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SXSW scene report: Paste party
Four guys at the urinals at the Galaxy Room working their iPhones: that’s multi-tasking SXSW style.
Lines were pretty long for the badgeless to get into Wednesday’s Paste magazine party, where the Afro- Applalachian string band, Carolina Chocolate Drops, and Roky Erickson and Okkervil River, both killed back to back. But what really showed that SXSW has arrived was the 30-minute waits for free beer and no waiting at the cash bar.
Playing songs they learned from their 91-year-old mentor Joe Thompson, as well as an amazing cover of Blu Cantrell’s “Hit ‘Em Up Style,” with Rhiannon Giddens proving to be a star in the making, Carolina Chocolate Drops were charming for days. The balance of showmanship with real playing ability had the crowd grinning like loons. My first great discovery at SXSW 2010.
Roky and the River played a heavier set than the material from next month’s “True Love Cast Out All Evil,” opening with a thundering couplet of “John Lawman” and “Two Headed Dog.” The set-closing “You’re Gonna Miss Me” really tore up the jampacked crowd.
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