SXSW 2010 - some belated blogging - Day 1

It's been over a week since returning from my 15th SXSW and I'm just now getting around to posting some photos. I had high hopes of updating semi-regularly while I was there but, once again, got pretty overwhelmed with trying to juggle multiple clients and keep them all happy on top of shooting as much as I could manage. So, after catching up on the sleep & reacquainting myself with the real world, here goes. Starting with Wednesday, 3/17. *

* I might have started with Tuesday night since I got into Austin in time to catch some pre-SXSW kickoff shows but due to some embarrassingly bad planning, I found myself without a rental car and had to satisfy myself with the IHOP I could walk to from my Best Western.

So, first thing out of the gate after checking in at the convention center were the Walkmen, playing at the IFC Channel "house". IFC was filming events during the film fest and kept going through the music festival too, filming performances & interviews with the artists every day. The Walkmen are a fav of mine so it was fun to see them in the little TV studio there debuting a bunch of brand new songs that were great!

I was covering the festival for the Minneapolis Star Tribune as well as doing some work for Spin Magazine and a couple others. I hung out much of the time with the Strib's writer, Chris Reimenschneider & we had a pretty ambitious agenda from covering the obvious big stories coming out of the festival to checking in with many of the Minnesota based artists who were playing.

Next on the list was the Paste Magazine day party to check out Free Energy, the former Hockey guys who are now based in Philadelphia. Before them was Lissie, from Illionis.

We liked Lissie quite a bit but I'm still wondering about her choice to cover a Metallica song. And Free Energy was great. This was their first of something like seven shows and I'm sure we'll be hearing more from them soon.

Next at the IFC house were the Drive By Truckers who played a solid, if slightly subdued (by their standards) set of new material.

Here's a line you couldn't have paid me to wait in. In fact, I was being paid & we chose to skip the often excellent Fader Fort for now.

We Became Actors from Minneapolis played a small club called Plush in the afternoon.

Roky Erickson played the first of a few shows with Okkervil River - here in the big tent at the Paste Magazine party.

Last of the day shows was Jason Collett of Broken Social Scene doing a day show at a 6th Street club.



After doing some portraits of an artist for a feature article that the Strib hasn't run yet (I'll eventually be able to post but not yet), I started the night at Lambert's, a club that's a little hike from the main area of 6th Street to check out some local bands that went to Austin. First were the Melismatics (who really rocked) followed by Brooklyn based honorary Minnesotans Kaiser Cartel's quieter acoustic pop music. they're favorites of mine too and they debuted new tunes I hope to hear more of soon.

Kaiser Cartel



After a quick cab ride, I was at Stubb's, the very large outdoor venue showcasing some of the biggest names at the festival. Sharon Jones was just winding down when I got there but my two highest priorities for the night were on next.
First, one of the festival's biggest buzz bands, Broken Bells featuring the Shins' James Mercer and a camera-shy Dangermouse lurking behind the drums.





Next was Spoon, another of my favorites. Both bands were great with the only disappointment being the extremely low light for shooting in the normally well lit Stubb's.

Next, just a block or so down the street I was able to catch another band I was making sure to see (again), the Veils. Another band showcasing songs off their soon to be released disk, they were fantastic. As is par for the course, I couldn't stay for the whole show but I'll be lining up next time they come this way.





We ended the night back where I started it - at Lambert's to see Grant Hart close the club with a solo show. Sometime during that first night, we caught the sad news that Alex Chilton of Big Star had died suddenly. They were scheduled to play a show the final night of SXSW as well as be featured on a panel discussion devoted to Chilton's music. This cast a somber tone over much of the rest of the time there. We ended the night back where I started it - at Lambert's to see Grant Hart close the club with a solo show. Grant closed his show appropriately with a version of Chilton's Box Tops hit, The Letter.



Then it was off to the hotel to begin the night's editing & uploading. The 7AM deadline looms as birds begin to chirp outside my window as I wind it down for the night. Each year, at about this point, I wonder why I sign up for it every time but, after a few nights it starts to feel almost normal. Shouldn't there always be 100 bands playing within walking distance?