What stinks, who watched who and best concert not at SXSW

What is the fashion secret of the suit-sporting gentlemen in Detroit's Great Lakes Myth Society? "I only have one suit, but I have like 15 white shirts," guitarist and backup singer James Monger says. "We all just go into Salvation Army and buy whatever we can. And, yeah, it stinks. We go through gallons of Febreeze." ... Meanwhile, it's hard to think of another rocker, let alone another regular human being, who could get away with Motörhead leader/singer/bassist Lemmy Kilmister's stage get-up at the Vice Saves Texas party: black shirt, tight black pants tucked into custom black-and-white cowboy boots, a spaghetti Western-style cowboy hat and a bolo tie around his neck (as in not around his shirt). ... Spotted: Rolling Stone co-founder Jann Wenner, perusing his schedule, on Congress Avenue between Fifth and Sixth streets ... R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe watching the Raveonettes' 12:30 a.m. set at Vice, sipping on some suds and singing all the words. ... Members of Vampire Weekend at Jens Lekman's show at the Mohawk. Also in the crowd: Neko Case of New Pornographers. ... Spotted: Rachael Ray in Cissi's market on Friday morning. She had one of their Sausage Biscuits (both biscuits and sausage are made in house). She's hosting a day party beginning at noon today at Beauty Bar, 617 E. Seventh St. The lineup includes the Cringe (which features Ray's husband, John Cusimano), the Raveonettes and the Stills. Lunch — a menu created by Ray — will be served from 1 to 3 p.m.

— V.M. Black, Joe Gross, Peter Mongillo,

Matthew Odam, Chad Swiatecki, Kitty Crider

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SXSW keynoter Lou Reed played the "Lou Reed Tribute" Thursday evening at the Levi's/Fader Fort. He performed "Walk On the Wild Side" with Moby, not really an adventurous choice. The songs I heard for two hours, many of them sounding alike, kinda rat out Reed as an overrated songwriter in the right place, right time. Where's his "I Say a Little Prayer?" What's the great song he's written in the past 30 years?

But there's no denying Reed's incredible influence. Since the Stooges owned 2007 and the New York Dolls were the big band a couple years earlier, it's only fair that 2008 is a salute to the Velvet Underground, who were the Grateful Dead with worse drugs but better guidance. Next year: Mott the Hoople. My early fave of the Reed trib was Ezra Furman's solo acoustic take of "Heroin."

To many, the highlight of the night was My Morning Jacket's version of "Head Held High," which I missed because, like you, I miss all the truly cool stuff and have to hear about it later.

— Michael Corcoran

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Who would have thought the hottest ticket in town during South by Southwest wouldn't have much of anything to do with SXSW?

"You know how lucky you are to be here, right?" "Austin City Limits" producer Terry Lickona asked the crowd at R.E.M.'s taping Thursday afternoon.

The studio audience, pretty much all of whom knew somebody on the inside, whooped appreciatively. It was a chance to see the band that was like Wednesday night's premiere showcase but in an intimate venue ("I can't believe I'm 15 feet away from Michael Stipe," one fan said) with primo sound and nobody's badge blowing in the wind and whacking you in the face.

The set list, however, was similar to Wednesday's Stubb's show — long on material from their upcoming album, "Accelerate," which, based on the selections they played Thursday, is going to be a powerhouse. Vocalist Stipe introduced "Houston" as an updating of Jimmy Webb's "Galveston" and "Electrolyte" as "a valentine to the 20th century." And unlike a lot of SXSW venues, where sound is mixed on the fly and a lot of attendees seem more interested in yakking through even the quiet stuff, you could hear everything. For instance, the inexplicably cool lyrics to "I'm Gonna DJ": "Death is pretty final/I'm collecting vinyl/I'm gonna DJ/At the end of the world."

The new material has a certain winning buzz and grit that they haven't quite gotten right for a good while, and it's an improvement over the distressingly tepid live album/DVD from last year (which included "I'm Gonna DJ"). Guitarist Peter Buck enjoyed assistance from longtime pal Scott McCaughey, late of the Young Fresh Fellows, and looking none too young but reasonably fresh, and some of the new material is plainly if obliquely anti-Bush and anti-Iraq war. But even though Stipe never met a liberal cause he didn't like, there was no bludgeoning.

What there was was stopping and starting. Stipe was chatty and laughed at himself for flubs that were all but undetectable. "I'm gonna make more mistakes like that but it's going to be charming and make it more fun," he said after a small goof on "Man Sized Wreath." And they played another new one, "Supernatural Superserious," twice because of another (also undetectable) slip.

There were sops to old fans. Most welcome was "So. Central Rain (I'm Sorry)." Stipe recalled, "The first time we performed this song on television in ... 1983? It didn't have a name." (Stipe didn't name the program, but it was "Late Night With David Letterman.") Other oldies: "Drive," "Man on the Moon" (Stipe doing Andy Kaufman doing Elvis is still a gas), "Fall On Me" and, of course, "Losing My Religion," the song they can't get away with leaving off the set list even after they've long since put "Radio Free Europe" in a drawer and forgotten about it.

"I'm not going to keep you here," Stipe said after "Fall On Me." "I'm sure everyone is hungry and has to pee."

But honestly, nobody wanted to be anywhere else Thursday afternoon. And nobody had a better time than two young boys named Simon and Eliot (sorry if I misspelled your name, Eliot), whom Stipe invited on stage toward the end.

"Is this your first time at a concert?" he asked.

"Yeah."

"What do you think?"

"You're awesome!"

And so they were. If Simon and Eliot see a better show any time soon in their young lives, they'll be lucky. And if anybody sees a better show at SXSW, it'll be a miracle.

— Patrick Beach