Day Two - SXSW 2008
Total Number of Bands Seen:
19, I think. Bodies of Water (twice), No Kids, Born Ruffians, The Retribution Gospel Choir, Paper Route, Oh No! Oh My!, Dr. Dog, Saul Williams, Ezra Furman, Evangelicals, Joseph Arthur, Throw Me The Statue, Bon Iver (again), My Morning Jacket, Moby, Thurston Moore, Mark Kozelek (twice), Yo La Tengo, and Lou Reed.
Total Number of Tacos Consumed:
Sadly, only two. The tasty vegan chorizo taco is pictured above.
Notable Shows That I Was Unable to See:
Three. Jens Lekman (twice), Monontonix, Devin the Dude.
Rock Star That Currently Resembles My Deceased Jewish Grandmother, Adelle:
One. Lou Reed.

Good lord, what a day. While I failed miserably on my lone goal from yesterday—”Eat more tacos, two is not enough”—I did see nearly 20 bands over the course of the morning, afternoon, evening, and morning again. I won’t dare run through them all, so here’s some selected highlights, including a great set by Born Ruffians, Thurston Moore jumping on me, and Mark Kozelek performing sinful songs in the house of God.

Fueled by breakfast tacos (little did I know they'd be my last taste of taco deliciousness all day), we took part in a few day parties in various tents, museum lawns, and nasty clubs with offensive logos. Did I say offensive? I meant sexy. Damn sexy. Oh yeah, fuck that leg, just like that...

Anyway, the Torontonians in Born Ruffians were a real treat, a jangly and rollicking set of intelligent pop that reminded me of a hyperactive Pavement, or their fellow countrymen, the underrated Germans.

While I thought his latest album, the free downloadable (ala Radiohead) The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust!, was a bit of a mess, Saul Williams can be one hell of a live performer. His backing band looks like they just rolled out of the Thunderdome, while WIlliams himself was going with the Adam Ant look (but with more feathers), as he pounced about the stage with a confident swagger. The music? Eh, still the same muddled industrial rock topped by Williams' slam poetry flow.

I was reluctant to attend the Lou Reed tribute for all sorts of reasons, but mainly because it seems unnecessary. Haven't the last 20-30 years of indie rock, more or less, just been a tribute to Reed? In a world of underrated icons like your Arthur Lees and Daniel Johnstons, another celebration in honor of Lou Reed's genius isn't particularly high on my list. But there I was, and it wasn't as bad as I had feared. Each act performed an original song, then a Reed-penned cover. Yo La Tengo was great (as always), as was Thurston Moore, who looked like this...

...before suddenly leaping into the crowd and landing at my feet...

Thurston darling, nice work on not spilling my beer (pictured here in my hand), I appreciate it.

But the real highlight was not Reed himself, who was joined by Moby (he's totally like a vegan John Cale), but instead that honor goes to Mark Kozelek. The Sun Kil Moon frontman performed a pair of Reed songs, "Caroline Says," and a gorgeous take on "The Kids," with its stirring chorus of "They’re taking her children away/Because they said she was not a good mother/They’re taking her children away/Because of the things that they heard she had done." Up until that point my dance card for the evening was filled with Jens Lekman, but after seeing Kozelek perform, I knew I needed to see him again.

Sure enough, after about a half dozen more bands, that is just what I did.

He performed in the Central Presbyterian Church, which is, well, a church. We sit in the pews. He performs onstage under a giant cross. We rock. We pray. We great our neighbors, pass the collection plate, and cool our frosty Lone Star cans in the holy water. Not quite, but the show was painfully intimate, as Kozelek quickly admitted that he was hoping his acting career would have worked out so he'd never have to perform music again—honestly, he seemed pretty sincere about that statement—and he also unleashed a quick "goddamn," before admitting he was warned not to swear inside the church. When he wasn't insulting the precious ears of Christ with his sailor's mouth, Kozelek performed a mixed bag of beautiful tunes, including a few from his upcoming record, April. It was the perfect show to end a hectic day.

Tomorrow's Goals:
Diversify. SXSW is a glorious rainbow, so why am I slumming it in the lily white 'burbs of the festival? Other than Saul Williams, my SXSW has been like a nonstop parade of white dudes (and dudettes) making the indie rock.

Also, more tacos. Seriously. Eric Grandy and Rob Simonsen are at seven a piece, while I'm still at four. But I remember my grandfather's dying words about music festival taco binge eating, "Son, it's a marathon, not a sprint."

Then he died.