sxsw 2007 - tuesday, wednesday and thursday

we landed in austin to rainy weather. mike and i ate the famous salt lick at the airport, then headed to our hotel. i had to admit it was good. i had never eaten it before...



after getting settled, mike and i met up with a bunch of my ascap coworkers and had dinner at moonshine. we were incredibly full afterwards but wandered over to buffalo billiards to see what was going on -- but nothing was really going on there so we went back to the hotel to crash.







wednesday started off way better - less rainy. more like a light sprinkle here and there. i met up with the boys in dirty on purpose near the convention center to pick up badges and such. then we headed over to the gen art party. they played a lot of new songs and some old songs, and it was nice to see a big crowd for them cheering them on. austin rules.



then we headed over to the orchard happy hour at the driscoll hotel. they have these every day of the music fest, and it's always a happy hang for me and the boys. we heart the orchard. plus, they had guitar hero!! i ran into my old coworker wade, as you see him above shredding some guitar.

wednesday night i spent all night at the ascap rock showcase at dirty dog bar. bat for lashes started off the night right with her cat power like vocals. i kind of like hippies from the uk, even if they have been compared to enya. i ran into ben weber who i adore - he manages two of my favorite artists - elvis perkins and nada surf. i needed a little rock break so i went over to the convention center with him and chatted about life, music and such. he's a capital guy. so many people were at the ascap party (it was a packed house all night), that several people commented to me: "if i had known EVERYBODY was gonna be here, i would have come early and stayed all night." pretty awesome! we have some photo coverage going up on www.ascap.com, so check it out.







on thursday, i woke up super early to set up the filter party. after eating however, i started throwing up repeatedly and they sent me back to the hotel to rest. i managed to catch the host comedian Zach Galifianakis and a great band from san diego called grand ol' party. unfortunately i missed youth group, besnard lakes and badly drawn boy. i was so upset!! filter did put photos and video up on their filter blog however, so go over there to check out the coverage.

daniel brought me a care package filled with water, saltines, ginger ale and some other stuff, and i started to feel a lot better. mike joined us, and we decided to go see besnard lakes at the mohawk for the jagjaguwar showcase. they were so amazing - it was more magical than a band of horses show, if you can believe that. plus, i like bands who use smoke machines.







afterwards, i headed back to the hotel to rest, and doug and annie stopped by to show me some tlc. it's nice to have friends who care -- and thanks to everyone who sent me "get well" texts. i love you all.







dtl and mike joined me later again with some stubbs bbq. savory society, eat this! mike played with the voodoo doll we got in the sxsw registration bags. poking our stomachs so we didn't get sick again.



i felt a little more re-energized so i decided to go with dtl to see fujiya and miyagi at opal divines. the first song we heard was ok, and we agreed it reminded us of air. but then they started singing in french, and eurotrash dudes up front were chanting "fujiya miyagi" over and over again, and i started to feel like i was at a frat party. we bolted shortly after that. i was getting really tired again, so i we headed back towards my hotel.





on the way, we ran into a cool looking church called the central presbyterian churh and decided to check it out before i passed out. it was really amazing in there. and randomly this girl that dtl loved was singing there -- nina nastasia with jim white on drums (he also drums for white magic and someone else i can't remember). she had one of the most beautiful female vocals i've heard in a while. just really pure -- the church was the perfect setting for them. dtl said she sings on his favorite boom bit song - she sang another version of that song that night, and it made me a little teary eyed. maybe it was the exhaustion or the song, but i needed to crash badly after that if i was going to be in good shape for today. i'm at the filter party all day today so i'll let you know how it goes!