SXSW part one

march 18-20, 2004

Before starting my new job in April, I wanted to have one final "last hurrah" before having to go back to the land of daily obligation. Fatty and Sarah were both going to Austin, TX for the South by Southwest Music Festival (Fatty's band to perform and Sarah because she was covering it for Spin Magazine) and suggested last minute that I should go too. It sounded like a perfect plan until I went on the national interweb and saw the price of a "last minute" airplane ticket to Texas Just when I'd about given up on the idea of going, Fatty was like "Dude, I've got a ton of frequent flier miles - if you want, how about I just buy you a ticket with those?" Seriously, that's just the kind of guy David Fateman is. Every time you think he couldn't possibly get any nicer, he goes and does something that totally redefines your concept of generousity (and in turn makes you think even harder about what a selfish piece of shit you are). Then when Sarah heard there was a chance I'd be able to get a ticket, she went ahead and asked her hotel bunkmate, Caryn Ganz, if she'd mind me crashing at their hotel. So before this entry even starts, a big thank you to Fatty, Sarah and Caryn. If there are nicer people in the world, I haven't met them yet. Thursday, March 18th My plane took off shortly after 9am. I was supposed to have a ninety minute layover in Chicago, and then I'd fly into Austin just in time to meet up with Sarah and company and see Mandy's band play. Well, my ninety minute layover in Chicago turned into a seven hour delay due to inclement whether. Hey, at least I had a book. After I finally made it to Texas (around 11pm instead of 4pm), the cute girl I'd sat next to on the plane (on the right) offered me a ride into town when her friend picked her up. And the worst part is, I forget both of their names (I think maybe the girl I sat next to was named Amy?). Jesus, I suck. If I was the Fatty, not only would I have remembered their names, I'd have sent them both thank you cards. If you ever see this, thanks for the ride (Sorry I'm such a jerk). Because of the delay, I totally ended up missing Many's show, but I called her when I got into town and I ended up catching her just as she and her bandmates were hopping in a cab to go to some private afterhours party outside of town that Joan Jett was rumored to be playing at. When Mandy graciously extended an offer to join them, I ran my tiny ass down the street and hopped in their cab. Here's our rock and roll driver - I actually managed to catch him in the act of cranking the volume dial so we could all better enjoy the Van Halen song that had just come on the radio. (An overly excited) Me and Many at the show. Turned out the rumors were true, shortly after we'd gotten there (and shortly after I somehow convinced the nice bartender lady to fill my backpack with cans of free beer) we entered a huge airplane hangar and got to see... ...Joan Fucking Jett. Here's the pics from Mandy and I's original vantage point. After she finished her second song, I was no longer content to watch from afar and managed to weasel my way... ...all the way up front of the stage. At first I was excited just because Joan Jett was one of the first women I ever remember having a crush on. When I saw her in the "I Love Rock and Roll" video at age eight, it was one of the first times I remember getting a funny feeling "down there." (Who knew this she was just the first in my long line of lesbian crushes?) But Joan, blew the fucking doors off the place. Crush schmush, she put on one of the better rock shows I've seen in my life. Jonathan and Mandy. Here's the big BBQ party that was going on outside the hanger after Joan's set. A little after 3am it started raining so I bid Mandy and company farewell and took a cab over to the hotel where... ...Fatty and his band were staying! Fatty and Scott (the band's road guy) had gotten into town from NYC via van earlier that day and were kind enough to let me crash in their room. Thanks guys! Friday, March 19th Friday morning I helped Fatty and the guys in the band load up their gear into their van. They were moving to a hotel that was closer to where they'd be playing their first of two shows in town. Band shot. Scott, Dan and the Fatty. aka - Fireworks Go Up. Before heading over to their new hotel, we piled into the van and went over to...(ps - Hey Dan, close your mouth) ...Guitar Center. Awwww, yeah. The Fatty needed to pick up some gear for his bass amp. After hitching a ride to the new hotel (a little closer to town) I bid the band farewell, hopped a cab and headed into town to meet up with Sarah... ...at the super exclusive Spin party being held at Stubbs. Despite being the DJ and the Emcee of the show, Sarah still managed to cordinate getting me a VIP pass and I breezed through the line with the quickness. I got there at 2pm to find Sarah (already shitfaced and holding a Miller High Life Tallboy, NOICE!) on stage cracking up after having gotten to introduce... ...David Cross. Who did a lil' standup before the Von Bondies came on. Yay. The Von Bondies. In the middle of the Von Bondies set, I saw Lizzy and her boyfriend (and fellow Spin writer) Marc up in some fancy private balcony that overlooked the stage. She waved me up and I got to watch the show from a crazy vantage point. Like this. See? Crazy, right? Oh, did I mention the free beer and BBQ? Served with a slice of white bread no less. Friggin Texas. After BBQliciousness, the Hives came on. Now, I'd never really cared for their music much, but after seeing them live, I, much like the Monkees, am a believer. After years spent capturing Grant's airborne antics, I was on the money to capture Pete's antics French kick! Woo! Their singer got the crowd going something fierce. Sooo awesome. And then towards the end of their set, he jumped off the stage and landed on the crowd barricade. Sarah wrapping up the party and thanking everyone for coming. Afterwards, she took me back to her hotel so I could drop my backpack off and promptly collapsed with drunken heatstroke. (Yo, Texas is fucking HOT). We all took a nap and ordered up some room service. Afterwards, Sarah went off to go see bands and I went over to... ...met up with Kim, a friend of Grant and Fatty's that now lives in Austin, to see Fatty's band play a quick set one of the SXSW venues. (I don't have any pictures of their show because I was taking pics of the band using Dan's camera). After Fatty's show, I met up with Mandy (shown here in SLAMMING 3D GLASSES) to check out the Fader Magazine party. Oh, at this point, I should probably mention that in order to get into any SXSW event, you need a SXSW bracelet (the yellow thingy on Mandy's wrist). Because I'm not in a band and because I don't work for a magazine, a bracelet would've cost me like $800! So everywhere I went, I had to depend on the kindness of strangers to get into places. The Fader Magazine party was private, while I was standing outside calling around to see if someone had a pass, this random dude walks up and is like "I overheard you on the phone - I have an extra pass. Here you go, have fun." So thanks yet again to the kindness of a stranger! The Brian Jonestown Massacre and the Secret Machines played, but we sorta just hung out in the back and people-watched (in 3-D no less!) After the Fader Party, I walked over to the pavillion and managed to sneak into the back just in time to catch Piebald play (from like 300ft away). After Piebald, Mandy and I checked out some other band (I forget their name) because Mandy's band was going to be playing a few shows with them and she wanted to say hi and support them. Then we met up with the Fatty and went back to Sarah's hotel (where I was now staying) to get out of the heat and relax for a while. Napping and relaxing. After recharging the batteries for a while, we hit the street and got some grub. Mandy opted for more traditional TexMex fare while the Fatty said "Fuck it" and got hisself a motherfuggin corn dizzawg. Later that night, we went to another private Spin party (this time it was held a ways out of town at some relatively new clothing store) and got treated to a performance by Pretty Girls Make Graves. There wasn't even a stage so they literally played like six inches in front of the crowd. The audience was so close we were even encouraged to maraca along with the band. HOT! I was so close I almost got my eye poked out by guitar strings. Spin actually bought this photo from me and published it in their SXSW coverage section! Woo! After the band played, everyone headed upstairs for a party on the roof. Alison and the Fatty! And I ran into Eva! I met Eva during brunch the morning before Sarah's big birthday party at my apartment. She runs the agency that books Pretty Girls Make Graves. Dan and Eva. These two girls were local Austin girls who were totally rad. I forget your names. (Sorry!) Here's looking towards the city from the edge of the roofdeck. A little past 3am, they started making people leave the roof and clear the store out. Here's a view of the store from the stairs leading up to the roof as things wound down. Over the course of the day, I'd somehow managed to get two wristfulls of bracelets. Saturday, March 20th Saturday morning, we slept in late and then went to see a screening of the Metallica movie "Some Kind of Monster." (Which was better than their last few albums put together). Lost in Austin after the movie. Then later in the evening we had dinner at some really good BBQ place and then I headed over to... ....to some venue to see Fireworks Go Up play their SXSW showcase. I got their early and was psched to see that it was The Butchies that had the timeslot before them! The (mostly female) crowd (ahem) went absolutely batshit while they played. They put on one of the better shows I saw at SXSW, if you ever get a chance to see them, go! For reals, yo. Then Fatty's band played. Hey, the Fatty might not have a horde of raving, fanatical lesbian fans... ...but that doesn't mean they rocked any less harder. After the set, Fatty and the boys packed up their gear and got ready to begin the long drive back to New York City. Me on the other hand...ON TO PART TWO  (added on 10.17.2004)

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