SXSW: Friday

SXSW Friday started with Dale and I grabbing a bite at Elsi's on Burnet road. Elsi's serves Salvadorian food and buddy, it's scrumptious! Here is Dale enjoying the afternoon sunshine. The Weather was perfecto.


Here I am, enjoying a margarita (that's Dale's Pacifico):


I totally have a thing for polka dots right now.

After dinner, we made our way downtown and caught The Main Street Gospel from Columbus, OH.


These guys were tight like last years prom dress. Mmm-hmmm!

I had an entire line-up of bands I wanted to see, but Dale and I decided to ditch the plan and let destiny have a hand in who we saw. Sometimes, that is the best way to discover new music. This is who we saw:

Gentleman Jesse and his Men



I loved them. I saw a few more bands but did not like them so much. I don't want to mention their names here. It would not be the nice thing to do.


Oh, remember those margaritas I had at Elsi's?
Well....
I got drunk.

and we had to go home a little earlier than planned.

It's cool. We still have one more day to go!

In Other News:
TODAY IS MY BIRTHDAY! Dale made me grilled lamb chops with Herbes De Provence, Demi-Glace, Mango Chutney, and roasted veggies featuring sweet potatoes, Brussel sprouts, and parsnips. For dessert- a chocolate espresso cake from my favorite bakers, Russel's. Mmmmmm! Some of the best food I have ever had in my life.
Chef Dale, indeed!

SXSW:Thursday-Night

Thursday night brought us to the Lustre Pearl for an impressive line up. First up, Nive Nielsen from the dang ol' North Pole!

We only heard a few of their songs. Nive was very sweet, very gracious, very humble, and very talented.

Up next, Devotchka! My friend Mary recommended that I see Devotchka and I'm glad she did. Nick Urata has a terrific voice and each member of band plays more than one instrument. Amongst the instrument that were played during the set were a tuba, a theremin, a bouzouki, a trumpet, a violin, an accordion, and an upright bass. Those were only some of the instruments...not all. Do you know what a theremin is? Well I'm not going to tell you so just look it up.

You can see the theremin in the above pic. I used flashy text and a big, green arrow to point it out to you. You're welcome.

You can't go wrong with a tuba adorned with Christmas lights. No sir, you can't.



Wine is fine.

The only bad part about the Devotchka show was all of the d-bags in the audience. I mean it was like a frat party up in there. The dude in front of me was all over his girl, grabbing her butt like it handles. It was grossing me out. Plus, there was a lot of bad dancing going on (white kid shuffle..think Jam Band audience). In almost equal numbers as the frat crowd were the pseudo-hipsters. You know...the too cool for school crowd yet not ironic enough to be actual hipsters. Blech. I really wanted to stick around for the Cold War Kids, but the annoying crowd and the fact that the only bathrooms available were nasty port-a-potties had me running away from the Lustre Pearl just as soon as Devotchka hit the last note of their last song.

After making our escape from Lustre Pearl, we ran straight to Emo's for The Greenhornes. Yup. I liked them enough to see them twice in one day. We caught just a little bit of The Kills on the outside stage before going inside and watching a little bit of a band from Minnesota. I won't mention their names because I have nothing good to say about them and I don't want to be rude.

I have nothing bad to say about The Greenhornes because they killed it! Ka-boom! Pow! Bang! BOOM!

And that drumkit is pretty bad ass.


That dude is pretty bad ass.


That band is pretty bad ass.

I only got a few pictures of this show as I had to give the camera to Dale for safe keeping. Here's what happened- I was in the front row, enjoying the show, minding my own bid'ness when out of nowhere came a group of assholes shoving their way up to the front. It was a group of about 4 dudes and one chick. They were all dancing like they were on fire. If the gal were laying on the floor, I would have thought that she was having seizures. It was obnoxious and she continually ran into me. I promise these fools were from LA as they just reeked of that "I'm better than you" attitude. After the gal ran her elbow/arm/head/knee into me a few times, I handed Dale the camera and told him to put it away. I then prepared myself for a fight. I figured that I would probably have to punch the gal. No problem. I was worried that one of the guys she was with would launch a counter attack and that had me a little worried. I was so mad that I really did not care. I figured Dale would come to my rescue.

I was just waiting for my temper to spike....

And then, it happened.

There was a really nice lady standing next to me. She was trying to take a picture of the band when the LA chick went into another flailing fit and almost smacked the nice lady's iphone from her hand. I say almost because I took my right arm and flung that LA bitch about three feet away from the scene. I prepared myself for her retaliation but she just bounced back and continued to dance!

At this moment, The Greenhornes were really taking everybody to school and I was able to focus on the music and ignore the LA crew.

That's the end of Thursday! I managed to not get punched in the face yet the Greenhornes managed to kick my ass!

*Disclaimer- I don't want you to think that I hate dancing. I don't. I love dancing. I dance every day! I dance at concerts! I just don't make a fool out of myself, dancing like somebody's shootin' bullets at my feet. I also don't assault anybody with my dance moves. I stay in my space. It's not a mosh pitt...keep your elbows to yourself or you are going to get my elbow in your rib. It's ok if you want to dance but you don't have rhythm. Really, it is. I might laugh at you but who cares? Not you...you know you can't dance.

SXSW:Thursday-day

Our SXSW Thursday started with some day shows at Waterloo Records. I would show you what I was wearing, but we forgot to take a picture. I will tell you that my outfit reminded Dale of Rango's coloring. You know who Rango is, right? Funny movie.

That's Rango.

The first band was The Naked & Famous from New Zealand:

This gang did not play the type of music I typically listen to, but I enjoyed them. The gal singing had a really clear voice and would put her palm up and push it out towards the audience like she was giving invisible high fives. I dug it.

Up next were The Greenhornes! I have been wanting to see these dudes for quite some time.


Each member of the band was excellent. Truly excellent.


But the drummer was like no other, my brother. I mean this guy was goooooooooooo-pause for a breath-ooooooooood!

You can read a MUCH better review of The Greenhornes over at Dante's Blog Dante (from Hacienda) is actually touring with The Greenhornes so he gets to hear them night after night. Therefore, his review is quite accurate.

While we were watching The Greenhornes, I saw Jack White (of The White Stripes, duh) exit this black and yellow trailer and walk over to the side stage to check out some Greenhorn action. I guess that should not have been a big surprise seeing how the drummer and bass player (Patrick Keeler and Jack Lawrence) were both in The Raconteurs with Jack White. Jack Lawrence is also in The Dead Weather with White. Keeler and Lawrence also played on The Album Jack White produced for Loretta Lynn -Van Lear Rose. I love that album.

Here's Jack!



After The Greenhornes, Dale and I popped into 24 diner for some brunch. I ate the best waffles of my life! We sat next to a dude that chatted us up and made us laugh. He left before we did and when it was time to pay our bill we found out that he paid it for us. NICE!
We left the waitress a fat tip and went back home to rest and prepare for the night shows. I'll have those pictures and accompanying stories for ya in the next post.

SXSW: Wednesday

Wednesday night kicked off SXSW 2011. Dale and I did not make it downtown until that evening. A girl has to get ready for such events, ya know?

Here is what I wore:


Can't go wrong with a black dress and boots. It's impossible.

We saw a few bands from South Korea. The first one (Galaxy Express) was kind of fun - high energy. The second one (I won't tell you the name) seriously made me nauseous. They were some kind of electronic/experimental band that made a bunch of noise. Here is how they describe their sound "Distilled hallucinogenic spirits stirred into a soothing, shoegazing blend of ambient, alternative rock."
It was gross.

Next, watched a band from the Netherlands take more time setting up than actually playing. Longest. Soundcheck. Ever.

Finally, we saw Hacienda do their thing:



They did a great job. Had the crowd dancing and singing along.

Next thing I knew, we were on the move and headed to BD Riley's to see Amplified Heat.

First, a quick pint.




Hmm...I can't find my picture of the bass player. What the what?

Amplified Heat is an Austin band that I have been meaning to check out for some time.

Let me tell you, I was glad to have my customized musician's earplugs with me because those dudes are loud as hell!


I realize that it's kind of gross that I am showing you my earplug. Sorry about that. I love them. They are clear with gold glitter. They have a filter that allows me to hear the band at a safer level. Much better than those neon earplugs you buy at the Walgreens.

Beard Contest Part 10: The Winners!

The three finalists for Best Groomed were:

These dudes

This dude took first in this category:

Burke T. Kenny (Olympia, WA)

Ladies finalists:

good jaerrrrb!

This chick and her dreds took first:

Aime Hammons (Austin, TX)

This chick took the prize of a movie star kiss from one of the judges

totally unexpected

Freestyle finalists:



"hey man, nice pipe. Can I have some?"


Ahhhhhhhh yeah, that's the good shit.


Don't leave this dude out of the puff-puff action!

The man in pink wins it!

Alex LaRoche (Austin, TX)

Fiercest Chops Finalists:

Mr. Pink pants took first-
Kris Elkinton (Kong) (Austin, TX)

Sweetest "Stache



Mr. Moustache Wax, FTW!

Taylor Welden (Austin, TX)

Gnarliest Beard Finalists:

Two red beards and a grey.

WINNING!

Aarne Bielefeldt (Willits, CA)

Freestyle winner took a stage dive right after the Gnarliest Beard winner was announced:

Good stuff.


His beard is so frothy because he just drank beer from his trophy.


Weeeeeeeeeeeeee are the champions my friend!

Hug it out:

I guarantee that Misprint Magazine/Mohawk's Beard and Moustache competition had more hugs that any other beard and moustache competition....ever. That's Austin for ya.

More Hugs


Preparing to stage dive..er...stage sit and lay down. Is it lay or lie down? I never could get that straight.



VICTORY!

Thanks for hanging in there through ALL 10 POSTS on this subject matter.

We done, son!