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This year's SXSW was a subdued affair for me. Unfortunately, I
had to leave early and missed the Monolith party where I would've
liked to reconnect with some music industry acquaintances, but by
the time Saturday morning rolled around, I was definitely ready
to jet. The roster of bands for this year left a bit to be desired
with regard to hooking up with old favorites or even a chance to
see any of the (rare) good new music I'd had the pleasure of listening
to in '06. I didn't set up any interviews, didn't hang out at any
after parties, didn't rub elbows at day parties, etc.
 However,
this is not to suggest that this was a wasted trip; I was in good
company the entire time, accompanied by my girlfriend, Noelle,
and I got a chance to see Austin from a bit of a different light.
First, there's the little canal area over by Habana Calle 6; it's
really a neat area that I'd only glanced at on occasion in years
past. There are some little tunnels and waterfalls over there that
afford visitors a quaint view of Austin's charm. Another thing we
noticed is that downtown Austin has no shortage of piles of rubble
and pools of standing water that persist where buildings once stood.
Walking among these piles of kipple is somewhat akin to viewing
the ancient ruins of old Europe. I find the existence of these sites
odd since the demand for real estate in the downtown area of any
major city is usually in such demand that the owner of any such
parcel would be quite remiss in the management of their affairs
to allow such a degraded state of their property. A lot of downtown
Austin looks this way, many of the operating venues can't possibly
make an even close approach to any sort of building code, but I
suppose that's simply part of the city's dilapidated charm.
Once you step outside the downtown area, particularly from the
other side of Town Lake, you see the gleaming, modern Austin that
is slowly being erected in the wake of the steady decomposition
of Old Austin. I suppose that's the price of progress, but I think
that it would be worthwhile to preserve the more historic aspects
of the city, rather than simply allow them to fall into ruin. Once
across Town Lake, we tried to get some pictures of some odd-looking
ducks, and while walking along the path, we crossed under a bridge
to find a bunch of people just sitting around. They seemed to be
waiting for something, but we weren't sure what, until I had connected
their presence to a sign under the bridge we had just walked under
telling us not to pick up any grounded bats. We waited around for
about 5 minutes when all of a sudden, thousands of bats began pouring
out from hidden recesses under the bridge's support beams. For several
minutes, a steady stream of bats took flight into the Austin skies,
and then they were gone.
 Following
the bat exodus, we headed over to the Town Lake Stage to catch Hawthorne
Heights, a punk band that Noelle likes, and to look around at
the wares plied by various vendors. Most of the "stuff"
being sold there seemed to come out of the old SNL skit about a
store of containers made explicitly so you could "put your
weed in it." Granted, most of these items were for smoking
weed, not actually storing it, but the near uniformity of the vendors
reminded me of it nonetheless. The Town Lake Stage also proved to
be the ideal locale to pick up one of the glowing Texas necklaces
being handed out by a beer company, and which we had previously
seen popping up all over Austin. I also had my first experience
with a funnel cake, which is sort of like a big, sloppy pile of
doughnut covered in powdered sugar. It was certainly good, but was
definitely a meal for two to share. They are most certainly not
endorsed by the American Heart Association. However, this was Thursday,
and our first band of the trip turned out to be the best.
 That
band was on Wednesday, and the band was I Can Lick Any Son Of
A Bitch In The House, a primarily southern rock band with a
penchant for dark and witty lyrics (Your love is like a bullet to
the brain…) and an homage to "The darkest soul that ever
lived… Andy Gibb." The band finished off with a
giant fuck you to funeral protester, Fred Phelps, and other
ultra-conservative villains. We caught some thoroughly bland and
disappointing Finnish rock before moving on to the Soho for  the
last two songs of Golden Boy which made me wish I'd caught
the rest of their set. Scissors For Lefty, the band we'd
arrived to see took too long to get any momentum, and their lead
singer seemed awful drunk. Another disappointment. We caught Single
Frame at the Hideout for a merely average set, but I did get
some good pictures of Adreon thrashing away on the kit. The
rest of Wednesday night failed to elicit much interest in my notepad.
Thursday started off with us wandering around since our prior method
of going to see bands based on how clever their band name was had
only paid off once, so we decided to let our ears lead us to the
place to be. Apparently, that was Stubbs to  catch
roughly half of Aqualung's set. They were a pretty good brit-pop
band with an excellent vocalist and a sound clear enough to listen
to without earplugs. Standing around seems to wear me out a lot
quicker than walking around, and by the time we hit the Exodus for
Against Me we were aching for a place to sit. Unfortunately,
all but two seats were taken for the upstairs Sire party. We were
lucky enough to snag those seats as we watched a beleaguered bouncer
tire of the task of continuously turning patrons away from some
lame private party. After awhile, we headed into the crowd for the
last few songs so I could get some pictures, and had probably the
best crowd experience of the trip. The patrons were obviously die-hard
fans who knew all of the words and sloshed beer all around. Moshing,
diving and surfing were the primary activities for the wild ones
in front while the rest of us reserved folk stood around and watched
it all unfold.
Friday started off with a jaunt to the Redrum to catch Denver band
Signal To Noise. They were a standard 4-piece rock band with
a lead singer who dressed like an '80s-era trucker. The band played
with a lot of energy and while I found the music to be a bit average,
they did play with a lot of energy and furor which made for an entertaining
live set. Later, we headed to the Elysium for Japan Night to watch
the all-girl Japanese brass band, Pistol Valve. They seemed
to cannibalize a variety of styles, principally ska. They seem at
times as little more than a novelty act, but their skill, flair
and big sound makes them highly entertaining nonetheless. The sweaty
crowd of nippophiles ate it all up and cheered loudly. We wandered
around the strip for a short while afterward, but called a night
rather quickly.
For Saturday, we stopped at the Flatstock Convention to appreciate
the poster art on display. I pondered the purchase of my favorite
Tara McPherson print, but ultimately decided that $400 was
more than my artistic appreciation warranted. I also discovered
that if you get there early enough that the SXSW staff puts out
the remaining swag bags on a cart and gives them away for free.
Noelle and I swooped down like vultures and began picking our way
through them. Mostly I was curious to see what $600 gets you above
the $160 I paid for my wrist band, and I'd have to say that the
bag was more than a little disappointing. Mostly a bunch of lame
magazines I wouldn't read and music samplers that I could get for
free anyway. The Voodoo doll was a nice touch, but hardly worth
the extra 400+ bucks. The swag bag gets a rating of "Totally
Gay" from me. The best free stuff was handed out in the streets,
with the mytoons.com LED flashlight lanyard taking first prize and
the blinking Texas necklaces a close second. And, I violated the
old adage about taking wooden nickels. It's sitting on my dryer
right now, saved from a trip through the wash. Those trinkets led
us to Gallery Lombardi at 602 W. 7th St. which has a nice collection
of odd, contemporary art from the likes of H.R. Giger, Gibby
Haynes, Clive Barker, Tara McPherson, and more. This
was our last stop before heading out of Austin for the higher and
drier climes of Colorado.
 Talk
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