SXSW Report : Checking Out and Checking In

by: Siria

Oh my Texas!

This year my patner in crime 74associates and I took the Kiss or Kill motto to heart when heading to Texas/SXSW "arrive early stay late," and instead of driving out we flew. Thankfully I had no showcases to put together and would get to be on my own time schedule. We had a lovely 25 minute stop in Albuquerquee where people more people boarded and some people actually (imagine that) got off in what appeared to be a small airport in the middle of nowhere. Then back in the air until our 2 hour layover in Dallas (we originally thought it was Denver and didnt get it) where we ran into many groups of women clad in denim from head to toe (I exaggerate not, and wish I had taken pictures), cowboys, and the McDonalds was having some sort of big gaudy purple and gold celebration (something I hope to not witness again - we saw a woman in panic mode over not getting her southern chicken sandwich in a timely fashion). When we finally headed back to our gate we learned that we had to wait longer due to our plane not having a gate to board through. There were also some other Austin bound people who had been waiting for hours for the apparently turbulent flying conditions to be cleared up, thank goodness we didnt have to wait too much longer as we all know how much I love to wait. The thing that struck me as odd were the number of people that appeared to know each other in our waiting area, it was a little disturbing.

Finally we arrived in TX and hailed a cab to our first hotel (while BSB and Silver Needle were on their "Blind in Texas" tour we went on our very own of the hotel circuit which we will call "Checking in and Checking Out" yeah... double entendres...bring 'em). We didn't head into the city as we were pretty wiped so we decided to just wait until Wednesday to start terrorizing the streets of Austin.



Wednesday

It begins...

Wednesday we had to check out of our first hotel and head to the second one of our "tour". So we checked in and headed back out to Austin in the gray drizzly weather. For some reason I can't recall what we did for the first few hours :(. I know that later in the evening we caught Silver Needle and BSB at the Blind Pig during one of their showcases of which we literally followed the sound of their music until we got to the venue. This is where we learned of the infamous "Blue Steel" (special powers that we witnessed first hand) and about "Winner" :). We spent part of the evening hanging out at The Blind Pig, then paid a visit to The Apple Bar where The Viper Room/Swinghouse/Hell Ya (etc.etc.) were holding their showcases complete with Casper (the Viper Room doorguy) working the door, followed by some time spent at Uncle Flirty's with more cocktails and beer Johnny99 style. Then 99 left us and Andre, Chris, Cooper, Greg, and Matt found us and off we headed to another party with the promise (the beginning of a string of many broken ones) of free alcohol. We got there and of course no free alcohol but there were still bands playing what felt like a house party (I think I feel like we kept going in the back way everywhere). We're sorry to have missed KorK but when I checked in on it everything was going just fine! This is the night that I referred to days later as the night where I wasn't really drunk (witnesses say otherwise). I almost got Andre in a fight (thank you and I'm sorry...Amanda would be proud) with a silly white suit wearing wannabe rock star who had decided to get a little too close (by this I mean pretty much kidnapping) a little too often for my liking. After this we were walking back down the streets of Austin where we ran into the fun boys of the Prix! They were heading back to their hotel and it turned out they were staying at the same one we were staying at(until checkout time the next day that is), we stayed out after they hailed their cab then finally the Silver Needles, BSBer's, and us parted ways and went back to our hotels. Who knows what time it was.


Thursday

More "Checking Out and Checking In"

After checking into our main hotel (where we would be spending the majority of our trip). We spent an hour at least possibly two waiting for a freakin cab...and ended up sharing a cab with two of the organizers (and djs) of that nights NASA Party. They are also opening up a new venue in downtown Santa Ana in the Arts District, they were on their way to set up for gig. We were on our way to the IndyHits/Band Promote Party at Guero's Taco Bar to support Mr. Mike Galaxy, we stayed long enough to say hi to all the right people and trick people into thinking we were staying for the show (we would've loved to but there was no free food nor alcohol and we were starving and lacking intoxication). The Weather Underground among other bands were scheduled to play. We made our way by walking (a looooong ways) to the Filter Parties back on Congress and Fourth (a ways away from Guero's to say the least) where along the way we ran into a guy (Austin native who looked familiar to us) who tried to coerce us into going to see a free off the beaten path performance from the Cold War Kids, which after some deliberation we had to turn down, since we were trying to make it to Cedar Street (Filter) in time to see Aqualung. We finally made it to the venue and caught up with Shameless Andie (who is the photo editor at Filter and my partner in Shameless Ent.) but realized we had the date wrong and Aqualung would not be taking the stage until the next day. We caught the end of Midnight Movies, The Besnad Lakes, Kenna, Youth Group, and Badly Drawn Boy. Zack Galifianakis was the MC. After we ate at a sports bar, and discussed the art of a sport bar and tried to think of different activities the bar could have. Next we went to our safety spot for the past two years the bar who's name I can never remember (Something like El Capitan, Conquistador, or Cabo... something along those lines) It has a great patio and Martin from the Letter Openers knows the owner from a while back. We then spent a long time being bored and listening to a boy and his dreams about being a firestarter who works at a flower shop and a girl who is in the Austin Roller Derby league who's boyfriend djs at the Roller Derby Events...EXCITING!!! We couldn't take it anymore and left spending more time being bored and just standing in one place waiting (for nothing in particular) and refusing to move. Then we ran into the Randies or rather I spotted them and yelled at them/for them/towards them, where they confused our kazoos for vibrators (I guess some company was giving away vibrators) then we finally left I think...fast forward to later that night where rejoined up with Shameless Andie and her friend Jamie at the Apple Bar for Valient Thorr (who were awesome!) and then headed to the NASA Party which was a trek and a half we made half the journey and then took one of the bike buggys the rest of the way (we were wearing heels and didnt know how much longer the place was). We got there in time for Spank Rock and again no free alcohol. We ran into the guys who we'd shared the cab with earlier, Andie and Jamie left after a little while, we met some guys (Austin Natives) who knew everyone at the party that we didnt really care to know. One kept a loaf of bread in commemoration of meeting 74associates, the party turned into a pumpkin at exactly 2 am, and they gave us a ride back to our hotel (we had them drop us off at the wrong hotel so they wouldnt know where we were staying) after that we called it a night.

Here is a video from Valient Thorr







Friday

No more checking out and checking in! Yay! This day we headed straight to the Vice Party to pick up our laminates for the Vice After Party on Saturday Night. We got there and had no desire to stick around despite the promise of Bloc Party, The Melvins, etc.. We made our way back to Cedar Street to ensure not missing Aqualung (74associates' dreamboat...sigh...) but not before stopping by a BBQ joint that had grape kool aid and sweet tea as their beverage options, their food was not great but maybe I had the wrong thing, I don't recall the name but think it was Ben's I can totally show you where it is though. We had a bout of deja vu while waiting to cross a street when we ran into someone we met last year in strangely enough the same way we ran into him last year who we will call Mr. Glitter from Roadrunner Records, who assured us they are still doing well and the signings continue. We made it in time to catch the Panda Band (who I don't really remember), Money Mark (from the Beastie Boys), and finally Aqualung. Next we wandered around for a little while and found nothing overly interesting so went to The Belmont where I lost my heart in TX to the upstairs patio where we sat watching the sun set with a crowd of rock star looking people and Tommy Sunshine djing behind us in between and after bands and saw MEW perform. I wanted to stay there forever but then it got dark and people left and it got cold so we left but not before being joined by BSB and Daniel and Andre of Silver Needle. I think after this we tried to make it to Public Enemy but thought better of it when we realized how far it really was. Mr. Matt Southwell was the voice of reason on this night. So the "voice of reason" +4 went back to their hotel and we kidnapped the Silver Needle frontman and went and got something to eat and then later did some barhopping and some catching up. We later caught up with Chris (drummer of Silver Needle aka Blue Steel who had come from the Public Enemy show) at The Blind Pig and were later joined by Johnny 99 who dropped in only for a little bit as he was on his way to see Sloan, we later parted ways with Dan and Chris and were leaving when I heard my name being shouted by "Hi It's Me Paul Palacios" and entourage who had just come from the iHeartComix Party that got shut down and we got lured back into hanging out some more, we then re-united with Johnny99 and we closed the night out at the bar who's name I forget.



Aqualung pic stolen from 74associates

Saturday

SXSW was taking its toll...we headed straight to Cedar Street for the free BBQ that we'd missed all week long. I really wanted to see The Fratellis and Mando Diao there but also wanted to see
The Walkmen at another party...I finally reasoned that I would pay to see The Walkmen anytime (plus who knows how their set went as their lead singer had just gotten out of jail after his late night arrest a few hours before their performance that day) but probably wouldnt pay to see the other bands so there we stayed the WHOLE day! We caught The Pipettes (who were totally entertaining and just plain cute and fun girls), Mando Diao (who were amazing live), Mew (who we stayed inside for as we'd just seen them, I imagined ways of making the bathroom line more exclusive and for VIP only while 74associates slept). Then the Fratellis took the stage. I have loved "Chelsea Dagger" for months now and so does anyone else I play it for. They were great overall but I would rather see them at night in a seedy bar with both me and them more intoxicated. They were followed by a special performance by Thurston Moore and friends that we didnt stick around for. We later went to a place called Noodleism with which I do not recommend you ever visit (their food is fine but their service...HORRIBLE...HORRIBLE...HORRIBLE!!!!), we got kicked out of there pretty much, seriously :).

We finally went back to the hotel room to get some rest before heading to the Vice Party later that night.

Here is a video from the Pipettes and they were just as fun live (if not more so)







Saturday Night - Part Two


Vice Saves Texas...

We aren't sure from what...possibly from old men at the Elks Lodge gawking down at passer-byers from their rooftop patio? We got to the Vice Afterparty at about 1:30 am (give or take an hour). It was in full swing and Against Me was on the stage. There was free Dewar's and we ran into Kiss or Kill's own Phi Phenomenom Zach (our visuals guy) who was hanging out with the peeps from Good Magazine, and Bedtime for Toys. Ran into a few other people as we pushed our way to the hard to get to rooftop patio and were just getting settled in and trying to get away from boring conversations when all of a sudden it sounded like a few people fell off the roof. Thankfully, noone did go over but the whole guardrail and brick wall did fall over. I guess people were trying to climb the wall to get to the roof and into the party as they were being hardcore about having the laminates to get in. In the end the roof was no longer safe and the police and firemen were called and the best party of all of SXSW was shut down for the second time that day (the first time is too long a story to get into). So approx. 400 people were stuck waiting for Taxis at this out of the way Elks Lodge. We were smart and walked away from the party not before taking some pics and saying some so longs to those we knew and found a cab rather quickly.




Here are some pics from the Vice Aftermath (photos by me and 74associates)








Sunday



We checked out and took all of our luggage (and made quite a scene) to have breakfast at the IHOP along with every other person staying near it. The manager had to watch our luggage while we ate, but he loved us and asked us to come back next year. We then were waiting for our cab to take us to the next hotel when I decided to try one final time with the hotel we had been at to give us the same rates as the next hotel would be and thankfully they did. We were sooo tired so we stayed in all day and watched way too much reality tv, Fresh Prince of Bel Air, and E! and caught up on emails. I thought the Girls Next Door were supposed to be way hot? They look like a lot of other girls I know.


Monday

Spent like 4 hours at the Austin airport and finally flew back to LA.

There were many more crazy characters along our trip but this is long enough as it is! Next year we are def. staying downtown (we get better and better at maximizing our trip each year)! Everyone into music should make it to SXSW at least once to experience it firsthand.

Advice for SXSW first timers - Stay as close to downtown (6th St.) as possible (or all your money will go to cabs), take the personal cell phone numbers of cab drivers and rickshaw guys, do try to get to the places with free food and free alcohol early (it doesn't last long). have a plan but don't expect to stick to it, RSVP to everything even if you think you won't attend them.