My SXSW Favorites!

None were disappointing. I had already posted this stuff...it took me 5-6 hours and somehow it got all phucked up. So now, I'm going to try it again, with a fresh start. The problem is I have to go find all of those videos! Hey, I'm taking one for the team! GO TEAM!!!

The Austin performers at the Thursday Day Party were amazing, Austin cranks out some good shit! There were NO disappointments! This is John Blythe, my friend Tim is in the middle playing bass. He let me crash at his place while I was in Austin. Oh, after their set, Amanda Lepre came on and rocked the house. Good shit!

And now, the bands that absolutely turned me on blissfuly!

Wussy, of course. It's been a year or two since I've seen them and they fuckin' ROCK! Can't wait to see them at The Comet, Friday, April 4th. They are a blast and I had so much fun with them on that excruciating road trip. I experienced some of the craziest conversations ever. For instance, how many times a day does the average person fart? We guessed 11.3, but the actual answer is 14 (after Googling it on my cell phone). Too much fun annoying Leslie and Chuck over the walkie talkies (we had two vehicles). Chuck's joke, "What's worse than finding a worm in your burger?" Answer, "The Holocost." Their second CD is spectacular and they are a truly awesome entertaining band live.

Photo is Lisa Walker, Dawn Burman and myself having a beer before their set at Jovita's for Twangfest. Photo from Wussy's blog. Wussy MySpace.

The Raveonettes. Holy shit! I had to stay up very late Thursday to see them, definately worth it. Sleep is overrated at SXSW.

Blitzen Trapper. I had never heard of them and they were great. A very creative band...tons of weird instruments. Two cowbells, some weird little mouth keyboard, a tiny Casio keyboard, marracas and so much more. Fun, fun, fun!

The Watson Twins. An amazing, slow cover of The Cure's, "Just Like Heaven." Very hot!

Tilly and the Wall. I'd never heard of them, but Leslie convinced me I had to go. A chick tap dancing is the percussion. It was like "Lord of the Dance" on steroids! This video is not from SXSW. I could only find one that was 42 seconds long and you can't hear the tap dancing. Awesome fucking awesome! That's all I can say...thank you Leslie, my sister of ROCK!

Sons & Daughters. I've always loved them. I took Tim (my previous computer consultant, ten or so years ago) and asked during the show if he liked them. His answer, "Hell, yeah, I wanna fuck half of them." I guess he was speaking of the two females and not the two males. I caught that same performance on DirecTV this past weekend...simply wonderful. This isn't the performance I saw, but I hung out at The Mohawk most of Friday for the woxy.com sponsored party...saw tons of bands there.

Edited to add: After watching this video, over and over and over again, I think I want to fuck all of them!

Roky Erickson. This dude was arrested on marijuana charges for a single joint in the sixties and institutionalized where they performed electroshock treatment on him. He was fried and is finally getting back to playing again. He won Artist of the Year at the Austin Music Awards Wednesday. The best part of the show was watching Chuck Cleaver dancing around like a happy little kid in a candy store. Very amusing.

The Sountrack of Our Lives. Leslie and I were standing in the impossible line to see The Donnas at Emo's, for some reason; I looked at my schedule and saw I could see Soundtrack at Esther's Follies. I showed Leslie the map for help with the venue location.

She said, "It's across the street."

I responded with, "Where?"

"Across the street, you dumbass."

"I don't see it!"

Leslie: "Can't you see the big, neon letters on the building directly across the street that says, Esther's Follies?"

I couldn't find any videos of them from SXSW. This one is a bit old, but one of my favorite tunes from them.

Another great performance. I hung out with the lead singer for awhile after the show. A perfect way to end this inspiring trip!

Well, that's what I remember. There were plenty of others where I was walking down the street and would peek in for a few minutes. It was an amazing trip and dream come true!

BTW, I wrote my first lyrics last night. Yup, Grandma's on Shrooms, are coming to terrorize you!