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Saturday, March 20, 2010
SXSW 38: South by San Jose
Were I a lazy person. Or just one with less time. Or less curiosity. Or another job. I’d just settle in the parking lot of the Hotel San Jose for South by San Jose. Three blocks from the house. Fine food and drink from Jo’s. San Diego weather.
Karen Lederer and Ali Landorf
And some of the best music associated with SXSW. In the bad old days, the SXSW hierarchy would have trampled on shows like SXSJ. No need to do so when you’ve got people lining up for every official showcase, and huge sideshows going on all over the central city. (And I mean all over.)
Lori, Wayne and Roxy Dodd
Those who were just idly exercising the children or the dogs earned an extra-special treat when Amy Cook too the SXSJ stage (to be followed by the producer of her most recent album, none other than Alejandro Escovedo). Cook’s voice carries one over the horizon, sweet and salty, innocent yet knowing. Her songs are honeyed with recurrent imagery and personal insights. Bliss. Just bliss. It was enough for me that day.
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SXSW 37: Auditorium Shores
Compared to the kinetic energy charging through the streets of downtown at dusk, the atmosphere at Auditorium Shores was relaxed, congenial. Multi-generational tribes streamed from nearby streets to spread out over the tramped-down grass (surely a sea of mud this rainy morning, which is why SXSW organizers delayed performances for today).
Gina Recamier and Pambo
This free event helps sell SXSW to Austinites with no chance to earn a badge, wristband or VIP pass. They could attend some of the day parties — and they do — but here they can bring children and dogs. So the event is indistinguishable from other warm-weather outdoor fairs with craft booths, food stalls and beer galore. (Also, in this case, a very vocal campaign for a Texas lottery game.)
Because of the open meadow and the vast skyline as a backdrop, attention to the music on the shore-side stage ebbed and flowed. While I visited, a small group of music lovers swayed up front, but the vast majority hung back on blankets or chairs, or they roamed the booths. (I left before ’80s rockers Cheap Trick performed. Their fans reportedly have not lost their zeal.)
Kellie Solis and Justin Petition
I talked to Gina Recamier and Pambo from Mexico City. They said Austin was a party all over the city. Also with Kellie Solis and Justin Petition, who used the Auditorium Shores event to catch up on their San Antonio ties.
Remember: Everything is social.
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SXSW 36: Express Rocks at the Phoenix
With 700 SXSW sideparties out there, your social columnist didn’t need a Music badge or a wrist band to follow the buzz from event to event. Word spread quickly that the bigger traditional parties — Spin, Rachel Ray, Paste — were thoroughly subscribed and already covered by other Statesman reporters. So I tended to hit the smaller assemblies, which were sizable enough.
Ericka Jamarillo and Toree Roy
The Express Rocks Lounge Party at the Phoenix offered a line-up of five bands, along with various retail enticements that journalists firmly avoid. (The party was underwritten by the men and women’s clothing store by the same name.) A crowd of more than 100 mingled between sets, some of them super-social Austinites like Allen Beuershausen and Jen Shoemaker.
Natalie Bell and Steve Moakley
The one act I caught was Southern California’s idie rockers the Like. The four young women affected 1960s pop fashion and played in a snappy manner, but I couldn’t help thinking they would sound better in a studio. As their time onstage extended, my admiration grew for the fierce drumming of Tennessee Thomas and the sophisticated vocals of Elizabeth “Z” Berg from this former teen ban.
I left to explore the MTV video hideaway at the Seaholm Power Plant, which was closed to the public. But such a lovely day to trod across downtown once again …
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SXSW 35: Swagg Cafe at Moonshine
The music industry spends a good deal of time building fan bases for their artists. Then the industry types seek ways to escape those fans, if only for a little while. Thus, the proliferation of VIP sections, green rooms and rejuvenation zones during energy-sapping events like SXSW.
Jennifer Williams and Shannell
The Swagg Cafe at Moonshine provided several such opportunities to dine, drink, mingle and relax quietly during the afternoons — very near the Austin Convention Center. The refuge was underwritten by Swagg, a Web service that allows users to purchase, share and exchange gift cards, or receive and redeem personalized offers, etc.
Creigh Lyndon and Ryan Alexander
Here, journalists interviewed artists and bands recorded instant videos. I think the food is the big draw, but I liked catching musicians and their management off guard. “We plan to play as many shows possible,” said Ryan Alexander, young manager of Charleston, S.C.-based All Get Out. “And try not to get too trashed, since everything is free.” Alexander said the attention of SXSW audiences’ comes and goes, but that Austin is “more accepting” than most places on the band’s tour.
Malene Younglao and Yves C. Pierre
I also talked to Universal artist Shannel and her helpful publicist Jennifer Williams, as well as idie rocker Malen Younglao and her manager Yves C. Pierre. All these New Yorkers praised the spring weather (those words came before the Arctic blast that cleared the streets earlier this morning).
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Liz Carpenter dies at age 89
Please leave your thoughts and memories below.
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