TEXAS TIME!

I was in Austin Texas for 4 days for the annual SOUTH BY SOUTHWEST music conference. It was a total blast! I met lots of people, saw lots of bands, drank lots of free beer and eat lots of BBQ!!

Here are a couple of stories:

Vice Recordings had a glorious after-party on Sat night featuring THE STILLS, THE FEVER and DEATH FROM ABOVE. It was the perfect way to end
the SXSW festivities on Sat night. The weather was superb, tons of good peeps and the bands tore it up. Especially my faves THE STILLS - they played one of the best shows I've seen them do (and I've seen tons).They were a tad sloppy, a tad raging drunk but still oh-so-on-it. Their songs get better every time!

Another highlight had to be sneaking in the back door of Buffalo Billiards in order to see my other fave band Franz Ferdinand. And it was my second time trying around the back. Once I got to the stairs to go to second floor where the band was playing I convinced the bouncer that I had to be there and he believed me. Thank goodness! The show was wicked! The best part was when I said hello to the FF manager - he said 'oh you got in ok?' and I said 'no, I sneak in the back door to get in' and he said
'good for you!'.

Other good bands I saw were:

Midnight Movies
Death From Above
Snow Patrol
The Like
Head Automatica
Gram Rabbit
Mean Reds
The Walkmen
Patrick Park
Broken Social Scene
Clearlake
John Vanderslice
Webb Brothers
The Thrills
Posies
Ken Stringfellow (solo)
The Smugglers
Another Blue Door

I was a tad disappointed by:
Scissor Sisters
The Killers
Aqualung
Architecture In Helsinki

Oh and I had a couple of 'celebrity' run-ins. I got to meet Don Was and Johnny Knoxville at the Continental Club on Friday night. They and Kris Kristofferson were
there to see Shooter Jennings perform. And standing by the stage next to me was Shooter's girlfriend Drea De Matteo from The Sopranos. I didn't know that Shooter
was Waylon Jennings' son. He actually put on a good show. He should be opening for Kid Rock.

And I guess I should mention that Johnny Knoxville is looking for distribution for his new label - JOHNNY KNOXVILLE RECORDS. (This is what we spoke about when I
met him). His first signing is his cousin Roger Alan Wade who does country a la Ween '12 Golden Country Greats'. He had a deal with Dreamworks originally but
it fell through when it was absorbed into Interscope.

Johnny was also at the VICE SXSW party on Sat night. He sure was stumbling when he was leaving...love it!

And I also met Tim Burgess who was spinning cool tunes at Factory People on South Congress Ave on Friday afternoon.

All in all - a superb SXSW experience for me.

cheers,
Catonia