This was the seen outside of Emo’s club one night after the last concert. The music spilled out into the street where an impromtu concert/conga line turned into performance art. There were drums and trombones, and as you can see less clothing required. Proof that some of the best shows at SXSW are not scheduled in any venue. Just walking the streets is a show in itself. 

  Anyone at the festival is overwhelmed with paper, ads for this product or that service. This one caught my eye. It is for a dating service, the target audience? Rock and Rollers. I have no idea if they are any good or not, but I have to give them credit for knowing their audience.

  In the last few years the BIG technology to come out of SXSW is hands-down Twitter. The “in the moment” text messaging service is what everyone was using to keep their audiences up to date with what they are doing. I agree with that.. but to me THIS is what was seen everywhere. The Trios – Blackberries – Iphones have replaced the cigarette lighter as the concert accessory. The tiny glow of the screens lit up the crowds and you could watch as they emailed the pictures to friends. If a singer jumped into the crowd or smashed his guitar, 20 different phones went up in the air.  

  The other must-have accessory…. earplugs! The venues are small but the sound is BIG. I discovered this the second day and was grateful every night after. No more ringing ears. Amazingly, you hear the concert a little more clearly with the buffer. CVS was selling these 2 pair for $1.

Another popular spot.. anywhere you could find free stuff… 

At this parking lot venue, the company YR radio was giving away free t-shirts with your choice of words on the back…

And free buttons… you pointed out a picture in a magazine and they created a button… Here’s mine.

 The Ice Cream Man gave away free fruit flavored popsicles… you can see the line. They were the perfect treat for what ended up being the hottest day of the festival.

  This was another common sight, bands leaving their cards all around the city to promote their performances. This was one of the more creative, attaching a condom to their card with the words “Get Lucky!”.  

  This next one is just a scene that kept repeating in the morning hours as bands moved from one location to the next. It was just fun to see all the people carrying instruments through the streets.

  One of the most interesting bands to watch hit the stage comes from League City, Texas. 

They were called The Mirrors. 

I say “were” because, except for this performance, they don’t actually exist anymore.

You can listen to them here…. The video is dark but the music is crystal clear.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxSckQj1KWo

 And more here :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiVXeFY_IR4

  The band split almost 5 years ago, lead singer Greg Ashley, says it was because they had few fans actually buying their music. Ashley claims to be a victim of the download generation. The irony is that once Ashley left the group to make his solo mark in California, people in Texas began discovering the band.

   “5 years ago nobody cared, when I left Houston nobody knew who we were,” says Ashley. “When I moved to California there were other labels that picked up those records, put money into promotion and re-released them. That got back to Texas and now people are like ‘Oh! You should play here!’” Ashley laughs at that.  

  A record label called Hook or Crook is re-releasing The Mirrors first album.  It is the same company responsible for this SXSW showcase on the top floor of Austin’s Lambert’s restaurant.

   “It’s a real pain in the *** and this is the 6^thyear I have done it and no band ever gets helped or picked up playing this festival,” says Ashley. “The festival … makes a bunch of money off of the bands coming to town for free and that is pretty much it. It is a racket.”

  Racket or not it hasn’t stopped The Mirrors from reuniting every year for the festival. Ashley says his reason for showing up is he has family in the area.  

“Every year I say I am never going to do it again … if my family and friends weren’t here I would never come back to do it because it is complete horse****.” According to Ashley, “I could come to Austin and make a lot more money, like they didn’t pay me anything. They gave me two Miller Lights for free.. I could play anywhere in this town and actually make money for my plane ticket, yeah it is a ******racket.”

  Ashley claims ”Nobody is getting signed.. it is a circle jerk is what I call it.”

  Whether SXSW is a music festival making or mining the dreams of struggling musicians, depends largely on who you talk to; there are just as many stories from bands who have gotten the boost they need from playing here.

  “It’s just a way to make money off a bunch of people who want to be musicians but … but really aren’t. They just have bands,” Ashley says.

   Ashley says he hasn’t seen the successful side of SXSW but admits as a recording studio owner, he might be doing some mining his own.   After trying to make a new band The Gris Gris and a solo career work in California, he gave up and opened a recording studio in Oakland.

   As for the Rest of the band… ”They are all people I grew up with…” Ashley says, ”they went on to do more realistic things.”

Drummer, Tom Lee has a PhD. in Science.  Playing keyboard is Chad Robinson, who writes classical music.

“He [Robinson] is going to Carnegie Melon Institute in Pittsburgh next semester,” says Ashley.

  “Trey Turner works for an Oil Company as an engineer and Alan Harrison is an English major,” says Ashley, “ he is a substitute teacher and will probably go on to get his masters in English and write novels…”

  As for Ashley, he describes himself in less flattering terms, “I am a *** scumbag who moved to California and I don’t do ****.”

    Ashley says he “no longer writes music because after 6 albums in 7 years he has run out of things to say.” 

  While a loss of words has not stopped many other musicians, perhaps to find the real reason Ashley laid down pen and guitar you just have to look at his bank account.

“You know if I could make money writing ****** songs then I guess I would.. but I would rather quit while I am ahead and just not write any bad albums or songs so,” says Ashley, “that’s I guess one thing I have going for me… I have no pressure to keep doing anything because nobody cared in the first place. “

   It could be self-pity talking, because I watched a room full of people excited to hear the band play. And someone out there likes their music, because each year they get that call to once again make their way to Austin and play for a crowd of fans.

   “I am just out of ideas so that is why I stopped doing it … you know if I was born 10 years earlier in the 90’s I would have been able to live off my music.”

  For now fans will just have to hope by this time next year, Ashley will have forgotten all the anger and be ready to pay his way once again to Austin.

                                                                  

   I saw the last showing of the documentary, Some Assembly Required at the Paramount Theater Friday Morning. The movie is about 6 teams of middle-schoolers who compete in the National Toy Challenge. The idea is for kids to design and create a toy or game.  Astronaut, Dr. Sally Ride is behind the nation-wide competition and she, also, happens to be the executive producer of this film.

   Director and producer Dori Berinstein follows the different teams from Connecticut, Michigan, Washington D.C., New Jersey and 2 teams from Harlem.  From wise cracking city boys to smarty pants Girl Scouts, a writer couldn’t have written better characters, even the different adults leading the group are richly drawn, a few teachers, a girl scout leader, and a mom.   

   Some Assembly Required follows each team through the design and submission process, as they create and build their toy and finally all the way to San Diego for the finals.  I talked with Berinstein, who says the crews actually followed 50 teams but had to narrow it down.  

Throughout the movie three little girls behind me were cracking up.

   The kids on screen being kids was reflected back in the gigling and comments behind me.  Most of what the kids did was pretty funny, on and off the screen. 

  Mom Stacey Abel saw he movie earlier in the week and says she had to bring back her daughter, Maya and two of her friends. ”Oh I loved it .. I loved it and the things I loved about it was that it covered the entire process I loved that it showed team work,” Abel says,”It was a challenge to kids to work as a team.” 

    You can see the three here – Maya Lawrence (9), Samantha Nevarez (8) and Kelsey Dominguez (9).

   Maya says, ” The movie.. it kind of showed that how… that it is not all … all about winning it is about having fun and trying something new.”

  The trio was bouncing around the lobby of the theater as I talked with Abel and she says that’s just why she thought they would get a lot out of watching kids turn energy into creation.

   “I just thought these girls need… these girls are all so creative and I mean creative when they come over they go away for hours and go into imagination land and dream up all sorts of things,” Abel said, “I just thought they would love to come see it.”   Watching the movie you can feel each group’s passion for their toy.  

   Maya’s friend Samantha describes some of the inventions, ”It was cool… they had.. different things.. like one person did boogie boards with a light under.. one team did a punching bag…and they lit up randomly and you had to punch it.” 

  The toys that made it to nationals were the floating baseball set, the lighted punching bag, a lighted board game about the climate and endangered animals, another game about the challenges of life, a pop-culture survival board game and finally, the Buga Board, a floating boogie board with a viewer finder and light. 

  “I heard them laughing just really excited throughout the movie just like I thought they would be,” Abel says,” I wanted to get a copy of this movie and own it and show it.”     

   The director told me for now the movie is only playing at festivals, but they expect a distribution deal soon. So keep an eye out for Some Assembly Required in the DVD aisle.  

http://www.someassemblyrequiredthefilm.com/credits.shtml

  The food spread, which was right within eyesight of the people waiting, was mouth watering.

  It tasted even better than it looked. Or maybe it was just the first real food I have had in what.. oh 7 days.

  The best were the 7-layers sliders, a woman asked if she could have something taken off and the man behind the table said, “No. Per Rachel’s orders.”  Austin Catering brought and served the food, but they were all Rachel’s recipes. The guy told me the only change allowed was no meat for vegetarians. 

  It should tell you something that these are the first and only pictures of food I took at SXSW.

  Here some people eating… amazingly diverse crowd.

   A DJ was spinning inside the first room where the seating included hair dryers.

  This room had free t-shirts and Cd’s from The Cringe. A line led into the back tented area where a stage was setup. 

   Rachel came out to introduce her husband, John Cusimano’s band - The Cringe.

  “When I was ready to marry him,”she told the crowd, “I said he can’t be a picky eater and since he is a musician, his band can’t suck!”

  The crowd laughed and Ray went on, “because one thing a woman can’t fake it liking good music.”

  She yelled out, “Here is the CRINGE!”, and her husband appeared. They kissed as she left the stage.

 Here’s a sample of the Cringe : 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QT4XV3SEpf4

   Now I have to tell you much of the audience did not look like they have spent too much time at Alternative Rock concerts. During two songs, Cusimano jumped into the crowd and walked around singing with his guitar. I imagine he is used to being pawed all the way out and back, but this crowd just politely watched and smiled. About mid-way through the set most people were dancing to the music.

  Cusimano sang a song he says was written about his wife. “It’s called Burn,” he told the crowd. “But it is not about her cooking it is about another kind of burn if you know what I mean.” 

    The BIG surprise came when Houston native, Billy Gibbons from ZZ Top came out and added his infamous sound to the mix. He, also, took time to show Cusimano lots of love with pats on the back.

  Here’s little bit of Gibbons on stage with The Cringe :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SapFZGfSSAw

  Just as the final song was wrapping up Cusimano began slamming his guitar on the stage…

  He tossed it down into the crowd and a woman and man reached for it at the same time… when he saw the woman was Rachel Ray the man let go.

  She kissed the guitar and then gave it to the man.

   Pretty Cool.

  The search for food led a friend and I to this place…   It was VERY popular.

   Breakfast tacos.. but wait.. they were out! So we had taco – tacos… still on flour tortillas, but with things like chicken and beef. 

  It was sort of like watching performance art, the activity of making tacos and then the running commentary of these guys.

   I saw a Cincinnati band at noon called Bad Veinsperform at the Mohawk. I know I have said it before, but I really like this venue. According to music watchers, this band is an “up and comer”.  It is two young guys, one sings and one works the drums like an aerobic activity. 

Sebastien Schultz is kind of a small guy but he pounds away at those things. It is one of the first times I have really noticed AND watched the drummer.

The lead singer, Benjamin Davis sings into a phone receiver attached to the microphone, and sometimes a megaphone, to get this sort of surreal sound.  It adds a unique flavor to the music.

Here’s a bit of one of their music, so you can hear it for yourself:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SL7cBZEY-u4

I hit the Rachel Ray Party.. the complete story with pictures is in the next post..

After that, being stuffed and ears still ringing I went over to the Convention Center for the FlatStock show.

It has all sorts of screened art, mostly from album covers.

I found several neat pieces.

The next stop was a bit of a haul to Waterloo Park.

It was a free open concert. Lots of different people from locals and SXSW people to families.

There were three stages where bands and comedians had been performing all day.

I saw a band called Islands.

 And the Breeders closed out the show.

 And with that… the festival was over.. at least for me.

 Tons to write, I have several stories from earlier in the festival to get on here and a drive home a long drive home.

So check back later for Rachel Ray’s party & pics, that local band from League City, an interview with Moby and finally a review on Some Assembly Required.   

Well double that again for being able to mix music AND food.

I just left her music showcase at SXSW and have to say it was great! Pictures are coming – but let me tell you she put out the best spread of anyone here.. including NPR and they had baby chop beef sandwiches.

There were 7-Layer sliders, macaroni & cheese, ribs, skillet BBQ chicken and 3 flavors of mojito – original, mango and passion fruit. Now Rachel wasn’t the one slaving away behind the serving tables, but don’t think for a minute she wasn’t in charge.

I heard a woman ask if she could have the baby burgers with something left off, the guy serving them up said “Nope, per Rachel’s orders.” The food came from Austin Catering but they were ALL Rachel’s recipes. And they tasted very high class for a crowd that had probably been eating pizza at midnight from a truck the night before.

  Ray’s husband and bandmates from the Cringe took the stage. It took a while but the crowd eventually warmed to him and got into the music. It seemed they may have toned down the action a bit for this crowd.

  More later.. they are closing down the press room and literally pulling the computers out beside me.

  I am hoping to see a few Houston bands tonight.. I’ll load pics tomorrow.

  Today was the day I learned that having a SXSW Music Badge is a cool thing.. but having a Badge and a friend is even better. Even the people who had paid somewhere between $400 to $600 dollars for their piece of plastic and paper had to stand in the heat.  Those with wrist bands SOMETIMES managed to get in, but even the free parties had a price, because if you didn’t have one of those two things you didn’t get in.

  No magic NPR moment today. I didn’t get into the Voice party, but a friend who did said they were out of gift bags anyway. And that is the buzz word around here during the day… who gets swag and what swag… anything free, especially food is a win.

  I met up with some friends and we wandered around and stumbled into a bar with an outside stage – the Wombats were playing. They are a British band, sort of bouncy bubblegum pop. The songs were really energetic and as you can see the crowd were right on board, clapping along.

  The friend I was hanging out with is Whitney Matheson who write for USATODAY. She was having a MeetUp with fans of her blog, “PopCandy”. I’ll put up a story later with pictures.  There was a guy who drove all the way from Houston just to meet her.  It is always interesting to see, in person, a group of people who like the same things but have never met. The room was a random group of about 70 people that just by their look you would never put together. Always fascinating.

  From there we ate at a really nice sandwich shop. I wish I could remember the name. It was a group of about 7 of us who walked from the PopCandy thing, sort of an after part. I was too hungry to notice the sign, but the roasted chicken sandwich with humus was really good.

  No one really had a music plan for the night so we followed up on a rumor that MIA was giving a surprise concert at the Whisky Bar. She was but cancelled, so everyone split up and Whit and I went on to the Mohawk Club. It’s where I saw the Fatal Flying Guilloteens the other night. I really like this venue. so many options from the ground to two separate balcony patios.

  It was a weird night.. first 3 sings in to the Nashville punk band, okay first.. absorb that.. Nashville Punk Band… yeah I know, weird right? Be Your Own Pet, was 3 slamming songs into their set when the microphone stopped working.. then the electronics. Word through the crowd was the generator had run out of gas.

  Now imagine this… a slamming, pumped up, charged, punk band stopping cold. Yeah not a pretty picture. I have video and pictures…

  Also on the menu… J Mascis and formerly of Sonic Youth, Thurston Moore. I have street dancing and some really random things…

BUT I have to get out of here to hit a concert and then catch Rachel Ray and her showcase. 

  Pictures, video and more coming soon… plus an interview with a disgruntled singer who proves not everybody loves SXSW, even when they get in.

The first band I went to see Wednesday night was the Fatal Flying Guilloteens.

 The stage was outside at the Mohawk club.  It was packed with people who were all getting into the music. 

 Michael Bonilla, lead singer/drummer told me the name, Fatal Flying Guilloteens, comes from an old, and they say not particularly good, Kung Fu Movie.

“The premise was so ridiculous but it was something that caught our attention,” and Michael says, “It was something that didn’t .. well we didn’t possibly imagine we would still be doing this.”

Drummer and Guitarist John Adams says chimes in, “We probably would have thought about it a little more.”

  The band says a crazy name was okay at the time because they weren’t going to become a real band. It was just a stunt they pulled for a party.  A decade later the name has stuck and so has the group of guys who continue to make music.

“This band was started 10 years ago as a joke and after the first show everybody was like well we won’t do that again ..  and it just the response has been good enough to keep it going for another year .. another show… another tour,” says lead guitarist, Erik Bogle. “We started out with the purest of intention to get together and make music.”

  Bonilla, agreeing, says, “This is certainly a hobby that has gone way too far… ” to which Adams adds, ” Yeah – a hobby gone horribly wrong.”

   If the audience is any judge , you can check off making good music. Lead singers, Bonilla and Shawn Adolph do double duty on drums and guitar respectively. John Adams plays drums and guitar with Bogle taking lead guitar.

“We are not a huge band … we do tour the country and try to make it,” says Bogle, “ .. it might be a bad idea but it is too much fun to quit, I guess.”

  This is the fourth trip to SXSW for the group, but Bonilla says it took going out of state to get into the festival.

“The weird thing is a lot of Houston bands have a problem getting in to SXSW,” Bonilla says,”… we have been fortunate enough to work with labels that were outside of Texas that were active in making showcases here.”

  The band says the upside to being a working band in Houston is the freedom that comes with it.

“What is good about being in Houston and being a rock band is you are kind of off the radar,” Bogle says,” so you are free to do what you want to do and you are not trying to impress anybody.. you are just trying to make some noise.”

  And that is something these guys know how to do. You can hear a little of their music here. I recorded it off my camera but it gives you an idea…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5r_zphXUpY

  This one is just so you can see more of the band. 

  So if it is so hard to make it to SXSW, why make the trip to Austin?  Bogle says it’s all about the possibilities.

 ” Yeah, I am playing music and drinking beer but …” Bogle says, “… I got three business cards.. a Japanese distribution company and some guys who are doing ringtones. You meet so many people in the industry who are looking for you to do something.“

  And then there are the fans to be made.

 ”Whenever we have toured .. we always run into people who are like ‘yeah, we saw you at SXSW two years ago’.. ” says Bonilla, ” .. and they were from New York, Philadelphia..  East coast, west coast but not living anywhere close to Texas.”

  Tours and gigs like this one at SXSW aside, the guys still haven’t quit their day jobs.  Bonilla works at a bookstore, John Adams works at a box office, and Bogle is a bartender at Rudyard’s Pub.

 So what keeps them coming back for more…  

 ”Making those great memories… there are a lot of bad shows,” Bogle says, ”you know you play for 5 people in Minneapolis … I think it just washes it all out when you do finally get in front of a giant group of people who are into what you are doing. It pushes out all of the running out of gas money .. van breaking down and all that stuff. It kind of makes it okay I guess.”

   You can find the Fatal Flying Guilloteens on Itunes or thanks to their record label, French Kiss, in most stores.  The nature of the title of their new album means you won’t be finding it in places like Wal-Mart. And the band still plays in Houston but not as much.

  Adams says, ” A lot of our favorite places to play have closed, The Proletariat, Mary Janes. So now we are down to 2 or 3 venues in Houston.” 

 To find out when and where you can see them live check out their myspace page:

www.myspace.com/fatalflyingguilloteens

    Tonight it was Katie Stuckey and the Fitness but on any given night that could change. 

   Katie Stuckey laughs as she tell the story behind the bands ever changing name,”We change it now all the time. It used to be Katie Stuckey and the Swagger. Someone said I am kind of over that and I said well ya’ll can change it. Do what ever you want.”   

   On the way to SXSW someone in the van yelled out “fitness”… So tonight it’s Katie Stuckey and the Fitness.

 ”I don’t like to just say Katie Stuckey because it is not me, it is a band,” Katie says,”We all work on the music together and so we can’t settle on anything so we change it .. every show whatever we come up with driving to the venue.”

    “We play in a lot of country venues but I don’t think we are pop country,” Stuckey says, “..I think we are a little bit folk-rock-alternative country.”

  Wednesday night they were one in a series to take a turn on the stage at the Velveeta Room. A small venue with about 50 seats, the room is about half full at 11:00pm.  

   Stuckey says to be picked to play is a nice treat. “It is a push in the right direction like hey you are doing a good thing …” Stuckey tells us, “ it doesn’t mean anything necessarily .. kind of  a little bit of recognition for the hard work you have to put into it . 

    The Houston native can also be seen at her second job.. yoga instructor in Highland Village. 

Whatever their name Stuckey and her band are certainly on a roll. After this performance they will sing at the Armadillo Palace back in Houston on Saturday.   Next Friday, they will hit the stage at the Continental Club.

 Here is the link to the band’s SXSW website and information :  http://2008.sxsw.com/music/showcases/band/1384.html

  Thursday went from chilly to summer fun in the sun weather.. it was downright HOT by the time the sun set.

  The streets are filled with people.. really interesting people… scattered from venue to venue. During the day there are private parties.. with intimmate concerts all over town.. they don’t kick off until about noon. Music lovers work on a completely different clock than the film people.

  That’s a good thing – fewer conflict. I wanted to catch a move called Some Assembly Required which is about the the national Toy Challenge. It was AMAZING. Lots of fun and something anyone with kids is going to want to see. The movie followed 6 teams kids from around the country as they develop an idea, create the toy and finally go to San Diego for the yearly contest. It was really well done. I’ll have some more about it in a bit, I talked to the director and this mom who saw the move and was watching for the second time with her daughter.

  I hit the NPR party – supposedly it was the ticket to have today – I didn’t ahve a ticket but I had the next best thing, a friend who did have a ticket! I was hanging out to see a movie when I got the call. Whoever the “they” is that said this was the best spot in town was right.  The lineup was incredible.  I have some pics and notes, and my incredible amatuer version of sound and picture links coming up… but the lineup of Indie bands hand picked by the folks who know over at NPR was as follows : AA Bondy – a harmonica & guitar playing master from Alabama, the smooth and fun Yeasayer, Bon Iver- a band with two guys who sound a lot like Simon & Garfunkel and according to those in the know, the hottest up and coming band around… Vampire Weekend – I have to admit on this one “they” might be right.

I have got to get some breakfast… so I’ll be right back.