Vivisecting Media

Tales from SXSW – Part 2

yawn oh man its noon and we are rushing to get cleaned up so we can get some grub on at Delaware subs. On Friday’s they make these killer sausage subs that are legend around here. I haven’t had one in something like 7 years so this is a must. I may run out of time before I am done with today’s post. If that’s the case I will update later.

Thursday was by far the best music day we have ever, ever had. No concert, no show, no festival has even come close to matching the day’s musical quality. We started the day off by heading to the “I heart comix” day party over at the Beauty Bar on 7th.

Niki was psyched to check out Ambulette out of Chicago so this was a must show. He caught them a while back by accident at Rubber Gloves in Dallas and has been a fan ever since. The party was RSVP only so there was a slow line as they checked everyone’s name. Once we got in we grabbed a cold drink because today was fucking humid and head out back.

We were running a little late so sadly we only caught 3 of Ambulette’s songs, but the three they played were awesome. It ended up that Ambulette was one of the bands that I had heard on the SXSW torrent that I really liked. The song is called “Seconds To Midnight” and I recommend peeping it for sure.

After Ambulette, Cut Chemist stepped up to the decks. I mean, what the fuck. Cut Fucking Chemist!!!! He is one of the main reasons I pursed learning how to scratch and cut records. He and Shadow are huge influences on me and here I am 5 feet away with a crowd of about 50 people get our asses rocked by his mad skills on the turntable. I had never had a chance to see him work a set by himself, I always caught him with J5 so this was just ill.

The, the next act was Jean Grae. By this point my brain is having a hard time dealing with the pure awesomeness of the day because I know I still have Morrissey and Goldfrapp to deal with. Jean comes up and bantered with her DJ and the crowd for a while and then just spits out some of the most intelligent and funny rhymes I have heard in a long time. She is truly an entertainer and even though the crowd was little and at first really distant she was able to win them all over.

We finished another round of drinks and then started to head over to Austin Music Hall for the big show of the evening. On the way over Dani ran into her friend April who is a bartender at this really nice restaurant downtown. We ended up kicking it there eating Tapas and having the stiffest drinks I have seen in a long time. A bourbon and coke has only a splash added for color. That kind of thing.

Once we were full and buzzing we wandered to the hall and got in with no line at all, which was odd because the rumor mill said it would have been nearly impossible to get in. We popped a squat for a while to rest our weary legs and then at 9pm Morrissey came on and play a hour and a half show. To be honest I was never a huge Smiths or Morrissey fan but he does put on an amazing performance and the crowds energy was intense.

To end the night’s musical edition Goldfrapp came on and blew the doors off the place. Her stage presence is over the top and her band was really, really tight. As Niki commented as we were leaving the show, her set was the first one in a long one that you really truly did not want to end. I am not a huge fan of encores, mainly because they are overdone now but I really, really wanted her to come back and play some more. She did and rocked three more songs… seriously put her on your must see list if you like her music at all, so worth it.

After that we went back to Dani’s place and we hung out with her and Brian till 5am telling jokes and crazy stories. Well, looks like I was able to get it all down but we are heading out now, so until tomorrow!