austin: day 3

oh am i sleepy. i'm getting up right now to go to breakfast with recently acquainted friend melissa who manages a great brit rock band called the rinse and her other manager girlfriends. i still haven't had my first cup of coffee yet, but there is plenty of gatorade to go around. i'm not quite built for the hanging out every night and insane show hopping that goes on at sxsw but i'm up for the challenge this year.

i feel like yesterday was a complete blur, but i was able to start out my day with seeing wayne coyne and the rest of flaming lips play demos from the new album and talk about the creative process that led from demos to finished product at the filter cedar street day party. it was pretty cool. he also played a random tape on his four track that was an answering machine message left for him one night by a friend... she was in the shower when the police came to her door. they didn't announce themselves. she came to the door in a towel and then the police pointed guns at her and told her to put her hands up. she said no (she's naked in a towel)... and that's where he stopped the tape. apparently it goes on for another 40 minutes. i wish i knew how the story ended...

then i rushed over to man the listening kiosk at the trade show and met a bunch of ascap members. met up and hugged knife skills and dirty on purpose as they arrived in austin. i had such a feeling of relief when they arrived here. i had to admit, austin wasn't feeling like a complete experience without them. now it was complete. jenna, jo and sky also arrived, and we hung out here and there during the course of the day. i also went to the ascap music and money brabec panel, which is always an educational experience on how to make money in music, and ran into bsiii. it was such a nice surprise!

later i went to dinner with some coworkers and jenna, joe and oystein (sp??) at iron works. it was the best bbq i've ever had but i kind of felt like a savage eating ribs. that probably won't happen anytime soon, but i'm glad i got that texas experience. afterwards we went to see film school at club deville, and i ran into brody, who manages singer-songwriter josh pyke from austraila. we also ran into erika and heather of au revoir simone there and we all chilled out to the sonic wave of film school. then i moved on next door to velvet spade, where i watched a band called the annuals with dtl for the ace fu/solid pr showcase. we ventured off to see oxford collapse rock it at the aam showcase over at habana calle 6. they were superb. if you haven't heard, these kids just got signed to sub pop. they rule. jesse from chin up chin up jumped on stage and played the shit out of whatever was lying around. it was awesome. at the show i ran into a lot of the chicago peeps, including the nice folks over at flameshovel and new york peeps lio and kay from kanine and sara and company from aam. i also saw gerry who plays drums in a number of bands including the juan maclean and turing machine (and former knife skills drummer) who i hadn't seen in AGES. it was like a little teary eyed reunion!

later on in the night i went back to velvet spade and checked out pteradactyl and an albatross at the ace fu/solid pr party at the velvet spade patio. then i made a quick stop at emo's annex at the kill rock stars/5rc party and caught two ton boa. then i returned to the velvet spade to catch a little bit of man man's set inside. i tried to wait it out and watch no things, but i was just way too tired from all the running around and had to get up early the next day so i just booked it back to my hotel to sleep.