You realize, at least now that I’m letting you know, that we’ve made it to the weekend here. Last night wasn’t a late late night. But we slept plenty. After failure to get a cab again, we had to play the sister card for a ride. We got downtown and ate at a place we all know too well. From across the street we could here Panther and White Denim at the Mess With Texas Party in Waterloo Park.

KD and I were overwhelmed with options today. JC was at one party, LC another. But we felt a little nostalgic and decided that since we hadn’t visited Beauty Bar all week, that we would head over there for the Rachael Ray (yes, that one) showcase. We made it in relatively easily. In the pictures, that’s all food you see. It never ran out. We assumed there wouldn’t be any, which is why we ate first. So I can’t tell you what it was. I can tell you the Sparks was cold and we enjoyed Scissors for Lefty, The Stills, and Holy F@*k, who were even better than last year. We did see Efren Ramirez and Rachael Ray. We made friends, found out the mojito-y flavored things were free, and caught a nice little buzz.

SFL

Holy F*^k

I took a ton of pictures and had a ton taken of me, due mostly to the gorgeous dress KD let me borrow. We made our way back to Waterloo for the night show. We saw Gil Mantera’s Party Dream, a little of the Yeasayers, Black Mountain, Islands, and The Breeders. Being not what we expected (a little too much of a downer), some of the crowd shifted to NOFX, while KD and I checked out Simian Mobile Disco and partied a little (that means I drank a lot of Tecate). JC and I made the sxsw-a-list. (It looks cute, but we were totally talking crap about something.) It was a pretty full afternoon.

So full, in fact, I’m dedicating a whole separate post to the hilariousness that ensued.

Last Year: SXSW 2007 Night Five

And the link to the whole set of pictures again here.

Really, this could be called day 20. Day 4 is typically when things start blurring (if they haven’t already). You don’t know what time it is, where you are, if you’ve eaten, how much you’ve had to drink. You see a pink Scion with “Motorhead” written across it, you think, “Huh. Wonder who drives that. Think they paid for it? That doesn’t seem appropriate…”

The cabs sucked this year. I was stuck at the house until KD came to get me, and get us a ride out. It was okay, however, since I was stumbling through the house trying to get ready. It was one of those mornings (afternoons, fine). The two little Red Bull/Vodkas that I had at Pure Volume last night trashed me somehow, maybe I forgot to eat.
It’s shocking, I know – we went to Emo’s. Good things happen when you’re not in a hurry. There was no line. There was ice cold Sparks, Version 7.0. There was (free!) ice cream. We got to see the Yeasayers. They talked about their hair, which was then all I could concentrate on for the whole set. I must have been in the sun (it was 90 degrees!) too much, as I was giving them imaginary new hairdos. Especially the lead singer.

I’ve mentioned before that my lack of employment makes it hard for me to socialize. I basically only feel comfortable around myself and old friends, or when I’m talking about myself. But I wanted to get a picture for y’all, so when I went up to Aziz Ansari, I’m pretty sure I said something like “Would you do me the giant favor of taking a nerd picture with me? It’s not for a blog. Well, it is. You like blogs. It’s viral marketing. Like, are you blogging right now on your phone? I’ll shut up.” Or it might have been a completely different conversation, I was all hopped up on Sparks. Whatever it was, it was bad. And I did say “giant” more than once. Ouch. That is what I got:

Anyway, we wandered over to the Mohawk and caught the end of British Sea Power. My band-aid covered blisters weren’t handling it well, so I took a dinner break with WB and completely lost my note taking ability. I’m pretty sure we went back to the garage roof top party place, even though it was a different party. They weren’t serving drinks again yet, but guess who we ran into…AM. New plan.

I don’t know what the whole deal was, if it was a rule or a middle of the day shift change, but I sure hope someone gets the memo and hosts an open bar from 4-9, when you can’t find anything to drink. It was kind of a pain every day. Everybody getting down there from work can’t get started (catch up with the rest of us).

We went to Apple Bar. I want to keep this as polite as possible, since it’s hard to talk crap about things you don’t understand. However, when we arrived whatever was going on was so painful I thought my beer bottle might smash, and my ears were bleeding. There were two guys, one with a Guitar Hero set up, one with a record set up, maxing out every hook up to every speaker. Just as painful was the larger-than-life dance duo. It was surreal. That’s all I can say about that. For now. So the good news is, anything sounds good after that. Even with some initial trouble getting the PA to quit cracking, we got to see Round Two of Honey Claws.

We all headed back to the Roof Party and got some drinks. The fire marshal shut down the pool (ouch) and we hung out downstairs. I went to see some friends at Gingerman while everyone hung out and saw Diplo and Spank Rock. It happens. We ran to Whisky Bar for last drink and called it a night.

Compare to last year: SXSW 2007 Night Four

And link to the whole set of pictures again here.

Today I got off to a lazy start. When I finally did get out, I walked right into the Dell/Stereogum Lounge to meet JC and see Nada Surf. They played some new songs and ended up taking requests. They’re a SXSW staple.

After lunch we headed to Emo’s, this year’s default, and watched The Shout Out Louds, Tokyo Police Club, and Tapes N Tapes. We went inside in between to catch Eugene Mirman and Todd Barry. We had more Sparks, got the best koozie ever (no, really, that Sparks koozie made my WEEK) and made new friends. It was a perfect day show. MB took me to see where sharks hang out. As unbelievably cute as I looked, after walking to two different far away places, I couldn’t feel my feet. Apparently even comfy boots can become unbearable. We discovering that JP lived one block from where we were we took a little break before heading to Pure Volume, which wasn’t serving drinks in the between hours (boo).

So then we were off to the AMLI, where there was a garage party on the roof of the parking lot and up into the pool area. I think it was called Sink or Swim. Pool area was the good part, what with the stage and the more free alcohol choices than downstairs (Keystone and Dewars) and got some beers and took a seat. Here’s the link to MB’s pics, the ones with her in the fire pit were from that party.

Upon recovering flip flops from best friend for-super-ever, we were shocked to learn that the party DID NOT have a boot check, and the pool area was full. We left after catching AA Bondy again. We headed back to Pure Volume, along the way I considered donating my boots to a stranger, but instead dropped them off at JP’s and rested content talking to some band I’d never heard of, drinking free vodka/red bulls (3) and taking goofy pictures. We listened to some unidentified music and called it an early night around 2.

Fave Pic:

Link to them all in case you missed it is here.

Compare to last year’s post, SXSW 2007 Night Three, here.

Man SXSW keeps making me hungry. It’s a good thing I have friends that take me out for food, let me charge my phone, and drop me off at bars. I’m spoiled. I got to Creekside a little after noon and got to see our friend’s showcase, featuring AA Bondy, Catfish Haven, Goes Cube, and of course The Midgetmen. The heat of the sun made the (free!) PBR go down smooth, and made me happy to score a (free!) koozie to keep the PBR cold. The lineup was great and the day started well. We headed over to Emo’s and if my notes are correct (I’m giving that 50/50) we saw The Hard Lessons, Last Vegas, and Why?. Okay, in my notes that looks like 5 different shows. I did my best. Why? was good. That was in the notes…

Someone you know got a little too hammered, so KD and I took him to Roaring Fork for a burger. It wasn’t enough.

He went off to die for the day and KD and I went home for a timeout since there wasn’t a late day party. The burgers turned out to not be a good idea for us girls either, and it took us a little longer than normal for LC to drag us up and out. This should help you understand a couple things, for starters: This go round is tougher than before. A stomach ache? We don’t have time for that! Too drunk? It’s day two! Blisters? But I don’t want to wear flip flops!

Also, my posts are all late because we rocked it so hard. We waited in line for Pure Volume, last year’s fail safe. This year, it was more complicated, But we did run in to AM, also known as New Fail Safe. After one free drink, he took us to see the band he’d worked with, Honey Claws. In addition to being nothing like I expected, they were good. Enter more free drinks, back to normal. We’re powering through.

Compare to last year: SXSW 2007 Night Two

Also of note: I just threw up all the pictures in one album, you should be able to figure out which ones go in this post, they are in order…here. There are 200+ pictures, you’d better enjoy.

So there’s these bands. And I fly in Tuesday, get picked up, and head out to Emo’s to see them. Portugal the Man, everyone’s been buzzing about. And White Denim, well, they’re from Austin. But I’m not biased when I let you know that I haven’t seen three guys make that much good loud noise in well, ever. They might be one of the elusive “it” bands that things go very well for, and soon. Playing two shows a day for the whole week might help.

I liked starting with Sparks. I liked reuniting with all the greatest friends in the world. I was impatient the whole flight, and have yet to decide what the real difference about flying in and not living here, but felling and acting like I still do. I could use some cough drops. And some breakfast tacos. That will wait until the weekend. I have music to see.

Compare to last year: SXSW 2007 Night One

So excited. Click here for details on the list. Click the links to get the RSVP info. for the parties!!

#35

Five Shows I Can’t WAIT for:

1. The Hot Freaks Party
2. Pure Volume Ranch
3. Do512 Day Party
4. Bay Area Takeover
5. My Open Bar – Sink or Swim

Honorable Mentions:

1. Fused Magazine
2. Modern Radio – MNMigration
3. Paste and Stereogum
4. Done Waiting Day Show
5. Planetary Presents
6. Filter Magazine Party
7. Little Radio Presents
8. TerrorBird Force Field Day Party
9. The Great’08 Tailgate
10. Music by the Slice
11. Tallcorn Day Party
12. more TBA, you get the idea…