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Thursday
Anodyne Records Showcase:
Ok, seriously an hour to find an F'n parking spot!?!?! Come on Austin;
prepare a little bit more for the thousands of people who come to
this festival. After that coveted parking spot was found I hit up
the Anodyne Records showcase at Room 710. Putting aside that they're
a Kansas City based label, it was a good showcase. It was a colorful
mix of punk rock, chaos instigators, indie tendencies and new wave
music reminiscent of Placebo. I mean The Architects,
The Roman Numerals and The Life And Times... what else
could anybody ask for in the middle of the afternoon on a Thursday?
Good times.
 Yaris
Day Party?:
Taking a complete 180 from the dark, cool, rock filled club I stopped
next door. I'm not sure the official name, but it was a day party
sponsored by Yaris. All I do remember is 3 things that made it the
best day party: 1 - Ice cream. And not like custard. I'm talking ice
cream sandwiches and popsicles, the kind of stuff you'd buy for $3
out the side of a big truck. Well this time it was out the back of
a PT cruiser, but I still got a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
ice cream with bubblegum. Yes, I was 6 again!; 2- Arts and crafts.
There was a Toyota sponsored table handing out flavored water and
letting you make a t-shirt or buttons. I totally made some buttons;
3- And most important, Cloud Cult, a truly amazing band from
Minnesota. They have some of the craziest energy I have seen yet.
You take a lead singer, a guitarist, a cellist, a drummer, a violinist,
a keyboard and 2 painters and put them all on stage at the same time
and you're going to have one cool performance. I caught them at last
year's festival where they played a good 45 min set. This year, I
felt a little deprived with only fifteen minutes.
Cedar Door:
Later on the sun went down and I high-tailed it to the Cedar Door.
Why, you may ask? Well for Wheatus and Presidents Of The
United States Of America of course! Talk about trip back in time.
Watching "Teenage Dirtbag" and "Peaches" performed
live right after each other made me feel a little nostalgic for the
'90s. But only a little. Now I caught PUSA last year at Maggie Mae's
Rooftop and I have to say I enjoyed that performance better. Different
setting, less people, and more intimate. Made you feel more special
for being a SXSWer. In the end, I'll probably catch those guys at
every SXSW, no matter the venue; I'll make it my tradition.
Beast House:
It was nearly 1am, I had dropped off a few of my drunk friends at
their place and was headed to bed myself. When out of the blue I get
a text message from my friend Jeriney. Jeriney is a radio DJ from
KC and had been working at the Beast House that week, a venue sponsored
by Camel with bands throughout the day. Well, that night had been
a private performance by Story Of The Year, the only way you
could get in was with tickets and the only way to get a ticket was
basically if you were a Camel exec. So needless to say I was shocked
when she tells me that they opened up the show and that I should get
my butt there as fast as I could. Of course I wasn't going to pass
up this opportunity. So after finding the quickest parking spot all
week, I booked it to the corner of 6th and Red River. I made it by
1:05am and Story played for a whole 'nother hour! It was incredible.
Their new album The Black Swan drops in a month and their headlining
tour was only a couple weeks away, so the guys were chalk full of
energy. The place had maybe 40 people; what that meant was I was standing
practically right next to not only Dan (lead vocals), but the
entire band. And afterwards we all just hung out. Yet another experience
that begs the saying: "Only at SXSW."
-Rachel Fredrickson
 Talk
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