Death By Texas: Day One
For the next 5 days Sean Fennessey will be blogging from Austin TX's South By Southwest Music Festival.
The prevailing wisdom in Austin says if you want to be somewhere, get there early. This is true of breakfast, concerts and female companionship, among other things. So today, as far as accepting wisdom goes, was a bit of a bust. My kickoff flight was delayed an hour, the connecting flight delayed another two hours, taxi drama at the aiprott, followed by mishaps with the wireless connections at the fine unnamed establishment I'm resting my dome at this week. And to top off, virtually no access to any of the shows I wanted to see at this overwhelming event's first night. The Wednesday portion of SXSW is typically the most low-key (e.g. It ends before 2 A.M., a victory in some circles), so I didn't stress arrival time, damn fool that I am. I caught the end of a tight, honed set by art/punk/dance/electro rockers The Rapture, who were, as they often are, smarter and shiftier than I remember, and Luke Jenner's wail is an event in and of itself. The Rapture's openers, The Pipettes, are performing approximately 76 times this week, so I didn't stress missing their slot.
Until I arrived back at my aforementioned hotel, where I spotted all three Pipettes members Riot Becki, Rosay and Gwenno, wiped from a long day, checking in at the front desk. I looked at the bleach-blonde Gwenno, easily the most traditionally fetching member, as I stumbled in.
I smile.
No smile back.
Now the coffee-haired Rosay.
Denial is a cruel truth.
Then, I turn toward Becki, the librarian-ish member.
She glances at me, then begins to stare.
I say "You guys were really great tonight."
A lie.
Obviously I hadn't seen them. Rosay continues to ignore me, Gwenno chirps "Thank ya so much, luv" (They're Brits) and Becki smirks back at me. But she could feel the lie, I think. I'm going to try to catch their remaining 75 performances this week, and see if I can catch up with Becki at our exercise room in the A.M. Their bop-bop-bop Shangri-Las-cum-cheerleaders debut album, We Are the Pipettes, was released in the U.K. in July 2006 but has yet to receive a stateside release. Hit the P2Ps and seek it out, they're an interesting companion group to Amy Winehouse's recent rise to Internet prominence.
After some Lone Star tall boys at The Rapture gig, which took place at the muddy, sticky La Zona Rosa, I trekked to an unnamed hipster office space more than two miles away where Kid Sister (jukehouse revival-affiliated female rapper), A-Trak (talented former DMC champ, Kanye's tour DJ and a Canadian), Lo-Fi Fnk (gay Swedish disco-funk-electro trio) and a bunch of unknown DJs were to perform (sadly, inexplicably, no Kavinksy). Unfortunately, I showed up late and the gentleman working the door, as they often are, was a preening jackass. After wading through hipsters and covertly wiping spit on the back of their poorly-chosen all-over-print hoodies, I walked back to Emo's Jr, where local indie pop group Voxtrot sang and moaned and contorted their emotions for a few hundred people. I was unmoved.
The only show I was truly interested in was a late-night set by Devin the Dude and the Coughee Brothaz at Visions, which is right next door to Emo's Jr. I waited to roll through because Kidz in tha Hall and Dilated Peoples' Evidence were opening for Devin (No thanks!). So I popped over a bit late, waving my VIBE press badge like that meant something (everyone here is an Associate something or other). No dice. The bouncer burned a tattoo of his pupil into forehead and I slouched away, defeated. A shame, too. I've seen Devin three or four times now and he is among the warmest, most inviting live performers I've ever seen. High as a satellite maybe, but never nasty or selfish. He's the giving kind of stoner. At last year's SXSW he performed in the rain under the Fader house's tent and his "Anythang" reinvigorated spirits after TV On the Radio's Kyp Malone ripped them out with a melancholic, off-key solo performance. This year, I'm Devin-less. Lateness is a curse.
TOMORROW: Another chance to see the Pipettes, the dingy Black Lips, the legendary Willie D and U.G. mutherf$#@%ing K.
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Comments
1.
fancy says:
Have you ever met a stoner that wasn't nice? I think you're confusing the pot with the meth.
03/15/2007 at 6:08 PM
2.
jshep says:
NO KAVINSKY? "Retrocade Card" officially revoked!
03/15/2007 at 5:03 PM