My SXSW

Wrap It Up -- 2011

2011-03-20T08:47:00.000-06:00

Documentaries: Fightville, A Matter of Taste, Conan O'Brien Can't Stop, Dragonslayer, Hit So Hard, plus programs of short docs, made both by adults and high schoolers

Met: Conan O'Brien! and John Oliver! and Dave Foley! And Debbi Peterson!

Didn't meet: Jon Hamm, but I saw him at "my" showcase. There was a possible sighting of Michael Cera.

Interactive: Barry Diller, Blake Mycoskie, BurdaStyle core conversation

Music: Foo Fighters, Sondre Lerche, Anamanaguchi (all with the kid in tow)

Fireworks

Saw: full clubs. Apparently, everyone in them understood they needed to present some form of tender (cash, badge, or wristband) for their admission. Something for something. Fascinating.

What is the matter with German rock?

2008-03-17T19:02:00.004-06:00

It's a cliché that happens to hold some water — Germans have trouble rocking convincingly. You've got your Tangerine Dream, your Trio, your Kraftwerk, und so weiter, but little in the way of contemporary, indie (or major) rock. Plenty of dance, electronica, and DJs, but no German version of The Shins. Or Neil Young. Or Dylan. Or The Clash. Und so weiter.

Why should this be? The German music market is (or was) the fourth or fifth in the world or something like that.

To explore this question, I asked Peter Radzhun, the celebrated Radio One host in Berlin. Peter loves and adores rock, and that means North American and British music. He has interviewed absolutely any and every famous performer you can name. His long experience in radio, love of music, and excellent good humor makes him a rather fascinating person to talk to. So I knew Peter would not mind if I posed the question: What's the matter with German rock?

His reply was sobering. First, he said, Nazi extermination of the Jews stamped out a critical portion of the creative and artistic culture in Germany. (I guess that should have been obvious.)

Then, he continued, men like his father were conscripted into the war. They spent years killing people (or worse). After that, they spent years in a Russian prison camp. By the time they got home again, their youth was over, not just in years, but emotionally as well. So there was no youth culture for them to give birth to, much less experience.

So making their way through an art form like rock has been rather difficult. And now I finally get that.

I am weary

2008-03-16T03:53:00.001-06:00

It's almost 5 in the morning. I am weary of the smell of unwashed hair and cigarettes, and I would like a few thousand people to go home now.

Little Jackie

2008-03-15T16:26:00.004-06:00

The act is called Little Jackie, after that old Lisa Lisa and the Cult Jam song, but the frontwoman is Imani Coppola. I find her song, "The World Should Revolve Around Me" totally infectious and it just reminded me of maybe 70s era R&B, but not quite, I don't know, I can't totally explain it. But I knew I had to see her, health risks and all.

The BMI show was running late at Club de Ville and a electronica/rock act from Manchester, The Whip, was on when Little Jackie was supposed to be on. I milled around the not-full club and saw a bit of The Whip (the laptop was the main instrument for this act even though there are the usual bass, drums, and guitar. A Mancunian girl standing next to me assured me that they are ready to hit big in the US. Um, maybe not?). I noticed a beautiful, stylish African American woman wearing big, white-framed sunglasses slumped in a chair as though she were napping … she turned out to be "Little Jackie"!

Transformed by her disco nap, she and her wonderful band finally got onstage about 11:55 pm and put on a hell of a show, they really "brought it." She's got two equally beautiful back-up singers, a tight drummer, a guitar player, bass and well, laptop man. They did "World" first, and Little Jackie, I was the bandanna-wearing doofus right up in front of you guys smiling my ass off. A few songs later, she talked about how when you break up with a guy you consider turning lesbian, and then she did this hilarious song about, well, considering turning lesbian. The crowd loved it and so did I.

Imani said she had an acoustic show the next night at, um, a not SXSW venue, which I didn't attend because I was at X. I do believe that at least a portion of the world could revolve around Little Jackie, and they should be rock stars!

Am I Missing Out?

2008-03-15T16:17:00.002-06:00

I'm in our hotel room and I can still hear the day party across the street booming. The band, I don't know what it is, but they sound good and as usual I'm afraid I'm missing something. That's always the fear: I'm missing something good. Going on 20 years now.

Daisy Rock Rocks!

2008-03-15T00:47:00.003-06:00

I have been lucky enough to meet the fabulous Tish Ciravolo, president of the Daisy Rock Guitar Company. She came by our Girls Rock Camp Austin BMI showcase Wednesday night just to meet us! Then I saw her again tonight at the X showcase at SXSW Live. I wish every woman, no matter what business she's in, could meet Tish and catch some of her energy and confidence. She wants to make music more accessible for girls and women, and her company's cool guitars are smaller and easier for girls to use. Now even I want to play guitar and I have no patience whatsoever for practice, etc., and I don't even know what music I want to play.

Overheard

2008-03-14T00:56:00.002-06:00

"Around the office, saying you hate Alejandro Escovedo is like saying you hate Jesus."

SXSW Film . . . Rocks (?)

2008-03-12T10:07:00.002-06:00

I have had only two experiences with the film festival this year because of my reduced abilities. The first was on Saturday when I headed to the Dobie to introduce a film I championed, The Ostrich Testimonies.

I was on Day 3 of chemo and typical of the SXSW season and furor, I had not eaten. Nor had I taken my anti-emetic. By the time I got there I felt like I had the worst hangover in history and couldn't figure out why. Duh. I could barely speak. I felt so stupid. I didn't get a chance to catch up with the filmmakers at all during the rest of the week to find out how they did.

Yesterday I was in much better shape and went to introduce another film I love, Dancing Alfonso. The filmmaker, Barak Heymann, was able to be in attendance because the Israeli consulate in Houston arranged for his travel from Tel Aviv. What a sweetheart. He seemed so genuinely pleased to be here, I enjoyed him immensely. And I got teary (again) at the end of his film.

The "rockin" part of this was, I also met the filmmaker of the short film that preceded the feature, Will Hartmann. His film is The Art of Karaoke, and it went so well with the feature. He works on his films, works at an LA ad agency, and is generally trying to be productive and creative in his chosen form. Like many other filmmakers, he shows his work during Slamdance and Sundance, but he feels that most festivalgoers never see his, or anyone else's work.

"All anyone does is go to parties," he told me. "And the filmmakers aren't invited to those parties. You can't get in unless you're a celebrity or in an entourage." So, the actual artists head back to their rented condos and wonder what the hell they are doing there in the first place.

Will said he felt like our event was a place to really get connected with others and that filmmakers' work was actually seen by people. I have heard this many times from (mostly) grateful filmmakers and it makes me insanely proud of our event. Does SXSW Film rock? Until we find a better term, I'm gonna say yes.

My Picks for Saturday Night

2008-03-11T14:31:00.002-06:00

4:30 Lyrics Born — Auditorium Shores

5:00 The Ting Tings — Convention Center

7:00 Sons and Daughters — Convention Center

8:00 Tiny Masters of Today — Cedar Street Courtyard

8:00 Ume — BD Riley's

8:00 Mau Mau Chaplains — Flamingo Cantina

9:00 KOOPA — Wave

9:00 The Ettes — Wave Rooftop

9:00 The Lemonheads — Convention Center

10:00 Georgie James — Dirty Dog Bar

12:00 White Shoes and the Couples Company — Habana Annex

My Picks for Friday Night

2008-03-11T14:16:00.002-06:00

2:00 Georgie James — Day Stage in the convention center

4:00 Dizzee Rascal — Convention Center

8:00 Tristan Perich — Central Prez

8:00 Eagle Seagull — Thirsty Nickel

9:00 The Builders and the Butchers — Club de Ville

9:00 KaiserCartel — Creekside EMC at Hilton Garden Inn

9:00 The Little Ones — Cedar Door. La la la la la la la la.

9:00 The Dodos — Emo's Jr

10:00 The Choir Practice — Club 115. Part of the Mint showcase

10:00 X — Convention Center. Best place to see them, my goodness.

10:30 Apes — Flamingo Cantina

11:30 Yael Naim — Driskill. "New Soul" is her song

12:00 Kitty, Daisy & Lewis — Ninety Proof Lounge

12:00 My Brightest Diamond — Central Prez

12:00 Sia — Stubb's. Although, how many people are going to use "Breathe Me" for their background music, anyway??

1:00 Destroyer — Parish. Merge showcase. One of my favorites, I've written about him before

1:00 N.E.R.D. — Yes, it happens to me, too. Two shows I'm dying to see are at the same time

My Picks for Thursday Night

2008-03-11T14:03:00.002-06:00

2:00 Noisettes — Convention Center

8:00 Spoon — Auditorium Shores. Hey, I like Spoon and that Britt Daniel is a rock star, people need to take lessons from that guy

8:00 Phosphorescent — Mohawk Patio

8:00 Cliff Eberhardt — Driskill

9:40 Iglu & Hartly — Cedar Door

10:00 Sissy Wish — Wave

10:00 The Tontons — Tap Room at Six. From Houston and even I, Houston-hater, am not holding that against them.

10:50 Kaki King — 18th Floor of Hilton Garden Inn. She is gonna be mobbed wherever she plays

11:00 Pink Nasty — Habana Annex. I am so liking this chick

11:15 Little Jackie — Club de Ville. This is my MUST show. She reminds me of the R&B I listened to on the radio as a kid

12:00 How's Your News? — Bourbon Rocks Patio. All members have some sort of disability, I hear their show is fantastic.

12:10 Sian Alice Group — Room 710

1:00 Buttercup — Lamberts Patio

1:00 Big Red Rooster — Bourbon Rocks Patio

1:00 Bedroom Walls — Wave

My Picks for Wednesday Night

2008-03-11T13:51:00.002-06:00

7:00 Earlimart — Convention Center, great place to see music

8:30 Choklate — Molotov Lounge. Lady R&B, I love her MP3

10:00 Delorean — Maggie Mae's. Might be hard to get near this, but I think they're going to be great

10:05 Lady Lux — Molotov. Another great lady R&B act, really would love to see this

11:00 Kaki King — Club de Ville. I'm very interested in her, big buzz on this lady, but she does have another show she's doing

11:00 Division Day — Buffalo Billiards. Missed them last year, gonna try this year

The films I like/know for SXSW 2008

2008-03-09T14:58:00.002-06:00

I have seen none of the narrative features in our lineup because I screened only documentaries this year.

Dreams With Sharp Teeth — about Harlan Ellison, hear it's good

Living With the Tudors — takes place in an Elizabethan re-enactment village

Second Skin — about people who become lost in online gaming

Frontrunners — about the race for head smartypants at Stuyvesant High School

Full Battle Rattle — did you know the US has a "practice" Iraqi village in the Mojave?

'Bama Girl — a black co-ed runs for homecoming queen at the University of Alabama

Flying On One Engine — an impoverished, disabled doctor performs cleft palate surgeries on children in India

The Ostrich Testimonies — arrogant hot air balloonists ended the livelihood of an very interesting and original man, D.C. Cogburn

Intimidad — a story about the redemptive power of love. It is SO good.

Tulia, Texas — the undercover drug agent is not what he seemed in this rural Texas town

Dancing Alfonso — a totally touching story about a man in the golden years of life. It is SO good.

Down in Depths on the 90th Floor

2008-03-09T14:53:00.002-06:00

Gold star by your name if you get the reference.

Hey! I like Spoon!

2007-11-02T20:27:00.000-06:00

So we are here in the Bayou City, where I came of age and left as soon as I came to my senses. Houston. My planned jaunt here to attend the humongous quilt show this weekend became a family outing, when my spouse suggested we go to the New Pornographers and Spoon show at a venue here called Warehouse Live. We probably would not have seen the NPs any other way, as they are playing Fun Fun Fun in Austin and we're not going to that.

Warehouse turned out to be a decent venue. It's big and it's clean — they seemed to specialize in sweeping away punk rock grunge. There are actually people going around the club all night sweeping up trash, like it was Disney World!

Okay, so the NPs are, like, our favorite band. That is, both of us can agree on how much we love them. In fact, they are the only band we ever go out of town just to see. So we could not figure out what we were missing from their set. They were louder onstage than the PA, so there was that "cottony" quality to the sound. We wanted more lighting design. We wanted Neko Case to engage the audience more. Her voice is lovely, now she needs more onstage "hotcha." Dunno.

Nothing could have prepared me, though, for the surprise of seeing Dan Bejar performing with the band again. Dan fans know he mostly does not tour with the NPs. In 2005, he went out with them to support Twin Cinema for part of the tour and his nerves really showed onstage. I am one of those people who just love him, and love him too much, probably. People like me were about to piss themselves in anticipation of watching him do "Ballad of the Comeback Kid" or "Jackie, Dressed In Cobras" live with the band, but he was clearly miserable and pretty much not caring to cater to his rabid fans. He held a beer in one hand and the mic in the other onstage. Dan was hating life on that tour. I'm not projecting, this is easy to back up.

I got to catch up with him a bit last night, and he is a much happier guy this time around. For one thing, he said, if he sits at home while his friends from home go out and tour, he doesn't get paid. With the pressure off of having to do a Destroyer set before the NPs, Dan is a lot more cheerful and relaxed, offstage and on. He gave me the heads-up: Spoon was going to cover "It's Gonna Take An Airplane" and bring him onstage to do it during Spoon's encore. Dan called it "an old Destroyer song." It's from, like, 2004, on Your Blues. I guess in rock-n-roll years that's old, and it's old to Dan, I suppose.

Okay, so, Spoon. I am pretty sure I have never seen them before, in spite of the fact they were a local fixture for many years. I was pretty sure I didn't think much of their music. "I Turn My Camera On" has been a distraction on You Tube for our kid, but c'mon. Where are the guts? I thought.

Spoon is clearly a great band, and don't lack visceral content. I like them! The level of professionalism and, frankly, star quality they displayed is phenomenal. Even when they walked past Dan and me backstage to get set for their show, it was like, Yes, we are rock stars and we are in character. They (and their sound engineer) easily overcame the club's limitations in terms of sound, and their LD should get an award. Most of all, they know how to give the audience what the audience came for — a rock show with a lead guy who knows how to be a rock star and has really great songs. They mentioned that this was the biggest crowd they'd ever had in Houston (they did not mention that Houston has no venues to speak of, that makes it really hard for a band to get any kind of following).

It was obvious that much of the Houston audience for Spoon didn't really quite get it, what a big deal it was for Britt Daniel to sing, "It's gonna take an airplane/To get me off the ground/I don't blame anyone who isn't sticking around" and have Dan "El Oso" Bejar onstage with him singing the second part. Britt asked for someone to put the performance up on You Tube so he could watch it the next day, but so far I find nothing on that.

Spoon — a great, hard-working band who also admire the songs of Daniel Bejar. How can you go wrong with that? Hey, I like Spoon (not that they need me to).

Acts I saw

2007-04-13T14:43:00.000-05:00

My trawling of the music this year is characterized much more by what I missed, rather than by what I saw. But here's a rundown.

Wednesday, March 14

The 1900s

From my comments earlier: I liked their psychedelic sound a lot. I thought their talented "side" man was smokin' on the keyboards and guitar. He and the lead female singer were the secret weapons in this band. Another SXSW spouse in the crowd commented to me afterward that there was too much rotation of personnel onstage, people switching instruments between songs. And their violin player proved to be somewhat superfluous, as she inexplicably disappeared from the stage halfway through the set.

Finally Punk
Oh, how I wanted them to be good, a local, girl three-piece.

Thursday, March 15

Ozomatli

I'd never seen this LA-based act before. They are insanely talented. There is percussion, brass, wind, and traditional Mexican stringed instruments, besides the usual drums, bass, and guitar. They play hip-hop, Latin, and ska. Every man in the group has mastery of several instruments, and they all sing their asses off and move beautifully onstage. The punch they pack came as a real shock, and they really know how to make the most of a show.

Their showmanship was enhanced by the fact that we were watching them in the SXSW Live studio, and the performance was being broadcast live on Direct TV. Maybe you saw the Direct TV booth in the middle of 6th St., with Direct TV's on-air talent doing interviews. I can't say enough about the Direct TV people. They were like a micro-universe within SXSW. They had their sets, vans, trailers, everything, all inside the convention center. A world separate from every other eddy of activity going on in Austin, Texas that week.

We ducked inside master control after Ozomatli to peek at what they were doing. Everyone working in there was clearly stoked about it. They wrapped a street interview segment, threw to network for commercials, and whipped off headsets and shouted, "Yeah everybody! One hour of live broadcast down! Six more hours to go!! Wooooo!!" They had reason to celebrate. At the end of three days, they produced over 20 hours of programming in HD. That's more than most music shows do in months. And they made doing TV look so fun.

Sondre Lerche

Brought his band this time. This likeable Norwegian songwriter has such high energy onstage. In the interest of time, he said, he would not be bantering as much between songs as he usually does, but he was careful to thank his label from the stage. Something happened at this venue that has never happened to me in 20-plus years of clubgoing: a very tall guy insisted I stand in front of him or else I would not be able to see the stage!

The Awkward Stage

Small crowd for the Mint Records showcase, and this artist chose some down-tempo numbers

Northern State

I have devoted a post to them already, but I can't help myself. I had more fun at their showcase than any other this year. I love their hip-hop names: Hesta Prynn, Spero, and Sprout. I wish I had a hip-hop name.

Hesta Prynn is the cut-up onstage, and she drinks vodka and soda. (My drink!) When Sprout asked for more vocals in the monitor, Hesta Prynn followed up with, "Can I get more cocktail in my system?" (Before I could open my wallet, a curvy lady had already sped to the bar and fetched the libation.) They had a band, fronted by (I think, somebody correct me if I'm wrong) Chuck Brody (of Shitake Monkey).

"You a gangsta an' uh gennleman!" Hesta Prynn gestured and barked to him in appreciation. Then she let us in on the joke: A 13-year-old girl from Cincinnati, who changed her MySpace profile every day, had posted those very words on Chuck's MySpace page.

Hesta Prynn also announced that Northern State's choreography was done by Darrin Henson, of the "Bye Bye Bye" song and the "Darrin's Dance Grooves" video. "What, you don't like it?" she responded in mock surprise to the crowd's giggles.

Sprout has the leadership role in the act. I loved her movement and her lyric delivery. Spero is Sprout's friend from 10th grade on Long Island and has a coy and ladyish stage persona.

Oh, there is so much to love about this act. It would be easy to think of them as this sort of novelty thing — white chicks rapping — but I soon lost that idea because it was too much fun to watch them. Did rap just have to be made by people who look like me, think like me, so it would be liked by me? Possibly. I offer no other defenses.

http://www.northernstate.net

Ghostland Observatory

I had never seen this local act, a duo, and I was quite shocked how excellent they are. They make this screaming wave of rock-infused electronic sound that whips the crowd into this almost trance state. I freely admit I have seen precious few local acts perform live in recent years, and Ghostland Observatory should serve as a sharp reminder to others like me that not all great Austin music is associated with table implements. (Ba-dum.)

UGK

Oh, of course it was ridiculous for a white woman to be at a UGK show, but I was emboldened by my Northern State experience earlier in the evening. I'll just say I liked them and leave it at that.

Friday, March 16

The Buzzcocks

Did three songs in the TV studio, not for a live broadcast though. Watching them at 1 in the afternoon was funny.

The Oohlahs

There was a modest crowd in the TV studio for this LA-based pop act, fronted by the winsome Olivia Stone. Before they went live, she giggled, "This is the most expensive microphone I've ever sung into! I could hear a fart in here!"

Peter, Bjorn, and John

I have posted about them, too, already. How will you ever get that whistle song out of your head? Huh???

The one thing I will say is, I clearly remember a time when European bands — Scandanavian bands — could not get arrested at SXSW. I'm pleased that audiences' snobbery has lifted and pop music is resonating with everyone, even when it's from countries where they eat adventurous meat products. I tried to remember this when I nearly got knocked over by some fired-up, backpack-wearing doofus, who apparently was on his way to see the greatest rock band ever, PB&J.

The Victorian English Gentlemens Club

I liked their flouting of punctuation rules.

Rachel Fuller

This was also at the TV studio. They went off air while she sang a song called, "It's a Motherfucker." Her "old man," Pete Townshend did a few songs with her, and Martha Wainwright did one song with them as well. I hadn't really heard her before but I realized that she is who Neko Case wants to be when Neko Case grows up.

Saturday, March 17

Ponderosa Stomp

I ended up working at the Ponderosa Stomp day party, where I saw some pretty great music, including Ray Sharpe, Herb Remington, "Lil Buck," Tammy Lynn, Willie Tee, Flaming Arrows Mardi Gras Indians, and Barbara Lynn. I had some difficulty explaining what a Mardi Gras Indian is to our European friend and SXSW associate, Mirko Whitfield. (He eats this up with a fork, though, and I can still remember the first time he saw a Zydeco act.) So much of this music is what I remember hearing on AM radio when I was in elementary school, and it was great to hear it again.

Field Music

There was absolutely no chance of getting near this UK act, as the Beauty Bar patio was at capacity, so I hung out in the alley and tried to find a clean spot, which the piling garbage and a fetid Waller Creek made very difficult.

Palomar

I've been a big fan of this NY-based act for several years now, but their third release got caught in label collapse hell in 2005. Their new record's on Misra.

I heard a man in the audience say, "I have waited three years to see this band!" I wish the band had heard that, too, so maybe they would have quit tuning, and frowning at the sound person, and fretting, and more-vocals-in-the-monitoring. They sounded great out in the house. It would have been better if they'd just been, you know, happier. It wasn't their first SXSW showcase, and I hope not the last, either.

Girl Talk

Also no chance of getting near enough to this DJ hip-hop act to appreciate it, as Ye Olde Cave Club (aka Elysium) was jammmed.

I Wish I Had Not Missed:

Division Day
Rosie Thomas
Buttercup
Daylights For The Birds
Elemeno P
The Hedrons
The Trucks
The Little Ones
Duncan Sheik
Hoodoo Gurus
The Electric Soft Parade
The Apples in Stereo
Dengue Fever
Jets Overhead
The Moog
Mother Mother
Grand Buffet (who are like the hip-hop version of Tenacious D, only Grand Buffet is funny)

Peter, Bjorn, and John

2007-03-17T08:42:00.000-06:00

PB & J, right?

It's emergency food. Seems to appeal to childen. Good when you are really hungry and there's nothing else in the house.

Northern State

2007-03-16T15:28:00.000-06:00

I had heard this trio on our SXSW player and liked the idea of a white girl hip-hop act and placed them on my list of picks. But honestly, it was a total accident that I saw them last night at the Tap Room (our published schedule had The Trucks listed at 11 pm, and I was there around 11:30). They grew up together on LongEYElund. They are in their 20s. They had never played South by, mentioned it was a 13-hour drive here, and one of them has allergies that kicked in right away upon her arrival.

And I loved, loved them!!! I could not stop grinning.

They were funny, enchanting, entertaining. They made jokes about America's Top Model and Destiny's Child, and the bye-bye-bye video.

My photos are not good. Camera in the phone.

They were very uncomfortable shoes

2007-03-16T10:57:00.000-06:00

I saw these last night in the storm drain, at the corner of 4th and Guadalupe

SXSW Live studio! It is the real thing!!!

2007-03-14T17:01:00.000-06:00

I just got back from our SXSW Live studio inside the Austin Convention Center, and I am just blown away. It is the real thing, people! Two real stages with professional, first-rate sound production and lighting; mobile television production vans parked inside the convention center. TV production people running around everywhere. A Harley suspended from the ceiling (that was the project of our producer and friend Conor MacInally, who produces CD USA every week for Direct TV.)

I really hope people decide to see a favorite act in the studio, or take a chance on a unfamiliar one. It is a clean, safe venue with superior production values. If you are thirsty, there is a bar. TWO bars. Please check our band schedule and make it a point to attend. You will be floored by this experience.

another band for tonight

2007-03-14T12:07:00.000-06:00

My pal K. has another pick for tonight: The 1900s, a lovely psychedelic band from Chicago!

Their showcase is at 11:30, at Habana Calle 6. I liked what I heard on myspace.

If I have more updates I will add them to the pages I have already created rather than do it piecemeal.

Get your own ride

2007-03-13T18:19:00.000-06:00

I am often asked what my role is in SXSW. It's kind of a trick question. I screen film festival submissions, but I don't have a job during the event, usually. Some things I used to do — introduce films, for example — are capably handled by other people now. No, I make up my job as I go along. If I am meeting a registrant, it's my job to learn more about him or her and make the person feel welcome. It's my job to listen to a staff member tell me a funny story, a complaint, or a suggestion about doing something another way. And I am not above doing any scut work. It's a little like being the Ensign Pulver of SXSW. Laundry and morale. I'm exaggerating quite a bit, though.

As the boss himself observed this week, it is very important for SXSW spouses and lovers to "get their own ride." I have made many mistakes over 19 years in this area, and as much as it pains me to know that loved ones of SXSW staffers are suffering from feelings of confusion, neglect, and helplessness, there is not much to be done for them. They have to figure it out for themselves and get their own ride.

I also feel deeply for those whose friends and family think SXSW would be a great time to visit, and try to catch up with their son/daughter/brother/sister/friend, you know, when they are not working. For dinner. In a restaurant. And why not? Everyone seems to be having so much fun. These precious people, too, have to get their own ride.

Sex in the movies, and everywhere

2007-03-13T11:07:00.000-06:00

"Sex Scenes Stay Hard" (good heavens) was the name of a film panel yesterday, and since John Cameron Mitchell was a panelist, I went. I'm not sure what his film Shortbus is about exactly but it features lots of scenes of sex acts, I am told. He offered to the audience that during the course of filming he engaged in a certain mouth-to-someplace-else-not-the-mouth sex act with a woman for the first time in his life, and had good memories of it (I am paraphrasing here). This wasn't greeted with quite the response you might expect, such as laughter, but I guess Mitchell really wasn't making a joke, now that I think about it.

Any filmmaker in the audience hoping for a never-fail method of handling a sex scene would not have left the panel with a plan, but I thought the conversation among the filmmakers was still productive. Here's what they agreed on:

It's important to understand what the context of the scene is in the story.
It's important to understand what you're trying to show the audience about the characters when they are having sex.

Not knowing these things will mess you up.

Sometimes it's better to shoot the sex scenes first, and get them out of the way. Other times, it seems better to save them toward the end of the shoot when actors feel more comfortable.

I couldn't help thinking about the mostly private nature of sex in real life. So I thought it was interesting that everyone in the panel sort of accepted it as a given that sex scenes in films are fine if the story "requires" it somehow, and should not be resisted even though they are very, very ticklish to accomplish. Do you look like a wuss as a filmmaker if you decide to forgo a sex scene? Maybe.

There was also some discussion about porn, which seems pretty obvious given the context. Here we are in "an area." I don't regard porn as simply one thing in a list of a person's interests: gardening, hiking, learning Spanish, porn. Nope, doesn't work. Just as I am not interested in seeing people I know actually have sex, I am SO not interested in knowing that they watch porn.

The conversation eventually came around to violence, and how it's more acceptable to the MPAA than sex, and link between sex and violence in slasher films (the virginal character is usually the survivor). I know it's got to be more fun for crew to figure out how to fake blood and mutilation than it is to fake sex (oh, and sometimes that sex is not fake). But the conversation never did go as far as discussing movie violence that involves sex acts, which I very much wanted to hear people's thoughts about, as there have been some recent films and television that use this. The one, two punch of this seems to me to be a very deliberate decision and calls for some justification.

I was fortunate enough to be able to continue this conversation with some filmmakers I met at the Chronicle party last night, Seth Gordon and Ed Cunningham (their documentary is The King of Kong). Seth missed the panel, but I was able to fill him in on the highlights. The conversation led to "favorite sex scenes in the movies." I told him some of my immediate favorites:

The Tin Drum (it's a long shot, the lovers are framed from fairly far away through a hotel window)

The French Lieutenant's Woman (Jeremy Irons and Meryl Streep)

The Woman Next Door (French film)

Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention Unfaithful (director Adrian Lyne; for many reasons this is more titillating to women than men, it's obvious that it's supposed to be for women. I kind of resent this but I'm not sure why).

Probably all these films share something in common — attraction between people who are already committed to someone else — but as someone in the panel pointed out, if it were just normal relations, it's not dramatic and not very interesting in a film.

The online world

2007-03-12T17:46:00.000-06:00

Sunday I was able to attend part of a panel on e-mail, and why it's such a problem. The authors of a new book, Send, outline "eight deadly sins" of email, including emails that are vague, insulting, illegal, cowardly, RE:re:re: re, saracastic, too casual, or inappropriate.

http://www.thinkbeforeyousend.com

Report your own email blunders, or horrid emails you have received!

David Shipley and Will Schwalbe, authors of the book, said that it's been demonstrated that the portion of your brain that would normally filter, monitor, or control your impulses gets shut off when you are doing email. (I can only assume this happens when you blog, too; well, no, in fact I'm sure it does.) And, sometimes, people make honest mistakes.

Supposedly, email will go "out" someday soon. Much has been written about the value (and lack thereof) of our current communications, and I'm not going to get into it here. I only know I have asked (in emails, unfortunately) many times for messages from my daughter's school to be limited ONLY to items that I must take action on, and not announcements about who wants to thank whom for the most recent popcorn sale or any other non-essential piece of news.

Up to this point

2007-03-12T08:46:00.000-06:00

I have packed my SXSW with less activity than last year so far. We did not attend the Film Hall of Fame on Friday, as we have in the past, so that cut down on the frenzy right away.

On Friday we went to the film opening party, which was held at the former Fox and Hound. That building is slated for demolition, so what can go in there? condos and "mixed use" development. I am already weary of the new, glitzy Austin.

The actor Paul Rudd was in line in front of us to get into the party (he is in two films we're showing). He seems so normal and non-actory it hurts. He stayed at the party and talked to people, appeared at the film panel he agreed to do, did Studio SX yesterday. My esteem for him is huge!

Roland bumped into Morgan Spurlock in the lobby of the Hilton and had a chance to tell him how important 30 Days is. If you haven't seen it on FX, 30 Days is a reality show (sort of) based on the model Spurlock established in Supersize Me: What could you try for 30 days just to see what it's really like? My favorite shows have been: When Spurlock and his wife, Alex, tried to live on minimum wage for a month, when a callow, homophobic youth from suburban Michigan lived in the Castro district with a gay roommate, and when a man who lost his job to a company in India lived in Bangalore with a family and worked in a call center.

Spurlock is currently featuring a full beard and long hair, because he is working on a hunt for Osama bin Laden? (there is probably a lot more to this story). He has been another accessible, great guy for us. I have not seen the film he produced, What Would Jesus Buy? but I want to. It's all about Christmas commercialism.

We had the biggest interactive opening party ever at the Fox and Hound, which ran concurrently with the "Grindhouse" party across the street at Brush Square Park (not one of our parties, though). It was weird to see the reverse images of the Italian B-movies (didn't they used to be called B-movies?). I admit to a certain love of the grotesque, which these films revel in, and there's nothing like that Eastman color of the 1970s (thanks to my brother for pointing this out). But as a fan of "things that are old" myself, I have some complicated feelings about how much homage is more than enough. I don't think Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino will overdo; they'll keep exploring their curiosities and passions in film, which are more vast and numerous than than most people's. It's their less-schooled fans (who have yet to emerge) that I'm thinking about.

Think of it this way: You love mid-century modern decor, right? So, be choosy. Pick one or two iconic furnishings, don't fill a room with them. It just doesn't feel very genuine, otherwise. It just looks like you're latching onto a trend that you barely understand or honestly appreciate. I think even Tarantino has expressed this before,when audiences for his QT fests have treated the films as something "ironic" or comical.

My music fest picks for Sat., Mar. 17

2007-03-07T22:08:00.000-06:00

St. Patrick's Day, plus SXSW, plus Saturday, equals watch yourself. Last year got hairy, with me screaming at some dumbass in the elevator of the Hilton. But at least he shut up, after I told the bitch to! Then, there was a passed-out guy in the hall right in front of the door to my room. Security was all up in that, yeah. See, I'm agitated already … maybe I should stay in and watch JAG instead

12:00PM Irina Bjorklund & Peter Fox (SESAC Day Stage Cafe Austin Convention Center) Another chance to see this European act

1:15PM The Jellydots (SXSW Dew Music Festival at Town Lake) The final act of the family music showcase

2:00PM Dengue Fever (SESAC Day Stage Cafe Austin Convention Center) Also a chance to see this act again

2:15PM Kraak & Smaak (SXSW Live Austin Convention Center) Good place to see this act again

7:00PM Jandek (Central Presbyterian Church) I don't know what you know or don't know about this act from Houston. He has self-released almost 50 albums of the most difficult music, but it's undeniably interesting. Until about 18 months ago, he had never performed live (that anyone knows of) or showed himself to his public. http://tisue.net/jandek/ A couple years back, we showed a documentary on him, Jandek on Corwood (rent it from Waterloo sometime). When I was a teenager in Houston, one of the things to do was listen to the Dr. Demento show on the radio, and he played Jandek records. I had almost forgotten about Jandek until the documentary. I saw him in only his second stage performance here at the Scottish Rite Theater — it was a sold out show. I'm not positive what to expect, except a lot of hipsters trying to get into this show.

8:00PM Jets Overhead (Molotov Lounge) Two girls and three guys from Victoria BC, I like their big wash-of-sound

8:00PM Pink Nasty (Elysium) 24-year-old Sara Beck, and she moved here from Kansas

8:00PM Buzzcocks (Emo's Main Room) If you didn't see them at SXSW Live, get in the fray here

8:00PM Patton Oswalt (Friends) If I see this comedy showcase, I will make sure to use the ladies' first, because Patton Oswalt makes me laugh so hard I almost piss myself

8:00PM Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly (SXSW Live Austin Convention Center) A clean, safe venue to see this buzz band from England

8:30PM Inward Eye (Momo's) I have a weakness for sibling acts, and these are three young brothers from Winnipeg whose song "Disaster" has me bobbing my head furiously every time I hear it

9:00PM Field Music (Beauty Bar Patio) English trio whose mp 3 I liked

10:00PM Upground (Spiro's) Latin-infused music, should be a lively crowd at this venue

10:00PM Golem (Habana Calle 6 Annex) Guys and girls both in this klezmer-influenced act, sounds very interesting

11:00PM Palomar (Habana Calle 6 Patio) This is the only band that I HAVE TO SEE. Three girls, a guy, and excellent songs! Glad to have them back. Also, this is one of my favorite venues

11:00PM The Moog (Lambert's) Hungarian rock band. Wonder if we've had a Hungarian rock band before?

11:00PM Grupo Fantasma (Emo's Annex) I think this act is really good and now Prince knows it, too

11:30PM Mother Mother (Momo's) A brother, a sister, another girl, and two guys from Vancouver. Like the pop sound

12:45AM The Tragically Hip (Antone's) I think it was in 1995 that the "Rolling Stones of Canada" played Liberty Lunch. It was something that would have been unfathomable in Canada because they are so popular there. Every Canadian SXSW visitor seemed to be there (including a Kid in the Hall) and could not believe the treat of their playing in a small venue. I wonder what their reception will be like now. Let me know if you hear them play a song

1:00AM Melissa Ferrick (Creekside EMC at Hilton Garden Inn) I liked what I heard

1:00AM Girl Talk (Elysium) This hip-hop act is smokin'. I can't think of anywhere I would rather not be, though, than on Red River on the last night of SXSW at 1 am, on St. Patrick's Day

1:00AM Nicole Atkins & the Sea (Copa) I liked what I heard and Copa is a really nice venue

My music fest picks for Fri., Mar. 16

2007-03-07T21:51:00.000-06:00

One thing I should mention is that there are certain venues I avoid (ask me one-on-one, I'm not going to say it here which ones), so if you see acts that are worthy but not mentioned, that may be why.

1:00PM The Buzzcocks (SXSW Live Austin Convention Center) We are doing our first live TV show, and Friday will be the third day of live music with a studio audience on Direct TV. Our friends at Blaze TV have made this possible. Go to the studio!!

3:30PM The Watson Twins (SESAC Day Stage Cafe Austin Convention Center — you need a badge or artist wristband) There seem to be a lot of opportunities to see these women perform

5:00PM The Oohlahs (SXSW Live Austin Convention Center) Good place to see this act again

6:30PM Ozomatli (SXSW Dew Music Festival at Town Lake) This whole show is going to be great, Public Enemy is on afterward!!!

7:00 PM The Watson Twins (SXSW Live Austin Convention Center) Lots of chances to see them

7:45PM Nellie McKay (Exodus) Rhymes with mick-TIE. She's very talented

7:45PM Public Enemy (SXSW Dew Music Festival at Town Lake)

8:00PM Puppetmastaz (Latitude 30) Oh, if you must see rapping, German puppets

8:00PM Dirty Fuzz (Blender Bar at the Ritz) Like the female vocalist in this act

8:00PM Dana Falconberry (18th Floor at Hilton Garden Inn) I don't know who the heck she is, but I can't get her sweet voice out of my head

8:00PM The Last Town Chorus (The Parish II) Woman-helmed act, liked the mp3

8:00PM Irina Bjorklund & Peter Fox (Uncle Flirty's Loft) Liked the mp3; the woman is also an actress in European films

8:50PM Muck and the Mires (Blender Bar at the Ritz) Publicity photo shows them to be a mature act, but damn, their song "Don't Let Her Get Away" is absolutely infectous!

9:00PM Luminous Orange (The Ale House) Here I have to say, if you are bored, then go to anything Japanese and you will not be bored anymore

9:00PM Adrienne Pierce (Light Bar) Read in her bio that she likes Cheryl Crow

9:00PM The Zebras (The Parish II) From Brisbane, Australia, so we don't have to deal with the whole "Sydney vs. Melbourne" thing. Liked the mp3

9:00PM The Watson Twins (Central Presbyterian Church) They're everywhere but this is a good venue to see them, production values are going to be great

9:00PM The Breakup Society (Habana Calle 6 Patio) From Phoenix, woman in the band, and I liked the mp3

9:00PM Saturday Looks Good To Me (Red 7) I have already mentioned them

10:00PM My Brightest Diamond (Antone's) Shara Worden, already mentioned. Get there early if you want to see her

10:00PM The Hard Lessons (Whisky Bar) "The Hard Lessons don’t suck in a way that can make the most jaded cynic care about something new again." Hoo-kee. They're fronted by a couple from Detroit, and I swear they are making fun of Jack White

10:00PM The Victorian English Gentlemens Club (BD Riley's) "The Victorian English Gentlemens Club are two girls and a boy from Cardiff, UK. There is no apostrophe in the name of the band, although they are well aware that there should be." The personnel I like to see, and sensitivity to punctuation, to boot!

10:00PM Duncan Sheik (Central Presbyterian Church) I am interested in this artist because he wrote the music for a hot new Broadway "rock" musical, Spring Awakening

10:00PM Six Parts Seven (Maggie Mae's) I think I like this experimental act, but I may have them confused with another act

10:00PM Young Galaxy (Habana Calle 6 Annex) Two girls, three guys, from Montreal, sweet-sounding pop

10:30PM A Winehouse (La Zona Rosa) Another chance to see Amy Winehouse

11:00PM The Stitches (Emo's Jr) Raw and interesting, and they're not kids

11:00PM Shawn David McMillen (The Hideout) A bit of a far-flung venue, local artist, but I liked his mp3

11:20PM Bedroom Walls (Club One 15) Like the mp3, but based on their bio, their stage performance could be very different from their record. Two women and a guy

11:40PM Hoodoo Gurus (Blender Bar at the Ritz) Holy smokes, they have been around a long time and they are back!!

12:00AM Headlights (Red 7) Girl and two guys from Illinois

12:00AM Kraak & Smaak (Latitude 30) There are several chances to see this Dutch act

12:00AM Ron Sexsmith (Bourbon Rocks) I have missed him before and would like to see him this time

12:00AM Peaches (Exodus) This act was very good when her name was Karen Finley. Many chances to see her over the weekend

1:00AM Ghandaia (Copa) Latin rock

1:00AM The Ettes (Whisky Bar) Two girls and a guy, and he is not playing drums. They sound high energy

1:00AM Peter Adams And The Nocturnal Collective (BD Riley's) Really interesting, creative, musical stuff, in the vein of Sufjan Stevens — in a way

1:00AM The Electric Soft Parade (Maggie Mae's Rooftop) British, liked them

1:00AM Tullycraft (The Parish II) From Seattle. I actually don't know them at all but have been told they're good

1:00AM The Apples in Stereo (Dirty Dog Bar) I like this band and have never seen them live. The last time they played at La Zona Rosa, I was at Stubb's watching Supergrass give a so-so show and I have been mad at myself for missing Apples ever since. My hunch is there is renewed interest in this band ever since Robert Schneider appeared on The Colbert Report in the rock contest with Stephen Colbert and Chris Funk of the Decemberists

1:00AM Skye (Central Presbyterian Church) Again a nice place to take a load off and I liked the mp3

My music fest picks for Thu., Mar. 15

2007-03-07T20:22:00.000-06:00

Again, I am trawling for acts that have all women, mostly women, or some women, and are still considered rock acts. I am told by a music industry professional of my immediate acquaintance that it doesn't matter whether are women in rock or not, because no one is stopping women from rocking. I am told that popular culture at large really supports women in the entertainment industry. Boys are really getting a raw deal right now. I am really glad to get this news, because I guess I was confused about how I experience this culture. They gave us our women rockers already! Whew!! What you are supposed to do if you don't like Sheryl Crow or Alanis Morissette, I don't know. So, in search of their much less desirable substitutes (and the men who will love them):

4:30PM Martha Wainwright (SESAC Day Stage Cafe Austin Convention Center)

7:00PM Rocket Summer (SXSW Dew Music Festival at Town Lake) This is really a solo act. I saw this kid three years ago at some 6th St. venue that didn't really even have a stage. He was about 16 or 17. He sings and plays his heart out and is very talented. I later saw him in the audience at Stubb's for Supergrass. "Rocket Summer guy! I saw you! You were great!" I screamed. He was so sweet and stopped to talk. Obviously, he hasn't quit yet, for he is on our Mountain Dew stage.

8:00PM Panda & Angel (Lambert's) They have "panda" in their name, and that's a start. Three women, two men

8:30PM The Besnard Lakes (Mohawk Patio) Tried to see this Canadian act two or three years ago but missed them

9:00PM You Should Go Ahead (Molotov Lounge) Another Portuguese rock band!

10:00PM The Sundresses (Lava Lounge Patio) Don't really know them but they have played several times for us (there's one chick in the band)

10:00PM Stephanie Dosen (The Ale House) Liked her mp3 a lot

10:00PM Dengue Fever (Emo's Main Room) This act this the most fun. A multi-racial, multi-instrumented band backs this Cambodian pop singer who wears these formal gowns onstage and sings like a little bird

10:30PM Shout Out Out Out Out (Beauty Bar Patio) Probably will be mobbed

10:30PM Sondre Lerche (Antone's) Love him

11:00PM The Hedrons (Red 7 Patio) All women, guess that's legal in Scotland

11:00PM Canada (Habana Calle 6 Annex) But they're from Michigan. One woman in the band

11:00PM The Trucks (The Tap Room at Six) All women, from Seattle. I don't know how that happened.

11:00PM The Awkward Stage (Light Bar) Shane Nelken, a frequent Carl Newman collaborator. His record was produced by Kurt Dahle, drummer for the New Pornographers and my very favorite (male) drummer

11:00PM Winterpills (Momo's) I liked their mp3

11:00PM Lionheart Brothers (Emo's Jr) Norwegian

11:30PM The Little Ones (Antone's) I have listened to this LA group's EP of wonderful pop songs a lot and I love them

12:00AM Northern State (The Tap Room at Six) Three-woman hip hop act

12:00AM The Slats (Lava Lounge Patio) Minneapolis punk, liked their mp3

12:00AM The Oohlas (Red Eyed Fly) Same person who gave me The Little Ones' record gave me this group's record, too, knowing that I like the pop music. Also from LA

12:00AM Novillero (Light Bar) My favorite band that has ever been on the TV show Monk. Part of the Mint Records showcase

12:00AM Amy Winehouse (Eternal) Am told she is very good, much, much more talented than some other "boiled spaghetti" female singers the UK is currently throwing against the wall and seeing if they stick

12:30AM My Brightest Diamond (solo acoustic) (Emo's IV Lounge) Shara Worden, the multi-talented singer and keyboardist on the Sufjan Stevens record

1:00AM Monahans (Habana Calle 6 Patio) A local act I am really enjoying

1:00AM The Hot Puppies (BD Riley's) All girls, pop, English

1:00AM Immaculate Machine (Light Bar) Also part of the Mint showcase. The niece of Carl Newman sings and plays keyboards in this band and I like them a lot

1:00AM The Ponys (Emo's Jr) This act is well-liked and oft-mentioned

My music fest picks for Wed., Mar. 14

2007-03-06T21:32:00.000-06:00

I have actually gotten a head start on my agenda for this year. All my activities are subject to change, however!

Where possible, I have chosen acts with women, instead of all guys. I've chosen pop, rock, and experimental over alt.country (which rules out a lot of women). Many of these acts have their mp3s on our SXSW Player, which you can access from our Web site. I like to have more than one act in mind per hour, in case one club is too crowded, I'm not liking the act, or if I just don't want to miss anything.

12:00PM (noon) Saturday Looks Good To Me (SESAC Day Stage Cafe Austin Convention Center) Okay, I don't know this act but they keep coming up over and over in my reading

8:00PM Matt Sheehy (Soho Lounge)

8:30PM Elemeno P (The Parish II) They're from New Zealand

9:00PM Division Day (Blender Bar at the Ritz) Their info page says John Vanderslice likes them, and I like John Vanderslice, I like the mp3 I heard

9:00PM Harris Tweed (18th Floor at Hilton Garden Inn) Female/male act, very pop, from South Africa

9:00PM X-Wife (Friends) A Portuguese rock band

9:00PM Street To Nowhere (Whisky Bar)

10:00PM Rosie Thomas (Central Presbyterian Church) Did her record with Sufjan, and I love and adore Sufjan. Central Prez was an excellent venue last year. You can sit down, which is so nice

10:00PM Monsters Are Waiting (Friends) Keep hearing their mp3 and I like it

10:30PM Busty Duck (The Parish II) A Belgian rock band. " We want to make pop music, but we want power in it as well. We may not be the only ones but we do it the busty way."

11:00PM Buttercup (Co-op Bar) From San Antonio, and I like their mp3.

11:00PM The Gentle Good (Copa)

11:00PM The Mountain Goats (Emo's Main Room) John Darnielle — people love him or they don't. I do. Blonde Redhead is on after him, and it's at Emo's. BRed is a bit Eurotrashy for me but that show is going to be packed

11:30PM Minipop (The Parish II)

12:00AM Paper Moon (Co-op Bar) Canadian

12:00AM The Glass Family (Room 710) An Austin band I really like

12:45AM White Ghost Shivers (Molotov Lounge) Also an Austin act and they are good

1:00AM Bermuda Triangle (Co-op Bar) Norwegian

1:00AM Softlightes (Central Presbyterian Church) Remember, a calm venue where you can be seated. I liked the mp3

1:00AM Daylights For The Birds (Latitude 30) Again, listen to the mp3

Yvonne De Carlo dies at 84

2007-01-10T17:38:00.002-06:00

Yvonne De Carlo, of The Ten Commandments, The Munsters, and Stephen Sondheim's Follies fame, has died. In the spring of 1983, I was working as a "techie" in a dinner theater in Houston, Texas, and it became my dubious privilege to work as a dresser for Yvonne De Carlo, who was starring in a production of the musical Gypsy. I was always filled with a little trepidation when a new show was mounted. It invariably meant I would be wrangling a once-big-movie star whose mood could be anywhere from affable and fun to reserved or crabby.

I got an inkling of what was to come during a conversation with Breck Wall (yes, that's his real name), star of the Vegas-style revue, Bottoms Up, which was running right before Gypsy opened. I was burbling excitedly to him about my upcoming assignment with Yvonne De Carlo. Breck loved all gossip, big and small, and made it a point to know everything dishy there was to know about famous people. "Let's see if she's sober," he said knowingly, arching one eyebrow.

"Oh God, is it true?" I implored of another Bottoms Up cast member, David Harris. David, another show biz vet, told me that yes, that was the word about Yvonne De Carlo, and what was more, she had a raunchy streak in her, too. Supposedly she strode into the dressing room for the Follies boys' chorus and barked, "All right, who has the biggest dick?"

But there were mitigating circumstances surrounding Yvonne, David countered. Her husband, a stunt man, had been involved in a horrifying accident on the set of How the West Was Won, which was released in 1962. In its day, that was a really big Hollywood blockbuster with an enormous all-star cast. A popular myth about that film is that in one splashy and terrifying scene with people scrambling on top of a log trailer on a moving train, there are a few split seconds of a stunt man's death contained within the footage. I don't think it's true, mainly because the stunt man, Bob Morgan, aka Mr. Yvonne De Carlo, did not die from the train accident (although he was greatly diminished). David said that Yvonne took the Munsters TV acting job so she could support her family (the couple had two sons). At any rate, after her husband was disabled, she was never the same again. They eventually divorced.

Indeed, there was little left of the witty, vampy, sexy movie star of the 1940s and 50s by the time Yvonne De Carlo showed up for Gypsy rehearsals in Houston. She seemed to be operating in a world of her own; it wasn't so much that she didn't accept direction, she didn't seem to know the director was even there; she didn't didn't make eye contact with the other cast members when they were onstage together or even consistently remember their character names; her powerful singing voice was but a memory and she never once performed a song the same way twice or get the lyrics right, in spite of the fact that she had supposedly done the role before. Quite a handicap considering she was playing the powerhouse Mama Rose and needed to break the audience's heart in order for the play to make sense (it's one of the toughest roles in all musical theater).

As anyone who's ever worked on a screen or stage project will tell you, the long hours and the emotional and expressive nature of the work usually produces a real camaraderie among people. Often, the star of the show would throw the dressing room door wide open and be joking, laughing and telling show business stories to the other cast members and crew (Van Johnson, June Allyson, Elke Sommer). Or, not (Cyd Charisse).

Not surprisingly, Yvonne De Carlo fell into this latter category. She and I were on one side of the closed dressing room door, with everybody else on the other side. So only I heard her stories about her past, which weren't numerous but they were colorful. Luckily, I was a student of the "golden age" of Hollywood and was smart enough to be impressed that in her salad days she had hung out with the great comic director Ernst Lubitsch (Ninotchka, To Be or Not to Be). That told me Yvonne had once been very serious about perfecting her craft. She had been a scrapper, appearing one in B-movie after another, heaving her bosom and eyeballing her man. Like just about everyone in Hollywood, then and now, she had a full life offscreen. Her social life included the leading men of the day and mobsters, too. Once, one of "the gang" went missing, and she asked her gangster lover what had happened. "He told me, 'Oh, honey, he's singing now,'" Miss De Carlo recalled. " 'I ain't got NO BODY …' "

And yes, there was the drink, there was me fetching Miss De Carlo a vodka on the rocks with no rocks and Miss De Carlo chasing the vodka with pills and more vodka, me whipping costumes off her and stuffing her into other ones. Me directing a small flashlight beam on the floor in front of her everywhere she tottered backstage and gently shoving her onstage and then listening, wondering what might happen next, which portion of the book she might skip and then go back to? would she abruptly stop a song because in her mind it was over, or because she simply couldn't remember any more of it at the moment? Whatever happened, I had to be there when she shuffled away offstage from her scenes. I was the Yvonne De Carlo catcher — and pitcher.

My friend from high school, Michael Tapley (who later played Tommy on Broadway), danced and sang in the chorus and while he didn't have to show his dick to Yvonne De Carlo, he was onstage with her and had to be ready for almost anything, for there were no cues, let alone the basic give-and-take that actors have with each other when they are onstage pretending to be other people. We would stand around backstage staring at each other in disbelief. "Can you believe — " he'd begin and I'd splutter "What did you do after she did THAT?!" I'd say, aghast. Then Michael would light a menthol cigarette and scratch his head and we would head to the lounge with the rest of the cast, sans Yvonne, for a well-deserved cocktail, wondering what kind of losers end up in the situation we were in, anyway.

I had a secret that I had to keep from him, though, and from all the cast. My friend the stage manager, Ginny Hartman, cornered me backstage on opening night. "You can't tell ANYONE!" she hissed fiercely. "Jan is already learning all the Mama Rose songs and the book. She starts rehearsing tomorrow morning with Art. Yvonne will be fired at the end of the week, on Sunday night. We have a dress rehearsal with Jan and the whole cast on Monday. YOU CAN'T TELL ANYONE!"

Monday night was our dark night and I had really been looking forward to the day off. Jan Guillory was a woman we'd worked with before, who had made a living entirely out of performing the roles of Bloody Mary in South Pacific and Mother Superior in The Sound of Music in regional productions all over North America. She'd never done Mama Rose, though, and Art Yelton, the long-suffering musical director, had less than one week to whip Jan into some sort of shape.

Meanwhile, the rest of the cast slogged through some eight performances or so of Gypsy with tipsy, addled Lily Munster at the top of the bill. On the one hand, I was cheered because my friends would soon get out of the nightmare they were living. On the other hand, I hated having this secret. I wilted inside when I thought of the devastating effect that being fired from a dinner theater production of Gypsy would have on Yvonne De Carlo, even if she WAS horrible in the show and was making the cast and crew wish they were dead. I mean, the former gangster's moll and screen vamp would not have taken this job if she did not need the money, really need the money.

But in the meantime, the theater management kept up all appearances and moved Yvonne from a nearby hotel into a rented townhouse, per her contract. And I had early on accepted an invitation from her to go to lunch on the first Friday of the run of the show. I was her dresser, after all, and she knew to show her appreciation.

I arrived and let myself into the townhouse. I was not used to being taken to lunch or being dressed up, and the amuse bouche of guilt and dread was frothing my stomach. Yvonne bustled from the bedroom, swooped up her full tumbler of something, took a swig, smacked it down, and flew back to finish dressing. I sniffed the glass's contents. Gin. It was 11:00 am.

We were to dine at Brenner's, a darn fancy steakhouse that was off the Katy Freeway not far from the theater and townhouse. When I've told this story, people have said, "Oh, Brennan's, yeah." No. Brennan's was a branch of the famous New Orleans restaurant in downtown Houston (and it's still there). Brenner's was a steakhouse started by a German couple, the Brenners (it's still there, too, now owned by the Landry's company, which seems to buy everything). This was the kind of place Texas Monthly listed with multiple $$$$$. I could not believe I was going here, as this person's guest, under these circumstances. More froth inside.

The restaurant knew we were coming, and Miss De Carlo was quickly recognized by Brenner's patrons, many of whom sought autographs. She took the seat that faced the door — she would be noticed more easily that way. It was kind of exciting and Yvonne brightened at the attention she was getting. For a moment I glimpsed the glamourous Hollywood pro she once was and it occurred to me she probably missed her youth and wild life more than ordinary people did. It had all slipped away from her, just like the load of logs under Bob Morgan's sturdy feet, and then nothing was the same ever again.

Yvonne suggested drinks, something I had never done at lunch. Oh well, I will never be in this place again, I thought. Brenner's had only prime beef on the menu, cooked personally by Mrs. Brenner. You got a salad with insanely great and rich Roquefort dressing (my favorite!!!) and the entree came with German-fried potatoes, and I can still remember just how it all tasted.

The meal over and autographs signed, it was time to settle with Brenner's. Yvonne pulled out a credit card. Don't forget, lots of people did not have credit cards then. They paid cash. It was kind of a big deal to pay with a credit card, and more often than not it was a sign that the person did not have any money. The waitress returned after a few moments and apologetically explained that the credit card had been declined. Yvonne bristled, and mumbling something about having paid that bill, wrestled another card from her disheveled wallet. This, too, turned out to be no good. My discomfort rising, I glanced at the check. It was $75, more than I had ever spent on a meal or anything else, and I did not have $75 in my own wallet. I had maybe $35 or less. I did not know what to do. I was in an insanely expensive restaurant with a once-famous person who seemingly could not pay the bill and I did not know what to do. I began to feel even worse about the fate about to befall Yvonne in just three days.

Yvonne then produced a checkbook from her handbag. She was irritated and flustered now. The waitress, who had at the beginning of our visit been honored to serve Lily Munster, demurred. She felt very sure that Mrs. Brenner did not want to take a check. I began to panic at the thought of an annoyed German woman storming out of her kitchen and up to our table, and feel very sad that I would remember the first good steak of my life this way. Yvonne ignored the waitress and scratched away on a check. She ripped it from the book and handed it to the waitress dismissively, but the waitress would not take it. She disappeared into the back. I fumbled for my own wallet and took out all the cash I had. My lunch companion did the same. We barely had enough. I thanked her profusely for the excellent meal.

Sunday night at work, I stumbled into the scene shop and spied Jan, the replacement, rehearsing the number "Rose's Turn" in costume. On the other side of the wall, the last performance of Gypsy with Yvonne De Carlo was in progress. I dashed out when the show was over, just as the theater management people came backstage to give her the news.

In a few days, I did visit her at the townhouse to say a proper goodbye and express my regret that things had turned out this way. Her son, Michael, had arrived anticipating a stay with his mother while she worked, but instead he was helping her pack and go back to Los Angeles. I wish I could remember what I said and what she said, but I do know that she didn't understand what happened. Events had conspired against her once more, was all she could see. Another log pile had rolled over on her life again.

I was cheered to see that true to her nature, Yvonne De Carlo rebounded from this episode and did more TV and film work, probably as long as she was able. What her life makes me remember is, some choices can fund your household, make you famous, but also erase your past. And always, always be ready to pay the tab in a restaurant.

My SXSW 2006

2006-03-23T11:46:00.000-06:00

This was the 20th SXSW, and Number 18 for me. It would be quite impossible to remember something about each one of those 18 years, but maybe I can start remembering the next 18. And I just have to ask, WHAT smoking ban? I still went to bed smelling like an ashtray every night!!

Friday, March 10

Six years ago, an event launched by Evan Smith and Louis Black called the Texas Film Hall of Fame sort of cut in line ahead of our event, and for the most part, it felt like a fun way to launch the 10 days of SXSW. The first ones were fun, thrown-together affairs and really did honor some important Texas actors, directors, etc. Will Van Overbeek took these photos. He got some real beauts, don't ya think?

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http://www.austinfilm.org/tfhof/

But I’d say ever since the big Wilson brothers year, when Luke ‘n Owen came down and deigned to walk among us, this event has kicked into high, Alpha Mom gear. It is definitely now one of the social events of the season, another place for rich, bored housewives and the husbands who screw around on them to be dressed up and see their friends. The dank weather made it feel like an appletini-charged greenhouse for socialites and dilettantes inside the Austin Studios, which, as you may remember, is a former airplane hangar.

This year — a sold-out affair — seemed to me to be absolutely awash in the biggest stiffs and hangers-on our state (yes, Dallas and Houston people come, too) has. Two women at the party were wearing the same dress (horrors!). They should have done what I’ve been doing the last couple few — skip the shopping trip and just dress like they’re too busy to be there. In fact, that is what I was saying to Roland while we rushed through the back streets of Northeast Austin in an attempt to get to the Austin Studios: “Someday we will have to face the fact that we are really too busy to go to this.” At 8:40, over two-and-a half hours after the event began, the awards portion of the evening had not even started, and live auction boomed on, presided over by Bob Cole.
The suspense of which deserving woman would score the Anthony Nak diamond earrings or the trip for four for the premiere of Through a Scanner Darkly was killing me, but we did have our own event to check on. Heaven is Bob Cole in your rear view mirror. Bye, Film Hall of Lame.

Later we went to the film festival opening party at Buffalo Billiards, where I met Kieran Galvin, the Irish director of an Australian feature we played called Puppy. I really adore this film for its tremendous acting and the suspense it creates. Kieran and his producer, an American woman named Melissa Beaufort, were trying to drum up interest in an American distribution. They weren’t slotted very well in the festival because they weren’t in competition. (Hey, I can advocate something, but I don’t make programming decisions, which is all for the good.) I can easily see this film running on IFC or the Sundance channel if nothing else. I politely asked our friend Kevin Connor to put Kieran and Melissa on his KGSR radio show on Tuesday morning, which he did, and the two of them got to meet Lyle Lovett. Kieran emailed me after their second and final screening on Wednesday and said they’d had a good crowd that seemed to “get” the film. I hope something great happens for them, and I hope you all see Puppy someday.

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http://www.puppythemovie.com/

Saturday, March 11

Hey, was that TWO cosmos made with crap vodka I had in the Hilton bar before I went to the film party? Bad idea!

This was the first day of the film and interactive conferences, and it’s really kind of my favorite portion of the event. People meet and greet, have meetings, dinners, go to parties. It’s fun, but not over-amped, quite unlike the music portion of SXSW. I spent part of the day waiting to see a panel that Annabelle Gurwitch (“Dinner and a Movie” on TBS) was supposed to be on, but learned she was stranded in Colorado at the Aspen Comedy Festival in a snowstorm and would not arrive until late that night. Annabelle made a film we premiered called Fired!, a documentary inspired by her being fired by Woody Allen from a play. It features lots of show biz folks (David Cross, Andy Dick, Bob Odenkirk), but she was smart about her film and included the experiences of regular people. A Fired! book just came out, too.

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http://www.firedbyannabellegurwitch.com

This night was the premiere of Andy Dick’s mockumentary, Danny Roane: First Time Director. You’d want to say it’s autobiographical, but really it’s just self-reflexive, and annoying so. Dick plays Danny Roane, a comedian who just got out of rehab, see, and he is trying to direct a movie with his friends, just like Andy Dick, get it? I find the mockumentary form overused and under-finessed, and Danny Roane is no exception. Like his character, Dick’s rehab experience did not seem to stick. Dick arrived at SXSW already behaving bizarrely and reportedly scored meth after he got here. I was told he behaved like a lunatic at the screening and all over town. "It's Andy Dick time! It's the Andy Dick show!" he screeched. His humor got physical, and he grabbed people, dry humping them or sticking his hand down people's shirts and trying to lick their faces. He called the SXSW office many times a day before the festival and became phone buddies with our young receptionist, Melissa, who he kept text messaging throughout the screening. He his schtick wore very thin, and quickly.

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http://www.andydick.com

Sunday, March 12

I had readily agreed to interview Annabelle Gurwitch for Studio SX, a small television set-up in the Austin Convention Center that audiences can watch live and later stream an edited version from our Web site. I had been told it would be just Annabelle, but I learned that morning that no, Andy Dick and David Cross would be there, too. Yikes. At least my questions would be pretty much irrelevant. In fact, I would be irrelevant, which was fine, but I wasn’t looking forward to looking like a fool.

But Gurwitch was running very late (her unpaid, volunteer assistant had in fact forgotten to put the interview on their calendar in the first place), the report from David Cross was he wanted to shower and eat first, and no one knew where Andy Dick was (to my immense relief). A crowd had assembled to watch, but they dispersed when the crew bumped the interview and put on other scheduled guests instead. Nearly an hour after the scheduled interview time, Annabelle Gurwitch arrived and we entered the small, plexiglass-enclosed studio and she was off like a shot.

I wish we had had time to confer beforehand so I could have set her up better, but she didn’t really need me to. Something like 15 or 20 minutes later, David Cross crawled into the studio on his stomach and pretended to enter by parting the curtain behind the sofa where Gurwitch was seated. The crowd loved it. I asked them both if they had ever been fired from a straight, non-show business job and Cross did one of his slow, wind-up pitches about working somewhere fixing glory holes … yeah. A few minutes earlier he had spun a yarn about watching himself over and over on his TV show until he achieved “release” and without thinking I said, “Oh, don’t take me there.” That’s a bad thing to do when you’re essentially in an improv — tell another actor to stop doing something. So I pretended to laugh appreciatively about the glory hole story to make up for my gaffe. The crowd loved it and I got my picture made with Annabelle and Cross and the crew afterward.

Here's a link to video of that interview:
http://2006.sxsw.com/video/movie_window.big.php?dir=2006_coverage&id=833&spe
ed=hi

We were in a restaurant with my brother and his wife and were just talking about the Studio SX experience when Annabelle appeared from around the corner, all by herself. I got to ask her things I didn’t in the interview, and it was a fun conversation. Roland and I walked her back to her hotel and permitted her to sing us the praises of SXSW, about how it’s "so much better than" Sundance. She said she wanted to go out after she showered and had a disco nap, and she put my number into her Blackberry. But I know how I feel when I shower and lie down after a long day, so it wasn’t much of a surprise when she didn’t call and I went out by myself to some film parties, including the Darkon party, which won the jury award in the documentary competition.

Monday, March 13

This was my day to birddog the annual wardrobe crisis for Roland. Every year we decide on the fly that Roland needs something to wear for the conference and it’s a race to the finish to get the new clothes ready in time. This year we special ordered a black microfiber suit from Capra and Cavelli and it was to arrive on Monday from Canada. We would go to the shop get the pants marked, the sleeves shortened — all in time for Thursday’s keynote speech. Piece of cake, in theory.

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http://www.capracavelli.com

I was about to turn my phone off so I could watch Oilcrash at the Austin Convention Center screening room when I noticed I had a voicemail from Capra. The suit had arrived, but good old UPS had damaged the carton in transit and the jacket was ruined. Our salesperson, Nancy Perkins, had already ordered a new jacket and it was guaranteed to arrive on Wednesday morning. Nancy said she would bring the garment to the convention center on Wednesday for marking and we would have it back on Wednesday night. I cursed the luck and myself for not forcing Roland to deal with this matter in November, when we first started talking about doing this. I bagged the movie and headed back to tell Roland the news, and then over to Whole Foods to order gift baskets for our friends from New York, Australia, and Ireland. They’re all really over the top with gifting us every time we see them, and I needed to make it up a big deficit. When I told them at Whole Foods I wanted to order gift baskets, they said, “Do you want to do that today?” (NO, JUST WHEN IT’S EFFING CONVENIENT FOR YOU, OKAY?) and when I said I wanted comestibles in the baskets, they said, “Huh?”

I also got handed another small task: Coming up with gifts for four Korean visitors from Austin’s sister city, Gwangmyeong City, which is some sort of arts community in South Korea. There was the mayor and his wife, a cultural attache, and the director of a music festival in that city. I was a little panicked. All I know about Asians generally is that gifts are fraught with meaning and it’s easy to offend if you don’t know what you’re doing. We’d settled on giving them bags with our company logo (which was consistent with advice given in a book on doing international business) but we needed something inside them. I decided to buy three copies of Landmark Austin, which is a pictorial of landmark art around town, and a book on Texas wildflowers for the mayor’s wife, and then four packages of BBQ cashews from Austinnuts. I consulted our friend Mirko Whitfield, who has lived all over the world and knows Asians well and he said it was all fine but that we might want to give the mayor a bottle of some local spirits or wine. We don’t produce anything locally I’d really care to give as a gift, so we skipped that part, even though it would have been correct to honor him with something extra since he was the highest status person in the group.

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http://www.mvalley.org

I had time and slipped into a screening of Summercamp!, a doc in competition. It’s about a group of kids at Swift Nature Camp in Wisconsin, and delves into the expected territory of group power struggles, homesickness, etc. I was indifferent to this film. To me, it read like a favor to a friend, and we had already covered this territory in not one but TWO movies we had last year about kids at summer camp, Stagedoor (about theater kids at Stagedoor Manor in the Catskills) and Rock School. (Okay, Rock School wasn’t a summer camp, but it dealt with kids.)

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http://2006.sxsw.com/film/screenings/film/F5051.html

We had dinner with Mirko across the street at Carmelo’s, a place I think is kind of cheesy but the food is not bad. Mirko thought the fare authentic Italian, and he would know.

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http://www.carmelosrestaurant.com/austin.html

Later we headed to the Austin Chronicle party over at La Zona Rosa, which had a minimal amount of free munchies and a cash bar. (Hey, that’s the Chronicle I know!) Charlie Sexton and Trish Murphy were playing inside (not together), but hardly anyone was watching them. Everyone was outdoors on the newly-decapitated patio so they could smoke. I saw a few people I knew, including this kid, Will, who had been recruited by the Piersons to help out Matt Dentler during the film festival. People were mistaking this young guy for someone else, an actor maybe, calling him by a different name. Then I saw Spencer Parsons, a professor of video production at UT and a fellow SXSW screener whom I don’t know well but who is very interesting. He was talking about how filmmakers conflate text and subtext in documentaries when Roland told me our little clan was headed to the Four Seasons bar. Tempting as it was to listen to "Piano Man" over conversations that don't really involve me, I stayed and talked to Spencer instead.

Tuesday, March 14

This day my brother, Andrew, had a short film in the experimental shorts program, something I’d never been to before. I had no idea who goes to this or what to expect. The program was at the Dobie, and it turned out to be just perfect. The sound and picture were phenomenal. The films themselves were all very strong. My personal favorite (sorry bro) was the one that won the competition, Stadtplan. It was a black-and-white, split-screen tone poem about Berlin, a city I have a lot of feeling for. Seven filmmakers, including my brother, were in attendance for Q&A afterwards. He was the last one to introduce himself and I must say, he was so very gracious to the other filmmakers and offered them sincere compliments on their work. I was proud of his effort and totally blown away by the quality of what we offered festivalgoers.

I stayed for about half of the next film, a sort of creative documentary from the UK called Bataville: We Are Not Afraid of the Future. Made by two English women artists, it deals loosely with the life and legacy of Tomas Bata, who launched the shoe empire in Europe. Bata not only set up factories for his workers, but housing and social clubs as well. To work for Bata was not just a job, but a way of life. I fear my settling exhaustion kept me from putting my whole mind on this film but I admired it.

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http://www.bata-ville.com/main.html

We had dinner with friends that night at Roaring Fork (we felt we’d really overdone the Fonda San Miguel option). I missed the film awards, but we hit the ending film party at Guerrero warehouse. Sleater-Kinney played, courtesy of IFC. The music registrants were starting to hit town, and the tone of SXSW was changing. The roof just seems to cave in once the music conference & festival starts.

Wednesday, March 15

First thing, Nancy Perkins from Capra and Cavelli arrived at the Austin Convention Center with Roland’s suit so she could get it marked, altered, and returned by the end of the day. It was her day off.

This year I decided to severely limit my guest list for comps. Frankly, in the past, I’ve given them to people who kind of hosed me later when I needed a favor. (Ask me who. I won’t put it in writing!) So now it’s friends only. Actual friends. So I handed a wristband off to my friend Aina, who was planning to meet our friend Kathy for the World Party/Plimsouls show that night. Would she be able to get in? “Sure, no one under 40 will be there,” I said. Hah. Famous last words. That show was jammed.

Anyway, the SXSW music conference was off and running. The registration crew made several thousand badges for registrants, artists, and panelists, all without a hiccup in our computer system. Andy Flynn, music panels coordinator, was gearing up for the day’s big event: an interview on stage with the Beastie Boys, timed to precede the showing of Awesome: I Fuckin’ Shot That! at the Paramount Theater later that day. The documentary is a compilation of footage of the Beasties shot by their fans; accordingly, they insisted that their onstage interview not be moderated by anyone — they just wanted to field questions from the audience. You know, take it straight to the people. No bullshit.

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http://2006.sxsw.com/film/screenings/film/F4812.html

Andy had asked Linda Park, a longtime SXSW associate and friend, to help field the audience questions and he asked me to help, too. Linda and I spent some time figuring out how we would divide the room up between us and scout for people who wanted to ask their heroes something. The sound man told us to hold the mike about nine inches down, away from the person’s mouth. Stupid advice! Of course the questioners just hunched over it to get close to it, afraid their voices weren’t going to be picked up, so eventually we had to bring the mike up to their faces so they could stand upright while they were speaking. Our plan for how we would exercise crowd control was kind of a waste of time, too. But these were very small problems. The biggest problem was …

The Beastie Boys simply didn’t have very much to say.

They were incapable of following a lead, of lobbing back a conversational volley. They gave four-word answers. And although the caliber and tone of questions (if you consider “I love you guys!” a question) was poor, I have to give the fans credit for wanting to know a few things, namely:

What music did you hear growing up that captured your imagination?
What about your spiritual life?
What about your social activism?
What have you read that influenced you?

This last question in particular was met with a hesitant silence so sweeping I had to stifle a laugh.

The subject of their playing here in Austin soon was also broached and the band acknowledged they would be playing the following day. They were about to spill the beans on when and where, but I quickly grabbed the mike (“Next question!”), and the news of their super-secret, surprise show at Stubb’s at 7 pm was saved until the appropriate time to divulge it on our SMS phone text message system. Whew. The response to this panel was nearly unanimous: Moderators are very important. Don’t put people onstage without one.

A couple of years ago SXSW began offering a welcome dinner at the Four Seasons. Music registrants can buy a ticket to it, and it’s generally pretty nice, very low-key. This year Roland had the idea of offering, as a surprise to the guests, a bit of after-dinner entertainment: The Flight of the Conchords.
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http://www.myspace.com/conchords

We had seen this New Zealand comedy/music duo on HBO last summer, and I just about bust a gut laughing at them. To me they are the antidote to Tenacious D — their humor is dry, reserved, and respects the audience’s intelligence. We’d had a great comedy component to SXSW ‘05 with Patton Oswalt and The Comedians of Comedy, and our New Zealand contacts are strong. The Conchords accepted an invitation to come to SXSW and do the dinner, as well as a showcase (they were about to be signed to Subpop). New Zealand popular culture is currently experiencing a generous streak from the government, and as part of the funding deal, “the boys” were making a documentary about their trip that will be aired on New Zealand television. (Before they were invited, they had no idea who the hell we were, but their producer and friend, Gemma, did.)

They arrived at the Four Seasons with a film crew and interviewed Roland. Roland frequently punts on interviews during the conference, handing them off to either Louis Black or Brent Grulke whenever it’s feasible. But he truly relished the opportunity to meet these talented young men and was very animated and fun. We all sat down together for dinner and we got to know Bret and Jemaine a little. They are unpretentious and delightful and their sweet reservedness is not just an act for the stage. They are so unlike most American comedians, who are always “on.” They’re currently in a development deal with HBO and if their sitcom ever gets done, it’s gonna be great and they are going to be hugely famous. (And HBO will undo the psychic damage done to me by that stupid Marky Mark show.)

I could tell the audience had no clue what they were in for when Bret and Jemaine took the stage with their acoustic guitars and began picking a soulful-and-sensitive-sounding melody and singing about a beautiful girl, but once they sang the line “You could be a part-time model/But you’d probably have to keep your normal job” the crowd knew what was up.

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http://www.conchords.co.nz

Later that night Bret and Jemaine attended the surprise Flaming Lips show at the Fox and Hound, which turned out to be a major highlight for them, as they adore Wayne Coyne and had never met him or seen the Lips. I had been looking forward to the Matador showcase, however, and can pretty much take or leave the Lips.

I arrived while Brightblack Morning Light was still playing — an intense, interesting act whose moody sound was sort of out of place at a giant venue like Stubb’s, and while the crowd was polite, they were impatient for the Porns, as well as Belle & Sebastian and Mogwai. I spotted Carl Newman, leader and main songwriter for the NPs — he is almost always in the house somewhere before a show, and heads backstage just before he’s supposed to go on. We've met a few times before and we grumbled a bit about the fact that Dan Bejar, the sometime New Pornographer and always Destroyer, passed on his Merge showcase for SXSW this year.

The NPs have not been touring with Neko Case this time (she has her own tour) but she got onstage with them at Stubb’s and the show had a strong start, and the crowd was thrilled (Austin’s been deprived of the NPs since September 2003). But I felt like after a few songs their set crumbled a bit. Case, perhaps unable to hear herself, went sharp several times (especially on “These Are the Fables”). Kurt Dahle, their stellar drummer, was way off his game that night (chiefly because he kept pulling on a bottle of Jameson’s the whole 40 minutes). Belle & Sebastian really showed them up, honestly. I’ve never been nuts for their records but they were magic live, swear to God.

Here's some video of the NPs performance:
http://2006.sxsw.com/video/movie_window.big.php?dir=2006_coverage&id=839&speed=hi

I hit the aforementioned Plimsouls show and I must say, what I heard sounded very good. I was gonna call it a night in preparation for the next day’s keynote with Neil Young, but I ran into two of my favorite staffers, Scott Wilcox and Jarod Neece, who were headed to Art Brut at the Parish and I tagged along. It’s kind of a, I don’t know, parody act, I guess. But the band was hot and the humor dead-on. You can’t take more than about 20 minutes of it, but I’m glad I saw them. Here's someone's photo. See how the flash lights up the back of the heads of the people in front of the camera holder. I bet they're still wondering why this didn't turn out better.

Thursday, March 16

It was a major achievement, getting Neil Young for the keynote session for SXSW ‘06, and the realization of a big dream for Roland, who absolutely venerates Young. Louis Black, longtime friend of Jonathan Demme, really was instrumental in pulling this off, and the timing with the Demme/Young film was perfect.

If there’s one thing the staff has learned to deal with, it’s the fact that celebrities do not show up on time, and this morning was no exception. The Palm School choir wearily warbled several more songs for the mass of people who were waiting for Neil Young. At last Young and Demme were on the premises and Roland went out to give a short speech and introduction. Again, Roland doesn’t jump in front of a microphone every chance he gets, but he takes the SXSW opening day very seriously and he delivered a fantastic speech.

The Conchords and crew were on hand for this event, too, and just casually I said to Gemma, Hey, let me know what I can help you with (I was thinking more along the lines of location suggestions, restaurants, shopping). They’d been pretty self-sufficient but they did want one thing, namely, one famous non-New Zealand musician to interview. Billy Bragg, perhaps, or Kris Kristofferson. I headed off to find Linda, whose job it was to field these matters for TV people (and plus she knows everyone in the whole freaking music business). Gemma came running up behind me. “Oh!” she said. “Jemaine didn’t want to ask you. He’s so shy! But the boys would really, really like to meet Wayne Coyne and interview him.” Ultimately they did meet Wayne before he went onstage for another secret show although they did not get as up-close as they were hoping, with a camera and mike.

Here's a Will Van Overbeek picture of them playing at the Yard Dog party. They told me later they had to politely insist they be put on the "main" stage, instead of on an unmiked platform somewhere, where they couldn't be seen or heard.

I caught most of John Vanderslice, whom I really like, but he didn’t have a band this time. The big show for this night was Morrissey. He had even showed up for his onstage interview at the convention center that day and, contrary to his reputation, was charming and agreeable. I loved The Smiths and had never seen him. He gave fans a great show.

But I tell you, everyone who missed the Table of the Elements showcase at Central Presbyterian missed something GREAT. We have had not much of this sort of thing, which is experimental and art music. Grulke is best at describing what it’s like. It was mind-blowing, positively the riskiest, most esoteric, "out there" thing we've ever done. You haven’t heard anything until you hear nine electric guitars (one of them in the hands of Thurston Moore) play a so-called “Guitar Trio” — a sort of orchestral piece — in Rhys Chatham’s Guitar Army. Even though they didn’t quite get the music, the folks at Central Prez were troupers. They even had tents set up outside for massage, cookies, and fair trade coffee. Cool people. Really.

Friday, March 17

Boy, do I dread St. Patty’s Day. It adds such a level of madness, particularly when it falls on a weekend like this. This was the night of the Conchords showcase, which I was originally going to skip because we were having fireworks at the same hour on Town Lake to celebrate the 20th anniversary. I went to see what the line was like at Red Eyed Fly, a small venue I assumed would already be at capacity. But badges got in, and, well, I stayed (much to my chagrin later — the fireworks were great, I’m told). The boys knew they’d have to modify their act a little to accommodate a rock setting (they’re used to playing theaters where people are seated), and Americans are just more boisterous. So they said to the crowd, “Hey, Texas!” and people went, “WOOOO!” and the Conchords said, “Could you be a little quieter? Try it again” and then demonstrated the grunt and a shrug they’re accustomed to. The audience finally complied and the Conchords replied, “Ah yeah, feels like home.” At one point, Bret even dived off the stage into the crowd. “You guys did a really bad job of catching me,” he quipped when he crawled back up there and Jemaine flinched in imitation of the audience, who were not prepared for a flying Kiwi boy.

But the fans were respectful and Bret and Jemaine were gracious toward them. One couple had made their own Flight of the Conchords T-shirts. The boy’s pictured a dragon and read, “Take your hand off my tail, you’ll make it dirty” and the girl’s read, “Team Building Exercises 1999.” (Jokes from their act.) Gemma told me later one woman carried three photos in her wallet, one of her dog, one of her kid, and one of Jemaine’s lips. (While I think that’s pretty creepy, I must concede I see her point of view.)

Roland and I saw Animal Collective at the end of the night, a sort of art-noisy act who were good and the crowd massive. I’m glad I saw it, but I did miss eX-Girl, a Japanese girl rock trio who really rule (although I have seen them a couple of times).

Saturday, March 18

This day I brought my daughter to the convention center to see her dad and pick up a music bag. While I was taking her back home, I got a text message from Gemma in reply to one I’d sent earlier telling her El Azteca was out of calendars. She said the Conchords were being photographed for Time at the Broken Spoke that moment. So I sneaked over there to watch. I knew there was a scene at the Broken Spoke, but on Saturday afternoon? Yes, with a Western swing band and everything (in the front room). The Kiwi television crew thought they had landed in heaven and filmed extensively. Bret and Jemaine were in the back room.

Christiane had no clue why I had dragged her there other than Mama thinks these guys are funny. The photographer was a nice guy and offered us a Polaroid with the boys. I stood by Jemaine, and Bret gave Christiane his guitar to hold. I assumed this experience made virtually no impression on her until the next night when we were watching TV together and the Outback Steakhouse commercial came on. “It’s Jemaine!” she exclaimed.

I don’t know why, but SXSW Saturday has traditionally been a night where I’m at loose ends and I don’t find much good music. This day was sort of sad because it started with light rain, which totally ruined our New Orleans showcase at the Town Lake stage. There was a small crowd for Sam Moore, who is really good, has a lot more stamina than Al Green. I caught the last song of the Jones Family Singers, a phenomenal Gospel group at Central Prez. (Wish the Kiwis had shot that. No such thing in New Zealand, I’m sure.) I slipped into Emo’s for the first song of the Datsuns (Yankaroos, remember to flatten that “ah” sound to “ih,” as in “fit” — they’re Kiwi) and remembered I’d seen this longhaired, throwin’ goats act from NZ before.

Moving right along, I went up to Karma Lounge to catch Aberfeldy, who had played at the UK party and were so good. The show was late, because the previous act probably went over their time and Aberfeldy has just a ton of gear, but 20 minutes later, they took the stage. Someone in the crowd asked Riley, the leader, Hey, how about that Miller Lite? This is a reference to last year’s Aberfeldy showcase, when Riley observed quite loudly that Miller Lite just wasn’t his favorite beer and compared it with a certain bodily fluid (I’m paraphrasing here). The crowd loved it. I cringed at this point because Miller is a major sponsor of ours and has been good to SXSW, and I mentioned that fact to our good friend Una Johnston, who’s friends with Aberfeldy’s manager. So tonight, there wasn’t time to explain, but I handed Riley his drink of choice, Newcastle Ale, while he was setting up and told him we love the band and have a great show. But the audience member’s heckling got him going again and he retorted that he’d noticed chilling the beverage made the drink colder but that it still resembled that aforementioned fluid …

I went back to Central Prez for more gospel, white gospel with Marty Stuart. The house was nearly full already and I thought this might spell trouble for the last portion of the program, a “hootenanny” with Billy Bragg and others. Sure enough, a throng of kids whom I’m sure just think Bragg is “that guy who did the record with Wilco” began to assemble on the front steps. I went around and picked up cigarette butts from the grounds. It is a church after all! not a freaking ashtray.

I knew Gemma and Jess would be at some of the New Zealand shows and I headed to Habana Calle 6 patio for The Bats. They wanted to see a couple songs of The Pretenders, too, so we hoofed it to Stubbs and caught up with Roland there. I find Chrisse Hynde generally tiresome and her down-tempo, new stuff did not alter my stance on her. Earlier that day she had pitched a little fit about a chair on the SXSW panels stage being made of leather. Hah. It wasn’t. Polyester microfiber, honey. That’s what it’s for. To imitate leather. You would think a militant vegetarian would know this. Anyway, An Evening With the Pretenders grew dull, fast, and I was happy everyone wanted to leave. And if we hadn’t left I never would have seen …

The Bats! (see handy pronunciation guide above in reference to the Datsuns). They were great and everyone loved them, including Roland and me. That patio turned out to be a swell place for a gig, the sound was phenomenal. What a totally fun way to end SXSW 06, with good music, good venue, good crowd.