SXSW Day Four: Stacy on 3/17/07

By: Stacy Schwartz

Asobi Seksu - Photo by Stacy Sandstrom

1:15pm: Wake up. Really. It’s been a looonnnggg three days/nights so far and the rest is needed. 

2:00pm: Rain, our cabbie, picks us up for the last time at the hotel. His son is with him and is very sweet. It’s also St. Patty’s Day today. I have my green shamrock t-shirt on. I don’t know what to expect as far as how people here will celebrate since SXSW is going on. Guess we’ll see.

2:30pm: Neil, Jim and I have made it downtown to the convention center. We stop by Flatstock so I can pick up my posters from those poor Kentucky boys who have been holding my poster tube for two days. Thank goodness USPS is there when we arrive and I am able to ship my posters home. Yesss! Neil and Jim have a friend working upstairs in the convention center at the music trade show so we meet Matt Perkins and head upstairs. The trade show mostly consists of places that promise to promote your band, a Verizon stop where you can sit in those egg chair things from the 70s, a Barnes & Noble bookstore where they have book signings each day, and other various vendors a musician may want to make contact with. I pick up a few free CDs while Neil & Jim go see their friend and then we’re off again. 

3:00pm: Head over to Mohawk again to see exactly who’s playing the shows there today. Menomena is at 3:30 p.m., so I deicide to stay for that. Jim splits and Neil goes next door to Club de Ville to check out a different band. When I get into Mohawk, Asobi Seksu is on stage. She has a great voice, but I only get to see the last two songs in her set. I walk in just as she’s telling the crowd that they should feel free to crash the stage after the last song to “fuck shit up.” This is, in fact, what about 20 members of the crowd decide to do after the last song.   Cymbals are tossed about, tambourines are shaken and a beer is thrown from the stage. Can you guess where it landed? Yes, on me. As I’m now totally acclimated to the SXSW insanity, I just check to make sure the camera isn’t wet and keep shooting.

3:35pm: Waiting for Menomena (from Portland, Ore.) to take the stage. The DJ is fantastic, but I have to laugh because right now he’s playing “I’ve Got A Crush On You” by The Jets. I am afraid. 

4:10pm: Menomena finally goes on. Lead singer Justin Harris comments about the incredible heat on stage by saying, “Thanks to Mohawk for the greenhouse up here. Seriously, I’m growing plants out of my scalp.” If you saw the stage you’d understand. It’s a tented stage but because there is a patio up above it, they put a clear plastic roof on it. Yes, let’s please fry the talent like a bug with a magnifying glass. 

4:45pm: There’s a special guest at this party and we are told that it’s The Polyphonic Spree! Originally they were going to play at Mohawk, but the entire band didn’t fit on that stage. Instead the show is moved to Club de Ville, where Neil is already. I get the pleasure of waiting in a ridiculously long line to see if I can get into the show. It doesn’t look good. I am waiting with some people who are actually from Austin and we talk about music, the festival and Minneapolis. I am happy to report that I have yet to meet a mean person here at SXSW. The overall feeling of most people at SXSW seems to be very happy and laid-back. The Austin kids have been going from show to show all week. Their favorite show so far was Blonde Redhead on Wednesday night at Emo’s. I had ditched it in favor of Voxtrot on Wednesday. Oh well, such is life. 

The Polyphonic Spree - Photo by Stacy Sandstrom

5:20pm: I am allowed entry to Club de Ville, where I am able to meet Neil and watch The Polyphonic Spree set up their stage.

5:35pm: Awesome. This concert is one of my favorites so far here at SXSW. There are around 20 people on stage and all of them are band members. Their songs profess happiness, freedom and love. It’s an inspiring set. 

6:20pm: Neil and I leave Club de Ville and head back toward 6^th Street. Neil has a friend from London to meet, so he leaves me. I decide to sit down on a corner and figure out my schedule for the night. I run into the reporter from the Star Tribune I met on Wednesday night. We talk schedules and bands, which is pretty much all you talk about here, and he heads off to shoot some street scenes. I don’t know what to do so I just start walking down 6^th Street to see what I can see and maybe take some interesting photos. A person on the street stops me to ask where a venue is. His name is Mark (he’s a photographer too) and I have my map, so I loan it to him and we talk a bit. I end up tagging along with him and a bunch of friends for dinner at a local restaurant. It is a lot of fun and it’s great to meet more musicheads and photographers.

8:45pm: Leave dinner (thank you!) and head over to Eternal to see Money Mark. Money Mark’s real name is Mark Ramos-Nishita and he’s worked for years with The Beastie Boys. Most of his work up until February 2007 was unreleased and underground. His music reminds me of Stevie Wonder, as it has that funky pop sound. He’s really great and I had a good time dancing around with my camera at the venue. It was packed and there were people hanging over the balcony above the stage to catch a glimpse of Money Mark. One of Money Mark’s more enjoyable tunes was premised with, “I dedicate this song to all the perpetrators in the world… some of which are in this room.” The song was “Sneaky People.” Great show, decent venue, but it was time to move on.

9:50pm: Walk to Red 7, a bar on the outskirts of the SXSW festival. I’m going to see Tia Carrera, a band which I mistakenly think is that chic from Wayne’s World. Her name, however is Tia Carrere. So close, yet so far. The band is a heavy metal band from Austin and I have never seen so many Axl Rose look-a-likes in my life. It’s not my scene so I leave one song into the set.

10:25pm: I arrive at Maggie May’s Rooftop and am thrilled to secure a spot near the front of the stage thanks to some nice Austin locals who let me budge in. Most of the audience is at the venue early as both Bowling for Soup and The Presidents of the United States of America are on later in the night. Right now the band The Draymin are on. They’re from Dunfermline, UK. Don’t ask me where that is. They are ok, but it’s a heavier kind of slow indie rock and I’m not in the mood for this at all. I sigh and wait patiently for my beloved The Hazey Janes, who are scheduled to go on stage at 11 p.m. 

The Hazey Janes - Photo by Stacy Sandstrom

11pm: Whoo hoo! The Hazey Janes (from Dendee, Scotland) are finally on stage and playing live in front of my face. I am so very happy. They have a ton of energy and aren’t nearly the alt.country force they appear to be on their records. These are rockers! They play each song full on with completely intensity and a love for the music. They are fabulous. The sound in the venue isn’t the best so I can’t hear the words clearly, but I’m pretty sure they play an entire set of songs I don’t know. Oh well. Still happy. 

11:40pm: I leave Maggie May’s and head over to the Habana Calle 6 Patio to see +/-. The venue at Habana is basically in a grotto and the balcony is set about one-and-a-half stories down from the street. It’s nice and actually sort of a relief as it seems far away from the craziness of 6^th Street. I meet both Jeff Johnson from Cloud Cult and Erik Stromstad from The Varsity Theater at the show. They just came from seeing Twin Citian Brother Ali perform his showcase set. Just as the band is about to begin I get a text message from Neil. He’s stuck in line outside and can’t get into the show. Ugh. +/- starts and they are wonderful. There’s a great clarinet part in the first song and I actually wish they’d use it more (not something I usually can say about that instrument). After two songs Neil makes it into the venue and joins Jeff, Erik and I. +/- are upbeat, yet still mellow and that’s pretty much what I need from my last (gasp!) concert at SXSW. 

+/- Set List:
Let’s Build a Fire
Fadeout
Steal the Blueprints
The Important Thing is to Love
Yo Yo Yo (Please Don’t Fall In Love)
Making (?)
One Day You’ll Be There
Leap Year
Trapped Under Ice Floss
I’ve Been Lost

12:45am:  Erik and Jeff beg us to go to see Junior Senior, but Neil and I must head back to the hotel to pack up and write our daily HowWasTheShow journals (we’re so responsible). We have a flight that leaves Austin at 6 a.m. I am tired just thinking about that. There will be no bed tonight.

2:55am: It seems so early, but I’m done with writing for the day. SXSW has been an amazing, ridiculous, crazy experience and I’m not quite ready for it to be done, but yet I am ready for normal sleeping schedules and food at regular times. Austin is wonderful and I didn’t meet a bad person on the trip. I’m thankful I got to experience it all. Remind me again, when’s next year’s SXSW start? I’m coming back.

Artist Info: +/-, Asobi Seksu, Menomena, Money Mark, The Hazey Janes, The Polyphonic Spree

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