack Morning Light, who I am mildly obsessed with. They didn’t work so well on the huge stage of Stubb’s, but they had their charms. Then was the New Pornographers, who everyone loves and I realized I didn’t like because they all play all the time. Except for that “No no no no no no no no no no no no no” song. That’s a really good one. Then Belle and Sebastian came on, and they were awesome. Not too many new songs. Opened with “The State That I am In” and ended with “Judi and the Dream of Horses.” Played some strange songs as well, like “The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner,” “Electronic Renaissance” and “Ease Your Feet Into The Sea.” All in all a solid set. It’s weird how the kids love the new stuff. Like they.. um… love it more than Tigermilk. Than Arab Strap even. The kids love the new stuff.

Had a funny run-in after B&S with the lead singer of Gomez who was DRUNK and kept insisting he recognized me and would recognize me if he ran into me again. It was hilarious mainly in that we bonded over the immediate, pressing need to get some evil music on that stage.

And then Mogwai. Opened with “Fear Satan.” Everything is good in the world when they open with Fear Satan. They rocked harder than New York, and they were louder. And I was happy.

Cabbed it from there to the Austinist party that Ryan and Tara were shooting, and caught a solid noisy band called Forward Russia.. Danced to Kelly Clarkson. Got tanked on Sparks and Vodka. Watched people swim in a pool. Took lots of pictures. Partied like a rock star until 5 AM.

Thursday – Missed a good chunk of the day show action because of work, but eventually headed out to the Vice party. I meant to stop by Stubb’s because there were rumors that most of the WuTang were playing, but for some dumb reason, I didn’t try. I learned later that they did play, but, um, oops. Anyway, went to the Vice Party – Vice Kills Texas. Caught Art Brut, who were funnier, kinder, and cuter than I thought they would be. Not pretentious at all. A good time. Then, Brightblack Morning Light again, and they were much more up their alley in the dingy inside of the Victory Lounge. I really liked them a lot at this show. Then outside for Afrirampo, who were two japanese women dressed up as tigers. Unhinged, brilliant, crazy and noisy. Right up my alley. Back inside for Tarantula AD and back out for a bit of Oxbow, before Ryan (who had joined me) and I headed off and wandered up sixth street. We tried to get into the Levi’s Fader lounge – to which we had RSVP’d – but no, not on the list. Even though it was empty.

There’s a whole mess going on with guest lists at SXSW. The PROPER approach seems to be to have a guest list and a VIP list. If it’s not busy, let in anyone off the guest list. If it’s not busy and you’re not on the list, let them in if they seem to care about the event. If it’s busy, resort to the VIP list. AND DO NOT RELY ON EMAIL RESPONSES. Those are useless. People have spam filters. The WORST ones that say “RSVP To this event!” with a form, but don’t say “hey we’ll DEFINITELY email you to confirm.” If it doesn’t say that, you assume that emailing is enough. And you’d never know what the hell is going on. Vice handled it well – rsvp, but were totally chill about letting people in. IHeartComix did as well, all things considered. Fader Lounge? Lame. Levis and Fader are now in my shit list, not that I even know who Fader is. Half empty, turned away, even though they sent me an invite and I RSVP’d. Awesome.

There are three types of people you want in your party: 1) the fans, 2) the press and industry, 3) the taste-makers who you are going to market to with your stupid ad stuff. There are 2 kinds you DON’T want in – the free booze hounds and the sixth street drunken assholes. It’s really not that hard to figure out which is which. Stolen Transmission nailed it. Go the site. Sign up. This means you care. Let those that care in. Piece of cake. No one signs up weeks in advance of SXSW just for free booze, and it keeps out the frat boys. It’s really not that hard. Props to Ultragrrl for getting this. Factory People did it even worse – I had RSVP’d ages ago and forgotten about it – I’m a band snob, they only have “rockstar DJs” and I don’t care about that or stupid trendy fashion grab bags. The day of their party, they emailed me and said “you’re on the list come get your pass” and I’m like “dude it’s 6Pm the night of the party – it’s obvious you didn’t get enough attendees. Nice way to make me feel second string AND tell me your party’s gonna suck. No thanks.”

We were making a halfhearted attempt to see Eagles of Death Metal. Instead, we left and went to the Stereogum party which was doing the same thing, making you be on a list to which you rsvp’d and never knew exactly what that meant. In defence of Stereogum, though, they saw Ryan’s press pass, and realized we cared about the music and knew who was playing, and let us in. That was cool. So then we caught Ted Leo and he was pretty cool. I’m still fascinated with how obsessed people are about him, but I like his music.

Went and met Megan for a while and went to Hickory Street so Tara could wait on us, while we heped Megan get her video blogging off the ground. ironically, I ran into the dude from Gomez as we walked into the restaurant. He did not recognize me.

Got wind of a free Beastie Boys secret show, and headed down to try and get in. We probably should have gone down right away when we got the message, but we stalled an hour or two. When we got there, we were pretty far down the line, but I thought we’d get in. We got all the way to the door, and didn’t make it in, but it was @ Stubb’s so we could hear everrthing just fine. We listened to five songs. It was the Beastie Boys. You know how that goes.

Next we headed up to the Diesel party (who also committed the RSVP reply sin, but I actually got the email and went through the effort of actually picking up my physical pass). We caught Film School (awesome), Spinto Band (fun and quirky but a little too TMBG for me), Boy Least Likely To (soulful alt country very good but a bit too polished) and Voxtrot (I don’t remember much, just not liking them). Left before the Editors.

Then we went and tried to go to the IHeartComix party to see Annie and stuff. We waited like an hour in line, because the organizer is a friend of Tom’s, and we figured once we got up front we could probably get in, and it was going well, but then the fire marshall came and shut them down. Whoops.

We high tailed it out of there and hit Club DeVille and caught the last half of the Calla set. It was at this precise moment ryan got really really drunk.

After Calla we were going to go see Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, but an SXSW photographer we ran into (like a staff one) told us the band before them was secretly (this never actually means secret, I’ve discovered) the Flaming Lips. We thought maybe that would mean we couldn’t get in, but then we thought “well, hell, lots of people will probably be leaving” and headed down. Half way there, though, I had an inspiration and we hit Beauty Bar again to see if things had calmed down. We walked right in. Apparently everyone was there to see Wolf Mother. I mean, the place was still packed but not illegally so. So then we saw She Wants Revenge, and they were.. um… dressed like the cult. It was very confusing.

I had a nice talk with Annie at the bar as some random girl in all black in pearls was inexplicably grabbing my ass, trying to pin it on the dude she was with. Annie seemed very confused by all this. I was as well. She was very nice.

Next up was Peaches who RULED. She came out and did a near perfect cover of the “Tear you apart” song – She Wants Revenge’s hit that they had just ended with. Instead of singing “I wanna fuckin tear you apart,” she sang “I wanna fucking rip you a fart.” She claimed to be entering her “Weird Al” phase. She also did a cover of “My Humps,” as “My Dumps.” She had an entourage of strippers with her. She played 3 new Peaches songs. They were good. It was awesome.

The night ruled. We were very drunk. It was fun.

Friday – Work stupid work while on “vacation.” Ryan and I had lunch with a GSD&M friend, and then Judi arrived! Cathy nicely took her to get food as I finished up work, and then we headed out to Stubb’s. We met Sam, who nicely gave us a pass while she headed out to somewhere else, and then met Ryan inside, just missing The Stills. We Are Scientists were next, they were okay. Sounded like umm… an american Franz Ferdinand? I dunno, man. All those bands. You know. So next were The Charlatans, which were good but not fantastic. They played 3 new songs and “North Country Boy” and “Weirdo” which was definitely cool, but Tim’s voice was kinda shot, and given how brilliant their albums are, I can’t shake the thought that this could have been better.

Then we left and wandered down to sixth street, running into Sam again in front of Emo’s and listening to a bit more of Art Brut who were playing @ the Pitchfork party. Umm what did we do next? Oh I remember we went to Ryan and Charlotte’s house and picked up Charlotte and went to Vivo and met Cathy there. That place was so good. Oh my god. mmmm.

Then back into town to the “Red Bull House” (stupidest name ever) for the Stolen Transmission/Island party. Ryan was obsessed with Lady Sovereign, so we hung here most of the night. It was a pretty good time, save for the ridiculous commercialism, it had lots of gadgets and toys and games and tons of free booze, so that was fun. Kelly was there and she had befriended these 2 21 year old dudes from Portland who were obsessed with Lady Sov. They had gone to her other show @ the Vice party, and had managed to get arrested at a Secret Machines show, which, um, I didn’t know was possible. As for the bands, Nightmare of You was first, and I have no recollection whatsoever how they sounded. Then Lady Sovereign who was, well, pretty much exactly what a 19 year old english lady rapper should sound like. Then was the Boston band Damone, and um I only remember chicks something metal-ish and me being really drunk. I had been drinking Jagermeister and Lonestar. Excellent combination. The Macallan and high life of the south. Drunken walk with Judi and taxi back to the hotel.

Saturday – Last Day. Woke up weirdly, unexpectedly early. Planned out the day while Judi caught up on her sleep. Eventualy she woke up, and we hit Madam Mam’s or something like that – the Thai restaurant on the Drag by the Hotel. It was strange and reminded me of alaska, but once we finally got our food, it was solid. The menu was perhaps the most confusing thing in the world – one dish was described as “a brothless version of SP18.” SP 18 was described as “A Seafood version of SP 17.” We left there and took the bus down to Cedar Street where we started catching bands. Caught the last two songs of Carina Round. The 2nd to last one sounded pretty cool and space rocky but the last one was one of those tiresome songs where the singer points out a flaw in someone and explains why that is bad. In this case, the flaw was an over obsession with money or fame or something. The usual. She was cute, though. Then Vega 4 came on. Much later in the day I asked someone if he had seen any great bands, and he said “no, but I’ve seen some individual talents” and this is what I thought here. The singer had a fantastic voice. They were very pretty. They were talented. But they were bland and over earnest. Then the star of the hour came on, Amusement Parks on Fire.

One thing about this festival that’s growing to the point of intolerance – especially wen you’re the type who is into going to free, listed day parties, is that it’s so freakin’ commercialized it’s ridiculous. Like this party we were at was for Filter, Amp’t Mobile, the Yaris and like a million other things. It’s overwhelming. Lots of free junk (Yaris gave me – awesome – a CD-R). It’s just too much – 20 or so logos at every event. Ryan was talking about the Yahoo! Music showcase, and how David Cross thanked iTunes for it, and how the Yahoo! people did not look amused. I was pleased with that.

And Amusement Parks did the same. The lead singer came out and said “We’d like to think Filter. Without him, we’d be broke and lying in a corner drunk on Absinthe.” I felt good about that. And they rocket it out solidly – playing all the songs I loved in their short 6 song set.

Then Judi and I hoofed it over to the Anglophilemusic.com party. This was supposed to feature Adam Franklin of Swervedriver, with SIANspheric backing him as Swervedriver, and Mark Gardener with Goldrush backing him as Ride. Worth waiting a few hours for, right? Right! So we go a bit early and learn they’re behind. We see Helen Stellar from LA, and they were good – sorta like a nerdy version of Vervie’s A Storm in Heaven. Next up is Boston’s own Protokol who had some energy and win the award for best band of the night.

Around this time we learn that Mark Gardener is not showing up.

Then we sit through The Pacific and they were sorta bland. Thing is about this show – no one could sing. Everyone was out of key. And the club leaked.

So then we learn that The Local Division, who were up next, had cancelled, so we found out that yay! Adam Franklin is next. Adam and SIANspheric set up. I’ve seen Swervedriver. I’ve seen Adam Franklin. I’ve seen SIANSpheric. All have been uniformly excellent live. I am really jazzed for this. Swervedriver broke up. what? 11 years ago? I was stoked.

So off they go, and they launch into “Sandblasted” from Raise (I recognized the song, but I had to look it up today). It’s a mess, the drummer and the bassist can’t lock up, Adam yells and yells and gets madder and madder and eventually gives up, THROWS HIS GUITAR AT THE DRUMMER, says “we’re done, Goldrush are up next” and walks off the stage.

We waited four hours for the show, and in the end, neither band played. Ahh well.

So then we met up with Cathy and her beau and go and get some lovely dinner at Rudy’s Barbecue and it is awesome, though they are, um, seemingly out of everything. No mac and cheese, no pork, no collard greens. But awesome nonetheless.

Then Cathy and Judi went off, and I met up with Ryan and Charlotte and Tara at a sushi joint, and then we hit the Mug Shot Saloon. Sam popped in for a bit, and then Judi and Cathy and her beau met us as well. Lucky for us, this bar (which was completely awesome, by the way, and cheap) the bar was right next to the venue where I was going to see the Happy Flowers in a bit.

And so I popped over and yes, say THE HAPPY FLOWERS. IT ruled. Oh my god, it was glorious. Hundreds of Shower Poofs, bass guitars being played with peeps. They played all the hits – “More Mittens,” “Unhappy Meal,” “Mom I Gave the Cat Some Acid” and the rest. It was… It was glorious. Man. They also through out free limited edition SXSW tee shirts. I was in heaven.

Popped back into the Mug Shot, and Tara and Charlotte had gone off to see Damone. Judi ran off with Cathy and so Ryan and I were left with our badges to tear it up.

So in the final hours of the festival we headed toward La Zona Rosa for Lady Sovereign. Passing by, we caught She Wants Revenge’s showcase set at the Fox and Hound. They were no longer wearing their funny goth hats. Just a simple black knit cap. not sure what to make of that. So anyway we made it to La Zona Rosa for Lady Sovereign again and then Austin Music Hall for a bit of Dashboard Confessional, who I had never seen but um, sounded exactly like I thought they did. Then back to La Zona Rosa for Ghostface, which played like a Wu Tang sing-along but was pretty awesome. We headed out, passing by Fox and Hound again to listen a bit to We Are Scientists and were… as underwhelmed as we were earlier. Then we popped in and finished the night at… god, I don’t know where. The Merge/Sub-Pop showcase for Robert Pollard, in honor of me seeing Guided by Voices at the 99 SXSW. Bob is old, the band is different but man, everything else was pretty much the same.

Hotel, sleep, up at 8, taxi, airport, running into Sam, then an hour delay, then home and thai food. Rest.

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