Next Best Records Blog: SXSW 2008 Diary Part I: Wednesday & Thursday

A few weeks ago, my buddy Tok casually mentioned that he had no idea what I was doing with my life because it had been so long since I'd done a running diary. Ask and ye shall receive. It has been about a year, and I figured South By Southwest 2008 would be a good enough excuse to dust off this super-self indulgent feature of the NBR Blog.

If anything, maybe this will serve as a helpful, if long-winded resource for those who, like me, decide to jump head-first into SXSW without dropping too much cash. I may have done it as cheaply as possible -- drive down, crash with friends who live in Austin, no wristband/badge, etc. So yeah, maybe somebody will get something worthwhile out of this.

Without further ado, here it is -- half Bill Simmons/half Mike Watt, the SXSW 2008 Diary:

Wednesday, March 12

5:40 a.m.: My buddy Lüc and I leave Columbus. The plan was originally to leave at 5, but hey, you try to wake up at 4:45 a.m. Mapquest says we've got 1244 miles to drive -- 19 hours or so.
10:52 a.m.: We're cruising. Around I-65 Exit 104 in Tennessee, we see the first billboard for Graceland. If only we had the time to stop . . .
11:55 a.m.: We pass Pringles Park, home of the Mariners AA-affiliate, the West Tennessee Diamond Jaxx, in Jackson, Tennessee. As a lifelong Pringles eater who never knew there was a Pringles Park (it actually looks pretty new), I find this a little too exciting. So far, Tennessee has been fun to drive through.
11:56 a.m.: Just past Pringles Park, we see signs for the Casey Jones Home & Railroad Museum. Another winner. Tennessee rules.
12:47 p.m.: After stopping for something to eat (Wendy's . . . where else?), I've taken over behind the wheel. Lüc graciously volunteered to use his new car for the drive down, probably because his car is, well, newer (and thus more reliable), but also because he has the Sync system that you see advertised on tv all the time. He's also lifted his "no iPods" ban for his car, and so now that I'm driving I've got my iPod hooked up. I'm thoroughly engrossed with the Sync, even despite the fact that when I give my first Sync command ("Play artist Psychedelic Horseshit") it totally rejects me. For the record, after the Horseshit rejection, I test it out with a "Play artist Times New Viking" before getting really serious and saying, "Play track 'What's This Shit Called Love.'" With Mike Hudson on the stereo, I'm ok.
1:46 p.m.: Leaving Memphis and crossing the Mississippi River. Maybe I read too much Mark Twain as a kid, but I always dig seeing the Mississippi. To celebrate, I play "Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again," thus continuing my themed Memphis choice of music, which also included Jan & Dean's version of "Memphis" and Pere Ubu's completely different song "Memphis."
3:44 p.m.: Approaching Texarkana, listening to R.E.M.'s "Texarkana." (I must be really getting on Lüc's nerves.) As the city approaches in the distance, we pass an exit for an airport and see a skyline in the distance. Lüc says, "So you're telling me that Texarkana has an airport and skyscrapers? Is this really Texarkana?"
3:45 p.m.: It's Little Rock. We're dumbasses.
5:56 p.m.: We see a billboard that reads, "Texarkana: Where life is so large, it takes two states." Not a bad billboard. Given how lame Arkansas has been, we're pretty psyched to see if Texarkana can live up to the hype.
6:32 p.m.: First hog siting. Lüc sees one running around in the Antler Lake Hunting Range.
11:45 p.m.: We make it to Austin. Pretty much 19 hours on the dot, which is good considering that I made a wrong turn and wandered 10 miles off course at one point. To our disappointment, Texarkana sucked, as did the drive through Texas. While in Austin, we're crashing with Lüc's friends Tim and Kirsten, both of whom are totally awesome and totally rule. Tim's played in a number of bands, and he currently drums for The Insect Fable. There's a bunch of others crashing there as well, including Boston's The Glow, who immediately earn props for a story about a show some of the guys just saw in a sewer (!)somewhere in Austin.

Thursday, March 13

10:45 a.m.: I wake up and start scouring the list of day shows that I printed out from showlistaustin.com, which was a great resource for figuring out what's going on with the free shows. There's tons of stuff going on . . . it's going to be hard to decide on what to do. We get word that there's already a line around the block for the Motorhead show at Stubbs, so we'll probably skip that one.
12:27 p.m.: We're leaving for downtown (T&K's place is about 6 miles away). I also get word that UD is tied with Xavier 41-41 with 14 minutes to go in their A-10 Tournament quarterfinal game. If UD could beat Xavier, this might be the best three days of my life.
1:01 p.m.: We park at the Convention Center on 2nd and Brazos. We ended up parking here every day, since it was fairly reasonable ($7 with three free re-entries). There were plenty of open spaces, so if you're in one of the outlying areas, this might be one of your best bets.
1:21 p.m.: As I fumble through show listings walking down Red River, Lüc has the first Columbus celebrity sighting of the weekend: Laura B. (formerly) of Night of Pleasure. She probably has no idea who Lüc and I are, but we think she rocks. (Turns out half of Columbus was in Austin for the weekend, so this is the first and last Columbus celebrity siting I'll note.) I just found out U.D. lost, so it looks like the weekend won't be perfect after all.
1:34 p.m.: Finally, the first band. We just caught Bodies of Water at the Other Music party at the French Legation Museum. They're ok -- energetic and melodic -- but I start to tune them out after their first song prominently features the tambourine (as a rule, I can't stand the tambourine). Turns out the first song we hear them play is their last, so I suppose I really can't say too much about 'em.
1:48 p.m.: We catch the band playing at the other stage at the French Legation Museum. This is a nice setting for a day show -- a huge, picturesque lawn with one tented main stage and one smaller side stage. I miss the name of the band and it's not printed anywhere I can find, so I suppose they'll lose their place in NBR Blog infamy. Whoever they are (bands, please clearly enunciate your names for dopes like me), they're decent, but a little too reliant on repeated grooves for me. They also seem to be playing the same note on the harmonic throughout their whole set. Halfway into the second or third song, J Mascis's soundcheck starts to become loudly apparent. We came to see Mascis, though, so I suppose it's all good.
2:00 p.m.: Mascis nondescriptly rambles up onto the main stage, plugs in his acoustic guitar, plays around with his effects pedals, and jumps immediately into his set. He plays maybe four songs, mainly mid- to late-period Dinosaur Jr. staples. The highlight, and apparently Mascis's main focus, is definitely two extended guitar solos. Using one of those guitar loop effects pedals (which I've consistently despised until J shows how it's done right), he twice lays down the rhythm guitar loop and sings a verse or two before ripping into five minutes vintage Mascis brilliance -- loud, melodic guitar solos. Definitely awesome.
3:11 p.m.: At the Typewriter Museum, where we just caught another band whose name I missed. Lüc wasn't digging their heavy riffs punctuated by a sorta goofy lead singer who apparently looks like the former bassist of Hells Fire Sinners, but I thought they were alright, if mainly for their prank phone call intro and outro ("Are you the person in charge of the Levi's party? I'm from the Gap, and we want challenge you to a jeans-off on the middle of Sixth Street.") Anyway, Monotonix is setting up in the middle of the dirt back yard, and I can't be more excited.
3:47 p.m.: Leaving the Typewriter Museum after the Monotonix show. For those of you who have yet to experience Monotonix, you don't know what you're missing. Imagine totally awesome guitar riffs accompanied by a fairly standard rock drum groove, all with what might be described as Tel Aviv Damo Suzuki vocals flowing from a ubiquitous lead singer who uses everything in sight as a stage prop. Maybe some people discount Monotonix because of their "stage" antics, but from my experience (once this past fall at Bobo St), they've got the jams to back it up. I am totally psyched for this set, and Monotonix exceed expectations. I won't try to sully the experience by reducing it to words, but I will note that it ended with one of the more memorable finales I know of: about five dudes from the audience hoist the drummer, who is sitting on the kick drum, into the air, where he finishes the last song with hits to the snare and cymbal, both of which are also held aloft by crowd members. Monotonix rule.

Monotonix at the Typewriter Museum

Monotonix's mid-air drums. (Big pic)

3:50 p.m.: I feel bad for any band that has to follow Monotonix. With that in mind, we're going to try to score some free drinks rather than jump right into another band. Supposedly there's free bloody marys at one of the Emo's, so we're headed there.
4:28 p.m.: Leaving Emo's Lounge, where we saw Ghengis Tron. They were listenable, I guess, though it seems like they're having a hard time deciding what they are, a heavy electro band or a metal band with computers. I guess the kids like it. Either way, they're really not my thing. Lüc, on the other hand, is ecstatic after the Tron mentioned they're playing a showcase tonight with High on Fire and Municipal Waste, both of which he's been wanting to see. Sounds like he's gonna hit that, while I'm definitely getting into the Siltbreeze show.
4:55 p.m.: Back at the French Legation Museum getting ready for Jay Reatard to take the stage. Soon after we grab a seat to kick back and enjoy a few beers, a guy with a video camera approaches us and says he wants to interview us for a documentary, apparently about the Other Music party. We readily agree, but as the interview progresses, it appears the dude is a bit disappointed in us, probably because all we're talking about is Monotonix. I do deliver one choice quote: "Monotonix is the best band in the Eastern hemisphere, and Times New Viking is the best band in the Western hemisphere." Another highlight comes when the dude asks us to tell him about Columbus. Lüc and I look at each other for a moment, start laughing hysterically, and say in unison, "It's the indie art capital of the world."
5:32 p.m.: I'm eyeing the drink table to see if they have any Scotch. They don't. In other news, Jay Reatard's set just ended. Since I had been living under a rock for a few years, I hadn't actually had any Reatard exposure prior to SXSW, other than knowing that there's a good amount of buzz and a deal with Matador. Anyway, Jay & company played a solid set of high energy melodic punk. This isn't totally my cup of tea, but I can see why people love this stuff -- it gets the blood pumping. I don't know if I'd pick up any of the records, but this definitely goes on the list of bands to see whenever they come through town.
6:26 p.m.: Times New Viking finishes their set. I've sung TNV's praises a million times, so I won't bore you here, other than to tell you that they were absolutely on fire -- it was one of the best sets I've seen 'em play. Of the shows I've seen today, this drew the best, and while amidst my jumping and fist-pumping I couldn't get the best read on the overall crowd reaction, it seemed like everyone was digging it. A+.

Times New Viking at the French Legation Museum

Times New Viking owning the French Legation Museum. (Bigger pic)

8:31 p.m.: After a few diversions, I am thoroughly engrossed in the Siltbreeze showcase. Ex-Cocaine just finished its set. Pretty tight two-piece (guitar/vox & bongo) drone rock that i really dig. As could be expected, every band that follows in this diverse lineup keeps the quality level at a maximum. Highlights: getting to see xNoBbqX totally destroy. Eat Skull's trash-rock. Routinely brilliant sets by Horseshit and TNV (though I think TNV's earlier set was the best of the two). Taking the biscuit, though, was the Mike Rep set, where he was backed by TNV. He opened and closed with blistering versions of the hits ("Rocket Music On" and "Rocket To Nowhere," respectively), and everything in between was just as stellar. Killer version of "Village Idiot," and a nice changeup with the "Sugar Sugar" cover. Rep looked like he was having a great time, and TNV brought new colors to the classics.

xNoBBQx at the Soho Lounge