Eleven hours of music every day for four days...by Sunday all I could do was nap for three hours and watch The Incredibles and eat cheezy poofs.
The assessment: Wristband (which I tried for the first time this year) totally not worth it. Most of the good bands I saw were at the free shows. I thought it would allow me to do more stuff with my friend who was visiting, but we ended up seeing different things anyway and if you weren't already in a venue by 11pm you weren't going to get in. Also not fun: hanging out with a drunken out of towner on a four-day drinking binge.
Impressive: The Kills, Go Betty Go, Stars, The National, Bloc Party, Drums and Tuba, bloody mary's at the Longbranch Inn
Super Fun: Charlie's Holy Happy Hour at Beerland, Passed Out Flyers, Sniffy at Lovejoy's, Smoosh at Maggie Mae's, Visqueen w/ Neko Case at the Longbranch, Pong at FXFY, riding bikes
Unimpressive: French Kicks, New York Dolls. (Yes I recognize the significance of this band, but heroin chic doesn't do it for me and I was nonplussed by all the covers).
Unforgiveable #1: Bigsby's running an hour late on their Blackeyes and Blackouts Brawl and shutting down Young Heart Attack in the middle of Frenchie's guitar solo.
Unforgiveable #2: The sound guy at the Chuggin' goddamn Monkey being too drunk and/or stupid to know how to adjust Visqueen's sound, resulting in crappy vocals and feedback throughout the show. This marks the second time Visqueen has been screwed by SXSW sticking them in a shitty venue. Always the professionals, Rachel, Ronnie (from the Muffs), and Ben stuck it out; but not before Rachel changed some of the words to her songs to how she was going to kill the sound guy. As soon as they were done Ben and Ronnie climbed out the window of the club (which was right next to the stage) onto the sidewalk to escape the horror that is the Chuggin' Monkey, only to be called back for two more songs by the sound guy who, though utterly incompetent, was apparently smitten with Rachel.
After days of street-cart food (bratwurst, anyone?), smoke and hipster-clogged bars, wayward st. patrick's day revelers, and drinking way more than usual, studying for comps never felt so good.
Pictures to follow soon...
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