In other news, I saw The Morning Benders play yesterday at the Troubadour and I was a bit disappointed. I had seem them on New Years Even in San Francisco, where they played most of Big Echo, along with a few covers. This was before most people outside of the Bay Area seemed to know who they were. The band seemed young and full of energy. You could genuinely tell they were glad to be there. They wanted to have a good time, and in turn wanted us to, with which they succeeded. That was before the album came out. That was before Pitchfork gave it a great review. That was before they went on a large tour, which included South by Southwest. Last night, the first time I’d seen them since those events, they just didn’t seem to have it in them. They looked tired, like they were about to fall over. You knew they wanted to be there and put on the best show they could muster. Unfortunately they couldn’t muster much. They’re still getting accustomed to the hype and the popularity and the constant playing. A tweet by frontman Christopher Chu on Wednesday night may say it all. He said “LA rush hour traffic has never felt so good. so happy to be in California.” They were probably exhausted and overwhelmed after driving to Texas, playing god knows how many shows in a short span, and having to drive back to the west coast, all while playing in various cities. They did do the best they could. They slowed down their music, making the evening feel more intimate and personal. Chu seemed to have found a second wind near the end of the set, when he started dancing around and shredding on his guitar. That might have been what sparked the band’s “first encore performance of the tour” (I wonder if that’s true), Neil Young’s Bad Fog Of Loneliness. Whatever the case, whether they’ll regain their energy or not, they are in a great position to make it big. They essentially already have. Last night though, they could’ve used a spark, some sort of smelling salt to kick them back into top form. The show still ended up great, but you could tell they’ve been pretty overwhelmed with all the sudden success. I’m glad I was able to catch them on New Years, probably one of the last times they’ll play innocently, without a care in the world.

Friday was the big blog party day, at least for Gorilla vs. Bear and Pitchfork. Pitchfork packed both stages up real quick whereas GvB was empty for a good while. I was just following the crowd, or following what I thought the crowd would do, so Kat and I headed to the already crowded Pitchfork party.

The band we saw there was Free Energy, who I was looking forward to seeing. Their album is a solid, summer pop album, which could have easily been labeled the new Strokes album. Unfortunately, I was a bit bored watching them live. Maybe it was too early (noonish I think), but they did their thing and I found myself standing there, trying hard to get into it and failing. They didn’t seem to put forth any effort. Just came on stage and played their songs. Instead of holding on to our coveted spots inside the party of the day (the line was quickly growing), we left and got some lunch. Thankfully too, as it was all I managed to eat the whole day. Better things were in store for the rest of the day. First something about these buzz bands.

I’ve noticed a lot of these buzz bands don’t really give a shit when they’re playing live shows. Not that all of them don’t, but a good deal of the bands I end up being disappointed with turn out to be those getting a significant amount of positive press from these blogs. To me, that’s pretty shitty. I mean, do they feel like they don’t have to try because they’re already getting so much attention? Or maybe it’s because all these scene kids don’t seem to care and will follow them anywhere till someone new shows up. I may be too old for all this, but watching these 18-21 year old kids just blindly follow what someone else is telling them, without even giving their own thoughts/opinions a chance to develop, is kind of depressing. I’m fine with blogs and other people recommending things. Hell, look at this blog. But when so many people are enjoying things something so clearly dull just because it’s at the “Pitchfork day party” makes me kind of angry. Anyway. Next band.

I didn’t know what to do next, so I met up with Cameron and checked out Darker My Love. Not bad. Not my thing, but they were pretty solid. That’s really all I have to say about them. What came next was the only “Oh man I randomly stumbled on a band that I think is awesome!” experience I had.

After Cameron and I parted, I headed to one of the many Brooklyn Vegan parties to check out Zola Jesus. I got into the pretty packed indoor stage and started listening to what I thought was Zola Jesus. Only, it wasn’t Zola Jesus at all. I had no idea what it was. There was a female vocalist who was talking about them changing their band name, but she wouldn’t tell us what to (she wouldn’t give us their current name either). I liked what I was hearing, so being the incredibly intelligent person that I am, I realized the event must be running late and this is the band scheduled to play before Zola Jesus. All I needed to do was find a schedule, which, of course did not exist anywhere inside or outside. Oh wait! I have an iphone (told ya I was smart). After dealing with the extremely slow service (either SXSW music kids create more iphone traffic than SXSWi people, or ATT decided to lower their bandwith or whatever once the techy people left) and navigating around the tons of Brooklyn Vegan parties, I found the list, and the artist playing before Zola Jesus was…a comedian. Oh. Hmm. Well then it had to be the band playing before the comedian, Katie Stelmanis (some myspace and google image sleuthing verified this). You need to check this girl out. She’s from Toronto and has guested on a Fucked Up album, which is kind of weird as her music is nothing like that hardcore stuff people seem to enjoy. It’s melodic and experimental, soothing and very emotional. She does have a full backing band, and they’re changing their name to The Private Life (can’t say I approve), but she’s definitely the main attraction. Great synthy sounds and great looping/layering of her voice. She is definitely someone who will be getting attention in the near future.

So I just experienced what I assume you’re supposed to experience at SXSW. I found a new band that I really liked! Obviously I had to tweet about it. As I’m walking down 6th street (the main street with all the bars and venues and the one that’s closed off to just foot traffic) with my head buried in my phone tweeting, paying no attention to where I’m walking, I suddenly realize a couple very large..beings in front of me. Those beings? GWAR. They were walking down the street, I guess to promote themselves and to look really weird, and I ran right into them. I’m sure they said something or made some noise or yelled or did whatever it is GWAR does when you run into them (which thankfully didn’t include spraying me with blood), but seeing them in person for the first time and just looking up and seeing those things kind of shocked me, so I don’t really remember. If you haven’t seen them up close, it’s a pretty ridiculous experience. Can’t say their show is something I recommend, but if you have the opportunity and nothing else to do, I’d say go for it. Thankfully my next run-in was much friendlier one.

Apparently Sean and his band, Nico Stai were about to play in some bar Sean was standing outside of. We chatted a bit about how our first couple of days, how I really didn’t like Salem, how this Katie Stelmanis was pretty awesome, and about the show they were about to play. Good times. I continued onwards to try and catch Serena Maneesh, but decided to stick around and catch my friend’s band. I was going to see them at some point, why not now? I had no idea what to expect with these guys, but they rocked it. They were playing in an extremely small bar to a relatively small crowd that grew as people heard them from outside and decided to wander in. It’s pretty straightforward rock music, but every single member puts so much heart into the performance. I left that show pretty pumped so what did I do? I went to a panel featuring Neil from Origami Vinyl.

I can’t say too much about the panel. Cameron and I went to check it out and support Neil. It dealt with the five possible futures of the music industry, with the panelists having to say whether or not they thought each future was happening, could happen, or if there was no way it was going to happen. The panelists included the creator of The Daily Swarm, the creator of Soundcloud, and Neil. I don’t remember a whole lot other than people loving Neil’s idea of how to create a community driven record store, which is pretty neat. Talking to him about the panel a few days ago, I have to agree with his thought that the way the panel was conducted did not provide ample time to discuss and converse. It was more of one person explaining things and then the moderator moving on to a different topic till time was out. It would have been nice to hear the panelists get into kind of a friendly argument, but that did not happen. Too bad. It was now time for some rest then to the church for Band of Horses.

Not wanting to miss what seemed to be the big church show of the week, I got there pretty early. Whatever band preceding Band of Horses couldn’t be that bad, and I’d be watching concerts in a church. Unique. The first act was Tyler Ramsey, a solo project from one of the band members. His music was pretty similar to that of Band of Horses, but with a different style due to the fact that it was just him and a guitar. I was happy with what I heard. Wasn’t blown away, but I was glad to be there. The band that followed was Company and was also from South Carolina. They were a group of young guys and also sounded a bit like Band of Horses. Not the best, and I would’ve liked to hear something more unique from them, but there could be some potential. Now for the main act.

And what a main act it was. They were great. Very tight, sounding almost ethereal thanks to the church backdrop and acoustics. Things would go from a calm/laid back atmosphere to pure southern rock bliss. The audience was seated for most of the set till the band asked everyone to stand for the last song (can’t remember which). I do remember it filled the huge building with a great amount of energy. It was kind of magical with everyone standing, clapping, and well aware that we were being treated to a pretty special evening. Afterwards I opted out on sticking around for jj thanks to all the negative things I heard about her live show. I met up with Kat and checked out Active Child and The Smith Westerns.

Active Child was great. That dude knows how to play the harp. And sing. And cover New Order. I’m glad to see more and more talented and up-and-coming musicians are coming out of Los Angeles. Please go watch him play as soon as you can as long as it isn’t on Saturday since he’s playing at the same time as Superhumanoids. He’s been all over the place as of late and you’re going to want to catch him with a small crowd before he starts filling up the venues. His songs are very dreamy and kind of spacey, which is never bad. Unfortunately for the crowd, most of them seemed to be therefor The Smith Westerns and weren’t paying too much attention. And unfortunately for the crowd, The Smith Westerns, to me at least, were very disappointing. Don’t get me wrong. They’re good musicians, and they play the kind of droney, lo-fi, garage rock that’s in right now. And they are still very young, with still a lot of growing to do. But they’re boring live. So boring. Every song blends into one another and there’s nothing that hooks you or catches your attention. I know people (to be left unnamed) that liked the set, but I was unimpressed. Even the concert photographer I spoke with at the airport, someone with clearly a lot of musical exposure, called to them specifically as one of his disappointments of the week. So if you don’t trust me, trust him. A person you know absolutely nothing about. Good? Good. I headed back to the church after and checked out Holly Miranda before I gave The XX that chance I’d been meaning to give them.

Holly Miranda was good. I honestly know nothing about her, where she came from, what her story is, or anything else. But I liked her. She seemed to be young (I could be completely wrong, but that’s what I thought) and if so could use some more time to find her bearings, at least for the solo stuff she’s doing now. All in all her sound is good, the music is great, and I look forward to checking her out in the future. The XX, however, still somewhat confuses me.

I don’t know how to feel about this band. I didn’t like the album. I know a good deal of people whose musical tastes I respect that didn’t like it either. I also am aware that almost everyone else loves them. Because of this I decided to sit in on their church show. If I was going to have my mind changed, seeing them live would do it, and seeing them live in a church couldn’t hurt. Did they change my mind after the show? Not really. Did they give me something to be excited about? Totally. I may not ‘get’ the debut album, but having watched them perform the songs live, I can see a lot of the pieces are there. The girl in the band has an amazing voice that I don’t feel she uses very well and is just waiting to come out. The next album may not be as critically acclaimed as the first, and it also may not be any different either, but if the band matures and progresses like I hope it will, I’m personally really looking forward to what they have in store. So I left the show, not having my mind changed about the band in it’s current state or about the debut album, but feeling a sense of excitement about what’s to come.

After The XX I did try to catch some of Mayer Hawthorne or the end of Washed Out’s set, but was unsuccessful. I also failed at getting any food on my walk home thanks to the ridiculous lines at all the vendors. So it was another day of mostly gin and tonics. Mmmm. Only one day left!

Okay I just read over a post and realized, maybe I should be editing these things. So enjoy those first two in their raw and uncut form, because the next two, as well as anything else I’ll be writing about on this blog in the future, will be re-read and edited down at least once to make things, oh I don’t know, easier to read? Let’s go with that.

For now, here’s a bit of foreshadowing: http://www.myspace.com/katiestelmanis

Let’s move on to Thursday. Also known as the day I ate nothing and drank everything. This was probably the one day I spent mostly on my own, which didn’t end up being too bad. I was able to see what I wanted, when I wanted to. And what I wanted to start with was The Walkmen. Kat (I feel weird that you’re reading this..haha) and I went over to the convention center to check out an early showcase by the band. It was kind of a weird experience, as the show took place inside a convention center room, and the audience was mostly industry executives. I’m not used to seeing a band play in a room full of 40something music businessmen. The band played really well though. Not sure if it was cause they had to bring their a-game in front of these people or if that’s just how they play normally, but whatever the case, they sure put on a good show. After their set, I took off on my own and never really looked back.

I headed over to the East side of Austin to check out the Freelance Whales (before realizing that I’m most likely seeing them play tonight at the echo). Pretty impressive to be honest with you. I like their latest album. It’s fun and poppy, but I wasn’t expecting a whole lot from their show, especially at such an early time in a huge field with like 8 people watching them. They didn’t seem to care though, and they put on a solid show. After I was all cheered up and ready for the bright, sunny day, I went and did what any normal person who wants to keep up the high would do, and walked over to see The Antlers.

Good idea right? In the long run it was a pretty great idea, but it definitely destroyed the bouncy, happiness the Freelance Whales had provided me. Oh well. Thankfully I had some comic relief as these two guys in their mid 30s who I had encountered the day before were standing right next to me, and they kept cracking awkward jokes about how much older they were and just general comedy that I guess would be funny if you were born in 1975. Anyway, after an overextended sound check (this seemed to be somewhat of a normal occurrence at SXSW) the band finally started to play. We only got around 3-4 songs due to timing issues and further complications on stage, but that was all I really needed to know that these guys are for real. It’s one thing to record a beautifully haunting concept album that receives critical acclaim, but it takes something else to be able to take that emotion and channel it in such a powerful way on the live stage. Their set ended and I was on my way to Phantogram! Woo! Finally! Or so I thought at least..

I confidently began my walk over to this place called..The Side Bar or The Side Door..something on the side, knowing that Phantogram was not going to escape my grasp this time. Went inside, ordered my first drink of the day, and asked the bartender if she knew who was playing. She had no idea but gave me the list of bands. I recognized Phantogram at the time I was there, but that it was at the outside stage. Ok fine. I could figure out where that was. I start drinking my Lone Star tallboy and walk out to the patio, where there are clearly zero stages. Hmmm..it said outdoor. I’m outdoor. What the hell? After awkwardly standing in the middle of the back patio, looking extremely confused, holding a water in one hand and a beer in the other, I noticed a very thin walkway that was being blocked off by a woman and her baby. I had solved the mystery of the outdoor stage. Nothing was going to stop me from Phantogram now. Nothing, that is, except for timing. Apparently everything at this bar was off by at least one band. Now, for something like SXSW, which is essentially a showcase for tons of bands, this isn’t always a bad thing. So I’m a band or two early and I may miss one or two other things I had planned on seeing. Who cares. What if these two bands I catch turn out to be amazing new acts that I wouldn’t have heard of for one or two more years when they blew up? I could be ahead of the curve because of this timing mishap! Cool! I’m going to discover new bands aannndd see Phantogram! How great! Nope. Not the case again. For starters the next band was taking forever to sound check as well. And just by the sound of that, I clearly knew I wasn’t going to enjoy what was ahead, so I went to see Danielson.

What can I really say about Danielson? The dude is pretty crazy. The whole band was dressed up in uniform, matching shoes and all. Unfortunately Daniel was not wearing the tree getup that he’s been known to wear in the past, but I’ll let it slide. The music is just as good as you hear on his albums, but with added benefits like various “clap-a-long” and “snap-a-long” songs that they call out before playing. All in all I wouldn’t have died had I not seen them on my Austin journey, but I was definitely glad that I did. Now I can watch that documentary on them and see just how crazy they (or most likely specifically he) actually are. It was now time for my unfortunate Titus Andronicus chase.

My plan was to catch Titus and then head over to the hotel for a good rest/phone recharge. It was a perfect plan, that was perfectly timed out, as I was planning on catching my friend Sean’s band, Nico Stai, later in the evening. Well I learned a pretty valuable lesson about making specific plans at SXSW that day, and it was a pretty exhausting lesson as well. I walked a good four to five blocks east of where I already was (which was pretty east of downtown to begin with) to reach the venue where Titus Andronicus was playing. After some careful address searching I did manage to find the venue, but I also found a locked gate and a small, handwritten note. A note that told me the show had moved, not just back to the downtown area, but as far west of downtown as I was east. How perfect. Having nothing to do I decided to give it a shot. Around 25 or so minutes later I made it to the cross street they wanted me at, but was there a noticeable venue anywhere? Yes there were plenty, but was Titus Andronicus playing in any of them? Of course not! It was also getting to be too late to keep trying, so I gave up, tired, knee in pain (something that really picked up on Thursday and still hasn’t really subsided), and overall defeated. After a quick run in with a friend, Scott, who was there doing sound for No Age, I headed back to the hotel before my phone got too angry with me and died. Nico Stai next, right?

While getting the rest I so desperately needed, I received word from Sean that his band was not, in fact playing that evening, due to complications with the venue. Apparently they rolled up to the spot and found it out was a wine bar. And they’re definitely not a wine bar band. Trust me. All this meant for me was an even further breakdown in my plans. What the hell was I gonna do now? Oh..just go to probably the best thing I saw all week long. Sharon Van Etten playing solo in a very small church ‘historic sanctuary’. It wasn’t easy getting there, as her myspace had written it was a synagogue, and I couldn’t see one anywhere. So of course, instead of asking someone, I tried finding it for myself, only to circle the block twice before I gave up and asked. Luckily I asked the right people and I happened to be right in front of it, so everything worked out. God I wish everyone could have been there to experience her performance. Unfortunately there were only a handful of people in the room, but that didn’t bother her in the slightest. So beautiful. So haunting (I know I threw that word out earlier, but the location and mood of the music went so perfectly together). Her music is such a depressing introspective on life and love, and I don’t care how cliche that sounds. Her voice and her guitar reverberated in the room so perfectly. Everyone in that room was frozen. No one making a sound so as not to miss a moment of what was unfolding before us. Half the people with their eyes closed, heads down, just letting the sound soak in. It gives me the chills just thinking about it now. All those failed plans were thrown out the door because I was able to experience something so perfect. Ok now I needed a drink. A couple drinks. No food though. Who needs food?

I met up with Sean (dude from Nico Stai and also of Origami Vinyl fame) and his bandmates at some swanky hotel, The Driskill, for what I thought was drinks. We ended up seeing Neil for a second (also of Origami fame) and just hanging out till we went to the Hype Machine party, where some wonderful white man was rapping on stage. A little more hangout and a few gin and tonics later, I was off to catch Salem.

What can I say about Salem? That I didn’t like them live is probably the only thing. Three kids, one girl, two guys. Just standing there on stage, switching off between vocal duties and the different instruments, looking sad and depressed and not caring about life or the fact that they’re on stage playing music for us. I won’t allow any excuses either. I don’t care if they were high, or if their music is dark or whatever else. If that’s what they’re gonna show me at a live show, than I don’t need to go to their live shows. If I like their music I’ll listen to the recorded form, but if they’re not gonna give me anything live, than I don’t need them. And they, like all other musicians, need live performances to survive, so hopefully they’ll figure themselves out. Just to clarify, however, there was an incredibly long line to get in, and other people I talked to didn’t seem to mind the performance so maybe it’s just me. But I know what I saw, and, obviously, I know I’m right, so they better shape up. The end. I was kinda pissed off at the showing so I left before people I was meeting up with got there and tried my luck with She & Him.

Of course I wasn’t gonna get into She & Him if I’m getting there 20 minutes before they play. What was I thinking? Come on me. I still optimistically waited in like for a good 10-15 minutes as the person behind me said they were running 30 minutes late, but I knew it was just a pipe dream. I eventually ended up leaving, angry I wasn’t able to see beautiful Zooey up close and in real life. Casxio was playing around the corner, so I figured I’d see what their deal was.

Their deal was nothing special, in my humble opinion. They were ok, dancy, kind of disco revival. But from what I recall, their lyrics were a bit immature and for some odd reason, their look just seemed to bug me. Nothing against them though. I enjoyed what I heard and definitely think they have a chance to score a hit or two in the coming years. Good for them. I just wasn’t really feeling that kind of music at the moment and Efterklang was about to play at some billiards hall. Oh Efterklang.

This Danish band is so good. So fun and fresh at their shows. Their harmonizing with one another is great. The create so many different layers of sound with the drummer also playing trumpet, the keyboardist also playing flute, the singer playing guitar, a cymbal on on his mic stand, and a drum machine that he was messing around with throughout the set. The bass player was also dealing with samples and playing with various knobs and levers throughout. And while all this was going on, the whole band had this kind of brightness to them. All were wearing bright colorful outfits, they were all smiling and genuinely enjoyed to be playing music for us. You couldn’t wipe the smile off the head singer’s face, nor could you stop him from high fiving anyone that wanted one. They played some old stuff, mixed in some new stuff, and even threw in a guest appearance by Camera Obscura’s…trumpet player. Overall, just watching them play will lift your mood and make you a more enjoyable person.

I know what whoever is reading this is probably saying. This dude only cares about “energy” and people that look happy and blablabla. Well to a certain extent, yes that’s true. It’s the kind of music I prefer, but definitely don’t limit myself to. As I’ll explain in Friday’s post, The XX, another gothy, ‘sad-looking’ band somewhat surprised me in a good way. I like all kinds of things, happy, sad, and just overall weird, and I’m fine when the band in question is giving me something to walk away with that I’ll remember. What I don’t like is when a band is clearly not giving you that extra effort that’s needed these days, with so many musicians out there fighting for your ears and your $$. Just my two cents. Anyway. Moving on to the night’s headliner..Rocky Votolato?

No, no. I’m not back to my Freshman year of school, when I loved Rocky. The dude is good. I have nothing against him. My musical tastes have just changed and his music just isn’t for me anymore. But. If the last two days had proven anything, if I was gonna see Phantogram, I was going to get to the venue early, and stick it trough the end. And that’s exactly what I did. Got to the bar one band early, drank around 3-4 gin and tonics (this was after I had a couple more at Efterklang..still having eaten nothing), till Kat met up with me right in front, right before Phantogram. I had a little run in with some hip, 30somethings who thought they could just get right in front of me and block my view of the stage, but having put that much effort into seeing this band, and having put that much alcohol into my body, I wasn’t about to let that happen. So I made it clear, both physically and verbally (it’s not as bad as it sounds), that it was not cool to do that. And it worked. Go me. I’m glad it worked too, cause Phantogram rocked it. Here’s a perfect example of a two person band that knows they’re already handicapped when it comes to the live show and have figured out how to make it work. With electronic beats, a female/male vocal duo, one on keyboards and the other on guitar, respectively, they dance around, use exciting lighting, and just look and sound like they’re having fun. And that translated so well to the crowd. Everyone was moving. Hell even I was moving, and that doesn’t really happen. I would like more female vocals than male, but it’s something they’ll work on in future recordings, cause I’m positive their strong performance at SXSW is going to guarantee them a plethora of opportunities in the future. Go see them whenever you can. April 30th at the Troubadour with The Antlers, maybe?

So I saw Phantogram. And after hyping myself up for a couple days, they did not disappoint. What a great ending to the night. Well the great ending was really the veggie dog I ate right outside the venue before my walk home. Had some bumps in the road, but a solid day for music. Time for more recharging before another potentially busy day.

P.S. Sorry for so many words and no pictures. I was stupid and didn’t take my camera around with me. I have pictures on my iphone that I’ll try to upload later today and throw up there. And I did take pictures on Saturday, so I’ll include those for that post, but for now, enjoy my long, long, posts. Yes!

Woo. Airport. Almost three hours early. No free internet. So much fun! Guess I got nothing better to do than to write Wednesday’s recap. I mean..I’m not gonna read my book. That would just be stupid.

And now it’s time for bed. Wednesday’s update will come tomorrow night at some point. Or Tuesday during the day, if I’m too tired tomorrow. Have  a good night everybody!

Since I didn’t update SXSW on a daily basis, I’ve decided that the best way to do it is to break posts down by days. So I’m gonna start with Tuesday. That would be this post, just to clarify.

Before I start I just want to provide a little disclaimer. I’ve been drinking a tad bit. All this means is that I probably won’t revise my post in any way. And I’m pretty big on revision. So if I’ve misspelled anything, or if I’m rambling, or if a sentence I write makes no sense, you know why. Just wanted to put that out there. Ok. Moving on.

Tuesday. Kind of boring at first. Arrived in the afternoon. The music festival wasn’t starting till the next day, but I had some friends who were only gonna be in town for that night, so I tried to make the most of it. I got my badge with some friends, and ended up eating dinner with the people I’d be with for the week + a friend who was in town for SXSWi (the interactive festival). I took some time off after that, before hitting up some bars/dinner with a friend, Michael, who was in town to visit his sister, who lives in Texas. We had dinner at a pretty delicious Thai restaurant (I’m sure there was MSG in the food..it was too good) and went bar hopping. My night with them ended with me and my friend losing (miserably) to his sister at some hunting arcade game. Shows how good of a shot I am, even with all my video game experience. People in Texas really do know how to use guns, even in a virtual setting.  I tried hard to meet up with a couple other friends throughout the night as well, but I was so exhausted from being awake so many hours that I decided to call it an early night (being like 12:30AM). That’s about all that happened for the first night.

I did try to see Jakob Dylan for free at the Pure Volume House, but the line to get in was far too long, which was a pretty big realization for me. I was in store for a ton of free day parties, and not so many badge only night parties. If all the day parties were going to be that hard to get into, I didn’t really feel too excited. Why would I want to wait an hour to see a couple bands that I could easily see within the next year? Also, I was staying with some friends, but they had their own agendas, being different music tastes or work related requirements. So I was looking at a couple days of mostly alone time. And I am not good at making new friends on a moment’s notice, which was another concern of mine.

I was a bit worried till I got back to my hotel at around 12:45 and decided with one of the people I was staying with, to go to a bar around the corner of the hotel for a late night drink. That was when things really hit me. I’m in Austin. A pint of Bombay Sapphire Gin (top shelf) and tonic was $5. My god. So needless to say we got pretty drunk and called it a night. That, plus my other friends showing up to the hotel, wasted, really set my mind up for what was to come in the next couple of days..

That’s essentially the end of night number one. It was pretty mellow, but I still seemed to quite a bit. I got my badge, went to at least five bars, met a few people, got drunk, did a lot of walking, got more drunk, hung out at the hotel, tried to get prepared for the next day. And all on a day where I showed up in the afternoon and with no music to go see. If that was what I was in store for along with some concerts…wow. Things were about to get pretty intense. And, to a certain extent, they really did.

So yea..I didn’t really update this at all during the last few days, like I told myself, and the three people that are reading this. BUT. As soon as I go through all of the annoying tweets I made and try to piece together the craziness that the last few days were, I’ll write some things up, probably a day by day. How cool, right? Good. I’m glad we’re in agreement.

Hopefully things that I do will go here. That is, of course, assuming I actually do things. We’ll find out. Together.