Week 12 of 2010

This week was a short week for me at work. Had some meetings and then was off Wednesday to Friday. Reason for the vacation? South by SouthWest (SXSW). For more information about what SXSW is, click here. The following post will hopefully give you an idea of what the music portion of SXSW was for a first time attendee (me).

SXSW is held in Austin, TX, so a quick trip for me from DFW. I got to go with Melanie and Crystal Hartman. Two of the most informed people I know concerning new bands coming out and what is going on with the music scene. I admit that I have been out of it for a while and rely on these two people to keep me up to date. If you ever look at what I have on my iPhone, you can tell. So we drove down to Austin on Thursday. We drove directly to the Yard Dog just in time to see Japandroids.

We were really there to see We Are Scientists

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and Maps & Atlases

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I was really impress with both bands. Will be buying their albums shortly. In-between sets while removing the previous bands and setting up the new bands, they had DJ’s playing. This group was called Hood Internet. They were good also.

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About that time we started to get hungry, so we walked across the street to Home Slice Pizza. Seriously good pizza. The funny thing was that while we were waiting for out pizza, we ran into Marc Bianchi from Her Space Holiday. Mel and I talked to him for a little bit to see how he was doing and we went our separate ways. Really nice guy if you ever get to meet him.

After eating we headed further down South Congress to Trophy’s Bar and Grill to watch Peelander-Z

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The has to be one of the craziest shows I have ever seen. Music was good but you have to see it just for the performance they give.

After this we headed back north to find something to eat. Had dinner at Doc’s Motorworks Bar & Grill.

From there, is was further north to the bars. First stop was One 2 One. This place has an awesome roof top patio where we hung out for a while. Then went downstairs to listen to the band The Rescues.

I was really impressed with their music. After just about every song they would change instruments. Their final song was a 4 part acapella that sounded really good but very slow and too long.

Our group broke up after this and the four of us staying with Katie went to more bars until finally getting home at about 3:00 am. Then is was up at 11:00 am and back out by 1:30.

Friday

This day was awesome. Sun was out and the weather was beautiful. Our first stop for the day was The Music Gym and Lounge for the Danish Dynamite Day Party.

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I thought I had more pictures of this party……

Next Mel and I had to go and get our wristbands for the Levis Fader Fort venue. Got there at a good time so it didn’t take too long to pick ours up. On our way back, Mel heard a band playing and wanted to check them out, so we got into the Mess With Texas party and listened to Oh No Ono’s.

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They were seriously a really good band. Definitely check them out if you get a chance. For the rest of the day, it was back and forth between The Music Gym, Levis Fader Fort, and the Mess With Texas party. We ended the day at Mess With Texas Party and heard Mariachi El Bronx

and Frightened Rabbit. (Don’t have pictures from that.) Finally we headed back to downtown to Shakespeare’s Pub and Kiss & Fly. Then I got an text from Josh about a band called Breakestra. So I left Mel, Jason and Katie at Kiss & Fly and met up with Josh. The short time I was there, the band was awesome. They played funk music and definitely a download for me. The reason I was only there for a short while, I started getting text from Jason that he needed help with Mel and Katie. So I left and met them at Six Lounge. After much convincing, we left downtown and headed home for the night.

Saturday.

WTF. It is all I have to say. Over night the temperature dropped 30 degrees to about 44. And it was windy so it felt colder than that. I didn’t do my homework so off to Target to find some warmer clothes and a hat. By the time we made it anywhere, it was 5:00 pm at Levis Fader Fort. And we were there all day. It was too cold to really move around a lot like we did the day before. The bands we saw there were Washed Out

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Real Estate

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and Sleigh Bells

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Before Sleigh Bells performed there was a rapper named Yelawolf. I don’t like that much rap but he was good. Once Sleigh Bells were done, we left and headed back to 6th street. Started at Pete’s Piano Bar.

Guys were seriously good piano players. Then it was off to Spill Bar, The Marq, Red Fez and Six Lounge. As you can imagine, we were hungry by this time so Katie and Jason took us to Magnolia Cafe for the Egg scape.

Delicious.

So that was my SXSW 2010 trip. Got to see a lot of new bands, walked many miles, made new friends, hung out with old friends, and just relax. If you can call partying with this group relaxing.